Turn with me to the book of Revelation
chapter 16. I would like to take up where
we left off last time. I will go back just to the last
verse or two just to bring us to the Scripture where we are. I'd like to speak this morning
on the subject of Armageddon. Armageddon. That's something
we hear a lot about. Armageddon. Vials are being poured out. The vials that are being poured
out described and set forth in the
previous chapter, seven vials are poured out in this world. They are referred to as the seven
last plagues, seven last judgments. They are the judgments in this
life coming up. preceding the great white throne
judgment that we will deal with, Lord willing, in the next chapter
or two. Judgment before judgment. Judgment
in this world that the Spirit of God relates is happening. Whether or not men recognize
it does not change the fact that God is sending judgment. in this
world, and we consider those seven last plagues, these vials
that are being poured out. Now, I'm going to read in just
a moment, beginning with probably verse 13, and I'll read through
the end of the chapter, but let me tell you beforehand so we
can, by God's grace, hopefully, see what is actually being said
here. The sixth and seventh vial is
getting ready to be poured out. This is judgment before judgment. The sixth vial that we'll read
about is actually the judgment of God that is poured out in
this world and is being poured out right now in the preparation
for Armageddon. The sixth vial is the preparation
of Armageddon The seventh vial is Armageddon. All right? We'll look and see what is Armageddon. What is actually being taught
concerning Armageddon? Through the end of this chapter,
the sixteenth chapter, the Scriptures set forth that Armageddon takes
place. We'll look and see what it is.
Then starting in chapter 17 and 18, the Scriptures goes back
and describes actually what took place concerning the character
of why God sent Armageddon. Here again, we realize that the
book of Revelation deals with one segment of time from the
fall of man to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and
all the seals and all the trumpets, and all of the vials, and everything
that was taking place, took place during that particular segment
of time. So, the sixth vial is the preparation
for Armageddon. The seventh vial, judgment before
judgment, is Armageddon. Now, let's go back. Let's read
verse 12. And we'll read through the end
of the chapter, Revelation 16, 12, and the sixth angel. poured
out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof
was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth
of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils,
working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth,
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed
is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked,
and they see his shame. And he gathered them together
unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh
angel poured out his vows into the air. And there came a great
voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is
done. And there were voices and thunders
and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake such as was
not since men were upon the earth." So mighty an earthquake and so
great. And the great city was divided
into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And the
great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island
fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell
upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the
weight of a tallet. And men blasphemed God because
of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding
great." Now, go back, bringing us up to this point. Back in
verse 13, John saw by the revelation of the Spirit of God, the teaching,
in this sixth vial, that's what verse 12 said, the sixth vial,
the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates,
and the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And John saw in the preparation
for Armageddon, What he saw was in the preparation, the bringing
to, God bringing together all rebellion against him. John saw three unclean spirits
like frogs. They were coming out of the dragon,
the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the mouth of the false
prophet, the mouth of the false prophet. And these kings of the
east we saw last week with that going back into all of that. We saw that these three kings,
the great center of rebellion, summarized everything that is
in rebellion against Almighty God. The kings of the east, the
rebels against God, the enemies against God, they are manifested
in what was called three unclean spirits. That is what John saw.
They are the very opposite of the Spirit of God, the Son, and
the Father, the Holy Trinity. And these three impure and foul
spirits, the Scripture said they were like frogs. They weren't frogs. They were
like frogs. And then we went back last week
and looked in Exodus 8. If you want to go back and read
that, Exodus 8, 1 to 7. the plague of the frogs that
was poured out by God upon Egypt. And what those frogs symbolized,
we saw, was lies. The word frog there actually
means a huckster, a fraud. A quack is what it means. It's a symbol that means a falsehood. So we're reminded. that everything
that is in rebellion against Almighty God, that came out of
the mouth of the dragon, the great serpent, the devil himself,
that came out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth
of the false prophet, what do you think is going to come out
of their mouth? A lie. A lie. Satan is the father of
lies. The Lord told some Pharisees,
you are of your father the devil. He was a liar. from the beginning,
so everything that is in rebellion against Almighty God. Let me
tell you what it summarized. Everything that is not of the
truth, everything, it is against Almighty God. So these frogs
represent what is actually going to be set up by Almighty God
in the preparation for what we know as rebellion against God. So in the fourteenth Verse, it
says that they were spirits of devils working miracles which
go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole earth. And
what is it doing? Turn on your television and you
tell me what you hear. Just flip channels and flip channels
and flip channels and stop until you find one place where some
truth is being preached. What are they doing? Almighty
God, this Scripture reveals, is bringing men together for
Armageddon. And He'll say, this is how you
know that the preparation is being made. They are the spirits
of devils working miracles. They go forth unto the kings
of the earth, of the whole earth, to gather them to the battle
of the great day of God Almighty. Turn over a second, Thessalonians
2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 7 to 9. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 7, for the mystery of iniquity. 2 Thessalonians 2, 9. The mystery
of iniquity. The secret of wickedness. Paul
says, doth already work, even now is active. Only he who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, until the
Spirit of God allows men completely to come forth and do what they
really want to do. Then shall that wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and
shall destroy with the brightness of His coming, even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs."
And look at this, lying wonders, pretended miracles. I had someone
ask me one time, do you think that these miracles that are
being performed are real? I said, well, let me just say
it like this. The Scripture says they are lying wonders. Now,
I looked up the word wonder there, Neal, and it does mean miracle. It means miracle. That's what
it means. The Scripture says they're lying
wonders, though. Lying. Are they real? Well, let me ask you this. If
your back gets healed or you have a cancer or something, and
you're healed in this life for a while, and you put all of your
trust in that you had as one king did fifteen more years,
and you die without God, what did it profit you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Lying wonders, the workings of
pretended miracles and wonders and signs is the masterminded
attempt by Satan himself to deceive God's elect. That's what the
Lord said in Matthew 24, 24. There shall arise false Christs,
or those that are saying, I'm of the Lord. I'm real. I'm a
real one. False prophets, and shall show
great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect. And as I said last week, how
is it that God's elect are not deceived? How does God's people
know? the difference. They hear the
voice of the shepherd. If they don't hear the gospel
of Christ, they don't follow. They don't go after. Anyone that
tells me it doesn't really matter where you worship as long as
you're sincere, you're wrong. It matters. It matters what you
hear. Believe me. Well, the Scripture
says, In verse 15, ìBehold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame.î As the satanic-inspired false prophets are crying out
today, ìPeace! Peace!î The Scriptures are saying
there is no peace, those that will not receive the love of
the truth. Let me tell you that the time
of the Lord, the day of the Lord, is fast approaching. These arrogant
liars, they speak great swelling words, and they continue to do
so because they will not receive the love of the truth. And the
Scripture says, God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie. And then suddenly and unexpectedly,
the Lord Himself shall return. 1 Thessalonians 5, 2, for yourselves
to know perfectly that the day of the Lord as a thief shall
come in the night. And with the approach of this
second coming, the Scripture sets forth in this verse when
the Lord says, Behold, take note, listen up, I come as a thief
when you didn't expect it. I said, I asked somebody one
time, do you think that today is the day? Truth in it or lies. Do you all believe this is the
last time? This is the last time I'm ever going to preach. Last time you're
ever going to hear. There won't be services tonight.
You know, you know, do you really believe that? The scripture says
in a day that you think not. That's that's it. Everybody said,
you know, going back to work tomorrow. You know, I've got
so and so got New Year going on. We got this going. We got
this. How do you know? How do you know that that's the
way it's going to be? Talking to my mother this morning.
And she was telling me that my cousin's husband appeared just
a couple of days ago. They were there at the house,
and they were just chit-chatting. And there's just not much difference
in my age and their age. And he was just sitting there
looking, talking to her. And she said, this is how he
died. He just looked at her. He stopped
talking. And that was it. He just died. It was gone. He
was gone that quickly. How do you know? How do you know? This is not the last day you'll
ever hear the gospel of free grace. How do you know? Behold,
I come as a thief when you don't think, when you think everything's
okay. Making plans for tomorrow, as
Brother Tim James said, or Henry or one of them, he says, hold
on to the things of this world with a loose hand. Making plans
and this, that. If the Lord wills, we'll do so
and so. If the Lord wills, we'll be back
tonight. Blessed, blessed, fortunate,
supremely blessed is he that watcheth, is awake spiritually,
and keepeth his garment by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
His righteousness imputed. Why? Lest you be found naked. And they see a shame. And what
is this great gathering of the kings? The sixth vial was poured
out. And the kings, the Scripture
says in verse 14, was to gather them to the vial of that great
day. And verse 16 says He gathered
them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Now, Armageddon. The word, first of all, place. He gathered them to a place.
I was watching something yesterday on television. It showed a picture,
on television it did, showed a picture of where Armageddon
is going to take place. It was a big old, big wide open
spot. And I thought, well, you know,
that's amazing. The word place, gather them to
a place is actually an interpreted position. Gather them to a position
called Armageddon. Now, Armageddon, contrary to
what people set forth, is not going to be a great nuclear battle. What are carnal weapons against
He who is all-powerful, who just speaks and it is. Armageddon
is actually made up of two words, H-A-R, Har, and Megiddo, Har-Megiddo. Har means a mountain and Megiddo
means a slaughter. Now I'm going to get into a little
bit more in chapter 17 If you look at chapter 17, verse 9,
it begins to describe the beast on which the great whore, the
mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations
of the earth. It said that she rode, she sat
upon a beast. And in verse 9 it says, this
is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven. You see that mountain, that word
mountain, that word actually means an elevated position. Suffice it to say just for right
now, just take my word for it and Lord willing we'll see why
it's like this, but this mountain here, that word mountain right
there, means an elevated place. Now, Armageddon is actually a
setting forth of what God is going to do in the final destruction
of all that opposes his people when they find themselves without
help." The great slaughter, I'll read this for you, it's in Joel
chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. And if you have a Cambridge Bible,
my page is 1139 in the Old Testament if you want to read this. But
in Joel chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, Joel prophesied concerning
this final battle, and it said this, ìFor behold, in those days,
and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of
Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down
into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there
for My people, and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations and parted My lands.î Now, Joel the prophet,
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, talked about Armageddon. God said, I'm going to bring
them. Now, where did the Lord say? First of all, He said, I'm
going to bring them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Well, Jehoshaphat,
the name Jehoshaphat means Jehovah Judges. I'm going to bring them
to the valley of Jehoshaphat. And he said there, he said, I
will plead with them there for my people. But now the word plead
kind of needs a little explanation there. The word plead doesn't
mean like beg or, you know, ask for. The word plead there means
judge, sentence, and punish. That's what it means. God says,
I'm going to plead with them. I'm going to bring them to the
valley of judgment And I'm going to plead with them. I'm going
to judge them right there. The Scripture sets forth that
Almighty God is going to bring to the position of judgment all
that is in rebellion against Almighty God. In the book of
Judges, if you want to jot this Scripture down, Judges 5, 19
and 20, it speaks of the Lord God defeating the enemies of
Israel when there were no places or positions of obvious hope
for God's people to survive. So Armageddon actually means
the mountain of slaughter. Armageddon. The mountain of slaughter. Now, Armageddon. Now we read
about it in this book, in the last part of this book, and we
think in our mind that there is one Armageddon, that there
is only one. But listen to me, Armageddon
as we are seeing in this book, in the 16th chapter of the book
of Revelation, is the final destruction, putting down, judgment of all
that was in rebellion against God. before the great white throne
judgment. Armageddon is actually representing
every battle in which the Lord has proven His power in the defeat
and slaughter of God's foes. It means the mountain of slaughter. You remember back in 2 Kings
chapter 19. There was a man named Sennacherib. He was the king of the Assyrians. I brought this up here recently.
Sennacherib sent a letter to a king named Hezekiah, and basically
what he told him was this. Nobody else has ever stood before
me, and you're not going to either. The gods of all of these other
nations, Hezekiah, didn't protect the nations that I came against.
And he said, and your God is not going to protect you either.
Therefore, he said, I'm just giving you fair notice. I'm paraphrasing,
obviously. I'm giving you fair notice and
fair warning right now. You're mine. And Hezekiah came
in and he spread that letter before the Lord. Not as though
that God didn't know. He knew. But the Spirit of God
had put it within the heart of that man to ask God. He spread
it before him. He said, Lord, this is what,
you know, Sennacherib has said. I'm asking you, would you help
us? And the Scripture says that the
angel of the Lord, You understand now, God's people were surrounded
by a powerful, no obvious way out, no way out, not going to
escape. That was when they told them,
you know, the hen of just a little white speck of dove's dung was
selling for an unbelievable amount of money. It wasn't nothing to
eat. The angel of the Lord came through
that night and slew all of those Assyrians. God's people were
delivered. The mountain of slaughter, Armageddon. God's deliverance. In Judges
7, God Almighty defeated the Midianites who were like the
Scriptures, like grasshoppers. They were just everywhere. He
took a fellow named Gideon. Three hundred men. Three hundred
of Gideon's men. And you know, they blew the trumpets
and they broke those earthen vessels and the light and they
cried, the sword of Gideon and of the Lord. And the Scripture
says that God just mixed up all of the Midianites. They didn't
even know what was going on. They started killing each other and
God delivered them. Armageddon. The mountain of slaughter. or the position of God's judgment
when Almighty God has purposed to bring together. There has
been Armageddon throughout the history of God's people. Remember,
we are dealing with a segment from the first fall when Adam
first fell to the second return. And God has always delivered
His people. But this Armageddon speaks of
the final, This is when Almighty God will finally... There's still
rebellion in this world today. There's still men that stand
up and speak against God Almighty, against God's people in a way
of disrespect. They do not respect His gospel. They do not love the preaching
of the gospel. They do not support it. They
do not care for it. They have time and money for
everything else. But when it comes to the bowing
and the support and the love of the gospel of free grace,
they have no love for it whatsoever. But not forever. Not forever. There's coming a time when Almighty
God is going to put it down. Finally, the great and final,
the mountain of slaughter. Almighty God. And now the Scripture
says in verse 16, He gathered them together unto a position
called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. And the seventh angel
poured out his vial into the air. And there came a great voice
out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It's done!
It's done! Now is the time. No more, Bob. No more. No more. No more men
standing up and lying on God and resisting God's people no
more, no more. We behold the seventh angel,
he poured out, he bestowed his vial into the Scripture says,
into the air right there. That word air right there is
actually the base word of that word air is, Freddie calls, the
cold, the cold. He poured out his vial into the
cold and here's the meaning of it. In Matthew 24, 12, And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The vial
of God's judgment is poured out into the air, into the cold,
into the resistance. And they hear it, and they hear
this. They hear God say, It's done. It's over. It's caused
to be brought to pass when our Lord died on the cross. Redemption
for His people. The debt was paid. That's what
He said. It is finished. What? Redemption. The sacrifice. The atonement. He came into this
world as the servant of His Father. And He paid the debt in full,
being made sin, made a curse. the atonement, the payment. It
is finished. And here, judgment upon all in
righteousness, the final deliverance, the mountain of slaughter, the
last. How many times has God throughout
the history of this world, the history of God's people, delivered
them in a time when there was no obvious deliverance for them? That was Armageddon. This is
the final. This is it. It is done. The final and complete exposure
of God's wrath has come. I'm telling you, I'm convinced. This time is closer, obviously,
than it's ever been before. Obviously, it hasn't come to
pass yet, but I tell you this, without a doubt, I do not doubt
that the sixth vial has been poured out. God is gathering
together and has been gathering together in preparation to the
final put down. Though the next few verses and
the next few chapters describe the finality or let's say the
details of the description, as far as we are concerned, the
Scripture says it's done. It's destruction. That is, all
that is in rebellion against Almighty God is so certain that
it's actually spoken of here as being accomplished. It's a
done deal. Verse 18, there were voices and
thunders and lightnings, and there was such a great earthquake
such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake
and so great. There were voices, there was
disclosures, or there was language out of heaven and thunders and
roarings and glaring lightnings out of heaven. This is actually
the spiritual language of indescribable judgment upon the wicked, not
upon you that believe. There is no condemnation to you
that believe. I want you to turn over to Daniel,
Daniel chapter 12. Verse 1 to 4, last chapter of
Daniel, there is going to be judgment
upon all rebellion against God before the great and final day
of God's great white throne when they hear Him say, Depart from
Me, ye workers of iniquity. Daniel 12, 1 to 4. relates the
very event of which we are speaking. And at that time shall Michael... Now I want you to realize that
Michael here is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll show
you that. At that time shall Michael stand
up, the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people.
And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was, since there was
a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people,"
look at this, now you talk about a blessing, "...let your eyes,
and may our hearts be made to mull over these next few words."
At that time, the time of trouble, such as never was, since there
was a nation, even to that same time, at that time, thy people
shall be delivered. everyone that shall be found
written in the book. And many of them that sleep in
the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some
to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the
words and seal the even to the time of the end, many shall run
to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Listen, someone
would ask, what exactly is going to happen in that great day,
that last vial, when Almighty God says, it's done. And judgment is poured out upon
all rebellion. I don't know. I do not know. Exactly, but I can tell you this,
the scripture reveals back in Revelation 16, verse 17, when
the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, into the
cold, there was a great voice out of the temple of heaven from
the throne saying, it's done. And there were voices and thunders
and lightnings. And there was such a great earthquake such
as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake
and so great. And here's what's going to happen.
All of a sudden, men are going to realize. Something is wrong. Something is wrong here. This
is not the way I remember it yesterday. This is not the way
I thought it was going to be today. This is not the way things
have been when the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Michael Himself,
the mediator of His sheep, He who has stood from all eternity
when He comes openly to show and make up His jewels, He will
take vengeance on them that know not God. And the great city,
verse 19, was divided into three parts, and the cities of the
nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of His wrath. Now, the Scripture reveals that
that great city Mystery Babylon, that we will consider more in
this next chapter, was divided into three parts. God's judgment
has rendered its destruction. God's judgment has rendered destruction
onto this organization, this great organization called Mystery
Babylon. The cities of the nations fell.
All the race of the same habit is what that means. Everybody.
Great Babylon came in remembrance before God. That is to say, the
time of the scoffers, walking after their own lust,
saying, maybe not outwardly, but inwardly, where is the promise
of His coming? Everything is just like it has
always been. I don't see any big deal here. I see absolutely
no reason to make such a big deal out of this. At that time,
when they are saying that, God Almighty has now remembered Babylon
in judgment. Babylon came in remembrance before
God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of His wrath. to give her the lot of that which
she is due. And every," verse 20, "'island
fell and fled away, and the mountains were not found.'" The mountains
there, as I said a while ago, we're going to find over in the
next chapter a deeper and more clear explanation. It's not talking
about the dirt. are the rocks that you see, where
it just cleans them off. That's not the mountains it's
talking about. It's talking about the prominent areas of rebellion. Now, I'll show you that later.
Those prominent, if you look out across, if you ever, I flew
a few years ago, went with Don and a couple other people, Don
Fortin, to Alaska. And as we were flying, went by
and saw this great mountain, this huge mountain. I think it
was Everest. Is Everest over? No. Well, there's
some mountain over in Washington, Mike. I don't know. McKinley?
OK, maybe it's McKinley. OK, it doesn't matter. It was
a mountain, a big mountain. And as I was flying over, it
took us 30 minutes to pass that mountain. And it was just huge. It looked like it was almost
Tall as we were flying. But you know all the ground that
was around it was dirt too. It was dirt. But the prominent
area, that exalted place, that mountain, that's what I kept
focusing on. I kept looking at that mountain. But you know just
because the other dirt around it wasn't as prominent didn't
mean it wasn't dirt. So the mountains that this is
talking about right here, every island fled away and the mountains
were not found. It is talking about those prominent
areas that men see as rebellion against God. When Egypt had the
people of God and held them in captivity, Egypt was that mountain
that was focused in on that prominent area. But it didn't mean that
all the other area around Egypt that knew not God wasn't just
as rebellious. All the mountains here, they
weren't found anymore. Almighty God put them down. There was no part of rebellion
excluded, no matter how remote it appeared to be. And there
fell upon men of great hail, verse 21, out of heaven, every
stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because
of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding
great." Now again, I do not try to get to the position where
I can truthfully try to relate to you that I understand the
extent of this plague. Whether or not the actual hail
was actually hail that weighed about the weight of a talon,
about a hundred pounds apiece, I can truthfully say this, whatever
the judgment of God was, it was exceeding great. I know that. Out of heaven, there's no doubt
when the seventh vial is poured out, when God says it's done,
there's not going to be anymore, Brother Scott, these places sitting
around here, these whorehouses of men standing up in pulpits
And that's what the Scriptures say they are. They're rebels. They're harlots. They're whores.
They're disrespectful. They make merchandise of men.
They're not going to be any more. God said it's over. And God will
put them down. Out of heaven there will be no
doubt where that judgment comes from. And the result of the exhibition
of God's judgment, well, surely somebody would think, Whatever
this great judgment is, whether it's hundred-pound boulders that's
falling out of the sky like the hail fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah,
whatever it is, and men will know. They'll know that this
is not from the earth. This is from heaven. They'll
know it. And you think, surely, whatever great catastrophe happens,
Surely, men will bow to Almighty God. They'll see it and they'll
say, you know what? Oh, I realize I was wrong and
I'm sorry. And they'll repent. No. No. Here's what happens. Men
blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague
thereof was exceeding great. One of the saddest things that
I've witnessed lately took place in our state a few days ago. My heart broke, truly did, when
I realized that the first indication of those 12 miners,
that they thought that they'd found those miners alive. My
heart, first of all, went to so many of you. I thought about
you, Chuck, and I thought about Jeff. I thought about so many
of you men. that have been involved in the
mining industry. And I realize the seriousness. I mean, all we have, we get up
in this world and we have, we're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised the next second.
And my heart truly did. Anybody that would tell me that
they wouldn't be moved with the death. Someone lose a loved one,
that's a hard thing. But it doesn't negate the truth
that Almighty God works all things after the counsel of His own
will, that all things, all things, whatever they are. And when I
saw on the television that there was a time when everybody thought
that the miners were all alive, there were people, men and women,
praising the Lord, singing, How Great Thou Art. And then when
the news came that those miners were all dead, one woman got
up and said, We're all Christian people, but I don't even know
if there is a Lord that would do something like this. My question
then is this. If He is worthy to be praised
if He delivers one of our loved ones, and He is, is He not worthy
to be praised if He doesn't? He who does all things after
the counsel of His own will is worthy to be praised no matter
what. If I go to the doctor tomorrow
and I hear I have terminal cancer, and you've got three months to
live, it would be a shock. I can tell you that. I'm a human
being. But the truth of the matter is, he's still worthy to be praised. And these people right here,
the Scripture says, as God poured out great judgment out of heaven,
men blasphemed God because What does it take for a rebellious
sinner to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ? What does it take for
someone? I'm not talking about somebody
that just, you know, wants an outward, just an outward, you
know, give or take here and there. You know, I'm not talking about
that. I'm talking about what does it take for a man or a woman
to truly bow? and have a heart after Christ. It's going to take a new heart. It's going to take a new man.
It's going to take a new creation. And I'll tell you what will happen
when that happens. All of a sudden, you'll see that
person's different. They're different, Jeff. They've
got a new heart. And they bow. And I'll tell you
what's important. Christ. That's it. Nothing else. Nothing else. They bow to Him. Paul says, for me to live is
Christ. For me to die is gain. But He's
everything. A believer has a heart after
Christ. And when trouble comes, I'll
tell you, this is what a believer will do. They'll bow to Him. And they'll say, as David said,
you've dealt well with me. Because they know. They know. For them, all condemnation is
over. But what happens when God sends
judgment, and it did right here, and it will every time, when
God sends judgment to the nominal professor, false professor, this
is what they'll do. Pat, they'll blame God. It's
God's fault. It's God's fault. God's people
bow when God sends judgment. And this Armageddon, and there's
been Armageddons every segment of every day of every life of
God's people. He's always delivered them. But
there's a final day, the day of Armageddon, the final when
Almighty God says it's done. And when it's done, it's done.
And then the judgment is over. Well, I hope that's been a help
to you. Lord willing, tonight we'll start
in chapter 17 and we'll see the character of the great whore. Why? God said. It's not that
he said he did it. If he'd have stopped in chapter
16, that'd have been enough. But the Spirit of God reveals
to us why. He shows us the character of
the great whore, the great harlot that He actually spewed out judgment
upon.