0:07 Every time we meet together, I always think of those verses in 1 Corinthians 11 that says to examine ourselves and >> [clears throat] >> some years ago, I was blessed by a verse in Revelation in 0:24 connection with examining ourselves. And in Revelation 16, Now, this is unique where the verse shows up. Uh when I was young, I kind of wondered, I didn't know what this verse meant. It kind of just popped up in the middle of 0:40 something and I wasn't sure, but the Lord showed me, I believe a wonderful truth out of this verse. >> [clears throat] >> And we could start in verse 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the 0:56 water was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they 1:08 are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth into the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And if you jump down to verse 16, he says, "And he 1:18 gathered them together into a place in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon." And Now, if you just look at these verses, there's some uh This is something else, you know, even the world, you were to say Armageddon, 1:35 even the world knows what that is. And I remember some years ago, maybe four or five or six years ago, there was someone who came to me and said they knew that I was a believer and they said, "You know, I I think I want to 1:48 start studying the scriptures." And they said, "I I just want to get into Revelation. I think it's so fascinating." And they didn't really [clears throat] know much about the Bible. And they said to me, "Can we talk about Armageddon?" And I 2:02 said, "Well, I hate to disappoint, but the Bible doesn't talk a whole lot about Armageddon. But I said, there's something right in the middle of Armageddon that I think you should see." I said, "Study what's in the middle of 2:12 Armageddon." And I've I skipped verse 15 because this verse appears to come in a uh in a awkward place because there's you know, if you read it, the the symbolism here there's the dragon, there's frogs, there's the a river drying up, there's 2:30 this the whole world is ready to go to battle. And then verse 15 it says, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." And I thought, "Why does that verse 2:45 appear there?" It's like this one final warning from the Lord. Um and right in the middle of this battle, he says, "Blessed are you that watch." And then again, "Blessed are you if you keep your garments." And it's like, "Watch what? What are we 3:03 keeping our garments? What is this?" And I've come to to to understand uh the watching part. I mean, those those who watch their attitudes, those who watch their speech, their thoughts, their actions. Um and so I I understand that part about 3:19 watching. But what about this other part about keeping our garments? And that's what I want to speak to you uh this evening about. Why does it appear here? Why is there a um a blessing for those who keep their garments? So, we'll jump around a 3:33 little bit >> [clears throat] >> and um we'll see if we could figure out what this is, keeping your garments. So, if you would turn perhaps just a page or two over to Revelation 19. And in verse 7, >> [clears throat] 3:52 >> it says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife has made herself ready." "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the 4:05 righteousness of saints." Okay, so we're starting to understand what the uh what the garments that we have are. It's the righteousness of saints. But, let's keep going. If you could go back to chapter 7 and verse 13 4:32 it says, "And one of the elders answered saying unto me 'Who are these which are arrayed in white robes and where did they come from?' And I said unto him, 'Sir, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are they which came out of great tribulation 4:47 and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" Okay, so so far we see it's the righteousness of the saints and their robes have been washed have been made white in the blood of the Lamb. And then, one more place in Revelation, 5:02 if you go back few more pages, Revelation 3 and this is the church of Sardis in verse 4 it says "You have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. 5:21 And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father 5:33 and before his angels." So, three times now we saw we see why we would be blessed in keeping these garments. Um it's the righteousness of the saints. Our robes have been washed by the blood of the lamb and here in verse four it 5:50 says the the promise of those that do not defile their garments uh they will walk with Jesus. They're counted worthy to walk with Jesus. So now we understand why there's that one final warning uh in Revelation 16, why it says keep 6:06 your garments. Um And then and then and the garments represent uh you know, the the purity of the Christian, the the victory that the uh of the of the Christian life um >> [snorts] >> that we have in Christ. Um It's God's approval in our life. So 6:26 there's a reason we have to keep them. But the shame and nakedness that it talks about there's the blessing of keeping it and then there is the shame that comes along with not keeping it. And it's those who compromise, it's those who are not 6:42 prepared as we read in 1 John chapter two, those that are not prepared, they're ashamed at his coming. They're not preparing for the Lord. We read some some of the parables of the of the virgins who weren't ready. Um there's a carelessness that comes along 6:58 with those who do not keep their garments. Um And they don't they don't watch their words, their motives, their thoughts, their actions. Um They just become compromisers. They they get careless. They fall asleep. Uh the things that they once held to 7:16 they start forgetting, they start putting it off. Um it's like the people of Sardis, you know, they allowed the world's influence to come in. They allowed the world to start defiling as it says, defiling their their their clothing that the Lord 7:32 has given us. And so I thought what we would do this evening is look a little bit in relation to how we examine ourselves. Um We say that, but I want to look just a little bit at what that means in relation to 7:50 keeping our garments and being spotless through the blood of Christ. So, go back a few more pages, perhaps just a two or three pages to to the book of Jude. >> [clears throat] >> And now this gives us an idea 8:08 what we are supposed to do here at the end of of the book here. In verse 21, it says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a 8:23 difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." I was looking this up because sometimes the Living Bible has a unique way of saying it. I want to read it how it says 8:37 out of the Living Bible, verse 23. It says, "Save some by snatching them as from the very flames of hell itself. And as for others, help them to find the Lord by being kind to them. But be careful that you yourselves aren't 8:50 pulled along into their sins. Hate every trace of sin while being merciful to them as sinners." Now, that was a very unique way of saying it as we live in the world, have to deal with the world, and we see the world's sin. 9:03 It is it is our job to have compassion. It is our job to save with pure with fear, pull them out of the fire. But while we're doing that, don't get entangled in those sins. And I think that's a it's a great it's a great way how the Living Bible 9:22 says it. Hate every trace of sin. And so when we come and and we eat the bread and we drink the juice, how serious do we take that? And I think Jude says some things when you when you read it uh it says some things that seem to be 9:41 so serious. And then it says other things that it's like, "Okay, yeah, it's in the Bible." But I don't know how serious we take it. And I think this is the deeper examination of ourselves as we come to take the bread and the juice um that we that we can 9:58 look at. Because what it says in the book of Jude is uh it it leads up to this encouragement at the end. This is our job, keep ourselves in love of God. But there's a real danger that comes along with uh the the other side of not keeping 10:15 yourself in the love of God. And you could almost picture how it said those at the end that hated the garments spotted by the flesh. You could almost picture it being the exact opposite. These are the people that didn't mind if 10:28 they had a few stains on their garment. They didn't mind if their garments really weren't white. Um And so if you if you go back to verse four, it says there are certain people who have crept in unaware who were before of old ordained to this 10:45 condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, "These people it's not someone obvious that walks through the door that might be part of 11:02 the body. These are people that are uh they go unnoticed. It's kind of like a maybe like a mouse or something that might find its way into your home. You don't notice it for a little while. Now your cat might know, but you wouldn't 11:16 know. Um and it's kind of like that that someone may come in unnoticed and uh and people are listening to these people that are coming in that are part of the local body. Um and it's these 11:34 what it says of these men is it turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. We can do what we want. There's no real fear of God. There's no real fear of punishment to doing our own will. Um it's just, you know, the grace of God 11:50 is great. We can do whatever we want with our lives. But what we'll soon see here is that there's a real danger and the comparisons that it uses, if you look at it in Jude, you think these are some of the worst possible comparisons 12:05 in all of scripture. Um uh when you compare what he's going to say these people who defile their garments with some of these examples that he uses. He starts with these people in uh in Egypt, you know, the how the Lord saved them. In verse 5, he saved them. 12:24 He brought them out, yet he had to destroy them afterwards. If you look at verse 8, um he says, "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh." Who's the likewise comparing to? It's verse 5, verse 6, verse 7. 12:42 It's the people of God that were saved out of Egypt. They were delivered, but their faith they shipwrecked their faith afterwards and the Lord destroyed them. The second group is the angels back in Genesis chapter 6. The angels which didn't keep their first 13:00 estate. One of the worst events that ever happened. It's so bad when you go back to Genesis 6, when God saw the wickedness of the earth after the angels uh came down and sinned, God said, "That's it. I'm destroying the earth." One of the worst 13:18 I mean, if you were to write a book about in the history of histories of everything, this event with the angels is one of the absolute worst thing that is things that has ever happened. The Lord had to destroy the the earth from some of the 13:31 wickedness that came came forth from them. And then again in verse 7 talks about Sodom and Gomorrah and the wickedness that was there and all the evil that was going on. And then he says in these three examples, the people who were destroyed, 13:49 the angels that committed a a great abomination and Sodom and Gomorrah he says, "In the same way, likewise, just like them these filthy dreamers who verse 4, these people who have crept in unaware. The Lord 14:07 bought them, they were redeemed, but they started compromising. And look what it says here. This is something that gets me that is uh convicting as we we read this. He says they defile the flesh. Okay. I understand that they defile the flesh, 14:25 but then second they despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Or you could say we've heard this a lot here, but I hope you take this seriously. It says despise dominion, despise authority. It's not just being in disagreement with 14:41 authority, it's not just you have your own thoughts and opinion they despise authority. He's comparing people who despise authority with people who were destroyed after they left Egypt. People who are the the angels, Sodom and 14:58 Gomorrah, that's who he's comparing it to. I think that's something else that we need to take seriously when we read this. Verse 10, they speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally as brute 15:12 beast and those things they corrupt themselves. And then we read of Cain, Balaam Korah verse 11 and listen to this, this is talking about right now. In verse 12, these are spots in your feast of charity or your love feast. 15:28 And this is what we call this event right now. This is there's people who have crept in and they are spots in your feast. Now, I'm not thinking of anyone here, but what I'm saying is um uh he warns against this. And who is he referring to? He's 15:45 referring to people who they defile the flesh, they speak uh evil of dignities >> of rulers. >> They despise authority. And he says [clears throat] in verse 12 to keep going, "When they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." 16:02 They're just sitting here just eating just like us, just like what we just did just moments ago. They're eating them uh eating and feeding and drinking without any fear. They're living their lives, they come in and there's no fear at all. 16:19 And you can see here the rest of verse 12, it says, "They're clouds without water carried about with winds, trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead." They were dead, made alive, now dead again. Plucked up by the roots. There's an 16:36 emptiness to these people. They come, they feast, they say spiritual things, but they've compromised along the way. Verse 13, "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame." I mean, I think about when they're just 16:54 like foaming out. They don't even think about it. It's something shameful. "Wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." Very serious things to to to look at, very serious consequences here. Verse 14, 17:13 "Even Enoch, very early on in the history of mankind, very early on, Enoch, he's just the seventh from Adam, he prophesies about this and he says, verse 15, "The Lord's coming to execute judgment upon all and to convince all 17:27 and this is what the Lord does when he comes, he's going to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have 17:37 spoken against him." Enoch prophesied to these people. I mean, that's something else to think about that the Lord put this in his in his mouth, in his mind to prophesy of. Verse 16, "These are murmurers 17:57 and complainers." I thought about that. Why does it say murmurers and complainers there? And I had to think about this cuz isn't murmuring and complaining the same thing? It's actually not the same thing. Uh murmuring is more of a silent 18:12 like, "Hey, you know, uh did you know this and that and gossip and hey, there's a problem over here." And it's kind of quiet. It's it's sort of stirs quietly, but it's stirring something. And those who complain are much more 18:26 loud. They make it known that they're complaining. Now, both are wrong, but there's kind of a quiet way where people think, "Oh, it's not that bad. I'm going to quietly say something." And then there's the other way which is 18:37 I'm I'm going to say I'm going to make sure everybody knows my opinion on something. I'm going to complain about this. And you know what God says? He says, "You're just walking after your own lust. You're just fulfilling the desires of 18:48 your own flesh. Their mouths speak great swelling words. Having men's persons in admiration or flattery because of advantage." So, I'm going to flatter you. I'm going to get in good with you. I'm going to be part of the in 19:04 crowd. I'm going to do something to get in because of advantage because I'm going to get something out of it. According to this, it's evil to flatter and to look at some brother, some sister in the church 19:22 if I could just get in with this person if I could flatter them, if I could tell them good things I I I'm going to get something from this. You can murmur, you can complain but what they say is their mouth speaks great swelling words. 19:41 There's a lot of people who might know the exact words to say but those words are just for their own gain. Let's keep going. He says, "But beloved, remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus 19:58 Christ how they told you that there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lust. These are those who separate themselves sensual not having the spirit. So, they may come in and they may say some really spiritual 20:17 things, but it's actually sensual or worldly. It's not for there's an appearance of godliness, there's an appearance of speaking great truths but as we read in the earlier verses, there's an emptiness inside of them. They're they're actual spots in our 20:35 feast when we eat together, when when we gather together. There's some really uh I there's some really amazing things I've heard people say, but then it says they're just walking after their own ungodly lust, even though they have 20:51 some great words to share with us. It's just for their own personal gain or they're just saying it because they heard other people say it and they're just going to jump on and you know, say the same things. And he compares all of these things that 21:07 just read and he says these are these people who have crept in who have come in and they've defiled themselves. And then we get to those verses about keep yourself in the love of God. We get to that verse that says hate the garment spotted by the flesh. 21:22 Hate these things. Hate murmuring. Hate complaining. Hate sensuality. The error of Balaam, the gainsaying of Korah, the way of Cain. Hate these things. Don't be defiled by them. Because there is something serious about it and 21:40 he goes to again some of the furthest extremes that you can find in the scripture. The people of of Israel who they were saved and he had to destroy them. The angels which left their first estate, Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of the worst things in scripture. 21:58 And he says likewise these same things are just as bad. So when we examine ourselves, are we thinking this way? Are we thinking well, I do murmur. I do complain. I despise authority, whatever it may be here that's mentioned. Do we think that 22:14 way that this is that serious? Or are we just saying yeah, I know I've got it, but I'm going to eat the bread. You're not walking worthy. If it Remember Revelation 3? Jesus counts those who don't defile their garments as those 22:30 who can walk with him, as those who can uh who are counted worthy. And again we'll we'll go back a few more pages to 2 Peter chapter 2. Now 2 Peter and Jude say a lot of the same things. So I'm going to I'll move a little bit faster 22:47 through this um through this chapter. But it says similar things, but I want to read a few more things that 2 Peter uh points out. He says Now he's talking about false prophets in verse 1. And uh uh 23:05 he says they they bring in heresies, they deny the Lord that bought them. So, they were bought by the Lord and through their heresies, they end up denying the Lord and it says they bring upon themselves swift destruction. Many 23:20 This is what happens with those who again, those who do not keep their garments. Many follow their pernicious ways. By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Through covetousness with feigned words they make merchandise 23:37 of you. Whose judgment now for a long time lingers not and their damnation does not slumber. So, again we read something very similar to what we just read in Jude. And he uses for the most part the same thing, but look how serious Peter says it now. 23:55 Peter says, "If God did not spare these angels that sinned, he cast them down to hell." Delivers them to chains of darkness. He doesn't spare the old world. Remember the whole world was destroyed in Noah's time, verse 5. Verse 6, again Sodom and 24:11 Gomorrah. He says, "If God doesn't spare those Now, keep reading and keep that thought in the back of your mind. He didn't spare them. He did deliver Lot in verse 7. Let's go to verse 9 now. He says, "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out 24:27 of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." Okay, so he's again, he's reserving these angels, right? That have sinned. He's reserving these that have lived ungodly, but look what he says here. 24:42 This is something that keeps getting me how Peter and Jude basically say the same thing. He says, "But chiefly especially those that walk after the flesh." So, he says, "I've reserved unto the day of judgment these unjust actions of 24:58 Sodom and Gomorrah, of the angels, of the the whole world in Noah's time. But then he says in verse 10, "But chiefly those that walk after the flesh and again despise government." He says that again. "Presumptuous they are, their self-willed, they're not 25:15 afraid to speak evil of dignities." It's interesting that he again takes the worst things that we read of in scripture and says, "Especially I've reserved them for judgement, but especially these people who are presumptuous, those that are 25:33 self-willed." Those that have been bought by the Lord and have now denied him. And he says, let's jump down to verse 12. "But these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand 25:49 not." Again, just in like in Jude, they didn't know what they were talking about. It says, "And shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to ride in 26:02 the daytime and here you go again, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you." Same thing again. And who is it? It's not the obvious ones always. I mean, you could kind of tell 26:17 the someone obvious who might try to join the church and say, "Okay, well, there's something wrong." This is more subtle what's going on here. Um at verse 14, another again further explaining having eyes full of adultery 26:35 that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they have exercised with covetous practices. Again, there we hear we read of of covetousness a second time here. These are again some some similarities that we just read, but these are the 26:52 things that we should be examining where it's not You read this again and it starts off with these terrible things, but then it says in that same way, these other things that people may not take that serious. Speaking evil of 27:06 dignities, being self-willed, eyes full of adultery, beguiling unstable souls. This is what the result of this is, these people. Um and then if you go down even further, it again it talks about Balaam. Uh verse 17, similar language as to 27:24 Jude. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, again, they know how to talk quite well. They allure through the lust of the 27:39 flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. So thank God there were those who were clean. When they escaped those who are in error that are beguiling unstable souls. This is uh 27:56 again, some of the things it when it talks about and and just a couple more verses, it talks about polluting ourselves with the world. These are the things to think about when we gather together at these feasts, when we gather 28:08 together to uh to eat the bread, drink the juice. These are very serious things and the comparisons that it uses, the Lord doesn't take this lightly. And we shouldn't either as we come and we uh we break bread together here. 28:24 Um So there is good news though of all of this for those who um may have you know, may may have found themselves in this in this position of defiling their garments. This is in 28:42 verse nine of the next chapter. It says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness. But is long-suffering to usward, to us right here. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Not 28:57 just the unbeliever, but for the believer who might have stained their garment. The believer that might not be keeping their garment, that isn't watching. The Lord says there is repentance for each of us. It's a beautiful promise that we have. 29:12 Um And then as a result of that verse uh verse 14, it says wherefore beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, and watch the words here, without spot and blameless. 29:28 So again the Lord has provided a way for us to be diligent. Be diligent. Don't get caught up in walking after the flesh. Don't get caught up in these things that might not seem so serious. When we think of sin, it can't just be 29:44 the scandals. It can't just be the big stuff that we hear about. It can't just be these terrible crimes that are committed and we say, "Okay, that's sin." No, this is as well, these things that we that we have just read about. It's so 29:57 bad that he says, "Likewise, just like these terrible events that happened in in the past, it's just as bad if you if we find ourselves caught up in this." And then I'll close with this last scripture. In Matthew, if you turn to Matthew 30:13 chapter 22. I'll just close with this here. Jesus is speaking sort of to and about 30:30 the Pharisees here in chapter 22. I'm not going to um read the full parable. This is the king that had a marriage for his son and they were getting uh the servants were calling people to come. Most of us are probably familiar with 30:45 this story. This parable. And I think it's so serious that this is a this is one of those scary parables that you read that can happen uh when we don't when we don't watch, when we don't keep our garments. 31:04 Verse 11. It was furnished with guests, the the marriage And then it says in verse 11, "When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there was a man who did not have on a wedding garment." And that's something the Lord, of 31:20 course, as we read, the Lord gives us those. He He clothes us with His righteousness. And he said unto him, "Friend, how did you come in not having a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. He had nothing to say. He had nothing to say to 31:33 that. Then the king said to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen." This shows us just how far the deception 31:51 can go. These were Pharisees that trusted in their own righteousness. These are people that perhaps they had the opportunity to take the garment that Christ gave them, but they didn't keep it. And when it came down to it at the very end 32:06 I'm not going to get into all the details of how this guy even appeared there, but it was so serious that he says, "You're going to be cast out into outer darkness." Remember what we read in the other places, they were reserved in the 32:19 midst of darkness. This serious warning. I think it's a very serious warning what it says. Um they didn't take it seriously. They allowed their conscience to be defiled. They allowed stains. They allowed their garments just to get a little 32:36 dirty. They didn't take it that serious. They didn't think They thought it was white enough. But they let sin into the into their lives. They deceive themselves. They said, "No, you know what? I can murmur. It's okay." Again, the grace of God is great. 32:54 And they were led away by their own lust, by their own desires. And so, I take it very seriously as we as we are about to just hear in a moment. Take the bread. Examine ourselves. I hope that each one of us as we come Yes, we enjoy the food. We enjoy the 33:10 fellowship. We do this few times a year. But I hope that each one of us really examine ours- examines ourselves beyond just saying, "Okay, Lord, you know, show me show me how I Yes, that's good. But we read in scripture what we should 33:28 be examining ourselves on and these different things that I just read and there's much more. But >> [clears throat] >> again, now we know I'll just go back to this. Now we know why when we read that about this great battle in Revelation 33:45 the truth that's there, why should we keep our garments? Why should we Why should we watch? There is a blessing there because we can be counted worthy to walk with Christ. I don't want a single person here Again, I'm not thinking of anyone, but I 33:59 don't want a single person here to ever defile their garment. I don't want a single person here to say, "Well, that sin's not that bad." Read the scriptures. See what it says because it is that serious that it has to equate these sins with some of the worst 34:14 events in in history. That's how serious it is. So, please take it seriously. Um examine yourself even the short time after I close out here before we eat the bread. Please take it seriously what we heard. And uh And may that may each one of us grow in 34:31 his grace. Amen. Okay. Uh I'll just pray and then we'll serve uh the bread and juice. Father, I pray that um each one of us, Lord, would um truly uh examine ourselves now, Lord. We want to be counted worthy, Lord, 34:51 according to your standards, not what we believe. Father, we want to uh put on the righteousness of Christ, Lord. We We never want to have a single spot, Lord. We want to hate anything that may defile our clothing, our garments, Lord. I pray 35:06 that this would be true in all of our lives, Lord. I pray that uh even even this short while as we prepare to eat and drink that um that we would examine ourselves, Lord. And if there's anything impure in our lives, if there's anything 35:21 uh that we need to make right, Lord, I pray that we would set it right right now. In your name we pray. Amen. >> [music]
