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This podcast is a production of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, USA. Watermark exists to be and make more fully devoted followers of Christ, looking to God's Word as our only authority, conscience and guide.
**Timothy Ateek:** Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing today? Great to see you. Welcome. I'm so glad you made it. If this is your first time ever with us on a Sunday, I hope this place can feel like home for you quickly. We want to be a place where you can take either your first or your next step with Jesus, so I'm so glad you made it. We're going to jump into studying God's Word. I am so excited about what we're about to show you and invite you into.
Before we jump in, I want to give you a chance to do what we do every Sunday, which is to pray for yourself and to ask for the living God to speak to your heart. So, would you pray really quickly? Would you just say, "God, would you speak to me this morning?" Then, would you pray for the people around you and ask God to speak to them as well? Then, would you pray for me and ask God to speak through me to you?
Holy Spirit, you don't need us to tell you this, but you're welcome here, and I pray that you would illuminate our hearts and our minds to the truth in such a way that Christ is most glorified. Lord, that's our hope today: that we would see Jesus clearly. So, as we open up your Word, God, I pray that you would speak to us and that we would hear from you. I pray that your Spirit would take your Word and so custom fit it into our hearts that there's no way we could leave here unchanged. We ask you to have your way in us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, as many of you know, 2025 has been the _Year of the Word_, where our church has been journeying through the entire Bible from cover to cover. Yesterday was a huge milestone for those who have been on the Journey, because we finished the Old Testament. So, for some of you, I just want to say, "Congratulations," because you just finished the whole Old Testament for the first time in your life, and that's incredible.
Others of you right now are feeling some shame because you fell off, and I don't want you to feel that at all. I just want to invite you to jump in with us tomorrow, because the fact that we finished the Old Testament yesterday means we start the New Testament tomorrow. So just jump back in with us. This is a great time to be on a journey together. Let's read the Bible together as a church.
Look. If you're one of those type-_A_ people, you can be type _B_ for once in your life. If you fall behind, stop trying to catch up. Just pick up where we left off. Start every Monday of the fall right where we're at as a church. God is going to do something great in your life journeying through the New Testament. Okay? So, let's all get on track tomorrow. Let's finish 2025 strong. We'll be in Matthew tomorrow. We have something really exciting we want to invite you into today. So, take a moment, watch this video, and then we'll continue.
\[Video\]
Watermark 2025 has been the Year of the Word, and it has been so encouraging to hear stories from many of you about how you've experienced traction like never before in your enjoyment of and understanding of the Bible. While many of us have taken next steps with God's Word, here's the reality: Many have never taken their _first_ step with God's Word. Why? Because they simply don't have it.
Growing up, I had this misconception that to have a heart for the nations, it required a special calling from God. Like, in the end, it was really just for the missionaries, the people who are going to get up and actually go and do something about it. Then, I remember hearing this pastor talk, and as he spoke, he unpacked God's heart for the nations, but he also just shared not only the opportunity we have but the responsibility every Christian has to make disciples of all nations.
Then, I had a trip planned to Washington, D.C., and I had friends who were like, "Are you going to go to the Museum of the Bible?" I was like, "I guess I am." They said, "You've got to go to the illumiNations room." That's actually the room I'm standing in right now. The illumiNations room, they said, is this room that shows all of the languages that currently have the Bible, and then it shows all of the languages that have yet to have the Bible translated.
I remember stepping into this room. It's really amazing how they've done it, because they've color coded it. So, even what you see behind me… It's worth celebrating, because everything in yellow… These are the languages that have the complete Bible, but only the yellow is a complete translation. Everything else in the room, all of the other colors, indicate in some way the need for translation. There are so many languages represented that haven't even started translation.
I remember stepping into this room and feeling the sobering weight and the reality that so much of the world still has no access to the Word of God. I want you to meet a good friend of mine, a Watermark member but also the CEO of a Bible translation organization known as the _Seed Company_, Davis Powell.
**Davis Powell:** You know, I loved hearing TA's story about that moment of realization for him. That's really similar to what happened for me. I was in Atlanta, actually interacting with someone who was a part of the Bible translation movement, and they shared a statistic with me that I had no clue about, and I grew up in the church. That was that there are over 7,000 living languages in the world…7,000 languages, English being one of those, that people are speaking in, dreaming in, and singing in.
What he said next completely stopped me in my tracks. He said that of those 7,000 languages, at that time in 2015, over 3,000 languages were still awaiting their first verse of Scripture. I couldn't imagine that. Since that time in 2015, as we stand here today, that number is no longer over 3,000 languages still awaiting their first verse; it's under 600 languages in 2025. It just fires me up so much as I think about what we can do, as a body, to see these languages behind us, clear cases representing no Scripture, to having that Scripture open in their hands and impacting their lives. We have the opportunity to do that together.
**TA:** I was given this Bible a few years ago by a friend. When he gave it to me, it honestly became one of my most treasured possessions. I still love holding this Bible every day. I genuinely feel joy when I get to open it and read it. When people ask me about it, I feel proud of it. Yet it's such a sobering reality that there are people in this world who never have that experience. We can do something about that.
Watermark, we have shown that together we can be a massive force for good, that God can do incredible things through us when we're fully surrendered to him. We believe that all Scripture is for all people. So, Watermark, let's translate the Bible together.
\[End of video\]
Well, friends, I'm so expectant for what God is going to do in our church over the next few weeks, because 2025 has been the Year of the Word for us, but it's going to be the year of someone else's first word ever, and we're going to get to play a part in that. Would you guys welcome Watermark member Davis Powell to the stage? Davis is a good friend. We've known each other for years. When I came to Watermark, it was great to reconnect with him.
A few months ago, we were sitting at breakfast at Snooze, and we began to dream together of what could be for our church. What's great is that Davis is just a Watermark member. So, as we sat at breakfast, it was just conversation between a pastor and a member and us getting to talk about how we, as a church, in the midst of the Year of the Word, could make this a year of someone's _first_ word. You're going to get to hear from Davis more over the next coming weeks, but today… We had a lot of fun in D.C. together shooting that video.
**Davis:** We did. It was a great time.
**TA:** You said in that video that there are 7,000 languages in the world. I just wonder, if it was like _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?_ and I were to ask this room, how many people would need to phone a friend to see how many languages are in the world. Unpack that for us.
**Davis:** Yeah. If it makes you feel better, my first guess when I learned about Bible translation was 150, so I've grown a lot. We're in this together. I saw some of you trying to take notes pretty furiously, so let me break down the numbers one more time. There are 7,000 languages in the world today that are being spoken in the homes, being spoken in communities. Of those 7,000 languages, as of today, right now, 769 languages have a full Bible. So, 10 percent of the world's languages have access to a full Bible, English being one of those.
Thousands are on a journey. Maybe they have the New Testament, working on an Old Testament. Maybe they have a gospel. They're tracking toward all Scripture. Then, right over 500 are still awaiting their first verse. It's hard to think about that. "What do you mean there are people still waiting on Scripture?" Maybe they're on one of the 17,000 islands that make up the country of Indonesia. Maybe they are in one of those war-torn countries you see on the news all the time. They're remaining for a reason.
**TA:** Yeah. I think a question a lot of people might wonder is "What is a heart language?" Like, why do people need the Bible in their heart language? Because you have so many people in the world who know English or Spanish or French or Arabic. Why do we need the Bible translated into everyone's heart language? Why can't they either just read it in one of _those_ languages that they might already know, even though it might not be their heart language, or maybe they can learn a language and read a Bible in a language where it already exists?
**Davis:** Yeah. I mean, many of us in this room have learned multiple languages, but I just want you to imagine with me for a second. If the Bible you brought in this morning…maybe it's in your lap, maybe you're going to pull out the YouVersion app in a moment…the worship songs we just sang…
What if that was in a language you had learned later in your life, your second language, your third language, your fourth language? What would your view of God be? Depending on how much you know the language, you might be able to pick up on some things intellectually. You might be able to track a little bit, but what would you think? Maybe you'd think, "This God is really a foreigner God. It's for somebody else."
We see it over and over again, that when it comes to the heart language, your mother tongue, the language your mother spoke to you in from the day you were born, the language you dream in, the language you cry out in, the language that most connects with your soul… We see it when community leaders stand up and say, "We know that this God is not a foreign God. He's our God. He speaks our language."
**TA:** We don't like certain translations. People are like, "No, I don't…" Yeah. Anyway, let's not talk about _that_. People are like, "Why are you reading from the ESV?" It's like, "Well, at least we have it," you know.
**Davis:** If anybody wants to ask that question, you can ask TA after service. That's great.
**TA:** Davis, just really quickly, I'm going to have you pray for us in a moment, but one of the things that makes the journey that we're about to start as a church special is that this is just a family deal, you being a Watermark member. So, what are you excited about for your church?
**Davis:** Yeah, absolutely. I mean, who has loved the _Year of the Word_ this year? Come on. I love it. Just like TA mentioned… I mean, there are so many things to be excited about. My wife Kate and I have been a part of Watermark for the last decade. It's just a Bible-revering church taking God's Word to the nations. It's beautiful.
Something I want to call out is that in the Town Center, you're going to see a bookcase that the Watermark crew has done a phenomenal job of setting up, and if you look at it, it looks like Bibles, 511 Bibles to be exact, and each Bible has a language name on it. If you were to walk up and take it off the shelf, what you'd realize is that all of those Bibles are completely blank, because those are 511 languages that are still waiting their first verse.
So, being a part of this body, being invited into this, I'm just excited to see what the Lord is going to use us to do, because there's darkness in places around the world, but light is coming, and we know darkness doesn't stand a chance. I'm super excited.
**TA:** Would you pray for us really quickly? Then we'll jump into God's Word.
**Davis:** Father, thank you that we have your Word in our heart language. Father, thank you that we can see Ephesians 2, God, that we bring nothing to the table, but God, being rich in mercy… Father, thank you for the ways you're working in our hearts. I pray right now for those who are waking up around the world, going to sleep, believing in a god or multiple gods. Lord, I pray that your Word would come swiftly to them and that we would see your name go from our closest neighbors to the farthest nations. In Christ's name, amen.
**TA:** Amen. Thanks, Davis. Well, today is all about us orienting our hearts to God's heart, and God's heart is for the nations. I'll set it up this way. My dad loves to travel. He has seen so much of the world. He loves the world, so much so that for Christmas for so many years we just gave him the most up-to-date world atlas. I don't know if you would get fired up about receiving a world atlas for Christmas, but my dad loves traveling. He just loves seeing the world, so we could give him a world atlas, and he would be all about it.
It also meant that his experience watching the opening ceremonies to the Olympics was different than mine, because my dad actually really enjoyed seeing each nation presented and paraded through. My dad would sit there. He would even guess the population of that country. He might get his world atlas out and show my boys "This is where that country is." That is very different than _my_ experience. My experience watching the opening ceremonies is "When is the United States coming?" That's really all I'm waiting for. All I care about is seeing the United States come.
I thought about that, and I thought, "I wonder if that is us with our heavenly Father when it comes to the gospel going to the nations." Like, God's heart is for the nations. He doesn't just care about the overall population. He is the one who made every single individual of every single country, language, and people group, and we're sitting here like, "You know what? But I just really care about the United States because that's where I'm from. That's what I see most."
I think our heavenly Father is going to invite us today to sync up with his heart and to not just care most about what's going on in our country but to lift up our eyes and open up our hearts and say, "God, whatever is in your heart for the nations, I want that to be in my heart as well. Whatever passion level _you_ have, I should share that, so whatever you're doing, I say yes to it." So, today is just about us syncing up our hearts with God's heart for the nations.
If you have a Bible, I want to invite you to turn with me to the end of the Bible, to the book of Revelation. We're going to be looking in Revelation, chapter 7. We studied this passage about three years ago together, and I know you all remember every single word to every single one of my sermons, so you're already placing it. You're like, "Yes. I remember it exactly, TA," and thank you for that.
Revelation 7 is where we're going to be today. The word _revelation_ comes from the Greek word _apokalupsis_, and that word means unveiling, which is really interesting because the book of Revelation… It really means unveiling, but when we think of the book of Revelation, we think of it as a book that's very hard to understand, that it's not a book that's revealing something; it feels more like a book that's concealing something, because it's just difficult to understand.
But the book of Revelation is all about revealing truth to God's people, and one of the things the book of Revelation reveals is God's heart for the nations. So, look with me at Revelation 7. It is an absolutely beautiful picture in Revelation 7, starting in verse 9.
**"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.'"**
It's an incredible picture. John gets a vision, and it's a great multitude. It's an innumerable number of people. This is a picture of the nations in heaven.
1\. _Heaven will be filled with the nations because God's heart has always been for the nations_. That's the first thing we need to understand to get synced up with God's heart: heaven will be filled with the nations because God's heart has always been for the nations. We see this innumerable multitude.
Now, when I talk about the nations, I just want to be clear what I even mean. When I say _nations_ today and in the next few weeks, I'm not just talking about the roughly 200 countries recognized by the United Nations; I'm talking about people groups. A _people group_ is a group of people who share the same language, the same dialect of that language, the same traditions, ancestry, history, location, and religion. The Joshua Project estimates that there are about 17,559 distinct people groups in the world today.
So, what you see in Revelation is a picture of roughly 17,000 different people groups represented in heaven. The reason the nations will fill heaven and heaven will be filled with the nations is because God's heart has always been for the nations. If you've been journeying with us through the Bible, God has been putting the nations on drip since the book of Genesis. We might not have seen it, but it isn't that it hasn't been there.
So, let me just walk you back through the Old Testament to show you that God has been showing his heart to us ever since the beginning. Take Genesis, chapter 12, which we've identified as the _Abrahamic covenant_, which is such a pivotal passage in the Bible. If you want to understand your Bible, you have to understand Genesis 12. Genesis 12 is actually what drew our attention to the nation of Israel. It focused our attention on the nation of Israel for the bulk of the Old Testament, yet listen to what it says. God says to Abraham:
**"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."**
Here's what I want you to see. In a passage that has focused us on the nation of Israel… Even that passage, which is meant to draw our attention to one nation, is informing us that that one nation and the focus on it should result in blessing that extends to all of the families of the earth, all nations. Why? Because through Abraham's family, we would end up getting the Savior of the world.
Then you turn over to the book of Exodus. You see the nation of Israel led out of Egypt and into the wilderness, and here's what the nation of Israel is told in Exodus 12:48: **"If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it."** Do you know what this is? This is a Jewish law that makes provision for the nations to become a part of the people of God, even in the Old Testament.
We read the book of Ruth. What is the book of Ruth about? Well, in the book of Ruth, we see a foreign woman become a part of God's people and, actually, a part of the genealogy of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The book of Jonah is an entire book dedicated to God's desire to call one of Israel's enemies to repentance.
Listen to the Psalms. Psalm 46:10: **"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"** Psalm 96:2: **"Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!"** Listen to this beautiful picture in Micah, chapter 4, which is also echoed in Isaiah, chapter 2. This is a beautiful picture.
**"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."**
Do you see it? You see the word of God flowing out from Jerusalem, and you see the nations flowing in. Why? To receive the word, to receive God, and to walk in his ways. Malachi, which many of you just read yesterday… This is what we just finished reading in the Old Testament. Malachi 1:11: **"For from the rising of the sun to its setting…"**
Do you get that picture there? "From the rising to the setting." It's supposed to encompass the earth. **"For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts."** I love Malachi 1:14. God says, **"For I am a great King…"** Yes, he is. **"For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations."**
You have to understand I'm only hitting a few verses. I could have spent this entire morning just reading verses. Like, no commentary on it, no interjection of my opinions. I could have spent the whole 45 minutes of our time together just reading verses out of the Bible that show you God's heart for the nations. So, this is just where we have to get synced up.
This past summer, my family and I were in London, and we were walking from our hotel, which was close to Westminster Abbey, to the London Eye, the big Ferris wheel. We were crossing over this bridge, and this bridge was a place where a lot of tourists were stopping to take pictures. I can't remember which son I was walking with, but I told him, "Just listen. Listen to all of the different languages you hear being spoken right now," because there were people from all over the world in this one place.
As you're walking, you are literally hearing all of these different languages spoken at the same time in the same place. I was like, "This is a little bit of heaven right here," in the sense that when we get to heaven… I don't know if you know this, but heaven isn't going to primarily be in English. We're not going to look around and everyone from other nations are going to have those headphones on with the little translation because it's all in English.
If you think heaven is just a bunch of white people singing "Oceans" together… I don't know who put that in you, but we need to pull it out. Heaven will be filled with the nations because God's heart is for the nations. So, my hope is that this week and the next two Sundays might be a software update for you.
Do you ever go and look what's in the software update, like, the iOS update? Do you ever go and look? Do you ever see those times where it just says, "Bug fixes"? It's like, "Oh my gosh. You're going to put me out of order for 30 minutes to just fix bugs." Yeah, that's what this is. This is a 45-minute bug fix.
Maybe you feel like your operating system is up to date. Man, you've been in the Word every single day. You've been sharing your faith like crazy, yet you have no vision for God's heart for the nations. Or you've heard me talk about the nations a lot, but you're like, "Yeah, but I don't feel called to that." Bug fix. There's something in you that isn't functioning right. It needs to be updated. There's something going on that has to be adjusted.
Let me just identify some bugs in our body that need to be fixed. Some of you guys saw that video. You heard Davis up here. You heard him talk about 7,000. You heard him say there are blank Bibles for 510 languages, and you're like, "Yeah, but I just don't feel called to that." Okay, that's a bug. You don't have to wait to feel called to the nations. Open your Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, read it out loud.
**"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…"** It doesn't say, "Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." It says, "Go and make disciples of all nations." Not "If you feel called to the nations." No. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, then your heart must surrender and submit to God's heart. God's heart is for the nations. You don't have to wait to feel called to the nations. You've _been_ called to the nations. You've been called to reach the nations. It's a bug fix.
Or this mentality of "Until we're more effective in reaching people locally, it makes no sense to try and reach people internationally." That's a bug that needs to be fixed, because you can't look in Scripture… Point to a verse that tells me that God's heart is for every person in Dallas to be in heaven. You can say he desires all to be saved, but there's no picture of every "Dallasite" in heaven. There _is_ a picture of people from every tribe, every tongue, every people group, and every language in heaven.
So, we can know for sure that God wants us to reach Dallas, but never at the expense of reaching the nations. I heard this when I was in college. Honestly, I don't know the first person to say it. In the end, it doesn't matter. But you're either praying, giving, going, or disobeying when it comes to the nations. You're either praying for the nations to be reached, giving so that the nations can be reached, going to the nations to reach the nations, or just flat-out disobeying God's call to reach the nations.
2\. _Heaven will be filled with the nations because Jesus has secured salvation for the nations_. Look back. Let's just read it one more time, verses 9 and 10. **"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!'"**
So, you have an innumerable number of people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And did you see what the text says? It says they're clothed in white robes. Why are they clothed in white robes? Well, the good news is that the text actually answers it for us. Look down at verse 14, because it tells us why they're clothed in white robes. It says, **"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.'"**
Do you find that ironic? Just think about that for a second. Their robes are white because they've washed them in blood. How does _that_ happen? If something is washed in red, it should become red. Right? Just me? Okay. But here's the thing. Things that are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ become white. They're made clean. They're made new. That's what this is. These are people from every tribe, tongue, people group, and nation who have been cleansed and made pure and clean and new before a holy God. How? By the blood of Jesus Christ.
It says they have palm branches, because palm branches were a token of triumph. So, you see people in the presence of God, able to stand in the presence of God because the righteousness that Christ supplies them is sufficient through his triumphant life, death, burial, and resurrection. So, let's just remind ourselves that the gospel is good news. And what's the good news? Christ makes us clean. Can we just say that together? Christ makes us clean. Christ makes us clean.
I remember a long time ago I went as a leader to Frontier Ranch with Young Life. If you've ever been a leader, then you know what I'm talking about right now. There's one night at Young Life camp… It's like the carnival night, and campers get to pie their counselors in the face. So, I had the privilege and the joy of getting pied in the face.
But here's what they tell you, like, kind of an unofficial… Maybe it _is_ an official rule for the counselors. They tell you, "Don't wipe it off. Like, when you get pied in the face… Yeah, sure, you can wipe your eyes out, but leave it on your face. Don't wipe it off. Leave it on." It's supposed to be symbolic. It's symbolic to campers of their sin that they are caked in that only Christ can take off.
It's one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've had in my life. I want to put you there. I want you to feel it. I want you to feel whipped cream or shaving cream in your ear. Can you feel it right now? Like, just that suction. You just feel off. And it's in the rim of your nose, so when you inhale, you don't like that. Then, as you're running around and kind of sweating, there's stuff that gets into the corners of your eyes, and it burns. On top of that, it's sticky.
Do you know what I'm talking about? Can you think of your own experience where you so badly wanted to get clean? The only way to get clean is by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the good news of Christianity: you're in a place with the sin of your life, which you are incapable of doing anything about on your own, yet Christ cleanses you. The reason I went through that discomfort is that is the experience of people around the world in their sin.
I remember talking with this girl at Texas A&M from a Muslim background. What she shared was she felt like a failure. She was like, "I can never measure up." I mean, there are the Five Pillars, and she knows Allah is a judge and it kind of comes down to which way things lean, and she's like, "In the end, I don't feel like I can measure up."
Then she met grace. She met grace in Jesus Christ, and that's what changed everything for her. Why? Because in the midst of the discomfort, in the burning, in the desperation of "I want to feel clean," she encountered the blood of Jesus Christ, the grace of Christ that washed her clean, and we watched her be transformed, being full of joy because she experienced the cleansing of Jesus Christ.
Just think about Jews today who believe it's all about following God's law or Muslims who believe it's about the Five Pillars or Buddhists or those who subscribe to Hinduism who believe it's about karma, that if you do good, you get good and if you do bad, you get bad. In the end, all of these are insufficient ways to deal with the sin that is caked onto our lives.
Even just last week or the week before, I was sharing my testimony with a guy of how Christ had changed my life, and he was sharing with me. "Yeah, we just kind of teach our kids we're all imperfect and we just have to do our best. We just have to try our best." I'm like, "That's not it, because in the end, it doesn't matter how hard you try. You can't try enough to make yourself clean." This is the good news we have in Jesus Christ.
Look. If you're here this morning, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or you thought you were a Christian, but I just described you as someone who's like, "I'm just trying my best so that when I stand before God I can be like, 'God, I tried,'" you've missed it. The great news is that today there's an offer on the table for you to cleanse yourself in the blood of Jesus Christ. That sounds really weird, but Christ has come to make us new, to wash us clean, and that comes only through faith.
Heaven will be filled with the nations because Christ has secured salvation for the nations. That's what he has done. He has secured salvation for the nations. Turn over to Revelation 5, because there's another vision which gives us even more idea of how Jesus secured salvation for the nations. Just watch this. I love this picture. John says:
**"Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it."**
Do you get the picture here? God the Father is standing with the scroll, seven seals. There's an angel saying, "Who's worthy to open the scroll?" Here's the reality: no one is worthy. When John sees that no one is worthy to open the scroll, he begins to weep. Okay. Well, what's the scroll? The scroll includes God's plan for history, humanity, and redemption. It explains how God saves us. If no one can open the seals, then the human race is doomed to destruction.
As John sees God seated there holding the scroll, no one able to open it, he begins to weep. Why does he weep? Because if no one can open it, humanity is doomed to destruction. Now watch verse 5. **"And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'"**
The angel says, "Don't weep." Why? "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, has conquered." Apparently, that was the prerequisite for opening the scroll. In order to be worthy to open the scroll, you first had to conquer. What did Jesus conquer? He conquered Satan, sin, and death. That's what he has done.
Now, this is crucial. Now John sees _how_ Jesus conquered. Verse 6: **"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb…"** That's interesting, because it just said the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the one who is worthy to open the scroll. So, it's this picture of John turning, expecting to see a lion, and as he turns, instead of seeing a lion, he sees a lamb.
He says, "I saw a lamb." What's the lamb doing? **"…standing, as though it had been slain…"** That's interesting, because a lamb that's slain should be lying on the ground, but the lamb is standing. Why? Because the lamb is alive. **"…a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth."** Jesus is a lion because he's a conquering king, but how did he conquer? He conquered as a lamb, a lamb that was slain, that _was_ dead but is standing now because he is alive.
John Piper put it this way. It's so beautiful. He said of Jesus, "He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday like a king on the way to a throne, and he went out of Jerusalem on Good Friday like a lamb on the way to the slaughter. He drove out the robbers from the temple like a lion devouring its prey. And then at the end of the week he gave his majestic neck to the knife, and they slaughtered the Lion of Judah like a lamb. So he conquered sin and death and Satan not just because he was a Lion, but because he was a Lamb-like Lion."
See, Jesus secured salvation for the nations through sacrifice. He conquered by seemingly being conquered. Key word _seemingly_. He conquered by seemingly being conquered. Watch the result in Revelation 5:7. **"And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."**
Verse 9: **"And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…'"** Why is Jesus Christ worthy? Because he has ransomed people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Heaven will be filled with the nations because Christ has secured salvation for the nations.
3\. _God has eternal plans for the nations; therefore, our earthly plans must involve reaching the nations_. God has eternal plans for the nations. Let me show you that. Verse 13: **"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.'"** We saw that back in the valley of the dry bones. Do you remember that? Anytime an angelic being or God himself asks you a question, what's the response? "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.'"**
Just watch this. What are God's eternal plans for the nations? It's to be with him. It's to be in his presence, to experience fullness of joy in his presence. It's to worship him. It's to be protected by him. It's to hunger no more, thirst no more, and be persecuted no more. He uses exodus language here. What's exodus? The exodus is God leading a people in slavery out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.
What do we see here? We see a second exodus where God, through Christ, is leading an innumerable number of people from every tribe, tongue, people group, and nation out of slavery to sin and into the promised land of eternal life with God. That's what God is doing all throughout the story of the Scripture. What we see is our own exodus where God is leading us to eternal life with him.
Just think about what this literally means for so many Christians living among the nations. Just think. Those whose countries have been torn apart by war will be at peace. Those who were trafficked will be free. Those who have lived on the brink of starvation will be full. Those who haven't had access to clean drinking water will thirst no more. They will be whole and satisfied for all of eternity. These are God's eternal plans for the nations.
If these are God's eternal plans for the nations, that should shape our earthly plans regarding the nations. God has eternal plans for the nations; therefore, our earthly plans must involve reaching the nations. So, that's what we're going to be doing together over the next few weeks. I'm going to be inviting our body, asking the body, to be a part of reaching and resourcing the nations by making _our_ Year of the Word someone else's year of their first word. So, here's what I want to invite you to do over the next week. Okay? Don't miss this. If you're tuned out, tune back in.
First, begin to pray regularly for the nations. There's a great Bible app called _Unreached of the Day_. If you're a parent, you have a responsibility to cultivate your kids' hearts for the nations. You do. You have a responsibility to do it. The great thing is that an app like Unreached of the Day… It is so easy.
You can pass the app around the table to your kids. You can push a button that shows you how to pronounce the name of the people group. It gives you all sorts of facts and figures, and then you can have your kids begin to pray for those who have never heard the name of Jesus before. Make that a part of your regular rhythm. Begin to pray regularly for the nations.
Secondly, I just want to tell you that over the past year, we have been clarifying for our church a new sending strategy where our hope over the next several years is to send dozens, if not hundreds, of Watermark members to reach the nations with the gospel. You can go to our website. If you go to the "missions" page on our website, you're going to see very clearly laid out how you… If you sense in any way that God is stirring your heart specifically to reach the unreached in our world, there is a pathway here at Watermark for you to leverage your life for the sake of the gospel by going to the unreached.
Thirdly, we can reach the nations now by resourcing them with God's Word. I'm telling you… I mentioned it in that video, but it's sobering to think… We take it for granted that we can just pick this up whenever we want, which also means we can let it sit for as long as we want to let it sit. Every Sunday I say, "Turn in _your_ Bible to \[fill in the blank\]." There are people in this world that if someone told them, "Turn in your Bible," they wouldn't be able to turn. There would be nowhere to turn to because it doesn't exist yet in their nation. We can play a significant role in that.
Look. I just want to let you in to how the elders and I are viewing this fall. We're viewing it as a season of generosity. During this season of generosity, we want to do three things. We want to renew our city. Honestly, that was what last week was as we called you to give to Watermark Health, and we let you know about all of the different ways that we have ministries, partners in this city, to reach and renew the city. We want to be about that. So, thank you to everyone who gave toward Watermark Health.
We also want to be a part of resourcing the world, so over the next few weeks, we're going to call you to give generously toward translating the Bible so that this year can be someone's year of their first word. Then, as we get closer to the end of the year, we're just going to invite you to give generously toward discipling our church, discipling our body.
Right now, I just want to ask you to focus on resourcing the world. You're going to find out so much more over the next couple of weeks, but if something in you is already stirred, you can go to [watermark.org/seed](https://seed.bible/campaigns/watermark), and you can see all of the Bible translation projects that we, as a church, can be a part of if we all lean in together and give.
The last thing I want to ask you to do this week is anytime you read your Bible this week… You don't have to. If I'm screwing up your rhythm, I don't want to screw that up, but I want to encourage you to read your Bible from a paper copy. I know that so many people use their Bible app, and that's a good thing. Praise God that we have it. But I want to encourage you to read it from a print Bible.
As you pick it up and hold it, be reminded that there are others in the world who don't have a Bible to hold, and anytime you pick it up, pause and just say, "God, I'm so thankful that I have a Bible to read. What a gift, what a blessing that I take for granted that I have the Bible in my heart language." I want to encourage you, as you pick up your Bible, to just ask God, "God, what part would you have me play in resourcing others with your Word?"
If you're here today, and you do not have your own Bible… I'm not asking you if you want another Bible. If you're here today and you do not have a Bible, it would be our joy to give you one. You can just come down here after the service. We have a ton sitting right here. It would be a joy and a privilege to give you God's Word that exists in your heart language, and you can read it and know God today.
If you're here this morning, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, it's possible that Christ brought you here so you could be made clean, that you could know what it is like to be made new by Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.
Lord, if there is anyone here this morning who doesn't have a relationship with you, and they heard me talk about the fact that you, Jesus, make us clean, that you have conquered Satan, sin, and death, and it is through your sacrifice that you paid for our sins and rose from the dead so that we could be made new… Lord, my hope and prayer is that even right now, people would respond to you in faith, that they would talk to you, pray to you, and just say, "Jesus, come into my life today."
I pray, Lord, that over the next few weeks you would stir our hearts collectively. Lord, whatever bugs need to be fixed in our hearts, would you fix them? I pray that our hearts would be in sync with yours. Your heart is for the nations, and a day will come where people from every tribe, tongue, people group, and nation will surround the throne and sing, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain." We love you, and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.