Revelation chapter 16, verses
8 and 9. Revelation chapter 16, verses
8 and 9. This has to do with the fourth
angel, messenger. I spoke to Brother Gene Harmon
this morning and we were talking a little bit about that subject
of the Lord calls those pastors of the seven churches his angels.
And that means messengers. They're his messengers. And that's
what he did this morning down there in rescue. He was a messenger
from the Lord. He was sharing the gospel. And
that's what God's pastors do. They share the gospel. And so
this pastor, this fourth one in this line of seven, and it's
just a a word or a figure of speech, let me put it that way,
a figure of speech for all the true gospel preachers in all
ages. If we looked at what they had
to say, the seven of them, each of them would be saying the same
thing over time. But he used these seven to represent
what the gospel does to those without Christ in this section
of scripture. And it exposes people. It reveals to people. And the
judgment of God has never and will never save a soul. We'll see that on that great
and notable day. Not one of those people will
ever say, I'm sorry to God. They'll just continue on. They'll
hear the judgment of God and they'll continue on. And I can't
help but think they'll still hate God, but they will bow to
him. Their hearts will not be changed. And in this passage
of scripture, these two verses, this fourth pastor declares the
gospel, and these two verses reveal how the gospel exposes
the lack of protection to those that are without Christ. God's
people are a protected people. I don't know how many times just
in the Psalms it mentions what kind of protection God's people
have in Christ. It's a covert in a storm. He's
a covert in a storm. He's a shadow in a dry, thirsty
land. He's a shadow of a rock where
there is no water and on and on. These figures of speech reveal
to us how God's people are a protected people. He has his mighty hand
over them, and we're under the shadow of his wings. And these
figures of speech, they just go on and on on how we are protected
by the Lord. He protects us from the fiery
darts of the wicked one. He protects us from our own sin. He shields us from the justice
of God. He took that upon himself. We
stand today in Christ where the fire has already burned. Nathan
and I were down on the river the other day and we looked across,
over here somewhere there was a fire. And I says, I don't think
that there's been a year since I've lived here that this whole
hill hasn't burnt part of it or all of it. And there's one
thing about that, after it burns in the spring or summer, it's
not going to burn again. Not until next year, and it gets
the weeds on it again. So if it can burn without being
damaged to some house or something, it won't burn again. And God's
people are protected where the fire has already burned. The
fire came upon the Lord Jesus on the cross, and we are in protection
of that. So where the fire has burned,
it won't burn again. We'll not face the judgment of
God. It's already burnt us in Christ
Jesus. Now, just let's read these two
verses. It says, the fourth angel, the
fourth minister, the fourth messenger, the fourth pastor, poured out
his vial upon the son, and the power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire. And the men were scorched with
great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power
over these plagues. And they repented not to give
him glory. I think we'd probably say in
our flesh, boy, if God would do that, people would change
their mind. But it doesn't happen that way.
It just doesn't happen that way. We may have a little reformation,
but we don't have a change of heart. We may say, well, I'm
going to straighten up right now, and pretty soon we're back
where we were. Well, this revelation shares with us that without a
robe of righteousness, without protection from the Lord, people
are going to be faced with the scorching white hot justice of
God. Now turn with me in the book
of Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, there's a
parable here and it shares in this parable the same word for
scorched. In fact, it's translated scorched
in this passage of scripture and in the parable, it appears that people
are scorched, but in the interpretation of that parable, we find out
what that means. So we want to look at this. Matthew
chapter 13. beginning with verse one, Matthew
13 and verse one. The same day went Jesus out of
the house and set by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered
together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and
the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many
things unto them in parable, saying, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow, And in these parables that the Lord uses, he uses picture,
word pictures of things that these people were very familiar
with. Here's a sower, he has a bag
of seed around him, and he cast that seed out. A sower went forth
to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and
the fowls came and devoured them, and some fell upon stony places
where there had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang up
because they had no deepness of earth, and when the sun was
up, they were scorched. And because they had no root,
they withered away. Now we witnessed that every spring
and every summer, the Klickitat Mountains. There's not much dirt
there. There's enough for those seeds
to sprout, grow up, and produce more seeds. But we're witnessing
right now, the sun come up and they are scorched. Turns brown. That's what he's talking about.
There wasn't enough soil to keep the moisture there. And when
that happens, the sun comes out and these plants are scorched. It goes on to tell us here. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up and choked them. But other fell into good
ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, and some
sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto
them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but unto them it is not given. to God's
regenerated people to his church. It's given to them to understand
the mysteries. Now, I'm glad he shares a little
bit because we'd be ignorant if he didn't do that. We'd just
have no understanding whatsoever if it wasn't revealed to us.
These disciples heard this message, this parable, and says, what
are you talking about? So he goes ahead and tells them
what he's talking about, but he does it in private. Now the
Bible has been published in what I mentioned the other day, 800
languages, 900 languages. And so the words have been published,
but the understanding still comes from the Holy Spirit. People
can still read it. They can still see what it says,
they know the words that are there, even in their own language,
and unless the Holy Spirit revealed the spiritual truth of it, we'll
go away just as blind as we were. We can say, I understand the
words, and I understand syntax, and I understand verb-subject
agreement, and I understand what it has to say, but we don't understand
what it has to say from a spiritual standpoint unless the Holy Spirit
reveals it to us. And we can study it until doomsday
and still not understand what it has to say unless the Holy
Spirit reveals it. Now, if the Holy Spirit reveals
five sentences to us out of the Word of God, we'll stand before
His throne of grace and say, thank you. We'll be thankful
for that. Because without His Holy Spirit
revealing it to us, we'd not understand five sentences or
five words. We'd not comprehend that this
is the book of the Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now let's drop over to verse
20, verse 20 and 21. But he that received the seed
in stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and
anon with joy receiveth it, Yet hath he not root in himself? But dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also
that received the seed among the thorns. Now, there's only
one group here that truly knows what it is to know God. And that's
represented by the seed falling in good ground. It's been prepared
ground. God has prepared the ground.
Now, it said the sun came out and scorched these plants. In the interpretation of that,
the scorching is when tribulation and persecution arises because
of the word they buy and buy, he is offended. Now we see that
in the ministry of the Lord when he starts talking about himself.
He talked to the Jews and said there were many widows and there
were many lepers. in Israel, but God did not send
that prophet to any in Israel, but only to Gentiles. And what
happened to them? The sun came out and scorched
them, and they got upset about it. They did not like what they
heard out of the word of God. It is in the Old Testament. That's
all he was doing, was bringing up the word of God in the Old
Testament, and they were upset with the word of God out of the
Old Testament. The Son came up, tribulation, and what does it
say here? Tribulation and persecution arises.
When the Lord Jesus got real pointed with it, they were very
upset. They were without protection.
They did not have the righteousness, the robe of righteousness. And
when the fiery heat of God's justice comes out, they are scorched
by it. We're gonna look at some verses
that have to do with this. No robe of righteousness exposes
one to the justice of God, and it is white hot. It's not quite
hot, it is white hot. It is very serious to fall into
the hands of the living God. In Matthew chapter 22, let's
look there. Matthew chapter 22, now he's
speaking about a marriage feast, and he has invited many, and
they came not, and they had all kinds of things to do, and some
are not worthy to come, even though they've been invited.
They turn it down. And let's just look at this as the Lord
declares this marriage feast in Matthew 22. Matthew 22, verses
one through 14. Matthew chapter 22 beginning
with verse 1. Jesus answered and spake unto
them again by parables and said the kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son and sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding
and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants,
saying, tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner,
my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. And they made light of it and
went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise.
And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully
and slew them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those
murderers and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants,
the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage. So those
servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as
many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was
furnished with guests. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not a wedding
garment on. Now, he's only known to the king. No one else recognized this situation. Now, in these days, if you went
to a wedding, the gown, wedding gown, was provided to you. You
didn't have to buy it. You didn't have to rent it. You
didn't have to own it. It was there waiting for you.
And what this is telling us is here's a man that said, I don't
need it. I am sufficient in myself. And
that's just what we hear about people in God. I'm sufficient
in myself. I don't need his righteousness. I don't need his robe of righteousness. I don't need his protection.
I'm okay in myself. And this man went in, now he's
only known to the king. No one else recognized it. And
isn't that true? No one recognized Judas' problem? No one recognized it as we looked
into the scriptures of people having the problem of not having
faith, but it is known to God. He knows those that are his.
He knows those that are his. The foundation of God stand assured,
knowing this, he knoweth those that are his. Now, let's go on
here and we see what happens. This man did not have proper
covering, and the rest did, and he will suffer greatly for not
having proper protection. If you're out in the sun, you
better be covered. If you're going to face fierce
heat, I can't imagine, I've never had one on, but I can't imagine
the intensity of heat or cold on the moon, and those moonwalkers
wore a suit that protected them from the scorching effect of
that heat, and also from that great cold. They have uniforms now that people
that are fighting fire, if they get in trouble, they can get
into a tent that protects them from the heat. It's interesting. I used to have a space blanket
in my backpack folded up to about that big and if you were out
and got caught out at night, you got under it, it reflected
your own body heat and held it in and you could survive in that
little thin piece of tinfoil. And I said that to say this,
we are in desperate need of having protection from God's wrath. And it is called a robe of righteousness. And when we don't have it, we
will be scorched. And it's beyond repair. It will
not be changed. Now notice this guy, he came
in, where is it? Where's your wedding garment?
The king came to see the guest. He saw there a man, verse 11,
which had not a wedding garment. And he said unto him, Friend,
how camest thou into hither not having a wedding garment? Now,
I like the word friend there, because it goes along with that
passage of scripture that the Lord hath no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. The Lord hath no pleasure in
the death of the wicked. Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding garment? Why didn't you stop by and pick
one up? Now it just, it reveals to us
the kind of heart that natural man has. He's not going to take
something that he feels he doesn't need. And we have to be stripped. And he has to clothe us, the
Lord does. We'll not take it on our own.
He has to clothe us, just like he did Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden. He had to clothe them. They had
their own fig leaves on, which was not sufficient, so he clothed
them with what was acceptable to him. It came by the shedding
of blood. Now, it goes on to tell us here,
how did you get in here? Verse 12, and he saith unto him,
Friend, how camest thou in the hither, not having a garment?
And he was speechless. He couldn't react. He couldn't
say a word. There was not one word that can
come out of his mouth. Now in our time, before this
end, in our time people, well, I'm here, the devil did this
to me. It's his own heart. That's the problem. His own heart. And he said, and then said the
king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away
and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth for many are called, but few are chosen. Bind him
hand and feet. Now this is not a pleasant place.
We're going to find out in the book of revelation. This place
is called the second death. This is not a pleasant place. He did not have protection against
it. Now the only protection that
we have is someone else has already taken our second death. That
his righteousness would close us in such a manner that we are
recognized by God as his dear children. The gospel, when it
is preached, there is a scorching effect to those without God and
without hope and without the Lord. There's a scorching effect.
They are not protected, and the only thing that will be on them
is the scorching of the sun or the justice of God. It will burn
them. They are burned by the justice
of God. Turn with me, if you would, over
to 1 John. We read this this morning, but I wanted to read
it again. In 1 John chapter 5 and verse 12, what tremendous information
we have here in this passage of scripture with regard to a
position that is in Christ. If you have Christ, if Christ
be in you, if you be in Christ, look what is given. 1 John chapter
5, verse 12. We read these words, he that
hath the Son hath life. And we go on and we find in so
many places it's called eternal life. It's life that goes up
into eternal life. And then he goes on to say in
that same verse of scripture, he that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There is no protection
that we have on our own. When we're born into this world
as children of Adam, we do not have any inherent protection
from the justice of God. We have nothing to prevent us
from being really, seriously, totally burned by the justice
of God. The only thing that protects
us from that is God's righteousness given to us by the Son of His
love, the Lord Jesus. We need that protection. We get
too close to the Son, we will be burned. I remember the story,
it's in Greek mythology or something, a young boy had wings, put together
wings, put wax, I think he put feathers with wax. He's out flying
around, he says, I'm just going to go closer to the sun. Well,
the closer he got, the more the wax melted, his feathers fell
off, and he plunged to the earth. We're just not going to approach
God on our own feathers. The wax is going to melt. We
need His protection. We need His righteousness. And
the gospel, as it's declared, shares with us in Christ, in
His righteousness, we have all the protection that we can have. In fact, it is more than necessary. It's not just burning through
and almost to get us. We are more than conquerors. There's more than enough protection
in the righteousness of Christ to approach God, the Father,
God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. We read, and we've read
this before in John chapter 3, there in verse 16, he that believeth
on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not the Son hath
not life. It's mentioned there. Turn with
me back just a little bit here from 1 John to the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. There's a
statement made here with regard to Noah. I guess I'd noticed
this before, but not enough. Noah, by faith Noah. Look here
in Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 7 Hebrews chapter 11 and
verse 7 by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as
yet Being worn up the word only God's word only he didn't he
didn't listen to other people. He listened to the Word of God
being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear
prepared an ark to the saving of his house and Now notice the
next words. By the witch, he condemned the
world. He prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. By the witch, he condemned the
world. Those in the ark were safe. Those
out of the ark were going to get burned. They're going to
be scorched. The gospel declares that in Christ
we are protected. In Christ we are more than conquerors. In Christ we will not face God
in judgment, but we'll face God in love. Welcome, thou good and
faithful servant. You are heir of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. But those without God, those
outside of the ark, The building of that ark condemned the world. They would not come into the
ark. They would not come to Christ. Our old hard heart will prevent
us from doing that which is good until God moves on us to do that
which is good, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
building of that ark, what a scorching. We say, well, it didn't scorch
them, they drowned. They faced the same kind of destruction
as if they had been scorched. They're dead. They're dead. The condemnation of the gospel
upon those without Christ. He says to the, in Hebrews chapter
11 there, verse seven, it says, by the which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
By building that ark, by being obedient to the Lord and doing
what God had requested, he's just a type of Christ. The ark
is a type of Christ. The preaching is of Christ. And
Christ and his righteousness to them that love him, to those
who are called according to his purpose, he's a saver of life
unto life. But he's also a saver of death
unto death. He condemns the world by his
righteousness. He condemns the world. He pours
out his scorching effect on the world by his own righteousness.
You have it and live. Don't have it, you die. Turn
with me, if you would, back to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter
4. the scorching effect, without
Christ, without God, without the robe of righteousness, without
protection, without the shadow, without the cleft of the rock.
There are so many illustrations we find over here in the Old
Testament about how people were protected. They were protected
from the storm. They were protected from the
sun. They were protected. And it's an illustration of how
we were protected in Christ. Without that covert, we are in
the storm. Without the shadow, we are in
the heat. Without the ark, we are condemned. Noah condemned the world by building
an ark. will not have you telling us
what to do. All right? Here in the book of
Isaiah, Isaiah chapter four, verses five and six. Read this
with me. Isaiah chapter four, verses five
and six. It says, the Lord will create
upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies
a cloud and smoke by day and a shining of a flaming fire by
night. For unto all the glory shall
be a defense, and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat. A shadow in the daytime from
the heat. Now if you're out in the heat,
you will be burned. They used to tell us go out and
get a good tan. Now they tell us don't go out and get cancer. I don't think it's because of
the thinning of the ozone layer. I just think it's because of
foolishness. The sun will burn you. The sun will burn you. It will scorch you. And the gospel
declares that all those that are in Christ are in protection
and those that are without Christ are not protected. They will
face the justice of God. As it tells us here, and there
shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime. That tabernacle
is Christ. He's the one that protects us
from the heat. He is the shadow in a dry, thirsty
land. A shadow in the daytime from
the heat and a place of refuge and a covert from the storm and
from the rain. If you're not in the covert,
you're in the rain. If you're not in the shadow,
you're in the sun. It's just that simple. Someone
asked me the other day, give them a tip. Get out of the rain
when it's raining. That's my tip. Get in the covert. Get in the shadow. My twin brother
and I used to haul baled hay. I don't know how many tons we
hauled over how many summers, and we'd stop for lunch. Well,
we didn't eat our lunch in the front seat of that truck. We
ate it under the truck. in the shade. And there was a
big difference between being out in that hot sun and being
in the shade. And just being there, the shade
would create a breeze. You're in a breeze in the shade.
It was more comfortable there. You could eat more comfortable. Well, this preacher is preaching
and he's saying, unless you have protection, you're going to be
burned. And the sad thing about it, if
we read on there, it tells us that those who do not have protection
don't repent. They blaspheme God. They say, it's God's fault where
I am. It's the devil's fault where
I am. I would like to read another verse over here in the book of
Isaiah, and that's in chapter 25. Chapter 25, almost the same
thing is said here. Why, how important it is to have
protection. Protection from the elements. There's very few places in the
world where you could live without a house. Where we live, it's one of our necessities.
We need a house. We need a house from the weather. We need a house from the heat.
We need a house from the cold. We commit ourselves to our house.
We turn up the heat or turn on the air conditioning. We are
committed to that protection. And if we spent, how many people
a year die from exposure? Exposure, what's that mean? There's
too much weather on them. Too cold, too hot. You can cross the ocean in a
boat, but you cross it in the water, you'll die. Hypothermia
and sharks. I'm just trying to say, in the
gospel, there is protection. In Christ, there is protection.
Outside, it is serious, it's death. Isaiah chapter 25, verse
four. Isaiah 25 verse 4, but thou hast
been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm. I was blessed this afternoon.
My oldest son crawled underneath of my house. I didn't have to. And he's talking to me through
that crawl space. And pretty soon I says, Nate,
I'm going to get under the porch and out of the rain. It's starting
to soak through. as a place of refuge. That's
what a roof is. Can you imagine the kind of rain
we've had this spring if you didn't have something to protect
you from it? I've read about Lewis and Clark and their winter
on the coast, and it was just about damp all the time. They
were uncomfortable. I've read stories of people who
were in battle for our country and their feet were wet all the
time. They were very uncomfortable. Yeah, very uncomfortable. All
right, it says here, a shadow from the heat. When the blast
of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. A shadow from
the heat. My goodness, it's a blasphemous,
but God protects us by the righteousness of Christ. This pastor declares
the gospel and these two verses reveal how the gospel exposes
the lack of protection. How did you get in here without
a wedding garment? And the results of that is that
you will be bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness
where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's nothing more
than the second death. Turn with me to the book of Amos. Amos. And that's just before
Obadiah. Amos. Amos chapter 4. Joel, Amos, Obadiah. Amos chapter 4. A preacher of righteousness,
a prophet, Old Testament prophet. One who God raised up for a purpose
and on purpose to preach the gospel. to Israel. And this is what he had to say,
Amos chapter 4, verse 6 through 13. And I also have given you
a cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and a want of bread in
all your places. Now that doesn't mean that he's
protected their teeth, it means they don't have anything to eat
so they don't have to worry about having dental problems. I've given you
cleanness of teeth. and the lack of bread, want of
bread in all your places, yet have you not returned to me.
Return unto me, saith the Lord. I quit feeding you, but you won't
return to me. Next verse. I have also, and
also I have withholding the rain from you when there were yet
three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon
one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One peace
was rained upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered.
So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water,
but they were not satisfied. Yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. Now I said that to say what that
verse in Revelation says. Even through all of this, even
in this sunshine, even in this scorching heat, even being blistered,
they blaspheme against God and would not repent. Now his own
people, Israel, are going through that same thing here. It says
in verse 9, Amos 4.9, I've smitten you with blasting and mildew.
When your gardens and your vineyards and your young, your fig trees
and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them.
Yet, have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Now, Brother
Gene mentioned this morning something that I found very interesting
and been doing some ruminating on all of the things that are
going on, natural disasters. The volcanoes. The earthquakes,
the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico keeps spewing oil. All of these
things, they're not accidents. They are in control by God. Every volcano. every earthquake,
every hurricane, every tornado. We say the weather patterns are
upside down. They are in God's absolute control. He is doing a work. He is doing
a work. Now, I'm not going to say this
is the end times like some preachers are preaching about when they
hear these things. It may be the end times, but our mission
is not to preach the end times, our mission is to preach Christ.
God will save his sheep and then he'll wrap this up. But God is
doing a work. He did that with Israel here.
I rained on one city and not another. And cities had to go
to another city to get water. I did all of this and yet you
would not return to me. I sent blasting and mildew. I
sent disease. I sent frost. I have not returned unto me,
saith the Lord. I have sinned among you, pestilence, after
the manner of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with
the sword, and have taken away your horses. I have made the
stink of your camps to come up into your nostrils. Yet have
you not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some
of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as
a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet Have you not returned
unto me, saith the Lord? Therefore thus will I do unto
you, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to
meet thy God, O Israel. For lo, he that formed the mountains,
and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought,
that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places
of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. I'm God,
I'm doing whatsoever pleases me, and I've done this, and yet,
unless I work on your heart, you'll not return to me. And so this pastor declared the
gospel in those verses in the book of Revelation. He exposed
the lack of protection to those that are without Christ. They
are scorched, and yet, They repented not. They blasphemed against
God. That's what the scriptures tell
us. The conclusion, the preaching produced a calculated result. You can bank on this. You can
bank on this. God doesn't open their heart.
You can bank on this. They blasphemed the name of God,
repented not, and did not give God glory. You can take that
to the bank. That's what's going to happen.
If God opens their heart, they'll bow and thank him. They'll take
protection that they would have not taken before. But those he
leaves to their own devices, they will blaspheme the name
of God, they will not repent, and they will not give glory
to God. And that's what the gospel of
God's grace exposes. And left to our own devices,
we'd be there. We'd be there. All right, we're
going to stop for that.