Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Revelation. Revelation chapter 9. I've been studying in this book for a little
while now. I've really enjoyed this study. The Lord has opened so many things
to my understanding, and it's been nothing but a blessing and
a comfort. And just a reminder, this book
of Revelation is not meant to baffle, it's meant to comfort. Remember, the saints at this
time were in great tribulation, suffering, and persecution. And the Lord sent this revelation
of Himself. And that's what it is. It is
a revelation of Jesus Christ to the churches, to us, as well
as to them. So I've enjoyed this study. I'll
read the first couple of verses here, but then I want to give
an introduction as to what happened before this. And the fifth angel
sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. And
to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened
the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke of the pit as a
smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Now here, we have
in the 9th chapter of this book, the sounding of the 5th trumpet,
which is the continuation of the opening of the 7th seal. Now remember, the Lord Jesus
Christ, after His ascending, after His victory over sin, after
He had been slain to redeem the elect of God, He ascended to
heaven. And in chapter 5, we see him
there as the Lamb slain. And he received, he had taken
the book from the right hand of God, which is the book of
salvation and of divine providence concerning the suffering of the
church, and he opens the seals of this book. It was sealed perfectly
with seven seals. And he opens the seals of this
book, and this first seal he opens was the white horse, the
man riding on the white horse, which is a picture of Christ.
Christ riding forth to conquer the hearts of His people. And
then immediately after that seal, there was the second, third,
and fourth seal, which was the red horse. of war, the black
horse of poverty, and the pale horse of death. And you know
this, believer, this is not something outside of us. This is our experience
of grace is what it is. When Christ opens the book of
salvation to us, what's the first thing we see? Christ. The first
thing is revealed to us is Christ and His conquering of us. Then,
after that, what comes after Christ? Suffering. Suffering. We begin to war with ourselves. We begin to war with the old
man. We begin to war with the world and the devil. These are
warfare. And then there's poverty. Believers,
we in this life suffer great poverty. We suffer great things
in this life and Christ is telling us this, so we're not surprised
when it comes. And death. Believers are not
exempt from death in this body. We're not exempt from sickness
or any kind of physical hurt. But I tell you this, as these
horses had limited power, even so has these sufferings limited
power. Because we know this, Blessed and holy are they that
have part in the first resurrection, over which the second death hath
no power." See, death only has so much power. It can only take
this body, but it cannot take this soul. And sure enough, it
can't even hold this body, can it? Pretty soon it's going to
have to give up this body. So, that's what's revealed by
those horses, the first four seals. And then you have that
fifth seal open. The fifth seal reveals the place
of all those who have suffered and died in faith, which is what? They are under
the altar. They're under the altar, they're
under Christ, and they are now robed in white robes given to
them. And what has it told them? That
they should wait, that they should rest until the rest of the elect
are brought in. In chapter 7, we have been assured
of this, that God has a chosen people which is represented by
the 144,000. And you know, judgment will not
come. In that chapter, it's all about the judgment being withheld. Judgment will not come until
all are sealed, until all of the 144,000, all of the elect,
which is a definite number representative of a great multitude, an indefinite
number. You remember at that time, John
saw a great multitude in heaven. praising God and worshiping Him.
That number of the 144,000, we are sure of this, that all of
them shall be brought in and sealed. And you know what I like
about that? That angel that had the seal
is Christ, and that angel Christ comes and He brands His people. He owns them and He comes and
He seals them with His blood. And not one of them shall be
lost. And we see that the purpose of
God then, and this last seal in chapter 8, the 7 seals open,
then comes out this, trumpets. It says in chapter 8 in verse
1, it says He opened the 7th seal and there were 7 angels given
7 trumpets. What's the purpose of a trumpet? It's to warn of judgment. To warn of the impending doom. That's what they did in Ezekiel
33. It says, a watchman standeth
on a tower and he blows the trumpet to sound the warning. And that's
what these trumpets are representative of. They're representative of
judgments of God. Warnings. Warnings. And even so now, as in all ages,
God has sounded these trumpets by many different calamities. And again, I would be amiss to
remind you that these trumpets These trumpets do not symbolize
a single event, nor are they separate events, but rather they
refer to the woes that may be seen at any day of the year in
any part of the world. You listen, those trumpets are
sounding today. Is there not a war in Afghanistan?
You know what that is? That's trumpet. That's trumpet. Are there not earthquakes? Are
there not famines? Are there not deaths all around
us? What is that? That is a warning.
It is a warning that judgment is coming. God is coming in judgment
against the wicked. And He chose this in part by
these temporal judgments. Yet believers in Christ, though
these earthly calamities may providentially fall on us." I
mean, are there not believers in that war? You bet there are.
Are there not believers in our army that have suffered and died
because of that war? You bet there are. You bet there
are. Yet, these evils are not a judgment
to the saints. They're not a judgment. I already
revealed what they are to us. They're seals. They're seals
of war. They're seals of famine. They're
seals of death and sickness. What is seals to us is a trumpet
to the lost. So whatever calamity that happens
to us, know this, it's not for judgment. Remember, believer,
our judgment is past in Christ. Our judgment is passed. God has
already judged our sins in Christ and will not judge them again.
He would be unjust to do so. And so then, the same event that
happens to the saved happens to the lost, yet God has a different
purpose for the same event. For you, it is for your good. For them, it is a warning of
death and hell, of judgment to come. It is meant to draw the sealed
saint closer to Christ. They cause us to grow in grace
and faith and love. But to the lost, the same calamity,
all evils and troubles are a trumpet of warning calling them to repent. And so now with trumpets being
blown here, the first four trumpets in chapter 8, if you look at
the chapter 8 and verse 7, it said the angel sounded, the first
one. And there followed hail and fire
mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth, and
a third part of the trees was burnt up, and a green grass was
burnt up. The second angel sounded, and
it was a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea,
and a third part of the sea became blood. A third part of the creatures
that were in the sea died. and the third part of the ships
were destroyed. And a third angel sounded, and
there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp,
and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and the fountains
of waters, and the name of the star was called Wormwood." And
the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men
died of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth
angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten,
and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars.
A third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third
part of it, and the night likewise." You know, what do all of these
things have in common? Do you see the common thread
through all of these trumpets? They are earthly things. They're
earthly things. The herbs, the trees, the sea,
the fish, the ships, the sun, the moon, the stars, the heavens,
these are all things in the earth or in our sphere of experience
in this world. And notice that only a third
part. In other words, these aren't full judgments. These are only
partials. These only happen to a certain
portion, not the whole at one time. A common thread is they speak of
earthly tragedies, famines, droughts, calamities. And surely the troubles
and events of the world may surely, to those outside of Christ, be called
wormwood. To those outside of Christ, they
have no handle on calamities. I don't know how people live
outside of Christ. I don't know how they tolerate it. It would
drive a man, if he had any sense at all, it would drive him insane.
He wouldn't be able to understand. That's why they ask these questions.
They say, why is there so much suffering? They don't have any
clue as to what's going on here. And so every trouble is bitter
to them. And you know what it does to
them? It doesn't bring them to Christ. It only drives them further
from Christ. Isn't that what trouble does?
You see a man in trouble, and you tell him about Christ, what
thing he... Well, if God was God, then there shouldn't be
any trouble or anything like that. You know, they blame God.
They blame God. They don't want any part of it.
Troubles of this world are bitter. These troubles make those sweet
and pleasant lusts of the flesh bitter. Yet see, all the judgments
are only partial. They only occur in the third
part. And I suggest you, every morning,
you could look around, read the news, and you'll see war, famine,
and death. And I want you to realize that
it's trumpets. The very thing God is saying in these texts
is happening now. It's happening in our day. The
trumpets are blowing all around us every day. The other day,
we got up to come to church last Sunday, and we had to go around
because there was a major accident. This car was rammed right into
a tree. It was going to burn up. Come
to find out, two teenagers driving that night hit that tree and
both of them died. Now what is happening? A trumpet
is being sounded to all around them. Death is coming. Death
is coming. Hell is moving. Death is coming. Trumpets are being sounded all
around us every single day. And what does this do for the
lost man? The lost is weeping because then he is not able to
enjoy his lust. and pleasures of this world."
You see the men go after sin as though it would please Him,
only to find the end of it bitter. The angel then flies through
the air and pronounces in chapter 8, verse 13, that there are three
woes yet to come. There are four angels sounded,
but three woes are yet to come on the inhabitants of the earth,
three angels yet to sound." Now, these next three trumpets, and
we're going to only deal with this one. I don't have time to
deal with all of them at once. I want to just deal with this
one fifth trumpet. But these next three trumpets
are unlike the first three. The first three speak of carnal
calamities, but rather the last three speak of spiritual woes,
spiritual judgments. Spiritual judgments. Verse 4
trumpets, believers surely experience their different effects upon
their bodies. We are pressed to prayer and
moved toward God by these outward things. Even so it is with these
next trumpets. Believers, I want to warn you,
these trumpets are warnings to the lost, but I want you to be
able to see them. The Lord puts them there so you
can see them for your benefit, for your benefit. These spiritual
judgments of which are all false religion, they will and do cause the church
much pain. Have you not seen that? You can't
read any history of the church, and even in our present day,
and not see that the false free will works religion of our day
is very painful to the church. But as we shall see, they will
in no wise be able to pluck or kill one of God's people. Not one of them shall be killed
who are sealed with the blood of Christ. Now, the apostle saw
a star, and he said that in verse 1. He said, I saw a star fall
from heaven to the earth. And to him was given the key
of the bottomless pit. And he opened this pit, and a
smoke billowed out, and it darkened the air. And in verse 3, what
came out of this smoke, he said, it came out of the smoke locusts
upon the earth, And unto them were given power, as the scorpions
of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that
they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green
thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not
the seal of God in their foreheads." Do you see how their power is
limited? Their power is limited. Now this one who is opening this
pit, we know this to be the one who has fallen from heaven, even
Lucifer. O Lucifer, son of the morning,
how art thou fallen? And to him was given of God to
open this pit, this pit of sin and false religion. Who is the
author of all false religion? Is it not Satan? The Lord Jesus
Christ said He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. This one who opens this pit is
none other than the murderer of men's souls. And that which
comes out of this is the demonic influence in the world. Even
now, this filthy smoke of deception and delusion heavily fills the
air around us. Be not deceived or blinded, my
friends. Free will works religion is the
religion of hell. It is the religion of hell. It is the smoke that billows
out from its author, Satan. Satan is the author and those
who preach this gospel are these locusts who sting and blind men
with ignorance and superstition and traditions of men and cause great chains to be
bound upon their soul. False gospel always blots out
the Son. It always blots out the Son. In this funeral of my aunt this
past week, my parents were attending that funeral. I advised them
that they shouldn't go in here because I knew what they would
hear. But God seemed to intervene because instead of doing this,
what they did is they do what they do on Sunday. They pass
out paper and then they let people write what they think and then
the preacher stands up and reads it. Don't think that's common. Why? Because they have no message
of the Son. They blot out the Son with their
opinions and experiences and things of this world. That's
what they want to hear and that's what they preach. And it blots
out the Son of righteousness. May God open the eyes then of
the blind to see the light of Christ. Because that's the only
way that it will pierce through this darkness. The only thing
that will pierce through the darkness of false religion is
the light of the gospel. Paul says, For if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine upon them. I tell you, we are now in such
a time of satanic delusion. For the world is filled with
the drones of Satan swarming forth the lies of self-salvation,
vomiting forth the smoke and deception of Christ plus works,
Christ plus law, Christ plus your free will. That's the smoke
that billows out of the pits of hell today. Go and ask anyone,
anyone, does man have a free will? And they'll laugh at you.
Why? Because to them that's common knowledge. Why? The smoke billows
out. It's blinded the minds of them
which believe not. They have no clue what man's
will is, that it's inbound in chains of darkness and not free. Believer, in such a time, let
us not then be moved from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Our salvation is by the free and sovereign grace of God. Our
salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us." How? By the washing
of regeneration. That's how. How were you delivered
from the darkness? By the washing of regeneration.
The new birth, the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by grace, we should be heirs according to the hope
of eternal life. Behold then the clarity and simplicity. In the midst of this darkness,
listen, behold the simplicity. Don't be moved from it. Christ
is all. I just can't put it in fewer
words. Or here it is, Christ all. There
it is. Christ all. Don't be moved from that. Though
this smoke covers the entire world. Don't be moved from this, that
salvation is of the Lord from start to finish. It is God who
loved us and chose us. It was Christ who loved us and
gave Himself for us. It was the Holy Spirit who called
and quickened us. And it is the Holy Spirit that
shall keep us because He sealed us. And as we are told here in verse
4, they are commanded. I love this. Those locusts are
commanded of God not to touch any green thing. It's not the Word of God, the
green thing they cannot touch. It is immutable, unchangeable.
They've lied about it for years and have not been able to move
it. They are only allowed to kill
one group of people. Those who have not the seal. of God in their foreheads. Remember
I told you that's what happened. The angel in chapter 7, that's
what he was sent to do, is seal the 144,000, all of the elect
of God. So what can these people do to
God's elect? Nothing. They will not affect
the Kingdom of God in the least degree. They have no impact on
the king. Do you hear that a lot? We need
to have an impact. You know what impact they have?
None. None. In Jeremiah, God said this about
false prophets. He said, I will not bless them
at all. None whatsoever. See their big
buildings? See their big congregations?
Is that a blessing? Nope. God said, I won't bless
them at all. How many saved out of there?
None. None. You will not be saved under
a false gospel. God won't use it. God won't use
a false gospel. He only uses the true gospel. And so then they are not allowed
to. So don't be moved from it, even though the smoke of hell
rises so high in this world. Behold the smoke and lies of
hell that salvation is dependent upon the works and will of man,
which was the lie of Satan from the beginning." Isn't that the
first lie? Listen. Consider this. When he
tempted our mother, when he seduced her, it was... deceived her.
This was his lie. You shall be as gods. knowing good and evil. Now, that
is the same lie of free will works religion. You are as gods
being able to choose good or evil. Same lie! Same lie! Perpetuated from the beginning. The free will message declares
that men are gods, being able to choose or discern good and
evil. These promote that Jesus has a part of salvation, that
His death made salvation possible for men to be saved. But man,
being as God, a sovereign of his own destiny, can either deny
God's glory or give glory to God. Look, believer, all around you.
Look at your friends. If you have any friends in this
world, they're not all believers. Look at your family, your neighbors,
your loved ones who are under such bondage. I tell you, they
are under the trumpet of God's judgment. Judgment is being sounded. Therefore, all false preachers
and prophets of damnable gospel are pictured as locusts. Why? Because all locusts can do is
devour. That's it. Kill. Kill. Destroy. Destruction. I'll give you an illustration
of this. Have you not noticed that where there are more churches,
it seems to be that there's more immorality? The heavier the group
of these churches get together, the more immoral the community
becomes. Brother Moose Parks is out there in the islands,
and at one time he had read this, it was one of the highest murder
rates per capita, means per amount of percentage of people on that
island. But I tell you, there is a church
every square block on that island. There's a church everywhere!
And yet it's one of the highest morals. Why? Because free will
works religion does not produce morality. It only produces the
immoral behavior. It only encourages it. Well,
I made my decision for Jesus, so now I just go and do what
I want to do. It encourages it. And so what do they do to try
to stem the tide? They put more law on people.
More law. Therefore, Paul warns us. of
these things. Let me read it for you, 2 Corinthians
11. In verse 1 he says, Word to God, you'd bear with
me in a little of my folly. Indeed, bear with me. For I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means the serpent beguiled Eve through
subtlety. So your minds shouldn't be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh
preaches another Christ whom we have not preached, or if you
receive another spirit which you have not received, or another
gospel which you have not accepted, you might bear well with me.
You go down in verse 13, he says, "...for such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no
great thing that his ministers also transform as ministers of
righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works."
Paul says, bear with me, bear with me in this. Don't be moved
from Christ. Don't be moved from Christ. Don't
be deceived by their vain show. And that's what it is. It is
a vain show. To us who believe, who love the
truth of the gospel, we will by no means give space to them
who preach such a gospel. You know why? They are cursed.
Paul says, if any man preach any other gospel than that which
we have preached, let him be accursed. Though they may appear moral,
even as angels of light, don't be deceived by their vain religious
show, by their beautiful garments and ceremonies. As I've told
you before, believers, there are only two religions, works
and grace. works and grace. Salvation by grace or by works,
there's no mixture. And see the truth, power is given
to them, which power is clearly seen. If you, by the Word of God, show
a man plainly the truth, what will he do? Will he gladly accept it? You
put a man into an academic, you put a man intellectually into
a corner, and the truth does that. Anybody can do this with
a little study. It's not complicated. But you
put a man to the end, and he... I remember listening to one of
these false preachers at one time. He said eventually he got
to the point where he said, I don't care what the Word of God says. Eventually they'll get there.
Why? Because the darkness has power
over them. That's why they're under His
control. And they cannot escape. Power
is given to them to sting men to death with this gospel. Its
power is seen. You tell them of this sovereignty
of God. These are what Brother Henry
said were six stubborn truths. God is sovereign. That's stubborn. You can't move it. Man is absolutely
depraved. God unconditionally chose His
people from before the foundation of the world gave them to Christ. Christ accomplished salvation
for all of His elect, and every one of those elect will come
to God, and every one of them that come to God will persevere
till the end and receive glory. Now, those are six stubborn truths
that cannot be moved or disproved by the Word of God. Matter of
fact, they're all proved by the Word of God. Can you tell a man
that? And he is under so much dominion of the old man and Satan
that he will resist and spit and kick and despise that gospel
even to death. So don't tell me this false gospel
don't have power. It says it, to them was given
power. Power. And yet they are in such bondage
they cannot and will not believe it." Isn't that what the... Doesn't
that prove total depravity? That a man won't receive the
gospel like that? You give him those six things and he will
not receive it. Why? Because he cannot. Well, that gets under the crawl
of men, doesn't it? He cannot! No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. Tell a lost man that
and see what power this darkness has over him. He will not believe
it. And though all the powers of
hell assault us, though they surround us, though they try
to allure us, this is the promise of God to you. All of the sealed
will not be seduced by that damnable heresy. Praise God for that.
Praise God for that. Surely, division and error will
occur in the gospel church. Even so, Paul said, those things
must come. Division and heresies must and
will arise even in the church of God, among us. Why? Why would God permit such
things? that they which are proved may
be manifest among you." Isn't that so? Why has God allowed
this even in His church? To divide the true believers
from the false. That's what He does. He makes
manifest. I'm so thankful He does that.
He makes manifest His people. Why? Because His people will
continue in the truth and everyone else will go away into heresy. John said this, they went out
from us because they were not of us. If they were of us, they
would have no doubt continued with us. But that it should be
manifest, they went out from us because they weren't of us.
See, what God is even doing, you won't be hurt by it, even
though it happens even in our midst. Even though it's painful
for the church, isn't it, when those things come up? Yet God
says this, those will not have dominion over My people. They
will not touch My people. Now in verse 5, let's go back
to our text. Verse 5, And to them it was given that
they should not kill them, but they should be tormented five
months. And their torment was as the
torment of scorpions, when it striketh a man. In those days
men shall seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire
to die, and death shall flee from them." Verse 5, we are promised that
such reigns throughout time of this demonic deception are limited. They're only for certain times.
that this rises up. For God has sent His men time
and time again to break the backs of false religions. Have you
not seen that? You've not seen that, just for
illustration, during Luther's day. You see how the Catholic
Church had so darkened the sky during that time that they were
not allowing anybody, I mean physically, were not allowing
anybody to worship God. They were persecuting the church
to such degrees that they were killing them. But yet here comes,
God sends a man and sure enough raises him up to do what? Break
the back. of that false religion in that
time. And he did. And sure enough,
again, the dark cloud comes in, and God sends in His men and
breaks the back. Now, Luther did it for a wide
group. Now, God does that daily with
His preachers, with His men. Today, men, you may be in darkness,
and today God may use His message through His man to break the
back of false religion in your heart. and send His gospel to
you. So these times are limited. Let
us therefore pray that God send forth laborers into His harvest
to call out His people. Behold, the power of false religion
shall not keep its prey. For Christ said this, He said,
Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. What are gates for? Keep in and keep out. You got
it? By nature, Satan keeps his people
in and keeps the gospel out until Christ decides to get one of
his people and the gates and bars are torn apart. He reaches
in and plucks the bran from the burning and pulls it out. And
now what he does every time, he breaks the back of false religion. Though the darkness of hell and
the locusts of false religion fill the sky, their power is
limited and shall not be able to keep the elect of God." When
Jesus decrees the salvation of a sinner, the time, the place,
the message, everything is determined. And when that time comes, not
the gates of hell will prevail against it. He'll break through
and get His people. And none shall stay His hand
or say unto Him, What doest Thou? Our God is in the heavens, and
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. It pleased the Lord
to bruise Him for the sins of His people, and it pleases the
Lord to call His elect. So their power is limited. We
see it in verse 5, verse 6. And in those days shall men seek
death, and shall not find it, and desire to die, and death
shall flee from them. In this verse, we see the limit
of false religion to hurt the elect, but not limited to hurt
the souls of the lost. Listen, false religion is not
pleasant. It appears pleasant. And we're going to see this through
these characters in just a minute. It appears pleasant. When I was
a kid, they used to have pizza parties. Oh, man, you talk about
getting me to church. If you wanted to get me to church,
offer me a pizza. I'm telling you, it was pleasant. Oh, the joy we had, we played,
we enjoyed ourselves. It appears joyful. But I tell you, its end is bitter. It's bitter. See, the same young man growing
up in that false religion and dying in that false religion
and now is in hell. Tell me how much the pizza party's
meant. It all appears pleasant. But
I tell you, because its gospel is of hell, the result is eternal
death. The result is eternal death. False religion is very hurtful.
It promises freedom but cannot deliver. The only thing then
that can free is Christ. If the Son shall set you free,
you shall be free indeed. And now then, let's go through
the character of these. I'm going to run through this
with you. The character of these false prophets. Verse 7, And
the shape of these locusts was like horses prepared for battle,
and their heads were as a crown of gold, and their faces were
as the faces of men." False religion is militant, isn't it? False religion is militant. You
want to see it? Look at the Muslim religion.
Is that not militant? Oh yeah, you don't believe? Chop
his head off. Don't be mistaken. Christianity
has done the same thing over many years under the guise of
Christianity. They've done the same thing.
Why? Because false religion is militant. You don't believe this
way, we'll take your job, we'll take your family, we'll do anything
if you oppose us. They're militant. Yet they are
given a crown. What is this crown? It is their
self-righteousness. J.D. Farmer was talking about
his uncle in a Methodist church. He said he had these badges of
attendance that went all the way down to the floor, and he
so proudly wore those every... Why? It was his righteousness.
It was all his righteousness. Their faces were the faces of
men. They seem very sympathetic, don't they? They seem very concerned
about your troubles. That's why they have all these
groups. Divorce group, drug addiction groups, all these groups. They
appear, they have the faces of men as though they are men, though
they have compassion on you. They appear sympathetic. They have hair like a woman.
What is this? They're beautiful. They're beautiful. You walk into some of those Catholic
cathedrals, what do you see? How beautiful they are, how they're
dressed in their white robes with all of the gold and pictures. It's beautiful! You can't deny
it's not beautiful! It's gorgeous! Their buildings
are gorgeous! Their ceremonies are gorgeous!
They're beautiful! Yet they have teeth like a lion.
All of this beauty, they're like the harlot. You remember the
harlot in Proverbs? She dresses herself up and allures
the simpleton in. And said, oh, I've made my sacrifices
to God today. Oh, I've prepared myself. And sure enough, allures him
in with her beauty. And what is the end? Solomon said, her end is death,
death. And they had breastplates as
the breastplates of iron that speaks of the hardness of their
heart. They will not be moved from their gospel. And the sound
of their wings is the sound of chariots and many horses running
to battle. False religion moves fast, doesn't
it? Someone said, allow him to get
around the world twice before truth gets his shoes on. There's some truth to that. They're
fast. They spread. around the world. They had tails like scorpions
that sting their tails. And their power was to hurt men
five months. And who was their king? And they
had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit,
the one that opened this thing, whose name in the Hebrew tongue
is Abaddon, and the Greek tongue, Apollyon, Satan." You listen. I want you to be
clear. I want to be clear. Free Will Works religion call
their God Jesus. They use the same name we do.
But I want you to see the difference. Their God is not Christ, the
Son of God. Their God is Satan. Their Christ cannot save. Their Christ has not accomplished
redemption. Their God is dependent upon you. That is not God. That is not God. It's a false God. Who sees this? Only those sealed. And yes, these people are going
to cause us much trouble in this world. They will. Why God revealed
it. Why God opened it to you. So
you know them when they come. When you see them coming, you
know who they are. So you're not deceived. Don't
be moved from the simplicity that is in Christ. Don't be deceived
by their beauty and deception and popularity. Man, they've
got so many people. You go out this way, You go out
this way today, you better be ready because they're going to
be pouring out of that big heathen building down there. They will.
They'll pour out like locusts. So you might want to go another
way. But I'm saying don't be deceived by that. That has no
effect. That has no bearing on truth.
God is warning us about this. God is telling us about this.
But what is to them a warning? is to us just a seal. It's for our comfort to know
that we won't be seduced by them. If you're a true believer, you
won't be seduced by them. Why? Because you are sealed with the
blood of the Son of God. He has chosen you, redeemed you,
called you, and He will keep you. For it is not possible that
the elect should be deceived. Jesus said those would be so
beautiful, those false prophets would be so beautiful, that if
it were possible, they should deceive the very elect. But it's
not possible. Why? While these trumpets are
blowing, you are safe. Safe. That's what He wants you
to know. That's what He wants you to know
about this. I pray God will give you grace to see it. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.