All right, we're in Revelation chapter 19, and we've come to the battle of Armageddon.
And so we're gonna be talking about Armageddon in this sermon, and we've got three points
here tonight, and we're gonna finish this entire chapter.
Now, if you were to talk to people just out in the world, outside of church, and you were
to ask them what's been going on the last six months, some people might say, man, I
think it's Armageddon.
Right?
I mean, people say Armageddon is if it's like just the end of the world, it's like, oh man,
there's this disease.
It's Armageddon.
There's this war.
It's Armageddon.
But actually, you know, the word Armageddon is used one time in the Bible, and it's specific
to a battle, a location where this battle is actually taking place.
Right?
I remember when I was in high school, I watched the movie, you know, Armageddon, and there's
like a, I can't remember if it was a meteor or an asteroid that's gonna destroy the earth,
and they hire like an oil drilling team to jump on the back of a moving asteroid or meteor
going however many thousands of miles per hour or whatever, and then they blow it up
from the inside.
And that's not Armageddon.
Okay?
And I remember in the movie, they said, man, Armageddon is upon us, and we as a world need
to join together.
No, that's, that's actually not Armageddon.
Actually Armageddon is the world kind of joining together to fight against God.
Okay?
But it's actually a specific battle.
It's not just the end of the world.
So everything we've talked about the first, you know, 20 some weeks or whatever, that's
not Armageddon.
Armageddon specifically is a battle that is going to take place that we're going to see
in this chapter.
Notice what it says in verse one to start off.
And remember what we talked about not last week, but before that we talked about Babylon
and Babylon, this mighty empire has just been destroyed.
So the first verse of 19 notices, and after these things, I heard a great voice of much
people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord
our God.
Now, look, if God has just destroyed this mighty empire, it makes sense that you talk
about his glory and his honor and his power.
He just destroyed the biggest empire in the world, just the previous chapter.
Okay?
And so all glory and honor and power, it belongs onto the Lord our God.
Verse two, for true and righteous are his judgments.
God determined to judge Babylon and his judgments are true.
His judgments are righteous.
They're correct.
They're right.
They're the right judgments.
Now look, in this world we live in today, usually people in the world, they scoff and
reject the judgments of God.
They don't agree.
They come in judgment of God for his decisions, right?
I mean, you go to the book of Leviticus and there's the death penalty for all these different
things.
And the world hates that.
They say it's wrong.
They say it's not proper.
It's not fair.
It's not.
And you know, it blows my mind whenever you read any of these stories.
I just saw last night, you know, I saw this thing pop up with some person who had like
kidnapped a girl and she was held hostage, but she escaped and everything.
And I went to Wikipedia.
There's like a big case or whatever that happened a couple of years ago.
And I looked at this guy's life and a long time before he had been arrested for kidnapping
and child pedophilia, rape.
And then he had gotten out of jail after a couple of years.
This was over in Belgium.
And then all of a sudden it's like he gets another chance and another chance.
And it's like, should you really be shocked that he spent five years in jail and he did
the exact same thing and he held a girl hostage for like eight months or whatever?
I mean, should we be shocked?
See the world, the world would reject what God says and see God would say the death penalty
for that person on the first time.
And how many more people would be spared being a people think God's judgments are too harsh.
They're too mean.
Okay.
God's judgments are true and righteous.
Every single one for he has judged the great horror referring to this worldwide Babylon,
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand.
So this Babylon, as we talked about, is basically persecuting the servants of God and killing
the servants of God.
So God sees fit to say, you know what, I've got to make things right and destroy them
and judge them.
Okay.
Even before the battle of Armageddon.
Verse number three.
And again, they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and ever and the four and
twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne saying,
Amen.
Alleluia.
And a voice came out of the throne saying, praise our God, all his servants and neither
fear I'm both small and great.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and is the voice of many waters
and is the voice of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Okay.
Now what does omnipotent mean?
It means all powerful.
Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
It means he is all powerful.
Now there's many attributes of God.
God is omnipresent, which means he's everywhere, which means people in hell are not out of
the presence of God.
They're being judged in the presence of God right now as we speak because God is omnipresent.
Okay.
God is also omniscient, meaning he's all knowing.
Okay.
He's also omnipotent, which means he is all powerful.
Now look, I find it funny when you hear evolutionists talk because they like to come up with these
dumb scenarios and they think they're intelligent.
Well, if God's omnipotent, could he create a rock so big that he wasn't strong enough
to actually pick it up or something like that?
It's like, I mean, literally I would hope if I was an atheist, I could come up with
a better argument than that.
It's just like, you know, and here's the thing, obviously, you know, two plus two equals four.
It doesn't equal three.
We understand that.
Okay.
But if you say it's too big for him to pick up, then you're already negating.
I mean, obviously that's a foolish example, but look, God has the power to do the virgin
birth, right?
That scientifically would be impossible.
God has the power to create the world.
In the Bible, you see women that are past the point of childbearing, past the point
where they're old enough to actually have children and yet God opens a wound.
You say, why?
Because God is omnipotent and the fact that he just destroyed Babylon is kind of showing
that that God is all powerful.
He is able to do whatever.
Okay.
I mean, you have Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace and then God rescues
them.
He's able to do anything.
He is all powerful.
The Bible says he is all powerful.
That's why it's this battle of God versus Satan at Armageddon.
It's not really a battle, right?
I mean, it would be like, for example, if our, if our church just had like five guys,
you know, we said, we're going to challenge, you know, a bunch of five year olds to a basketball
game.
I hope, I hope, I hope we would win.
Right.
I mean, it's not a challenge.
Right.
And see God versus the devil.
I mean, yeah.
I mean, the devil is pretty powerful compared to other beings and things such as that, but
he's nothing compared to God.
Right.
I mean, the devil is probably in the top 10 most powerful beings because Michael the Archangel
kind of beats him around a little bit in the Bible, but I mean, he's no match for God.
It's laughable.
It's a joke.
Why?
Because God is omnipotent.
He is all powerful.
He is.
Okay.
So we see the glory and the power of God here in the first six verses.
Now let's see the marriage supper of the lamb that the Bible speaks of verse seven.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come.
Okay.
This is something that's, you know, talked about in the New Testament and people often
talk about the marriage supper of the lamb.
And what you're going to find is the fact that this is kind of tied in with this battle
of Armageddon.
Okay.
Now I can understand why people get confused sometimes when it comes to end times prophecy,
because there's also another battle that takes place, not Armageddon, but the battle of Gog
and Magog.
And then if you go back to the book of Ezekiel in the battle of Gog and Magog, you're going
to see basically foul devouring after that battle.
So the battle of Gog and Magog has this supper attached to it, but this is a different battle.
It's not that surprising, though, because the same God who wrote Revelation is the same
God that wrote Ezekiel.
So he's going to have a similar pattern for how he does things.
So you have these two big battles, Armageddon and Gog and Magog, different battles.
Okay.
Armageddon is before the millennial reign.
Gog and Magog is after.
Okay.
And they're both book ended by these great suppers that take place.
The marriage supper of the lamb is attached to Armageddon.
That's what we're seeing here in Revelation chapter 19.
And we'll talk about the battle of Gog and Magog here in a few weeks.
But here we see the battle of Armageddon, and there's this marriage supper.
The marriage of the lamb is come.
It's about to take place, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Now, I don't know, a few months ago, we kind of spoke about this in our...
We talked about Baptist writers and that foolish doctrine that only some people are going to
be part of New Jerusalem, or some people take part of this marriage supper, and some are
kind of just hanging out, watching it, and they don't get to partake.
But we're going to disprove that here, kind of a different direction than I did several
months ago.
Look at verse number eight.
Verse eight.
And it talked about basically her wife hath made herself ready.
Okay.
His wife hath made herself ready.
Verse eight, notice this, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Okay.
We mentioned saints here in verse eight, and those are saved people.
Okay.
Anyone who's saved is going to be able to partake in this.
Okay.
But I want you to notice here in verse number eight, and to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen.
Notice this, clean and white.
Clean and white.
When a person gets saved, they are 100% clean.
There's not a single sin on the record.
Right?
100% clean.
And 100% white, right?
We understand the fact that if something's just a little bit dirty, it's not completely
white.
Okay.
And it says the fine linen is clean and white.
Okay.
100% clean, 100% white.
For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Okay.
It mentions fine linen and righteousness.
Go to Leviticus chapter 19.
Leviticus 19.
Obviously, we know Leviticus 19 is a very famous end times prophecy.
No, I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
Leviticus chapter 19.
Leviticus chapter 19, I want to show something to you, and I'm going to show you a verse
here that is one of the most mocked verses in the entire Bible.
Okay.
This is a verse that atheists or God haters would scoff at and say is dumb.
And you know what?
We're going to explain it here.
Leviticus 19, verse 19.
Ye shall keep my statutes.
Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind.
Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed, neither shall a garment mingled of linen
and woolen come upon thee.
Okay.
Now, I want to focus on the last one mentioned.
Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.
People look at this verse and they laugh at this verse.
They mock it.
They say these rules are stupid.
Why would God command this?
That basically when it comes to a garment or clothing, it can't be mixed with linen
and woolen together.
Okay.
And this is a commandment mentioned by God.
Okay.
This was something in the Old Testament.
Now, I want you to understand something that this was a commandment mentioned in the Old
Testament, and I believe this is something that Jesus fulfilled when he rose again.
But it's also still a good principle to go by because having a garment put with linen
and woolen together is just not going to be very good for the garment, for the strength
of the garment.
But remember what we talked about on Sunday with Hinduism.
We looked at these sick, perverted things these gods did, and then these false gods,
and then they claim, well, there's a deeper truth behind it you got to look at.
Now, what I talked about was when you see things in the Bible, sometimes there are multiple
meanings.
In this verse in verse 19, it says don't mix linen and woolen upon thee.
Okay.
They're not supposed to come together with a garment.
That is a good practical rule if you're going to be making clothes.
But there's a deeper meaning behind this.
First off, what is linen?
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, made from a plant.
Wool is natural fiber grown by sheep.
Mixing the plant and the animal together kind of reminds you of Cain and Abel, doesn't it?
Remember Cain gave an offering from the fruit of the ground, and Abel gave an offering from
the first things of the flock.
God rejected Cain's offering because he said you can't pay for sin with fruits and vegetables.
But then he accepted the offering of Abel.
He said that is what I want.
And what that is a picture of is trying to work your way to heaven.
God will not accept your good works.
They're not good enough.
What he requires is a sacrifice, all the way back to the book of Genesis.
And so when it says linen and woolen are not to come upon thee, they're not to be together,
you know what that's a symbolism of?
Works and faith.
Can you mix works and faith and get to heaven?
Can you mix linen and wool together, the plant and the animal together to get to heaven?
Is accepting the death of Jesus Christ and saying, but I've got to live a good life,
is that good enough to get to heaven?
No it's not.
And so look, here's an example where there's a direct meaning where God is giving a good
principle, not an evil principle, and then behind it is a deep meaning of the fact that
you cannot work your way to heaven.
You cannot mix faith and works together.
And so look, when you have people that mock the Bible and scoff at it, it usually shows
they just don't understand the Bible.
They don't understand these deep meanings that are in the Bible, but linen and wool,
it's like mixing plants and animals together, works and faith, and look, that's going to
send you to hell.
And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.
You cannot mix grace and works together.
We are either saved 100% by faith alone or we're saved by works.
It's one or the other.
You cannot mix them together.
Oh, I believe 100% in the death of Jesus, but I've also got to live a good life.
You don't believe 100% in the death of Jesus.
You're not completely trusting the death of Jesus.
You are trying to mix linen and woolen together.
And guess what?
God says thou shalt not.
Why?
That's going to send you to hell, my friend.
Obviously not referring to the literal clothing, I'm saying symbolically, if you mix your faith
and your works together, it will send you to hell.
What's interesting though was that in Revelation, it talked about the fine linen.
It didn't mention the wool.
It mentioned the linen.
You say, but wait a minute, doesn't linen represent, you know, it's coming from plants
so that would represent works.
It is referencing that.
You say, well, I don't understand.
Well turn to Romans chapter four, Romans four, Romans chapter four.
What you must understand is the Bible teaches that when you get saved, you are imputed with
the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
No, we cannot work our way to heaven.
That's going to send us to hell.
But here's the thing, when you get saved, that means you will never come to judgment.
God will not look at your flesh and say, you know, guilty.
Why?
Because you're imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus lived a perfect life.
The fine linen clean and white.
Now we could never be clean and white, but Jesus Christ was 100% clean.
He was 100% white.
He was 100% righteous, okay?
When I say 100% white, somebody's going to take a clip.
Brother Stuckey's a racist.
He said, he's like, okay, go ahead.
Take your clip.
If you're going to have fun with that, whatever.
I don't care.
But Romans chapter four, notice what it says in verse six, Romans four, verse six, even
as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works.
God imputes righteousness without works, not based on our works and we're not righteous,
but we're imputed with the righteousness of our Lord and Savior saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin cometh this blessedness then upon
the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also.
For we say that faith was reckoned Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or an uncircumcision, not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness
of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed onto them also.
We are not righteous.
There is none righteous, no, not one.
There's none that doeth good, but one that is God.
The only one that's good is God.
The fact that Jesus Christ was good shows he was God because there's none good but one
that is God.
He was 100% righteous, 100% perfect.
And when we get saved, we are imputed with the righteousness of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
And so we're 100% perfect because he lived a 100% perfect life.
By faith, we get granted with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
We're still sinners after we get saved, but we won't come into judgment because we're
imputed with the righteousness of Christ.
Go to James 2, James chapter 2.
James 2, James chapter 2.
So kind of the picture you put in your head because it says fine linen and you're thinking
of garments, imagine us with just our dirty, tattered clothing.
Imagine our salvation is clothing and every sin and every spot and every problem you see
in that clothing.
And then basically God says, you know what?
Here you go.
You got salvation now.
We have a completely clean and white, completely 100% brand new garment for you that will never
get messed up.
It will never go old.
It will never get any spots.
That's the righteousness that we are imputed with.
Now we're still waiting for the day when we're given our incorruptible bodies, our glorified
body and we'll never have to deal with sin anymore.
And you know, that would be great if that happened at salvation.
But unfortunately what most Baptist churches teach is wrong.
It does not happen at salvation.
You're imputed with the righteousness of Christ, but that doesn't mean you all of a sudden
become righteous when you get saved.
Okay?
You're going to be declared innocent, but your flesh did not change.
Okay?
James 2 verse 23, and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God and it was
imputed onto him for righteousness.
Abraham puts his faith in the savior and guess what?
It's imputed onto him for righteousness.
And he was called the friend of God.
Why was he called the friend of God?
Because this chapter talks about basically having faith and having works.
The faith gets you imputed with the righteousness of God, but you're not the friend of God unless
you're actually obeying his commandments.
If you want to be the friend of God, you've got to get saved and do the works to be the
friend of God.
Okay?
But to be saved, all you got to do is just believe.
It says it was imputed onto him for righteousness.
Now go back to Revelation 19, Revelation 19, Revelation 19, Revelation 19.
Let's look at this verse again here.
Revelation 19 verse eight.
And to her, referring to the bride, was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white.
Okay?
Referring to the bride.
Remember for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
So you see how saints is linked with the bride because everyone who's saved.
Okay.
But I want you to see it says fine linen.
Remember linen is basically made from a tech, from flax plants.
Okay.
Which would be symbolic of works, but it's not our works clean and white.
It's the righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ because none of us are righteous.
What's interesting about this is that the modern versions kind of make a little bit
of a change here.
Okay.
Imagine that.
Because of this church, we believe the King James Bible in the English language is 100%
perfect.
And when I look at this verse, it makes sense.
Doesn't that make sense?
Clean and white.
Doesn't that make sense?
Fine linen, the works of Jesus Christ were imputed with his righteousness.
That's the righteousness of saints.
This is not what it says though in the most popular versions other than the King James.
This is what it says in the New King James.
Okay.
And in the New King James, it says, and to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and bright, not clean and white.
Now this verse is linked with our salvation.
I mean, don't you even hear songs sung that we're going to be white as snow.
We're completely clean, 100% clean, 100% white, and yet it says clean and bright in the New
King James.
Look, when I think of bright, I think of yellow, right?
Or orange or something like that.
I don't think of white.
Clean and bright is a pretty big change from clean and white, okay?
It says clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints, the righteous
acts of the saints.
See, in the King James Bible, it says the righteousness of saints because we're imputed
with God's righteousness.
But see, in the New King James, it not only changes from clean and white, it says clean
and bright, then it says the righteous acts of saints.
What is that implying?
It's implying you can live a good enough life, do enough good works, have enough good acts
that basically God declares you innocent.
Even though you're not completely white, I mean, you're bright, I mean, that rhymes with
white.
Bright, white, I mean, it rhymes, right?
Same thing, right?
Only a minor difference.
Just a few words here.
Look, a few words changes a lot.
And what they're implying in the New King James is the people that are in heaven are
those that were able to live a good enough life to do enough good works.
And yet we just saw in Leviticus that you cannot mix the linen and the wool together.
We cross-referenced with linen and went to the book of Leviticus.
And the deep meaning behind that is you cannot mix your faith and your works together and
yet here the New King James is saying, you know what?
If you have enough righteous acts, you're going to be clean and bright, and that's good
enough to God.
You don't have to be 100% white.
I mean, as long as you don't commit murder and as long as you repent of all your sins,
as long as you try to change, that's good enough, right?
Well, that's according to the New King James, but see, the Bible was clear, clean and white.
In the NIV, fine linen, bright and clean, bright and clean.
So once again, they changed from white.
Bright and clean was given to her to wear.
Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.
The righteous acts of God's holy people.
So you can do enough good deeds, enough good acts that God will declare you innocent according
to them.
Okay.
The ESV, this is the English satanic version or the Calvinist version, whatever you want
to call it.
This is the version the Calvinists just love.
It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright, not white, bright and
pure, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
The righteous deeds, righteous acts, same thing they're referring to.
So once again, they're saying you can live a good enough life to get to heaven.
Okay.
In the NLT, and I believe these are the four most popular selling versions outside of the
King James, the NLT, the new Lucifer translation.
He has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear for the fine linen represents
the good deeds of God's holy people.
So this one actually says the finest of pure white linen.
But quite honestly, I think this is even worse because then it says the good deeds of God's
holy people implying God will look at you as being completely pure and white just from
your deeds alone saying, I mean, I guess it makes more sense to say bright because you're
not going to be 100% white, but they're saying, Hey, you'd be 100% white just by your deeds
alone.
I mean, can we live a perfect life?
It does not make any sense.
And so once again, we see in these modern versions, they subtly add work salvation,
nothing new.
They do this all throughout the entire Bible.
Okay.
What the Bible said was this, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
And I'll tell you what, you know, I've heard plenty of sermons on the King James Bible
and the King James only issue and everything like that.
And look, I don't think there's any pastor I know that's just sitting down someone who's
like minded and just reading the King James and the NIV for every single verse.
I doubt any of them are.
It's just kind of you hear one of these things from time to time.
You write it down.
Like I heard this preached a long time ago.
It was an old sermon from Pastor Anderson when he was talking about revelation like
probably 12 years ago or something.
I wrote it down and I learned that one.
There's no telling how many of these verses are messed up like that in these modern versions.
You hear them from time to time because somebody mentions it.
You remember?
But look, I mean, there could be like a thousand verses that are subtly teaching work salvation
in these modern versions.
Who even knows?
It's ridiculous.
Okay.
The Bible says clean and white.
Why?
Because we're imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Verse nine, Revelation 19 verse nine in the King James.
Okay, don't worry.
We're done with the modern versions.
All right.
Revelation 19 verse nine.
And he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper
of the lamb.
And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.
So blessed are they which are called in the marriage supper.
Who are those called unto the marriage supper?
Those that are clean and white.
The saints as it mentioned.
Who are they?
Those that have believed on Jesus Christ that are imputed with God's righteousness.
Okay.
Now go to Matthew 22, Matthew chapter 22.
Matthew 22.
And we're going to look at this marriage supper of the lamb here in the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 22, Matthew 22.
Matthew chapter 22.
And in verse number one, the Bible reads, and Jesus answered and spake unto them again
by parables and said, the kingdom of heaven is like on a certain king which made a marriage
for a son.
And this is a parable, but the king is referencing God the father and the son is referencing
Jesus Christ here.
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would
not come.
Again, he sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I prepared
my dinner, my oxen, my fatlings are killed and all things are ready, come on to the marriage.
And so people are bidden to the wedding, and then they don't come, okay?
Now that is referencing the Jews, okay?
Because those were God's people, the word of God was poured out to them.
And yet, by and large, they just rejected it, okay?
Most of them did not want to hear it, and so they were bidden to the marriage, but they
chose not to come.
They chose not to believe, okay?
Verse five, but they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another
to his merchandise.
And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them.
And we know that the Jews basically killed the servants of God and the prophets of God,
and they persecuted God's people, especially God's preachers in the Old Testament.
Verse seven, but when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies
and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
And look, this is what happened to the Jews, okay?
God was angry at them.
Verse eight, then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were
bidden were not worthy.
Were not worthy.
Notice how he uses the word worthy there.
The ones that were bidden were not worthy.
Go back to Matthew 10, Matthew 10, Matthew 10.
Now, when you're cross-referencing in the Bible, obviously you can look all throughout
the entire Bible to find information, but I'll tell you what.
When you're cross-referencing, oftentimes the answer you're trying to find is sometimes
in the same chapter or the same book.
Oftentimes it's very close to it.
And this term worthy is something that comes up in the book of Matthew.
And I believe God wrote it that way so you would be able to cross-reference and understand
this stuff.
Why is it the Jews were rejected?
What does it mean to be worthy?
Matthew 10, verse 11.
And into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, and this is the soul winning chapter
where he's sending them out two by two, inquire who in it is worthy.
And thereby till ye go thence.
And so notice he says you need to find out, inquire who is worthy in that city or town.
As a church is a soul winning church, God would tell us we need to inquire and find
out who is worthy in this area.
We need to figure out who's worthy.
What does that mean?
And when he come into a house saluted, verse 13, and if the house be worthy, let your peace
come upon it.
But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
You say, what does that mean, being worthy?
Notice how it says let your peace come upon it.
Think about the gospel of peace, because this is a soul winning chapter that he's talking
about.
And you come from door to door, and our goal is to spread the gospel of peace to the people
that are at the door.
That's what we want to do.
But he says, you know what, look, you only do that if the house is worthy.
If it's not worthy, let your peace return to you.
What does that mean?
Verse 14.
And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Those that are worthy are those willing to hear our words.
That's who's worthy.
Look, when we go soul winning, and we knock on that door, we invite them to church, and
then, you know, whether they go to church or not, we ask them, do you know for sure
you're going to heaven?
And look, you know, if they don't know, or even if they do, we'll ask them more questions
and see, hey, can I show you what the Bible says?
Look, if they don't want to hear you, they're not worthy.
What does the Bible say?
Just move on to the next door.
Because God said they're not worthy.
And in another part of the Bible, it talks about people declaring themselves to be unworthy.
They made the choice.
Because when we knock on a door, by default, we're saying, hey, you know what, they're
worthy.
We're going to knock on that door, whether it's a rich house or a poor house, and give
them a chance.
We, by default, assume they are worthy.
We want them to listen.
But if they say, we don't want to hear, they've declared themselves to be unworthy.
Now, so you don't have to try to force them to listen, okay?
Now, look, I understand that sometimes you talk to people and they're kind of on the
fence of listening, and sometimes you can persuade them to listen, but look, if they're
not interested, you know, you just move on to the next door.
And what I've found from going soul winning and also being partners with people going
soul winning, that when you try to force a conversation on people that just do not want
to hear, you're going to spend 15 minutes and they will not get saved.
That's the reality.
And when you go soul winning, you see that.
If people didn't want to hear the gospel to begin with, then they don't get saved afterwards.
Think about when you're preaching the gospel to a group of three people, and then let's
say one person really wants to hear the gospel and the other two don't care.
Very rarely do those two people end up getting saved.
If they didn't want to hear the gospel at the beginning, they're probably not going
to end up getting saved.
They declared themselves to be unworthy, and the reality is they're really not listening
too much to what you have to say.
They're kind of just praying, well, not praying, but they're just hoping you go away, or they'll
try to bring their friend to leave listening, right?
Now I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm just saying God's giving us general principle
that, you know, how long do I give somebody at the door?
Well, look, if they're not willing to listen, you just move on.
But here's the thing.
You start the conversation with unsaved people that want to hear, and during the conversation,
they prove themselves to be unworthy.
You say, how do they do that?
By not receiving your words.
You say, what are you talking about?
I'm talking about when you go to Acts 16 in your Bible, and you say, well, what does it
say you have to do to be saved?
You know, you've got to pray.
It's like, I just said believe, and I'm pointing.
What does it say here?
Magsisi.
They're declaring themselves unworthy, right?
And look, that happens when you're going soul winning.
I mean, is that not true?
It's like you're literally showing them what the Bible says, whosoever believeth, and then
when you're asking them questions, it's just like it goes either straight over their head,
or they're just not interested, or they're just denying what you say.
Now we understand that some people can be confused, and we want to be patient and long
suffering, but look, you preach the Gospel sometimes to people, and during the conversation,
they listen to you, but they're rejecting what you're saying.
They don't agree with you.
They reject your conversation, and look, you're wasting your time if you just continue.
When you go to Revelation 21, 8, and you show them all liars shall have their part in the
lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, and they say, well, I think I can still live
a good enough life to go to heaven.
Well, that's strike number one.
A man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition rejects.
You say they would be a heretic.
Look, if they're rejecting what the Bible says, yeah, that's what the Bible's saying.
They're rejecting the Bible and saying, I don't believe it.
That's one admonition.
Now, look, if they don't agree that they deserve hell, guess what you don't do.
You don't move on to the next step and just kind of act like they got it right.
It's like, no, you go to James 2 10.
Give them another chance.
Right?
And if they just reject it and say, well, you know, I still think that I can live a
good enough life to get to heaven.
I do not deserve to go to hell.
They declared themselves unworthy, okay?
And so God is giving basic principles on soul winning, and look, I understand we want to
have compassion with people, but I'll tell you what, everybody, when they're a new soul
winner, generally they spend too much time at doors to give people a chance that just
aren't interested.
Right?
So every time we're in West Virginia and we don't really have this problem here because
most people don't have cars, but, you know, we would usually go out in like one car together
to go somewhere, okay?
That's usually not a good idea because things go wrong all the time, okay?
And I remember it was like below zero degrees outside.
There's snow on the ground.
It was freezing cold and everything.
And so we broke up into soul winning groups, and so we basically said, we're going to meet
back here at like 2 p.m. or something like that.
And so we're freezing.
It's super cold, and all of a sudden it's like 2 p.m., 2 10, 2 20, and the person who
was driving, the one person who had the car, not there, 2 20, 2 30, 2 40, and then all
of a sudden it's like 2 40.
I mean, it's almost, and we ended up just giving up and just walking to a gas station
that was like, you know, a five minute walk because we were freezing outside.
And then all of a sudden we waited and waited and waited, and finally the person who was
driving, I'm not mentioning his name.
I don't want to, you know, hurt his feelings or whatever online if he happens to hear this,
but he's one of my friends, you know, from back east.
But all of a sudden, all of a sudden he shows up after that amount of time and then he says,
I'm sorry.
He's like, I was in a conversation with, I got into an art debate with these Mormons
for an hour.
It's just like, and look, I understand, like, you know, honestly, that's something a lot
of people struggle with, especially when you're new at soul winning.
I used to argue with atheists for an hour to try to disprove evolution and stuff like
that.
But you have to realize God gives you principles of when to throw in the towel, okay?
And look, if you've been soul winning with me, you've probably seen me before just walk
away from a door when someone wants to argue with me.
I don't waste my time.
Now I used to.
I don't waste my time anymore.
When I discover they're just not interested, I'm not rude to them.
I'm polite and say, hey, I hope you get a chance to visit church sometime.
You say, why?
Because God said after the first and second admonition reject, and you have to understand
if they don't get it after the first time and the second time, probably not going to
get it after the third time, probably not going to get it after the fourth time, probably
not going to get it after the fifth time.
I mean, because the Bible is very clear.
You show them point blank whosoever believeth.
Well, I still think you have to repent of your sins.
Look, give them one more chance.
But look, if they reject that, they're probably not going to get it even if you spend an hour
with them.
Okay?
Now I do believe that if you're, let's say, preaching the gospel to, let's say, your brother
or sister at Christmas time or whatever, hey, spend as much time as you want.
But when you're going door to door soul winning, you only have so much time.
And look, there are like 13 million people in Metro Manila.
We have a lot of people to reach.
And we can't waste our time with people that just aren't interested.
So we give them a chance.
And by default, we assume they're worthy.
But here's the thing.
If they aren't willing to receive us or hear our words, they're not worthy.
You just move on.
And if during the conversation you're preaching the gospel and they're just arguing and rejecting
it, then you know what?
You just move on to the next door.
That's what the Bible is teaching us.
Now go back to Matthew 22, Matthew 22, Matthew 22.
Don't worry.
We'll get to the battle of Armageddon.
Okay?
If this takes five hours, takes five hours.
All right, Matthew 22, Matthew 22, verse nine.
And it says in verse nine, remember the Jews basically rejected.
And it says in verse nine, go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall
find bid to the marriage.
Soul winning, my friend.
We preach the gospel and assume they're worthy and give them a chance.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they
found both bad and good.
And the wedding was furnished with guests.
So what does it mean bad and good?
It means heaven's going to be filled full of drug dealers and people that went to church
every single week of their life.
Both bad and good.
Why?
Salvation is not based on how good you are.
And there are drug dealers.
There are drunks.
There are people that are on their way to heaven.
They're living pretty bad lives.
Okay?
Now we understand, you know, the reprobate doctrine.
That's a whole other topic outside of the scope, but you know what?
When it comes to just, you know, people doing drugs and things like that, you know, plenty
of just normal people that are not reprobates do those things.
Okay?
And so we're, heaven is going to be filled full of people that you look at and say, man,
that person was at church every single week and also full of people that, you know what?
I saw that guy drunk every single week because salvation is based on what you believe, not
based on what you do.
Both bad and good.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw their man, which had not on a wedding
garment.
And he saith unto him, friends, how came is thou unhither not having a wedding garments?
And he was speechless.
Right?
I mean, doesn't that kind of remind you where the Bible says that every mouth may be stopped
being speechless?
You say, why?
Because you cannot justify yourself if you've broken God's rules and you haven't believed
on Jesus.
Everybody's guilty.
So they're going to be basically speechless.
It's like, hey, you don't have that fine and linen, you know, the righteousness of the
saints that God gave the clean and white, fine linen that God provided, and he's going
to be speechless.
He cannot answer for himself.
Verse 13, then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and
cast him into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called, but few are chosen.
And look, you know what?
God wants everybody to be saved.
He's not willing that any should perish.
The Bible says, but few are actually chosen.
Why?
Few people actually believe on Jesus Christ, and that's what makes you the elect.
Go to Revelation 19, Revelation 19, Revelation chapter 19, Revelation chapter 19, verse number
10, Revelation 19 verse 10.
And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said to me, see, they'll do it not.
I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, worship
God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Here's a verse that is probably not in the Catholic Bible.
Okay.
I didn't double check this, but notice how he basically falls before him.
See thou do it not.
Don't worship me.
I'm just a man.
I am my fellow servants.
Look, if the pope had any ounce of integrity, when people bow down to worship him and kiss
his foot or whatever, he'd say, I'm your fellow servants.
You know, what are you doing doing that before me?
Isn't that what Peter did in the Bible?
Isn't that what you see here in Revelation?
And look, there is a tendency for people to kind of, I'm trying to think of the term for
it, overly, you know, basically respect people.
Obviously, we ought to respect the men of God, but, you know, sometimes people can be
on borderline worship with some people, even good people.
Right.
I mean, even within our movie and our pastor, Pastor Menes is a very well respected pastor,
but you know, sometimes people can take that a little bit too far.
And here's the thing, someone like Pastor Menes would say, see thou do it not.
It's like, I'm my fellow servants.
I'm just a man.
Okay.
And that's what we're seeing here in Revelation 19.
Now let's talk about the battle of Armageddon.
Notice what it says in verse 11.
So we talked about the glory and power of God, the marriage supper of the lamb.
Let's talk about the actual battle.
Verse 11, and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was
faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
This is referring to Jesus Christ here in Revelation 19.
Now go back to Revelation 16, Revelation 16, Revelation chapter 16 verse 15.
Behold I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments.
Remember we talked about garments earlier being, you know, linen, clean and white.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments or his clothing lest he walk naked
and they see his shame.
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.
Okay.
Armageddon.
Now Armageddon is transliterated from Har Megiddo.
Megiddo is actually something that's mentioned in the Old Testament where it's transliterated
from.
Now go back to Judges one and let's look that up in the Old Testament real quickly.
Judges chapter one.
Judges one.
Judges chapter one.
And I want you to notice what it says in Judges one verse 26.
There's other references.
We're going to look up just one of these references.
There's an interesting thing here mentioned in Judges chapter one.
But notice what it says in Judges one verse 26.
And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and called the name thereof
Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day.
Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethsheon in her towns nor Tanakh in her
towns nor the inhabitants of Bethsheon in her towns nor Tanakh in her towns nor the
inhabitants of Bethsheon in her towns.
Nor the inhabitants of Dor in her towns nor the inhabitants of Ibliim in her towns nor
the inhabitants of Megiddo in her towns.
That's where you get Armageddon from.
Okay.
Har Megiddo.
Okay.
Megiddo in her towns.
But the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
And so notice Manasseh is not able to drive out the inhabitants of Megiddo.
Okay.
Verse 28.
And it came to pass when Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites to tribute and
did not utterly drive them out.
What's interesting to me is this though.
God will have no problem driving out the inhabitants with the battle of Armageddon.
He will have no problem whatsoever to defeat the enemies of God.
And it shows you kind of the weakness of man here in Judges Chapter 1.
There's reasons why they're not able to drive out the inhabitants because they already disobeyed
what God said.
But they are not able to drive out the inhabitants of Megiddo.
But at the battle of Armageddon, God's going to have no problem driving them out.
Why?
He is omnipotent.
He is all powerful.
Now in that battle of Armageddon in Revelation, he is going to have an army with him.
But does he really even need an army?
No he doesn't.
You say why?
God is omnipresent.
He's everywhere and all powerful.
So here's the thing.
I mean he could win the battle like this against five billion people.
I mean five billion devils.
If there was five billion devils, I understand there's one.
But if there is five billion Satans out there, he could destroy them just like that because
he is omnipotent.
He would have no problem whatsoever doing that.
He's omnipresent and omnipotent.
He doesn't need our help, but he is going to have an army with him.
Go to Revelation 19.
Go to Revelation 19 Verse 12.
Revelation 19.
Revelation Chapter 19.
It says in Revelation 19 Verse 12, his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were
many crowns.
And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.
And he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the word
of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean.
Why do they have fine linen, white and clean?
Because of the fact they believe on Jesus Christ and they're imputed with God's righteousness.
And we're going to be following him into battle.
I'm sure there's symbolism with the fact of soul winning.
How basically, you know, the Bible says when we go soul winning, the Lord is with us.
When you look at Mark 16 and Matthew 28, he is actually there with us.
Okay?
The Lord working with them.
It says in the last verse of Mark 16 in the soul winning little passage there.
And so when it comes to battle, honestly, we're just following the Lord into battle.
You say why?
Because God's ready to go soul winning every single day.
He wants us to go out.
We're just following him into battle.
Okay?
Now in this battle here in Revelation, he doesn't really need our help, but you see
there are people that follow him into battle.
Now turn in your Bible to Psalm 149 right in the middle of your Bible is the book of
Psalms Psalm 149, the second to last Psalm, Psalm 149, Psalm chapter 149.
And I believe Psalm 149.
I believe that God is referencing this battle here.
Obviously, you know, it comes to things that are prophetic.
People could have different opinions on this, but we'll look at what it says in Psalm 149.
And I believe that this is referencing this battle is taking place with Armageddon.
Notice what it says in Psalm 149 verse two.
Actually is that verse one?
Verse one.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him.
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
So notice how it says the children of Zion there in Psalm 149.
Go to verse four, verse four, and notice how be joyful in their King.
Okay.
Realize that Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign at the millennial reign, right?
The millennial reign, he's going to be reigning.
And so basically this battle of Armageddon is like right before that, where basically
Jesus is just taking over cleaning house.
He is going to be the King that's taken over.
Okay.
Verse four, for the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.
He will beautify the meek with salvation.
Let the saints be joyful in glory.
Let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two edged sword in their hand.
A two edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments
upon the people to bind their Kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron to execute
upon them the judgment written.
This honor have all the saints praise ye the Lord.
I believe this is in reference to this battle of Armageddon.
I mean, if it's not, it's referenced to some battle.
I mean, maybe some of you think it's a battle of Gog and Magog, but I want you to see there.
I think this is referencing the battle of Armageddon because it talks about following
him into battle in Revelation chapter 19, and it talks about how we're going to have
a sharp two edged sword in our hands to execute vengeance upon the heathen to bind their Kings
with chains.
Now go to Revelation 19, Revelation 19.
Revelation 19.
Now you say, brother, how much will we be doing at that battle?
I don't know if we're just kind of following him with basically a sword, and then we're
just kind of watching him destroy everything.
I'm not really sure.
I don't think it's really that specific.
I know he doesn't need our help.
I know none of us are going to get killed at the battle of Armageddon or anything like
that.
So I don't know if it's just the fact that we're armed, ready for battle.
We just kind of watch the Lord just destroy everyone.
And then with angels coming and fighting these battles, I'm not really sure.
But I do believe Psalm 149 is in reference to that battle of Armageddon.
Revelation 19 verse 15.
We'll close up here in a minute, and it says, and out of his mouth go with a sharp sword
that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of love.
Is that what it says?
A rod of love, a rod of iron, and he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God.
Rule them with a rod of iron.
What does that mean?
It means we're going to be obeying God's rules during the millennial reign.
And look, you know what?
If you break the rules, then you know what?
The punishment that God has meted out is going to be executed.
Eye for an eye, right?
In today's world, murder is very rarely punished with the death penalty.
But see, according to the Bible, that is punished with the death penalty.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
And look, people try to do away with the Old Testament laws and say, well, we're under
grace and everything.
And look, that's a whole other sermon.
Okay, I don't have time to wordy, you know, pretty much past time.
But look, you know, the Old Testament laws, the moral laws didn't change.
What is occurring in today's world is everybody in the world is living under countries that
are not perfectly following the laws of God.
And what you're seeing is chaos in the world.
Let me tell you something.
During the millennial reign, when we actually are following God's rules, we're going to
find out it actually works.
See, people scoff at the rules of the Bible, but did you know if we actually applied the
laws of the Bible and had those for every country, it would work.
Did you realize that when the death penalty I mean, when I was in college, I was taking
a criminology class, basically the study of crime and everything like that.
And the professor was talking about how whenever there's a highly publicized, you know, death
trial in the United States, whenever there's a really highly publicized one for someone
who maybe killed five people, and he's basically put on trial for death that he's going to
get the death penalty.
Whenever there's a highly publicized case, you can look at the numbers of murders that
are taking place during that time period and they drastically decrease.
Murders decrease quite a bit.
You say why?
Probably because people are afraid during that time period.
They're seeing somebody who murdered someone that's going to be given the death penalty
and they say, man, it's like, I don't want to do that.
And it makes you wonder what if, you know, basically every time somebody did wrong, you
know, the death penalty happened.
You know, it would remind people, hey, you know what?
God's serious about his laws and guess what?
Murder wouldn't be taking place like it is now.
For all the laws there are in the Bible, right?
People wouldn't actually be doing those things.
Why?
Because of tough crime.
That's the reality.
And so if God is going to rule with a rod of iron is what the Bible says, it's going
to be his laws.
Verse 16, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and
Lord of Lords.
Now the battle of Armageddon is talked about, and then once again, it's going to go back
to the marriage supper of the lamb for these last several verses.
So it's kind of the marriage supper of the lamb, the battle of Armageddon, then the marriage
supper of the lamb.
So let's look at these last verses, but I want you to notice we, we just, we just covered
the battle of Armageddon.
Did it, did it seem like a big battle?
I mean, this has been kind of a long sermon, but how much of it has been about the battle
of Armageddon?
You say, well, it's not really a battle.
I mean, it's really just Jesus Christ saying, okay, I'm just removing all of you.
I'm done with you now.
It's not this battle that's going back and forth like, it's like, all right, game one
goes to the Chicago Bulls, game two to the Phoenix Suns, game three to the Chicago Bulls.
Oh man, it's going to be a seven game series last second.
No, it's not.
I mean, Jesus is going to come and just clean house and destroy them immediately.
It's not a battle.
So, I mean, I say the battle of Armageddon, that's kind of the best terminology for it,
but just realize there is no match for the Lord our God because as this chapter says,
He is omnipotent and He is easily able to drive out the inhabitants of this time period.
Verse 17, and I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying
to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together
under the supper of the great God.
It's time for the fowls and the birds to eat the flesh of these people that have been destroyed,
that have been killed.
Okay, verse 18, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the
flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh
of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make
war against him that sat on the horse and against his army.
Verse 20, and the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and then
that worshiped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
In a few weeks, we'll talk about the lake of fire.
Verse 21, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse,
which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
So the fowls and the birds, they basically have a buffet.
You know, basically, what do you want?
Do you want a king?
Do you want a prince?
Do you want a Jezebel or a Judas, right?
You get your choices.
It's all going to be a bunch of reprobates, disgusting, filthy, evil people, right?
Now quickly go to Revelation 20.
Let's look at just a few verses, a few verses.
And so talk about the lake of fire, chapter 20, verse 1, and I saw an angel come down
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan and bound him
a thousand years.
Look, this is just an angel that's doing this to the devil.
Verse 3, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him
that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.
And after that, he must be loosed to little season.
So basically, you know, the devil's easily defeated.
And every time he wants to battle against God, I mean, it's laughable.
It's a joke.
I mean, only someone so prideful would think that he actually stands a chance when he's
getting destroyed just really easily.
But you know, pride is a major root of destruction.
So I don't know about you, but I don't see anything about jumping on the back of an asteroid
or a meteorite.
Maybe there's some symbolism there, you know, with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck that maybe
I'm just missing.
I don't know, you know, a little Aerosmith there, you know, I don't really see that.
So with Armageddon, what are we talking about?
We're not talking about just the end times in general.
It's a specific battle where the Lord basically just cleans house to prepare for the millennial
reign of Christ.
Let's close in the word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house and to see this
battle of Armageddon mentioned in Revelation Chapter 19 God and help us to understand these
things and try to apply end times prophecy to our lives and just learn the Bible.
All of your word is edifying to us.
We can learn from a God.
We just pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.