We Win!

How's everybody? Are you good? Well, if you're not good, I've been praying you're gonna be good by the time you leave today because I believe the Spirit of the Lord is in the house today. And he changes us. He alone has the power to change people.

I had an old minister, old pastor. He was old, old, old. In other words, he had been in ministry a long, long time. And he told me when I was a young minister, a skinny minister, he said, he said, Brother Josh, never confuse your role with the role of the Holy Spirit. And I've never forgotten that.

You know what he was telling me? He was telling me you can't change nobody. But the Holy Ghost can. We can't change a single person, but the Spirit of God can change anybody. And I believe that the Holy Ghost of Acts is still the same and that you're not gonna leave this place the way you came in here today in the name of Jesus.

Amen. So get ready, buckle up your seatbelt. God's gonna do something today. I tell you, coming down Highway 70 at five o'clock this morning, I just felt the unction of the Holy Ghost inside of me that God is gonna do miracles in this place today and I don't know how because he's God and I'm not, but I believe God is gonna do something in your life this morning. Amen.

This is the last Sunday of our series called Unafraid. Unafraid and I forgot to talk about the bookmarks last week. I gave them to you, didn't say nothing about them. These are free, these are for you to take and this has got something that I learned in Sunday school as a kid. It's got the Roman road of salvation.

So if you need help sharing your faith, sharing the gospel and want to explain it with just three simple verses, you could use Romans 3.23 for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God. That's easy enough, that means everybody's messed up. And then Romans 6.23 says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. That means you don't earn salvation. You receive it by faith in Jesus and then Romans 10.9 if you'll confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

So take these with you. If you want more, you can pick them up at the little book table in the lobby on the way out there. 100% free, I love bookmarks. I have, something's wrong with me. I just really, I won't be reading a book and I'll have five or six different bookmarks in one book because I'll read a part I like and I'll go back to it.

So I'll put a bookmark here and a bookmark there. I ordered these for me and I'm just sharing them with y'all. Okay, so these are free if you want them, take them. Take two or three or five or 10, I don't care. I've got about 100 of them I'm using right now.

But this is the last day if you want to buy a paperback copy of the book on Revelation, I think we've got three left. Three or four left, we got a few of those left. If you want the e-book for free, joshclark.org, use the promo code GCLife and you can have the e-book absolutely free, everything in there is the same as all the printed copies. That is yours for free. GCLife at joshclark.org and if you want the audio book, you can get it for half price using another promo code JCaudio and I'll read bedtime stories to you about the end times and the great tribulation.

But those promo codes end today and if you have read the book and enjoy the book, do me a favor, leave me an Amazon review. Just scan that QR code, you don't have to buy it on Amazon to leave a review on Amazon, but this helps me out tremendously, especially if you leave a review with a picture or a video, if y'all are TikTokers or YouTubers or all the young people today. When I was growing up, we wanted to be firefighters and doctors, the kids just wanted to be influencers now. But if you're a TikToker influencer, leave a video review but I would greatly appreciate that, that would help me out a lot. I have a very, very small Amazon business and Amazon is very greedy, they don't like to share any profits, so the more books I sell, the better, amen.

All right, but thank you guys for all your support and all your help, I hope the book has been a blessing to you and if you read it and it helps you, give it away to somebody else, amen. All right, well this is our last week in this series and next week I'm going back to our hot topic series that we do every summer. If you have a question, put it on a red card. But I ask you one thing, do it anonymously and I'll tell you why, because I want your real questions. I don't want you to church up your questions.

Well, praise the Lord, brother, how much praying is too much praying in a week? No, I want your real questions. I want the stuff that you're scared to ask but you want to know the answer to. Somebody asked a very difficult, very, very difficult question last week and dropped it in the box and I appreciate you very much for asking that. I can't wait to talk about it.

But give me your questions, hit me with your best shot. Come on, give me your best shot, give me your tough questions, your difficult questions and for the next six weeks we want to tackle those before we get into our fall sermon series. So that's starting next Sunday and today we're wrapping up our study on Revelation week one, nine weeks ago. We started out with fear and today we finish with victory. Revelation 21, four it says, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain, hallelujah. For the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. Let's pray, Heavenly Father, we walk through this final book of your word and Lord, help us to see the ending clearly today, help us to see the King, the kingdom, the tears wiped away and God, give us hope that changes how we live today in Jesus name, amen.

Now last week I told you we're not walking into a horror story, we're walking into the part where Jesus wins and today church we're gonna cash that check because think about everything we've walked through, the seals, the trumpets, the bulls, the dragon, the antichrist, the mark of the beast. And if you think about for the most of Revelation, the stuff that came out of the sky is terrifying. Darkness, fire, hail, falling stars, a burning mountain. By this point if you've lived through the tribulation you have deleted the weather app off of your phone. Right, come on, I don't even wanna see what's falling today.

But then Revelation 19 says the sky opens one more time and this time what comes out of the heavens is not another judgment, it's not another plague, it's not another trumpet, it's the king. And today I wanna tell you why we win. Number one, because the king comes back. Come on, somebody say that, the king comes back. Come on, say it again, the king comes back.

Come on, three of you said it, come on, say it again, the king comes back. The king comes back. Come on, we watch heaven and Jesus is getting ready to return and heaven just cannot hold it in. Revelation 19 six, then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peels of thunder shouting, hallelujah for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Did you know that this is the only time in the entire New Testament where you see the word hallelujah?

You see it all through the entire Old Testament but the only time hallelujah shows up is in Revelation 19 four times back to back. And apparently heaven had been saving that word for something, so when Babylon falls, when the wedding is ready, when the king is about to ride, heaven sends it. They shout hallelujah for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Come on, can we just join that shout of heaven for a minute this morning? Come on, say hallelujah, the Lord God Almighty reigns.

Come on, say it like you know it, hallelujah. The Lord God Almighty reigns. Come on, make the devil mad, hallelujah. The Lord God Almighty reigns. And then King Jesus rides.

Revelation 19 11, I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he who sat on it was called faithful and true. Ooh, I love that. Not just mighty, not just powerful, faithful. Because he said he was coming back and he met every word of it. Listen, child of God, every promise you ever stood on, every time Jesus said, I'll never leave you, every time he said, I am with you, every time he said, I am coming back, faithful and true, he met every word of it.

His eyes are like fire, there are crowns on his head, his robe is dipped in blood and the armies of heaven are riding behind him on white horses. And church, don't miss who's riding with him now. Because Jesus came and took us to the Father's house, to the place that he prepared for us. And we've sat at the table at the marriage supper of the Lamb and now we're coming back with him. And we're not just coming back to help Jesus.

I need y'all to know that. Jesus don't need no help. We're not coming back to be his reinforcements. I got your back, Jesus, I got your back. Jesus is not telling us to come with him because hey, the battle's gonna get tough, I need a little help, y'all, come on now.

We don't ride out to win the battle, we will come back with Jesus to witness the victory. Because the victory belongs to Jesus. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus doesn't come back to fight, he comes back to take the victory. It's written where every eye can see, King of kings and Lord of lords. That means that you put every king underneath him, you put every president underneath him, you put every dictator, every billionaire, every system, every demon in hell, every power and every name underneath the name of Jesus because his name is above every other name, the mighty matchless name of Jesus.

Let me tell you why we win. Number one, because the king comes back, number two, because the enemy loses. For 66 books, Satan has been walking around pretending like he's the main character. Hello, the serpent, the dragon, the accuser, the deceiver, the one terrorizing humanity since the Garden of Eden. So after all this build up, you expect the finale to be epic.

You expect thunder and lightning, a three hour Marvel movie. Jesus on one side, the devil on the other side. But what, well listen, listen, look at what happens to the beast and the false prophet. Revelation 19.20 says these two were cast into the lake of fire, like flicking a flea, like it won't no thing at all. That's it, one verse, no epic battle, no trilogy, no sequel, no extended director's cut.

There's no fight, it's just an arrest. And then Satan himself, the one humanity has been taught to fear. Revelation 20.10 says was cast into the lake of fire and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Church here, me, Hollywood would have given the devil a two hour fight scene. God gives him half a sentence.

Because God has never not once, not for one second, ever been nervous about how this thing ends. Heaven has never held an emergency meeting. The father never looked at the son and said, what are we gonna do about the devil? God is not panicking, Jesus is not freaking out, the throne is not trembling. The enemy is on a leash, the clock is running out and the end of the story is already written.

In fact, when the time comes, God himself doesn't even bind up Satan. He sends one angel to do it. One angel. Just one. Not all the armies of heaven.

One angel is all it takes to bind up the devil. And why are you so afraid of him? My God, church. When I went to get my credentials to be an ordained minister in the semis of God, one of the answers on the test, I took a test in a series of interviews. One of the answers on the test, it asked this question and this was a loaded question.

This was a pass or fail question. Because if you got this wrong, you wouldn't get credential. It asks you, is Satan God's equal enemy? And if you said yes, you were never gonna be in the semis of God pulpit. Because they don't want nobody sitting up there preaching and teaching that the devil has anywhere close to the power, the dominion, and the authority of God.

Church, he's a little pipsqueak. God doesn't even get off the throne. Don't even look over there. He just sends one little angel. I think he sent the new guy, the little angel, and trained it to go bind up the devil.

Because all power and authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus. Some of y'all spend way too much time worrying about the devil. Church, this is not a fair fight and it has never been a fair fight. Romans 1620 says that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. That means the devil has no place in your mind.

He has no place in your family. He has no place in your finances. He has no place in your home. The only place the devil belongs is under your feet. That's why if you see me over there on the keyboard and sometimes I'm just jumping and I'm just saying, devil, I wanna remind you of where you belong.

You get down there, you don't belong in my body. You don't belong in my mind. You don't belong in my neighborhood. You belong under my feet. Hallelujah.

Glory to God. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. That's the only place the devil belongs. Glory to God. Some of y'all just need to start stomping on the devil every day.

Hallelujah. Ha ha ha. It's the only place he belongs. Somebody say under my feet. Where's the devil belong?

Under my feet. Uh-huh. 1996, Montego, Bay, Jamaica. Sister Erland the Wagstaff's Church. Dad's preached there many times.

Well, I learned a song that said higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher. Lift Jesus higher. But here's the second part. Lower, lower. Lower, lower, lower, lower, lower, lower, lower.

Stomp Satan lower. He starts singing that, that's prophetic right there. Some of y'all need to lift Jesus higher and stomp Satan lower. Romans 16, 20, look it up if you don't believe me. So Satan is defeated and then comes the last enemy of all.

The enemy that has touched every life. The enemy that stood beside every grave, death. Revelation 2014 says that death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Glory to God, death is dead. Glory to God, cremation has been cremated.

Burial has been buried. Death has died. Glory to God. You need to hear that today. Death is gonna die.

Death had a good run. It had been year by year undefeated since Genesis. Everybody it touched eventually went down until Jesus walked out of that empty tomb. And now Revelation says the day is coming when death itself is thrown into the fire. The grave doesn't have the last word.

Cancer doesn't have the last word. Tragedy doesn't get the final say. The funeral doesn't get the last word. Jesus gets the last word. Why do we win church?

Because every single enemy is defeated. Hallelujah. The king comes back, the enemy loses, and number three, every tear is wiped away. And then for everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, glory to God. We get a new heaven and a new earth.

And then John writes some of the most beautiful words ever put on paper. Revelation 21.4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Just think about that. No death, no sorrow, no crying, no pain.

No more diagnosis, no more funeral, no more debt, no more betrayal, no more depression, no more addiction. No more families breaking apart, no more children suffering, no more waking up with that weight on your chest. No more saying goodbye. The former things have passed away. And I want you to notice how personal this promise is.

It doesn't say that God stands off at a distance and announces sorrow has officially been discontinued. It said God wipes every tear away. I want you to think about that for a minute. The God who spoke the galaxies into existence, the God before whom angels hid their faces, God himself bends down and wipes the tears from your face. That means that there has never been a tear you cried that heaven did not acknowledge.

Those sleepless nights, those painful days, there has never been a wound that God looked at and said that one doesn't matter because every single one he noticed, thank you, Jesus. And then he says, behold, I make all things new, not some things, all things. Somebody say all things. All things, the broken things, the wounded things, the stolen things, the years that you thought were wasted, the chapters that you wish you could rewrite, the places where sin did damage, the place where grief left scars, the places you thought could never be redeemed. God says, behold, I make all things new.

And some of you may be thinking that sounds too good to be true. That's why he tells John, write it down for these words are true and faithful. In other words, put it in ink and put my name on it because I guarantee it, the church can build their life on it. It is true and it is coming. This is why we win because the king comes back, the enemy loses, every tear is wiped away.

And my last point is this, the king who holds tomorrow holds us today. The king who holds tomorrow holds us today. That same Jesus who the victory belongs to, we belong to him right now. So what does the book of Revelation have to do with your Monday morning? Everything.

Because you've read the last page and you know how the story ends. So you don't have to live afraid. Revelation, think about it, it wasn't originally given to Christians who were sitting in comfortable chairs. It was given to churches trying to remain faithful under pressure like the majority of Christians around the world today. They were suffering and they were struggling and the point of knowing tomorrow was to give them courage to keep going today.

Church, we've read the last page. We don't have to be afraid of the end because we know the king. We don't have to live obsessed of the anti-Christ or worry about the mark of the beast or live terrified of the tribulation. We just need to know that the one who holds tomorrow holds us today. Glory to God, thank you Jesus.

We can live unafraid because Jesus is holding us. So church, look up, your redemption is drawing near. So love people toward the book. Tell somebody about Jesus. Forgive quicker, worship louder, hold this world looser because Jesus is coming and he's coming soon.

And we need to live like that every moment of every day. If you guys will bring the lights down, I wanna ask the worship team to come as we get ready to close this morning. But before we can truly celebrate the ending, I wanna slow down because Revelation, it won't let us celebrate the victory without first confronting eternity. Because after the enemy falls, John sees a throne, a great white throne and everyone stands before God. Revelation chapter 20 says, the dead were judged by the things that were written in the books and anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Bible says God is not willing that any should perish. God wants everybody to be saved. But so many choose to live for themselves and not Jesus. Church, there's a question that outranks every rapture argument and every petty debate. I don't care what you think about the tribulation.

I don't care what you think about the rapture. The only thing I really truly care about deep in my heart is is your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Because in the end, that is the question. The question is not were you religious. The question was not did your grandmama pray.

The question was not did you go to church or were you better than the person sitting beside you. The question is this, do you belong to Jesus? Because eternity is not about how impressive your resume was. It's whether your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Listen, you can miss a lot of things and recover.

You can miss a doctor's appointment and you can reschedule. You can miss your flight. And eventually you'll still get there. But you can't miss Jesus and make it to heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

He is the only way of salvation. So I wanna ask you today, do you belong to Jesus? And if you're not sure, you can settle it today. You can settle it right now. You don't get your name in that book by being good enough.

You don't get your name in that book by cleaning your life up. You get your name in that book by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by believing in what he did for you because he went to the cross. He carried your sin. He died your death. And he rose again.

And salvation is received by faith in him where you admit I cannot save myself. Jesus save me. Change me. I surrender my life to you. So will you close your eyes for just a moment as we pray?

If you're here today and you need to surrender to Jesus, you need to know that your name is written in that book. I'm gonna lead you in just a simple prayer of surrender. I'm gonna pray it with me and meet it with all your heart. In fact, the whole room, let's pray this out loud. Jesus, forgive me of my sins.

Come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. Save me. Change me. Set me free.

Give me a heart to obey you, Jesus. To love you. To follow you. To tell others about you. Pour out your spirit on me.

Make me brand new. In Jesus name. Amen and amen. Glory to God. Just remain seated for a moment, but can we just worship, can we just thank Jesus for what he did for us?

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for your wonderful salvation. So beautiful, so rich and so free. Thank you, Jesus. You changed us.

You transformed us. Lord, you've made us brand new. And we thank you this morning. God, we thank you for your love. We thank you for your mercy.

We thank you for your grace. Hallelujah. I wanna ask the ushers to come.

Automatically transcribed. Please forgive any errors.