Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's so good to be here at One and All.

We want to welcome everybody at Rancho, at West Covina, here in St.

Demas.

Who's glad to be in the house of the Lord today, y'all?

Come on.

So glad to be here today.

Wow.

Well, my name is Cam, and I'm so glad to be with you, especially because I just love the Vines family.

I've known Jeff Vines since he was like five five.

Yep, not kidding.

Just kidding about that.

We did know him when he was working in Zimbabwe, though.

Our church supported that ministry in Zimbabwe.

We helped send him to New Zealand to plant a church in Auckland.

He came and served on our staff as a teaching pastor for a few years.

And man, we are so thankful to be able to send him to the mission field in California.

Just kidding about that.

Come on now, y'all.

Just kidding.

Just kidding.

Man, I'm telling you what, it's so great to see Delaney and his family this week.

We at Compassion Christian just love the Vines family.

Aren't you thankful to have Jeff Vines as your pastor here at One and All.

Thank the Lord.

Now I have my Sarah with me today.

She's sitting right over here on the front row and she grew up in San Diego.

So every time we get off an airplane in California she's like, do you feel that?

I'm like, no.

What?

She's like, that's what air is supposed to feel like right here.

You know?

Because then Georgia is thick.

I mean it is thick and tropical and humid and all of that.

And so look how happy she looks to be back home.

She's glad to be back home here.

Let me bring you greetings from the Huxford crew.

We got our little family and we're thankful for them and man we've got three sons who are all in ministry We have three when they got married.

We've got three daughters.

Thank the Lord And now we have 12 grandkids one for every tribe of Israel.

Somebody say amen, right?

Yes And we have a grand dog that we inherited when our son moved from Savannah up to Indianapolis To be a lead pastor there and you know when you adopt an adult dog there can be some adjustment issues And you know me and Tucker, we're both males, so we're trying to figure out who's the alpha dog, you know, at our house.

And that went on for a while until a couple months ago when he intercepted this trespasser.

Yeah, that water moccasin was sneaking up on us.

We're out in the yard working, and when he saw that snake, man, he attacked that thing, man, and started cornering him.

And I was kind of impressed.

To be honest, he kind of maybe sealed up on that snake, and I like that, man.

So his stock went up.

Me and Tucker are having a good time now.

That snake was feeling no joy when Tucker surrounded him, but let me tell you something, he ain't feeling nothing now, y'all.

You know what I'm talking about?

Died of blunt force trauma, as I recall.

Tucker and I sent him back to his father, the devil.

But anyway, we love our grand dog, but not as much as our grandkids.

And man, we got them all lined up here on this bridge to say, hey.

So anyway, you know, I thought when I get to be an older preacher, I'm not going to be one of these preachers who's talking about their grandkids all the time.

And then I had grandkids and I revised my positions.

My position is when you get to preach, you can talk about your grandkids.

Amen?

That's right.

That's the way we do it right there.

Now, I'm kind of just going on like this for a few minutes so y'all can get used to the way I talk.

This is not an impediment.

This is a South Georgia accent.

And I know y'all are linguistically skilled because you listen to a Tennessee accent almost every week, right?

And this is what the South Georgian sounds like.

I talk this way.

My kids talk this way, all my grandkids talk this way, but y'all don't feel bad when we get to heaven.

Everybody gonna talk this way, amen?

Now we're gonna dig into Revelation chapter 19 today.

So if you got your Bible, open it up to Revelation 19.

Who brought a Bible with them?

Let me see it.

Just hold it up.

You got a Bible, digital, analog, I don't care.

Good, good, good, good.

Now the rest of y'all gonna take my word for it.

You know I'm from Georgia, right?

And I never lied to you, but I'm kind of a trust and verify guy myself.

So man, if you got your Bible.

Look at Revelation chapter 19, because friends, I don't want you to miss this amazing image of the return of the king.

Everybody say return of the king.

Now listen, that title did not come from Lord of the Rings.

The guy that wrote Lord of the Rings got that from the book of Revelation.

So we're going to unpack a prophetic image of the reappearing of Jesus at the end of life on earth as humans have known it since the garden of Eden.

when sin infected and broke our world.

And I'm so thankful to be preaching in this Essentials series we've been in for a while because I'm telling you, it is essential for you to believe that the King is returning and He's returning in power.

Amen?

And let me just say, buckle up, because this image in Revelation 19 is awesome, but it's also ominous.

For some of us, it's going to be the best news ever.

And for some of us, it's going to be a dire warning, kind of like a tornado warning.

You ever heard one of those?

A tornado warning is hard news, but good news.

Because when you hear one, your life is in danger.

And man, you need to get somewhere safe quick, and you would be really wise to do that as soon as possible.

Because friends, the return of the king is not going to be good news for everybody.

And if you know that, just go, mm-hmm, that's the truth.

Now friends, did you hear about the little Christian lady who got kind of semi-attacked by a skeptic because of her confidence in the Bible?

And this skeptic asked this little lady, so you believe in the Bible, huh?

She said, yes, I do.

He said, do you believe all the stories in the Bible are true?

She said, I believe the Bible from Genesis to maps.

All right, if you don't have a paper one of these, there are maps in the back of it.

Okay?

And so what she's trying to say is, man, I believe the whole thing beginning to end.

I believe everything in the Bible.

He said, do you believe the story in Jonah and the whale?

She said, well, it doesn't say it was a whale in the book of Jonah, but yes, I believe that story is true.

And the guy said, well, how did Jonah live three days in that whatever it was underwater?

And she said, I don't know.

He said, I thought you said you believe the story.

She said, I do believe the story.

I just don't know how he lived in there for three days.

When I get to heaven, I'll ask him.

And the skeptic said, well, what if he's not in heaven?

She said, you ask him.

Now, that confidence in heaven has been a huge factor for a lot of people for a long time.

And I love what C.S.

Lewis said about this.

C.S.

Lewis, one of the greatest thinkers of the last hundred years, he said, man, if you read history, You will find that the Christians who did the most for this present world were just those who thought the most about the next.

I mean, think about the apostles themselves who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, and then the great men of the Middle Ages, and the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade for the first time in human history.

All left their mark on earth precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven.

He said, it is since Christians have largely ceased to think about the other world.

that they have become so ineffective in this world.

The idea is if you aim at heaven, you get earth thrown in.

And if you aim at earth, you don't get either one.

Now, it's ironic to me that the more believers think about the next world, apparently, the more effective we become in changing this world.

Now, a few years ago, I heard a professor from Harvard say, you know, I just think that Christians talk too much about heaven.

And I'm like, woman, what planet have you been living on?

Because you didn't find that out in a church, because I think the problem in most churches is that followers of Jesus don't think too much about heaven, they think too little.

Now, I love to teach about heaven.

It's exciting for me to think about where every follower of Jesus will awaken one moment after you die.

And friends, the passage we're going to study today in Revelation 19 is about the event that will trigger final justice being done on this planet.

comprehensively.

It will trigger the restoration of the earth to how it was in the Garden of Eden as God created it.

And it will trigger the beginning of life in heaven for every follower of Christ when the King returns.

Now, I just finished teaching at another church for three weeks in a row on heaven, and it got me really looking forward to going there, but not early.

Amen?

Don't want to go early.

I mean, the last thing in the world I want to hear from Jesus when I show up in heaven is, what are you doing here?

You're not going to be here for a long time, son.

You had work to do.

What happened?

So when my race is run, I'm ready to go to heaven.

Amen?

When my race is run.

Now, one of the leaders at that church told me, he said, Cam, I don't think I've ever even heard a message on heaven before.

Well, he has now.

He's heard three of them.

Another person came over to me after the first message and said, Cam, you know, I've been through a really hard time this year, and I just realized while you were speaking that I'm not ready to meet the Lord.

So I put my arm around him and said, come with me.

And man, I introduced him to one of our decision counselors.

Like you could meet after this service right down front.

And man, they started sharing the gospel with him and talking to him about how he can put his faith in Christ and repent of his sins and have a life-changing relationship with Jesus and be baptized into Christ so he would be ready to see the Lord.

Another guy said, Cam, I have a question about heaven.

Where do we go between when we die and the return of Jesus?

I mean, do we go straight to heaven?

Do we go into a holding pattern somewhere?

Do we sleep dead in the grave?

Or do we go to purgatory like my Catholic friends say?

I mean, you've got to know there's not one word in the Bible about purgatory.

And so let me share with you what I shared with him.

And this may be new news for you.

And if it is, I'm telling you, it is essential that you understand that eternity is on the horizon for everyone the moment you die.

Amen?

You know, there's a fairy tale out there that when you die, you're just dead like a dog, or if you've been really sinful, dead like a cat.

That's a fairy tale.

That's a fair, Jesus proved that when he rose from the dead in history.

Man, I'm telling, did you hear about the lady that was teaching about heaven in the children's church at her church?

And she's trying to get the kids into it.

She says, okay, let me see the hands of everybody who wants to go to heaven.

And everybody raised their hand except one little kid.

And she was kind of shocked by that.

So she said, okay, everybody now, everybody who wants to go to heaven, raise your hand.

And everybody raised their hand except that one little boy.

And she was a little concerned.

So she went to him and said, honey, don't you want to go to heaven when you die?

And he said, oh, when I die, yeah, I thought you were trying to get a group up to go right now.

Now listen, everybody wants to go to heaven when they die.

Not everybody is ready to make that trip today.

And just so you're not surprised at what happens if you were to pass from this world today, like a missionary friend of mine did last week, let me talk with you about what the future holds for everyone so that you can get ready before the King.

returns.

Everybody say before.

Before the king returns, because at that point, it'll be too late.

It'll just be too late.

Now, let this graphic line here represent your life.

This line begins, the moment you are conceived in your mother's womb.

Now, Jeremiah 1.5 said, God said to Jeremiah, I knew you, bro, I knew you and called you into the ministry from your mother's womb.

Sarah and I lost two children before they were born.

Scripture indicates that those two kids are alive and well waiting for us in heaven, and we're looking forward to getting to see them and know them.

Now, the arrow at the end of this line represents the historic biblical position that from the moment of your conception, like God, who created you in his image, you will never cease to exist.

You're going to be existing somewhere forever.

Now, the next point represents when you make your decision about Jesus.

Now, I say decision because you can decide for Christ or not, or just put it off.

Either way, you've made a decision.

Now here's how much of a gentleman Jesus is.

Because he loves you so much, he and his Holy Spirit are going to try to get your attention a thousand times in your life.

I mean, everything from a sense of awe that you might have one day when you're looking at this beautiful sunrise.

sunrise, a sunset over the water or the mountains, and you just say, man, this world we live in is, this can't be an accident.

Or maybe it'll be a loving, challenging conversation that you have with a friend.

Listen, I've got a friend who is a spiritual rebel.

And I mean, she's like the prodigal daughter, ran to Aruba, and she was talking to a bartender in Aruba, and the Holy Spirit used that bartender to convict her about going home.

And she went home and got saved, and she's married to a pastor in Georgia today, and praise the Lord, right?

Maybe the Lord will speak to you through a sense of dread because your car will start sliding and you're out of control and you're scared you're going to die or you feel a tightness in your chest and you think you're having a heart attack and you're afraid you could die and you just don't know where you'd go if you died.

Now friends, in Romans chapter 1, Paul says nobody will have an excuse for not deciding to follow Jesus.

Nobody.

He's coming at you all the time, beckoning to you, beckoning to you in ways that you can understand.

But, everybody say but, he's not going to kick the door down on your heart.

He's not going to kick the door down on your mind.

I mean, friends, listen, he only goes where he's invited.

Amen?

That's where Jesus goes.

Now, in Revelation chapter 3, Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, man, I'll come in and eat with him, and he with me will have fellowship.

He's not talking about religion.

Friends, the Jews had a religion when Jesus came to save them.

He's talking about a personal relationship with Jesus.

And if you open your heart to that faith and you take some steps, you, you could have a relationship with Jesus before you leave this building today.

Or you could decide to say, no thanks.

Decision's yours right up until the moment when you die.

Right up until the moment when you die.

And friends, that might happen for you like it happened for my mom at 89 years of age a couple summers ago when she just, you know, ran her race and closed her eyes on earth and opened them in heaven.

It might happen for you like my buddy Danny that I met in fifth grade church camp.

Amen.

He heard the gospel and put his faith in Christ and was baptized into Christ.

And then six months later, Danny's climbing in this pine tree and slips and falls onto an electrical wire and is electrocuted and dies and immediately opened his eyes in heaven.

Thank God he gave his life to Christ before he died.

Amen.

Amen.

Because, friends, the moment you die.

Earth time will stop for you and your eternal destination will be set.

You will have run out of time, not life.

You could be living right on all the way to eternity, but you will have made your decision even if it's just by default.

And now your life will continue on the path that you decided on.

that you chose when you were living here in San Dimas or Rancho or wherever you're living.

So if you gave your life to Jesus, your next stop is paradise.

Check that out.

Paradise.

Everybody say paradise.

Doesn't that sound good though?

I love the sound of that word.

You remember when Jesus was dying on the cross, he had a thief being executed on either side of him.

And one of those thieves decided to follow Jesus.

He spoke to Jesus.

He asked Jesus to save him.

He put his faith in Christ.

He said, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus said, you remember what Jesus said?

Today, not way off in the future in the clouds somewhere.

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

On the other side of Jesus was another thief who decided to reject him.

He decided to mock Jesus, put no faith in Jesus.

He wanted no relationship with Jesus.

And so when that man died, he went to Hades, which is what the Hebrew people call the abode of the dead, where his wish came true.

I mean, he'd been wishing these, you know, Holy Spirit would leave him alone, wishing these stupid believers would quit inviting him to church and talking to him about Jesus and praying for his salvation.

He just wished God would shut up and leave him alone.

And in Hades, his wish came true.

He died and was assigned to a place of isolation from God, isolation from all the good that comes from God, where he would never have to hear from or about God ever again.

Horrible place that he decided to go to.

when he decided to stiff arm the Lord Jesus.

Just like the other guy decided to go to paradise when he decided to put his faith in Jesus.

But like paradise, Hades is a real place.

Friends, we're not talking about a state of mind here.

This is a destination.

I mean, when Jesus was talking about heaven and hell, he wasn't talking philosophy.

Man, this is a geography lesson.

One of those two locations is on the horizon for every human being who has ever lived.

Now, the guy on the cross beside Jesus recognized his sin, recognized his need for a Savior, humbled himself, asked Jesus to be his forgiver, his leader, his Savior, and Jesus is like, will do.

Glad to.

And you could do that today.

If you've never done it, I hope you will.

And this is super important, friends, because I'm telling you, when you die, your eternal path is set forever.

And so there's some urgency about this.

I mean, if you lay your motorcycle down on a fatal crash today, you will immediately awaken in one of those two, in the destination you decided on.

So let me just hit pause for a second because I know there's some, you know, skepticism about this.

Let me say that how you perceive all this depends on which side of the death line you're on.

Now, if you're on the earth side of that deadline, then here's how it'll look.

I lay my motorcycle down.

I die tomorrow.

10 years from now, Jesus comes back.

My sons will all say, wow, dad died 10 years before the return of Christ.

But I won't see it that way because I'll be on the eternity side of that line.

And you know, Albert Einstein postulated that earth time is a dimension of the creation.

That God created time when he created the world.

You know, the time is specific to the space-time continuum of the creation of God.

And then once you die and you're on the eternity side, well, then earth time no longer applies to you.

And honestly, I've never been on that side before.

So I can't say exactly how that works.

But, everybody say but.

But.

From the earth side, you will perceive a passing of time.

that started when Jesus ascended into heaven 2,000 years ago and has continued up to this point and will continue until the Lord Jesus returns, which is the next big event.

But have you ever heard anybody say, well, it's been 2,000 years.

Jesus hasn't come yet.

I mean, come on, you still waiting for that?

You know, the Bible says to God, a day is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is as a day.

So from the eternity side, how much time has passed since the ascension of Jesus?

A couple of days.

Not to God.

You know why he's so patient with his return?

He's waiting for you.

He's giving you time and opportunities to make sure you're in a safe place when the king returns.

Now, friends, the next big event on the calendar here is what the Greeks called the teleological eschaton.

It is the completion of life on this planet.

Revelation 19 describes this as the climactic return of the king.

Now, the Bible seems to indicate that there will be a number of events leading up to the return of Jesus that will happen on earth.

You know, from our perspective, because we're on the earth time side, but for everybody who's on the eternity side, it'll happen all at once for them.

Now, there are a number of views about how the end of things will come.

And friends, there are really devoted believers who love Jesus and love God's word, who don't necessarily agree on how all this will happen.

So let's just stick to the basics.

The Apostle Paul said it will begin with the rapture of the church.

Everybody say rapture.

Now that's a word that's not found in the Bible.

It's not found in the Bible anywhere.

That's a translation of a Latin word which means to catch up.

And what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4 is that the Lord Jesus will return and miraculously and dramatically catch all of the followers on earth up into heaven.

Literally a billion plus people will suddenly miraculously be taken up with Christ into heaven.

Jesus said in Matthew 24, two gods will be working in the field.

One will be taken, the other will be left behind.

And that will lead, that rapture of the believer, you know, taking out the holy people out of this world will cause our planet to devolve into chaos, which is what the scripture calls a time of tribulation.

And friends, it will last for years.

And it will be so long and so bad.

That many mockers will return to Christ because they've heard messages like this and they thought, man, I just blew that.

They had this little bald-headed preacher from Georgia preaching and, you know, saying demons, I just blew that knucklehead off.

Where was that church?

Where's that Bible at?

And then they'll come over here to, you know, one and all and the place will be empty because we'll all be in heaven, but there'll be Bible playing all over the place, right?

And they'll read Revelation and go, oh, that's what he was talking about.

Now, this tribulation is not necessarily a curse or some weird phenomenon.

You know what it is?

It's the absence of righteousness.

You ever seen a family with an absence of righteousness?

A business with an absence of righteousness?

It's chaos.

I mean, just imagine what our country and our world would have looked like during the COVID pandemic.

If all of the care, all of the love, all of the food, all of the medical care, all the blessing that came from churches like this one and around the country, imagine if all that was just gone, just absent for seven months, much less seven years of that.

And then the scripture indicates that history will culminate with the return of King Jesus and he will invoke the final judgment.

You know how Jesus described it in Matthew 25?

He said, it'll be like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats, and then everyone will face the judgment of Jesus.

Followers of Jesus will appear at what's called the judgment seat of Christ, whereby God's grace, there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

Somebody say, praise the Lord.

I'm dude if you're in Christ man you looking forward to that day now does that mean we're going to be flawless absolutely not does that mean our sins are forgiven because they're under the blood of Christ absolutely true somebody say amazing grace that's the reason why we call it amazing right and then Paul says in Romans 14 and in 2nd Corinthians 5 that every follower of Jesus will then have their the quality of their life assessed that Jesus will determine the quality of your service, the quality of your generosity, the quality of your contribution will be evaluated and rewarded, some way more than others.

At the same time, Revelation 20 says that the unbelievers will stand before the great white throne judgment.

And sadly, because these folks, you know, decided to reject God's every approach.

Well, they don't have a relationship with Jesus, which means they don't have an advocate to speak up for them at the judgment.

There's no savior to save them because they decided against that by rejecting the only one who can save.

Now, at this point, the Bible talks about an amazing quantum leap in reality.

Peter talks about this.

The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3, he talks about the purging of the earth, to how our entire universe will be purged.

purged of sin and corruption and dysfunction.

Everything that is contrary to God's will for the world he created will be purged with fire, leaving the earth renewed and restored and renovated.

You know what the scripture calls the new earth on which there will be a new heaven.

And friends, when you die, it will seem like all of this just happened instantaneously for you on your arrival in paradise because you're in eternity and there's no time there.

Time is not a factor for you.

All of this will seem to compress into just a moment of time.

But if you're a believer and you're still alive on earth when the King Jesus returns, friends, when he steps down on the Mount of Olives, Every believer on this planet will be gathered to him there.

All the saints from heaven will be gathered there.

All will witness the end of this world of sin and a new earth where heaven will be on the new earth created.

And it is going to be a wonder.

It would be like if you were a participant in Genesis chapter 1 at the recreation of the world.

But if you're in Hades, because you decided not to follow Jesus, then you, along with everyone in Hades, will be assigned to hell, where your wish will come true.

You won't ever have to deal with God again.

And you will go where people go who decided to reject the love, the grace, the forgiveness, the salvation that only Jesus could offer.

and decided to reject it over and over and over again.

So here's the urgency that we talked about a few moments ago.

You're going to make that decision way back, way back over here before you died while you were living in San Dimas, California.

And that decision is going to affect your eternal destiny forever.

Now, I know this is a lot.

And it sounds like hell's getting a lot of play here, and that's true.

Friends, Jesus taught, he taught more about hell than he taught about heaven.

You know why?

Because he knew it was a location, not a metaphor or a state of mind, but a place, and he didn't want anybody to ever go there.

I mean, he created hell for the devil and his angels, not us.

And friends, that's why Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem and then died on a cross in Jerusalem and then rose from the dead right outside the city of Jerusalem to make sure that nobody ever had to go there.

But it's your decision.

So in Revelation, John gives us this glimpse of what the return of the king will be like and what the final judgment will be like.

And he gives us this, not to scare us, but just to inform us so that we would not underestimate the importance of responding to the grace of God when you can.

Because friends, listen to me.

The next time you see Jesus, he will not be like that little baby that we celebrate at Christmas time.

And he will not be like that little boy that had to flee Bethlehem with his parents to Egypt to keep King Herod from assassinating the whole family.

And he will not be coming to us meek and mild as a shepherd like we see in the gospels when he wept for people who were destroying their lives because they were living like sheep without a shepherd.

No, no.

The next time you see him, he will be like we see in Revelation 19, the conquering king.

And you know what?

For many of us, we'll just be celebrating that.

We'll be thinking, wow, I've been waiting for this day all my life.

Praise the Lord.

The Lord has returned.

Because you decided to give your life to Christ.

And you put your faith in him.

And you were baptized into Christ so that everybody would know where you stand.

Or you will face him as a conquering king who has come to submit every spiritual rebel and then judge the living and the dead.

And John writes this so we'll know.

This storm is coming.

He's coming in power, man.

Prepare yourself.

Prepare yourself because eternity is not just on the horizon for everybody.

Eventually, Jesus will return and establish his kingdom on earth and then judge the enemies of God.

So quickly, let's just walk through Revelation chapter 19, this image of the return of the king.

Revelation chapter 1, you know, just like he did in Revelation 1, John in Revelation 19 is going to start talking about the appearance of the returning king.

He says in verse 11, I saw in heaven standing open, there before me was, I saw a door standing open, there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war.

Now notice how suddenly John just says, whoa, I was there and suddenly before me this door opened.

Remember, Jesus talks about this.

Jesus said, man, when I come back, I'll be coming like a thief in the night.

Nobody will see this coming.

You won't have time to make a decision when I return.

And then John says he saw a rider on a white horse, which is symbolic of power and victory.

And man, if you've ever read the book of Revelation, you know this is an image of Jesus.

And then that rider is called faithful and true.

Remember how many times God said this about Jesus while he was on earth?

I mean, that Jesus' baptism in Matthew chapter 3, after serving 30 years in obscurity, working with his dad in his carpenter shop, when Jesus came to the Jordan River and was baptized by John the Baptist.

Everybody heard this voice from heaven say, this is my voice.

my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Man, Jesus was affirmed by the voice of God because he had been faithful in high school.

He was faithful and true in high school, amen?

Hey, where's them high school students?

Faithful and true, amen?

Come on, man, faithful in his dating life, faithful in his relational life, faithful in his integrity as a business person, faithful in his relationships at home, in obscurity where he thought nobody would even see.

Faithful and true.

And then a few chapters later in Matthew 17 on the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember when God sent Moses and Elijah to encourage Jesus before he goes to Jerusalem for the cross and all that.

And again, he's got his disciples there and they all hear this voice from heaven say, this is my son whom I love.

With him I am well pleased.

Listen, please listen to him.

This is my son.

Listen to him.

Not just in obscurity, but this is at the peak of his popularity and success.

God affirms that Jesus was still faithful and true, undistracted by the seductions of fame and applause and success and opposition.

And then John writes about the authority of the returning king.

He said his eyes are like blazing fire.

Now again, this is symbolic language, but what he's trying to portray here is that Jesus knows everything about you.

He sees everything about you and loves you anyway.

He knows it all, and he's still for you.

He still wants to save you.

He still loves you.

I mean, it says, you know, his eyes are blazing.

Friend, no lie will get past him.

No fake is going to deceive him.

No bogus claim is going to impress him.

He sees and knows the innermost thoughts of your mind.

And man, he is waiting for you to come to him.

It says, then on his head are many crowns.

This is symbolic of his supreme authority.

You remember the last time the author of this book, John, saw Jesus before he died?

The Romans had crammed a crown of thorns on his head to humiliate him, to mock him, to manage him.

And you know what John's saying here?

There ain't gonna be no managing him when he comes back.

He's coming in power.

He's coming with authority, man.

You will not be able to deal with him.

Yeah.

And then John says he has a name written on him that no one knows but him and but he himself.

Now back in the ancient world, there was this superstition that if you knew somebody's actual name, there was a way for you to demonically hack them and use their name against them.

But apparently the king's real name is incomprehensible to every enemy, but his followers all know his name.

Look at verse 13.

He was dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name was the Word of God.

Whose blood was his robe dripped in?

His own blood.

The blood he shed on the cross as the apex expression of love for undeserving people like you and like me.

I mean, no greater love has any man than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.

That's how Jesus thinks about you.

He wants you to be his friend.

He laid down his life for you.

And because he did, look at the allies of the returning king in verse 14.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses.

And again, this is symbolic language, symbolic of power and victory.

And these are believers now who are dressed like this because their battle has already been won.

These are our people from heaven returning with the king.

They're dressed in fine linen and white and clean as an ancient image of purity.

And another reminder that man, when you were in Christ, there is no conflict.

condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

Amen?

Because though our sins were as scarlet, he washed us white as snow.

Amen?

And so when he returns, everybody who put their faith in him will be present with him at the end as the old earth is being replaced by the new earth on which heaven will be.

And look at verse 15 and 16.

This is the outcome of the returning king.

Out of his mouth.

Comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

Now again, this is symbolic language.

This is not some monstrous image of a warrior with a broadsword sticking out of his mouth.

But do you remember what the sword of the Spirit was called in Ephesians chapter 6?

It's the Word of God.

And this is symbolic of the fact that Jesus is the Word of God, and His Word will have the final victory over every enemy at His return, every mocker, every enemy.

It says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

Those who love Him will kneel and bow and confess with joy, and those who don't will have to admit He is the King of kings because He will rule them with an Iron scepter.

and tread the winepress of the fury.

of the wrath of God.

You ever wonder when justice will finally come?

I mean, what about those 62,000 Christians who were killed in Nigeria last year by people who hate Christians?

Is justice ever going to come?

I mean, for our friends, our Christian brothers and sisters who are suffering today in Iran, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in India, is justice ever going to come?

Oh yeah, it's coming.

It says on his robe and on his thigh, he has his name written.

He is the King of kings.

He is the Lord of lords.

Friends, when Jesus returns, he will return as the ultimate power on this planet, and every knee will bow to him.

He will be surrounded by everybody who decided to declare their love for him, their faith in him, throughout all the generations.

He will bring justice to those who have dishonored him and his Father's kingdom, who have left a trail of dehumanizing pain in their wake.

And he will finally set everything right in this world for the first time since the Garden of Eden.

Now, John does not write this to frighten you.

He writes this to attract you, to beckon to you, please come.

Don't think that you're equal to Jesus.

Don't think that you're equal to God.

That's crazy.

Don't let this storm sneak up on you.

And I think that final judgment is on the horizon.

So prepare yourself.

Call his name.

Come be saved.

Come be saved before your time runs out.

Now, don't despair.

I mean, you might be thinking, oh, I've waited so long.

I've wasted so much of my life.

I've done so much wrong.

I've run 90 miles an hour in the wrong direction for so long.

Who would save me?

Jesus would.

Jesus knew all that before he went to the cross and died for you, man.

His grace is greater than our disgrace.

Amen?

And praise the Lord.

Don't doubt.

Listen, man, no matter how dark our world gets, God's world is still true.

The king.

will return and make all things right.

Jesus proved this when he predicted his own death.

He said, I'm going to die in three days.

I'm going to die.

I'll be in the grave for three days.

Then I'm rising from the dead and pulled it off.

Now, I don't know about you, but anytime somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I'm with him.

I'm with him, y'all.

I'm just saying, don't doubt that.

And don't delay.

Don't delay.

Listen, the devil doesn't how to get you to reject Jesus?

All he's got to get you to do is put it off.

Just next week.

Let me think about it.

I'll make a decision next week.

I'll wait until Pastor Jeff gets back and preaches a really good sermon.

Then I'll do something about that.

Man, don't put off making a decision until it's too late.

Listen, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he rose from the dead and that what the Bible says about him is true, why would you wait an hour, much less a week?

Give your life to Him.

Why would you do it?

Today is a day of salvation.

Amen?

I wish y'all could meet my friend Cliff.

Cliff is a military guy.

He's gotten soft though.

He got out of the military a few years ago and he's really soft now.

He only does 500 push-ups a day now.

Now he used to do 1500 push-ups a day and that was when he was tight, but now he's gotten softened up a little bit.

You know, he's on staff at our church in Savannah.

He's one of our pastors and I just thank God for Cliff.

I asked Cliff, I said, dude, how did you come to He's like, Pastor Cam, what's the matter?

I grew up in a home that did not honor God at all.

He said, man, I grew up with no moral teaching, no church background.

I grew up wild as a buck.

Bro, it's like I was raised by wolves.

Which, of course, led him to a life of sexual debauchery and relational and financial chaos.

And then he said, I joined the army hoping I'd get straightened out.

They sent him to Germany.

Then his mama got sick and the pain just piled on.

And he said, when I was at the lowest point, a buddy of mine invited me to go to church with him.

He said, my hand to God, I had never been in a church until I was an adult in Germany with the army.

And this brother took me to church, and that preacher was preaching on the price of sin.

And that first week, he was talking about judgment and hell.

And he said, Cam, that dude was cranked up.

And he said, man, I'd never heard any of this before.

I'd never heard a word of it, and I got hit.

Man, I got hit.

I mean, I recognized the truth of what that old man was saying, and it scared me.

So I went back the second week.

And the second week I went back, he's talking about the cross and the love of God and how Jesus defeated sin, hell, and the grave by his sacrifice and his resurrection for our sin.

And then I went back the third week and he's talking about amazing grace.

He was talking about that unmerited favor, that undeserved love that you receive from Jesus that was offered by Christ to anybody who would put their faith in him and be baptized in him.

Jesus said, if you believe and are baptized, you'll be saved.

You don't deserve that.

You don't earn that.

None of us do.

But that's the gift he wants to give in his grace.

And Cliff said, man, when I heard that, bro, I humbled myself.

And I went forward, and I gave my life to Jesus.

Now, this guy was an army ranger, hard as nails, right?

But the truth of this eternal reality and God's loving grace broke through his hard heart.

He said, you know, Cam, my life was so stinking hard.

I mean, I grew up in poverty.

You know how exhausting that can be?

I had no respect for my dad.

I didn't even know the man.

Not a lot of love in my family.

My life was just hard.

He said, I thought I was living in hell already.

And then I heard about that.

And that it's going to go on for eternity.

And there's been a rescue mission sent to rescue me.

Nope.

I ain't going to hell, son.

I mean, if there's a rescue possible, I'm in.

Tell me which way to go.

And on that third week, man, he started a conversation that led him to a life-changing relationship with Jesus, where he humbled himself and put his faith in what Jesus did for him on the cross.

And then he was baptized into Christ.

You know, baptism is a drama that Jesus invented, where you get to play the part of Christ in a reenactment of the death.

burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

And you know what happens when you give your life to Christ and you're baptized into Christ?

Not behavior alteration.

A dead person dies and a new person comes to life.

Amen?

That's what happened for Cliff.

That's what happened for me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He received the promise of eternal life.

He received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

He found forgiveness and peace and joy and direction and a righteous purpose for his life that he had never had before and a reservation in heaven forever.

And he said, Kim, it was like a million pounds lifted off my heart.

I wish you could see Cliff today.

He's the first man in his family to ever graduate from high school, much less college, or get a master's degree.

Now he's working on a doctorate degree.

I'm not even a registered nurse, and he's working on a doctorate degree.

I mean, come on.

His kids are all going through college.

They're working on an advanced degree.

You know what they think of when they hear the word dad?

When his kids hear the word dad, they think affection, protection, discipline.

Respect, high hopes, high expectations from a godly, loving dad.

Why?

How could that kind of transformation take place in one generation?

I'll tell you why.

Because Cliff humbled himself and he made a decision about Jesus that reshaped him forever.

He put his faith in Christ, repented of his sins, was baptized into Christ.

He chose the narrow way.

that Jesus said leads to eternal life, not the broad way that leads to destruction.

He was already on that.

He veered off onto the path to eternal life.

And that's what some of you should do.

You should do it today.

You know it's true.

You've just been putting this thing off.

You know God has come at you over and over and over again, but your pride...

Your hesitation, your fear has caused you to, why don't you summon your courage today?

Humble yourself.

Do a cliff to it.

Give your life to the only one who can save you and then reshape you into the man or woman God created you to be.

Why don't you start that journey today?

Father, we're so thankful that we can.

We're thankful we're in this great church, Lord, where the Word of God is just proclaimed straight up, where your Holy Spirit is challenging people to act, where you're calling us to yourself again and again and again.

And I pray, God, that there are those here today, right now, who will decide to commit their life to Jesus, to come to the King, the only one who can save, the one who has proven billions of times the way he can bless the lives that are submitted to him.

And I pray, God, it'll start now.

Lord, I know we've got some folks who are going to be baptized here in a few minutes, but I pray, God, that number will swell as courageous, bold souls will come and surrender their lives to Christ.

And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus and all God's people said, amen.

Let's go.

Come on.