The Preserving Power of God | Revelation 14:1-5 | Richard Caldwell

Scripture

• Revelation 14:1–5

About this sermon

Introduction: We are still in a section of the book of Revelation that is an interlude. The 7th trumpet has sounded but we don’t see the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath until chapter 16. What we have in chapters 12-15 are the major personalities and the major movements of the last half of the tribulation period being set before us. We looked at the dragon — chapter 12 We saw the beast from the sea — the antichrist — in chapter 13 We saw the beast from the earth — the false prophet — in chapter 13 Now, after the two dark chapters of 12 and 13, beginning in chapter 14, before the seven bowls of wrath are poured out, John is given a vision that reminds us that the end is not in doubt. WE ARE REMINDED OF GOD’S POWER TO PRESERVE HIS PEOPLE. Now, to be clear, God preserves His people throughout our lives in this world even if we should meet with martyrdom. ESV Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ESV Philippians 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ESV Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. But one of the ways that THAT truth is demonstrated is by God’s ability to deliver His people PHYSICIALLY when it is His will to do so. And that is what we see in our verses this morning. TWO SIDED SPIRITUAL COINS: Throughout the Scriptures we see examples of works done by God that He has chosen to make synergistic in nature. THE STRENGTH FOR LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ESV 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. THE PRODUCTION OF THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD ESV 2 Peter 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. Well, another two-sided spiritual reality is DIVINE PRESERVATION AND HUMAN PERSEVERANCE. 1. PERSEVERANCE ESV Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ESV Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ESV 1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-- unless you believed in vain. ESV Hebrews 3:6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. ESV Hebrews 3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ESV Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. 2. PRESERVATION ESV Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Topics

• Bible Study
• Prophecy & End Times