All right, let's turn to Revelation
chapter 16. I didn't get very far into the
lesson last week, and I feel as though we needed to, and needed
to then, to establish who these angels are and why God gives
them these plagues and these vials of wrath to be poured out
upon men. Their commission, if you look
at verse 1, their commission is given by a great voice out
of the temple. Whoever, whatever these angels
are, their commission is given to them by a voice, a great voice,
it said, out of the temple. And there's only one voice which
qualifies as a great voice in the temple, and that is Christ. Christ. He's the king priest
and he reigns in the temple. He's the king priest as was Melchizedek. You can read about him in the
book of Hebrews. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek didn't have beginning of days or end of time. This
was an eternal priest. He was always a priest and he's
always going to be a priest. And he's also a king. He was
the king of peace, king of Salem. And by this command, his ministers
are sent with seven golden vials filled with the wrath of God
and called here the seven last plagues upon men. Now, this word last, I think,
has a lot more to do with why they're given and to whom they're
given. These plagues, this wrath, is
concerning reprobation. There's not going to be a need
of any more plagues or any more wrath because what they have
in these vials is given to them concerning those who have heard
the Lord Jesus Christ, they've heard the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ, and they've rejected it over and over. Finally, God's wrath is filled
up, and he pours that wrath out on them. And they're going to
eat the fruit of their own ways, and they're reprobate, fixed
on the judgment. These judgments are manifested
upon them who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, but preferred
the religion of the beast. They heard the gospel of God's
sovereign grace in Christ, but wore the mark of the beast on
their hands and upon their foreheads. In them, Revelation 15-1, is
filled up the wrath of God. They've sinned away the day of
mercy. It's mercy. Anything this side
of hell is mercy. Every breath you take. It's the
mercy of God. And they send away that great
day of mercy, that day when God sent them the good news. They
send it away. They shrugged their shoulders. They pulled the shoulder. They left. They rejected it. They send away the day of mercy
and filled up the measure of God's wrath by their willful
rebellion and obstinate unbelief. And they've earned and justly
deserve God's holy wrath and now they're going to have it.
Now they're going to have it. One man in our congregation was
trying to reason with another man who had left the congregation
and they were back and forth about this and that and something
else, and the man had just found an excuse. He wanted to leave
the first day he got there, but he needed an excuse, and he waited
until he had one, and then he left. And then he came, and he
was talking to the man, and they were trying to reason with him,
and he kept telling him, he said, yes, but the Word of God says,
the Word of God says, and finally the man red in the face and angry,
turned to him and said, I don't care what the word of God says. Well, then you have what you've
earned. You have what you want. You give
it to him. You give it to him. And as I said in our previous
studies, these judgments are God's active wrath being manifested
on them while they yet live. This is not talking about something
way out there in the future. It's talking about right now.
Right now. And while these things have some
effect upon others, it's primarily sent upon those who are reprobate
by the judgment of God. And the first of these plagues
in Revelation 16.2 is incurable disease. And the first went and poured
out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous
sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them
which worshipped his image. Now the illusion here may be
that of the leper. No other disease is named in
the scripture in association with sin more than leprosy. You know, Moses, he married a
black woman. He married an Ethiopian woman.
And Miriam and Aaron didn't like it. They didn't like it. And so they spoke against him
and they mocked his authority and his station given to him
by God because he married this woman. Said he don't have the
wisdom of God, he don't have the authority of God, he couldn't,
he wouldn't have done this if he'd have known anything. They
mocked him. And God smoked Miriam with leprosy. And Aaron said to Moses, Alas,
my Lord, he's not being mocked now. Now he's my Lord. This is the high priest talking.
God brought him down about ten notches. And now he's looking
at this man that he thought didn't have the wisdom of God and that
he was ready to mock. And he said to Moses, my Lord,
I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done
foolishly. And wherein we have sinned, let
her not be as one of the dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed
when he cometh out of his mother's womb. You know what the Lord told him?
Moses went in and made intercession for her. You know what the Lord
told Moses? He said, when she was a little girl, if she had
said something like this to her mother, her mother would have
spit in her face. And so I'm gonna let the leprosy
stand on her for seven days and she can live outside the camp
with the lepers until she learns how to talk. Leprosy. That's one of God's, these incurable
diseases, that's one of God's judgments. In Exodus 9-9, Moses
poured out a dust toward heaven from Pharaoh's furnace, and it
become blames and bowls upon the people, upon them who would not obey
the Lord. You can read about it in Deuteronomy
28, 27. He said, The Lord will smite
thee with the botch of Egypt, and with emeralds, and with scabs,
and with itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. Now before you get all worried,
let me be quick to tell you this, that these deadly diseases fall
upon believers too, but not for the same reason. Not for the
same reason. The plagues that fell upon Egypt,
while they were deadly to the Egyptians, did no harm to Israel. Did no harm to God's people.
You see, you can't do harm to God's people. God's people are
watching all these things. John's already showed us that.
They're watching all these things standing upon this sea of perfect
sanctification in Christ, and they're watching all these things
go by. They're watching men being reprobate
of God for not receiving the love of the truth. They're watching
these things. but they're standing on a glassy
sea and they're worshiping God in their heart and they're not
affected by it. What broke the power of Egypt
and sealed their doom affected the release of Israel, did it
not? Those plagues that he rained
down upon Egypt, they didn't affect Israel that way, it affected
their release, but it broke the power of Egypt. and expose their
evil. And what stripped men of the
treasures of Egypt only multiplied the treasures of God's elect. Their treasures weren't treasures
to them anymore. They just said, here, take it.
Get out of here. What was a curse upon Egypt was
a blessing upon Israel. It was a blessing. And therefore, he says, having
these plagues of God to be poured out upon men, John said, I see
them standing on a glassy sea, having gotten a victory over
the beast. Fatal diseases are not a curse
upon God's elect, but a blessing for which they shall be eternally
grateful. Revelation 16.3. And the second angel poured out
his vial upon the sea, and it become as the blood of a dead
man, and every living soul died in the sea. Sometimes God uses
the elements as a means of wrath against rebels. I always get
a kick out of watching the news media when some big calamity
happens, and they said, now God had nothing to do with this.
This is Mother Nature. This is unpredictable weather.
This is Mother Nature. No, it's God. It's God, and here
he tells us that. All maritime calamities, hurricanes,
tidal waves, tsunamis, and floods from the sea are sent as judgments
of God upon unbelieving men. But yet we had a missionary out
there, and here's this big hurricane that God sends upon these rebels,
and it hit him terrible. And it did damage to those who
were in the church. But it didn't affect their hope
before God. And it didn't change that unbelieving
rebel's heart either. Not one iota. The Bible said, the winds and the
waves obey his voice. That was a shock to them in the
boat, wasn't it? What manner of man is this? He's the God-man. How long has
he been telling them that? John the Baptist told them that.
This is the Lamb. This is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the
world. This is the God-man. And then he does something like
that and they say, well, what manner of man is this? Even the
winds and the waves obey him. Why do the winds and waves obey
him? Because he lord over the seas. That's why. That's exactly why. That's why
he could take a barrel of water and turn it into wine. Why? Because he has power over the
elements. All of these storms were sent
as manifest judgments of God and they stand as a warning to
all men who will refuse to receive and bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what caused the death of
every living soul in the sea only serves to gather in God's
saints to eternal peace and glory. You know, I know death comes
as a shock to us. I know it does. And one day that
doctor will look at me and he'll tell me, you know, you got two
weeks or a month or today or whatever he tells me, and I'm
going to die. Death comes as a shock to us. And old brother
Scott Richardson, he told Marvin Stoniker, who pastors his church
now, he said, you know, Marvin, the worst part of it is when
they first tell you. He said, after you think about
it, it's a blessing. God's gonna usher me. The last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death. Then what? Then I go to a house not prepared
with hands, eternal in heaven. Huh? No more pain, no more sorrow,
no more tears. You see what I'm saying? What
comes as a curse upon men comes as a blessing upon God's people.
They're standing on an untroubled sea before the throne, having
gotten the victory over the beast. Revelation 16, 4. And the third
angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters,
and they become blood. And I heard the angel of the
water say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and was, and
shall be, because Thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the
blood of saints and of prophets, and Thou hast given them blood
to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so,
Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. The judgments
which accompanies this angel vindicates God's justice and
righteousness and all that he does to his enemies. The blood
of every martyred saint cries out to God for vengeance and
God will answer their cry with divine retribution. Let me show
you that in the Scriptures. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
11. Let's look at something over here. Luke chapter 11. Now our Lord's talking to the elite
in Israel. He's talking to the priests. He's talking to the Pharisees.
He's talking to those who are at the top of their religion. Luke 11.47. And he said, woe unto you, for
you build the sepulchres of the prophets. Old Paul was just Saul
of Tarsus to them. When he died, they called him
Saint Paul. Peter was just a fisherman, a
lowly fisherman in their eyes. When he died, they called him
Saint Peter. He said, you build the sepulchers. You build these
huge monuments to the prophets whom your fathers killed. Truly you bear witness that you
allow the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them and
you build their sepulchers. Therefore also, said the wisdom
of God, I'll send the prophets and apostles and some of them
they shall slay and persecute. Now here's why. That the blood
of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the
world may be required of this generation. From the blood of
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar
and the temple. Verily I say it shall be required
of this generation. Those who have shed the blood
of God's saints are going to drink their blood in judgment. Fourthly, Revelation 16 verses
8 and 9. And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the son, and power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire. and men were scorched with great
heat and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over
these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory." You know,
God sent upon our country a thing that they describe in the history
books as the Dust Bowl. He just made His Son to shine
and shine and shine and shine and no rain. All right. And the crops failed, and the
wells dried up, and the fields turned to dust, and still they
tilled them, and still they went around it. They just knew it
was going to rain, but it didn't rain. Didn't rain. And then he
sent the winds, and the winds picked up the dust. People suffer
from different things yet today from that old dust bowl. Before it was done, this dust
had reached clear to the east coast. Clear to the east coast. And God often punishes men with
drought, a burning hot sun that only the rain and the clouds
can give relief. Now these first four plagues
are terrible indeed. Terrible. They're terrible plagues.
and they're a constant reminder of the judgment to come, but
these are natural things. These are judgments that God
sends upon men as warnings, and they're terrible. People die
under these things. These are harsh judgments of
God. People die, but men don't take
warning. They write them off to this,
that, and something else. But they refuse to give God the
glory. Now these last three plagues
are spiritual. Revelation 16 verses 10 and 11. And the fifth angel poured out
his vial upon the seed of the beast. Now we're going to deal
with the beast. Now we're going to deal with
his people and his authority. He poured out his vial upon the
seed of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness. And they
gnawed their tongues for pain. And they blasphemed the God of
heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented
not of their deeds. Now to me, this is the plague
of false religion. In 2 Thessalonians 2, it speaks
of one whose working is after Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. in them that perish. That is,
what is the deceivableness of unrighteousness? What's he talking
about here? He deceives men into believing
that they can generate their own righteousness. Men are deceived into believing
that they can keep the law and produce a righteousness with
which God will be pleased. If they can just turn over a
new leaf, just turn from what they're doing, change their habits
and and change the direction they're going, then they'll keep
this law, and they'll do these things, and God will be pleased
with them. Just do the best you can. I've
had grandparents tell me that. Son, just do the best you can.
God will be pleased with you. No, he won't. He'll spit on it.
The best you can produce when it comes to a self-righteousness
is just What's he call it there in Isaiah? All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Pus covered what the leper holds
over his mouth. That's what he's talking about
there. Talking about a minstrel's cloth. That's your righteousness. All deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth.
My soul. A gift from God, perfect righteousness,
here it is. No, I don't want that, I'm gonna
keep the law. You do? Why? Why? With all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this
cause, now listen, God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. Now you go down and talk to your
relatives every now and then. They believe what they're telling
you, don't they? Huh? They believe what they're saying.
I talked to my brother on the phone last night. He believes
what he tells me. They believe. Why? God gave them
up to strong delusion to believe a lie. Now watch this, he's not
done yet. That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They're going to be damned. False religion. When a man is given over to believe
those things, when he's comfortable in it, when he can come in and
smile ear to ear and shake hands and call men brother so and so
and sing those hymns and participate in that mess. He's deluded. God sent him strong delusion
to believe a lie. Paul said if our gospel be hid,
it's hid to the lost in whom the God of this world has blinded
their minds lest they light of the glorious gospel of Christ
should shine under them. It's the only cure. It's the only cure. Reprobation
is when God withdraws the presence and power of His Holy Spirit
and the things of the Spirit and He gives unbelief a free
course. He just opens the door. There
it is. Reprobation is when God allows
the false prophet to enter the house and take whatever he wills. The reprobate finds what appeals
to him and what pleases him and what yields the most benefits
to him and he embraces it and clings to it and dies in a false
refuge. And even at judgment, our Lord
said, he's still singing that song, but Lord, Have not we preached
in thy name? And have not we cast out devils
in thy name? And have we not done many wonderful
works in thy name? Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. That wasn't me who told you to
do those things. That wasn't me you were singing
about. That wasn't me you were serving. You're of your father,
the devil. That's what the Lord told those
Pharisees. And the lust of your fathers you will do. False religion
is described in the scripture as a refuge, a hiding place,
a fortress, a house defended by a strong man armed. And then
sixthly, the sixth angel, Revelation 16, 12, he poured out his vial
upon the great river Euphrates. And the water there dried up. that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared. And I saw there unclean spirit
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the
mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. I listened to Whatever that fool's
name is down in Houston every now and then. I just listen to
them to see what they're saying so I can better minister to you.
And he just, boy, it's like jello. It's just sweet as sugar coming
out. Frogs. That's what God said's
coming out. Unclean frogs. Hopping out of their mouth. 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. And all the governments of the
world embrace false religion. Isn't that something? They all embrace false religion. Mohammeds. Don't matter. They
all embrace. Go over to Rome. Well, they embrace. Catholicism. Go here, go there,
it don't matter where you go. All the governments of the world
embrace false religion. I don't know of any government
anywhere that embraces the sovereign grace of God. Just the kingdom of God. So what's
this all about? Well, he's gathering them together
into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. I don't have
time today to cover these last two plagues and these vials of
wrath, so I'll stop here and we'll come back and deal with
this thing of the kings of the earth next week and I'll do my
best to finish out this chapter. Thank you.