THE ETERNAL GOSPEL

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Dean Thompson with a word of hope. The eternal gospel. An angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Revelation fourteen verse six In the fourteenth chapter, John sees an angel flying in mid heaven with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. It is the only place in Revelation where the word gospel, Yuan Gellion, good news appears. And it is striking where it occurs, right in the middle of the book's most intense visions of conflict and judgment. Even here, especially here, the dominant note is good news for everyone. The gospel is called eternal Ionos Ionios. This is not a new message invented for the crisis. It is the everlasting good news, the one that was true before the world began, and it will be true after it ends. The same gospel that saved the first believer will save the last. Fashions in religion come and go. The eternal gospel does not change because it rests on the unchanging love of God and the finished work of the Lamb. What is offered to the people of John's vision is the very same good news offered to you today. And notice it's rich, it's rich to every nation and tribe and language and people. There is that fourfold phase again, the refrain of the universal scope. The eternal gospel is not the property of one culture or the privilege of one group. It is for all the world proclaimed across every boundary human beings have ever drawn. Heaven's last grace, great and announcement is not a message of exclusion, but the widest possible invitation. The good news is aimed at everyone who dwells on the earth. What does the angel the angel say? Fear God and give him glory and worship him who made heaven and earth. At first, this might sound like less like good news than like a summons, but consider what it means as gospel. To fear God, to give him the reverence and trust due to the Creator is actually the most liberating thing a human being can do. To worship the one who made heaven and earth is to step out from under the tyranny of the lesser things that demand our worship and crush us when we give it. The call to worship the Creator is a call to freedom. There is deep love in the timing of this message. It comes amid the most fearsome visions of the book. Beasts, conflict, the pressure to bow to false powers. And right there, an angel is sent to make sure the good news still gets proclaimed to everyone. God does not abandon the world to the beasts. Even in the darkest stretch of the vision, he is still sending out the everlasting invitation, still making sure that every nation and tribe and tongue gets the chance to hear that there is good news and a creator who loves them. This is a picture of the heart of God, relentlessly evangelistic, refusing to let any people go unreached, sending the good news flying over the whole earth, even in the worst of times. The same love that ransomed people from every tribe insists that every tribe hear the offer. No one is meant to be left out of the eternal gospel. Let this shape your love today. The good news you have received is not a private possession to be hoarded, but an eternal gospel meant to fly to everyone. And if you have never truly received it yourself, hear the angel's invitation now. The everlasting good news is being proclaimed over your life. There is a creator, he loves you. The lamb has been slain for you, and the invitation is open.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Fear God, give him glory and come home.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

O Lord, we thank you for the eternal gospel that flies to every nation, tribe, and tongue. And even to me, even to us, please help us, each one of us, to be a carrier of your good news. And let no one near me, let no one who is near to us go without hearing the invitation to come, to fear God, and to give glory to Him.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Help us to be messengers of yours, carrying this good news to all the world, to everyone we can meet. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you, brothers and sisters.