This morning is seven angels
with seven plagues. Our text this morning introduces
the final seven plagues. The religious world has worked
themselves into an absolute dither about these last seven plagues. And I want to remind us, as I've
reminded us so often throughout our study of the book of Revelation,
that these things that are written are not things that will happen
in the very last of the last days. These are not seven plagues
that God is going to pour out upon the earth in the days immediately
before Christ's return. These plagues are poured out
on those who refuse to believe on Christ throughout all of human
history. And they will end in final judgment
and damnation. But these are plagues that have
been poured out upon unbelieving people all throughout human history.
We'll look at the plagues individually beginning in chapter 16, Lord
willing, next week. But we'll see this morning how
this is true. These plagues have been poured
out on those who refuse to believe Christ all throughout human history
because of how the plagues are poured out. They're poured out
upon the earth through preaching, through the preaching of the
gospel. And the lesson for us to learn in these verses is the
very serious consequences of not believing the gospel. That
is the reason that these plagues are poured out upon men, is because
the refusal to believe Christ. So the first thing I want us
to see is this, that God's wrath comes on men for unbelief. Verse
1 of Revelation 15, And I saw another sign in heaven, great
and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in
them is filled up the wrath of God. Now these seven angels represent
God's pastors. Remember in chapter one of Revelation,
the Lord told us that the seven angels that John saw are the
pastors of the seven different churches. The word angels here
is messengers. So these seven angels represent
all of God's preachers. And they've been given seven
plagues. And the word plagues there, it means a wound or a
strike. Like you would lay on someone
when you punish them by beating them with a whip. These are the
wounds or strikes that God lays on people for refusing to believe
the message of Christ. He lays these wounds on people
who refuse to believe on Christ, who refuse to submit themselves
to the righteousness of Christ. They refuse to give up their
own works and their own righteousness. They refuse to rest in Christ,
to believe Him. Now, if you look over Romans
chapter 2, I'll show you this. This is this wounds that God
lays on people because they do not believe the gospel and they'll
be judged by the very gospel that they hated. They'll be judged
because they refuse to believe it. Romans chapter two, verse
16. in the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." They're
going to be judged by the gospel that they refuse to believe.
Now that's true in the final judgment, but that's also true
all throughout this life. You see that happen so many times
throughout human history. We've seen it in our own experience.
Someone hears the gospel. And they say, I hate that. I
hate that. I'm not going to believe that.
I'm not going to bow to that. I'm not going to submit to the
righteousness of Christ. I'm just not that bad. I've got
something good of my own that I can contribute. I've got the
ability to make a decision. I've got the ability to do these
things. And they harden their heart.
When they refuse to believe, they harden their heart. I'll
show you this in a minute. Scripture calls them the same
thing. Refusing to believe and hardening the heart. is the exact
same thing. Now, God's patient with them.
He doesn't immediately destroy them. He's patient with them.
He may keep allowing them to hear the gospel for some time
and they keep saying, I'm not going to have it. I will not.
I'm not that bad. I will not believe that. And
then eventually God hardens their heart. First, they harden their
heart. And then eventually God hardens their heart. And the
example, He hardens their heart so that they cannot believe,
so that they cannot hear, they cannot repent. The preeminent
example of that we have in scripture is Pharaoh. Pharaoh repeatedly
hardened his heart and then God hardened his heart so that he
could not believe. If you look over in Romans chapter
11, this is what happened to the Jewish nation too. They hardened
their heart, they would not believe, and God's put a veil over their
eyes so that until this very day they cannot see Christ. Romans
11 verse 7. What then? Israel had not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded." And that word, blinded, is hardened. The
rest were hardened. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. Because they hardened their heart
and refused to believe, God blinded them. God hardened their heart.
The Jews said, we will not have this man to reign over us. Now, the Lord was patient with
them, wasn't He? How many times did they try to take Him and
kill Him? The Lord didn't wipe them out immediately. The Lord
didn't send judgment upon them immediately. But eventually,
He said, okay, you won't. You won't have this man to reign
over you. They said, crucify Jesus and
give us Barabbas. Give us the criminal. Give us
our way. And the Lord said, all right. He hardened their heart. They said, crucify Him, let His
blood be on us and our children. And God said, all right. And
He hardened their heart. They hardened their heart and
refused to hear. Now God's hardened their heart
so they cannot hear, so they cannot believe. They said, we're
not going to look on this man. This is a hard saying. You can
hear it. And they hardened their heart. They wouldn't hear it.
They went away. And now God's hardened their heart so that
they cannot hear it. Now, let's always be careful to apply these
things that we see in Scripture, these lessons that we hopefully
will learn, not to somebody else, but to us. Aren't you thankful
that God's been pleased to keep the gospel in this town for so
many years? I'm so thankful. He could have took it away, couldn't
he? But he didn't. The Lord's long-suffering and
patient. Many of us have been blessed
to hear the gospel our entire lives. Aren't you thankful? Well, there's a warning to us
here. To whom much is given. Have we been given much? Oh,
we have. By God's grace, we've been given
so much. But whom much is given, much shall be required. Let's
never fall into the trap that the Jews fell into and think
somehow we're saved just because we're around the gospel. Just
because we're in the building and around people that believe
the gospel. No, we would be saved. We must believe Christ. If I
would be saved, I must believe Christ. If you would be saved,
you must believe Christ. Nobody else can do that for you.
You must. Let's never fall into the trap
of thinking the Lord's been so patient, so long-suffering. He
always will be. He'll always be so long-suffering.
So there's really no hurry for me to believe. The gospel's always
gonna be here. So it's just not urgent. Did
I believe Christ? Did I come to Christ right now?
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, it's urgent. It's urgent. Just ask Pharaoh. Just ask the
Jews. It's urgent to believe Christ.
Today, God said, is the day of salvation. So harden not your
heart. Believe. Come to Christ today.
It's urgent. God's wrath will eventually be,
yes, He's long-suffering, but His wrath will eventually be
poured out. His wrath is filled up, will
be fully poured out because of unbelief. Now, thankfully, by
God's grace, there are some who believe on Christ, aren't there?
There are some who believe and love the gospel. God's given
them faith in Christ. He's given them the victory in
Christ. Now, God's wrath still fell upon their sins, didn't
it? but it didn't fall on them, it fell upon their substitute.
And those are the people we looked at last week in verses 2-4. They
sing the song of victory in Christ. They sing victory in Christ through
the redemption that they have in Him. God gave the victory
to one group. There's two groups. One group,
He gave them the victory. They sing the song of redemption.
The other group has these plagues, these strikes laid upon them.
And the only difference between the two of them is believing. It's faith in Christ. So here's
a second lesson I want us to learn here back in Revelation
15. There are a few reasons that everyone should believe the gospel.
I mean, God doesn't just pour out his wrath on somebody for
unbelief for no reason. There are some reasons given
here that everyone should believe the gospel. There is no excuse
for us to leave here this morning, not believing the gospel. No
excuse whatsoever. First, everyone should believe
the gospel because Christ is revealed in the gospel. Verse
5 of Revelation 15. And after that, I looked and
behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was
open. Now these seven preachers are
coming out of the tabernacle and that shows us that their
message is from Christ and their message is Christ. Everything
in the tabernacle, Moses' tabernacle, the tabernacle in the wilderness,
everything in that tabernacle is a picture of Christ. John
calls it here the tabernacle of testimony. Every detail in
that tabernacle gave testimony to this, salvation's in Christ. It's not in the law, it's not
in the ceremonies, it's all in Christ. The tabernacle had one
door, showing us Christ is the one way to God. The tabernacle
had the brazen altar where that burnt offering was offered. As
soon as you came into the gate, the outer court there, the tabernacle,
you ran into the brazen altar. That's the first thing. You can't
go any further until the burnt offering for sin has been offered.
That shows us Christ is our sacrifice for sin. We're justified in His
blood. Then the tabernacle had the brazen
laver where the priest would wash in. He would be ceremonially
cleaned. showing us that sinners are cleansed,
they're sanctified, washed in Christ. The tabernacle had the
candlestick. That's Christ, the light of the
world. The only way we can see, the only way we can see Christ,
the only way we can see how it is that God can save a sinner
and still be God is in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
can only see God in Christ. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. That's what the Lord said. Then the tabernacle had
the table of showbread, as Christ the bread of life. If you would
have life, you must have union with Christ. The tabernacle had
the golden altar of incense, showing us how Christ makes intercession
for His people. The only way to God is through
the intercession of Christ. And then, behind that golden
altar of incense, behind the veil, The tabernacle held the
Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat. One day a year on the Day
of Atonement, the high priest would go in that holy of holies,
that little room, and he'd sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice seven
times upon the mercy seat. And that showed us that sinners
can only be accepted by God in mercy. Mercy bought through the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy that was bought by the
blood offering of our Lord Jesus Christ. But all the time that
ark and the mercy seat was in use, they were always hidden
behind the veil, weren't they? When the tabernacle was in use
and it came time, the cloudy pillar would move and they'd
pack everything up and start moving, they'd pack up the tabernacle.
And they'd wrap that ark up and the mercy seat up and that blue
cloth so that nobody could see it. Nobody ever saw that ark
and that mercy seat except the high priest one day a year. And
when he saw it, he was full of fear. But now, John says, the
tabernacle of testimony is open. It's open in heaven where everybody
can see it. Wide open. And that tells us
what the job of God's preacher is. The job of God's preacher
is to open that tabernacle. The job of God's preacher is
to open up the gospel and make Christ easy to see for everybody.
Todd Nyberg says that the job of the preacher is to make Christ
so obvious, even Stevie Wonder can see it. That's the job of
the preacher. Make it clear, make it plain,
make it wide open so that it's easy to see Christ. Because I'm
telling you what, if we see Him, we'll be saved. That's why it's
the job of the preacher. Just open up Christ. Now, when
the Lord enables his servant to do that and someone does not
believe, someone hardens their heart, it's no wonder God lays
these wounds upon people who refuse to believe on his side.
God's made him manifest through the preaching of the gospel.
This is not something that's hidden in types and shadows and
ceremonies anymore. It's wide open through the preaching
of the gospel. All right, here's a second reason.
There's no excuse for unbelief. Everybody should believe on Christ.
Everybody should believe this gospel because this gospel is
the only place the righteousness of God is revealed. Verse six
of Revelation 15, and the seven angels came out of the temple,
having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen. Now
that white linen always represents righteousness. It represents
the righteousness of Christ because that's the only righteousness
that there is in it. Remember all the white linen, it was all
throughout that tabernacle. It was all in the fence going
around the courtyard. It's all just everywhere. You
saw this white linen. Well, that was always a picture
of Christ's righteousness, His purity, His holiness. Now look
back in Romans chapter one. The only place we can find out
How a sinner can be made righteous is in the gospel that declares
the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1 verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in this gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it's written, the just shall
live by faith. Now, the only place we can ever
hear how it is God makes sinners righteous is through the righteousness
of Christ. The only place we'll ever hear
that is in the gospel. The just, those who are justified,
they live from faith to faith. The just shall live by faith,
from faith to faith. We live, we're justified, we're
made righteous from the faithfulness of Christ to obey the law for
His people and to make them righteous to faith in Christ that lays
hold upon Him, that believes Him. And this righteousness of
Christ is our righteousness. It belongs to us because God
gave it to us. Now hold your place there in
Romans, I want to show you something. We're coming back to this Romans
1. Look in Revelation 19. This righteousness is ours, the
righteousness of Christ, because God gave it to us. Revelation 19, verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his
wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the
fine linen It doesn't say it's the righteousness of Christ,
does it? It is. He's the one who brought it.
But that fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now back to Romans
chapter one. That righteousness is ours through
faith in Christ. And the gospel reveals that to
us. We can't be righteous by keeping the law ourselves. Sinners
can only be righteous in Christ who did keep the law for his
people. Now, if we're going to be saved, we've got to quit trusting
in what we do. And we've got to trust wholly
in Christ. Now, that's so simple. The gospel
of representation that Christ, through His representative work
for His people, has made His people righteous. So that we
did what He did, what our representative did. That's so simple and so
obvious. Our children understand that
concept of the gospel. It's very simple. Then it's no
wonder God's wrath falls on those who do not believe it. It's not
that they don't believe it because they can't understand it. They
don't believe it because they do understand it and they hate
it. That's why the natural man hates this. And God's wrath falls
on men for their unbelief because they would not walk in the light
that God gave them. It could be the light of nature
or it could be the light of the gospel. The light of the gospel
clearly tells us, leaves no doubt whatsoever, that righteousness
and salvation is in Christ. You believe Him. You come to
Him. You bow to Him. You submit to
Him. The light of nature tells us God is. Nature tells us that
God exists. Well, if we don't seek Him, then
we're without excuse. That's what the scripture says.
Romans 1 verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
If they don't believe, The Word of God says they're without excuse. Because that, when they knew
God, they knew God is, they know God exists, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image, made like the corruptible man and birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things Wherefore, God also gave
them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves. You see, first they
hardened their heart, didn't they? They wouldn't seek God
in the light of nature. And then God hardened their heart
and gave them up to uncleanness, gave them up to the desires of
their sinful flesh. God's wrath comes on those who
refuse to believe, who dissent against the light, that won't
walk in the light that God's given them and seek Christ in
that light. I don't care how much light you
have. God's given you any light. You seek Christ in that light
and He'll give you more. And if we don't, we've got nobody
to blame but ourselves. God's wrath justly falls on those
who do not walk in the light God's given them. Right, here's
the third reason. There's no excuse for unbelief.
The gospel ought to be believed by everyone. Because it's preached
by God's servants. Look here, back in our text,
Revelation 15, at the end of verse 6. They're clothed in pure
and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Now girdles are always symbols of service. These were belts
that the servant would use to hold up their robes so they would
be free to work and so forth. When our Lord got ready to wash
His disciples' feet, He girded Himself with a towel. He showed
that He was being the servant to His disciples, giving us an
example how we should serve one another. That's what the girdle
represents. Well, these angels or preachers, they wear golden
girdles, showing us that they're servants of God. Now, they're
servants. I'm your servant, for God's sake,
for Christ's sake. We're the servants of God. That
gold represents deity. These men who come preaching
the gospel are God's servants. Now, it's no big deal what you
think of me. I mean, if you look at me, you're
going to find a lot of things to pick at and a lot of fault.
It's no big deal what you think of me. But if I am the servant
of God and I've got a message from God, you ought to listen
to the message because of who it's from. Not because who it
comes through, but because of who it's from. This is God's
message. And if you reject my message, you're not rejecting
me. You're rejecting God. That's
what the Lord told Samuel. And Samuel was so upset. He said,
Samuel, they haven't rejected you. They've rejected me. What's
no wonder. Rejecting the message of free
redemption in God's son brings these stripes, these wounds,
these plagues from God upon those who refuse to believe him. All
right, here's the fourth reason. No excuse for unbelief. The gospel
should be believed by everyone because it's given to us by God
himself. Verse seven. And one of the four
beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the
wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. Now, you remember these
four beasts. They fly around the throne of
God. They got their message straight from Christ on the throne. Their
message is a royal message. It's a message from the king
who sits upon the throne. This is a royal commandment from
the king to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
preachers are ambassadors for Christ. He's given us a message
to go out and preach. We're his ambassadors. An ambassador
is only as impressive as the country he represents. Now, I
don't know a lot about ambassadors. I don't know how it works when
ambassadors are in another country and they want to see the ruler
or whatever. But this is just what I imagine. This makes sense.
I just bet you that the ambassador from the United States gets a
hearing more quickly than the ambassador from Timbuktu. It's
not because of who he is, is it? is because who he represents. Who is it that he's coming from?
He's coming to represent the nation that's the most powerful
nation on earth. I just bet you he gets a hearing
more than some little country that's got no influence and no
power or anything. Well, that's God's preachers.
God's preachers ought to get a good hearing because of who
they represent, because of who they're coming with a message.
We're ambassadors for God. Paul said, we're ambassadors
for Christ. As though God Himself did beseech
you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead.
Just as much as if Christ Himself were standing here, we're telling
you, you be reconciled to God. You bow. You surrender. If somebody
won't believe that message from God's ambassador, sent from God
Himself, it's no wonder He's going to pour out these wounds
and stripes and plagues on those who do not believe. This is such
a wonderful, glorious message with easy terms of surrender. God's not making it hard for
His enemies to surrender to Him. He makes it easy. Well, if we
refuse, it's no wonder He pours out these plagues, these stripes.
The vials that John talks about here are bowls, like a measuring
bowl or measuring cup. They have an exact measurement
in them. God will give every son of Adam
exactly what they deserve. No more and no less. He'll give them exactly what
they've earned. Those who sin against the light
of nature. We read about it in Romans 1. Those who sin against
the light of nature. Now, they look at creation. They
know that God is. Anybody tells you that they look
at the light of nature and think, oh, this all evolved. One of
two things is true. They're either lying to you,
they're lying to themselves, they're lying to you, or they
believe it because God's heart in their heart. One of the two.
By nature, man knows God is. Man knows we've got somebody
to answer to. Well, if they have the light
of nature, But they refuse to seek Christ. They'll receive
less wrath because they received against less light. A measuring
vial will be poured out upon them. This is very sobering to those
of us who are up here this morning. Those who sin against the light
of the gospel will receive much more wrath because they sinned
against much greater light. Isn't that what the Lord told
Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum? Isn't that what He told them?
He told them, you've had all these mighty works done in you,
these miracles. Christ Himself was there. The Savior Himself
was there. And He told them, it'll be more
tolerable for Sodom in judgment than for you. You know, we want
to look down our noses at Sodomites, don't we? Homosexuals. Look out,
you know, we're so much better than that. Wait a minute now.
God said it'd be more tolerable for them than for those who heard
the gospel, who had the light of the gospel given to them.
It'll be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment because
they stand against greater light. This greater light of Christ
clearly revealed in the preaching of the gospel. This gospel should
be believed by everyone. There's no excuse for unbelief.
Right, and here's the third thing. Verse 8 gives us a solemn warning
against unbelief. And the temple was filled with
smoke from the glory of God and from His power. And no man was
able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the
seven angels were fulfilled. Now here are these seven angels,
these preachers, pastors, come out from the temple to go out
and preach the gospel to the whole world. And the temple was
filled with smoke. The temple was filled with the
glory of God when He sent His gospel out. The gospel we preach
is a glorious, great, wonderful, gracious message. But it is a
great and marvelous sight. Back in verse 1, that's how John
began this chapter. He saw another sign in heaven. Great and marvelous. The gospel. is not to be trifled
with. We're not to play church. We're
not to trifle with religion and play at religion and try to make
people think, you know, how wonderful we are, how religious we are.
Brethren, this is not to be trifled with. These plagues and these
wounds are poured out on people who do not believe Christ. God
hardens the hearts of men and women who refuse to believe this
gospel. We better not be trifling with
it. When God sent His gospel out, the temple was filled with
smoke and glory that came from a great voice coming out of it.
As long as someone, and no one could enter into that temple
while this was going on, these plagues were being poured out.
As long as someone does not believe the gospel, They cannot enter
into eternal life. They can't enter into Christ.
They can't enter into God's presence. They can't enter into salvation.
They can't enter into forgiveness of sins as long as they're in
unbelief. Because that's when these plagues
are being poured out. That's when these stripes are being
laid is on people in their unbelief. When in our unbelief, we can
never enter into salvation. We can never enter into eternal
life. The only way anyone can enter
into salvation is through faith in Christ. The only way we can
enter into Christ is through faith in Christ. And that's what
I pray the Lord will grant us right now. Right this second. Right this minute. Right this
day. This is an urgent matter. Today, believe the gospel. Don't
leave here in unbelief. This is an urgent time. It's
an urgent time because the gospel is being preached. It's an urgent
time because Christ meets where his church meets in the midst
of his people. It's an urgent time. Oh, I pray God will give
us faith to believe. All right. Lord bless you.