It is said that 1.8 to two people die every second
worldwide, 106 people every minute, 6392 every hour, and
just over 150,000 people every single day.
The Bible, however, predicts something remarkable.
It predicts a period in the future when these predictable
statistics will come to a mysterious halt.
The Scripture foretells a moment in history that is
unprecedented. Death will be withheld from the
world as the globe will be tormented by demonic spirits for
a total of five months, and this will be by divine sanction.
This will be permitted by God as a way to jolt the wicked in
order to repent before it is too late.
And this is what John saw when he had a vision of an Angel
blowing the fifth of seven trumpets which have been
appointed by God to declare the escalating acts of his wrath
just before the return of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that is not the only thing that John witnessed as an
unusual phenomenon in this Tribulation era.
There is something else that will happen.
And after John finished explaining the events under the
5th trumpet, he says the following.
In Revelation 9 verse 12, the first woe has passed.
Behold 2 woes are still to come. As if to say, as bad as this
was, it's only going to get worse.
Now what can be more terrifying than the release of innumerable
amount of demons who have been chained in the abyss for
thousands of years to inflict unspeakable pain upon every
person who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads?
What we're about to be told, we're about to see exactly what
will transpire because we still have 3 trumpets, one that we
covered last week, 2 left, and each of them have been ascribed
A woe. And we will look at now the 6th
trumpet as we read Revelation 9, verse 13 down to verse 15.
Let's turn there together. Then the 6th Angel blew his
trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the
golden altar before God, saying to the 6th Angel who had the
trumpet release the four angels who were bound at the great
river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been
prepared for the hour, the day, the month and the year were
released to kill 1/3 of mankind. Let's pray, Lord, we ask, as we
always do, humbly with Your word before us, that You would lead
us through it, that we would hear Your voice, that it would
swallow up any other voices that contradict Your will, Your
wisdom, Your mind, Your heart. We, we want to be engulfed by
the revelation of who You are and so Lord apprehend us and
take us deeper and draw us closer into your bosom that we
may leave here knowing you more. This is our desire as a church.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.
So the 5th trumpet was blown, and what happened there was the
unleashing of demons who were given authority to torment but
not to kill. Now we come to the 6th trumpet,
and there was also demons who were released, but this time
they've been called to execute in a staggering way.
John tells us that after five months of no death, no matter
how many attempts to commit suicide, no matter how many
attempts to try to kill somebody else, at the end of almost half
a year, there will be the unleashing of mass casualties,
1/3 of mankind in that future generation.
Here's we have to remember when we looked at the seal judgments,
the first set of judgments, we're now in the second with the
trumpet, we have the bulls to come.
In that first set with the seals, we learned that 1/4 of
mankind had already died through wars and famines and all these
different issues, and now we learn 1/3 on top of it.
So we have at least 1/2 of the world's population that have
already perished. This is unthinkable.
This is hard to imagine. But this is the reality of that
future tribulation period. And this is essentially the
summary of the 6th trumpet, that 1/3 of mankind will be dead.
But is that all the Lord intended to teach us through it?
Most definitely not. We just read the first few
verses about the six trumpet. We still have the rest of the
chapter. And if you look at the the
entirety of this section, you'll actually notice three groups of
persons, three groups, and each of them have something to offer
us in terms of our spiritual maturity.
And so this is just a helpful way to organize our thoughts.
But we read the first few verses and that actually shows us the
first group in focus under the 6th trumpet.
What's highlighted immediately are the Saints.
The Saints. How do believers fit in this
picture? Look back at verse one.
Excuse me, verse 13. Then the 6th Angel blew his
trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the
golden altar before God. So this trumpet blast, it's
sounded, it's alarmed. And right after John hears a
voice. But we're not given the identity
of the commander. Is this voice Christ?
Is this voice an Angel? It's unclear, but what is made
known to us is the location of the voice.
This command came from the four horns of the golden altar before
God, and this is an object that you and I have seen before in
Revelation not too far back. Look back at Revelation 8 very
quickly and look at verse 3. John says here in Revelation 8,
verse 3. And another Angel came and stood
at the altar with a golden censor, and he was given much
incense to offer with the prayers of all the Saints on the
golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense
with the prayers of the Saints rose before God from the hand of
the Angel. This golden altar that was
placed before the throne of God in heaven is intimately
connected with the intercessions and the prayers of God's people.
And this instrument reflects the very same altar that was located
right before the veil in the temple.
And this is a symbol of God treasuring and honoring our
prayers. And it wasn't just true in that
temple. It's true to this day because he
has his own heavenly altar that holds our cries and our
requests. So we can't say this, though,
that the voice that John heard from the four corners of that
altar are the combined voices of believers telling an Angel what
to do. That's not what's happening
here. What is happening here is that
the Holy Spirit wants us to see how the intercessions and the
supplications of the Saints throughout the ages plays a
major role in the unfolding of these events in the last days.
That's the heart of the matter. Or else why mention the golden
altar, right? It's as though the Lord wants to
tell us through this vision that all the cries in the longings of
his people over the centuries for true justice for the return
of His Son are now being answered.
And we've been given this vision ahead of time to realize that
God will indeed answer those prayers one day.
But let's think about this more deeply.
Isn't it profound to witness in our Bibles how there is a
connection between the prayers of God's people and events that
can affect the world, that can make history, that can transform
nations? This is remarkable that the
children of God's prayers being given to him are taken into
consideration to actually intervene in our world in ways
that we've never seen before. Prayer is a mystery for many
reasons, yet Scripture makes this thing unclear that it has
the ability to Pierce into the spiritual realm and influence
things. And I can't think of a stronger
example than this and of this then with Daniel and Daniel,
chapter 10, you remember Daniel, a man of great prayer.
Now, for those who come here every single week on Friday
nights, we're studying Ezra. Do you remember what year it was
under Cyrus King of Persia that he released the Jews to return
back to their homeland? It was the first year in the
first year of Cyrus King of Persia.
But in the beginning of Daniel 10, we're given another ten time
stamp. In the third year of Cyrus King
of Persia. Daniel made this decision.
I'm going to mourn and I'm going to pray for three weeks now.
The question is why? Why did Daniel decide to
consecrate himself in this manner?
What took place for him to make this decision?
We're not told in Daniel Chapter 10, but we can speculate.
Daniel was a high official in the government, was he not?
And the people had already been released a few years prior.
His own people. He chose to remain back.
We're going to study some of the reasons why on our Friday
nights. Why did Daniel stay back when
there was an open door for all the remnant to return?
Is that interesting? Well, he chose to remain, and as
a high official, it's very likely that he received updates
of what took place in Jerusalem in the attempt of the people of
God to rebuild the temple. You have to remember that there
were great obstacles, a lot of opposition, a lot of
persecution, to the point where the project was put on pause.
And it could be that Daniel learn about this update and it
troubled him deeply because he read in the Scriptures that the
people of God would be recovered, restored, and that
they would move on. 70 years had passed, the Exiles finished.
Why are things not moving ahead? And I'm persuaded that this
disturbed Daniel so much that he chose to fast and he began to
pray and inquire of God. Lord, what is happening here?
What's going on? And as he decided to set apart
that time and his energy, something astounding took place.
A heavenly messenger appears before Daniel a few days after
that three-week time of consecrated prayer.
And he gives him one of the most profound and detailed prophecies
in all of Scripture. We can't get into into detail
now, but what I want to bring to your attention is what this
heavenly messenger said to Daniel initially.
So go to Daniel 10 and look here with me in verse 11, Daniel 10,
verse 11. And he said to me, Oh Daniel,
man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you,
and stand upright, for now I've been sent to you.
And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
Then he said to me, Fear not Daniel, for from the first day
that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself
before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come
because of your words. Now, many who teach on prayer
love to come to this passage, yet they tend to rush past the
opening words of it. Before Daniel was given any kind
of explanation of what was going to take place with the people of
Israel, what was he told? Oh, Daniel man greatly loved the
Lord, saw it necessary that Daniel would be reminded of the
great affection that he had for him.
Why? I think there's a clue in the
context right before this Daniel fainted at the sight of this
heavenly being. He collapsed.
And it could be that the Lord right away wanted to reassure
the prophet, wanted to strengthen him by doing what?
Setting before his eyes the great love that this great God
had for him. And I think even in that we have
a lesson for each of us, all the people that I've met over the
years before ministry and especially in ministry, who
doubt God's love for them, who whose hearts race at the thought
of one day standing before them, even though they proclaim him to
be, to, to be their Savior and, and, and they're delivering the
Redeemer. How do I know if I'm doing
enough to please him? Is my status truly set?
Is it sealed that I'm forgiven? I am his own.
The the troubles and the weakness that brings.
Ioffer this truth to you in the same way that it was prescribed
to Daniel. You must set before your heart
the love of God until you're able to be confident in your
stance. And this truth even applies to
those who are weak in their faith, who are weary in this
journey. Do you see the remedy here?
Understand and meditate on the strong, consistent, steadfast
love that God has for you and I. On a personal level, this is
what this man heard and what's so remarkable to me.
It's not the first time Daniel heard it.
In Daniel 9, when another heavenly being appeared before
him, he was also told the same thing.
Man greatly love, beloved of God.
And at this point in the section of Daniel, he's quite old.
He's an elderly man. And even as an elderly man, a
seasoned St. He needed to be reminded of
God's love. This mighty prophet, this holy
man, this individual who's who's impacted an entire empire, more
than one empire, needed to rehearse God's love, not just
for Israel, not just for his house, not just for his own
name, but for Daniel. And that is a resounding
exhortation in your New Testament of mine.
Do you remember what John wrote in first John 31?
See what kind of love the Father has given us.
That's the first part of that verse.
See what kind of love the Father has given us.
Other translations say behold what manner of love the Father
has given. That first word is so important.
See it, behold it. Pay close attention to it.
Don't just let it skip over you. God loves me, OK?
No, no, no, sit there. What do you mean this God loves
me? Does he actually have feelings?
Did he actually have emotions? Or is it this stoic, loyal,
covenantal love? I made a promise and I'm going
to love you. Or is actually heart behind it?
What do you know about this love?
And understand this? It will be your fuel.
It will be your source of energy.
In this walk, Daniel needed to stand upright.
You're going to need it as well. And so does the preacher.
Look at this love. This is the first thing that
Daniel learned about or was reminded of at least.
But it's not the only thing. Look at the end of verse 12.
This heavenly messenger tells Daniel that his powerful arrival
was what? Because of his words?
I have now come because of your words, Daniel.
Implying what? Implying this?
That if Daniel had never opened his mouth, this heavenly
messenger would never have arrived and open his mouth.
And so Daniel prays for three weeks and it was delayed for
longer. The answer did not come until
after a few days beyond that time.
But what does this Angel teach him and teach us?
The moment you set your heart to see God about this matter, God
heard you. God heard you, And not only did
He hear you, there is a delay because there is this invisible
war taking place, but your prayers.
Look at this. Put angels to work.
I wonder how many angels are not working because we're not
praying. And we see the same thing in
Revelation 9, do we? Not that it was something about
that golden altar, though. The voice we can't mark out.
We can't say clearly what that voice was.
That altar that symbolizes our prayers made that Angel do
something on the earth. And Daniel didn't just receive
an answer to his prayers. He received insight that there
was an all out scrimmage. There was an all out fierce
battle among angelic beings in the heavenlies.
And we may not have the detailed explanation of how prayer
intersects with the spiritual realm or how invisible
dimensions intervene in our material world.
But you know what? The Bible does make clear that
prayer is not merely A psychological exercise or some
form of self help therapy. Prayer has power.
Prayer has the ability to change things.
Prayer can move principalities. Prayer can push back the forces
of evil. Prayer invites God's grace into
our homes, into our churches, into the streets of our
neighborhoods, into our nation. Prayer has power, and Daniel was
told this and it's been left in our Bibles for us to see it.
And this is a consistent testimony throughout Scripture
of how much God honors the prayers of His people, even the
weakest in the church, even some of the most inconsistent in the
church, if they have the faith to pray, oh, the things that God
will do with those prayers. You know, with all that's going
on in our own nation, one of the scriptures that keep coming to
mind is what Jeremiah. We've learned this on Fridays
not too long ago, what Jeremiah told the Exiles while they were
in Babylon. Can I remind you what he said in
Jeremiah 29, verse 7? But seek the welfare of the city
where I've sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its
behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
What a profound verse. Imagine this.
Jeremiah is calling the Exiles in Babylon to do what?
Pray. They're at their lowest in terms
of their spiritual stature. They are at their lowest in
terms of their testimony. They have been removed from the
Promised Land. How much more of a rejection do
you want than that? And yet God says, if you choose
to pray, I'll still listen to you.
Paul asked the Corinthians to pray for him.
The Corinthians, if I had a choice of which church in the
New Testament letters, I would have pray for me.
The Corinthians would be near the last.
And yet Paul says, if you pray, I believe that God will hear
you. What kind of grace is that?
Pray. And when you pray for the city,
the city that is holding you captive, the city that's
oppressing you, it's going to benefit you.
So pray. So the first thing that we see
with the Saints in Revelation 9 is that God takes our, our
prayers seriously. And the question we have to ask
is this, do we? Do we?
Oh, there's so much more to say, but we have two groups left to
look at. We looked at the Saints in this
vision of the 6th trumpet. But now let's look again at the
demons. Come back to Revelation 9 and
we'll read down from verse 15 to verse 19.
So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day,
the month, and the year were released to kill 1/3 of mankind.
Pause. I have to just say this for
those who don't believe in the futurist interpretation.
How do you spiritualize this one 1/3 of mankind?
Did they die in 70 AD? How do you prove that
historically? Just have to get that out there.
Verse 16. The number of mounted troops was
twice 10,000 * 10,000. I heard their number, and this
is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them.
They wore breastplates the color fire and of sapphire and of
sulphur, and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads,
and fire and smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths.
By these 3 plagues 1/3 of mankind was killed by the fire
and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
For the power of the horses in was in their mouths and in their
tails, For their tails are like serpents with heads, and by
means of them they wound. So like the 5th trumpet, the 6th
calls for the liberation of demonic beings, 4 of them to be
exact, and they seem to be like 4 high-ranking fallen angels.
And we know that these are fallen angels because verse 14
tells us that they are bound. You don't bind holy angels.
These are vicious evil spirits. And unlike the angels that we
looked at last week, these shackled spirits are not bound
in what the abyss that that's what we would anticipate.
We looked at the bottomless pit and how that is something that
we find throughout the scriptures, the the holding
place of the worst of the worst demons.
But now when we come to the 6th trumpet, unlike the 5th, these
demons are not found in the abyss.
They're actually located and confined at the great river
Euphrates. Huh.
Now, the Euphrates River is, is one of the most important rivers
in the Middle East historically and even agriculturally.
It begins there near the eastern mountains of Turkey, and it
flows through Syria and it touches Iraq and it comes and
joins the Tigris River before emptying into the Persian Gulf.
And this is a 1700 mile kind of body of water.
And it's been crucial to the rise and development of many
civilizations throughout history.
But we have to ask this question, what relevance does it
have in our biblical worldview? What, what does what does it
have to offer us in terms especially of understanding
prophecy? Because the the the river
Euphrates appears a different different amount of times in the
Old Testament, but only twice in the new and both times.
Guess which book? Revelation.
Well, I want to give you a few reasons why I believe
understanding the great river Euphrates is important #1 The
Euphrates River marked the eastern boundary of the land
that was promised to Abraham and his descendants.
So if you read Genesis 1518 more carefully, you'll realize that
the eastern boundary is marked by the Euphrates River.
And throughout the Old Testament, what you find is that
some of Israel's most fiercest enemies had to cross the
Euphrates River in order to conquer the people of God.
So there is a consistent testimony of the Euphrates River
in the Old Testament being a symbol of enemy invasion, and
that's what John seems to be doing here.
By the help obviously, and inspiration of the Spirit,
there's this anticipation of an enemy invasion.
We find it here in Revelation 9. But look at Revelation 1612, the
only other time Euphrates is mentioned in the New Testament.
Look at this, in Revelation 16 verse 12, the 6th Angel poured
out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and it's water was
dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
So again, remember the Book of Revelation is dripping with Old
Testament allusions and references.
So we've been looking at the Old Testament, Euphrates, Euphrates,
Euphrates and now we come to the new and we realize, uh oh, there
must be an enemy evasion coming and there is.
And it's going to be one of the greatest ones against the people
of Israel, which will set the stage for the intervention of
Christ to defend them and establishes millennial reign.
This is one of the reasons. But we have a second reason why
I understand the Euphrates River is helpful.
It reminds us that biblical prophecy centers around a
particular part of the world, namely the Middle East.
There are many prophecy enthusiasts who try to
forcefully place current regimes and politicians and governments
and movements into biblical prophecy, failing to realize
that the Scriptures and the author of the Scriptures is not
interested in trying to place or code things about modern
realities. Prophecy in the Bible centers
around Israel and her neighboring nations.
So be careful of prophecy teachers who say, I found the
United States in the Book of Revelation, and this is the role
that the United States, a symbol of the eagle, and this is what's
going to happen. And this is how they're going to
integrate with the Bible. Doesn't go there.
The Holy Spirit doesn't go there, and we shouldn't go there
either. But with that understanding,
there's another warning. And it is this to become overly
sensational and fixated on current events in the Middle
East. And there are other people who
are in that camp, pastors in fact, who consistently and
constantly interrupt their sermon series because of the
newest headline of what's happening over there in the
Middle East, who constantly put things together at pieces to try
to say here's a fulfillment instead of putting that energy
and that focus on what Christ has revealed clearly and what he
demands from us now. So beware, although Israel is
much in focus, especially in prophecy, don't become overly
fanatic with what's happening in current day events.
Here's the last thought to consider about the Euphrates
River. It reminds us also that there
are fallen angels and there are principalities who assign and
are occupied by operating in certain regions of the world.
We didn't explore this in Daniel 10, but when we continue from
this heavenly messenger appearing before Daniel, he goes
on to explain that his message to the prophet was resisted by
one of the leaders. That the Prince of the Kingdom
of Persia and that even Michael the Archangel had to now
intervene and help overcome this king in order for this prophecy
to be brought be brought forth before this man of God.
Now, there is no way that you can interpret this as actual
kings of our own realm fighting against each other.
It's clear that we're talking about spiritual rulers.
And you find this in Ezekiel, You find this in Daniel.
You even find it in the the Book of Revelation where you have
demonic beings who actually hold different positions and ranks
and even are designated different parts of the world to
do certain things. Do you remember when we studied
the seven churches and what Jesus actually said to one of
them in Revelation 2 when he said that the throne of Satan is
in your midst? So at that point Satan's
headquarters was in a certain city, an Asia Minor of John's
day. And that's what you see here.
You see that there are these 4 angels who are in a specific
location on the earth. Not more is given to us, but it
is a reminder of how the things that are going on in our world.
Behind our entertainment, behind our politics, behind different
elements, there is a very real evil presence at play.
And that's important to understand so that we know what
our battle is really up against. Not flesh and blood, but
invisible forces who are very organized, very sophisticated,
very vicious. But with this awareness, listen,
you can't, you can't be too, too, too caught up with the evil
that's going around. Because in the very same passage
that we just read about these demonic beings, it doesn't take
much time before we are reminded strongly about God's
sovereignty. Look again at verse 15 of
Revelation 9. So the four angels who had been
prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year were
released to kill 1/3 of mankind. Released by who?
Not by Satan. God's sovereignty presides over
all things, including these powerful forces.
And let's not limit His incomparable knowledge and power
to demons. Understand, this is what I take
from this verse. You and I worship a God who is
fully aware of every second, every hour, every day, every
week, every month, every year that is lived by every person on
every side and every corner of this planet.
From this day until the end. He knows everything.
And this truth is not merely meant to impress you, It's meant
to inspire you. It's meant to grant you this
unshakable confidence. It means that nothing that
surprises me in a single hour, nothing that takes place in an
ordinary day, nothing that piles up in a very busy month of the
year. There's not one thing that seems
to be delayed in terms of my desires that span over years
that escapes the compassionate knowledge of God or His schedule
for that matter. Do you see how I mean?
How much more specific can this verse be?
The day, the hour, the month, the year?
God had that planned long ago when these four specific angels
would be released to do His bidding.
Does he not give you and I more careful attention?
He does and he is more aware and he is more mindful of the things
that you take for granted. What a comforting truth from a
very unlikely place in the Bible.
But there's more comforting truths from it.
Look again at the detailed description of these terrifying
beings, these 4 fallen angels that were released.
They again seem to be high-ranking demons, but they're
portrayed as soldiers riding on horses, and they're arrayed with
colours and symbols that are hellish, sulfur and red, and all
these things are meant to describe destruction and
judgement. And we even told the way that
they will eliminate 1/3 of mankind.
Look again at verse 18. By these 3 plagues, 1/3 of
mankind was killed. They will bring disease, it will
bring viruses, they'll bring different forms of corruption
that will erode the population in such a alarming rate.
And you might be wondering what's encouraging about this.
Here's what's encouraging. Remember the last thing that was
numbered on the earth in terms of persons before this text I
told you that other translations read 200,000,200 million of
these demons will be let go and loosen upon the earth.
And I thought I've read a big numbers before in this context.
And the last time persons are numbered were the 144,000
servants from the tribes of Israel.
You remember them? A 144,000 who are still on the
earth at this time, even under the 6th trumpet.
Are they outnumbered, do you think?
Yeah, they are. In fact, they don't stand a
chance. That's the point they actually
overcome. Even with all of hell belching
out its forces, these 144 servants will still be effective
in their ministry, will still be able to testify.
The gospel will still be flickers of light sprinkled
across the globe. And the point that you and I are
supposed to take from this is that the Lord does not need much
to accomplish his will, does he? He doesn't.
And He always works through a remnant, and He performs His
greatest works against all odds. And that was helpful to me
because I don't know about you. I feel the darkness surrounding
me growing, and I feel more and more, especially if you look at
what's happening in churches in America and leadership and
movements and agendas and all these heresies, old heresies
coming back, new ideas coming back.
I mean, we're losing guys here. At the same time, in the future,
in the worst moments of history, when really the people of God
will be the most outnumbered, they will succeed.
They will be untouchable, they will perform God's will and
Satan and all his army can't do anything about it.
I'm encouraged by this. God will always protect and He
always will use a faithful remnant to advance His purposes.
This is what we learn about the demons.
But we come to the last group of Revelation 9 under the 6th
trumpet, and that is the wicked. We didn't read these verses from
verse 20 down to verse 21. The rest of mankind who are not
killed by these plagues did not repent of the work of their
hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and
silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or
walk. Nor do they repent of their
murders of their sorceries, or their sexual immorality or their
thefts. I argue that what we just read
in those verses is scarier than the description of the demons
and the devastation they will cause.
What we just read to me is more terrifying.
What am I referring to? The white knuckled commitment to
sin, even though God is judging you for it in this way.
Staggering, striking. You know what disturbed me?
That the rest of mankind who weren't slain, we're still
choosing to worship the very things that were killing them.
Did you see it? In this list of vices are
included what? The devotion to demons, idols
which are impersonated by demons, and sorceries.
We'll get to this at another point in Revelation.
The word sorceries, by the way, is where we get the word
pharmacy, pharmakeia. We'll get to that in a few
weeks, but this is a vivid display of the insanity of the
depraved heart, people refusing to let go of the very practices
that are destined to destroy them or are already killing them
slowly. And before we assume that this
is a future defiance, this is one kind of kind of like the end
time characteristics. Remember, it's very much a
reality today that there are those, maybe even in this room
listening to this message, who show a terrifying loyalty to
something or some things that are killing you and you can't
seem to shake free from it. And it may disturb your
conscience from time to time, but it still clutches.
It has a grip on you. And here's the thing that I want
to say as lovingly as possible. What will it take for you to do
everything in your power with the truths that are at your
disposal in the Word of God, to put to death the thing that is
trying to strangle your soul? It's searing your conscience.
Do you realize that it's ruining your marriage?
It may have generational consequences.
You think it's just affecting you and not knowing that there
is a spiritual law in your home. You are the head of your house
and your children are watching you and they need you more than
ever. And you're willing to let that
thing eat up your life, not ever taking into consideration that
it will come perhaps for those that you love the most.
It's robbing you of testimonies. It's it's taking away your joy.
It's displacing you from the rightful dew of God from
actually being able to use you the way He's called you to be
used. And yet here you are, sitting in
another service, under another message, knowing full well that
you're going to go out these doors and go back to the very
same things. That are eating up your soul
like a cancer. How senseless and my question is
what will it take how much erosion needs to take place
become you've become fully invested to eliminate that
thing. Let him who has an ear hear what
the Spirit says through his word.
I got to admit, though, looking at this is disturbing, right?
I mean, you have these, these people, these men and women who
will not repent. I mean, there's going to be no
denying that. What what happened in these
series of events, five months of no death and then 1/3 of mankind
being slain. This is spiritual.
This is not normal. And they'll go right back to
their demons, and they'll go right back to their witchcraft,
and they'll go right back to their sexual sin, and they'll go
right back to killing people and stealing from people.
How, how, how, how it's disturbing.
And we can apply it spiritually to our own war against sin.
But I'm impressed. I got to admit.
I'm impressed. This is impressive because
again, you're being afflicted, you're being tormented, you're
being threatened, and you still choose to worship the very
things that are doing this to you.
You know what came to my mind? How dare we then, if God, in His
perfect wisdom and love should afflict us, ever entertain the
thought that we will walk away from Him for whatever pain that
He is allowed in our lives? This is Satan tormenting his own
followers, and they don't walk away from Him.
But then where's when there's some tribulation, when there's a
delay to months, maybe years of prayer, when there's something
that doesn't make sense to you because you've been serving God
and the thought comes to mind? Just give it all up, it's not
really worth it. How dare we even think for a
moment maybe that is the best option.
In my response to what God has permitted in my life, I remember
Job when everything happened to him in a matter of minutes.
Satan had the right to take everything away from Job.
Everything. But you know what's so striking?
Satan left his wife and this woman, he lost all his kids, he
lost his business, but Satan left his wife.
And you realize early on in the book of Job, why?
Because she looks at Job and says, are you still holding fast
to your integrity? Curse God and die some helpmate.
And Job says this in chapter 2, verse 10.
You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.
Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?
Now this man, Job has been given to us, according to James, as an
example of how to patiently endure suffering.
Read that in James 5. But you know who really does not
like Job? Prosperity preachers because
they can't really reconcile Job's story and what they claim
to be the will of God for every single Christian.
If you confess enough and say enough, you'll be healthy
continually. You'll be rich continually.
In fact, you'll grow, grow, grow, grow, grow in these areas.
And if you don't, it's because you have the lack of faith.
So how do you deal with Job? Well, they say the reason why
Job this is real. I've heard it with my own ears
with my jaw dropped. The reason why Job experienced
all of this is because Job made negative confessions and he
wrongfully blamed God for the atrocities that he experienced.
To which I respond did you finish Job 210?
Because after he said to his wife shall we receive only good
from God and not receive evil. The Holy Spirit leaves this
commentary. And all this Job did not send
with his lips. He wasn't wrong in his
assessment. He didn't send.
This is a negative confession. This is faithful understanding
that sometimes God does allow adversity and he does allow
things to happen that don't make sense to us.
All the Puritans, they're good friends of mine, John Flavel
said. This affliction is a pill, being
wrapped up in patience and quiet.
Submission may be easily swallowed, but discontent choose
the pill, and so embitters the soul.
Profound. When God places the pill of
affliction in our mouths, what you do with it will determine
your experience. Here's what I want to say in
light of that. One of the secrets of enduring
suffering is not focusing so much on the why of the pain, but
on The Who who permits it. It was a psalmist who said in
Psalm 119, verse 75, I know, O Lord, that your rules are
righteous. So what is he addressing?
The the character of God. Your rules, O Lord, are
righteous. And then he finishes the thought
in the following way, and that in faithfulness you have
afflicted me. So how is he translating the
affliction, the righteousness of God?
He's good. He it's impossible for him to do
wrong. It's impossible for him to
perform evil. It's impossible for him to do
anything and allow anything in my life for my hurt, for my
pain. There's always something
redemptive that God has in mind, even in this.
And so David could say if he wrote Psalm 119, in
faithfulness, you afflicted me. So let me tell you how I
finished studying the 6th trumpet.
When I looked at what the rest of mankind did, I said, if this
is how sinners will be devoted to their sin, God by Your grace
make me devoted to you in all things, no matter what comes my
way. And though you slay me, I will
hope in you, as Job said. And that's the thought that I
want to leave with you. Remember, what we're doing here
in Revelation is not just looking at future events.
All Scriptures breathe out by God, and it is profitable for
our development now. So when we look at the Saints,
what do we learn? Oh, prayer has power.
When we look at demons, what do we realize?
Well, all of them can line up against 144,000 and God's
purposes will still prevail. So what does it matter whoever
is elected mayor of this city or this president?
OK, one with God is majority. And lastly with the wicked.
I refuse by the grace of God to allow the wicked to outperform
and out serve and out love their sin in comparison to my Savior.
By His grace, I want to cling to Him and stay close to Him no
matter what, because in faithfulness He afflicts us.
Maybe that's a word for some here who who walked into this
place bruised and wounded, not knowing what to make of it.
Here's what you make of it. You were greatly loved, as
Daniel was, and there's not one thing God permits outside of His
compassionate knowledge and schedule for the purposes He has
for our lives. Lord, we thank You for Your
word, and we ask that You would help us write these truths on
the tablet of our hearts and as the book of Proverbs says,
treasure up my commandments. Lord, help us to take these
jewels and to put them in the depths of who we are and to lock
it in that treasure chest and to never fail to revisit them when
we need to. We bless you, Lord, for the
service. We thank you how you have
graciously LED us all the way to this point in Revelation.
We trust you have so much more in store for us.
For now, Lord, we meditate and we rejoice and we give you glory
and response in song. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Why don't we stand and worship
the Lord together?