It's a great time. It's good to be here. Revelation
9. I want to look at the first seven
verses there. Chapter 9, 10, 11, There's woes and woes and woes. A lot of things said in there
about what's happened, is happening, and will happen in a religious
world. And yet, we find in the 11th
chapter, keep your finger over there in chapter 9, but in chapter
11, verse 15, it says this. And we find this repeated a number
of times in this wonderful book about God's gracious oversight
of all things, his counsel to his church, his comfort to his
saints, and his anointed ones. This is a chart and compass for
God's people in every generation. Constantly look here. Notice in verse 15, the seventh
angel sounded, and there was great voices in heaven saying,
the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Even in all the topsy-turvyness,
the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders
which sat before God on their seats fell on their faces and
worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken
to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. So the 420 elders
just give us another point in these passages of scripture about
who is in control, and who is reigning, and who is the Lord,
and who's in control, and all of this. So it's just a constant
comfort. So often in the book of Acts,
we find similarities, persecution, God's in control. Trials. Holy Spirit overshadows and just
bounces back and forth between the problems and the solution.
And that's the Lord. All right, back to Chapter 9.
We looked just a little bit last time we were here about this
pit, this bottomless pit. And I don't know about you, but
I can remember the diagrams. The pictures, the scrolls, the
rolls, the long list, all of those things that people have
created try to explain what this is. And as we read through here,
I think it will be quite clear to us that this bottomless pit
is a place that is opened up and out of it comes some of the
worst pollution this world has ever seen. But there is a far
greater pollution than what a automobile plant can create. or an automobile
itself can create, or a refinery can create, or the worst mercury
spill in the world could create. There's far greater pollutions
than that, and the greatest pollution of all is the pollution that
is created by religion and false gospel. That's the worst pollution
in the world. It's the most noxious. It's the
most overbearing. It's the worst pollution in the
world. We would be better off to breathe
the pollution out of a great factory. than to breathe this
pollution. And God has spared most of us,
I mean brought us out of that pollution. We couldn't and didn't
have respirator powerful enough to keep us from being influenced
by it. And he spared us and brought
us out and delivered us from that kind of pollution that is
horrific and horrendous and truly skews our view of God and skews
our view of the scriptures and skews our view of Christ. and puts attention on other things
besides the most important thing. skews our view of Christ. And we will follow after this
leader or that thing or this Lord or that man or this doctrine. We'll be captivated and caught
up. And it's the Lord of glory that
prevents us from doing that the rest of our life and pulls us
out of that pollution and lets us breathe the clean air of His
hope. the hope that we have in Christ
Jesus. So it says here, the fifth angel
sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven onto the earth and
to him was given the key of the bottomless pit and he opened
the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit
as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. This worst spiritual
pollution. Out of this pit comes the worst
possible pollution of all, and that's the free will works doctrine
that has been promulgated since Cain, just outside of the Garden
of Eden. He knew the truth, but he abided
not in it. He was instructed in the truth,
but he wouldn't go there. And we find that this is the
worst pollution. It polluted Israel, even though
they were guided by God. It polluted all of the nations
around Israel. And it pollutes today as it's
promulgated and produced. and set out and taught and preached
the pollution of this free will works religion, and it's works
religion to the core. That's why the Apostle Paul was
used by the Holy Spirit to say, I don't know, untold numbers
of times in his writing this central theme, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, That's the worst pollution that
has ever come out of the pit, is that man has a part in their
own deliverance and their own holy life. And the opposite is
exactly true. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of 2 Peter chapter 2, as we see this pollution as
it spewed out of this bottomless pit. And it's produced around
the world. It's produced from radio and
television. It's produced in the newspapers.
It's produced in the pulpits. It's produced in pamphlets. It's
produced in tracts. It's just constantly out there,
the worst pollution. And to God's people, this pollution,
it causes you to retch. It just makes you feel ill. this
pollution that is out there so prominent. And our families have
got involved in it, our friends have got involved in it, and
we have to be careful because we were involved in it. And it
took the grace of God for us to get out of that and to be
homeward bound. All right, notice here in 2 Peter,
2 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. This is spoken of through the
scriptures probably more as said by Peter, James, John, Paul,
here with regards to this subject of those that would produce,
share, preach, present this false truth about God and about Christ. Use the name, but we'll never
settle down on him and the person. We were mentioning Sunday night.
I think the heart and core of this is God's people are trusting
a person and religion is trusting events. God's people are trusting
Christ and religious people are trusting the cross, all of these things. Now, they're
important, but it's who was involved with it. That's the most important. All right, 2 Peter 2, verse 17. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with a tempest, in whom the mist of
darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling
words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from
them who live in air. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of the whom
a man is overcome, of the same is he brought to bondage. For
if after they were 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." This, no liberty, no peace. This pollution that is so prominent
and so prevalent and has overcome and cast a shadow upon people
and brought their minds down, and I know whereof I speak. I've been in it. I breathe some
of the worst pollution in the world. Worst pollution in the
world. Naming Christ and having no idea
in this world who he was. Knowing about him, but not knowing
him. That's pollution. That's the
mind pollution. And in the book of Job, would
you turn back there with me to the book of Job chapter 14? This
is some great instructions with regard to this. For it tells
us here in Job chapter 14 and verse 4, He's speaking about his position.
He's in a real plight. His friends, supposed friends,
sat with him for seven days and didn't say a word. I'm amazed. My goodness. He was a sight. He was a sight, his friends.
Now notice here what he has to say, though. Verse four of chapter
14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one? This pollution can't produce
anything but pollution. This pollution cannot produce
life. Who can bring an unclean thing or clean thing out of an
unclean, not one? Turn with me to the book of Haggai,
Haggai. Zechariah. Haggai chapter 2. Verse 13 and
14, Haggai chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. Then said Haggai,
if one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall
it be unclean? And the priest answered and said,
it shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said,
so is this people. And so is this nation before
me, saith the Lord. And so is every work of their
hands. And that which they offer there
is unclean. Every aspect of their religion
was unclean. It was pollution. It was a pollution
towards God, a false view of God, a false view of salvation,
a false view of works, a false view of sanctification, a false
view of perseverance, a false view of heaven, a false view
of eternity. It was a pollution, a polluted
view of all these things. There was a mask over it all.
Couldn't see clearly. Now, going back to Revelation
chapter 9, we find that out of this pit and out of all this
pollution came a bunch of locusts. Locusts, these locusts, they
represent the bearers of pollution. These locusts represent false
teachers and false prophets and false messengers. They have a
view about themselves. Let's just look here. Revelation
chapter 9 and verse 6, it says here, and in those days, oh excuse
me, verse 4. Verse 3, and there came out of
the smoke locusts upon the earth, and upon them was 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. Well, they have a
control around him. They have a hedge put. You can
touch anybody but those that God has put a mark in their forehead. These are the saints. Now, it doesn't mean that they're
not touched a little. before they're saved. But those,
God's marked them out. They cannot be eternally influenced
by this pollution. And thank God for it, for we
find that God has provided that if it were possible, the very
elect would be caught up in this. But it's not possible. They will
not be eternally caught up in this mess. They will not be breathing
this pollution. They may breathe it, but God's
going to give them a new heart and a new mind and new air and
new lungs, and they're going to be breathing the free grace
of God in Christ Jesus, and they'll be trusting Him and not events. They'll be looking at Christ
coming the second time and not events leading up to the second
coming of Christ. They'll be looking at the sovereignty
of God and the word of God that declares it in the free grace
that we have in Christ Jesus. And not one of them will be depending
upon their works to get him one iota closer to God. The works
that they have is created in them by the Holy Spirit. God
works in them to do the work that he has called on them to
do. It is his business to both cause us to will and to do of
his good pleasure. What's he saying? I'm going to
get you out of that pollution. I'm going to pull you out of
it. I'll lift you out of it. I'll take you out of it. There
won't be this pollution on you that you've had all your life.
You inherited it from Adam. Adam had a polluted mind, and
it got worse and worse. And generation after generation,
it's polluted and polluted. And it takes the same grace and
power to bring people out of this pollution as it did to raise
Jesus Christ from the dead. Same power, same power, same
authority, same grace. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead by the awesome power of God. And it takes that
same great power to raise God's people from the spiritual dead,
to bring them out of this pollution. I'll never forget going down
to Los Angeles. First and only time I went down
there. Drove down there from Moline to pick up an organ for
the church. And one of the fellows says,
when we got over the grapevine and down there, says, make sure
that you get a piece of flexible pipe put on the exhaust pipe
with a breathing mask so Norm can get it acclimated to the
air in Los Angeles. There's more truth than poetry
to that. Just so you can get down there and your eyes don't
water and you don't get accustomed to all this trash in your lungs.
Well, this religious trash that we have all about us, God has
promised that his people, though they may be affected by it, will
not die in it. They'll be lifted out of it.
It will not be part of them when they stand before his throne.
They will trust him completely, wholly, and without exception. There will not be any pollution
in their confession of faith. What is Peter's confession of
faith? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And I'm
glad I'm here by my own faith. That's a polluted view. Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's an open, clear-breathing
Christian's confession of faith. What did Thomas say? My Lord
and my God. I'm here, I'm crippled in mind
and crippled in body, but my Lord and my God. And he felt
just a little bit foolish about, I've got to put my fingers here,
but my Lord and my God. Isaiah said,
I'm a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean
lips. I got a polluted beginning. I have a wrong view. In the day, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. quit seeing himself and saw the
Lord. Oh, how gracious God is to lift us above the pollution
of this world and to lift us above those who declare this
pollution. As we see here in verse 3, it
came out the smoke locusts upon the earth and upon them it was
given power as the scorpions of the earth. These locusts represent
the false prophets and false messengers. And God's permitted
it. He says that heresies must come. I'm going to permit this so that
my people will be identified. They will make themselves known.
They will not fall into this. They may be persecuted by the
pollution, but they'll not fall into this. We find that even
Satan himself can transform himself into an angel of light. And we
find that the false prophets can transform themselves into
angels of light, but still they don't have any message about
them. Their message is false. Their message about God is false.
They always make God little and they always make their works
big. God is with a little G and works
is with a capital G. I work hard, capital. He is big, little. That's the view. God is so insignificant. If it wasn't for me, God would
be in trouble, and he's worried and shaking his hands, and the
only thing that we have going for us is our ability to choose
God. We lost that in Adam. There's one free moral agent
that ever walked the face of this earth, and he went against
God with every fiber of his being. and carried the whole human race
with him, and there's not a person on the face of the earth that
has the ability to choose God. The Bible declares that very
clearly, too. God said twice in the Psalms,
I looked down to see if there were any that would trust me
and follow me, and I found none. And the world said, well, I'm
the exception. The pollution, well, I'm the
exception. They're on LSD. They're out to lunch. The Bible
will clearly make a statement and disagree with it wholeheartedly. And we find that the Jews did
that. They were out to lunch. They were on something. It's
called sin and Adamic nature and the Adamic fall. They were
caught up in that and captivated by that, and they couldn't make
a good decision one. They made poor choices about
the Word of God, and made poor choices about God, and made poor
choices about themselves. This is that pollution that comes
up out of that pit, and there's enough around to say this is
the right way that those people all over the world will fall
in line with it. There's the weirdest things in
religion. You can get anybody to do anything. Donnie and I are talking about
those guys in the Philippines allow themselves to be crucified
for religious sake. And people will allow themselves
to be suspended between heaven and earth by their flesh and
crawl on glass and on and on. That's the easy stuff. The foolishness and then denying
the very sonship of Christ And downhill it goes from there.
Pollution is all around. And you know, the old automobiles,
I read about the early automobiles, they were cold in the winter
just like they are now. So somebody said, tell you what,
we'll heat those with the exhaust. We'll just put that exhaust right
in the cab with them. Warm. Well, a bunch of them fell
asleep and killed themselves. That's what pollution does. Makes
the eyes heavy and brain can't think. And that's what religion
does. Religion gives you a brain freeze. You can't see past it. Thank
God for his grace that quickens us so we can see Christ, awakens
us, and brings us out of a pit. Locusts, it was commanded that
they should not hurt any, but those whose names were not written
in the book of life, those who have not the seal of God in their
foreheads, they pollute with heresy, but cannot eternally
affect the Lord's elect. I've never compared notes, but
we probably believed in some pretty heresy heresy. When it
comes to what the word of God has to say, But God's purpose
of grace is to save all his people from their sins and pull them
out of that pollution. And then it tells us here in
verse 7, the shapes of the locusts. were likened to horses prepared
into battle. Now that's interesting because
right over here at the beginning of these opening of the seals,
there was one that sat on a horse who was conquering and went forth
to conquer. I find that these locusts, these
people who promulgate this pollution, have an interest in imitating
Christ. They want to ride the horse just
like Christ. But they also, they're presenting
themselves as valiant warriors for the faith. If this doctrine, this pollution
were true, if it were true, and everybody that say they believe
it, believe it. Everybody that believes it would
be in a poor house. Because they believe. They'll
tell you they believe that if we get more preachers on the
field, we get more people saved, and the only thing that's preventing
preachers from getting on the field is more money, and if they
really believe what they say they believe, they die in a poor
house. because they empty their savings
accounts and sell their houses and make sure that more preachers
were sent to more fields to have more people saved. Are you kidding
me? They're accumulating it. They
don't believe what they even say they believe. That's what
the scriptures say. They don't believe it. They'll
get other people to do it, but they won't do it themselves.
They have this, they're prepared to battle, they're presenting
themselves as valiant warriors, and yet in chapter 6 and verse
2 it says this, I saw when the Lord opened one of the seals,
and it heard as it were the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts
came to be seen, and I saw and beheld a white horse, and he
that sat on him had a bow, and the crown was given unto him,
and he went forth conquering and to conquer. But these guys
have an imitation of power. They have an imitation of truth,
and they have an imitation of righteousness, and they're imitating
valiantness. And the next thing it tells us
here, that these guys, they have crowns on their head. It says
that in verse 7, and on their heads were, as it were, crowns
like gold. My goodness, crowns on their
heads, gold, they love the praise of men. What does the church
do with their crowns? What do these guys do with their
crowns? Keep them buffed up, want people
to see them. Turn with me to the book of Matthew
chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 5,
there's a number of verses in the teachings of the Lord Jesus
about the subject of these locusts, these false prophets, these false
preachers, these people who say they are of Christ and of lords. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse
5, it says, And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites
are. For they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they might be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. They've got their crowns buffed up. Oh boy, look
who I am. And look who I'm praying to.
And look what I'm praying about. I'm praying. You spell that kind of pray different
though. Love the praise of men. They
have the faces of men. They have the appearance of,
I really care for you. I really care for you. God loves
you, and I love you. In verse 8, it says that they
have the hair of women. They had the hair as the hair
of women. Well, I don't know about you,
But I've seen women's hair that's attractive and alluring and charming
and impressive. And this hair represents all
that they do to try to impress people to agree with them. Attract
souls by the ornaments of religion, ritualism, emotion, sentiment. Come to ours, we got good music. Come to our church, we got good
music. Come to our church, we got the best services. My goodness,
we've had, when I was down there on the way to Sacramento riding
with Donny, he got a phone call from his wife and said a preacher
that they know back in, he's in Tennessee, he was at this
conference and they baptized 300 people at one time. And he asked me about it and
I said, that's just too good to be true. Maybe three or 13 or
even 30. Turned out, we looked it up on
the internet, it was a rock concert, a Christian rock concert. My goodness, there's enough dope
going on there, you could baptize 5,000, they wouldn't even know
what's going on. And he's writing in his newsletter
how wonderful it was to be involved in this. The gospel is not a song in the
sense of singing. It's preaching, the preaching
of the word. It's not a rock concert. It's
not a Christian rock concert, which is a contradiction of terms.
It's the gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus. And I'd venture to say that most
of those people there would have said, I don't believe that. I
made up my mind today. The hair of women, but they are
really cruel. Did you notice what kind of teeth
they have? It says here in verse 7, verse 8, and their teeth were
as the teeth of lions. Cross them. Just cross them. Just disagree
with them. Ask them this question. Donnie
and I were talking about this, he said that's the question to
ask. Ask them this, who did Christ die for? And you'll get all their
theology in one swoop. They will normally say, everybody
in the world, of course. Don't you believe that? And that's
contradictory to what the Bible says. That's contradictory to
what Christ says. That's contradictory to what
the covenant of grace says. Jesus says, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And Jesus also said, Ye believe
not because ye are not of my sheep. We don't believe because
we're good. God gives us the belief because
we're sinners. This is not unforeseen faith. It's unforeseen unbelief that
he saves us. That's why he came. Unforeseen
unbelief. They will not believe on me.
They're caught up in this pollution of the world and left to themselves.
They will not believe on me. Therefore, I must get involved
in their lives. I must take them to the gospel.
I must arrest them. I must stop them. I must get
involved. And the church on the other side
says, thank you very much. We love it. If you hadn't have
done that, we'd be where we shouldn't be. All right? They have hair
as women, but they're really cruel. And it tells us in verse
9 that they had breastplates, as it were, breastplates of iron.
Now, we have breastplates of faith. Breastplates of iron. Well, have
you met one of them yet that wasn't on the defensive, hiding,
making excuses for themselves? Dr. Calvin. I follow Dr. Calvin. I follow Dr. Luther. I follow
Dr. This and Dr. That. And the word
is secondary. and I'll hide in my shell. And
then the next thing, you can just hear this, just look at
this, just look at this. And the sound of the sound, the
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses
running to battle. My goodness, have you ever heard
them without great swelling words? A noisy bunch, a noisy bunch. A motor is not known for its
noise. When it's noisy, there's a problem. We want quiet motors. These people are noisy. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 2. 2
Peter, chapter 2. And right in the middle of this,
it says, they can't touch my elect. Right in the middle, it
says, they can't touch those who I have marked in their forehead.
Right in the middle, you're restrained. Remember at the beginning of
this, the angels had the four winds, so they would not hurt
God's people. Wind won't touch them. You are
restrained. They are instructed to be restrained
from all of God's people. Now we may get a little overflow,
we may hear it for a season, but God is gracious to His people
to lift us out of the pollution, to allow us to breathe the grace
of God. Now notice 2 Peter 2, verse 18,
it says, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
great swelling words of nothingness, Great swelling words of vanity.
They allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness,
those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
Great swelling words of nothingness. In other words, if they were
a breakfast cereal, you'd starve to death. Empty calories. They're potato chips. No food
value. Great swelling words of vanity. And then, in the book of Jude,
Jude verse 16. Jude verse 16. They're under control. God has
them under control. He's released them. He's allowed
it. He's in charge. He corrects them. He brings them
to heal. Sit. Don't you touch mine. I'll put stoppers in their ears.
Don't you touch them. But great swelling words of vanity. You can hear those people in
the days of the Lord Jesus. He goes through a grain field,
and his disciples winnow out a little wheat, pop it into their
mouth, and what do they say? Your disciples eat with unwashing
hands. He heals a man. They can't put
up with that. You've healed him on the Sabbath.
Great swelling words of vanity, nothingness. All right, Jude
1, 16. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. Well, the preacher was at a small church.
A bigger church called him because of his great swelling with his
oratory. And he tells his wife, honey, you go in the house and
start packing and I'll go up into the study and pray whether
the Lord's leading me there or not. Great swelling words of
vanity. Now that's these scorpions coming
out. Want to imitate Christ. They
want to look like Christ, but they don't want His words. Remember
that message we heard about there's seven women and one man? And
they came to that man, Christ. Religion came to Christ and said,
We want your name, but we don't want your clothing, and we don't
want your food. And that's his locus. We want
to go by your name, but we don't want what you have. And the Lord,
just like his servant, Satan, Got them on a chain. He released
them. They're allowed to do what they're
doing. They're not allowed to take and convert any of God's
people for eternity. He's in charge. His salvation
will appear to them. They will be thankful and gracious
and they will not fall in line with us. My sheep hear my voice
and they follow me.