Nov 1, 2020  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our heavenly Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

The text for our meditation today is the first lesson for thois All saints Sunday, Revelation 7:9-17. There we read these words:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

We begin in Jesus’ name, Amen

The Church's tribulation began at the moment of her birth.

What that means is this. Born of adversity, even the cross of Jesus, the Church stands this side of heaven in a realm that always has been and always will be hostile to her. She receives the scorn of the world because she speaks of "foolish things," for the message of the cross, the wisdom of God, is foolishness to those who are perishing.

Still, the Church speaks the truth of God's Word because to do otherwise would be to deny herself, it would be to play the harlot.

In one sense one would expect those outside of the church, that is, those outside of Christ, to reject the truth. One would expect this because the things of God are spiritually discerned, as the Scripture says, that is, they are revealed to a person only by the Holy Spirit working through the word.

But, the Church faces travail even as she and her message are rejected by those who bear the name "Christian." Doctrine, the truth of God's Word, is considered by some to be of little importance and so it is cast aside for something more appealing, even as Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge, or Judas sold his soul for a few silver coins.

You see, relevance is the watchword of the day. People demand that the Church be more relevant to the needs of the people. Of course, here relevance is defined, not by the objectivity of God's Word, but by the sinful heart that demands it.

The Church faces travail precisely because she knows that the message which she delivers unto the saints is of eternal relevance, though sinful hearts often consider it archaic.

The truth is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always contemporary because the sinful soul always cries out for redemption, for reconciliation to God. When the Church preaches and teaches Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world, she cannot be more relevant, she cannot be more contemporary!

In all ages, the Church continually prays for herself and for all of the lost souls of the world, and by her prayers the world is preserved, it is shielded, if but for a time, from the judgment and the wrath of God.

But, even the Church's prayers, though they shield the world from judgment, are a source of the world's scorn and disdain. The Church is loathed and mocked when she falls to her knees because, in doing so, she awakens the conscience of those whose knees have yet to bow to the One before whom every knee will one day bow and every tongue will one day confess.

Rejected by those she has been called to serve and to love, the Church struggles to persevere, she longs to find her rest, especially when the "strife is fierce and the warfare is long."

Like the psalmist, she gazes heavenward and she cries out "how long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"

In a tumultuous world, the Church, this bride of Christ, this one born out of adversity, struggles to persevere as she listens to and believes the Word of God. Finally, by God's strength, she holds on in faith, hope and love for that day when her tribulation will finally come to an end.

St. John was certainly no stranger to tribulation. Actually, no one in the Church in John's day was a stranger to tribulation. During the latter part of the 1st century, when John wrote this book that we now call Revelation, the Church was facing a tremendous struggle.

Eleven of the twelve disciples had already been martyred for the faith. St. Paul had been beheaded outside of Rome. The Temple in Jerusalem had once again been destroyed. The Roman Emporer Nero had unleashed his fury upon the Church, as had Titus and Domitian who followed after him.

The great fear of Christians in John's day was not simply whether they would live or die, but whether they would finally win the victory in Christ Jesus their Lord. Oh, for sure, God's promises were the enduring source of their hope that they would finally win the victory, but the events of their time seemed to suggest otherwise.

And John looked, and there he saw those who came out of the great tribulation. He saw the Church at rest! He saw the Church in her victory, her robes made white in the blood of the Lamb! The hymn hadn't been written yet, but had it been, the angels would have been pleased to sing it.

"The golden evening brightens in the west; Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest; Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest. Then there breaks a yet more glorious day: the saints triumphant rise in bright array; the King of glory passes on his way. Alleluia!"

We have come here today, though we are still living in the great tribulation, to celebrate that victory that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. Today is All Saints Sunday.

You have come here to hear again the voice of the One who has loved each of you unto death, even death on the cross. On such a hallowed day as this, a day to remember the saints who have gone before you in the faith, you can pray."Oh, may your soldiers, faithful, true and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old and win with them the victor's crown of gold."

You can hope and pray that your fight for the cause of the Gospel, and for the sake of Christ, will equal that of those who have gone before. You can hope that you will, in faithfulness, endure this great tribulation into which, you, the Church, have been born

The great cloud of witnesses serves, even now, as your example, and, in some sense, as your inspiration. The noble army of martyrs can inspire you. Abraham, who believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness, points you to the certainty of our righteousness in Christ Jesus.

Moses, "who chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt" can move you to stand up and to lift your heads under temptations awful assault. (Heb. 11:25)

The prophets "who were stoned, who were sawn in two, who were tempted, who were slain with the sword" can give you a conviction unmatched by any other army that has ever marched into battle.

And yes, that one in your own lives, that one who went before you in the faith, that one that you dearly loved and continue to dearly love, that one who fought the good fight, that one who has now finished the race, can inspire you to hope and to believe.

Yea. My friends, you can hope and pray that your fight will equal that of those who have gone before you in the faith.

But finally, your hope, must be rooted in Jesus Christ, and in the victory that He has given to those whose robes have been washed clean in His own blood. Your hope is in the certainty of heaven and in the promise of a happy reunion with those who have gone before you in the faith. Your hope must be rooted in the rest that will come to you when your Champion touches you to call you out of this world, this veil of tears, to His side.

When that day will come you don't know, but that it will come beyond a doubt, for "the golden evening brightens in the west; soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest; sweet is the calm of paradise the blest."

"Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits upon the throne will dwell among them."

Christ Is Risen.