In the sermon titled 'The Lamb Is a Warrior,' Scott Brown delves into Revelation 19, portraying Jesus Christ as a warrior who wages a final, just war against deceivers and evil forces. The sermon contrasts two outcomes: eternal torment for those on the wrong side of history and uncontainable joy for those who follow Christ. Brown shares a personal story to emphasize living without regrets and urges listeners to consider their stance in the spiritual battle. The imagery in Revelation reveals Jesus as a powerful, righteous judge, whose eyes are like flames, and whose robe is dipped in blood. The sermon underscores the urgency of choosing salvation and the sobering reality of the final judgment, where deceivers are cast into the lake of fire, and Christ's victory is absolute.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation 19 and find verse 11. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey word of God. We'll begin in verse 11. Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God and the armies of in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses. 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 wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of lords. 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.

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. 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 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. Would you pray with me? Oh, Lord, this very sobering, very difficult section is before us.

Lord, we want to hear and understand and obey it and we pray oh Lord that you would grow us in our knowledge of the truth that you would sweeten our hearts toward you in every way and that we would find ourselves to be ready for this day. Amen. Please be seated. This passage of Scripture of course is about a great and final war. You know, when you're preaching through the Bible, sequentially from chapter to chapter, book to book in the Bible, you're often very well aware that you're preaching on things that you would never choose first if you had five sermons that you were going to preach you you might not choose the one that's before you This one is full of ferocity and trouble and war and in it we find a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's very startling. He's a man of war and frankly a passage like this is set before us to help us to understand which side we are on, which side of the war we are on. And this is a picture of the final battle and the deceivers of the world who have been trying to deceive you are finally taken care of for all eternity and are put into the lake of fire. And so this passage pictures the the war of the devil against the church that's been raging since the very beginning, has been raging against you and me our whole life long. And so it's a very very sobering passage of scripture.

And I pray that the people who hear this will be found to be the people that would have no regrets when they stand before the Lord at this time. You know, when I was in my 30s and I had a young family, I just started a church here in Wake Forest, and I had also just started an electronic manufacturing company here in Raleigh. And one of my best friends, he called me from California one day. He was one of those friends that was such a joy. He was very funny, but he was a godly man.

And we stimulated one another to love and good deeds. He was such a good brother. But we were on the phone, And we were talking about our lives, our kids. He had just started a construction company. And he said, Scott, he said, Scott, let's live so that we don't have any regrets.

He just stopped the conversation and said that. And that really formed everything about the conversations that we had from then on. But it wasn't very long because it was just a few months later I received a call from his wife who told me that he was dead, that he was electrocuted in a construction accident. And so I flew to California to shut down his business and be with his family. He had four little children, four girls, very dear girls to me this day.

But the reason I tell this story is I hope that this would be the frame around the story that we're going to read about here. You know, what would be the outcome when you stand before the Lord? Would you have regrets? Would you regret the way that you spent your life? Would you regret if you heard the gospel and rejected it, would you regret it?

Or would you be thankful that you did take heed to these words? Because all the world will face the scene that's before us here in this passage. And the Bible makes it very clear that there are only two outcomes. There are two paths and there are only two outcomes. The Bible is so clear even a child can understand that there's light, there's darkness, There's lostness, there's salvation, there's being born again, there's not having been born again.

But there are only two outcomes as well, and these outcomes are portrayed before us here. And what you find in this passage, and we've seen this already a couple of times in our studies in Revelation, in the last chapter, in chapter 18, there's extreme regret manifested in weeping and gnashing of teeth, this everlasting torment. On the other hand, the other outcome, everlasting, uncontainable joy in a restored garden, which is also a city, which is also a home, which is also a temple where God dwells, where where the trees bear fruit every month and the water just keeps flowing and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. So you have these two outcomes that are presented here before us. Okay, now, just a little bit about the context of where we are in Revelation.

We're in this section of chapter 18 and 19, and of course this continues until the end. But so far and up to this point, much of Revelation has shown us pictures of a world that's at war with God. And You have the deceivers, you have the devil himself and his helpers, the false prophet and the beast and the harlot. And they persecute the church and they deceive, they fake you out. And They lure and they deceive and then they throw you away.

And that's what you find here. They throw you away. You know, it's very interesting. I was driving here And there was someone had put a bunch of decoys duck decoys on my lake And My wife said to me that's what the devil is like He lures you in and then blam blam blam He shoots you down And that's what we find here But here we find the victory of Jesus Christ over all his enemies. And in chapter 18, If you remember, an angel announces the fall of Babylon.

Babylon is fallen, is fallen. And then there's this urgent call, come out of her, come out of Babylon. In other words, turn away from the world and turn to the Lord. And then you find the emptiness and the wailing of those who put all their trust in Babylon who were deceived. And then since Babylon caused so many to stumble, Babylon is thrown, thrown down like a millstone into the sea.

Just you know what Jesus talked about those who cause his children to stumble it'll be like it'll be like a millstone hung around their neck. And so Babylon is thrown down and And here in this passage in chapter 19, God is dealing his final blow to a world that's in rebellion of him. The rulers of the world and the people of the world have defied him, have ignored him. They've rejected the truth. They've rejected the call of God.

And now what God promised from the very beginning so that no one would be without excuse finally comes down and so and when we get to the end of this chapter we find what I believe it seems to me to be the first stage of this where you have these deceivers, the harlot and the beast and the false prophet are thrown down. And then in the next chapter, the devil himself is dealt with and finally thrown down. And so I think the question is, is you know, will you live with no regret? You know, many people today are on the right side of history, but they're on the wrong side with God. And as it turns out to be on the wrong side of history in most situations is to be on the right side with God.

And so this is a warning. You know it's a warning, It's a warning for church people too. You know, it's a warning for people who've sat in church and they still say, you know, I'm not a Christian, I'm not ready. Recognize the position that you're in, because a day is coming when it'll be all over. And it might come sooner than you think.

No one knows how long they will live. I was very well aware of that this week as one of my dear friends died suddenly. But the day is coming, and so as you can see, you have an outline in front of you, and there are three parts to this passage of scripture. We'll just work through this passage verse by verse. And the first section, you'll see the man of war, verses 11 through 18.

And then in the second section, you'll see the Supper of the Great God. This is a macabre, terrifying supper in contrast to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You can see the contrast in the previous chapter. You have a harlot in this chapter, you have a bride. In the previous chapter you have these terrifying scenes, but you have a supper, not the supper of the lamb.

And then the third section is the lake of fire, see the lake of fire. Again, Revelation is full of pictures, it's a picture book, It's pictorial theology. And so we'll see lots of pictures. Here the first picture is of Jesus Christ, the man of war. Now that might be startling to you, you know, little baby Jesus, meek and mild.

Well, he was baby Jesus, he was meek and mild, but that's not the only thing he is. He's also a man of war. And the Bible, you know, it's very interesting, we concoct our visions of God out of our own imagination and out of our own background, but the Bible tells us who Jesus is. This is a startling picture, but again I just want us to consider the matter of regret. And in any church you do have people who sleep through the sermons.

They're still, or they just say, well, I'm not ready yet. They say things like that. And they say it so casually and blithely. But there's a really urgent warning here in this passage. You know, Deborah and I were in the Seattle airport last month, and we were getting in line, and there was a man sleeping right in front of the gate.

And I was coming down the line I kept watching him he's asleep is he supposed to be on this plane and he was dead asleep in his seat And so right just before I got, I gave my ticket, I went over and I shook him and I said, are you supposed to be on this plane? And he said, yes, I am. And if I hadn't waken him, he wouldn't have gotten on that airplane. He was dead out. I Hope that's not you But I'm here to I'm here to I'm here to to shake you and wake you and say will you have any regrets on that final day?

That's why I'm here today. So I pray the Lord would use it in your life today and my life as well. I need to hear this as well okay see the man of war verses 11 to 16 see the man of war now Jesus comes here in this passage as a victorious warrior there are there are 12 descriptions of this warrior let's go through them one by one. The first, he's on a white horse, that's in verse 11. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse.

So heaven opens and Jesus Christ on a white horse marches out with his army and the Lord here is riding into judgment. He will not be stopped. The horse is, of course, a symbol of power and authority. White is a symbol of purity and justice. Interesting contrast, isn't it?

Remember how Jesus came into Jerusalem? He came in on a donkey. He came to make peace. He came not to judge the world. Now he does come to judge the world.

And, you know, we do delight to preach in Christ's humiliation that he suffered for our sins. He is a suffering servant, that he was submissive before his persecutors and he took the wrath that we deserved humbly and in one place in the Bible says he didn't even open his mouth he took it he took the wrath that we deserve. So we preach Christ as the suffering servant, but we also preach Christ as the warrior king, as we find here in this passage. Second, the second image is his faithfulness and truth. This is the second phrase in verse 11.

And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. So he's faithful and true. You know, Exodus 15, Exodus 15, Moses says that the Lord is a man of war. But what kind of man of war is he? Well, this tells us right here, he's faithful and true.

He's that kind of man of war. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and to serve. Here he comes to make war. You know we we recoil at the prospect of war. War is horrible, but this is a holy war.

This this is a perfectly just, perfectly holy war. He's right, he's righteous and true in his making war. You know, it was Augustine who wrote about the distinction between just war and unjust war. He developed what theologians have called ever since just war theory. You know, which, what justifies a morally just war.

And now, frankly, there's never been a perfectly just war on earth. But this war is a just war. This is different. And the Apostle Paul instructs the Thessalonian church about the nature of this war that Jesus Christ will wage. And you know, he also interestingly mentions those who have no regrets at the coming of that war First Thessalonians 1 7 when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe.

There are some who who will admire him and they won't regret that they rejected him. And then thirdly, his eyes. Do you see that in verse 12? See his eyes. This is the third of the 12 manifestations of his glory.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. Again, this is pictorial Christology. This is not what he looks like, this is what he is like. He's the only warrior who really sees things as they really are in the hearts of men and women. He's the only one who's who pro is the proper discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

But this is the intensity and the penetration of his eyes. That's what fire signifies in the Bible. It signifies purity and penetration and intensity. You know this is the third time of seven times, seven times in Revelation, these eyes are, as a flame of fire mentioned, seven times. And the language is drawn from Daniel 10 verse 6.

I'll read it. His body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire. One commentator wrote, there are no compartments of our lives which he does not see. There are no compartments of our lives which he does not see there are no compartments of our lives which he does not see Proverbs 15 3 states it like this the eyes of the Lord are in every place Keeping watch on the evil and the good he sees all the secret thoughts all the secret emotions all the secret sins He sees right through us. He sees right through every one of us right now.

Nothing is hidden from his sight. You know, this last week I was reading Matthew 6, where the Lord Jesus is talking about that tendency that we have to to be hypocrites when we pray or when we give or when we fast we want everybody to know And he says your father sees in secret That really hit me I just thought of the various hypocrisies in my own life like that But whether whether you're a Christian or whether you're not all of us I hope if we can affirm what David said you have searched me and known me you know my heart you know when I sit down you know my standing up you hem me in behind him before. I can't go anywhere except where you are." So his eyes, see his eyes. For see his head, see his head. On his head were many crowns.

That's in verse 12. Crowns symbolize authority. This crown symbolizes his kingly authority. There are two words for crowns that are used in Revelation one is the word diadem that's this one the other word is Stephanos which is really about victory, particularly in athletic events. But this is diadem.

This is the crown of kingship. He is the king. And he has many crowns. Now, if you remember, the dragon has seven crowns, and the beast has 10 crowns There are no limitations to christ crowns. He's above them all So he has many crowns fifth see his name see his name verse 12.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself. Now, that cannot mean that Jesus doesn't have a name when he comes in judgment. We've already heard three names in this text. He's called faithful and true, he's called the word of God, he's called the king of kings and lord of lords. So it's not that he doesn't have a name.

You know Our Lord has many names. They're so beautiful, aren't they? They're so comforting to think about His names. I love to sing that song, Jesus, Name Above All Names. Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord, Emmanuel.

But you know the names, they won your heart, they totally won you over when you were saved. You know, he's the bread of life, he's God with us, He's the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He's the good shepherd. And His name is Jesus, which means Savior. You love his names.

His names get you through a lot of trials, don't they? But why does it say here that he had a name that no one knew? Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's probably something like this there's there's something about him at his coming that no one saw before that wasn't revealed to man it was so surprising it was so remarkable that you that you something in his character maybe a facet of his behavior that nobody ever saw, and you'll say, oh my. You know, there's much that we can't understand about the depths of God and his name and his and what he's doing in the world. We don't know We don't know why things happen You know like like my friend who who died 30 over 30 years ago and my other friend who died this week.

Who knows how long a man should live? We don't know, but we do know that God rules. That's enough. And then sixth, look at the next description of him, his clothing, verse 13, he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Again, Your picture of Jesus needs to become God's picture of Jesus, the real picture in the Bible.

We often concoct favorable to ourselves pictures of Jesus. But Here you have, he has a robe dipped in blood. This is a warning picture. Picture that. It's a warning picture.

It's a warning that you would consider, that you consider the matter of regret on that day. It's a picture of the brutality of this warrior king against those who don't follow him. You can't miss the brutality of this king. Gentle, Jesus, meek and mild is also a vanquishing warrior. Now I'm gonna say this in a way that is reflective of what these what this phrase means.

The Lord Jesus Christ personally slaughters his enemies and their blood is splattered on his robe. It's very difficult to even say such a thing. The words find their origin in Isaiah 63, verses one through three. There's this picture of this one coming out of Edom. Who is this that comes from Edom?

With dyed garments from Bosra, this one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. It's a picture of a warrior traveling across the land mass. He says, I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save, why is your apparel red And your garments like the one who treads the winepress. I have trodden the winepress alone Just like in this passage and from the people's 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 hey the devil has torn up a lot of people. He's a destroyer.

He's a deceiver. He's a liar. And so much of the things that break our hearts today are because of his work. And God is going to put an end to an abuser of your soul. It's right to put an end to the abuser.

It's a good thing to stop abusers and the devil is the great abuser and his deceiving friends the the beast and the false prophet and the harlot Have been deceiving and tearing up people's lives. He's torn up my life and he's torn up your life. The Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood for sinners. And now the blood of unrepentant sinners will be shed by him. Seventh, the seventh manifestation of his name.

This is the real Jesus and his name is called the Word of God his name is called the Word of God he is the Word of God Jesus Christ is the Word of God and what does it mean? It will at least means four things first Jesus is the instrument to reveal the words of God. Second, what God has to say to the world is finalized in Jesus Christ. One of the most familiar verses in the Bible, John 1, 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and Without him nothing was made That was made in him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He is the light of the world. He is the final word of God. It's also, what God has to say was communicated through a human being, through a human body.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld as glory. Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And then what he has to say also penetrates your soul. His word penetrates your soul. You know, Our only hope is that the word of God would penetrate a heart.

It isn't gonna happen through human wisdom, but only God, by His word, can save. This is our confidence in the word of God, that it would be so startling and so beautiful at the same time that you would want to follow him. For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, Hebrews 412, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. In other words, it unpacks your heart, it divides your heart in a way, from evil to good. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

That is the word of God So see his name his name is the word of God and then eighth see his armies And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. So who are these? Who are these armies in heaven? I correlate them to What the Bible refers to as the hosts? Hosts of heaven and Jesus Christ is the Lord of hosts.

It's a it's a term that's used all over the Old Testament. These are at minimum these are the heavenly hosts, the angels that God created, the beings that God created. He's coming with them and they're on Horses and Jesus Christ is the Lord of the horses notice how they're dressed Fine linen the armies are clothed in fine linen white and clean why? Because they have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? That's how the song describes this kind of situation here.

And notice what they're doing. Notice what the armies are doing. Did you catch this? Well they're just following him. They're just following him.

They follow the lamb wherever he goes. But when you get deeper into the text, it's pretty clear that the army doesn't fight. Christ does all the fighting. They follow. Christ is not dependent on any army to win.

Christ needs no army. He's an army of one. And that's why, this should be an encouragement, one person with Jesus Christ is a majority. See his armies. And then ninth, see his mouth, verse 15.

See his mouth. Now out of his mouth goes his sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. Again, you know, you think about his mouth, it's what it's not what he looks like, it's what he is like, and his sword is a symbol of authority and power. Whoever has the sword is is the one who's in charge. And in this context though, of course we know there are other contexts where the word, you know, the Word of God is such a comfort.

But here is the context is that it destroys. His mouth, the sword coming out of his mouth destroys. We already read about this earlier in Revelation in chapter two, verse 15, where he says about the Nicolaitans, these false teachers that had crept into the church, repent or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. It's that kind of context. He's fighting with the sword to destroy his enemies.

In 2 Thessalonians 2 8, the Lord is telling us how he will destroy the Antichrist, the lawless one who will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. It's the same idea in Isaiah 11, 4. With his mouth he will destroy the wicked. Tenth, the rod of his iron. See his rod of iron, verse 15, see his rod of iron.

And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. You know, our hearts, before we came to the Lord and followed him, We didn't want anybody to rule over us. We wanted self rule. We wanted autonomy. We didn't, we wanted our truth.

We wanted Our vision. But when you become a Christian, you say, Lord, not my will, but yours be done. I want to follow you. I'm so tired of following my way. I want to follow you.

My way didn't get me. It didn't get me where I thought it would. It just got me more trouble. But He will rule them with a rod of iron. The world says, you will not rule over me.

That won't last. It just won't last. Those who will not be ruled here will be ruled there. This is the same language in the prophetic Psalm 2, you shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel the Lord Jesus Christ is a man of war you need to understand that 11th See his fierceness verse 15 He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God You know what? You know what?

It's you've seen maybe pictures of a winepress in the ancient world There's a large vat and what and the grapes are thrown into the vat and people are stomping the grapes. They're stomping the grapes. This is a picture of God crushing his enemies. It will be fierce. It will be wrathful.

It will be that kind of stomping of the grapes. It's such a terrifying picture, isn't it? You know, I don't know if any of you are still like that guy in the airport. I'm trying to say, wake up. There's a flight that's getting ready to leave.

Are you on it? And then 12, finally see his robe. He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So he comes with identification. We can relate to that.

We have hats that have words on them. We have shirts that have words on them. You know earlier his robe was dipped in blood, now his robe has something written on it. I think that that on the thigh part of his robe is written his name and he's he is the king above all kings he's the Lord above all Lords just like he said in Matthew 28 all authority has been given me to on heaven and earth you know the reason our church didn't shut down when our government told us to shut down is because we believe Jesus Christ is the King over all the kings of the earth, and we have to obey him above all the kings of the earth. And so he told us to meet and so we thought we ought to meet.

It's very consistent with our confession, the Baptist confession. I'll read just a phrase out of it. God the supreme Lord and King of all the world hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him they are secondary authorities real authorities that we want to respect and honor and obey as much as we can but they are secondary authorities they're not primary authorities see the man of war this is the man of war this is the Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory yes he is a lamb he was led to slaughter yes that's so true he he was gentle he was meek he was mild but he's also a man of war. And your picture of Jesus should be an accurate one, not just one that feels good to you. Because actually the one that feels good to you isn't good for you because it's not true.

You know when we come together to worship God on the Lord's day like we are today we come and we we lift up our voices and we tell him how good he is we we tell him how sweet and wonderful is the place where Christ is in the doors we we just tell him how thankful we are for him and that should be both as a lamb and as a warrior he is the lamb who is the warrior he's the servant who rules He's the king of kings and lord of lords who serves his people That's who he is So then then We find the supper of the great God in verse 17 This is the supper of the great God. This supper of the great God is the term taken right out of this section. So I titled it according to what it's actually called. Verse 17, 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 those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.

So this angel is calling the birds to come and eat. Again, There are two feasts in this passage of scripture, in this chapter. There's the wedding supper of the lamb, you get an invitation and it's the most glorious fellowship with God and the food that you can imagine. The best feast ever that lasts for all eternity. But then there's this feast, it's another feast.

Gregory Beale, one of the commentators, speaks of this. The invitation to come to the great supper of God is a macabre parody of the invitation to come to the supper of the Lamb's wedding. It's a contrast. You know this language comes out of the conversation between David and Goliath. You love that story, don't you?

David and Goliath. Well, this language comes out of David and Goliath. The Philistine Goliath says to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. And David replies, he says, I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there's a God in Israel. The prophecy of Ezekiel 39 also is fulfilled here.

I'll read it. I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird. He's talking about the wicked Speak to the bird of every wing gather yourselves and come that you may eat flesh you may eat the flesh of the mighty ones and the blood of the princes And you will be satisfied at my table with horses and chariots mighty ones and men of war again this is you know, this is the finally final devouring of the abuser of your soul and Those who promoted the abuse the false doctrine the immorality the sorcery the worldliness The selfishness the greed all of the abuses of the devil. It's very brutal language. I think the word macabre is an appropriate word.

Jeremiah speaks of the same thing. He says, the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth and no one will frighten them away. You know, I don't take special pleasure in preaching things like this. It's terrifying. It should cause all of us to wake up.

But this is in the Bible. We preach the Bible. The vultures will clean up the dead carcasses. You know, I, me and my grandchildren, we're into birds, we're into, especially, Well, you know, we see vultures and eagles and ospreys and all kinds of birds where we live. But vultures clean everything up.

There's one thing I've noticed about vultures is that when there's a dead animal the vultures usually like to wait till it stinks they won't often go after it right away they'll wait till it's really really reeks and then they'll go pick it to the bone. And there's nothing left but a skeleton. Some of the kids in this church have seen these skeletons, fish skeletons, big ones, huge ones, being picked to the bone. But the wicked, to God, will be like stinking carcasses. They will not get a decent burial.

There will be no burial, just dead bodies eaten by birds. No regrets. No regrets. And then the final demise of the deceivers in verses 19 through 21. Now the personalities are named and dealt with.

God's enemies, they actually gather themselves together for one last time. They just can't stop. The Bible says the devil knows his time has come, but he can't stop. He won't stop. Verse 6, verse 19, 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.

Well, this is the last war. This is the last attack of Satan's forces against the people of God. They're making war against the saints and they have set themselves, like it says in Psalm 2, To take counsel together Against the Lord and against his anointed Saying let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords Isn't gonna happen he who sits in heaven laughs They will not succeed And then they're captured. The beast is captured. Verse 20.

This is very interesting. Just captured. No army, just captured by Jesus Christ. And who is it? 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.

He single-handedly takes the victory. It's very interesting if you look at world rulers, wicked rulers, they often end up just like this. Think of Saddam Hussein, think of Adolf Hitler. So many of The corrupt rulers of the world ended in being executed by their own people. Almost all the Roman emperors were, like 90% of them.

They were just captured. But who are they? They're the ones who deceived. You know, I was reading in Genesis about the fall and Eve says to the Lord after she fell she says and I'll quote the serpent deceived me. The serpent deceived me.

This is what the serpent does. He's a liar and a deceiver about everything. About pleasure, about money, about relationships, about everything, and especially a deceiver about Christ. That's why most people cannot even stand to hear these words about who Jesus Christ is, is because they've been deceived by a false Jesus. And they also those who receive the mark of the beast, What does it mean to have the mark of the beast?

We don't know exactly if there's a physical mark, but we... The mark of the beast is most likely just identification with the world and the world philosophy and going along with the world and the world philosophies and their immorality. It's your brand. It's to be comfortable with your independence. That's the mark of the beast.

Instead of dependence on God, it's the refusal to follow Christ. It's to say, I'm not ready to follow Christ yet. That's the mark of the beast. It marks you as a child of the world to find your satisfaction in this world thinking only of this world. And so these, the dragon will be put down in the next chapter, but his helpers are put down here.

You know, these deceivers, they're everywhere. They're in the songs, They're in the witchcraft of most modern films. They're in the magic of most modern books and films. They're in the immorality and the narcissism. In the find-yourself philosophy, be-yourself philosophy.

This is the mark of the beast. And the Bible says, you know, don't become a friend of the world. If you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God. And they're cast alive into the lake of fire. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire.

If it hasn't been too disturbing up to now, they're cast alive into the lake of fire, alive. You know, the Lord is, the Lord would wake his people up through these kinds of things. Cast alive for all eternity. By the way, your body lives for all eternity, either in everlasting torment or in heaven. Your body may disintegrate, but it will be raised again and your body will live for all eternity.

The body really matters. It's why Christians take care of the body. It's why in graveyards they bury people facing the east because there's this expectation that they'll rise facing the east because Christ comes from the East. It just pictures a biblical worldview. The world today burns the bodies of its dead because they don't really believe that the body means anything.

Like in India, only the soul matters. But in Christianity, the body and the soul matter. We're not disembodied spirits. You know, when somebody dies, you know, it might not be appropriate to say, well, he's not there. No, his body is there and his soul has departed, but they will be reunited again.

That's what the Bible teaches. The soul and the body will be reunited at the final judgment. Verse 21, 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. So, this concludes chapter 19 of Revelation. You recall how it began with alleluias.

Alleluia, alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Alleluia for Babylon the great has been cast into the sea. Alleluia because God is so good. In other words, y'all praise the Lord. The great abuser of the soul has been destroyed.

Come to the wedding feast. Come to the Lord. Come love the Lord. And this very disturbing scene should cause us to think that, come to the Lord. Follow the Lord, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

You must be born again. So you have two women in these two chapters. You have a bride and a harlot. You have two suppers, a marriage supper and the supper of the great God. So, I'm here today to ask you, based on what you know now, will you have any regrets on that day?

You know, when my friend called me and said, Scott, let's have no regrets. It meant everything. It meant about everything in our life, every part of our life, our lives with our children and our wives and our businesses and everything. It meant everything. No regrets.

I'll never forget that man sleeping in the Seattle airport. And the question is, are you, do you need to be awakened today to the realities of the world? This is how the world will end. This is how your life will end. And so the Lord has given you very kind and gracious warning with appeals from the heart to love the Lord with all your heart soul and strength in mind.

Would you pray with me? Lord you've you've put these Disturbing words in front of us. They are so disturbing and they they upset our view of so many things But Lord, we want you to teach us. We want to be your students. We want to learn from you.

We want our minds to be transformed by your word that we would think rightly about everything, about this world, about the wicked, about the devil, that we would think rightly about Jesus Christ as both a lamb and a man of war. Lord that you would you would mature this church to help us to understand what the things the way things really are and that you would give, you would give all of us such an urgent desire to have no regrets. Amen. Thanks for watching!