Would you join me tonight in
the book of Revelation chapter 16? As we go through the vials of
the wrath of God, I am more and more convinced that these are
statements made in a symbolic spiritual manner in which we
see different aspects of the gospel and how it affects people
and how it is used by God In this chapter, we have seven angels
pouring out seven vials. And I am convinced that they're
the seven angels of the seven churches of Asia. Not to say
that there were not more churches in Asia and more pastors than
that, but it's a symbol, it's pictorial of all the churches
at one given time, and all the churches of all time, and all
the pastors of all the churches at a given time, and at all times. They are called on to be, and
as we go through there, we find that the comments that the Lord
made with regard to those churches and the error that had crept
in, the address went to the pastor. This is your responsibility.
And that truly is a responsibility that pastors have of being honest
from the pulpit and not be in it for gain monetarily or numerically. Just be honest with the Word
of God and God will accomplish His purpose. Now, here, these
seven angels are pouring out seven vials, and we have looked
at a couple of them. We're just going to quickly review,
but there are two verses that come to my mind and that I want
to keep in mind as I go through this section of Scripture just
as well as all of the book of Revelation and all of the Scriptures. The first one is found in Revelation
1-1. I just want to be reminded. This
is the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the unfolding, the opening
up. And it is the same word that
we find over there in the book of Luke, a light to lighten the
Gentiles. And it has very, very little
to do with the commonplace definition. You can even go to Webster and
find out what apocalypse means now. And it's been so grossly
misused that Webster has picked up on it and said it is the end
time, it's wars and rumors of wars and all that stuff. Well,
the original word did not mean that. It meant enlightened. It
meant a revelation. It meant taking the lid off,
if you please. And then if you'll turn with
me to Revelation chapter 11 and verse 8, this is a very important
and a valuable verse of scripture for the sections that we're in
right now, the passages that we're in, and as well as all
the book of Revelation. We find that very, very little
of the book of Revelation is literal. It's spiritual. It is good to follow Christ in
his preaching, because he preached looking at things spiritual. He applied things from a spiritual
point of view. My sheep, he spiritualized that word. I
am the bread, he spiritualized that word. I am the door, he
spiritualized that word. I am the good shepherd, he spiritualized
that word. We know have some reference about
shepherd and sheep and doors and bread. And he says, I spiritualized
this. When we look at the parables, he spiritualized the
interpretation of those parables. So as we look here in Revelation
chapter 11 verse eight, The writer John was asked to write this.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. Now if I didn't have
the rest of that verse, I'd have some serious problem about what
really this is talking about. He goes on and answers that,
is where also our Lord was crucified. Now that's Jerusalem, but spiritually
it is Sodom and Egypt. Not many worse places could be
spoken of than Jerusalem and their religious practices and
what they had done with the gospel and what they had done with Christ.
So spiritually, which is spiritually, now as we move through this book,
we're gonna keep that in mind. It doesn't use that word every
place, but we do find that it is speaking of things spiritually. We're gonna spiritualize these
passages of scripture. All right, in chapter 16, We
read here, and I heard a great voice out of the temple saying
to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of
the wrath of God upon the earth. And we noticed last week that
when he said that, he was instructing them where to go. They were not
left to their own devices on where to go. The Lord directs
his people. This past week, I was asked to
speak up at Covenant Christian, the school there. Lisa asked
me to come in and talk a little bit about Lance. about Lance
Heller. And I did just a brief amount
of research, because I couldn't remember everything that he had
said, but 850 indigenous languages in an area the size of Oregon
and Washington. Seven million people. Now, if
you divide that out, that's 8,500 people. That's a tribe. Now, I'm sure there are bigger
ones, and there are smaller ones. But that would average 8,500
people per language in an area the size of Washington and Oregon. And they cannot understand each
other when their borders meet. Now, it must be really remote,
steep mountains, really remote, and all those things. Lance has
shared that. And it takes the direction of
God to Lance to go there. Just as it says here, go your
ways. I'm sending you. And I've got
this message I want you to share. Now, when Lance preaches down
in New Guinea, as Brother Donny Bell preaches down in Crossville,
or wherever gospel preachers are preaching, they're going
to be pouring out these seven vials every time they preach. Or over a period of time, they're
gonna be pouring out these seven vials. They're going to be doing
what God calls on them to do. And the gospel is that which
separates people. It is the gospel. And we noticed
there in that first vial that this vial tells us of one outcome
of preaching the gospel. It's a savor of death to death.
And the preaching of the gospel is going to cause some people
to have serious sores, exposed. It does not give them the sores,
it exposes the sores. We got the sores in Adam. Brother
Wayne and I were talking earlier about they're condemned already. Now that's to those without Christ
and never shall be without. They shall always be without
Christ. Those that are in Christ for the foundation of the world,
the wrath of God abode on the sun. It never abode on those
that would be saved. Now we were lost, and we were
sinners, and we were fallen in Adam, and in Adam all sinned,
and in Adam all died, but the wrath of God abode on the Lamb
of God from before the foundation of the world. He is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. We never shall ever
feel the wrath of God. Now, we may have thought it was
ours and that we deserved it. But to find out the Lord Jesus
Christ from all eternity interposed himself to take the wrath of
God, that it was his from eternity past, and that we were set free
from eternity past. I'll tell you that makes grace
that much more gracious. But the wrath of God abides on
those without Christ. Now and for eternity. And he
asked a question about how do you deal with that in the gospel?
I says, you and I do not know. I'm sure that there were some
in the church at Jerusalem thought the wrath of God abides on Sodom
and Tarsus and he will never, ever be saved. But that was not
in the purpose of God. And some of the nicest, sweetest
ladies Jerusalem the wrath of God abode on them for time and
for eternity Now I just said that for to compare,
we just do not know. But we know this, God's wrath
abides on them. And it exposes the wrath of God. Then it tells us there in chapter
16 in verse two, or verse three, the second angel poured out of
his vial on the sea and it became as the blood of dead, the blood
of dead men and every living soul died in the sea. The first
R, of the gospel ruined by the fall,
and we're dealing with people that are dead. They have no cognizance
of spiritual life. We're just learning a little
bit about it. I just cannot comprehend what it will be like to not have
to deal with sin in my body and then not have to deal with sin
in this world. To be in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ where we shall not know sin nor remember sin. I just cannot comprehend that
because it's so far out of my realm of thought. But the thought
of it is great. Just the contemplation of it
is wonderful. But we are dealing with people,
and the gospel exposes this, dead, dead in trespasses of sin,
dead physically, dying daily, physically, dying spiritually
in Adam. And every thought and every imagination
is only evil continued. It's no wonder that when we are
around people, we can become quite disappointed. Disappointed
in our own family, disappointed in our friends, because they
are in that trap. And the gospel exposes, doesn't
make them that way, it exposes that. They're just dead. And
we're dealing with dead people. We have dead people come into
services. They're just dead. We pray the Lord will open their
eyes and give them regeneration and make them alive. They're
not gonna be made alive without the gospel. So we don't fuss
with them about where they are. We don't fuss with them about
what they believe, because we know the only remedy for them
is the gospel and regeneration. So we welcome them in open arms.
Now, if they get to be too noxious and too overbearing about what
they believe, we may just tell them to sit down and be quiet.
But we just want them to be here to hear, to be here to hear.
All right, now look at this third angel. The third angel poured
out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of water and they
became blood. The third preacher of righteousness
preached and the gospel identified error and the false gospel. Error does not need much time
spent on it. The gospel will expose the error
for what it is. Now, we don't spend a lot of
time on apologetics here. I used to, because I didn't have
anything else to say. But we don't spend any time on,
what do the Jehovah's Witnesses, and we're going to spend six
weeks on what they believe, and the Mormons, and all the other
people. If you know the gospel, it doesn't take long to see the
error that is there. You have a, you believe what
about Christ? And then you say to yourself, this isn't the gospel.
You believe what, that he did on the cross? Oh, that's not
the gospel. Before you know it, you're just
pretty narrow-minded. The gospel is very narrow. In
fact, Christ said it is a narrow way. It's real narrow. There is no right hand or left
hand to the gospel. There is nothing in the religious
gospel that has a redeeming quality. There is nothing good about the
religious gospel. He said as he preached, as this
pastor preached, he poured out the vial in the rivers and fountains
of water. He's talking here, spiritually speaking, he's talking
about water, the deliverance of people. The Bible uses that
quality, that statement several times about the gospel is like
living water. That's what it says about the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's like living water. It's a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. So there's nothing in the
religious gospel that has a redeeming quality. It is not accomplishing
some good. I'm sorry to say this. It is
not accomplishing any good. The religious gospel does not
accomplish any good. It does not change people's hearts. It only makes them more moral,
legalistic. It does not accomplish, and there
is no redeeming factor about it. I remember Brother Henry
many, many, many years ago saying this, if they're getting the
job done, we better step out of their way, because they're
getting something done. But they're not. It's not getting
the job done. We have a bunch of people that
made a profession of faith and Lord only be merciful that somewhere
down the line they'll hear the gospel and really be saved. May
that happen. May God be merciful. But there
is no redeeming factors about the false gospel. There is no
redeeming factor about the gospel of religion. There's no redeeming
factor about the gospel of works. There's no redeeming factor about
the gospel of self-righteousness. There is no redeeming factor. It has turned the water to blood. It has become terrible and worse
than that. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2, and the
gospel exposes this. The gospel is so quick to expose
this, the false gospel, the false hope, that it isn't life after
all, and there's no hope in it after all, and there's no peace
in it after all, and there's no settlement in it after all,
and before you know it, you're going to have to trade. I got
tired of the Ford, I'm going to the Chevy. I got tired of
the Chevy, I'm going to the Dodge. And then once in a while, I'm
tired of this, I'm going to go back to the cord. I'm going to go back to the real
old time religion. Well, there's no redeeming factor
in it at all. Notice here in Jeremiah chapter
2, Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 13, The prophet shared this as
he's led by the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13,
for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters. And hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. My people have committed,
now I'm speaking about Israel, national Israel, which is a type
of religion. It's just a type of religion.
Religion, number one, has forsaken the fountain of living water,
and secondly, has hewn out cisterns that can hold no water. This
is the worst kind of water. This is mentioned as blood. It's turned to blood. It has
become unpalatable. It has become unnourishable.
It has become even death. And there is only death in the
religious gospel that is given by religion. There's only death
in it. There is no life in it. Nobody
will ever come out of it better off. They'll always come out
at worse off. In fact, we find the Lord Jesus
said that when we make a proselyte, they're seven times worse off
than they were before. We've just made a proselyte.
We've just made them more religious. Turn with me just to verse 17
of that same chapter. Has thou not procured this unto
thyself in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led
thee by the way? You've forsaken the Lord your
God. The gospel exposes this. The gospel makes this clear.
You're either with him or you're against him. You're either following
him or you have What does it say there in verse 17? Forsaken
him. There's no in between. We're
either following him or we're forsaken him. And the gospel
exposes this. When that vial is poured out
in the preaching of the gospel, and it says that it made the
waters blood, this is just an expose on what the false gospel
does. There is no satisfaction in it. Now, move just a little further
into the book of Jeremiah, if you would, chapter 17. Jeremiah
chapter 17 and verse 13. We read these words that the
prophet was asked to write and left for us. Jeremiah chapter
17 verse 13. Oh Lord, the hope of Israel.
What a wonderful way to open a verse of scripture. The hope
of Israel. There's only one hope that the
church has. Now, it was the only hope that
national Israel had, but they, being natural men that had not
been regenerated by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, demonstrate,
even though they're very religious, demonstrate that the law could
make no body perfect. Verse 13 of Jeremiah 17, O Lord,
the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed. And they that depart from me
shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the
Lord, the fountain of living waters. The fountain of living
waters is pure, crisp, clean, satisfying, and delightful. But this gospel that the true
gospel exposes, it has turned the water to blood. It is nothing
that is satisfying. Turn with me, if you would, back
just a little bit in Jeremiah chapter 15. Jeremiah chapter
15, and there's so much in this book of Jeremiah exposes this. The gospel exposes this and shares
with us what it is to have our water turned to blood. It means
that we have rebelled against God. We've rebelled against God's
way. We've rebelled against God's
gospel. We've rebelled against God's Christ. We've rebelled
against God's sovereignty. We've rebelled against everything
that God stands for. There is no redeeming qualities
about That gospel. I say that because the Lord said
there's going to be a time when there's going to be all kinds
of Christ's. There's all kinds of Christ's. There's all kinds
of gospels. But there's only one that saves, and that's the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. It's the
only one that will take dead people and make them alive. The
rest will just leave them in their case, just leave them alone,
leave them dead with the appearance, and that's all. Now, Jeremiah
chapter 15, verse six, the scriptures share this. Thou hast forsaken
me, saith the Lord. Thou art gone backward. Therefore will I stretch out
my hand against thee and destroy thee. I am weary with repenting. I am weary with repenting. I'll
stretch my hand out against thee. The wrath of God abideth on them. I'll stretch my hand out against
thee. You have forsaken me, saith the Lord. What a wonderful statement
God makes with regard to Israel. How he treated them. I've used
the term most favored nation. They were. They had blessings
that no other nation on the face of the earth has ever enjoyed.
America, we say, well, God's blessings on us. He's never fed
us with manna. He's never filled our belly with
quail. He's never got water out of a
rock for us. He did that for Israel and he
followed them or led them for 40 years in the wilderness and
then in the promised land. He watched over them before.
He watched over them during. He watched over them after. And
just as we watch them, we find this is what natural men will
do with God, rebel against him. That's what natural men do with
God, and with his gospel, and with his son, and with his word.
We'll rebel against him. The preaching of the gospel exposes
this rebellion, and the water is turned to blood. It is, and
we're just gonna say, it's not palatable. It's not drinkable. It's not satisfying. And there's
enough said in the Bible about blood, positively and negatively,
and we'll look at some of that in just a moment. Turn with me
back to the book of Judges, if you would. The book of Judges.
Judges chapter three, excuse me, Judges chapter 10, verse
13. Judges chapter 10. We notice
this preacher pouring out the wrath of God, preaching the gospel.
It exposes, it shows that the gospel of this world, the gospel
of religion, the gospel of the beast, it doesn't have clean
water. My dad's property there, just
a small piece of ground. Years and years and years they
flood irrigated. Then they went to sprinklers
and this little pond didn't fill up. But when they flood irrigated,
it filled up and they put a dam across it. And we'd go up there
in the middle of the summer and asked to go swimming in it. Now,
we'd have to push the green stuff away. Oh, it was putrid. But we thought it was great.
And you know, that's just the way it is with religion. This
is great. This is great. We've got a swimming
hole. You don't want to drink the water. You don't want to
get any of the water in your mouth. You don't want it up your
nose. You don't want any of it. And if you didn't go home and
get a bath, it would affect your skin. And yet, we just thought,
we're just in hog heaven. swimming in this pond. Well,
religion is just like that. Just think we're just in heaven
in this pond, and if you drink it, it'll kill you. If you get
it in your mouth, you'll get sick. It'll destroy your skin. I mean, I'm just looking, spiritually
speaking, it will destroy you. And yet we think we're just having
a field day. Thank God he lets us drink from
the clear, sparkling water of His grace. Now, Judges chapter
10, verse 13, it says here, yet you have forsaken me and served
other gods. Wherefore, I will deliver you
no more. Not only have you forsaken me,
but you've served other gods. That's just as natural as being
born, forsaking God and serving other gods. What did he say there
in Jeremiah 2? He says, you've done two errors.
You've forsaken me and the fountain of living water and hewn out
your own cisterns, which don't hold any water. And the gospel
exposes this. It is so clear. It's a statement
that God makes through the preaching of the gospel. And in 2 Peter
chapter 2, he uses a statement here. about this error in 2 Peter
2, verse 17. Apostle Peter, led by the Holy
Spirit, left these words for us, and the Holy Spirit uses
them to show to us that unless the Lord do the work, unless
the Lord keep the city, unless the Lord build the house, they
that labor, labor in vain, and they're laboring in dirty water.
They're exposed to the worst health problem of the world,
and that is the gospel without Christ, or the gospel with a
little Christ and lots of works. In that pond, there was water.
You could see it flowing in. It was H2O, but it was so mixed
with stuff, dirt, and then let it sit there a while in that
warm summer. You guys seem to know what I'm
talking about. When he saw the green stuff, you had to push
like this. All right. 2 Peter 2, verse 17. These are
wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest to
whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever. For when they
speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the
lust of the flesh. all the statements that are made. Through much wantonness, those
that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While
they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of
corruption. For of whom a man is overcome
of the same as he brought in bondage. For if after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein
and overcome, and the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than after they
had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it is happening to them according to the true proverb.
The dog is turned to his own vomit again in the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire." Now, let's just say it. These people went through a religious
reformation. Martin Luther started a reformation,
but there was regeneration around a whole lot longer than that.
talked about a reformation, a change. They went through a reformation.
We call it turning over a new leaf. They became religious.
But in the end, they're still in the muck and mire of that
dirty pond that is bloody. It has no hope now. Turn back
just a little bit into John 4. John 4, this is just so good
here. John 4, verse 14, the Lord is
speaking to that woman at the well. I must needs go through
Samaria. Now she is in a polluted pond.
She's a Samaritan and she's in a polluted pond. My goodness. You say to worship in that town,
and our folks say to worship in this mountain, and she's religious,
and she's in a pond. And it is a dirty, dirty pond. And he says, verse 14, but whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said unto him,
Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw. I am that water. That's what he says. I am that
water. clear and crisp and cool and clean that makes all the
difference in the world. You're in a bad pond. It's a murky, bloody pond, and
I have the clear fountain of water. He's the only one that
can take us out of the bad pond and put us into the fountain
of living water. We can't get over there. We're
dead fish in that pond. And he has to bring us out, put
us in. And going back again to the Psalms,
Psalms, if you would, Psalms 36. Psalm 36, as we think about
this, that the pond, the rivers and streams, fountains just turn
to blood. The gospel exposes this. Oh, how terrible, how rancid
it is. We think, well, this is more
rancid than that. Well, there's no difference,
really. There's just no life in any of them. Doesn't matter
what pond it is and what part of the pond it is. The only place
where there's life is in the fountain of living water in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place there's
life. And he has to put us in there. Here in the Psalm, Psalm
36, verse nine. Psalmist wrote this, Psalm 36
and verse nine. For with thee is the fountain
of life. In thy light shall we see light.
Whoa, clear water here. You're the fountain of light. A dirty, murky, Algae, bloody
pond. You don't see light in. We'd
go down there two feet underwater and open our eyes and you couldn't
see anything. It was just impossible. And come
up and have red eyes for a week. Oh, it was terrible. And we just
thought we were just, we didn't have to go to town to that clean
pond. the swimming pool, we had it
right here anytime we wanted it. It's a wonder my mother ever
let us get in there. It's just a wonder. I'll give him that is a thirst
of the fountain of water of life. That's in Revelation. Now, what
does this blood mean? We find blood, the blood of Christ,
we are dependent upon it. But there's some things said
about blood in the scriptures that are on the terrible side.
Turn with me way back in the book of Genesis chapter four.
The Lord Jesus brings up a question to Cain. In this passage of scripture,
we find that the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me.
It's just telling us what happened between law and grace and what
will happen today if God does not restrain it. Now God could
have restrained it there, but he didn't. Abel lost his life
at the hands of his brother. Abel loved grace. Abel loved
the Lamb. Abel loved God. Abel was prepared. Abel was in clear water. Abel
loved righteousness. Abel knew he was a sinner. And
here's a man that's swimming around in a dead, bloody pond. And he came upon his brother
in disgust. And it tells us there in Genesis
chapter four, verse eight, these words, and Cain talked with Abel,
his brother. I probably, if we got that more
correct, it'd be he argued with his brother. How dare you show
me up? How dare you do that? How dare
you? Cain talked with Abel, his brother,
and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose
up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. The Lord said unto
Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. Now art thou cursed from the
earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. I just look at that, and the
murder that is mentioned here in the blood of Abel and the
rising up against law, against grace, the rising up of religion
against God. This statement is made here that
if God permits, it would go on today. It would be here in our
town if God permitted it. All grace is not popular. Having
all grace, nothing but grace is not popular. And it would
raise up the same hand today against grace if God permitted. But here it just mentions that
warfare between law and grace, this warfare between lost and
saved, this warfare against brother and brother. There's just no
peace in this, the murder that is there. And then it tells us
over in the book of Deuteronomy, and it says that these rivers
are turned to blood. They're symbolic. They tell us
a lot. This blood that is here, it's
first mentioned over there in the book of Genesis, the blood
of the saint, the blood of Abel, crieth unto me, murder. putting away, trying to deal
with this. All right, over here in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter
12. Now, I don't know how many times, I didn't look it up, how
many times it says in the scriptures that we're not to eat blood.
Now, I'll tell you what, not because it's religious, it just
doesn't appeal to me. I've just never had the appeal
to me. But the reason that the Lord
brought this up is not because there was no problem. The reason
that this is written in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse
23, the reason that it is here is because it was a problem. The Lord would tell them not
to, and guess what? They would. This blood is symbolic
of sin and rebellion against God and the blood in those rivers
and fountains that's mentioned there in Revelation chapter 16
is reminiscent of sin and rebellion against God. Here it tells us
in Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 23 As Moses was used to
write this, it says, only be sure that thou eat not the blood
for the blood is the life and thou mayest not eat the life
with the flesh. Don't eat the blood. And how
many times are reminded of this? Why are they reminded of this?
Because they do it. They're practicing this. That's
one of the things that the council at Jerusalem said unto the Gentile
believers. Now, what God has made clean,
don't call unclean, but I still find an aversion to it. But the
reason it was mentioned here in the Old Testament a number
of times was those guys disobeyed God on this matter. It was rebellion
and sin, and that is exposed by the gospel. This blood in
these fountains is rebellion and sin. It is the rising up
of error against the truth. It is the rising up of law against
grace. It is the rising up of sin against
holiness. It is the rising up and rebellion
against God by natural man. That's what this blood talks
about. And then, if you look with me in the book of Isaiah
chapter 1, One more statement, and there are no doubt many statements
made in the scriptures with regard to what this blood symbolizes,
but just three of them tonight. Isaiah chapter one, verse 15. Isaiah chapter one, verse 15
and 16, the scriptures say, and when ye spread forth your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear, Your hands are full of blood. Now, there's several
things that we can look at there. Number one, they've all been
practicing the sacrifices. They'll trust the sacrifice and
not the God. Secondly, they are rebelling
against God. They've got bloody hands, just
like old Pilate. He went through the guise of
washing his hands. Did that make him innocent? Not
one whit. You've got blood on your hands.
You've got the blood of the saints on your hands. You've got the
blood of the preachers on your hands. How many prophets, Jesus said,
how many preachers, prophets I sent unto you and you killed
them. You've got the blood of my people on your hands. And
you've got the blood of your sacrifices on your hands. And
you're holding them up expecting me to accept them. I will not. This is this blood that this
third vial was poured out on the water. It is condemning. This blood is condemning. It
goes on in that passage of scripture. It says in verse 17, learn to
do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow. What's that mean? My goodness,
John the Baptist, when he came, a whole group of people came
to him and most preachers just said, oh my goodness, get the
book out. We're gonna have a field day today. What did he say? He
says, you generation of vipers, who hath warned you of the wrath
to come? Now there were a few that says,
what should we do? What should we do? The Lord saved
us, what should we do? What was the instructions? This,
that's gonna be just commonplace by God's people to do His word. You're not gonna have to be,
well, you gotta do this. No, I wanna do this. And so these
are the outcomes. But he said, you've raised up
your bloody hands. You got those sacrifices all
over. I'm not taking them. You got the blood of my my prophets
all over you. I'm not taking it. And you're
raising them up in holy convocation. Prayer to me with your bloody
hands. Well, that third vial poured
out on the water, made it worse than it was. Rebellion, sin, self-righteousness,
sacrifice, all those things that go with religion. And there's
not one redeeming factor with that gospel. Not one. Oh, they're working hard. Not
one redeeming factor. Well, they're doing a good job.
Not one redeeming factor. They got lots of people. Not
one redeeming factor. Jesus said he'd rather have one
that repented than 99. Rather have one that was born
again than 99 people that knew nothing about it. He had for
three and a half years, he only spoke Most of the time, to 11
people. Three and a half years. He spoke
to 12, but one never heard him. He spoke to crowds at times,
and they turned away from him, 5,000 at one time. The gospel. It exposes. It exposes this world
for what it is. It exposes religion for what
it is. It exposes the false gospel for
what it is. But it also glorifies Christ
and declares the gospel of his free and sovereign grace in its
simplicity and in its truth. The saints rejoice in it. They
rejoice that he's taken us out of. We rejoice he's taken us
out of that great religious scheme. We were following after the beast
just like everyone else. We were bowing down before it.
We're swimming in his pond. thinking we had some hope. And then the Lord gave us himself.
And then we truly have the hope of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Lord willing, Lord willing,
we'll look at the next vial next time and see where that takes
us. But once again, I believe we'll
find it's just what the gospel is. It exposes the air, spiritually
speaking, it exposes the air. We're going to see, I think it's
the sun, scorches me. Oh boy.