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[0:00] All right, now you can turn, you should be there, to Revelation chapter 9. So, where do we leave off? I think we left off in verse 12. If you remember, we're going through the various judgments in the book of Revelation.

[0:12] After Revelation chapter 4, the church is no longer on the earth. Jesus promised in John 14, Behold, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.

[0:22] So, if he went, and he did, then it means he's going to come back, because that's his promise. So, the church is not here for this. This is a world under judgment, because it's a world in rebellion.

[0:34] And right now, we're seeing that so clearly. If you look at what's happening in Israel, be in prayer for God's people. Be in prayer for the church in Israel, the church in Iran, the underground church in Iran is thriving in all of this.

[0:47] But be in prayer for God's people, for the Jewish nation. They're his people, that's God's land. It's not Israel's land. Scripture says, God says, that is my land. And Israel is the apple of my eye.

[1:00] So, and we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But we've come up to the trumpet judgments, so-called because each one's announced with a trumpet.

[1:12] So, we have come up to verse 12, and now we are going into the second woe of the three woes, and the sixth trumpet, which will be in verse 13. So, we've seen one-third of the earth burned up, one-third of the sea turned to blood, one-third of fresh water is poisoned, one-third of the sun, moon, and stars destroyed.

[1:29] And then we see where there is this angel at the end of chapter 8 that says, whoa, whoa, whoa, because now we're shifting. And now all of a sudden, it's not just going to be on the plant life and on the sea.

[1:41] It's now specifically targeting mankind. As we looked at the fifth one, the locust swarms, the demonic swarm, and now we'll go into the sixth, and then the seventh.

[1:53] All of these, the seventh is always the opening of the next set of judgments as God moves through this. Again, this is heaven's perspective. We're looking at what's happening on earth from heaven's perspective. Right now, there's a perspective from heaven on what's happening around us.

[2:07] Heaven sees it very different than we do. We just see, okay, Israel's attacked Iran. Israel's attacked Persia, essentially. Iran was Persia up until the 30s or whatever. But it's Persia, the same Persia that at one time was used by God to send the nation of Israel back into the land.

[2:24] So heaven sees it very different, and we want to have those eyes. And so we have the scripture, which informs us in ways we wouldn't otherwise know. But tonight, as we finish this chapter, we'll go through the rest of this.

[2:37] We're going to see a people that is unmoved. They will refuse to be moved. They will stubbornly persist in not allowing God to move them.

[2:49] All right, so verse 12, if you remember, we had our woe. The first one is past. One is past, and behold, there comes two more after this. And my iPad just goofy on me again.

[3:02] Hold on. And we said, why wait to the last minute? Why wait? They know there's two more coming. One is past.

[3:13] Why won't they repent? Well, we're going to get to the end of the chapter and see that twice it's reiterated to us, and the rest of the men would not repent. They would not repent. They continue to persist.

[3:23] They refuse to do the simple thing that leads to life and healing. And how often is that the case? God puts this simple thing in front of me that leads to life and healing and health, and I don't do it because I have other ideas for myself or whatever.

[3:39] But God is so faithful to continue to bring that back around. We looked at the scripture. We had a bunch of scriptures that there's just no way to pare them down, so they're text walls.

[3:50] Sorry. This is one of them. We saw this last time that we have the authority to tell the enemy to take a hike, right? He has no authority over Jesus, and we belong to Jesus.

[4:01] Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby you do know the spirit of God. But every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.

[4:15] And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. This is that spirit of Antichrist. Whereof you heard that it should come, and even now already is in the world.

[4:25] So the Antichrist, who is already on the scene here at this point in Revelation, we're not, the church is not, the Antichrist now is. But the spirit, the idea is behind this man, that which animates him and drives him, is a spirit that is rebellion against God.

[4:40] It's the same one that was in the garden. Yea, hath God said. And that spirit says, no, Jesus didn't come in the flesh. And essentially what that means is, no, God did not present himself as a man for the sake of man and for their salvation.

[4:55] Anything that says otherwise is not of God's spirit. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist. Whereof you've heard that it should come, and even now is already in the world. But you are of God, little children.

[5:07] Isn't that amazing? He doesn't say, you are of God, mighty men. You are of God, fierce warriors. He says, you're of God, little kids. You're just God's kids. And you've overcome them.

[5:19] A bunch of little old kids who just overcome the demonic horde that we just read about. And you've overcome them because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're a child in the faith or if you've been saved for 40 years.

[5:34] It's not what we bring. It's who we have. That he who is in us is greater than he that's in the world. So now we move into verse 13. And the sixth angel now sounds.

[5:46] And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. So the sixth angel blows his trumpet. And this sixth trumpet will unleash.

[5:57] We saw like this plague of demonic locust-sized type creatures. Remember, it said they were like. A lot of words about like. John is trying to describe what this is. Well, here now we're going to see these horsemen that are going to come out.

[6:10] These demonic horsemen. But interestingly, where it says here, he heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar. What is he talking about? That'd be the altar of incense.

[6:21] Remember how we've read about how the prayers of the saints were being offered up as incense before God? Well, this altar of incense, which in the tabernacle was before the curtain, the veil that separated between the holy and the holy of holies.

[6:33] And they would, when the priests would go in, the incense would rise up. And go up over that veil and fill the area, representing the prayers of the people and God's presence. And so in heaven, because we know Moses is going to, we're going to find that out eventually in Exodus.

[6:47] The pattern he's given for the tabernacle. God says, make sure you make this according to what is in heaven. This is just a copy of what's in heaven. Again, heaven views earth from its perspective.

[6:59] And into our world, God presents blessings and order that is according to heaven's order. We perceive it as we perceive it.

[7:12] But heaven is the one who sets that tone. And so there's this altar and it has the four horns and they put blood on each one to sanctify it. And so the blood on the four horns of the altar of incense in heaven will be the blood of Christ, the blood of the lamb.

[7:25] And there's a voice that comes from it. Out of the midst of the place of prayer comes this voice, essentially. Psalm 86, verse 6 says, Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications.

[7:40] And the day of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me. And isn't that the situation where Israel in the tribulation here, where the believers, Israel's heart's being turned to God, those who are recognizing the situation they're in, what are they going to do?

[7:55] They're going to call upon God in trouble. And he will answer. The judgments of God, they're not abstract. They're not remote. They're not just something that he's like, yeah, yeah, go do some judgment somewhere.

[8:07] They come from his very presence. In the very presence of God, this voice comes from this place of prayer. They're in response to the prayers of his people. Because the altar of incense has the prayers of the people upon it.

[8:18] Habakkuk 1, 2 says, O Lord, how long shall I cry? You will not hear. Even cry out unto thee of violence, and you will not save.

[8:28] That doesn't mean God's not going to hear and save. Just again, Habakkuk's perspective is, God, it's like you don't hear. And yet, what do we just find out? Well, all these prayers are being saved up in heaven and put in these bowls of incense to go before God.

[8:43] God will hear. His judgments are not abstract or remote. Saying to the sixth angel, so this voice now, that he blows his trumpet, a voice comes from the altar, which speaks to the angel that just blew the trumpet.

[9:00] Saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates. What voice do you think that would be, that's coming from the altar of incense, which is commanding the sixth angel, the altar that has the blood on the four horns?

[9:14] It's the voice of the Lord. It's his voice. It's God's voice commanding. Saying to the sixth angel, isn't that amazing? He's dwelling in the place of incense of prayer. Loose the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

[9:31] So this woe that we've seen, which is going to take place, will be one third of the population will be killed. The second woe.

[9:43] And as he's saying, loose these four angels, essentially it's welcoming them onto the scene. It's a very woeful welcome. But the word loose means to set free or release from bonds.

[9:56] So he's saying, loose them. Not by their own will, where they bound in the river Euphrates, but they are being now loosed from a place that they had been bound. We looked at this verse before, last time.

[10:10] Jude chapter one, verse six, the angels, which kept not their first estate. Those would be the fallen angels, the ones who rebelled against God. But they left their own habitation. He, God, has reserved an everlasting change under darkness, under the judgment of the great day.

[10:25] Now, again, the judgment of the great day will be when they are judged. But also, this is the great day of God's judgment, that he has reserved them for a purpose, a plan, and a time.

[10:37] But why the river Euphrates? Why does it say that? Well, there's a couple of interesting things about the river Euphrates. One, it is the boundary of God's land, as set forth in Genesis 15.

[10:48] It's a really blurry picture. It's like the best I could find. But you can see in Genesis 15, God says in verse 18, in the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates, from the Nile to the Euphrates.

[11:06] And so this is, it represents the boundaries of God's land. And here these angels are being, that have been bound there. It's also the location of Babylon, or Babel. In Genesis chapter 11, the whole earth was of one language and one speech.

[11:21] And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar. That would be this location on the river Euphrates. And they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick.

[11:34] They all spoke in King James before God, you know, confused their language. Let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime they had for mortar.

[11:44] So they had a source where they could make the mud, build these bricks. And they said, let us build a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven. Let's make us a name. Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

[11:57] And so God's command after the flood was, Be fruitful and multiply. And they said, God wants to scatter us. God's against us. So they're going to make a tower and they're going to cover it in pitch. So that's waterproof.

[12:08] If there's ever a flood, we can climb this tower. But also a spiritual connotation, which was to reach up into the heavens, to reach up into the place of the gods or of God. Babylon is the beginning and end of all false religion.

[12:25] Revelation 18, when we get there, we'll see that Babylon will fall. In Revelation 18, verse 2, And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon, the greatest fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

[12:45] In scripture, the birds always represent the enemy. It's the birds who come in the parable, the seeds of the sower, and takes the seed off of the path. For all nations have drunk of the wine of her wrath, of her fornication.

[12:57] And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And so Babylon will fall. But Babylon is the beginning and the end of all false religion.

[13:10] It started in Babel. It started when they said, Hey, let us build this tower. And God scatters them. But that false religion, which has then gone throughout all the world, which we're experiencing so many aspects of that, every false religion has an aspect that goes back to Babylon.

[13:25] It'll all come back around in the one world religion. The Antichrist walks in and declares himself to be God three and a half years into the tribulation in the temple. He says, you will worship me as God.

[13:36] And the whole thing comes full circle to one religion. But what does Babel lead to? It's nothing but confusion, right? Ultimately led to confusion.

[13:47] The word of God holds sway over all principalities and powers. He's the only one who brings order. And he brings it across the board. All principalities and powers. But the way of Babel, it just led to confusion.

[14:00] They thought, well, we're going to do this on our own. And they end up in a place where they are confused, scattered, and separated. But the word of God holds power over all principalities and powers.

[14:14] Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Again, this is a heavenly perspective. My perspective is I'm wrestling against flesh and blood.

[14:24] That guy was a jerk. I can't believe it. He treated me that way. Well, heaven's perspective is a little different. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[14:41] Does that mean the guy wasn't a jerk? He might have been a jerk. But the point is I'm not going to make headway in the kingdom of God by fighting against him. I'm going to make headway in the kingdom of God by recognizing that there's something else that is motivating this person.

[14:53] There's something else that needs to be taken care of and that can only be done spiritually through God and through his spirit. How do we do that? We take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. We take God's word.

[15:03] The word of God holds sway over all of the principalities and power. These angels, they've been bound and they could only be released at God's word and at God's command. Praying always, and there's our altar of incense.

[15:18] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching therein too with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Our prayers have an effect in the lives of our brothers and sisters.

[15:30] Whether we see it or not, whether we experience it or not, it has an effect. Verse 15, the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year for to slay the third part of men.

[15:44] The enemy will have his hour. Essentially what they're saying is, work it backwards, a year, a month, a day, an hour, very specific time. The enemy will have his hour, but it's followed by eternity. He gets one hour, but then he has an eternity.

[15:56] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. She'll be tormented day and night forever.

[16:07] The enemy has his hour, but it's followed by an eternity of torment, of separation. You and I, it may feel like we are in an eternity at times during our hour of affliction, during the suffering that we experience in this world.

[16:26] It can feel like an eternity. Lord, when's this going to end? But it's only a lifetime. It's only a lifetime. If you, if someone said to you, you have to experience the most excruciating pain ever for 10 seconds.

[16:40] And then you will never experience pain again for the rest of your life. Ever. No heartache, no injury, no pain. Would you do it? 10 seconds. I can hold out for 10 seconds. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, right?

[16:54] That's essentially what it is. It's just a lifetime. Scripture says it's a vapor. Can't we hold out? Can't we stand fast? Our hour of affliction, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory.

[17:10] The enemy will have his hour and then it's followed by eternity. Well, we have an hour. We have an hour to stand strong, to wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. So these fallen angels of God, they're still God's angels.

[17:22] You know that? The fallen angels are still God's angels. They don't belong to anybody else. And no matter how far outside of his kingdom, they will never be outside of his control. He has control.

[17:33] For a year, a month, a day, and an hour, very specifically, God is in control of his angels. Very interestingly here, it tells us that the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.

[17:53] So man, you remember last week, who had so recently sought for death, verse six, in those days, shall men seek death and not find it. And they'll desire to die.

[18:04] They'll crave it. They'll demand it. But death shall flee from them. She'll be kept safe from them. Man who had so recently sought death, will now find it. They're going to get their just dessert, their wish.

[18:18] There's a quote that C.S. Lewis has that he makes in one of his Narnia books in The Magician's Nephew. He's speaking of, which will eventually become the White Witch, the character.

[18:30] Because she goes in the garden and kind of allegorize a little bit, like the Garden of Eden, and she takes the apple, which isn't hers to take. And the one character says, well, she got what she wanted. And he said, yeah, she got what she wanted.

[18:41] She'll have length of days and she'll never die. But length of days with a wicked heart is weariness indeed. But he says this, he says, and all get what they want. They do not always like it.

[18:52] We're all going to get what we want, but it doesn't mean we're going to like it. Man who so recently had sought for death will now find it, but he's not going to like it. Man has desired separation from God.

[19:06] He desired a life apart from God. He desires to have mastery over his own destiny. That's what man wants. That's what they think they want. And they get that. They're getting that. We live in a world where that's happening.

[19:18] But what does it lead to? It only leads to death. All get what they want, but they do not always like it. One third of the population.

[19:30] And the number of the army of the horsemen, verse 16, was 200,000, or 200 million horsemen. And he says here, and I heard the number of them. I think he's saying that like, this isn't a copyist error.

[19:44] I heard the number of them. There's 200 million. This is a lot. So one third of the earth's population. So if there's 8 billion people, ish, on the planet, now, a third of that would be 2.6 billion.

[19:58] A 200 million man army means that 13 people per horseman need to be killed. That could be done in an hour. That they are prepared for a year, a month, a day, in an hour.

[20:12] In one hour. Satan is a counterfeiter. And he will have his counterfeit faults departing. He'll have a mass departing, a mass rapture.

[20:23] In one hour, a third of the earth's population will depart, will be gone. And this is, there won't be 8 billion at that time, because we know through the rapture, there's going to be a lot less.

[20:34] And then through the, the destruction that's already come on the world. But this is today. If it was 8 billion, then that would mean, of the 200 million man army, each one would have to take out 13 people, which you could do in an hour.

[20:50] Satan is nothing but a counterfeiter. He comes about to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Verse 17, And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and then they sat on them. And they had breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone.

[21:05] The breastplate, the word there is thorax. It means from the neck to the navel. And jacinth is a reddish black color, and brimstone is sulfur. And so they had breastplates of fire.

[21:17] Very interesting. Almost like, some kind of internal combustion thing, happening in this section. And the heads of the horses were as, and there's that word as, or like, as the heads of lions.

[21:30] I don't know what that means. It means like some type of mane, or something like that. And out of their mouth, issued fire and smoke and brimstone. As we said last time, it's not so much what they look like, but that they are, is the point.

[21:44] They are very real, and they will cause a great deal of destruction. And out of their mouths, issued fire, smoke, and brimstone. And by these three, were the third part of men killed.

[21:55] By the fire, by the smoke, by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouth. The word mouth, in the Greek, means opening, of course, in front of your face. But it will also mean the opening, or front edge, of a weapon.

[22:07] That's what you say, the mouth of a gun, or the mouth of a cannon, or the mouth. And so out of their mouths, comes this fire and brimstone, and smoke, which kills men. From this, horse men, that are sitting on, what appear to be types of horses, something riding on it, that have some type of, fire colored thing, happening in their thorax.

[22:27] I don't know what all that is. It's very interesting speculation, but that's all it is. Speculation. If God wanted to give us more, he would. The description, may be demonic, and as John says here, I saw in a vision, the sight is a vision, but the effect is very real, and very deadly.

[22:47] We live in a world, where we don't see, the spiritual. We don't see, very often, the thing that is the cause. But it's very real, and it's very deadly.

[22:59] The description, may accurately describe it, and it may not. Was that the enemy? Was that not? We wrestle not against flesh and blood. How do I know?

[23:10] I don't know, but I can, like John said in the beginning there, I can tell the effect, by, is this of the spirit of God, or not? And if not, okay, then it's of the spirit of the Antichrist.

[23:21] The effect is very real, and very deadly. But again, what do we have, as children? We have authority, in our Father's name. But I think, the application here is, what's coming out of their mouth?

[23:37] Well, whatever it is, it's causing death, and destruction. What's issuing from the mouths, that speak into your life? What's issuing from mouths, that speak into my life? From that opening, from that front edge?

[23:49] What is it, that I allow to speak into my life? Jesus would say to the Pharisees, O generation of vipers, how can you being evil, speak good things?

[24:00] For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So what's issuing from the mouths, that speak into my life? What's issuing from my mouth, that's speaking into someone else's life? Jesus would say to his apostles, he says, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but every word, that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

[24:22] Whatever is coming out of the mouths, of these, demonic entities, these principalities and powers, leads to death. But the words that come out of the mouth, of our Savior, have led to life, and leads to life.

[24:34] We're all here because of that. We've responded to his words. We've believed it. Every word, that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Why do we go through, Exodus, on Sunday morning?

[24:44] Why are we in Revelation, this kind of weird, fever dream book, on Wednesday? Because every word, that proceeds out of the mouth of God, is what we live on.

[24:57] It's what brings life. We may not see the effect, but it's very real, and it's very present. Verse 19 says, Their power is in their mouth, and in their tails.

[25:09] For their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. In the Greek, the word power has a couple different, well, in English it's power, but in the Greeks, there's a couple different meanings.

[25:22] There's dunamis, power meaning like ability, or the capacity to operate. This word is exousia, I think that's how you pronounce that, it means authority.

[25:35] So they had power, it says the power, their power was in their mouth, they had authority, that was given to them there. To hurt, the word hurt means to do wrong, or to violate. They had the authority from God to do that, to bring harm, to violate.

[25:50] It was in their mouth, and in their tails, and their tails were like unto serpents, not they were, but like unto it. And had heads, and with them they do hurt, or they do wrong, they do violate. What does that look like?

[26:02] What does that mean? I can tell you it looked like serpents. And I can tell you you don't want to meet it. And it's a good thing we won't be here for it. But whatever this is, the reality of it, at that time you think, you think that the response would be, God help me.

[26:22] What is this thing? You know, you may have moments where you feel, that fight or flight reflex, where you get scared. This, what is it, Sunday?

[26:36] Father's Day? I knocked a tree over on Henry accidentally. It wasn't a big tree. And the fight or flight reflex kicked in for him. He thought that was it. Right? There's things that elicit a response that's like, oh no.

[26:54] I have no idea what it would be like to be in a war zone, to be in Ukraine or Israel, when the sirens go off, and you have to go underground, or in Iran, and what's going on, and the people there.

[27:05] I don't know. But as horrible as that is, I don't think it can compare at all to seeing a 200 million entity army of whatever these things are. They're very real, and they're very present at this time.

[27:21] And the rest of the men, verse 20, which were not killed by these plagues, they yet repented not. They did not repent.

[27:33] They chose to stay hard. They chose to not respond to what God was doing. They chose to be defiant. They chose to be unmoved.

[27:45] Just as we said at the beginning, that kid kind of making that face. They said, oh no, no, no. We're not gonna, we're not gonna respond. Why would they not? The rest of the men, which were not killed, they did not repent.

[27:58] The rest, the rest of the men, that word means the remnant, the residue, the remaining, the residue that remained, the few that were left. They would not respond to the plagues, the plagues calamity, or a heavy affliction.

[28:12] They would not repent. They would not change their mind for the better. Once the calamity had passed, and things returned to normal, their minds returned to what was really important in their lives.

[28:23] How often is that the case? Do you know any crisis Christians? I know some crisis Christians. They're always there when there's a crisis. Hey, this happened in my life, and what do I do now?

[28:36] Stop doing that, and it won't continue to happen in your life. You know, they're crisis Christians, and then they're there, but the crisis passes, and then they're not there. It's very important that when we have the opportunity to build into our lives the habits and routines and patterns that will carry us through a crisis.

[28:52] If we have not built that into our lives, the crisis will rock us, right? We'll be like the seed that fell among the rocks, and the persecution came, and there is no root. Take time to put down roots.

[29:04] And I think, well, everything's good now. I'm good. Good. Put down some roots, because when the storm comes, you don't want to be rocked. But the calamity had passed. Things returned to normal.

[29:15] Okay. Hey. All right. We're going to turn our minds now to what was really important as we see here. We are quick to forget God's lessons, even the lessons that come in times of judgment.

[29:27] A crisis Christian is quick to mind God. They're very quick to mind God for deliverance, but they ultimately do not mind the God of deliverance. They mind God for deliverance, but they don't mind the God of deliverance.

[29:42] Their heart is not to pursue God. The heart is to pursue what? Their deliverance. To return things back to a state where it's no longer a crisis. So here we see repentance is an option.

[29:53] Repentance is always an option, but judgment is certain. Judgment is a must. Repentance, that's an option. Everybody has that option, but if you choose not to repent, you can't choose not to be judged.

[30:05] It's kind of like, you know, little kids at the playground, right? You say, hey, sons, time to go home. If not, I'll drop a tree on you. No. Time to go home. I don't want to.

[30:16] Oh, my word. He doesn't want to go home. Well, okay. We're not going to go home. Three weeks later, you know, you're still here. We didn't want to leave. What am I going to do?

[30:27] Right? No, no. It's certain we're leaving. It's time to go. Now, your choice in the matter is always optional. You can come along willingly or not, but we're going to leave, right?

[30:39] So repentance is optional. Judgment's certain. We're leaving, and the condition in which you leave by will determine the type of life you live. It's the same with the Lord, right?

[30:53] He's not sitting up there wringing his hands. They don't want to repent. No. What he's doing is he's stretching out his hands, and he says, I went to the cross for you. I died for you. You're so hard-hearted. Our judgment has come, but in the midst of judgment, it's mercy.

[31:06] We still only have a third that have died. Could have said nine-tenths, but it's only a third because God is showing mercy. Turn to Romans 2 real quick.

[31:20] We're right at the end. Romans chapter 2, so it's just come after chapter 1 where it talks about how God has given them over to a debased mind.

[31:33] because they chose not to acknowledge God as God, but they chose instead to worship the creature instead of the creator. And so then Romans 2, we'll pick up in verse 2 and read through verse 8.

[31:46] Paul writes and says, but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things, against those who have rebelled, against those who have not chosen repentance.

[31:57] The judgment of, excuse me, of God is according to truth. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things and does the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

[32:09] There's no way to escape God's judgment. Somehow we're special and we're going to escape that. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

[32:22] But after your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

[32:34] Which is what we're reading about right now. They've treasured up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath and against the revelation of God. Who will render to every man according to his deeds.

[32:46] To them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life. It's us. Through patient continuance.

[32:56] Have you quit? Anybody quit? Nope. We patiently continue. Seeking what? For glory and honor.

[33:07] Not our glory and honor. For the glory and honor that comes through Christ. We receive immortality. Eternal life. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness while then indignation and wrath.

[33:20] Because why? Because man wants separation from God. Man wants to be his own master. And man wants to determine his own destiny. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues they yet repented not.

[33:31] We turn back to Revelation 19. Of the works of their hands. That they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk.

[33:45] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or that's in the earth beneath or that's in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them nor serve them.

[33:58] For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. They return to the works of their hands.

[34:09] They worship the works of their hands. They worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass. Worship is to revere or give homage. Devils means divine power evil divinity and an idol is an image a form and a likeness of gold and of silver brass and of stone and of wood.

[34:30] Their work had become their worship. They turned their worship to the things of their hands. Better store up gold.

[34:41] Better store up silver. Better worship. Because these are things that are going to keep us and save us and protect us through these hard times. No they're not. Because behind them is that spirit of antichrist where Jesus says you can't serve God and money.

[34:58] No man can serve two masters. He will either love the one and hate the other or hold to the one and despise the other. You can't have two. Can all these things be used as tools? For sure.

[35:09] Of course. But they would not repent of what they put their trust in. Their work had become worship. Psalm 115 says Their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands.

[35:24] They have mouths but they speak not. Those idols they have eyes but they see not. They have ears but they hear not. They have noses but they smell not. They have hands but they handle not. And feet they have but they walk not.

[35:36] In other words everything they have is useless. Produces nothing. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them so is everyone that trusts in them.

[35:46] And I tell you what find what a person trusts in and he will be like that. You want to know a person? Find out what they put their trust in. A person who gives themselves to securing their own career, life, whatever, finances they will be like that.

[36:02] That's what they will be. They will be cold and hard and single-minded. Are those things wrong to have an order? Absolutely not. Are they wrong to pursue as singularly as opposed to pursuing the Lord?

[36:15] Yes. Has anybody ever met a chill millionaire? They're all so uptight.

[36:27] I'm not met millionaires. Okay. I'm just going by it. The things you see that they do and they end up doing. It's like man so stressed out. Jesus didn't seem very stressed and he didn't have very much.

[36:38] But he was okay with it. He just kind of was like my father will provide all of me. We say this in our house all the time. Our father has limitless resources. And as one of the kids once said, I wish he would give us a little bit more.

[36:50] But he does when we've never been without. Limitless resources. Neither repented they of their murders. Look at this. Here again, just like in Exodus. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery.

[37:01] You shall not steal. Neither repented they of their murders nor their sorceries nor their fornication nor their thefts. Linked again. All throughout Scripture these three are linked. We said before how sorcery, it's pharmakia or the administration of drugs slash poison.

[37:16] At this time, the healthcare system is not to be trusted at all. At this point in time when what has been unleashed upon the world is the restrainer has been removed, the church.

[37:29] The source of well-being to mankind, the source of the heart of mercy and compassion comes from the church. Without that, drug ads make up 24.4% of all advertising minutes on evening news.

[37:48] 25% of all advertising minutes. On CBS evening news, pharmaceutical companies appeared in more than 70% of commercial breaks.

[37:59] More than 70%. It's a market. It's a market marketing things we don't need. Does that mean there's times that we do need?

[38:12] Does that mean there's not always times that we might need the medical industry? Of course, there are times we will need that. There are times we don't. And all of those times, there's simply a market to push pharmakia to get the world ready for a day and age where they will continue to practice their sorcery.

[38:28] They would not repent. They would not change their mind. Listen, the advantage is always on the world's side. Always. The world system, the advantage is always on the world's side.

[38:40] They're not looking to advantage you. They're looking to use you for their advantage. Like we talked about Sunday. God looks to make up the disadvantage. The world looks to use our disadvantage for themselves.

[38:53] 1 John 2.16 For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father. But it's of the world. All the desire of the world, lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the eyes, pride, it's not of the Father.

[39:11] Fornication is perversion in the Greek, pornea. A lawbreaker is not determined by the severity of the offense, by the fact of the offense.

[39:24] They would not repent of their murders, sorceries, and fornications, nor of their thefts. It's not determined by the severity of the offense, but by the fact of the offense.

[39:36] James tells us that whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one part is guilty of all. It's like a chain. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery, yet you kill, you become a transgressor of the law.

[39:49] You can't compartmentalize. It's not about the severity, it's about the fact. What would they not repent of? They'd not repent of their works, their worship, their murder, their sorceries, their fornication, and their thefts.

[40:01] How many things is that? Six. Six is the number of man in Scripture. And man would not repent. This is what makes up unrepentant man. He's full of his own works.

[40:13] He worships false gods. He's full of murder, sorceries, fornication, and theft. But God's got man's number, doesn't he? God's got man's number.

[40:25] So they've worshipped wrongfully, and that wrongful worship, where they would not repent of their worship, what has it led to? It's led to death. It's led to delusions. It should be that pharmakia, the drug use.

[40:38] It's led to defilement. It's fornication. And it's led to murder, to destruction. I mean, to theft, to destruction. Wrongful worship leads to wrongful works. But the measure of God's mercy is the care and thought he gives to the ones he loves.

[40:54] God is so merciful. Look at the thought and care he's giving to this rejecting world. I mean, he's giving, look how much print time he's giving to them. He loves these people. God's mercy, the measure of his mercy, is the care and thought that he gives to those he loves.

[41:12] God loves these people, even though they are rebellious and refusing to receive his love. Isaiah 40 says, Have you not known, verse 21, have you not heard?

[41:24] Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth. And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in.

[41:39] That brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. They shall not be sown. Their stalks shall not take root in the earth.

[41:50] And he also shall blow upon them and they shall wither and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. That's how God looks at the nations and rulers of the world. You know how else he looks at them?

[42:01] He loves them. For God so loved the world. Every single one of these stiff-necked, hard-hearted, devil-worshiping, murdering people.

[42:12] Because I love them. I love them so much. I gave my only begotten son. So why won't they repent? Why wouldn't they repent after all of this? God's love, God's grace, God's mercy, God's judgment.

[42:24] Why not? Turn to Isaiah 14. We're going to finish there. Isaiah 14.

[42:41] We'll begin in verse 1. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land.

[42:51] And hasn't he done that? And the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob and the people shall take them and bring them to their places. And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids.

[43:05] And they shall take them captives, whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. Promise of Israel in the land. The promise of them restored to their kingdom in a thousand year reign. It shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow and from your fear and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve.

[43:26] That you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon. Who would the king of Babylon be? Representing Satan. The king, the ruler of the false religion. And say, how has the oppressor ceased?

[43:40] The golden city ceased. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger is persecuted and none hinders.

[43:54] Satan's put down. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee and the cedars of Lebanon sang, since thou art laid down, no fellow has come up against us.

[44:13] Verse nine. Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming. Speaking of when Satan's cast into hell. Hell is moved, stirred up. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth.

[44:28] It's raised up from their thrones, all the kings of the nations, all of these that have set themselves against the Lord over all of these years and over all these millennia. These great men of the earth, they're in hell. It's like they're waiting.

[44:39] This idea that they have put their trust in a lie. Satan said, you join with me and it's one of these days I'm going to get you out of here. It'll all be worth it in the end.

[44:51] And they shall speak and say unto you, are you also become weak as of we? They'll respond to Satan this way. They'll say, no way. We thought you were going to do it.

[45:03] You've become weak as us. Your pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of your vials, the worm is spread under you and the worms cover you. How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?

[45:15] How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation and the sides of the north.

[45:28] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. And every single one of these who would not repent bought that lie and said, yes, he's going to do it.

[45:39] We'll take our licks. We'll hold out because in the end, he's going to be God. Oh, you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

[45:50] They that see thee shall narrowly look upon you. Like squint their eyes at him like, and consider you saying, is this the man that made the earth to tremble? That did shake kingdoms?

[46:01] That made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof? That opened not the house of his prisoners. This, this little guy? No way.

[46:13] Why? Will they not repent? They will not repent because they put their trust in a lie. Jeremiah 13, 25. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measure for me, saith the Lord, because you've forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.

[46:28] They put their trust in a lie. The Lord says, yeah, this is the portion that this is all that's left if you reject the truth. Jesus said to the Pharisees, you're of your father, the devil. The desires of your father, you do.

[46:40] He was a liar from the beginning. The unrepentant men of the earth chose darkness because they loved it. Because they loved what was in this world.

[46:51] They would not respond to the light. This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They love what was in the world.

[47:03] They love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And they say, we're going to throw in with a lie. Why would they do that? Because of darkness. Because in the dark, you can't see.

[47:14] Darkness is a false hope that blinds men from the truth of the true hope. I'm going to show you a video and then we'll wrap up. I have wrestled with this since starting Revelation.

[47:27] Do I show this video? Do I not? It's so grievous and so blasphemous to even show it. But greater is he who's in us than he that's in the world. Why would anyone side with Satan? We know he's the bad guy and we know he's the loser.

[47:39] Why? Because they don't have the perspective we do. They have a different perspective. They believe the lie. They're in darkness and the spirit of Antichrist has gone into the world to convince them of such things.

[47:51] This is a series that came out. They had one season. I think there's another one coming out, unfortunately. And it paints the fall in a whole different light. And it makes Satan out to be the good guy.

[48:04] This is the type of thing the world is feeding on and why they'll say, we're going to throw in with him. Let's see if the sound works. Once upon a time, there was a glowing city protected by golden gates known as heaven.

[48:18] It was ruled by beings of pure light. Angels that worshipped good and shielded all from evil. Lucifer was one of these angels. He was a dreamer with fantastical ideas for all of creation.

[48:32] But he was seen as a troublemaker by the elders of heaven. For they felt his way of thinking was dangerous to the order of their world. So he watched as the angels began to expand the universe in their ways.

[48:44] From the dust of earth, they created Adam and Lilith, equals as the first of mankind. But despite this, Adam demanded control and Lilith refused to submit to his will.

[48:56] She fled the garden. Drawn in by her fierce independence, Lucifer found her and the two rebellious dreamers fell deeply in love. Together, they wished to share the magic of free will with humanity, offering the fruit of knowledge to Adam's new bride, Eve, who gladly accepted.

[49:16] But this gift came with a curse, for with this single act of disobedience, evil finally found its way into earth. With it, a new realm of darkness and sin, and the order heaven had worked to maintain, was shattered.

[49:30] As punishment for their reckless act, heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity. Only the cruel and the wicked.

[49:43] Ashamed, Lucifer lost his will to dream. But Lilith thrived, empowering demon kind with her voice and her songs, and as the numbers of hell grew, so did its power.

[49:56] Threatened by this, heaven made a truly heartless decision, that every year they would send down an army, an extermination, to ensure hell and its sinners could never arise against them.

[50:11] But Lilith's hope remained, and her dream was passed down to their precious daughter, the princess of hell. Don't worry, mom.

[50:23] I'll make you proud. So, if you didn't know the truth, and you watched that, and that was what was informing your mindset, someone came along and tried to give you the truth, and said, are you crazy?

[50:42] Oh no. That's marketed for adults, right? But man, come on. You know kids are going to watch that. It breaks my heart to even play it and watch it, and it's just, but that's the idea.

[50:57] The idea is that God is, this demigod that is created and trapped mankind in his hard and fast rules and law, just as we've seen in Exodus. He's so cruel, isn't he, in the law?

[51:10] No, it's just all mercy and love and grace, and that, we need to break out of that. And Lucifer's come to help us break out of that. And so there will be those, and there are those today, that will say, we're going to throw in with him.

[51:24] As we just read in Isaiah, at some point, they're going to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you've become weak like us, and they will realize. This is the condemnation. The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

[51:41] 2 Corinthians 4. Ending music.

[51:56] Not going to get that moment back, are we? But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Lord, it's so good to lighten up the moment.

[52:08] In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[52:19] He blinds them with junk like that so they can't know how glorious it is to receive the love of God. And light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends it not. The word comprehend is very interesting.

[52:31] It's John 1, verse 5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness literally overcomes or apprehends it not. The darkness cannot overcome the light. It cannot apprehend it.

[52:42] Matthew 5, 14 says, you are the light of the world, little children. No amount of darkness has ever overcome the smallest amount of light. No matter how great the darkness, the smallest amount of light can overcome it.

[52:58] No matter how dark it gets and the world gets, all you gotta do is just take your little light. Be unmoved. Not like these men here.

[53:09] Not like the world. Will not repent. Be unmoved in who you are. Be unmoved in the truth that you have. Be unmoved in the light you carry. But none of these things move me.

[53:22] None of the principalities and powers, none of the things the world throws at me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received to the Lord Jesus that testify the gospel of the grace of God.

[53:37] None of these things move me. Just flick the light on and the darkness flees. You can't be moved no matter how wicked it is. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, that you have given us a future and a hope, Lord.

[53:50] Lord, we look at the world and they don't have that because they've loved darkness, because they've sought darkness, because they've prioritized the works of their hand, the silver, the gold, the false religion, their power and authority.

[54:04] And Lord, one of these days they're all going to be in a pit together with Lucifer, the one who they thought was going to deliver them. And yet not one person needs to be there, Lord. Repentance is optional.

[54:17] Lord, I thank you that you have chosen the option of seeking us out, Lord, that your goodness leads us to repentance. And Lord, we pray for this world, Lord. We pray for the people we come in contact with.

[54:28] We pray for the lives we live as lights in this world. Help us not to fear the darkness, but just to turn on the light. Thank you, Lord, that you have told your children not to fear the enemy because little children, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

[54:43] We love you, Lord. Thank you for what you're doing here in Charlotte and around the world, Mexico, London, Indonesia. Lord, the light is shining in the darkness. It can't stop it. It can't comprehend it.

[54:54]  It can't apprehend it. But Lord, it can receive it. It can receive the light. We pray that they would. And in Jesus' name, Amen.