Revelation chapter 16, and we
are continuing in this section that has to do with the seven
last vials of the wrath of God. We have noticed in here that
there are seven angels that are used by God to pour out these
seven last vials. And it's interesting as we go
through this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter,
chapter 17 in verse one, it says this, and there came one of the
seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me saying,
come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great
whore that sitteth upon many waters. And it just lends itself
more as we read about these seven angels that these are the pastors
of those seven churches that were being written to, and they
are representative of all gospel preachers in all ages, and their
ministry is being represented here by these seven last plagues
of the wrath of God. And I am convinced when the gospel
goes out, when it is preached, it's going to strike people one
of two ways. Very few people walk away complacent
about it. They're either going to say,
that's the truth, or they're going to say, I don't believe
that. And that's just the way it is. Now, religion, people
can walk away and say, well, I'll think about that again.
Or I might like that. But the gospel has a different
context. It just affects us differently.
And these seven pastors declare the gospel of Jesus Christ And
this record gives us seven manner in which the gospel exposes the
wrath of God to the lost. And keeping your finger right
there, I'd like you to read a couple of verses that we read last week,
and one of them is found in 2 Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter two.
I appreciate during the Bible class Sunday, we had our fingers
in about nine places, so we had one finger left over. But we're
gonna ask you to do that tonight for just a moment. Second Corinthians
chapter two, verse 14. The apostle Paul was led to write
to the church at Corinth. And I enjoyed reading through
the Second Corinthians this time much, just so much. First Corinthians,
I got kind of bogged down this time. There's just a lot of problems
going on there, a lot of things identified, but it was such a
pleasantry to read through 2 Corinthians this time and see how the Lord
had used his word there in Corinth and how Paul was used to encourage
the saints there. And he makes this statement in
2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. and maketh manifest the
savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God a sweet savor." Now, if you were around those sacrifices
in the Old Testament, you're gonna notice a savor in the air. Now, only God, only God could be pleased with
that savor. And it's the same thing about
Christ on the cross. We see the God-man in agony,
and God smells a sweet savor. This is the most delightful savor
that God ever smelled, and that was his son, an atonement for
his people. And the justice of God poured
out. God had decreed that there would
be a people saved, and in order for that to happen, There was
a glorious day when justice must be served on someone and the
substitute it was served on, and what a sweet savor that God
could now pardon those people. He looked for a day when that
pardoning would take place. It was in the mind of God from
eternity, but there was a day when he was satisfied and that
all that pardon. I'm not saying that God was in
trepidation about that happening or God was on the edge, but we
know what it's like sometimes. I just have to tell you, yesterday
I went to see my brother, and I went down through Forest Grove
and in South, out of Forest Grove, but while I was in Forest Grove,
I looked in my rear view mirror and I saw blue, red, red, blue,
blue, red, red, blue, and I says, oh, this police officer surely
doesn't want me. So I just pulled over like I'm
a cop, and that guy pulled in behind me, it turned out to be
a gal, and she said, you were going 38 in a 25 zone. And I
said, oh my goodness, I didn't see any traffic speed zone. I came off of a road that was
45 and turned in like going into town. And I, well, I finally
found my license and handed it to her and she went back, she
came back with a warning. I just was so, I thanked her.
I'd have kissed her feet. I was, there was that trepidation
about what is going to happen. Now, I say that, I almost feel
that with God until Christ was crucified. I have promised, I
have promised, I have promised. And then that sweet savor, the
fulfillment of my promise is complete now. And I don't mean
to bring God down in the least, but there's just that relief. He saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. That sweet savor. Now, going
on here, it says, for one is, we are a saver of death unto
death. and to the other the saver of
life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? So the gospel, it has this capacity. The gospel has
this reality that to some it is the saver of death unto death. I'm dead and now I'm dead. And
then to some I was dead and now I'm alive. And then if you'll
turn back just a little bit to the book of John chapter 3. John
chapter 3, verse 18. John chapter 3, verse 18. It
says here, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There is this judgment
that has already been passed on those that go out of this
life without Christ. And in that same chapter, chapter
3 and verse 36, it says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
It's resting now. The wrath of God is resting.
And that is part of what we see here in the book of Revelation
under these vials. The gospel goes out. and to some it is a
saver of life unto life. Thank God you brought the gospel
to me and brought me out of a horrible pit and took me from my sins
and gave me Christ and dressed me in his robe and to the others
we see oh It exposes the religion that they're in. It exposes the
belief that they're holding on to. It exposes the nightmare
that they have, that there is no peace and no safety. Even
though people say peace and safety, there is no peace and safety
in that. And so this is just being exposed. The gospel exposes the error. We don't have to go around speaking
a lot about it. The gospel does that for us. And as we've noticed
here, going back to the book of Revelation chapter 16, we've
noticed that it exposes in such clarity. This is speaking in
spiritual language. This is not reality in the sense
that people are going to get boils on them and the water's
actually going to be turned to blood and the farther we go,
the things get worse. This is not actually going to
happen in a physical sense, but it happens in a spiritual sense
every time the gospel goes out. And we notice there in verse
4, the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of water and they became blood. And the rivers and fountains
of water in the right context is life. And in religion, it's
death. There is a stagnant pool that
people bow down to. There is a bloody flux that people
bow down to. There is this religion that people
are so caught up in and depend, their whole dependence for eternal
life is bound up in this smelly pool, a bloody pool that there
is no life in. Tadpoles can't even exist in
it. It is, as Isaiah pointed out
over there, that the vintage, there's so little for so much,
it's not even worth the harvest. And so as we find here, these
cisterns of man's religion are exposed as being full of decay
and death and error and works. The gospel exposes the stagnant,
noxious, repulsive religion of the death gospel. And as Paul
mentions to the Galatians, another gospel, which is not another
gospel. How soon you have left him to another gospel. And this gospel is this pool
of bloody water that nothing can survive in. And yet people
will come down and bow before it. This is my hope and this
is all my salvation is this pool. when there is the pool of living
water pushing up to everlasting life. Now, it is such a common
thing in Scripture to find people asking about works. Turn with
me, if you would, back to the book of John again. John chapter
6, verse 27. John 6, verse 27, we find the
Lord Jesus is teaching here, and he mentions these words,
John 6, verse 27. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give. That's a very important word
in that verse of scripture. The Son of Man shall give unto
you. Now this is not by reward, it's
a gift. It's not by works, it's a gift.
The Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father
sealed. Now notice the next verse. Then
said they unto him, what shall we do that we might work the
works of God? He has just said, I have a gift
to give. the Son of God will give, the
Son of Man will give, and they turn around. It is so difficult
for natural man to view salvation as a gift. It is common for natural
man to view salvation as something worked for. I've worked for this. And it tells us in that very
verse, verse 28, the sinner wants to do something to earn it. What
must I do? What must we do to do the works
of God? Now, I think that has double
meaning there. We see today, we've seen it in the past, we'll
see it in the future, that people want to do the works of God. We've got people lined up to
be handmaids for God. We've got them lined up to be,
what is it, the ladies that used to deliver babies? Midwives,
we got people lined up to be midwives. They want to be so
involved in the delivering of God's children that they've got
a process all worked out. It's works, works, and works. It's, I'm going to be a midwife,
I'm going to deliver a saint today. I'm going to do God's
work. On the other side, we have those
people that sincerely say, what must I do to do the works of
God? I know I must do something. Well,
we find it here. Turn with me just a little further
in the book of Luke 18. Back up just a little bit. Luke
18. Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 and verse 8. This is that pool. This is what
comes out. And the gospel exposes this. Jesus said the gospel is a gift. It's a gift. Jesus Christ given
to his people. And religion is exposed because
we want to bow and say, what must I do? It's so common. It's a common thread among humanity. What must I do? Jesus said it's a gift. We can't
comprehend the language. It's out of our ability to put
into spiritual comprehension. We are so custom. It is ingrained
in us. We're born with this. It's a
malady we're born with. And that is, what must I do? Works is so common with the natural
man. All right, Luke chapter 18 and
verse eight. Verse 18. Yes, thank you. 18, 18. A certain ruler asked him, saying,
good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? They said, what shall we do that
we might do the works of God? The rich young ruler says, what
must I do to inherit eternal life? You remember the Philippian
jailer? Came in, ready to kill himself.
What must I do to be saved? It is common among the human
race to ask that question, and when we're due, we're dipping
water out of that cistern that holds no water. What must I do? Luke 19, verse 15. This is the account of, we call
him the The prodigal son, I think it's Luke 19 verse 15. Oh, I've made another mistake. Well, anyway, where is the... Anyway, the prodigal son, he
makes a comment, it says, the 15th Chapter 15, why? I'm gonna have to have my wife
edit my notes. I told Kim Sunday, she looked
at my notes. Oh, those are great. No, they're
not. I can't find anything in them. Luke 15. All right, here we go, here we
go. Verse 19, I just turned that completely
around. I must have dyslexia. Verse 19, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants. Now I used to think that was
a positive thing, but what he is saying is, make me one who works for what
he receives. I'll work for what I receive. Now he had to have more than
this. This is the commonplace of the common man, natural man.
What can I do to do the works of God? And we're on our hands
and knees before this cistern. What can I do? What can I do?
Well, let's go back over there again to John chapter 6 and verse
28 and 29. John chapter 6. John 6. As the Lord is dealing with this,
I have a gift. He just shared that. Labor not
for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. It's not something we earn, and
it's not something we work for. It's not even a reward. It's
a gift. He says, labor not. I have a
gift. The gift is himself. For him
hath God the Father sealed. They said unto him, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is thee. It's not works of God. It is
the work. This is the work of God. That ye believe on him whom he
has sent. Now there's the work of God is
to give belief. This is the work of God that
ye believe. It is not works. There is no
works in it. There's no reward in it. There
is no what have I done. It is what he has done. This is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ gives gifts. the gift of God, the work of
God, the grace of God, the mercy of God. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ gives the Lord Jesus Christ as the gift to his people,
his righteousness as the gift of God. And it's not what we
have done. In fact, we can't believe. I
could just hear these people saying, how do you do that? That's
the question I had. How do you do that? How do you
believe? How do you believe? Well, these
midwives have all kinds of answers about that. But the truth is,
we can't. We're stymied. We're stuck. Except
the Lord build the house. Except the Lord keep the city. Except the Lord. It is a birth
that God provides. And so this terrible, terrible
pool of water is exposed. And we walk away and say, how
could I ever bow there? How could I ever take a cup and
dip down in there? How in the world? It came naturally in the fall
and we drank deeply from that pool and now we're repulsed by
it. There's no food there. There's
no satisfaction there. There's no quenching of the thirst
there. There is nothing there. It is straw. It is worse than
the worst and we are pleased to be refreshed by the pool of
water the spring of water springing up into everlasting life that
Christ gave to us as a gift. We believe on him. I don't know
how to believe, but he calls on us to believe on him. We trust
him. We trust his righteousness. We
trust his holiness. We trust him. We trust his word. How do we do that? God enables
us to do that. It's a gift. I have a gift to
give. Don't ask me about works. The
next word out of their mouth is how, how, how, what, what,
what. Every time he dealt with a woman
at the well. If you knew the gift of God,
he said, you don't know. When you do know, you really
know something. You'll know the grace of God.
And so the gospel exposes this. What a scummy cup we are used
to. And now we're repulsed by it. People want to, here, have this
cup. Are you kidding? I'm so delighted with the gospel
of Christ. Nancy and I live right next door
to the Temple of Doom. Not once, the Temple of Doom.
Not once have they come over, but I have already said, I'm
gonna tell them when they come over. Now, I love real butter
on a piece of toast. And I'd never trade my real butter
for imitation margarine. That's worse than imitation margarine,
what they're selling. They wouldn't know. It's worse. It is worse than imitation margarine
to sell out. My goodness. Take this cup. Are you kidding? This cup is
rotten, rank. Death lives in this cup. I will
not take that cup any longer. I took that cup for years and
passed it out too. And now the glorious gospel of
His free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a glorious
glorious cup of clear, crystal clear, nourishing, refreshing
water. He is to the starved and dead
soul. And so this gospel, this gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, once again exposes the nature of what
religion is and how it's tried to be made palatable. We'll put
some vanilla flavoring in it. We'll put some whipped cream
on it. We'll add some history to it. We'll add some, all kinds
of things are added to it to try to make it palatable. Well,
going back to the book of Revelation there, chapter 16, we find in
the latter part of that section that has to do with the third
angel and the third vial is poured out. It shares with us here that
the fountains and waters and they became blood. And I heard
the angel in verse five, I heard the angel of the water say, thou
art righteous. Now here, we're getting down
to the heart of the gospel. Thou art righteous, O Lord. The heart of the gospel is there's
a righteous God, and we're dependent upon his righteousness. He has
perfect righteousness, and that's what he imputes. Now, this pool
has nothing, and it can't give anything. Even if you get into
it, you're still foul. You're foul. And the only way
that we can be cleaned up is to have him wash us. I remember what Isaiah said over
there, come now, let us reason together. Now that doesn't mean
we're gonna talk down and compromise on this. It simply means, though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white like wool. You're
still foul. You're religious, but you're
foul. You need to be cleansed. And in the Revelation, it tells
us that we're washed or loosed from our sins in his own blood. We're washed. We're cleansed. The foulness is taken away. Now, this is done because thou
art righteous, O Lord. This angel, this preacher, is
preaching about the gift of the gospel, who it is. Not what it is, it's who it is.
Thou art righteous, O Lord, thou art and wast and shalt be. Now
he's just sharing with us there, you were God. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
You have always been. But we find this sentence used
in a number of ways. It's broken up into thirds. It says there, you were God,
you're God incarnate. For a space of 33 and a half
years, the Lord Jesus walked on the face of this earth. What's
he say? Which art, and wast, and shalt
be. You were before the world began.
You came and was born of a virgin. You were the God-man. You were
God incarnate. And as God incarnate, you gave
your life. And now you're God incarnate
resurrected. That's the gospel. Who is it? Thou art righteous, O Lord. This
is what you've done. This gives us the hope of the
gospel, your death, burial, and resurrection, your eternality. Before the world began, before
the world was created, thou wast. We read about the eternality
of the Son of God. Very few people question the
eternality of the Father. The eternality of the son, some
people question. And if you don't think he's sovereign,
you question his eternality. Whether he's eternal or not.
It's God's sovereignty. It just shares so much about
where we are in the gospel. All right? He goes on to tell
us there, and shalt be because thou hast judged thus. My goodness,
the Lord is judge? Religion is afraid of God as
judge. If we can get God out, then we
will not have to face this judge. If we can make God less, if we
can make God Succumb to our plans we can make God less then we
will not face him as judge He is the Lord as judge and we look
in that next section there He says for they have shed the blood
of saints and prophets and now has given them blood to drink There's a verse of scripture
that didn't strike me until it struck me like it did this afternoon
I Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. It's not
our job to be vengeful, but vengeance is his and he will do. I was surprised at the number
of places in the Bible that talks about God's vengeance and his
vengeance against the lost on the behalf of his people. Vengeance
against those without God he will Avenge the Saints and he
will be vengeful Turn with me if you would to the Old Testament
in the book of Psalms Psalm 58 Psalm 58 verse 10 The Lord has a reason for this. He has a purpose in it. And He
has said a number of times that He will be vengeful. He will
be a judge. God loves everybody. He's going to be vengeful. He's going to be especially vengeful
against those who have been rotten to God's people. He will be vengeful. Here in the book of Psalm 58
and verse 10, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the
blood of the wicked. Now, I'll tell you this, I have
come to this conclusion that every time I find something that
God's gonna require of the lost, he required it of his son. When it talks about this, it
says, the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeful. He
shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. God Almighty did
that very thing, spiritually speaking, with his son. Everything
he requires of the lost, he required of his son. Turn with me a little
further in Psalm 94. This God is going to judge. He's
merciful now. The long-suffering of God means
salvation. My goodness, we know for a fact
that if God was not long-suffering and if He did not have a people,
He'd put a whole bunch of people out right now that could be and
are His own sheep, lost sheep. He could have in the past if
he was not long-suffering. He is long-suffering, but there's
a day coming when that shall end. He will pour out his vengeance. Here in Psalm 94 verse 1, it
says, O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, O God, to whom vengeance
belongeth, show thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of
the earth. Render a reward to the proud. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 149. Psalm 149, God will be vengeful. And it will be on
the behalf of his people. He has watched them. He has purposed
that they would suffer a great deal, but he will pour out his
vengeance. He has promised it. He's asked
us not to. But he said, I will repay. Vengeance is mine. I will repay. I'll take care of this. Psalm
149, and there in verse 7, it says, to execute vengeance upon
the heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings
with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute
upon them the judgment written, this honor have all the saints.
Praise ye the Lord. Vengeance will be taken care
of he will pour out his Vengeance and going over to 2nd Thessalonians
2nd Thessalonians this really Allows us to see what this is
like to a degree 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 2nd Thessalonians chapter
1 and we'll notice that in the pouring out of these vials and
Judgment has never brought repentance, and there will not be repentance
by those he pours his vengeance out on. They'll not repent. They'll
blaspheme God, and they'll not repent, but they'll be judged.
All right, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8. It says here, in flaming fire,
this is the Lord coming. Verse six, seeing it as a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you and to you who are troubled, rest up with us when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that know not God and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, taking vengeance
upon them. He has this promise, the gospel,
saver of death unto death and life unto life. And then to realize
for every one of his children, he poured out this vengeance
on his son. It's just more than we can take. It's more than we can understand
or comprehend, that all this vengeance was poured out on his
son, taking vengeance out upon him. And then in Hebrews chapter
three in verse 30, Hebrews chapter three in verse 30, we read this,
excuse me, Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 30. Hebrews chapter
10 in verse 30. For we know him that hath said,
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 30, for we know him that hath
said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge
his people. And then in Jude, the last book before the book
of Revelation, Jude verse seven, Jude verse seven. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, the
cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Vengeance of God. Judgeship of God. Lord, God,
Almighty, Judge. He is the righteous judge. And this is, as it's declared,
we're not to pull back on the Lordship of God. We're not to
pull back on the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
not to make it more palatable. He is Lord and He will judge
the quick and the dead. He is Lord and He will save His
people from their sins. He is Lord and He will pull His
people from those pools of noxious, poisonous water to Himself. The Gospel exposes that so clearly. It just shares us where the water
is, and who is the water, and what we have been used to drinking.
Real water. I'll never forget going up to
see my grandmother. She lived in the canyon there.
And every time we went there, my mother left. She had to have
a drink of that water. She grew up on that water. She
had to have a taste of that water. She wanted some of it. And it
was just creek water. It was different than well water.
She had to have a drink before we left. She wanted that taste,
and oh, that clear taste of God's grace in the gospel. Nobody that
has ever tasted it will ever go back to those pools. That's
why Paul was so, as he wrote to the Galatians, I am so surprised
that you could leave, he didn't use these words, but in essence
he's saying you could leave the living water and go back to those
pools. My goodness, they didn't know
what they were doing. And He did. It just exposed them. And then finally it tells us
there in Revelation 16 and verse 7, it says there, And I heard
another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, We
find this continuation and completion of the gospel, the gospel of
the Almighty, the Almighty Lord God. That's just good news. That
just tells us who has this, who has this gospel, who has the
security of the gospel, who has the ability to open the hearts
of people. This one, even so, Lord God Almighty. And then once again, true and
righteous are thy judgments. This is what's said in the gospel,
true and righteous. What he does, he does right.
What if God, willing to show his wrath, that's what Paul was
used to write to the Romans. What if God, willing to show
his wrath, fitted these vessels to, what? Destruction, that he
might show his glory to the vessels fitted to eternal life. What
if God? And we just say, God, Lord God,
Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. Do whatsoever
pleases You. And then, we're not going to
go on, but I just want to prepare us for the next time. And the
fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun. And the power of
him was given unto him to scorch men with fire. Well, if you're
not protected, if you're not protected, If you're
not in Christ, why the gospel gets hot. Not in Christ, judgment
gets hot. He's not talking about that sun
coming closer to our earth and burning us. He's not talking
about global warming. He's talking about the effects
of the gospel. Unprotected before God, it will burn us.