Well, come back with me to Revelation
and we're looking at the passage that Stephen read to us, but
focusing primarily on the first few verses of chapter nine of
Revelation. Now, I won't beat about the bush
going over things that have been said in recent weeks. You can
look back, all the recordings are there on Sermon Audio. You
can get them via freegraceradio.com. That will point you straight
to them. There's the YouTube channel, Biblical Gospel Church.
You can look at them there and run over it again if you need
to. But God is implementing his seven-fold plan to recover his
kingdom from Satan. The kingdom that Satan usurped
in the Garden of Eden in the fall. when Adam gave over the
viceroy ship, the kingship of that kingdom God had delegated
to him, he gave it over to Satan and ever since that's where it's
been. And God has this sevenfold plan, it's pictured as a book
in chapter 5, on the hand of God, a seven sealed book. It's
actually a plan for the recovery of his kingdom, with seven elements,
seven high-level elements to it, and they break down into
lower detail. And we've done the first six
elements of that, you know, Christ was the only one, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, in the role as a lamb slain, to to satisfy
divine justice, that's why he was slain. He was the only one
qualified to open the seals, he's the only one qualified to
implement the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom of God cannot
be implemented without the satisfaction of divine justice. And only the
blood shed of Christ for his people, in their place, for their
sin, that their sin might not be held to account anymore. As
far as the East is from the West, their sins removed from, he did
that, he accomplished that, and he is the one who is opening
these seals. And we get to the seventh one in verse one of chapter
eight. The seventh seal is opened, the
seven element of the seven-elemented plan of God for the recovery
of his kingdom. You know this number seven, has
got lots of divine mystery in it. I'll just simply state this,
it's three plus four. Three is the number of God. God
is a trinity. Three is the number of God. There
is one God, as we sang in the first hymn, but he's manifested
in three persons. And the trinity, the triune God,
works on four, which is the number of man, the number of creation.
It's the number of this world that he's created. And three
plus four is seven, the perfection of God, that which he accomplishes
in this creation. All seven seals are to some extent
contemporaneous. They're all happening all time,
ever since the fall in Eden, throughout history. But they
change in their manifestation as time progresses. Likewise,
the seven trumpets that the seventh seal opens to reveal, the seventh
element is seven trumpets. They're greater details of God's
recovery of His kingdom. They're seven trumpets, but clearly
those trumpets, though you get Elements of them throughout history,
they intensify as the end approaches. And then the seventh trumpet
opens and reveals seven vials of wrath and that really is the
end. That's the end when God is finally, finally ending this
kingdom of Satan and his kingdom. The new heavens and the new earth,
the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven is what John sees
in chapter 21. God is disrupting Satan's kingdom
objectives and his kingdom objectives our worldwide unity of peace
and happiness without any reference to God and His righteousness
and His justice. And of course, in the economy
of God who created all these things, that cannot possibly
happen. God is holy, of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He cannot abide sin. It must
receive its just dessert. So, Early in history, from the
fall, we see glimpses of all the elements of these seals and
then of the trumpets, but increasing in frequency and intensity as
the end approaches. You see, this world, this world
in which we live, this world that looks so pretty on a lovely
English summer morning with the sun streaming down in early June,
a few places look prettier than this, but this world And everything
that the people in this world hope in, it's all coming to an
end. God is ending it. We saw that
at the end of chapter 6. They're crying for the mountains
and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the
Lamb. The lamb, the gentle lamb. No, the wrath of the lamb, because
God's justice demands wrath for sin. God and his justice cannot
allow this world to continue indefinitely. So then, let's
move swiftly on. How do the first four of the
seven trumpets, which is the seventh seal opening, seven trumpets,
how do the first four trumpets progress that conclusion? You
know, we need to look in chapter 8 from verse 7. And chapter 8
and verse 7, and there we see, well in verse 6, the seven angels
prepared themselves to sound. And in verse 7, the first angel
sounded. You know a trumpet is always
a symbol of war. It's an announcement of war.
It's an announcement of victory. Joshua and the battle of Jericho,
you know, they were instructed. to get the trumpets and walk
around the walls seven times and then on the seventh morning
as the trumpets blew they were all to shout and the walls of
Jericho fell down miraculously and they overcame it and they
went in to Jericho. The trumpet is a symbol of military
victory, it's an announcement, it's a clear, it's an unavoidable
announcement. You cannot not hear it, it is
so clear and loud. But these four trumpets, and
I'm going to be very quick with this, we could spend a long time,
but I don't want to, I want to be quick with this. In these
verses, 7 to 12, verse 7, The first angel sounded, and there
followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast
upon the earth. And the third part of trees was burnt up, and
all green grass was burnt up. And then the second angel sounded,
and a great mountain burning with fire, as it were a great
mountain." You see, it's symbolism in here. As it were a great mountain,
burning with fire, was cast into the sea. And the third part,
third part again, of the sea became blood. And the third part
of the creatures which are in the sea, of which so much food
for us is derived, and had life, they died. The third part of
the ships, trade, trade, travel around the world. A third part
of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded,
this is the third trumpet, the third of the seven trumpets of
the seventh seal. And there fell a great star from
heaven. burning as it were a lamp, and
it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains
of waters. And the name of the star is called
Wormwood, and the third part of the waters became Wormwood.
And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun
was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part
of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened. And
the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
That's the first four of these trumpets, and they announce what
lots of commentators interpret it purely in spiritual terms,
but I am absolutely convinced that this is meant to be taken
literally, that this is a literal harm to the vegetation of the
world, to the life and the trade routes of the sea, to the fresh
water on which we depend, and to the astronomical luminaries,
the lights, the sun. You know, if the sun's light
is diminished by a third, There was, wasn't there a case, I've
probably forgotten the details, but there was an enormous volcanic
eruption in the East Indies, I think, about 150 years ago. No doubt some of you know exactly
what I'm talking about, but it cast so much dust into the atmosphere,
that the following year in the Northern Hemisphere, in this
country, effectively, there was no summer. There was no harvest.
It just didn't happen. It was like winter. It was like
24 months of winter. Because the luminaries, the sun,
was darkened by that enormous great volcanic eruption. People
shrug shoulders as if to say, this can never happen. Look,
it happened 150 years ago. It does. It happens. It happens. So in summary, God will increasingly
make this physical world less able to support comfortable life. You say, oh, you're sounding
like the eco-warriors that are trying to get us to stop burning
oil, and stop doing this, and net zero, and all the rest of
it. No, godless environmental activists see that there are
changes going on, and they think that mankind can control the
effects of it. But God, it's God, but God, is
actually destroying the basis of all mankind's godless hopes
and aspirations in this world. That's what's happening. God
is actually destroying the basis of all mankind's godless hopes
and aspirations. This place, this earth, where
the heart's treasure of the majority of mankind is laid up, this place
is being destroyed. You see them at the end of chapter
6 of Revelation. Everything that their hopes were
pinned on is being destroyed. You'll see it again when we get
to chapter 18. Everything, all commercial life, it's all ended.
It isn't carbon dioxide, CO2 from fossil fuels that's causing
it. God There are many so-called Christians who have this view. Oh, God is wringing his hands,
hoping that we'll all work together as nice, good people to save
this planet. He's given us such a lovely planet,
and we naughty, naughty people are destroying this planet. And
oh, he's hoping that we'll all get together and do the right
thing, and we'll stop it from being destroyed. No, God is bringing
it to an end. Why? because it's the kingdom
of Satan, and the kingdom of Satan cannot continue. God's
kingdom must triumph. This is physical. It's increasing
in intensity. I don't know if you remember,
but when we were looking at the seals, the seven seals, of which
this is the seventh, but when we were looking at them, the
fraction that was affected was a quarter, one in four. Now,
it's one in three, a third, a third part. It's increasing in intensity. It's destroying the environment
of all godless mankind's hopes. Do you get it? It's destroying
the environment on which all of godless mankind's hopes are
based. This world is subject to increasing
stress. Oh, shrug shoulders, says the
umbilical cord. Hold on, hold on. I've mentioned it many times
before, but again, it staggers me every time I think of it,
that in my lifetime, in my lifetime, the population of this world
has almost quadrupled. There were about 2 billion people
on Earth in 1950. 51, when I was born. There are now approaching 8 billion,
I think is what they say. It's ballooning! Nothing like
it has ever been witnessed in the history of mankind. Nothing
remotely like it. That's what's happening. It's
being put under increasing stress. But don't just think it's man
being bad in terms of net zero and all those things. It's God
that is bringing Satan's kingdom to an end. So that's the first
four trumpets in a nutshell. And we could say more, but that's
what I want to do now, just for the sake of time. But then the
next three are worse. If you look in the last verse
of chapter eight, I beheld and heard an... I know the King James
Version is nearly always the best, but actually the word there
in the original, I've looked it up in the interlinear, it's
an eagle, an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with
a loud voice, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by
reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels
which are yet to sound." There's three trumpets to come. You think
those first four, damaging the earth as a place to live, were
bad? You wait till you hear about these next three. woe, woe, woe
to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the next ones that
are about to sound. And chapter 9 verse 1, the fifth
angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.
Now, chapter 9 verses 1 to 11, it's not like a sequence of this happened and
then that happened and then that happened, like so much of this.
This is a revelation in eternity to John, outside of time. The fifth trumpet, the fifth
element of the seventh seal, implements Satan's fall from
heaven to the earth. In Luke chapter 10 and verse
18, Jesus told his disciples, he said unto them, I beheld Satan
as lightning fall from heaven. He looked and he saw it. He beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. How do we know it's Satan?
Look at verse 11. they had a king over them. This angel is the
angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon,
and in the Greek tongue is Apollyon. This is Satan, this is the devil.
In Isaiah chapter 14, we read about it, in Isaiah's prophecy
in chapter 14, just if you can turn over there, but if not,
I'll read it to you. Chapter 14 and verse 12, How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? That's another name
for the devil. O Lucifer, son of the morning,
how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the
nations? For thou hast said in thine heart...
Look, this was the crime of Satan against God. I will ascend into
heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north, taking over, that's
a picture of Jerusalem, he will take it over, the kingdom of
God. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. I will be like God. Yet, Satan,
thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee,
saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble? That's
his destiny. That's where he's headed. That's
what's going to happen to him. When is it happening? When did
this angel sound and the star fall from heaven? We're not told
precisely. Was it before the fall? Was it
after Calvary when Christ had accomplished the redemption of
his people? I don't think it benefits us
to speculate too much, but what certainly here is described accords
with God's plan to destroy Satan's kingdom, and for God's kingdom
to triumph. It is the kingdom of God which
will be triumphant in the end. In fact, God even uses Satan's
evil to advance his own kingdom, Satan's own kingdom's destruction. Do you get that? God even uses
Satan's evil to his own destruction. What do we see that happens? He was given the key to the bottomless
pit. Who gave him, who gave Satan
the key to the abyss, the bottomless pit? Who gave him that key? It
was God. Christ gave him that key. It
was the permissive will of Christ that for the destruction of his
own kingdom, Satan's own kingdom, he should be given this key of
the bottomless pit. And what did that enable him
to do? He opened it. 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, and there came out
of the smoke locusts upon the earth. There's a great plague
of locusts. I've called this message Demonic
Locusts. It's a grim title, isn't it?
But this is what is here described. A plague of demonic locusts. These are not literal locusts.
These cannot be, for various reasons that we'll see shortly.
These are spiritual locusts, and locusts speak of a plague,
of a universally destroying plague. If anybody has ever seen the
effect of a plague of locusts in the lands where the locusts
suddenly have a season of immense breeding, and there are millions
and millions of them. And they sweep across a land
that is green, and in hours that land is absolutely stripped bare
of every green thing. Stripped bare. So they're released. These are released. They're released
at Christ's behest. It seems like an intensifying
of demonic activity as judgment approaches. As we're getting
nearer towards the end of things, this seems like an intensification
of demonic activity. There are demons always doing
Satan's will in the air, ever since the fall. Yet not in hell,
not in this abyss, like the legion of demons that was cast into
the herd of swine. You know, the man that was possessed
of demons, they're the spirits that are in the air. It seems
that that is the case. Scripture seems to indicate that.
But there are these even worse that are bound up in the bottomless
pit, but then Satan is given the key to release them. Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 2 talks about the reality of these things.
He says, he says, you were dead, you believers in Ephesus, you
were dead in trespasses and sins like everybody else. Wherein,
in time past, ye walked according to the course of this world,
listen, according to the prince of the power of the air. the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Satan
and his demons in the air, doing his bidding. Satan has his demons
always doing his bidding in the air, yet these ones are more
intense. These are released from the pit,
from the bottomless pit, from the abyss. Is this Satan's little
season? We'll have to wait to chapter
20 before we see that spelled out clearly. Satan's little season,
chapter 20, when his power to delude the nations, which was
restrained for the symbolical thousand years, That is taken
away and he's allowed once again to deceive. Have you ever seen
deception quite like there is? I was reading an article earlier
on today in one of the alternative news channels that I often read,
and you often get stuff that is really quite spiritually based
in there, and there was an article talking about, as it's coming
up to the anniversary of D-Day, that the hand of God in that,
the hand of God, how God was working in those situations,
and saying how that spirit of that age, which To in large measure,
people trusted God, people prayed to God that D-Day would end the
regime in Germany, that that would be successful. They acknowledged
God, they prayed to God, and that's all been taken away, and
it listed the evils of the day in which we're living, and they're
so consistent with what we read here. What is the purpose of
these locusts, these spiritual locusts, these symbolical locusts? Their purpose is to torment men. Look at verse 4, it was commanded
them, these locusts, that they should not hurt the grass. That's
odd, isn't that what locusts do? That's what locusts are really
good at, hurting the grass. Nor any green thing. They strip
green things bare. So these are not physical, real,
natural locusts. No, no, no. It was commanded
them that they shouldn't do that. Neither any tree. But only those
men. Who are they going to hurt? They're
not going to hurt the grass, they're going to hurt the men,
mankind, which has not the seal of God in their foreheads. What's
the seal of God? We read about it at the start
of chapter 7, verse 3. Hurt not the earth. neither the
sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God
in their foreheads." Till they've got that seal. Don't touch them,
but all the rest you can touch, he said to these locusts. And
to them, it was given that they should not kill them. No, you
can't kill them. but that you should torment them.
Five months. Five months speaks of summer,
the season in which the locusts come. They don't come in winter.
It's the five months of summer. And their torment, what's this
torment like? Their torment was as the torment
of a scorpion when he striketh a man. A scorpion stings and
it's the most painful sting. It's renowned for its painfulness.
You know, Sinners choose Satan's works and kingdom. They do. Godless people choose Satan's
works and kingdom. Romans 1 24, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own heart. This
is a plague of locusts which is going to be tormented. Tormented
because of their choice of service to Satan and his kingdom. And
look at verses 7 to 9. The shapes of the locusts were
like unto horses prepared unto battle. They're like war horses.
They're locusts. but they look like warhorses.
And on their heads were, as it were, crowns of gold. Ooh, symbols
of richness, richness and power. And their faces, these locusts
that look like warhorses, have faces as the faces of men. Clearly
it's not literal. Clearly it isn't physical. Clearly
it's spiritual. But their faces were the faces
of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their
teeth were as the teeth of lions, strong. They're very alluring. They're very powerful. They look
like beautiful women, with the faces of men. mankind, intelligent,
powerful, gold on their heads, horses strong for war, teeth
of lions. They had breastplates, as it
were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings is the
sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. And they
had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their
tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. This is
it. A plague, like horses for war,
with an alluring appearance of power, riches, charm, beauty. They appeal to the sinful passions
of an already wicked world. That's what they do. Now you
think about it. You see, we don't see these literal
locusts looking like horses and looking like men and looking
like women's hair and lion's teeth. We don't see that, but
we do, spiritually, symbolically. It's all around us. It's happening
in this world in which we live every day. If you read the alternative
news media, which is constantly trying to find out what is really
going on, what is the truth that the mainstream media will not
tell us, this is what's happening. It's happening. And they have
a sting in their tails. That's where the weapon, the
painful bit, is not at the front, it's in their tails. That's curled
over sting of a scorpion. This is the power to hurt men. Their tail end, the stinging,
painful, tormenting end, is their real nature, not their alluring
front. How alluring is sin on the face
of it, to the flesh, and how painful is its consequences after
it's happened. Is that not true? Is that not
true? You'd look at the depression
that there is in society today, gloomy pessimism all around,
because people have been allured into what is blatant sin, because
it looked so appealing, and yet the sting in the tail end is
now biting and causing hurt and torment. Gloomy pessimism replaces
the allurements of the lust of these things. And they seek to
die, verse 6, men seek to die but can't, for five months, this
is the time when the locusts come. It's a spirit of despair,
and yet they don't even have the courage to commit suicide
even. You know, when you look at it, it's typical of history.
You know, when the great empires were falling and were decaying,
this was typical of those empires. The Roman Empire became utterly
degenerate as it was collapsing, and people didn't even have the
courage to commit suicide, though there was nothing that would
persuade them to live. And today, satanic forces, these
locusts, these spiritual locusts, are shaping the spirit of this
age in which we live. How are they shaping it? With
spiritual woe. They're controlling the minds
of leaders. Political leaders, clearly, you
look at them, you cannot see any rational reason for most
of the things that they do. their minds are controlled by
this legion of satanic locusts. They're distorting education. From the education system that
I was educated under, it's distorted today by these locusts, because
the philosophy of evil is in so many of the things that are
now taught in schools. They're promoting depraved arts. they twist the truth so that
what looks like the BBC in this country once renowned for its
absolutely guaranteed upholding of the truth, now has an outfit
called BBC Verify, to fact-check everything. It's in actual fact,
BBC Villify, to pour scorn on everything that contradicts their
narrative. This is all from these locusts. They adorn the charms of vile
sin. They reverse creation basics
of male and female. It's reversed. You say, oh, you're
not allowed to say that. Who says we're not allowed to
say it? God's word says it, and God will judge it. They make
good into bad, and they make bad into good. As Ephesians 2
verse 2 says, wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, and that course is deepening in intensity,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. I've said that
there have been glimpses of it down history. In Abraham's time,
Sodom and Gomorrah reached a pinnacle of sexual depravity and evil. God dealt with it, but it's there
today and continuing. Is the right view of this world
in which we live, there was a renowned historian in the 1960s and he
wrote a book and it was made into a television series and
I remember watching it as a young person, The Ascent of Man, the
idea being that we're evolving from slime, from amoebas, from
basic forms of life into more and more intelligent men who
will be more and more peaceful and more and more we will reach
the point where we're absolutely brilliant. It was the kingdom
of Satan on parade. Is that the truth? Or is Revelation
chapter 9 the truth? That Satan has been given the
key of the bottomless pit, and thinking he's doing good to his
kingdom, he's released a plague of evil spiritual locusts. The
one who seduces with a Christless kingdom of false peace, is actually
directing torment and despair, even on his own people. You say,
why does he do it? I remember the story of the scorpion
and the frog. And the scorpion wanted the frog
to give it, scorpions can't swim, frogs can. And the scorpion said
to the frog, will you please give me a ride on your back across
this river? I want to get to the other side.
And the frog said, don't be silly, you'll kill me halfway across.
No, no, that would be stupid, because I'd kill myself, because
I can't swim. Oh, says the frog. OK, I see your point. Yeah, yeah,
all right. It's in your interest not to
kill me. So the scorpion gets on the frog's back, and halfway
across the river, Ping, the scorpion, stabs the frog, and kills the
frog, and they both drown. Why did he do that? Because scorpions
can't help doing what scorpions do, and these locusts do that.
It's the destruction of Satan's own kingdom. Now, quickly, in
the few minutes that remain, What about God's people in this
plague of demonic locusts? Because if you're a child of
God today, and we have some here and some watching out there on
the internet, then we're in this world that is plagued by these
demonic locusts. Who are God's people? Let's be
clear about that. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
those who trust Christ, those who have the faith of God's elect. Loads of people have faith in
some sort of religion, but those who have the faith of God's elect,
those who, by divine decree in electing grace, were put in union
with Christ from before the beginning of time, so that in terms of
divine justice, they would be judged in Christ and Christ alone. They are the people who He came
into time. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
as it says in Revelation 13.8, He came into time because in
time, in this created order, He had to die. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem those who are under the law.
How did He redeem them? By His precious blood on Calvary.
He who knew no sin was made sin, that his people, this innumerable
multitude, would be made the righteousness of God in him.
This is his people, people with their hearts desiring God's fellowship. Does your heart desire the fellowship
of God? Do you find his word sweetness? I tasted it and it was sweet.
Sweet in my mouth, it was bitter in my belly because it put me
at odds with the world around me, but it was sweet to my taste.
Do you desire the sweetness of this word? Do you long for the
righteousness of God without sin clouding the relationship?
Do you long for that kingdom of God? Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Have you been called when the
first seal was opened and the white horse of gospel grace was
sent forth, preaching gospel truth and grace? Were you given
life, spiritual life? Were you born again? You must
be born again. Did the Holy Spirit make you
alive spiritually to the truth of God, so that you believed
Him, so that you trusted Christ? You got rid of all other props.
all other hopes, all other things that would make you right for
eternity, and your trust rested entirely in Christ and Him alone.
Did you want to follow Him? I want to be where He is, I want
to be... Jesus prayed that where I am,
they may be. Father, where I am, In eternity,
his people might be there with him. Is that what you want? Well,
you're one of God's people. Separate from the world. Separated. You're saintly. You're not saintly
because some religion has given you that mark. You're a saint
because God has separated you in your thinking from this world.
You have a separate mindset. We have the mind of Christ, said
Paul. Not the mind of this world. Not
the mind of Satan. your heart's desire, your hopes. Where is your treasure laid up? Jesus said, lay up treasure in
heaven, where moth and rust does not corrupt, it cannot decay.
Joint heirs, you have an inheritance, an eternal inheritance. Are you
due to inherit something in this life? I tell you, it's irrelevant.
It's really, truly irrelevant. Joined heirs with Christ, of
the Kingdom of God, and yet left for a while in this world of
sin, with flesh warring against the Spirit but kept from the
evil. How does God equip His people to keep on their narrow
way to glory in this seducing evil world with these locusts
of Satan from the bottomless pit flying around? The answer
is this. It's the whole armour of God. Ephesians 6, which we read right
at the start, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on, in this
world where you're going to be attacked by these locusts, where
you're going to have them all around tormenting other men,
put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles, the cunning plans of the devil, that you
may be able to resist these things. Remember that Christ's kingdom
is as he said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight. Many see the
evils of our day and seek to fight it. Let's get together.
I listened to a very good talk the other day in which everything
was absolutely true, but they were all in favor of taking up
arms effectively and fighting it. And if enough of us resist,
then we'll turn this around and make the world a better place.
There was no mention of God and his righteousness in it. It won't
succeed. Observe it, observe the truth
of what they say, but don't be tempted to join it. Be spiritually
wise, to recognize the effects of the spiritual locus for what
they really are. This is the course ordained of
God for the triumph of his kingdom. What is the armor that we're
to put on? Look at it. Put on the whole armour of God.
Put all of it on. Take unto you the whole armour
of God, verse 13, that you may be able to stand. Stand having
your loins girt about with the truth. There is the objective,
absolute truth of God. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. That's a way to withstand
against these locusts. Loins girt about with the truth
of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the righteousness of God that
were made in Christ. That breastplate. Your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the
shield of faith. I believe. I believe God. I believe
Him. I trust Him. Wherewith ye shall
be able to quench. It's that faith that God gives
His people, quenches, you know, Satan fires burning darts, burning
arrows at us all the time. But that shield of faith just
puts them out one after another. Take the helmet of salvation.
Salvation is strong. It talks of the walls of salvation
around the city of God. It's strong. Helmet of salvation
on your head. And the sword of the Spirit. This is the only aggressive part
of it. All the rest is defensive. But
this is attacking the sword of the Spirit. Not the sword of
steel with which to fight others, but the sword of the Word of
God. Praying always, praying, praying,
we have prayer. These are the ways that we survive
in these days, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. This is the course ordained of
God for the triumph of his kingdom. Just accept that that's the case,
believe him, read him, get him to convince you that things that
are happening, it's all ordained of God for the triumph of his
kingdom. and simply seek and pray to remain faithful to God's
revelation of his truth in your heart. Put on the armour that
he's given us, wait and watch patiently as his unstoppable
purposes unfold. Amen.