The Trumpets: Part 2

There's a healing light just beyond the clouds Though I've walked through fire, I see clearly now I know nothing has been wasted, no failure or mistake You're an artist and a potter, I'm the canvas and the clay You make work to get in the clay, and I know no mistake You're a lower work to yours through generations We'll keep your causes, we'll shine out to do the same They will rest upon our silver, the shepherd ages Based on life, but I've got my own giant The same answered for the same The same The same answered for the same Oh, Father God, I just ask that you would just come tonight, Lord, and God, just move in a mighty way. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit come and do something awesome in this place, Lord,

that they be talking about it for weeks and months to come, Lord. God, you are good, and you are great, and you are powerful, Lord. So we ask that you do something awesome and mighty and powerful here tonight, Lord. We love you, Father. Father God, we praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 9.

Revelation, chapter 9. Tonight, we continue on with our study in the trumpet judgments. Matter of fact, tonight's labeled the trumpets part two, because I'm not that creative. So the last time that we were together, talking about Revelation two weeks ago, this is kind of just to catch us up for where we were. We saw the seventh seal open at the beginning of chapter 8,

and when that seventh seal was open, something phenomenal happened. It says there was silence in heaven for about half an hour, just a deafening silence that took place in heaven, I believe, because there was such shock over the trumpets that were about to sound. I think that the understanding of the depth of judgment that was about to come upon the earth was known in heaven, and so there was just... There was a stunned silence for about a half an hour, and after that stunned silence of about a half an hour, we saw that some incense was taken off of the altar, and it was that golden altar, which we said the golden altar represented that altar of incense that speaks of the prayers of the saints.

And so the prayers of the saints were mixed with some fire from the altar, and it was thrown down onto the earth, and we talked about how interesting it was that part of what brought about these judgments, these trumpet judgments, was that the prayers of the saints, perhaps those prayers that we saw from the saints that were under the altar in previous chapters saying, Lord, when will you judge? When will you deal with these things? Those prayers are what perhaps ushered in these trumpet judgments. And then there were seven angels that were seen, and each of the seven angels was given a trumpet.

And then we saw each of the angels begin to blow their trumpet, and the first of the trumpets was hail and fire, mixed with blood, and we saw that it wiped out a third of the vegetation of the earth. The second trumpet, there was a great burning mountain that was, or something that was like a great burning mountain that was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea turned into blood. It destroyed a third of the sea creatures, and destroyed a third of the ships that were on the sea. The third trumpet was a great star called Wormwood that fell to the earth, and it destroyed a third of the fresh water sources, the rivers and the streams.

And then the fourth trumpet, and a third of the natural light was affected. We weren't totally sure what that meant, but we know that between the sun, the moon, and the stars, a third of that aspect was affected, whether they just didn't shine as brightly, or whether portions of them were actually wiped out. Whatever it was, a third of the natural light was affected. And at the end of chapter eight, something interesting took place.

There was a great eagle that was flying through the air, crying out, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of earth, because there, there were three more blasts of the trumpet coming. And those three woes represent the last three blasts of the trumpet, because something interesting is gonna take place. The first four of the blasts of the trumpet had to do with destruction only on earth, only with the things of the earth. But these last three blasts of the trumpet will affect humanity.

They will affect life itself, as we see destruction come upon human beings. And so with that being said, we now move into chapter nine with the fifth, the trumpet. It says in chapter nine, verse one, then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven, which had fallen to the earth. And the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit,

like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth and power was given them as the scorpion, and the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

And they were permitted. They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days, men will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die and death flees from them. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold and their faces were like the

faces of men. Their hair, like the hair of women, their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like the breastplates of iron. And the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots and many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions and stings. And in their tails is their, their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them,

the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon. And in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. The first woe is past. Behold, two woes are still coming after these things. Now this fifth trumpet sounds, the fifth angel sounds the trumpet and something interesting happens. He says, I saw a star from heaven, which had fallen to the earth. Now all of that presents to us something that took place in the past tense,

something that had happened before a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. Now this is not a typical star like what we saw in one of the first of the trumpets. I don't believe that this is some sort of a meteor or a comet or something that hits the earth because pretty soon he's going to say a key was given to him, which would indicate that this is not just a star. This was a him, a being, if you will, not an inanimate object, not an object.

Now I believe that this could be one of a couple of things. I believe that this could either be Satan himself or a high ranking demon. There's been some other explanations, but the other explanations don't even make sense. I believe that that's exactly who this is speaking of. And as a matter of fact, if you were to look all the way back in the book of Isaiah,

you would find that it uses the exact language. Oh, how you have fallen star of the morning. It refers to Satan as a fallen star. And so that's why I tend to believe, that that's who this is. It's either Satan or some sort of a high ranking demon, because everything that we're going to see take place in these next two trumpets that we see in chapter nine is very demonic in nature.

It's going to be very destructive in nature, mainly of humanity. And so as this angel, this star falls to the earth, something interesting happens. It says the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. The bottomless pit, could also be referred to as the abyss. I believe that the Greek word is the abuso. It literally means a, a bottomless pit. Many commentators believe that what this is speaking of is something that's actually at the center of the earth,

whether that's the case or whether it's just proverbially speaking of a bottomless pit, whatever it is, it is some sort of a specific place. It's interesting because as you look throughout scripture, you find that every time that the bottomless pit is mentioned, it speaks of demonic beings, beings that are being imprisoned there. You see it in Luke. You see it in first Peter.

You see it in Jude, that this abyss is a place where certain demons are being held as prisoner. And now at this point in time, this fallen being, this fallen star, this fallen angel is being given the key to the bottomless pit. Interestingly enough, J. Vernon McGee pointed out at this point in time, the one who has the key to this bottomless, bottomless pit is none other than Jesus himself.

After all, in Revelation chapter one, verse 18, it refers to him as being the one who has the keys to death and Hades. And it's his to give. I want you to take note of the sovereign control of God at this point in time, because everything that's taking place with this demonic being is not something that he's doing of his own accord. It's something that he's only being allowed to do by a sovereign God, because God is in control of this whole thing.

And he's being given this key, this bottomless pit, because at this point in time, these angels, these fallen beings that have been reserved in this abyss, it's time for them to be released. Can I just go ahead and say, it's a really horrific time in human nature. It's a really horrific time in the history of the world. When finally God says, I've had enough.

It's time to release the demons. It's time to release that which I've been holding back for a particular point in time. Goes on to say, he, he opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth. Now, again,

I want you to paint this scene in your mind and keep in mind just a little bit of what happened in the book of Exodus. Do you remember what happened in the book of Exodus? When Moses released, the, uh, the locusts says that it was like a cloud that just filled the air and began to wipe out everything that was in the land of Egypt. Well, this is going to be kind of like that only different because these locusts are going to be very different than the ones that we've seen before.

But he refers to it as smoke out of a pit. Can you imagine this gate, this door, this door to this bottomless pit is opened up and all of a sudden this huge plume of smoke comes out and you're like, Oh no, what's all of the smoke? And then you realize that the smoke is not, it's not smoke. The smoke is these demonic beings, these locusts that come out of the pit that are coming out in such thick nature that it's like smoke covering the entire earth, like the black smoke coming out of a pit.

I remember watching a baseball game a few years back. It was, it was in, I believe the American league championship series and all of these gnats were everywhere. If I don't know if any of you are baseball fans, all these gnats were everywhere. I think it was in Cleveland. If I remember correctly. And it was almost like there was this haze everywhere. And you were like,

what's the haze all over the baseball field. And then you start seeing pictures and batters doing this whole thing because it's like somebody had just released all of these gnats all over the place. Well, picture that only worse because this time it's demonic beings that are coming up out of this pit. And as these demonic beings come out of the pit, notice what it says that they are.

Verse three, then out of the smoke came locusts. Upon the earth. Now, again, if you're a studier at all of the Bible, you know that locusts are often used by God as implements of judgment. We saw it in the book of Exodus. It's seen in the book of Joel. And if I remember correctly, also in the book of Amos, you see locusts being used by God. As an instrument of his judgment.

And if you know anything about locusts, you know that in all of those instances, they do something very specific. They eat all of the vegetation. They usually wipe out every bit of green vegetation that they see. But these locusts are very different than that because notice what it says about these locusts. These locusts. Middle of verse three had power that was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Well, the power of a scorpion of the earth is to sting you, right? And perhaps you inject and perhaps inject you with some sort of a poison. Although it doesn't kill you, it does make you very sick. And that's the kind of power they've been given, which is very different than a locust. Also, take note of what's different. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth,

nor any green thing. So these are going to operate different from most locusts, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. These locusts were very different because they were not out to eat all of the green things. They were out to attack who they were out to attack people. Only there was a restriction put upon them. The restriction was that the only people that they were allowed to harm were the ones who did,

not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So at least 144,000 of the Jews are not to be harmed by these locusts. But take note of the next thing that it says about them. They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. Now, these locusts were going to affect you.

But these locusts would not kill humanity. They could only torment them. And what an awful thing to think about. These locusts have come flying out of this bottomless pit. I want you to imagine living on planet Earth at this point in time. These locusts come flying out of this bottomless pit, and they began to sting you. And it hurt really, really bad. But it doesn't kill you.

It's just enough to make your life incredibly miserable. And how long does this misery last? This misery lasts for a long time. It lasts for five months. Now, let's put this into a little bit of perspective. Five months from now is August. That's how long you'll live in the torment from the sting of this scorpion. Interestingly enough, many who do not believe in a pre-tribulational rapture

believe that all of these plagues will take place just before Jesus comes back. This would give us an indication that there is at least an extended period of time of some sort that will take place because the locusts are going to take place. The locusts alone will affect humanity for five months. So for five months, these locusts are going to sting, and they'll have the sting of a scorpion, enough to cause you misery, but not enough to kill you.

But notice the effect that it will have on men. And in those days, verse 6, men will seek death, and they will not find it. They will long to die, and death flees from them. A couple of things kind of interesting to think about when it says this. Number one is this. The sting of these locusts is simply causing men to want to die. But what do you think God's intended purpose of the sting of these locusts is?

I believe it's to bring repentance. After all, at the end of the chapter, what we're going to see is they still refuse to repent, which would indicate that there's an opportunity to repent at that point in time, right? If they've refused to do so, then that means that there was an opportunity. And so the sting of the locusts was to bring about repentance, and yet that wasn't what was happening.

Instead, what? What did men do? They sought death. Death that would perhaps end their misery in the temporary, but only bring upon them misery in the eternal. And so that's the effect of these locusts. Now, the next thing that he does is go on to describe a little bit more of the appearance of these locusts. Have you noticed how much more time he's spending

defining these next two trumpets as opposed to how much he did in the first four? That's because the first four, these are affecting people. It's having a deeper effect on humanity because it's affecting humans individually. He goes on to describe in verse seven, the appearance of the locust. Notice what it says. The appearance of the locust was like horses prepared for battle.

Now, I don't know how your imagination works, but there's some interesting things floating around Facebook right now where you can actually take your former drawings of animals when you were a kid, and you can actually have them make them into stuffed animals right now. Have you guys seen some of these things floating around? And so, these pictures are great. You should look these up because there's all these pictures of like a horse whose body is this long and his head is this short and his legs are like this, right?

Because they're the drawings from when you were a kid, right? And so, that's what I picture with this right now. Like, these are the drawings you would come up with as a kid. This is what he's picturing right now because he says these locusts, and I don't know about you, I've never seen a locust look like a horse. And if I did, I'm scared, right? So, the appearance of the locusts are like horses,

prepared for battle. But then on their heads appear to be crowns like gold. So, picture a locust horse wearing a gold crown, right? See, somebody needs to draw this, and then somebody needs to make a stuffed animal out of it. Scariest stuffed animal you've ever seen in your life. And their faces were like the faces of men. Man, horse face, locust with a crown.

But they had hair like women. And their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. And the sound of their wings was the sound of the chariots of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions and sting, and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. Each of these speaks of something different

because these were horses prepared for battle, which speaks of their power. They had crowns on their head, which speaks of the fact that these are impressive creatures. They had hair like women, which would indicate perhaps that they were beautiful to behold. But they had the faces of men, which would bring a great deal of fear into the minds of people. They had teeth like lions

because they were ferocious. And they had a breastplate of iron, meaning it felt like they were completely indestructible. And the noise. I think that's what scares me the most to think about this. Because if you've ever been in a situation where the noise is so strong, or the noise is so great that you can't think straight because it's just so loud. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Like a preschool class, and everything's just so loud, and you can't think straight because there's just so much noise going on. And that's the sound of what these creatures are like. Can you imagine that coming at you? And then with the power in their tail, it was a completely terrifying scene. And as he paints this picture of these locusts, who knows what they are?

There have been many who have tried to find out and tried to explain, well, the modern warfare, perhaps, that these could be, that there's some aspect of modern weaponry that can be used. Listen, brothers and sisters, I have no idea. What I do know is it's incredibly demonic in nature. Whatever this army of locusts is, is none other than the demonic coming to torment humanity.

And it made me think a lot about what Jesus said when he said, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of Man. And one of the things that marked the days of Noah, actually, I think one of the things that really brought on the flood was some sort of a half-human, half-demonic breed of people. The demonic was very present in those days, and it will be in this tribulational period. But he goes on to describe these locusts a little bit more.

It says in verse 11 that they have been as king over them the angel of the abyss. His name in Greek is Abaddon. Or his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. These locust-like creatures have a king over them. Interestingly enough, Scripture says that the locusts of the earth have no king over them. It actually tells us that in the book of Proverbs.

They have no king, and yet they march in an ordered rank. And so these are very different from anything else. From anything that we have on this earth, but they have this king over them, and this king over them has a name in Hebrew and a name in Greek that both mean the same thing. In Hebrew, it's Abaddon. In Greek, it's Apollyon. But both of those names have a similar meaning behind them,

and that similar meaning is simply destruction. And I'm reminded of what we're told about our enemy, Satan, that he comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. And that's what he says. And that's what he's seeking to do with humanity at this point in time. And so we see this group of locusts that comes forth, and then in verse 12, it says, the first woe is past.

Behold, two woes are still coming after these things. Can I give you the Ryan translation of that verse? You ain't seen nothing yet. Right? That's my own translation of that verse. If J. Vernon McGee can do it, I figure I can too. Because I think that's what he's saying there. Can you imagine that? As John's writing all of this down, he goes, listen, there's still two more woes to come.

Most of the vegetation is gone. Most of the sea is destroyed. The ships are destroyed. The fresh water's destroyed. The sun's not shining the way that it used to. The moon doesn't glow the way that it used to. And now humanity is aching from five months of torment. And you haven't seen anything yet. Now comes the sixth trumpet. Then the sixth angel sounded,

and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. One saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year were released so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million.

I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them. The riders had breastplates the color of fire and a hyacinth and of brimstone. And the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind, a third of mankind, a third of mankind, was killed by these three plagues

by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents and have heads. And with them, they do harm. Whoa, right? The word whoa is the best way that you can come up with to describe it. So the sixth angel sounds and something fascinating happens.

It says, I heard a voice from where? Do you take note of where it came from again? From the four horns of the golden altar. Do you know what the four horns of the golden altar speak of? Well, the golden altar speaks of that altar of incense. And what takes place at the altar of incense? Well, that's where the prayers come up before the father. So once again,

in the releasing of this sixth trumpet, we see a voice come forth from the place where the prayers come from. I'm amazed in the book of Revelation. I've never seen this before. I've never thought about this before. Before I've taught it this time is that the prayers of the saints have such power. It doesn't feel like it when you're in the middle of the prayer,

does it? It doesn't always feel like there's great power that's taking place in that prayer. As we see the evil that's taking place in the earth right now, and we start saying, Lord, when will you come and deal with this? When are you going to deal with the things? Lord, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth. All of those prayers are being stored up

so that during that time, from that golden altar, from where all of those prayers have been stored up of the saints over the years saying, Lord, how much longer until you deal with the evil of this earth? How much longer before you deal with the enemy that is bringing so much destruction? God says, don't worry. I'm bringing it. Because an angel or a voice from the four corners

of that golden altar sounds forth and says, release the four angels that are held at the great river Euphrates. Ah, you speak of a river that means a lot in scripture, and that's the river Euphrates. Matter of fact, the first time that the river Euphrates is mentioned is in Genesis at the creation when it talks about the garden of Eden. And there was a river that flowed through it that broke off into four different rivers after the garden of Eden.

One of those rivers is the great river, Euphrates. Well, then as you keep moving on throughout scripture, you see how often it's used. As a matter of fact, from anybody that knew anything about the Roman Empire, you knew that the river Euphrates is what divided the east from the west. And so everybody knew when he said, release the four angels that are held at the great river Euphrates, you kind of wonder something.

How long have these angels been sitting there? Have they been sitting there ever since the sin of Adam and Eve? When God already had a plan in place for how he was going to redeem mankind? When God already had a plan in place for how he was going to destroy the head of the serpent? And so from this river Euphrates, it says, release the four angels. And I want you to notice

the language that's used about these four angels. The four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year. Friends, we cannot overemphasize we cannot overemphasize the fact that God has a plan. It won't come too soon. And listen, it won't come too late. I would venture to say most of us aren't worried about it coming too soon.

It's not going to come a minute after God's ready. Because when are these guys prepared for? When are these angels prepared for? They're prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year. You don't think as detail oriented as God is that he doesn't have it planned down to the minute. He doesn't have it planned right up until now's the right time to make all of this happen.

I had the distinct pleasure of doing another wedding this last weekend and you know what my favorite thing that can happen when I do a wedding is? When somebody has the entire thing planned for me and I show up and I do the only job that I feel like I'm actually fit to do stand there and say I now pronounce you. Husband and wife. Because if no one else has a plan for the wedding guess who has to have a plan for the wedding?

Right? And so I love I told somebody this the other day I said used to be early in doing weddings I didn't like when there was a lady there that told me what to do. I didn't care if it was a lady or a man. I didn't want somebody to be like well this is the way it has to be. Now I'm like please have someone there that tells me exactly what to do. Okay now do I walk down the aisle now?

Do I come out now? Now is when I do my thing. It is such a blessing. To have somebody there who just plans the entire thing and I'm like done. You just tell me when to walk. You tell me when to talk and I'm a happy camper. But listen that's the way God is. He has the whole thing planned. Why aren't we like that with him? Why aren't we like oh he's got the whole thing planned.

Lord you just tell me when to talk. You tell me when to walk and I'll be really happy with it. The older I get the more I'm like Lord you just tell me when. You keep the plan going because I have no idea what I'm doing. Well he has the whole thing planned out. These angels. Are prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year. But I want you to take note

of what they're supposed to do. So that they would kill a third of mankind. Friends once you read that there's no question why there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Because all of heaven knew it's about to get really ugly on planet earth. Because as much destruction as John had seen up to this point in time he hadn't seen anything yet. And brothers and sisters

we need to know something. As much as this world seems like a really bad place right now we haven't seen anything yet. And it should make us the most pure people in the world and the most anxious people in the world to get the word out to the people that are around us. Because I don't want to have anybody that I love I don't want to have anybody that I don't love sticking around to see this show.

To be a part of those who would be killed. It says that these angels have been prepared. I believe that these angels are demonic in nature. I know some question that but I do believe that they're demonic in nature. Says in verse 16 the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million. And I heard the number of them. I never thought very much about this number

until I did some reading this time. And according to the commentaries that I read the number of all of the armies during World War II was in the neighborhood of 70 million. Now at one point in time apparently China boasted an army of 200 million although most didn't really believe that that was the case. Whatever it is this is an unheard of size of an army.

This is an unheard of size of group. Actually it's only been heard one time and that was by John. Because it says he didn't see them to count them he only heard the number of them. He saw that there was a large army and somebody said that's 200 million. That's a lot of people. That's a huge army. Now as we look at this army we have to ask ourselves is this actually

an army of human beings? Are these actually a human army? Or again is this a demonic group? Whatever it is whichever it is it is a large army that's about to do some serious work. I again lean toward this being demonic in nature. I lean toward this being an army of demons. That's me personally. I'm willing to have my mind changed on it. But that's the way I lean as I've studied this.

It says in this verse 17 is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them. The riders had breastplates the color of fire and hyacinth and of brimstone and the heads of the horses were like heads of lions and out of their mouth proceed fire. Fire and smoke and brimstone. Some have said that that could potentially be a tank with a gun on the end of it blowing weaponry out of its out of its mouth.

That's what he's describing there. Could be again I lean toward it actually being a being that looks like this. Some sort of a demonic being that can do this because I have no problem believing that that's the case. Whatever it is it's a serious situation that's going on. It says in the heads of the horses are like heads of lions read that part already verse 18

and a third of mankind was killed by these three plagues by fire by smoke and by brimstone which proceeded out of their mouth. Whatever these beings are what flows out of their mouth John refers to as plagues only this time the plague doesn't just harm mankind it doesn't just torment mankind these three plagues the fire the smoke and the brimstone they kill a third of mankind. Now if the seven seals and the seven trumpets are two separate aspects of judgment at this point in time over half of earth's population has been decimated because in the seal judgments we're told that a quarter of humanity was killed and in this one a third of humanity is killed. That's an incredible number of people an incredible number of people the destruction is horrific.

Because of my job I've started viewing situations like this like what took place over in Turkey with the death of all of those people I view those very differently now because as I view that now I think man there's some men who run funeral homes that have a horrific job ahead of them with the fact that they lost 40,000 people and the job that they have to do and the pastors that will have to do funerals in those situations I think about that. I think about that end of it now and so when you think about how many people died in that situation in Turkey it's mind-boggling but when you think about this no longer are you thinking about how you can handle that from a funeral home perspective now it's just a now it's just a mass grave sort of perspective.

Can you imagine what this is going to do to earth? Can you imagine the chaos that will be on earth? Can you imagine the mentality that will take place on planet earth? And why does it all take place? Because man has chosen sin over God. And when we choose sin we choose death and destruction. Goes on from there to say verse 19 for the power of the horses is in their mouths

and in their tails for their tails are like serpents and they have heads and with them they do harm. Again more of the demonic is seen. And so how does humanity respond? Humanity responds the way that they seem to have responded with all of these things. Notice what it says in verse 20. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent

of the works of their hands so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk and they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries nor their sins. nor their immoralities nor their thefts. Two, they did not repent. The first one has to do with their idolatry. They did not repent

of their worship of demons. Isn't that amazing? That's what idolatry really is. It's the worship of demons or the worship of the works of men's hands or gold or silver or brass. It was interesting. I was reading John Corson today and he said isn't it funny how often times we think we don't have those kind of idols today. We don't have idols of wood or silver

or gold or brass. And he said have you looked in your garage lately? And you know what I thought? One of our idols got destroyed on Friday didn't it? When one of the banks found themselves closing down because there was a run on it. And then one of our other idols bailed them out on Monday, right? Because in America what are the idols that we worship? We worship money

and we worship government. After all who are our saviors going to be? Well if there's just enough money or if the government does what they need to do then we'll be fine. And we keep worshiping our gods. And two of them two of them still exist today and there are still people that worship those. He said they kept worshiping their idols. But if idolatry is not really your thing

don't worry he gets you here. He says and they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries. It's interesting that word sorceries because that word sorceries in the Greek is the word pharmakia which is where we get our word pharmacy from. In other words it has to do with drug use. And what are we seeing rampant right now in our world today? Drug use is rampant.

Right? If you drive just across the line down into Oklahoma the first thing that you're greeted with is a pot store. Now it's all medical don't get me wrong. Everybody's got a prescription. I think the entire state of Oklahoma has a prescription for marijuana but that's what they've got there. As a matter of fact I couldn't believe it. They're still trying to vote

to keep marijuana illegal in Oklahoma unless it's for marijuana. If it's for medical reasons then I'm going I think anybody can get a prescription for marijuana in Oklahoma. I've watched it happen. You know what they're trying to do in Kansas right now? Trying to vote to legalize marijuana. After all everybody else has done it right. And quite frankly unfortunately

that's the least of our issues right now because we've got kids in the middle school using hard drugs. They're using painkillers. They're using opioids. They're using the serious stuff. Pot smoking is the least of our issues with our kids right now. And what's going to happen when half of your family is decimated because you just saw all of this stuff take place?

Well the same thing that everybody told you you should do with your pain all that time you're going to keep doing. You're just going to keep numbing it with another joint or another pill or another anything that will numb that pain. And they will not repent of their sorceries. Nor will they repent of their immorality. Isn't it amazing what we're seeing take place

in our nation right now? And you know what the unfortunate thing is? The unfortunate thing is that we're not the unfortunate thing is it won't matter how many bills we pass. It won't matter how many stands we take. I'm not saying we should stop taking stands on these things but the human heart is bent on immorality. It says they won't repent of their immoralities

nor of their thefts. They won't repent. They'll see what's taking place but even that won't cause them to repent. Well what are some things that we can learn from this? What are some takeaways that we've learned from this? We've got three things that I want you to take away from tonight. Number one, God is in control. Evil can only do what God allows or ordains.

I think this is a really, really, really important point for us to hold on to right now. God is in control. Who gave the key to the bottomless pit? Well clearly it was God because he's the one that has it now and who does he give it to? He gives it to this fallen star for his purposes in bringing judgment on planet Earth. Who calls the four angels from the river Euphrates

to go and do what they're going to do? Well it's from the altar of incense where the prayers are being made. Listen, God is in control. Evil can only do what God allows and so when we see evil taking place in this world we can say but God is still in control. He is allowing it or even ordaining it for his own purposes. You say, Ryan, what kind of purpose can God have

in the evil that's taking place in the world today? I don't always know that I can answer that question for you but I do know that God has a purpose in it. Sometimes the purpose of that evil is for the judgment of people. Sometimes the purpose of that evil is for the refining of the saints. Sometimes the purpose of that evil is to open the eyes of the unbelievers

to their need for a savior. Whatever it is, none of it happens arbitrarily apart from the sovereign control of God. And when you see things that in your life appear to be evil coming in, you can rest in the fact that God is still in control. Ryan, I don't understand why the diagnosis just happened. I don't either, but God's still in control. Ryan, I don't understand

why this relationship isn't working out. I don't either, but God is still in control. Ryan, I don't understand why God would allow this to happen to my loved one. I don't either, but God is still in control. And the question is not always why. The question is what. What God do you want me to learn from this? What God do you want to do in me because of this?

What God do you want to be glorified in through what I consider to be the worst day of my life? Because though it may seem like evil is winning, God is still in control. Number two, sin is destructive.

Sin is destructive. I say that because I don't know that we always take that seriously enough. I don't know that in our world, even in the church today, we really hold on to the fact that sin is truly a destructive thing. It's not just a bad day. It actually brings destruction into the lives of people. And it always has rippling effects. Now, can God redeem that?

Absolutely. But if we spend so much time saying, well, I'm just going to let God redeem this and then go forward in sin, we don't ever let the knowledge of the destruction of sin hold us back. And sometimes, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can't let God redeem us, if we can know that sin is ultimately going to destroy me, perhaps it'll be the thing that holds me back. Because we need to live with that on this side of the failure and not on the other side.

Sin is destructive. Number three, repentance is the key. Repentance is the key in our lives. Every single day, repenting of the areas of sin that God reveals to us, repenting of the areas of sin that God is showing us in our lives, repenting of the things even that we see taking place in the culture around us. I'm always reminded of the prayer of Daniel. Remember the prayer

that Daniel made? If you don't know it, you should read through the book of Daniel. If I remember correctly, it's chapter nine. It might be chapter eight. But in this prayer of Daniel, no sin is ever recorded in the Bible about Daniel. None of Daniel's sins are recorded. One of the few people in scripture that we don't see any recorded sin of, but something amazing

takes place. Daniel said, when I looked at the prophecies of Jeremiah and saw that the time was drawing to a close, that the 70 years was almost up, I began to pray and I began to confess. I began to confess my sins and the sins of my people, Israel. See, brothers and sisters, there should be a continual repentance in our hearts because even Daniel, the man who no sin is recorded of in the Bible, he still repented, not only of his own sins, but the sins of his people, Israel, because repentance is the key in drawing close to the Lord.

Repentance is the key in seeing a church get on fire for the Lord and repentance is the key to seeing a revival begin. Amen. Would you bow with me? Father, difficult things that we read in your word, difficult things that we see in the book of Revelation, not only sometimes difficult to understand, but Lord, difficult for our minds to take in, but I know that you allow us to know these things so that we can be prepared for what's coming in the future so that our hearts can remain pure before you and so that we can be ready to share and give a reason for the hope that we have to the Lord.

to the people that are around us. And so, Lord, move in our hearts as you see fit. Draw us near to you as you see fit. And Father, help us to rest in the sovereign hand of a sovereign God. Lord, we thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.