THE PASTOR’S POINTS
sermon ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
Genesis 3:15, John 3:16-17, Revelation 16-21
December 7, 2003
All the history of man, including his future, can be summed up by the two ends of our texts. In the beginning there was a Contest in the Garden; in the end there will be a Conquest at Armageddon.
The Contest in the Garden
Come with me back to the dawn of time. The earth was pristine. God created, and it was all good. He placed man in the garden, and three paragraphs later sin entered the picture, and man’s rebellion began.
The contest wasn’t so much between Eve and Satan, or Adam and Satan; the contest was between God and Satan. The prize was the right to the souls of all men. Satan had already fallen and been ejected from heaven. He intended to destroy any and all of God’s creation he came across. Satan slithered into Eden and tricked Eve. The deception of Eve tempted Adam to willingly sin against God. And Adam fell!
For this, the Lord judged the serpent:
Genesis 3:15 (NIV) 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
With the judgment began another contest, described as "enmity" or hostility between the devil and all mankind. Within the text of Genesis 3:15, there is a promise that a deliverer, a Savior - the offspring of woman, a virgin-born child - would come to crush the head of the serpent. This is the promise of Messiah. Until then, there would be war…a struggle for souls.
Now, the victory has already been assured (God judged sin on the cross), but the war is still raging; and each of us is a contestant in the war.
This contest, which started in the Garden of Eden, will end on the plains of Megiddo, at a time of God’s choosing.
It will begin with the largest gathering of the world’s forces ever seen. They will be inspired by Satan to fight against God; it will end with one word from the risen Christ…
The Conquest at Armageddon
Revelation 16:16 (NIV)
16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon….
Revelation 19:11-21 (NIV)
11I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."
19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
Revelation 21:1-27
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
In between Eden and the New Heaven and Earth there stands a cross, dividing time and eternity:
The Cross of Calvary
John 3:16-17 (NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
This was God’s great mission to lost mankind-not to condemn us; our sins already did that - His mission was to save us from that condemnation. It was the greatest mission ever attempted. And it was not just attempted, it was finished on that cross! Jesus said, "It is finished." (John 19:30b)
Every sin ever committed by anyone, from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, down to this very moment…and even in the future…every sin of every age was nailed to that cross two thousand years ago! The forgiveness of God has been extended to every human being who ever, or will ever live.
The cross is the filter through which God sees everything. The cross defines our relationship with God. God looks at the Garden of Eden, and He sees the cross - He sees Messiah covering the sin of Adam. Every person who lived before the cross either believed God’s promise of a deliverer who would crush the head of Satan and make forgiveness possible, or disbelieved it! That faith or unbelief in the cross is what God sees when he looks back before the cross.
What about today? The cross also defines our relationship to God. The cross is what God sees today when He looks at you and me. Our faith in what Jesus did covers us with His blood and makes us pure; unbelief causes God to see our sin instead, and the nature of God is to judge sin. He did that at the cross when Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world, and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
If you would rather God see the cross when He looks at you, rather than your sin, your next step is to simply ask Him for that; you confess that sin to God and He gives you forgiveness that removes your sin as far as the East is from the West When God looks at you He sees the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses you from all sin .
Now, if you have been there - if you have asked for, and received a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, that places you at the next crossroad of life…
A Child of God Should Also Be a Partner with God
Along with forgiveness comes (or should come) a growing understanding that God not only reached out to bring you to Himself, but that He has also passed the ball to you in reaching out to others.
2 Corinthians 5:18…all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Isn’t it incredible? God has made you a partner in the family business! This is the point of the Greatest Mission ever…that we might take part in it. You can do that…and should. There are many ways:
" If you have not come to Christ, the mission has come to you this morning; respond to the invitation and be saved today. Do not be one of Satan’s casualties in his losing contest.
For those who already know Christ:
" You can give to missions…make a stewardship commitment to reach the lost.
" You can pray for missions, and for those who need to hear about Christ…make a commitment to be a prayer-warrior for evangelism around the globe.
" You can be a missionary…perhaps to go around the world, but certainly no less than to go to your own family, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
The greatest mission ever; and now we are called to be "on-mission" - giving, praying and sharing the truth with others.
