WEBVTT 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:09.759 So this morning, we're thinking about urgency in light of eternity. I imagine urgency is 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:15.759 something we understand and maybe we experience often. You realize the deadline is coming, 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:23.260 so you pull the all-nighter to get the paper ready. Your team is two goals down, so the coach 00:00:23.260 --> 00:00:28.460 throws on the extra striker to try and get those goals back. The pain becomes severe, 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:34.840 and you go to the phone to try and get the emergency appointment. Or the phone calls and 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:40.560 a family member needs your help, and so you drop everything that you're doing to go. We understand 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:48.760 urgency has a trigger, and it leads to a determined course of action. Today, we're thinking about a 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:55.040 particular kind of urgency. Urgency because of a particular trigger. The trigger we're presented 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:05.900 with is the reality of eternity. The return of Jesus, the reality of these two eternal destinies, 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:15.620 and Jesus' urgent call comes to us over and over, be ready. Turn away from sin, turn to God, 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:23.920 believe and trust in Jesus as Savior. But let's also add into this theme of urgency the phrase that 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:31.140 we're perhaps familiar with, the tyranny of the urgent. You know that idea, you're working on 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:36.520 something long-term, you've got a goal, but then something else comes, and it's immediate, and it's 00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:43.500 pressing, and it calls for response, and often it distracts us from what's truly important. Often, 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:52.819 don't we find that it's the now that takes priority over the future. We often suffer, I think, from the 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:58.560 tyranny of the urgent, and that can happen to us spiritually as well. We're so busy, focused on 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:05.060 what's happening right now in my life, what are these immediate circumstances that we don't often think 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:14.060 about the future. We don't often think about eternity. And so, you'll maybe have this experience. So, we have 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:20.099 our Christianity Explored course starting in a couple of weeks, and maybe you'll give someone this card 00:02:20.099 --> 00:02:25.780 that says, what's the best news you've ever heard, and you want them to hear about Jesus. And maybe the 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:30.520 response of, well, I'm kind of busy. If I get some other stuff sorted out, then maybe I'll think about the 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:37.020 religious stuff. I was really struck by two things this week. First, by a great question. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:45.740 If you knew you only had one week to live, what would you do? It's a great question because it drags 00:02:45.740 --> 00:02:52.260 us to those issues that we don't like to think about, of life and death, of eternity, of purpose. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:03:00.420 It's a great question for us to reflect on. And I was also invited to discover a great prayer, 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:08.439 by a man called Jonathan Edwards, as he prayed that God would stamp eternity on his eyeballs. 00:03:08.980 --> 00:03:15.400 Imagine being able to live conscious for yourself and for the people around that we all live in light 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:23.840 of eternity. So, we're going to think about Revelation chapters 14 to 16, to understand that 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:32.340 Jesus wants to give us gospel urgency in light of eternity. So, we're going to hear about the eternal 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:38.219 gospel, and we're going to reflect some more on eternal judgment, and we're going to hear the 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:47.140 promise of eternal rest and reward. So, chapter 14, verse 6 and 7, there is urgency because of the 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:54.139 eternal gospel. So, we're introduced to our messenger here in verse 6. I saw another angel flying in midair, 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.039 and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth. So, here is a message that 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:05.779 comes from heaven, comes from God, that God wants all to hear loud and clear, and it's the message 00:04:05.779 --> 00:04:13.819 that's called the eternal gospel. The gospel means good news. And there's a particular way in which this 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:17.879 message comes as good news comes from God is writing for the people that John is writing for, for 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:24.800 Christians who are suffering under the cruel, evil Roman Empire. And there's an encouragement that's 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:31.139 designed to go to the church all around the world to come to us today. It's the good news and the 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:40.060 encouragement of salvation. We heard it actually last week in chapter 13 in verse 8. We were introduced 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:45.319 to those whose names to those whose names have been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:54.500 was slain from the creation of the world. And that phrase reminds us that God had an eternal plan to 00:04:54.500 --> 00:05:00.040 save people who would walk away from Him, and that would involve Him sending His perfect Son, Jesus, 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:08.680 to live in our place, to die for our sins as a sacrifice, and then to rise again with the promise 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:16.199 that if we trust in Jesus, we are eternally secure and we are eternally loved. There's wonderful comfort 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:22.199 in the eternal gospel. But there's also another element of comfort for these suffering Christians 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:31.699 that there is one day an end of suffering. One day every evil empire will fall. One day all that is 00:05:31.699 --> 00:05:40.479 evil and unjust will come to an end will not be part of the story of God's world and for God's people. 00:05:40.659 --> 00:05:47.420 When God comes, when Jesus comes at the end, that's gospel, because it's the end of suffering. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:55.120 But it's also important that we recognize that this eternal gospel, sent all around the world, 00:05:55.459 --> 00:06:01.240 comes as a word of warning. And we're going to hear it through these chapters. For those who choose 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:08.780 to stand against God, for those who turn their back on God, for those who worship power or pleasure 00:06:08.780 --> 00:06:16.639 or idols instead of turning to the Lord Jesus. And this is a message God wants the world to hear. 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:24.660 I don't know how many of us tuned in or saw even the highlights of the Auschwitz memorial that was on 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:32.140 this week. Very moving, very harrowing. And there was a number of different messages being delivered by 00:06:32.140 --> 00:06:39.500 survivors, being delivered by dignitaries and members of government and royalty. Important messages. 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:46.860 The world needs to resist intolerance. The world needs to love, learn to practice kindness. 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:55.680 The world must never forget what humanity at its worst is capable of. The world needs to find a moral 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:01.259 center. And all of these are true. But Jesus says, you know what, there's an even bigger message 00:07:01.259 --> 00:07:09.780 that the world needs to hear. And in a word, that word is repent. People need to hear of the need to turn 00:07:09.779 --> 00:07:20.039 towards God, to stop walking away from God. Verse 7 is very much in the repentance theme. 00:07:21.179 --> 00:07:29.439 As the angel says in a loud voice, fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His judgment has come. 00:07:30.179 --> 00:07:39.159 Worship Him. This is being addressed to people who are loyal to a different system and to a different 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:46.820 set of gods who are standing opposed to God, who are giving worship to Jesus. And the message comes, 00:07:46.900 --> 00:07:55.100 you need to turn and turn to Jesus. It actually draws on images from the Old Testament. Maybe some of you 00:07:55.100 --> 00:08:02.540 will know the book of Daniel. And there's that king of Assyria called Nebuchadnezzar. And he's a very proud 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:08.720 emperor. He sets up this giant statue. And he calls the world to worship. And he says, if you don't 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:18.000 worship, you'll be killed. That same king, Nebuchadnezzar, would later be strolling around his city on his 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:24.080 royal palace saying, look at all these wonderful things that I have done and I have made. And God 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:33.500 judges him. And God humbles him. And God brings him to a place where he recognizes, I must fear God. 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:42.980 I must bow before God. The true God is the one who deserves all glory. And you know, the angel delivers 00:08:42.980 --> 00:08:51.840 this eternal gospel in the same tone. He says, the hour has come. There's a real urgency. Maybe you've 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:56.419 been in the airport and you hear that sort of final boarding call, last chance to get on the plane. 00:08:56.419 --> 00:09:06.159 Jesus is saying, here is a day of opportunity to believe in Jesus before his return. Fear God and 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:12.899 give him glory, the angel says. Recognize the greatness and the goodness of God and of his son, 00:09:12.959 --> 00:09:21.059 the Lord Jesus. Give him first place in your life. Worship the creator, the angel says. Recognize that you 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:31.199 and I, we are made for this. Created by God to know and enjoy life with God. Our times are in God's hand. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:40.959 All of history is in God's hands. And we are invited, called to enjoy relationship with him. 00:09:42.699 --> 00:09:48.919 And so at the beginning of our text, Jesus headlines the eternal gospel to get our attention. You know, 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:54.479 you turn on a news website, you see breaking news in bold. Or you're watching the telly and occasionally 00:09:54.479 --> 00:09:58.979 it happens, you were breaking from our usual coverage to bring this important news story. 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:05.179 It's as if Jesus is saying to us, trying to break through our walls and say, there is nothing bigger 00:10:05.179 --> 00:10:11.079 than this, nothing bigger for the whole world than this. Saying to us, there is this urgent need to 00:10:11.079 --> 00:10:17.919 respond to Jesus and the gospel because who or what we worship, it affects our eternal destiny. 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:26.919 And Jesus is announcing to us that he is coming back. And we will all stand in judgment. He will stand 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:33.979 in judgment over all of us. And that Jesus is the only way to forgiveness and true life and restored 00:10:33.979 --> 00:10:42.740 relationship. His death and resurrection stands as proof of that. And so today becomes an urgent moment 00:10:42.740 --> 00:10:48.399 of decision. If you're not a Christian here today, maybe you're at that point where you sense this is true. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:53.039 This is a repent and believe moment. 00:10:55.399 --> 00:11:01.500 If you need more, please pick up a gospel, take one of the Bibles, come along to Christianity Explored, 00:11:02.079 --> 00:11:10.000 ask a friend because the gospel news is urgent. But there's also an urgency for those of us who are 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:17.220 Christians. And the urgency becomes for us the need to share the gospel. I was thinking this week about 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:24.259 the story of C.T. Studd. Back in the 19th century, he was an English test cricketer, became a Christian, 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:30.460 left behind sort of sporting fame to go and share Jesus in different places. He went to China, 00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:36.620 he went to India, he went to the Congo where he would die. He wrote a poem, 00:11:37.460 --> 00:11:47.019 only one life, it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And he famously said this 00:11:47.019 --> 00:11:52.560 as he was explaining his desire to go and share in some of the hardest places in the world. He said, 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:58.679 some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:06.619 within a yard of hell. C.T. Studd got it and he lived it. The good news of the gospel, the urgency 00:12:06.619 --> 00:12:13.819 of the gospel. For those of us who are Christians, God is always calling us to go and to proclaim. 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:21.580 Maybe he'll call us across the world, or maybe he'll just call us across the classroom, across the 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:29.340 coffee shop, to do that. So, let's be praying together that we would have that sense of urgency 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:35.840 of the eternal gospel in our hearts that would move us to share it, to proclaim. So, there's urgency 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:43.180 because of the eternal gospel, but then secondly, there is urgency because of eternal judgment. This is a 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:51.459 theme that revelation that Jesus takes us to over and over. I want us to think just for a moment about 00:12:51.459 --> 00:12:57.099 something that we're very familiar with. I'm going to call it the rebound effect. You know, if you, 00:12:57.099 --> 00:13:04.059 for example, kick a ball against a wall, it rebounds and it bounces back. Or if you're in the gym and you 00:13:04.059 --> 00:13:11.339 punch a reflex ball, it bounces and it comes back. And both of those can be painful if you get things wrong. 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:19.060 But that's nothing compared to the rebound effect that's described in God's Word. The rebound effect 00:13:19.060 --> 00:13:31.720 of evil and sin and wickedness. The tendency for it to recoil on us. The God who is holy has built a law 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:39.360 of moral cause and effect into the universe. And when we choose to go against the design of our good 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:50.360 creator, when a person, a nation, a society chooses evil and injustice and hate, it is a self-destructive 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:58.620 choice. It rebounds back. We hear this kind of language in the Psalms. David will say things like, 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:04.100 they laid a trap for me, those evil people who are opposing God's King, but they got caught in it 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:14.480 themselves. Rebound effect. When we see and experience social breakdown, the horrors of evil regimes, 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:21.740 the terrible things that people do to each other. When we consider the judgment images that we have 00:14:21.740 --> 00:14:29.940 been seeing and we do see in the book of Revelation, they are showing to us what happens when God's holy 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:41.020 rule is rejected. And they are an expression for us of the holy God's hatred of sin. And it reminds us 00:14:41.020 --> 00:14:49.520 that the God of justice will never, can never simply sweep sin under the rug, but there must be a judgment. 00:14:51.300 --> 00:14:57.240 And in chapters 14, 15, and 16, we're reminded that if a people will not turn from sin, 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:03.700 will not repent and come back to God, the effect will ultimately be eternal judgment. 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:14.180 And so again, Jesus, as it were, sounds an alarm for us. Like those, remember back in 2004, 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:21.659 that was the horrendous tsunami that hit, was it Indonesia? Back in 2004. And after that, 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:29.439 people put in early warning systems so that when those floods are coming, people can run. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:36.360 There are within our chapters five pictures of judgment that come to us like that early warning 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:44.539 system. Judgment is real and judgment will come, so we need to run from it, run to Jesus and to be ready. 00:15:44.539 --> 00:15:53.360 Let me just outline them for us to get a sense of it. In chapter 14 and verse 8, here's the first 00:15:53.360 --> 00:16:02.360 judgment picture. It's the picture of a fallen city. The angel says fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:09.439 Babylon was a symbol in the Bible of pride and of pleasure and of a people and a place turned against 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:17.240 God. It was in the Old Testament, the Tower of Babel, then the Babylonian Empire, and then that was a name 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:25.340 given to the Roman Empire. And Babylon, we're told here, has made the nations drink the maddening wine 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:33.940 of her adulteries, leading the nations to madness. The passion for adultery, both physical, sexual 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:41.780 immorality, but also spiritual, addicted to this idea of turning away from God to try and find true worship 00:16:41.780 --> 00:16:49.380 and true life elsewhere. And to follow the values of this city, Jesus says, to choose to live for self, 00:16:50.180 --> 00:16:59.500 human pride, human power, a passion for pleasures, means to be heading like this city for an eternal fall. 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:12.220 The second picture involves a cup of wrath. Chapter 14, verse 9 to 11, if anyone worships the beast, 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:19.099 they will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:25.519 There was the cup of pleasure, now it's changed. The cup of God's fury, the cup of God's wrath, 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:32.599 not diluted, but full strength. Who has to drink this? Those who identify with the beast. Remember, 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:40.359 the beast, anti-God, opposed to God's people, trying to destroy Jesus. When we give our loyalty, 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:46.619 our love, our worship to other things and other people that are not Jesus, there is this warning 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:56.339 that you'll drink the bitter cup of judgment to the dredge. In chapter 14, verse 14 to 16, 00:17:56.659 --> 00:18:02.379 there is a harvesting image, and the harvesting image has to do with judgment. And notice this, 00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:09.359 who's the one with the sickle? Seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold in his 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.779 head and a sharp sickle in his hand. So we know in pop culture, there's the grim reaper and he holds a 00:18:14.779 --> 00:18:19.259 sickle, and that's kind of the popular idea of death. But here we're reminded, the one with ultimate 00:18:19.259 --> 00:18:27.139 authority over death is Jesus himself. The one who will judge is Jesus. And Jesus said this kind of 00:18:27.139 --> 00:18:33.200 thing in his parables, he had a parable of the wheat and the weeds. The wheat is planted and grows, 00:18:33.299 --> 00:18:37.740 but so do weeds. The question comes, should we try and pull up the weeds now? No, let's wait till 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:43.899 harvest time, and we'll separate. Harvest into the barn, the worthless weeds into the fire. 00:18:44.779 --> 00:18:51.680 Jesus says here, without turning to him, without repentance, when judgment comes, 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:59.819 bringing in a harvest for destruction. It gets more intense with the fourth image, 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:06.859 the trampling of the grapes, verses 17 to 20. You know that traditional process, if you're 00:19:06.859 --> 00:19:12.480 wanting to crush some grapes to make some wine, you'd get a big old wine press, 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:16.319 and you'd put all the grapes in the bottom, and somebody would be in there with their bare feet, 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:21.700 and they'd trample it all down and squeeze out the grapes. Well, that picture then becomes a picture 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:30.380 of God's judgment of squeezing. It happens outside the city. This is reality for people who are separate 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:42.600 from God experiencing the judgment of God. And then time doesn't permit reading about the seven bowls 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:49.140 of God's wrath that are poured out. We read about them in chapter 15. In chapter 16, you can read them 00:19:49.140 --> 00:19:55.220 at home. These bowls get poured out. So, we've seen two cycles of seven judgments. We've heard about 00:19:55.220 --> 00:20:00.940 seven seals, and we've heard seven trumpets, and we've seen things getting more intense. With the 00:20:00.940 --> 00:20:09.460 seven seals, 25% of the earth were impacted. With the seven trumpets, 33% of the earth was impacted. And 00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:17.180 now, chapter 16, verse 1, go pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth. All the earth, 00:20:17.259 --> 00:20:23.000 those who stand in opposition to God, judgment comes. Again, in chapter 16, it's very like the story of the 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:30.279 Exodus. The judgments sound like the judgments that come on Pharaoh and those who oppose God in the 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:36.660 Old Testament. But there's also a separation. God's people are safe from the judgment. There's a 00:20:36.660 --> 00:20:42.819 progression that happens. You have some judgments. The first four judgments fall on the earth, and then 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:49.240 the next three are more closely connected to the beast and the whole empire, and there's a spiritual 00:20:49.240 --> 00:21:00.700 battle, and there's ultimate destruction. The seven bowls remind us that our God is holy, that Jesus is not 00:21:00.700 --> 00:21:12.279 afraid to tell us that God is a God who hates sin. And so, he speaks of the reality of eternal defeat, 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:19.220 of eternal wrath that comes on those who reject him. And we need to remember, don't we, that these 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:25.720 visions, they come from Jesus, they come from Jesus. We said this last week, there is no one more loving 00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:33.120 than Jesus. And he is the Son of God from heaven. He knows what he is talking about. He speaks with authority. 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:43.539 And again, he speaks with urgency, that we would heed his loving warning. There are all kinds of triggers 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:54.599 that we know how to respond to. The deadline comes. It gets us moving to write, to act. Physical pain 00:21:54.599 --> 00:22:02.700 leads us to the surgery in the hospital. The voicemail that we pick up moves us towards our family. 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:13.740 If you're not a Christian here today, ask God to show you the eternal urgency of trusting in Jesus, 00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:22.860 that God would draw you to himself, move you to put faith in Jesus, to receive his patience and his mercy. 00:22:24.779 --> 00:22:29.360 But there's also, as well as there being an urgency to heed Jesus' warning, there's also an urgency 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:37.939 to hear and to keep hearing the gospel. Because we need to understand that Jesus doesn't just, 00:22:38.059 --> 00:22:43.459 as it were, pull the fire alarm. You know, you see a fire, you pull the alarm, and it sounds a warning 00:22:43.459 --> 00:22:49.919 for everybody. Jesus doesn't just do that. We know that Jesus in the gospel enters, as it were, 00:22:49.919 --> 00:22:53.299 the burning building on a rescue mission at great cost to himself. 00:22:53.299 --> 00:23:04.440 So we have heard that God's judgment is awful, and it is. But we also hear in the gospel that God's 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:16.019 own Son took that judgment for his own. That Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath on the cross, 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:24.480 so that we can drink from the cup of salvation. Jesus was the one killed outside of the city, 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:31.019 as if he were an unclean thing, so that we can be brought home to live with our God. 00:23:32.379 --> 00:23:38.139 Jesus on the cross was crushed under the weight of God's righteous wrath, 00:23:38.140 --> 00:23:48.040 so that you and I can live in the overflow of his wonderful grace and blessing. Jesus came 00:23:48.040 --> 00:23:56.920 to be our Savior and our substitute. He takes our hell to give us his heaven. 00:23:59.320 --> 00:24:05.700 One last thing to say, and it's by way of promise, there is urgency because of the promised rest and 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:12.640 reward. One thing that becomes abundantly clear in the book of Revelation is that Jesus will always be 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:19.799 honest with us. The Bible is always honest with us. Jesus said to his followers just before going to 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:29.440 the cross, in this world you will have trouble. And Jesus knows that following him will be tough. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.059 Jesus said to his disciples, listen, they hated me, they will also hate you. 00:24:37.420 --> 00:24:45.720 Jesus knows that walking his road is a road of self-denial and sacrifice. He used the image of carrying 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:54.820 our cross. And Jesus, of course, carried his cross to die for us. We thought about last week the fact 00:24:54.819 --> 00:25:01.319 that the spiritual battle is real. For a Christian that is this war within us, this battle against sin, 00:25:01.379 --> 00:25:17.139 we have external temptations. Jesus calls in Revelation 14 verse 12 for a certain type of character. 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:27.060 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God. Seven times in Revelation, 00:25:28.360 --> 00:25:36.820 Jesus calls his church to patiently endure. Made me think of the athlete getting up in the dark, 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:45.640 to go on their run, pounding, perhaps through the wind and the rain, mile by lonely windswept mile. 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:50.880 They keep on going one foot in front of another. Patient endurance. 00:25:52.860 --> 00:25:59.500 Patient endurance for a Christian, what does it look like? Verse 12, it looks like keeping God's 00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:08.020 commands. That means as the people of God, we live with obedience, even if all the people around us 00:26:08.019 --> 00:26:18.460 aren't. That means we live with obedience when it suits us and when everything within us screams that 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:28.660 we want to do anything but keep God's commands. It means we pursue obedience when it's easy and the 00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:37.200 people around us are doing the same. And we pursue obedience when it's hard because the battle against sin 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.860 is raging and the people around us are pulling us in a different direction. That's patient endurance. 00:26:43.580 --> 00:26:53.500 Verse 12, patient endurance also involves keeping faithful to Jesus. It's staying loyal to Jesus 00:26:53.500 --> 00:27:05.799 and giving our hearts to Him every day in all of life. When other people are giving their hearts to their pleasures or their 00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:19.559 careers or to now. It's a love for Jesus that trusts Him, that says, your ways are good. That understands and we know that 00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:28.559 He is the shepherd who keeps, who leads, who brings us home. Patient endurance, to borrow from a title of a book 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:36.539 written by Dale Ralph Davis, is slogging along in the paths of the righteous. Slogging along in the paths of the 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:44.859 righteous. That's not glamorous, but it's everyday godliness. And that's what we're called to, patient endurance. 00:27:44.859 --> 00:27:51.179 And we do so, and we're able to do so, because we've got wonderful promises. Jesus is honest, it's hard. 00:27:52.479 --> 00:27:59.099 But He's also honest and says, here's why it's absolutely worth it. The same Jesus who said, 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:04.779 in this world you will have trouble, also said to His disciples, in the same breath, but take heart, 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:11.599 I have overcome the world. And here, He says, yes, it's hard, patient endurance, but He speaks blessing. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:19.119 Verse 13, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. He's talking there about those, 00:28:19.139 --> 00:28:23.740 and we've met them in Revelation, those who are martyred, killed for their faith. But also, He says, 00:28:23.879 --> 00:28:32.199 everybody is blessed who keeps patiently following Jesus until they die and go to glory. There's 00:28:32.199 --> 00:28:38.179 blessing. Now, how are believers blessed? How are Jesus' followers blessed? Verse 13, 00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:44.900 yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them. Two things, 00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:52.240 two promises. One, the promise of eternal rest. Rest in the Bible is this wonderful gift, 00:28:52.360 --> 00:29:01.140 this wonderful picture held out of life as it's meant to be. A life marked by peace and joy, 00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:09.340 because it pictures life with God. And here is eternal rest. All the battles are over, 00:29:10.100 --> 00:29:15.180 the suffering and the sorrow is over, and blessing and life with God is ours. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:24.259 We see this life of blessing in the Garden of Eden before sin comes. Here were God's people, 00:29:24.360 --> 00:29:30.320 and they lived in God's place. They gladly lived under His rule, and they enjoyed every day His blessing. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:40.799 When Jesus returns, that rest comes completely and eternally in the new creation, eternal joy forever. 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:47.919 There's the promise of eternal rest, and there is also the promise of eternal reward. 00:29:49.059 --> 00:29:58.000 He says, their deeds will follow them. So, to go back to that poem with the first line from C.T. Studd, 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:05.380 only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. It's a reminder that Jesus 00:30:05.380 --> 00:30:15.980 notices, and Jesus rewards what His people do for Him. He told us that. And He said, even the cup of 00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:26.259 water offered in Jesus' name will surely receive a reward. When we welcome a stranger and show kindness, 00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:37.640 when we give of ourselves for the sake of our neighbor. When we take the time to share Jesus and share our 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:48.059 faith with someone. When we give our life for the cause of Jesus. The Bible says, Jesus says, it all matters. 00:30:48.059 --> 00:30:59.299 All of our life is a chance, becomes a chance to give God glory. And Jesus notices and Jesus rewards. 00:31:00.579 --> 00:31:08.079 Remember, we're not saved by our good deeds. We're saved by Jesus' death on the cross. We're saved by 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:14.919 grace. We're saved by putting our faith in Jesus. But we are saved for these good deeds. And Jesus here 00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:24.360 reminds us, as we patiently endure, if we continue to keep obeying and keep showing faithful loyalty, 00:31:25.560 --> 00:31:30.800 then there is this wonderful prospect of being welcomed into His presence. Well done, good and 00:31:30.800 --> 00:31:40.740 faithful servant. Enter your Master's happiness. So, Jesus' message to us today is this. There is 00:31:40.740 --> 00:31:50.400 urgency because there is eternity. In the gospel, we discover Jesus has come down to live among us. 00:31:51.339 --> 00:31:57.339 And He died in our place for our sin. And then He rose again. And then He returned to glory. 00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:05.859 And He has won an eternal victory. He has completed His rescue mission. And He supplies grace so that we 00:32:05.859 --> 00:32:11.979 can live for Him. And He is strong and make sure that all His people are brought safely home. 00:32:14.139 --> 00:32:21.799 And that home is an eternal home. And the one who gets us there is our eternal Savior, 00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:28.599 who brings us the eternal gospel. So, we need to keep Jesus before us, to look to His sacrifice, 00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:36.919 to remember His love, to hold on to His promises, to enjoy His presence. That's why, as Christians, 00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:42.159 we'll share the Lord's Supper in a few moments. And we keep the return of Jesus before us. 00:32:43.740 --> 00:32:49.079 That we have that clear view of what is truly urgent and essential for our lives, 00:32:49.579 --> 00:32:55.839 and for the lives of those around us. And we pray that God would stamp eternity on our eyeballs, 00:32:55.839 --> 00:33:01.179 so that we would come to Jesus to find eternal life. And we would go for Jesus, 00:33:01.899 --> 00:33:06.759 to share the message of eternal life with the world. Let me pray for us.