Don't Worship Angels — Worship God: Lessons from Revelation 22

But we're picking back up in Revelation 22 tonight, and we're looking at verses

8 and 9. Revelation 22, verses 8 and 9.

Revelation 22:8

And we're going to pick back up here, just talking about immediate worship.

There's going to be immediate worship in heaven, in this new Jerusalem,

right? And we're going to be worshiping together.

Listen to what it says in the text here. Revelation 22, verses 8 and 9.

Revelation 22:8

It says, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

But he said to me, do not do that.

I am a fellow servant of yours. And if your brethren, the prophets and of those

who heed the words of this book, worship God.

So I wanted y'all to know tonight, some of you have probably different translations.

One of the ones that's out there that's been around for a long time as well

is the New American Standard Bible.

And in the updated edition there, this word that we've been looking at throughout

the whole book of Revelation, this Greek word, that chi, and ego for I, begins verse 8 here.

And I bring this out because as it did in verse 7 that we looked at a week or

two ago, what it does here in the original language, it marks a change of speakers.

The speaker is no longer Christ here, but who?

John, okay, who names himself for the first time, by the way,

I thought this was interesting when I was looking at this.

He names himself for the first time since chapter one, verse nine, okay?

And the inspired apostle though here adds his testimony of the truthfulness

of revelation to that of the angel.

He says, declaring I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things,

then overcome by what he heard y'all and saw,

we see in this text that John what he fell down to worship at the feet of the

angel who angel who showed him these things he had the proper response didn't

he which is worship but being overwhelmed,

With amazement, in the moment here, John inadvertently directed it to the wrong object.

The response was right, but he directed it to the wrong object.

And the apostle here, he knew that angels were not to be worshiped. He already knew this.

In fact, he had heard earlier in the book here, he had already been rebuked

for attempting to do it before, back in chapter 19, verse 10.

But I have to say, he's not alone in this camp, because like Ezekiel, Daniel.

And also Peter and James, and of course he himself, John, at the transfiguration

of Christ, John simply collapsed in wonder and worship.

And because God alone, though, is worthy to be worshiped, the angel said to

John, don't do that. Don't do that.

And he hastily reminded him that he too was what?

A created being, if you will, declaring there in the passage that I am a fellow

servant of yours and of your brethren, right?

The prophets of those who heed the words of this book.

Far from being a legitimate object of worship for John, or us,

by the way, the angel was actually his created fellow servants.

And some of y'all may have heard stories of people who get these weird things

happening. And believe it or not, it still happens today in churches.

People start worshiping angels.

You know, I had a story not too many years ago about finding supposed angel

dust in the benches in church and all this crazy stuff like that.

But so it's not something new.

And angels, as we know, are marvelous created beings by God,

and they are majestic. In fact, I don't remember a place in Scripture where

a human encounters an angel that the first words out of the angel's mouth is

not, don't be afraid or fear not, right?

Because they are all some terrible warriors for Christ, right, for God's kingdom.

But he's a created fellow servant, and not only his, but also his brethren, like it says there.

And it says that it's defined here as those who heed the words of this book. What book?

Revelation, right? Talking about this book here. Throughout scripture,

angels are seen serving God's people.

I always remember songs, and I tell you that. I'm thinking about the song by

Amy Grant years ago, Angels Watching Over Me. Anybody heard that one before?

Every move I make, right? And that's how they're seen in scripture,

serving God's people. They're involved in giving the law even to Israel.

And are frequently seen protecting believers. That's where we get that term,

you know, guardian angels.

You know, everybody has their guardian angel. And so many, if you're really

thinking about this, summing up the ministry of angels to believers,

the author of Hebrews actually asked a rhetorical question.

He said, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for

the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

And so, I mean, it's great to know that, hey, we have the army of God,

so to speak, the angelic host, that they are doing God's bidding in this world, right?

And yes, our eyes don't always see it, but when our eyes are opened,

we can see that, right? As we've seen others in Scripture where this happened

to, where their eyes were opened and they saw that, hey.

I thought I was outnumbered, but here's all the angelic host all around.

But calling the, I guess I would say John at this point was bewildered because he was totally amazed.

But this angel here called him back to the one and only object of worship.

And I know y'all know this. Who is it?

God, right? God Almighty. The angel commanded John to worship God, man.

A proper understanding of revelation, I want us to get this tonight, should elicit worship.

Worship, worth ship is a way to look at it, worth ship.

And that we should respond that way, just looking and studying this book.

And so worship, y'all know this, it's a major theme in the apocalypse,

by the way, we've studied this.

I mean, all the way back in chapters four and five of Revelation,

chapter seven, 15, 19, God alone is stated is the only acceptable person to worship.

The Bible forbids worship of anyone else, including angels, saints even.

Some people like to worship saints. The Virgin Mary even.

Mary's just like you and me. She's just a human being or any other created being for that matter.

Only God alone deserves our worship.

So we have that immediate worship that is to be focused to God.

But then here's the other one tonight, immediate proclamation.

Let's pick up here. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy

of this book, for the time is near.

Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be

filthy, and let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness,

and the one who is holy still keep himself holy.

That's verses 10-11. I'll explain that. I know that may be a little bit confusing

as you read that. What is he talking about here?

But continuing his message to John.

The angel commanded him, what? Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book.

The message, y'all, of the apocalypse is not to be hidden. It's not to be veiled.

It's a message to be what? To be spread, to be proclaimed.

It should have instant proclamation and proclaim to produce obedience and worship

to the only one who is worthy.

So unlike Daniel, John was instructed not to seal up the words of revelation,

in other words again that immediate proclamation of this book is called for

because the coming of christ y'all we talked about this in the past weeks has

been imminent for every generation from john's day until today,

jesus is coming again he's coming

again and that the specific words of revelation are not to be sealed up,

stresses again again that there's no hidden secret meaning apart from the normal sense of the text.

Because it says so, y'all. I mean, if the truth is not clear in those words,

then this command is nonsense.

In other words, if you can't pick up the book of Revelation and read it and

gain a blessing and understanding from it, then it's not clear.

What he said here is a lie.

Okay? I want you to understand that tonight. A lot of people seem to want to

steer away from the book of Revelation.

They think somehow that it's not knowable. It's not what he says here.

If the plain, normal understanding, again, of the words of Revelation do not

convey the meaning God intended to its readers to grasp, then these words are sealed.

And that's not what he said. They're not hidden. They're not veiled.

And at the beginning of Revelation, if you remember, John was commanded all

the way back in chapter 1, verse 11, listen, write in a book what you see and

send it to the seven churches.

The message of the apocalypse, that Jesus will return, bringing blessing for

his own and, of course, horrifying judgment, y'all, on the ungodly,

it is too critical not to spread out.

So to fail to preach revelation is not only foolish, according to chapter 1,

verse 3, but it's sinful.

I've heard pastors say they don't want to preach revelation because,

you know, it's just too deep.

It's not what it says here in the text.

We need to proclaim it. We need to instantly proclaim this.

And any Christian who fails to learn its truths is forfeiting blessing.

Any preacher, again, who fails to proclaim its truths is sinfully unfaithful

to his mandate to preach the whole counsel of God.

I mean, think about it for a minute. Not to preach the book of Revelation.

It's to fail to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ with glory that's due to him.

It's more than just a failure to teach the whole counsel of God.

It's outright disobedience to the command here that we just read not to seal

up the words of the apocalypse.

It robs believers like you and me of the end of the divine story of history

and all of its wonder and fullness. How's this all going to end?

I want y'all to know this. It's not something I do. I just can't stand it.

But anybody like reading books? I do read books, not that part.

But my wife here, and I'm going to tell on you, Sharon. You don't mind, do you? Okay.

She'll go to a brand new book, y'all, and she will read the end to see how it

turns out before she reads the book.

Now, if I'm going to do that, I probably don't even want to read the book. That's just me, okay?

I won't have that suspense, but not sharing. But here, look,

the point here is he's given us this, this book in Revelation that he's promised

blessings, not only those who read it, but those who hear it, right?

You're promised a blessing just for reading the book from God.

So no one should preach who doesn't rightly divide and proclaim this book.

So the angel's next statement here seems strangely out of context.

I told y'all this earlier. I would get down and talk about this wording and

we're almost done. I promise.

He says this, he says, let the one who does wrong still do wrong.

And the one who is filthy still be filthy. And the one who is righteous still

be righteous, still practice righteousness. And the one who is holy still keep himself holy.

And some may think when you just look at that its connection with the command

that preceded it is not immediately apparent what i mean by that well,

the truth here it dramatically conveys is that people's response to that proclamation,

of the truth,

will fix their eternal destinies what i mean by that those who hear the truth.

But continue to do wrong and be filthy, as it says in this text,

will by that hardened response fix their eternal destiny in hell.

On the other hand, the one who continues to practice righteousness and keep

himself holy gives evidence of what? Of genuine saving faith.

And that verb that's used there that eti it means still and it may even have

the sense of yet more and in that case the meaning is actually that those who do wrong.

And are filthy in this life will be even more so in eternal hell where there

will be absolutely y'all don't forget this there'll be no good influences to mitigate their evil.

In contrast, those who are righteous, who are holy in this life,

will be perfectly holy in their glorified bodies, right?

In heaven, in our eternal state, if you will.

So I think it's very sobering.

It brings us down to earth, a reality here, that people's response to God's

gospel truth that's proclaimed in this life will determine their eternal destiny.

When they die, or when the Lord returns, as we've been talking about and singing

about, their character will be forever fixed, if you will.

Those who respond to the warnings and revelation, what's going to happen?

They're going to live forever in heaven. But those who actually fail to heed

these warnings and repent will still remain forever in their sinful state.

It's just telling us this. It's also true that God's Spirit will not always

call sinners to repentance.

Let me say that again. It's also true that God's Spirit will not always call sinners to repentance.

And Scripture actually warns sinners not to harden their hearts to the point

where God judicially abandons them.

But yet we know, tragically, those warnings often go unheeded, don't they?

And the opportunity to repent and believe the gospel is wasted.

And speaking of wayward sinners for a moment.

You think about the centers of the Northern Kingdom, Israel.

God declared in his word, he said this, he said, Ephraim is joined to idols

in Hosea 4. You know what he said after that?

Let him alone, let him alone.

Jesus said of the equally hardened Pharisees, if you remember, let them alone.

They are blind guides of the blind. And then even here, as we see in the New

Testament passages, and then we're gonna look at in a second,

Both of those passages there express God's wrath, but it's a wrath of abandonment.

Romans chapter 1, verses 18 to 32. Would somebody read that for me real quick? Romans 1, 18 to 32.

Romans 1:18–32

I promise we're drawing close to a close here.

Romans 1, 18 through 32.

Who's got it? 18 to 32. Yep. But God shows his anger from heaven against all

sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities,

his eternal power and divine nature.

So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God,

but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks.

And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.

As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols

made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desire.

As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies.

They traded the truth about God for a lie.

So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself,

who is worthy of eternal praise. Amen.

That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned

against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.

And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with Winneman,

burned with lust for each other.

Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin,

they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their

foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed,

hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.

They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.

They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.

They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die.

Yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too.

Absolutely. And so we see in that passage, we should all be familiar with in

Romans 1, God's wrath of abandonment.

When he turns hardened, unrepentant sinners over to their consequences of their own choices.

Y'all don't think, I've heard people preach this and it's just not biblical.

Okay. That when, you know, people always talk about that anytime you want to

be saved, just call on the name of Jesus, you can be saved. You probably heard

that before. That's not true.

That's not scriptural. It's nowhere found in scripture. as far as the sense

of us being able to just call out whenever we want to, okay?

The Holy Spirit calls us to repentance.

In fact, it says there is none who seeks after God, no, not one.

There's none who even obeys God. We can't do it. We don't seek him on our own.

And so God has to call out to us. His Spirit draws us in.

So it's not a matter of, man, I'll just get saved after I sow my wild oats.

Then I'll call out to God. Don't think that way.

Because unless God is calling you, you're not going to call out to him.

You're not going to even desire to do it.

You're not going to be there. And if you harden your hearts when you hear the

truth, and they get harder and harder and harder, there's going to come a time,

when God's wrath of abandonment will take place in your life,

like he's talking about here in Revelation.

I always told people, look, when God calls you, when the Holy Spirit deals with

you, don't harden your heart.

Don't do it. Because tomorrow, you may not hear the voice again.

You may not hear that the Spirit of God will not always strive with you.

Yes, it's true. Those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But you will not call on the name of the Lord unless he calls you first.

Preaching revelation draws the line. Its truths are going to melt the hearts

of repentant people and harden the hearts of the unrepentant.

These same truths, y'all, become either an instrument of salvation,

in other words, or an instrument of damnation.

They must be proclaimed so men and women can hear them while there's still time.

That's why it's so important. He's saying here, we need to proclaim the words

of this book, and then we need to have immediate service, y'all.

Quickly, one more verse, verse 12, it says, Behold, I'm coming how? Quickly.

And my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he's done.

You see, the speaker here now is no longer the angel, but the Lord Jesus himself,

who repeats his declaration in verse 7. He says, Behold, I'm coming quickly.

And we noted in the introduction of this particular chapter here,

Jesus's statement means that his coming is imminent.

It teaches the same truth that he expressed all the way back in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

He said, take heed, keep on the alert, for you do not know when the appointed time will come.

It's like a man who's away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting

his slaves in charge or his servants, assigning to each one his own task,

also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.

Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know when the master of the house

is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows,

or in the morning, in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.

What I say to you, I say to all, be on the alert.

When he comes, he would, Jesus will bring his reward with him to render to every

man according to what he's done.

Believers' eternal rewards will be based on their faithfulness in serving Christ in this life.

Their works will be tested, and only those with eternal value will survive.

Y'all, how much to, look, think about the things we do. There's good service

things we do, good works.

And by the way, the Bible teaches good works will never save you.

But good works prove that we do know the Savior. And we will have them if we really are converted.

But, you know, those with eternal value are only the kind that's going to survive in the judgment.

All the good works we do, you know, think of it. Some of them that are done today,

are done to bring glory to oneself or done to, you know, get some kind of recognition

on a stage stage in front in front of important people those won't survive they'll

be burned up even though they were good things.

See, God sees the motives of our hearts. The rewards that believers enjoy in

heaven will be capacities for serving God. The greater their faithfulness in

this life, the greater will be their opportunity to serve in heaven.

And knowing that, John exhorted believers here in this passage,

watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, he said.

He says, but that you may receive a full reward. That's 2 John 8.

You want to receive that full reward. The knowledge that Jesus could return,

Eastwood, at any moment should not lead Christians to a life of just idle waiting,

for his return. Oh, Jesus is coming back.

You know, I got my ticket to heaven. I'm cool. Not literally, but I'm cool, right?

Well, no. It should be something that stirs in us an imminent service for the kingdom, right?

It should produce diligent, obedient, worshipful service to God alone,

an urgent proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers, y'all. That's what it should spur on.