Okay, let's go back to our study
in Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9, and we
see in verse 1 down through verse 11, we see this fifth trumpet
being sounded. The fifth trumpet being sounded. In chapter 8, 9, 10, and 11, We see all these trumpets, these
seven trumpets being sounded, and they take place by the great
and almighty command of God. They are sounded when He says,
send forth the decree, send forth the judgment. All that takes
place when that seventh seal was opened. You remember chapter
8, verse 1, when He'd opened the seventh seal? There was silence
in heaven for about a space of a half an hour. And the seven
angels which stood before God, to them were given seven trumpets,
trumpets of judgment, the judgment of God's decree. Now, you remember
that book that God had upon the throne. No man was worthy to
open that book. But the Lord Jesus Christ stood
forward, and He took the book out of the hand of him that sat
upon the throne, and He opened those seven seals. And this is the seventh seal
being opened. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy
to take the book, to execute all the decrees of God. We saw
in chapter 8, four of the angels, blowing their trumpets of judgment,
the judgments of God. Now in chapter nine, we see the
fifth and sixth angel sounding these trumpets again. And as
verse 13 ends in chapter eight, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants
of the earth. There's no hope for any sinner
apart from Christ. By reason of the other voices
of the trumpets of the three angels, which are yet to sound,
Look across the page, chapter 9, verse 12. One woe was passed,
and behold, two more to come. Now, where do you want to be
found when all these woes are taking place? And they're taking
place right now. I want to be found in that shelter,
that refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this chapter, the Lord sends
His providential judgments on the earth to avenge His elect
to judge all rebels against him and to vindicate himself. Remember,
all judgment has been given unto the Lord Jesus Christ. God has
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man. That man. Who is that man? One
God, one mediator between God and men. That is the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power in heaven and earth to give salvation to His covenant
people. He has also all power to judge
and condemn those who are not found in Him. The Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Remember
this about that great, great day of judgment and tribulation. that will come upon the earth,
that is upon the earth. Believers are brought through
that tribulation by the almighty saving grace of God. Remember,
turn one page back, Revelation 7, verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these, or who are these which are arrayed
in white robes, and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir,
thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation. They came through
it by the grace of God, and washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God. They serve Him day and night
in His temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them." We're coming through these. Whoa, whoa,
whoa. His grace is sufficient to bring
us through. In the book of Acts, the Apostle
Paul reminds believers of this fact. He said, must, through
great tribulation, much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God."
And he writes those words just after he had been stoned, some
think to death, for preaching the gospel. The Lord healed him. He went right back into the city
and continued preaching the gospel. But he said, we must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Our Lord
said, these words have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace, in this world you shall have tribulation, but be
of good cheer, I will overcome. Remember what I said about that
word? It's found, the same word that's found in Revelation 6,
verse 2, And I saw, behold, a white horse, And he that sat on him
had a bow and a crown that was given to him, and he went forth
conquering and to conquer. The Lord Jesus Christ is victorious. He conquers everyone and everything
to his glory and to the good of God's people. Now, in verses
1 down through verse 11, we see a description of God's
providential judgment that he brings to pass upon this, what
he says here, the inhabitants of the earth. Here's what we
learn. There will be a season of apostasy
turning from the truth and the lies upon this earth until the
Lord returns. This is a dire warning About
the time in which we live, the apostle called it the last days. Now, I read to you just a moment
ago, but as there was false prophets also among the people, even there
shall be false teachers among you. Is there false preachers
among us? The woods are full of them. The
woods are full of them. Peter gives us a warning, and
also, don't turn, let me just read this to you, over in, I
believe it's 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter
3, 2 Timothy chapter 3, listen to this, this know also that
in the last days Perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers,
false accusers, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof,
Ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. There
are among us today, where we live, where we work, where we
go to school, where most people meet today, there is false preaching
going on this morning. Now here we learn in verse 1
and 2, The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven
unto the earth. And to him was given the key
to the bottomless pit. That bottomless pit was full
of fallen angels who fell from their first estate. And he opened
the bottomless pit, and there arose smoke out of the pit, smoke
of a great furnace. The sun was darkened. The air became filthy by reason
of the smoke from the pit. Here we learn about the fall
of Satan from his position in glory as a created angel unto
the pit of hell. Now, you can turn to this one
because it's right here. Turn back. Right before the book
of Revelation is a little book of Jude. Turn over there. The
book of Jude. There's just one chapter, but
verse 6. The book of Jude, verse 6. The
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
he hath reserved an everlasting chain under darkness unto that
day of judgment. The same thing we read over here
earlier in 2 Peter 2, verse 4. Don't turn back. Let me just
read it to you again. Where God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to the pit, and deliver them
into chains of darkness to be reserved unto that eternal judgment. Now, here's what we learned.
God created the angels. The Lord Jesus Christ created
the angels by the Word of His power. And the angels, some of
them, Satan being the leader of the fallen angels, they fell
from their first estate. Now, this is a mysterious thing,
and I don't know how to explain it, but I do believe it because
the Word of God teaches it. In Luke chapter 10, Verse 18,
the Lord Jesus Christ said this, I beheld Satan fall from heaven
like lightning. So there was a time in which
God created all the inhabitants of heaven, all the created angels,
and some of them fell, led by Lucifer, and they were cast down
to this bottomless pit. Now here we see the Lord opening
up this pit and controlling and using the demon spirit to accomplish
his eternal purpose. Satan having rebelled against
God, he lost his position of splendor and was cast out of
heaven. Satan was given the key to the
bottomless pit. Notice the key was given to him.
The key symbolizes power and control over these demonic forces. But now the devil is God's devil. The devil under God's dominion
and sovereignty. Satan has great power given unto
him, but not almighty power. He's not a rival to God. He's
under God's control. The power he does exercise is
under the absolute control of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said,
all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Now, Satan
has power not to save, not to save, he has power not to kill,
but rather to deceive and destroy. That's why his name is called
Abaddon. He's a bad one. and Napoleon,
which means destruction and death. Now out of this bottomless pit
ascended a black thick black smoke, and blot it out and darken
the sun and the sky. Satan and all of his demons,
they want to blot out the sun of righteousness, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they want to darken the spirit,
the work of God, the Holy Spirit, the air, the pits of the power
of the air, he's called. By reason of the smoke of that
pit, Again, this represents the lie that Satan has promoted ever
since he attacked Adam and Eve in the garden. Remember what
he said when he came among Adam and Eve? Satan said, you really
won't die if you eat the fruit. Remember what God said? In the
day you eat, you'll die. But Satan came along and said,
you won't really die if you sin against God. You'll actually
become like God. You'll be your own God. Set your
own standard. This smoke here, represents all
heresy of false, man-centered, free will, works religion that
is damning to those who embrace it. Now hold your place there
and turn back to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. It talks about it over here in
2 Corinthians chapter 4, look at verse 1. Therefore, seeing
that we have this ministry, 2 Corinthians 4.1, as we've received mercy,
we do not faint, but we renounce the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of a truth, commending ourselves to every
man conscious in the sight of God, But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world
hath blinded the mind of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." So the smoke of their doctrine, they try to
blot out the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, we preach
not ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now, let's turn
over to one more scripture in 2 Corinthians 11. Turn there. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13. False apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. You remember
in that same chapter, look at verse 3. But I fear, lest by
any means the serpent beguile thee through his sanity, so your
mind should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. For such are false apostles,
verse 13, chapter 11, 2nd Corinthians. transforming himself into apostles
of Christ, and no more before Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their deeds." They come along
and they preach morality and good works for salvation. They
do not preach the Lord Jesus Christ alone. This smoke represents the heresies
of false preachers who preach salvation depends upon you. Salvation
is all left up to you. God's done everything He can
do. Now the rest is up to you. Make no mistake, false religion
is the judgment of God upon this world. Satanic delusions are
a result of those who refuse to hear and love the truth. Now we looked at this. If you'll
find 2 Thessalonians, turn over there. You remember we studied
this in our lesson In our Bible study, 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, those who will not receive the love of the truth, Verse
8, this is 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 8. Then shall the wicked be revealed,
the wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,
and them that perish because they receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved, Watch it now. For this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie, that all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. Well, that's strong, isn't it?
But it's the truth. It's so, isn't it? It's still
the truth. Now, look at Revelation 9, verse 3. And there came out
of that smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given
power, as scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded
them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither
any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which
have not the seal of God in their forehead. Now, as I said in the
reading earlier, these locusts here that are described are not
bugs. They're not insects. They represent
men. They have a scorpion tail that's
full of poison. Poison. The locus coming out
of this pit represents all false prophets. They are the messengers
of Satan who promote the religion of Antichrist. These locusts
don't feed upon crops or plants of the field. They feed upon
the souls of unsuspecting lost sinners. They were commanded
to feed upon those that were not sealed with the seal of Christ,
with the blood of Christ, those who were not washed in the blood,
those who were not sealed in their forehead. Now God's going
to protect His own. God is going to protect His own.
The elect of God will not be deceived. You know why? Turn
back to chapter 7, verse 3. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither
the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of
our God in their forehead. God's people have been sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest token pledge
of our inheritance that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan
cannot touch God's elect. They're safe and secure in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're commanded not to touch
the elect of God. False prophets cannot deceive
the heart of God's elect because they've been given a spirit of
understanding. The spirit of wisdom. They know
the gospel when they hear it, and they know those who are false
preachers as well. I meant to say false preachers
as well. They preach a false gospel. They
were commanded not to touch the elect of God because they were
sealed in her forehead. We're kept by the power of God.
They know who, God's people know who false prophets are. and do
not bid them God's speed or God's blessing. They do not listen
to false preachers, do they? Not at all. Now I might, from
time to time, catch a word or two on some radio program But
I'm not interested in hearing men lie upon God. They were given power, verse
5 and 6, not to kill men, but to torment men. And to them were
given that they should not kill them, God only has power to kill
and make alive, but they should be tormented five months. And
their torment was the torment of a scorpion when it strikes
a man. False religion only gives a false
hope, which brings torment. Torment, not peace. It brings
torment. And it's just for a limited period
of time, this five months. Five months. One day God's going
to put every false preacher out of business. They won't be any
longer among us. In due time, God will put every
demon spirit and every false preacher in a place where they
can do no more harm. Now here's what he's saying in
verse 6. In those days shall men seek death. Now this is interesting. In those days men shall seek
death. When they're tormented, they're
tormented so much that they want to seek death. They want to die. and shall not find it. And they
shall desire to die, and death shall flee away from them." Now
what a sad state. Here's what a sad state. A sting
of false religion produces nothing but death. seeking to die, finding
no rest, no peace, no salvation, only guilt and condemnation.
It is only the gospel of the free grace of God of our Lord
Jesus Christ that sets sinners free. We have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. He sets us free from the curse
of the law, from the bondage of death by his blood and righteousness
alone that justifies us. Now, this is interesting here.
In those days, those who were tormented and bitten with false
preaching and believing false preaching, they shall seek death
and shall not find it. They shall desire to die and
not find death. Now, did you notice something
that was missing? These men do not seek the Lord
Jesus Christ. They do not desire to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They desire to die. Like those men in chapter 6 who
cried to the rocks and mountains, do you remember? To fall on us
and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb? They do not seek the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's what the Scriptures
teach. Jeremiah 29 our Lord said you shall seek me and find me
when you search for me with all your heart The Scriptures tell
us to seek the Lord, to call upon the Lord. In Isaiah 55,
our Lord says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon
him while he is near. He is neither of them of a broken
heart, save that such as be of a contrite spirit. Our Lord said,
Come unto me, and be ye saved. These men, because they are bitten
by the scorpion, full of poison, and deceived by the smoke of
the locust, they seek death, not life. They seek to die, not
seeking salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what a sad
state. And so many people are so deluded
in their delusion that they shall believe a lie and be damned. Now, in verse 7, 8, 9, and 10,
we have a description of these locusts. Now again, these locusts
are not bugs, they're men. They're not insects, although
they like to bug people with their false doctrine. Here we
see the characteristics of those that are let loose from that
bottomless pit and who are influenced by the demon spirits of Satan.
And the shapes of those locusts were like unto horses. Let's
read this and go back over it. Prepared unto battle. And on
their heads were, as it were, crowns of gold. And their faces
were as the faces of men. And they had hair as a woman.
Teeth like a lion. They had breastplates, as it
were, breastplates of iron, hard-hearted. And the sound of their wings
was as the sound of chariots, many horses running to battle.
They make a lot of commotion, big noise. And they had tails
like a scorpion, and there were stings in their tails, and their
power was to hurt men, not help men, to hurt men these five months. Now, God's servants preached
one message, salvation accomplished by Him. dependent and determined
upon Him, Christ alone. That's why Paul said, we preach
Christ. We preach Christ. Christ and
Him crucified, determined to preach Him, no one else. Satan's messengers preach many
things, but their message is always, they always make salvation
dependent upon you. What you do, your will, your
work, your doing, your baptism, your membership, you, you, you,
do, do, do. God's servants, their message
is done. It is finished. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
all our salvation. Now, you remember Elijah? on
Mount Carmel. We studied about it in 1 Kings
18. Remember there was that great contest between Elijah and the
prophet of Baal? And Elijah said, the God that
answers by fire, he is God. And they had that big contest
about the God that would answer from fire. And those false prophets,
they cried and cried and cried and danced around the altar and
did all these different things and Elijah mocked them. He said,
why don't you call out a little bit louder? Maybe your God's
on vacation. Maybe he's just sleeping. And then Elijah, he
set that altar apart. made a sacrifice on that altar,
poured 12 barrels of water on that altar and around the altar
so there was no gimmick, and he said, Lord God, let it be
known this day that thou art God, and fire fell. and licked
up the water, licked up the sacrifice. And what did Elijah do to those,
I think there was 400 prophets of Baal and the other prophets
of the grove, 800 some people, he took them all out and killed
every one of them. That's what false preachers deserve,
death, death. And Elijah made fun of them. I don't mind making fun of false
preachers. They need to be made fun of.
They represent themselves as horses prepared for the battle.
You see that in verse 7. These false preachers put themselves
forth as mighty warriors. I'm in the service. I'm doing a great thing for the
Lord. They always present themselves as mighty warriors. They do not
present THE one Who is the mighty warrior? The Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, they love the honor
and riches of men. Notice, wearing crowns of gold,
as it were crowns of gold. It's fool's gold. That means,
and I take that to mean, they love the praises of men more
than the honor of Christ. Paul said in Galatians 1, those
who preach another gospel, let them be accursed. If we preach
to please men, we're not to servants. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
the last part of verse 7. They had faces, their faces were
the faces of men. They present themselves as humble
men rather but rather seeking to flatter the flesh and boast
in the flesh. Verse 8, they were like women,
like a harlot. They had hair as the hair of
women, and teeth as it were the teeth of lions. When we get over
to chapter 17, false religion is called the woman, the harlot,
Babylon. And that's what these men are,
harlots. They sell out, they've sold out
God. They do not seek the glory of
God and the good of God's people. They have hair as a woman. They
have teeth. They have teeth like a lion.
They will hunt you down like a lion and devour you with their
teeth. They'll chew you up and spit
you out. Our Lord said this of the Pharisees. He said, you compass, Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, for you come from sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when you make him, you make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourselves. They come from sea and land to
recruit you and to make you, they hunt you down like a lion,
and a lion will chew up and devour its prey and spit you out, use
you and throw you away. Look at verse 9. They had breastplates,
as it were, breastplates of iron. They're hard-hearted. Hearts
like steel, defending themselves and protecting themselves. Breastplates
of iron. False prophets present themselves
as invincible men, don't they? rather than men humbled. John,
who are you? I'm a voice of one crying in
the wilderness. This word breastplate here, make
your reference here, Ephesians 6.14. Believers have put on the
whole armor of God, which includes, you remember, the breastplate
of righteousness, the shield of faith, which is our Lord Jesus
Christ. They make a lot of noise, the
sound of wings, this great locust army, the sound of chariots of
many horses running to the battle. They make a lot of noise like
chariots, like charging horses, calling attention to their achievements,
their buildings, their budgets, their bragging on what they've
done for the Lord. How many souls they've won to
the Lord. Y'all been preaching the gospel
for over 40 years. You know, I've never won one
soul to the Lord. Not one. It's the Lord's business,
not mine. The Lord's won a lot of souls.
I've not won one. Zero. You see, it's the Lord's
salvation, not ours. So we preach the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We don't make a lot of noise,
brag about our budgets, our building. I remember preaching a funeral
for our dear brother Earl Blackburn, and his family invited a free
will preacher to help me conduct a service. And I didn't need
any help, but anyhow, we sat up there on the pulpit behind
the body, waiting for the service to begin, and he, all he did
for the next 10 or 15 minutes, bragged about everything he'd
done for the Lord. how big his congregation was, how many he
was running in Sunday school, how many buses he had, all these
things he was doing, going on and on and on and on. And I guess
he expected me to say, man, man, you're something. Well, he read
scripture. I don't remember what he read,
but I got up afterward and preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That man would not even look
at me. He got out of there as fast as he could run. He skedaddled
out of there. He didn't want no part of me,
no part of my message, no part of the gospel. He heard the truth
and rejected it. He rejected it. So they make
a lot of noise. But there's no substance. No
substance. Look at verse 10. They had tails
like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. They had tails like on the scorpion
and their stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men. All they have is poison. A snake,
a rattlesnake, I'm terrified of rattlesnakes. I don't want
to get bit by a rattlesnake. I don't want to get bit by a
scorpion. All they have, they have nothing but poison. Run
from them as fast as you can. Snakes, scorpions, false preachers. Run from them as fast as you
can. They had power to hurt men, not
to help them. False doctrine, false prophets
do not teach the way of salvation. They teach the way of death and
destruction. There is a way that seems right
unto men. The end of that way is death. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, the life. Now, this is interesting
here. I'm going to quit with this.
Notice verse 11. They had a king over them. Oh,
they serve a king. It's not the one who is king
of kings and lord of lords. But they have a king over them.
He's the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew
is Abaddon, but in the Greek his name is Apollyon. Now, why
do you reckon he gives it in the Hebrew language as the language
of the Jews? And then in the Greek language
here, in the Greek tongue, it's the language of the Gentiles. So everybody will know, Jew or
Gentile, that the angel from the bottomless pit and his ministers
are nothing, as the marginal reference has, a destroyer. Destruction, death, and a destroyer
of men, not the salvation of men. The army of locusts, who have
the king over them, this evil angel of the bottomless pit,
the evil king, whose name is nothing but death, given in the Hebrew language
and in the Greek language. Satan targets all men, whether
you're Jew or Gentile, and that's what's being said there. He targets
all men, Jew or Gentile. Satan's work is nothing but to
terrorize, bring death, and destruction. He targets all men outside of
Christ. If you're not trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ, you've got a target on your head. Oh, I tell you, save me from
false preaching. Lead me to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 12. One woe
is past. Behold, there come two more woes
hereafter. Woe, woe, woe, woe. Well, next week we'll look at
verse 13 down through verse 21.