Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 18

Revelation 20:1-6

Finally we come to Revelation 20, possibly the most abused chapter in the whole Bible. It’s the chapter—the only chapter in the whole Bible—where we hear of a “millennial” reign, that is, a 1,000 year reign, of anyone. The word “millennium” simply means “a thousand year period.” What does this thousand year period refer to? Let’s take a closer look at the text.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan,

Not that we need to identify the angel in these verses, because it can just be a symbol of God’s action. But this particular angel or “messenger” who came down from heaven fits well with the Lord Jesus Himself. He “came down from heaven” when He was incarnate as a man. He uses that phrase about Himself in John 3. This angel has the key to the bottomless pit, just like, back in chapter 1, the Lord Jesus said, “I have the keys of Hades and of death.” The dragon is expressly identified for us as the “serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan.”

It’s what comes next that has caused so much confusion. …and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

Let’s start with the chain. What is the chain with which the angel binds the devil? If you remember, Jesus once used similar language about the devil after casting out a demon: How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. There Jesus compares the devil to a strong man, and Himself to a stronger man who has come in and bound the devil, allowing Jesus to pull people out of the devil’s control. Jesus was already doing this during His time on earth, culminating in His death on the cross and His ascension into heaven. That fits well with what it says here, that the devil is bound “so that he should not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were finished.” He isn’t completely powerless during this time. He isn’t completely restricted. But prior to Jesus’ coming, the nations, that is, the Gentiles, had been so deceived by the devil that practically none of them believed in the true God. Practically all the Gentiles were in the devil’s kingdom. But after Christ came, the Gospel went out and the devil wasn’t able to keep the thousands and the millions of Gentiles from being rescued out of his kingdom and brought into the Holy Christian Church. So the chain that binds the devil during the thousand years would be the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.

The devil is bound for a thousand years, with the preaching of the Gospel continuing in the world, that whole time. Since 1,000 is 10x10x10, that number of completeness that we’ve seen throughout the book, and since these numbers are mostly symbolic anyway, the safest conclusion is that the 1,000 years aren’t a literal number of years, but the full amount of time from Christ’s ascension until the Last Day, or at least, until shortly before the Last Day. In other words, the 1,000 years is the entire New Testament period.

But after these things he must be released for a little while. It’s hard to tell if that releasing of the devil happens toward the end of the 1,000 years or right after the 1,000 years, but in the end, it doesn’t change the interpretation. Toward the end of the world, the devil has to be released for a little while, or for a short time. He has to be released to deceive the nations once again. In other words, false doctrines will proliferate, the nations will be deceived and led astray, while the preaching of the true Gospel will be so diminished in the world that it will be difficult if not impossible to find.

Jesus spoke of the same thing in the Gospels: Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold… Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect… And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. It seems clear that John’s vision is referring to the same thing Jesus was talking about. A little while at the end, a time of tribulation that is shortened, because the deceptions of the devil and the resulting tribulations will be so bad that even the elect will barely survive.

We certainly seem to be in such times. False doctrine has always been around, but it’s ramped up considerably over the last several decades. The deception has captivated the nations, like putting men under a spell. But that’s also a punishment from God, because, as Paul says in 2 Thess., people are allowed to be deceived, because they didn’t love the truth.

Let’s look at a few more verses about the thousand years:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

John sees thrones and someone sitting on them, and judging, serving as priests of God, and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. They are the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image. Remember, by John’s time, Christians were already starting to be persecuted and executed by the Roman Empire. St. Paul is said to have been beheaded in Rome, along with many other faithful Christians who wouldn’t worship the false gods of the Roman Empire. All the Christians saw with their eyes was death. But John is given a vision of the reality they couldn’t see. Those who had died in the faith hadn’t really died at all. Their souls lived! They reigned! They served as priests of God throughout the whole 1,000 years, throughout the whole New Testament period. As Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And he who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

The “first resurrection” is the same one Jesus referred to back in John 5. We recently heard those words on the Sunday when we considered the raising of the young man of Nain, if you remember. It’s the one Jesus does here and now through His Word as He brings people from spiritual death to spiritual life. The “second death,” that is, eternal death in hell, has no power over those who have already been raised to spiritual life through faith in Christ.

Now, there’s more to say on these verses and on the thousand years, but I think that’s enough for tonight. We’ll pick it up here next week. For tonight, remember this: The thousand years mentioned in this chapter of Revelation represent the New Testament period. The chaining of the devil symbolized that he would be hindered for much of this New Testament period from deceiving the nations; many would come to believe in Christ Jesus. Those who come to believe take part in the first resurrection, and even after they die, even if they die a cruel death at the hands of the wicked, they aren’t dead at all. They’re reigning with Christ right now and serving as priests of God in heaven. Let these symbols and pictures fill you with hope and comfort and encouragement! Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 17

Revelation 19:11-21

Several weeks ago we talked about the battle of Armageddon that never was. It didn’t happen. There was no battle, not really. The forces of evil lined up for battle, but they didn’t actually get the chance to fight, because God just came in and wiped them out. We see the same thing pictured before us this evening in slightly different language.

First we encounter a rider on a white horse. This isn’t our first encounter with Him. In John’s vision of the four horsemen, the rider on the white horse was just starting to ride out to conquer. He wore a stephanos, a wreath-crown on his head, showing that He would be victorious. We identified that rider as the Lord Jesus, who would spend the New Testament era building His Church through the preaching of His Gospel. Now we encounter Him again in this vision, and there can be no question that it represents Jesus.

The rider was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. Those same names had been applied to Jesus earlier in Revelation. Now His faithfulness and truth would be seen in making war against the forces of evil. It will be a just war, even as His judgment against His enemies is perfectly just and righteous.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, just as Jesus was described back in chapter one, representing His omniscience, and on His head were many crowns. These are the diadems, the crowns of the great emperors and symbols of claims to divinity. He wears many of them, because He has now spent the New Testament era expanding the “empire” of His Church, and His Gospel has conquered the whole earth, bringing in the elect from every nation.

He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. A name describes a person. Jesus has many descriptions that are revealed to us, but there are also things about Jesus that we simply cannot know or comprehend—how He can be true God and Man in one Person, for example. But we don’t have to know everything about Him. We only have to know the things He has revealed in His Word.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. This isn’t His own blood. It’s reference to a prophecy about the Christ’s final victory over all His enemies, recorded in the book of Isaiah: . Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.”

And His name is called The Word of God. There was that one name written on the rider that only He knows. But we have been told many of His names, including this famous one which only John uses: in His Gospel, in his first Epistle, and here in Revelation.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. This could be the angel armies. Or it could be all believers in heaven and on earth, lined up behind Christ the King, which, I think, makes the most sense. Fine linen, white and clean, was given earlier to the Bride of the Lamb, and all the saints were wearing white robes in earlier visions. But in the end, the armies don’t do any fighting. The rider on the white horse does it all Himself.

Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Christ alone does the fighting with the sword that goes out of His mouth. That is the instrument of creation. It’s the instrument by which God upholds the universe. It’s the instrument with which God brings people from spiritual death to spiritual life, with which He sustains the faith of His people and calls the wanderers back to repentance. And it will finally be the instrument by which God brings all His enemies to justice, just as Paul says about the Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2 that the Lord will consume him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of His coming.

And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. There’s another name we are allowed to know. The rider on the white horse is King of kings and Lord of lords, the highest King, the highest Lord, who is King and Lord over everyone else who is called king or lord in the universe, whether human or angel or demon.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” Usually when we hear about a supper that God provides, including the Lord’s Supper, it’s a pleasant thing, intended for all people to come and eat the good things the Lord will provide, both physical and spiritual—the blessings He offers the world in the Person of Christ. But not here. Only the birds of prey are invited to this supper, because it’s a supper of flesh, a supper of God’s enemies. And yes, this is a graphic and gory picture. But so have been the executions of Christian martyrs over the millennia. All the violence that men have done will be brought down on their own heads in the end. They get away with it now, but they won’t in the end.

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. All God’s enemies—the secular Antichrist and the ecclesiastical Antichrist (the one within the Christian Church), together with the kings of the earth and their armies—are all gathered together to fight against God and against His army. This is no battle that would take place with guns or tanks or bombs, just as Christ won’t really return riding on a horse. These are all pictures of how God’s enemies will be lined up against Him and His true Church, determined to get rid of us once and for all. And I have to say, it seems like the world is alrighty lining up for battle. Between the secularists who openly deny God and want society to move on from religion entirely, and those, on the other hand, who still profess to believe in God but promote a false version of Him, with different standards of right and wrong and with a different way of being saved than through faith in Christ Jesus, most of the world has already gathered together for battle.

But there will be no actual battle. After all God’s enemies are gathered together against Him and His army, what happens? Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

When the world is finally ready to be done with the Lord and with His people, the Last Day will come upon them like a thief. The rider on the white horse will save the day. The Lord Jesus will come, with His holy angels, and with a word He’ll raise the dead. The sleeping saints will be reunited with their bodies and gathered to the Lord. The living saints will be perfected and gathered to the Lord and to them. And the Lord Himself will fight for us. With a word, He’ll bring destruction on all our enemies and send them to eternal punishment in the lake of fire burning with brimstone, otherwise known as hell.

Once again we’re confronted with the main message of the book of Revelation. The world will line up against Christ and His Church. Injustice will prevail on earth for a time, and it will look like the true Church can’t possibly survive. But be faithful until the end. Don’t lose hope. Don’t lose heart. Because in the end the Lord comes, and we win. And Jesus will come riding in on that famous white horse to save the day. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 15

Revelation 19:1-10

It’s time to rejoice again this evening, not only because of the content of the text before us, but also because there’s nothing here that’s difficult to understand. It’s all very straightforward and full of joy. First, the true Church will rejoice in God’s judgment against the false Church (which we heard about last week). And then, the Church will rejoice even more. Because the Bridegroom soon will call us, and the great wedding day will finally arrive for the Lamb and His wife.

I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia!”

The great multitude in heaven, made up of both saints and angels, cries out, Alleluia! We’re so used to singing that word. It’s hard to believe this is the only time the word is used in the whole New Testament, four times here in this chapter. It’s a Hebrew word, Hallelujah!, used throughout the Psalms, but always just translated, “Praise the LORD!” Praise Yah, Yahweh, the only true God, the God who inspired the Holy Scriptures and who is described in the Holy Scriptures! John’s use of the Hebrew word of praise here in Revelation shows the connection between the Old Testament Church and the New, that it’s really one great Church—all believers in Christ, either before He came or after.

Why is heaven praising the LORD? Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”

Glory, honor, and power belong to the Lord our God. But also “salvation.” He saves His people from their enemies. He saved us from sin, from death, and from the devil by Christ’s atoning death and by applying it to us through Baptism and faith. We already praise our God for that, day after day after day. But on the Last Day, the Church will praise Him for saving us from the false Church, the apostate Church, the great harlot, the Antichrist within the Church who “corrupted the earth with her fornication.” While pretending to teach the Christian faith, the apostate Church actually leads people to commit spiritual fornication, to trust in all sorts of false gods and a false version of Christ. Last week we heard about the final destruction of Babylon. Tonight we hear the Church’s response to that destruction. It’s one of joy and celebration. Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!

Ironically, there are two extensions of the Antichristian Church that often teach opposing lessons, both of which are wrong. On the one hand, you have people within the Church who are vindictive, who love to mock and ridicule and take haughty pleasure in the downfall of those whom they consider to be enemies. They may even seek to take revenge themselves against those who have wronged them. That’s wrong and unchristian. It’s a false version of Christianity. On the other hand, you have others who are so wishy-washy, so “evangelical” that they reject any notion of vengeance, any idea that God will actually punish His enemies. That’s equally wrong and unchristian. Here in this reading, we have the truth presented very simply. The saints and angels in heaven have been praying for judgment and for God’s vengeance on those who persecuted the saints. Back in chapter six the souls of the martyrs were crying out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Here in chapter 19, their question is finally answered. God will judge and take vengeance on the great harlot. And the Church in heaven will not mourn over it. It will rejoice, not arrogantly, not spitefully, but justly. Because God is just and demands justice. The only way to escape His just judgment is to take refuge in Christ Jesus, but the Antichristian Church taught people not to take refuge in Christ alone, and so the true Church in heaven will agree with God’s judgment against the Church that deceived people into disbelieving in His Son.

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”

The twenty-four elders, you recall, represented the whole Church of the Old and New Testaments, and the four living creatures represent the teachers of the Church. The Church in heaven praised God for judging the harlot, and the whole Church in heaven and on earth responds, Amen! Alleluia! The Last Day will not be a day when Christians are mourning over the destruction of the wicked. In the perfection of holiness, we will be rejoicing over the destruction of everyone who stood against our God.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!

More praise and rejoicing on the Last Day, even louder than before. Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! That is, He alone reigns. Now, for a time, the devil has a kingdom here on earth. He is the “prince of this world.” Now, for a time, darkness reigns, and the kingdom of the Antichrist prospers, and the Church on earth has to put up with living in enemy territory. But not forever. In the end, God alone will reign, and the devil and his allies will have no power at all.

The believers continue, Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

This is the long-awaited wedding banquet that Jesus talked about in His parables, the feast that the Father prepared for His Son, the wedding hall where the ten virgins waited with their lamps to receive the Bridegroom and His bride, the holy Christian Church. This is the resurrection of the dead, when Christ comes to take His believers to Himself in heaven. John again refers to Jesus here as the Lamb, the sacrificial Lamb who shed His blood in order to cleanse us from our sins so that we could stand beside Him forever in this perfect “marriage.”

St. Paul talks about this marriage in Ephesians 5: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

John pictures that spotlessness and holiness here, too: And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. What are the “righteous acts of the saints”? That’s not a good translation, actually. Literally, it’s the “righteousnesses of the saints.” The saints, believers in Christ, have a twofold righteousness. We have the righteousness of Christ that is given us in Holy Baptism, by faith, through the forgiveness of our sins. That is the righteousness by which we are justified. But we also have the beginning of righteousness that we call “sanctification,” righteous thoughts and intentions, righteous words and deeds, patiently bearing the cross and enduring the suffering that comes with being a Christian in an unchristian world. The Church will be forever dressed in that twofold righteousness, fine linen that God gave to her and enabled her to wear, not that she manufactured herself.

Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Blessed are those who are called! Now, when Jesus told that parable about the wedding banquet, many were called, but few were chosen, because many who were called didn’t want to come! But here the angel telling John to write down this trustworthy saying of God is talking about those who are called and who actually come, who actually believe in Christ and persevere in faith until the end. Blessed are they!, he says. Because this marriage supper of the Lamb is the best thing you can imagine, better than the best thing you can imagine. This is Paradise. This is what “going to heaven” is all about, the coming together of all believers of all times with Christ, the Lamb of God, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Lord.

And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!

John isn’t allowed to worship the created angel. Only God is to be worshiped. We should view the holy angels as fellow servants of John and of “his brothers who have the testimony of Jesus.” In a direct sense, that refers to the ministers who have been entrusted with preaching about Jesus as witnesses. In that regard, heavenly angels and human “angels” have the same task, to proclaim, not our own ideas, but the Word of God, and to proclaim, in particular, the Lord Jesus—His life, His words and teachings, His compassion, His atoning death, and His glorious resurrection. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That is, it’s proclaiming Jesus that is the heart and soul of prophecy, of all proclamation about God. If the preaching doesn’t revolve around Jesus, then it isn’t Christian preaching at all.

As we struggle with the world in these last days, prepare for the celebration that’s coming. It isn’t quite time yet for the full-blown, untainted rejoicing to begin. It isn’t quite time yet to celebrate. But we can anticipate the celebration, because it’s coming. When we know something awful is coming, we certainly know how to dread it ahead of time. But we know that something wonderful is coming: God’s final victory over the Antichrist and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Knowing that, let us continue to hear the call to attend the wedding supper of the Lamb. Let the certainty of that supper get you through the difficult days ahead. And let us not allow anything in this world to get in the way of our arrival at that feast. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 14

Revelation 18:1-24

We talked about Babylon last week. Let’s review. (Much of this will sound similar to what we talked about last week.) Babylon was the name of the actual city that persecuted the Church of Israel during Old Testament times, the city that actually conquered the people of Israel, destroyed Jerusalem, and held them captive for 70 years. Here in the Book of Revelation, “Babylon” is the symbolic name for the city of Rome, which was the actual city that persecuted the Church after the time of Christ, both from a secular angle as well as from a spiritual one.

And then Rome itself became symbolic of the Roman papacy and of the whole apostate Church, whether located in Rome or not. For nearly three hundred years, the Roman emperors persecuted the Christian Church, openly threatening, brutally torturing, and killing Christians by the thousands. After that, the Church got in bed with the Roman government, and for a time the outward persecutions ceased. But over the centuries the spiritual corruption and persecutions grew. And the Roman Church used the power of the Roman Empire to squash dissent, to commit every form of wickedness, to burn heretics at the stake, to silence the Gospel, and to bring a corrupted form of Christianity to the New World during the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Around the same time, the Church of England was formed, outwardly in opposition to the Roman Church, but in reality it shared many of the same false doctrines and false practices. They were and are part of the apostate Church, tied to the government, and they, too, put Christians to death. Other churches began to form, supposedly in “protest” against Rome, and yet they, too, were inspired by the glory of Rome and imitated many of her false practices. (The Lutheran Church, by the way, was not immune to the false ideas of the apostate Church, but they never put dissenters to death. But they have, at times, wrongly excommunicated teachers of the truth.) The Thirty Years War was waged in Europe in the 17^th century, still within the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire. And the Spanish Inquisition, which started already in the 1400’s and resulted in the torture and death of tens of thousands of people, lasted until 1834—less than two hundred years ago. Then you had other atrocities committed here in our country and in other parts of the world in the name of Christ, or under the cover of the Church, many of them committed against children. We’ve seen governments all over supposedly acting in the name of Christianity, committing atrocities, from Nazi Germany, to modern Russia, to the United States of America as it pushes abortion and LGBTQ agendas, not only here, but in foreign countries as well, all while still clinging to a veneer of Christianity, with our Roman Catholic president and most of our congress (nearly 90%!) being made up of men and women who identify as Christian.

Look at the havoc that has been wreaked in the world and the blood that has been shed in the world in the name of a false Christ as the Antichristian Church and the Antichristian government have worked hand in hand to corrupt the true Christian faith, to silence the saints, to punish those who hold to the true faith, and even to persecute unbelievers unjustly while acting in the name of Christ, thus giving a bad name to Christ and to His true Church!

What we see in tonight’s vision, very simply, is a prophecy of the imminent ruin of the apostate Church that is responsible for all this.

Just as in the previous chapter, John paints Babylon as rich, luxurious, glorious, engaged with all the nations of the earth, engaged in both politics and in business. She thinks of herself as a queen. No one can compare to her. No one can ever bring her down. She’s the envy of everyone.

That certainly fits with the Roman Church. It fits with the megachurches, too, and with the televangelists, and with all of the churches that have promised or taken pride in earthly size, wealth, prosperity, and strength.

But her plagues will come in one day. She’ll appear to be going strong until that day comes, and then she’ll receive the Lord’s judgments all at once. She’ll be burned with fire. Because strong is the Lord God who judges her…because in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.

In our time and place in history, we may not feel the weight of the apostate Church crushing us as other Christians have over the centuries. We don’t see in our modern times the burning of heretics at the stake, or the selling of indulgences, or any physical harm being done anymore by the Church, at least, not on a large scale. And the wealth that has always characterized the apostate Church isn’t as exclusive as it used to be, isn’t as drastic of a contrast as it used to be. There’s lots of wealth going around these days, especially in our country. But the harm done to souls by false doctrine and by false ideas of heaven, of hell, of the devil and his demons, of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of what it means to be a Christian, is as great as it has ever been. And the lack of physical persecution simply lulls people into a false sense of security, as if you no longer had anything to be watchful for or leery of.

The days of casual Christianity are over, where it’s a small part of a person’s life, a background reality, a family tradition, nothing more. Our opening hymn had each of us asking ourselves the pointed question, “Am I a soldier of the cross?” You need to be! We have to be so vigilant that we don’t become part of the apostate Church, knowing God’s Word better each day. And to those who are linked to a false-teaching Church, the Lord calls out in earnest, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. And as you’re being vigilant, also rejoice, because the false Church is about to fall, and the people of God will soon be safe from all her threats, from all her tricks, and from all her temptations. Babylon will surely fall, and those who live by faith in Christ Jesus will surely stand forever. Amen.

Source: Sermons