Let's get our Bibles now and
turn to Revelation chapter 16. I've been taking my time as we've
gone through this chapter. And I titled the lesson this morning,
Putting It All Together. I want to go back and just kind
of go through the chapter and get all of these lessons into
one. And then maybe next week, Lord
willing, we can finish this chapter up. What have we learned so far
in Revelation 16? What have we gotten from these
studies? What did we retain from them? Well, we've learned that
as God's ministers preach the gospel to this world and call
out God's elect, establishing God's elect, growing
God's elect, that upon all who do not believe, this gospel all
who are not being gathered to himself all that uh... reject this gospel upon all of
them who do not believe the wrath of god abideth on them you know
that was a shock to me when i first learned that i didn't realize
i thought i thought Dwelling in this world so long as we live
we were kind of like in limbo, you know and just I Know God
wasn't pleased with me perfectly pleased with what I did I understood
that as a child, but it didn't understand that the wrath of
God Abideth on me. I didn't understand that And
I think that's a shock to a person when they're born of God and
the Holy Spirit convinces them of sin, and all of a sudden they
realize where they are and what's going on in this world. And that's what he's showing
us here. He's showing us that these ministers, as they preach,
there are results other than a calling going on. The wrath
of God is also being manifested. And if you read through Romans
9, you'll see that God is glorified in both. He's glorified in those
vessels that He prepared from the foundation of the world.
And He's also glorified in His vessels fitted for destruction. He's glorified in both. In Hebrews
chapter 10, it sets before us the plainest language, the accomplished
redemption of Christ. I don't see how it could be any
plainer in Hebrews chapter 9 and 10 than it is. And He sets before
us the Savior coming to do His Father's redemptive will, and
He tells us that we're sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctified. He tells us that
by this one offering He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified by this same offering so that we can boldly enter into
the holiest by His blood by a new and living way which He hath
consecrated for us through the veil. That veil was rent top
to bottom. And now, as believers, by the
blood of Christ, we enter right into the holiest of all. And
then he tells us, but, he said, if we sin willfully after that
we receive the knowledge of the truth. What's he talking about
there? I used to listen to religious
men try to explain what that means, willful sin. Well, I don't
know any sin that's not willful, do you? What he's talking about there
is that you've heard the truth. The truth has been established.
The blood of Christ, the coming of Christ, the justification
of the believer, all those things have been established and now,
in spite of what you've been told, you're going to leave that. You're going to lay that aside
and you're going to go do something else. Everything's been set before
you. The means of salvation, the gathering together of his
elect, the worship of god the body of christ all these things
been set before you in plain and simple truth in picture in
type and in plain language and now you're going to reject those
things and you're going to do something else and here's what
he said if we sin willfully After that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. This
is the only sacrifice. If you leave this, you've left
the only sacrifice there is for sin. Nothing left for you but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversary. And then he goes on to tell us
that those who despised the law of Moses died without mercy under
two or three witnesses. Moses read the law of God to
them, told them what that law required, and if they transgressed
that law under two or three witnesses, they went out and were stoned
to death, if that's what the law called for, they were stoned
to death without mercy. Plead as they would, there's
no mercy. Now he said, of how much sore
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God? Cast him down. This is the stone that you builders
set it not. Just threw it down. Nope, that
won't work in my temple. Threw it down. How much sore
punishment suppose you shall he be thought worthy? Trodden
underfoot, the Son of God. Oh, done despite under the Spirit
of grace. He's just counted the blood of
the everlasting covenant as common stuff. You see what I'm saying? This is what God is telling John
in this revelation, showing him this picture, that when these
ministers of God go out and preach, there's consequences. Now, we love to talk about the
grace of God. I do. I love to talk about His
sovereignty and His predestination and His salvation, able to save
to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. I love to talk
about those things, but there's other things. There's consequences
when a man rejects those things. When a man just looks at it and
says, there's consequences. And this
is what he's showing us here in this picture. Whether you
see it or not, whether you feel it or not, whether you even know
it's going on or not, there's consequences to hearing. And there's consequences to hearing
when you could have, but you didn't. Consequences. Why would men do such things?
Because they forsook the assembling of themselves together to worship,
to give thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift, the gift of
Christ His Son, and the salvation which His Son accomplished for
them. And here's how he ends that chapter. He said, it's a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful thing. The gospel
demands faith and repentance. The gospel demands obedience
and submission. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And as these angels or ministers
are sent forth out of his temple, they're given seven golden vials,
each one a plague upon men. Each one. Not only did they carry
their ambassadorship as far as being fellow laborers with God
and doing that work which God has sent them forth to do, but
there was consequences to their coming. This country might take an ambassador
and send them over to a foreign nation like North Korea is going
on right now, and if they're not successful in their negotiations,
There are going to be consequences. And that's the way it is when
God's ambassadors go out. And these plagues can come in
the form of incurable disease, disasters in the sea, and by
the sea, and floods, and fire, and drought, and darkness of
the heart, and reprobation to a wicked end. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul quiets
the fears of the church as to the immediate return of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Somebody came in there and said,
the Lord's coming back next week. And it just threw them in a tizzy. And so Paul writes this letter
and he calms their fears about that. Here's what he told, 2
Thessalonians 2, 3. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
Now the man of sin is not an individual. He's talking here
about a succession of men. One man succeeding another man,
succeeding another man. He's talking about groups of
men. and succession of these groups,
and a spirit of Antichrist which was already at work in his day. Verse 7, for the mystery of iniquity
doth already work. Now, it had not as yet caused
this great falling away, but this mystery of iniquity was
already at work in their day. Only he that now letteth will
let until he be taken out of the way. I believe this is talking
about the Holy Ghost and the preaching of the gospel, which
now restrains anti-Christ religion. There's nothing else in this
world to restrain anti-Christ religion except those things
which God has appointed and decreed. And when the Holy Spirit takes
these things, you know, often in the book of Acts, Paul said the spirit forbade
him to go into this place or into that place. It's the spirit of God who opens
these doors to us. And Paul often prayed that an
effectual door would be opened. And that's what we pray for.
But he who now let us, when he be taken out of the way, that's
when we're gonna see this great falling away. In verses 9 through
12, he tells us that the Antichrist spirit is manifested in a religion
where man sits, verse 4, above all that's called God, or that
is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God. Is that what man's doing? Man believes that he's in total
control of this temple. Does he not? Sure he does. He believes that as God that
he determines his own destiny. Is that not sitting in the temple
of God and as God? Acting as God? He sits in this
temple, he goes beyond that. He even sits in this temple and
says, God's done all he can do, now it's all up to me. Huh? Is this not a pretty accurate
picture of what's going on in this world? Above all that's called God,
or all that is worshipped, so that he is God, sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And in false religion, or anti-Christ
religion, man dictates his own terms, he decides his own destiny,
and by his works, he brings it all to pass. Now, not actually,
not actually, but in his mind and in his ministry, those are
the things that he believes. And his coming, verse 9, 2 Thessalonians
2, is after the working of Satan. This is how Satan works. He works
in men and he works in false religion. It's after the working of Satan.
They're his children. They're his workmanship brought
to pass by his power and signs and lying wonders. I'm going to see if I can illustrate
this to you. There are Catholic built and run hospitals. all
over the world. They're good hospitals. You'll
get as good a care there as you will in any hospital. You get good medical care, but
behind the building of the hospital is a religion that gains in prominence,
which is Antichrist to the core. You can say the same thing about
the Shriners. They do a great work for children
by their hospitals, but lurking in the shadows is the Antichrist
practice of Freemasons. Is that right? There it is. And the same thing applies to
Baptist and Methodist hospitals and all religious works that
are being done, not just hospitals. But all of these things are done,
these are lying wonders. They appear as wonders, they're
wonderful things, they benefit men. But they're lying wonders. Verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish. What's that talking about? Deceivableness of unrighteousness. Well, they're deceiving people
into believing that they're righteous when they're unrighteous. That's
what that's talking about. Our folks are so good. Now, they
may be good compared to other people, but I'm going to tell
you something. They're none good but God. And all our righteousnesses,
the prophet said, was as a filthy rag. That's our righteousness. And they do this in spite of
the fact that the scripture says plainly that there's none righteous,
none good, and man altogether unprofitable. Antichrist religion
is a religion born and promoted into power by the prince of the
power of the air and in them who receive not the love of the
truth, God shall send them, Paul said, strong delusion that they
might believe a lie and be damned. We're talking about reprobation,
what we're talking about. Reprobation, what is that? That's
God turning you over to yourself. That's what that is. All this
time, you believe yourself to be the dictator. You're the one
who sits in the seat as God, determining your own destinies
and things. That's what you wanted. That's
what you turned the gospel down for. That's what you preferred
above him. Light has come into the world.
Men love darkness rather than light. That's what you wanted,
okay? You can have it. God will turn you over to yourself. The closest thing I can find
in scripture to describe this reprobation is found in the book
of Jude. In the epistle of Jude, he speaks
of certain men creeping into their assemblies who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace
of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. And so he gives some examples
out of the scripture judah now listen to this those who were
delivered out of the but didn't believe god they didn't believe
god god's war by himself that they could not enter into his
promise rest he he had a open show of deliverance. He delivered
them out of Egypt. They came out with everybody
else. They came out with Moses. They came out with Joshua. They
came out with Caleb. They came out. They were delivered. They enjoyed that for a season.
But they never believed God. Never did. And ten times on their journey
through the wilderness, These men made a mockery out of God,
and he said, that's the last time I'm going to be made a mockery
of. He said, now I'm going to swear
by myself, you're not going to enter into my rest, and your
carcasses are going to fall in the wilderness before anybody
comes into my rest. And all they did, every one of
them. And then he talks about the angels.
He said, and the angels that kept not their first estate,
but leaving God, were sealed to condemnation and held to it
by chains of darkness. Now this is the one I want you
to look at. Chains of darkness. That's how he holds them. He
talks about putting that chain on the devil. Christ put that
chain on the devil. What kind of a chain? Chain of
darkness. That's all he can see. That's
all he knows. That's all he can do. And that's
what happens with the reprobate. He turns him over to himself
and he holds him there with chains of darkness. You see, our nature
is darkness by birth. All he has to do is just leave
us where we are. That's all he has to do. He don't
have to do anything to you. Just leave you to yourself. Just
arrange his providence where you don't hear what I'm preaching
this morning, but you'll hear something else. And those who are sent this strong
delusion to believe a lie are held by that delusion, these
lies and lying wonders. They're held there in that darkness
until the judgment of God. All right, back to Revelation
16 and verse 14. He says this of these men, for
they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Now the
battle of Armageddon is a spiritual battle. I don't picture all the
nations and antichrist religion all getting together and forming
a big army and surrounding the church of God and and having
some big open battle. What I do see is the whole world
under the influence of antichrist religion being all opposed to
the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ and doing everything
in their power to stamp it out forever. Now that's what I see. The true church of God and those
who assemble together to worship him and their pastors who preach
the one true gospel have always been and shall always be considered
by Antichrist religion as a cult. Have you had that accusation,
mate? I have too, many times. In fact, and I want you to check
this out for yourselves, here is the definition of a cult taken
right out of the dictionary. It's a system or community of
religious worship and ritual especially one focusing upon
a single deity or spirit. Obsessive devotion or veneration
for a person, principle, or an idea. An exclusive group of persons
sharing an esoteric interest. Esoteric, what on earth does
that mean? I looked it up. It means that
what they believe was only meant for certain individuals. And that not everybody was meant
to hear it, meant to have it. I'm gonna tell you the truth,
I think that suits God's elect to a T. They can call me a cult
if they want to, because that's exactly what I believe. We worship
the person of Jesus Christ, don't we? If we worship the Father,
we do. You worship through him. Our access into the holiest of
all is by him. Christ is all. He's all. If that makes me a cult, I'm
a cult. Do I believe that this is meant
for God to let? That's what he said. Our Lord Himself bowed His head
and He said, I thank Thee, Heavenly Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them unto me. Those Jews, those unbelieving
Jews, they told our Lord in anger, faces red, I can just see them.
I've had these things. I've had groups of religious
men who hated my guts gathered together and right in my face,
red, swollen, ready to fight. And that's the way I picture
these men. And they told Christ, if thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. I said, I told you. I told you. Now here's why you
don't believe. You're not of my sheep. Isn't
that what he said? My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never
perish. The Bible said, God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preacher, you really believe
that reprobation is something that follows the preaching of
the gospel? I do. I do. I don't know how many times
God'll be gracious and merciful enough to let you hear the gospel.
But I can tell you this, there's a time when you won't hear it
anymore. I guarantee that. There's gonna
come a time when you don't hear it anymore. And Paul said, Thanks be unto
God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place. For we
are unto God a sweet savour of Christ. Now listen to this. In
them that are saved, and in them that perish. There's always a sweet smell.
I stand up here and preach, and some of you rejoice in it, some
of you just are beside yourself and rejoice in those things and
hope in those things and those things they ring clear in your
heart and God confirms them in your heart and others hear it
and it just goes right in one ear and right out the other and
has no effect on them whatsoever. That's alright. That's a sweet
smell to God too. That's a sweet smell. To the
one he said we are the saver of death. Now listen unto death. and to the other, the saver of
life unto life. And then Paul adds these words
in 2 Corinthians 2, 14 through 16. He said, and who is sufficient
for these things? This world is not a vacuum. This world is condemned of God
and shall be either We're either going to be endured as vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction, or He's going to show in us the
riches of His glory as vessels of mercy aforeprepared unto glory. One of these two things is going
to be so. And it's so with every man. Having
reviewed the chapter and established these things as best I can, the
Lord willing, next Sunday we'll look at verse 17 through the
end of the chapter. And this is about the seventh
angel as he pours out his vial into the air. And this has to
do with the final judgment of God. I pray that the Lord will
use these studies to help you. Thank you.