WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.399 Well, good morning, 242. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:03.120 So good to be with you. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.559 Monroe campus, Saginaw Campus, so good to be with you as well. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:17.440 Hey, this past week I was reading that earlier this year, uh surveillance cameras in New York City uh captured this event that took place multiple times. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:27.280 What was happening was that late at night there was a group of people who were sneaking their way into the New York City sewer system. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:32.640 And they're like, why in the world are people going to the sewers with the rats and the roaches and all this stuff? 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:38.479 So they went down inside the sewer to investigate why they were going down. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.479 And they found nothing. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:45.920 There was no secret society, there was no fight club, no ninja turtles, none of the cool stuff was there. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:55.039 There was just like people voluntarily choosing to go into the New York City sewer system, which is evidence to me of one thing. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.039 The world is not as it should be. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.920 Like there's no reason that we are doing these things. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:08.319 Throughout the series of Revelation, that's what we've been addressing, though, is we acknowledge the reality that the world is not as it should be. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:19.200 But the promise of the Bible, the promise of the gospels, the promise of Jesus, the promise of the book of Revelation is that one day all things will be as they should be. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:27.120 So we live in this tension that we know it's not as it should be, but we know that one day Jesus will return and everything will be made as it should be. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.640 And the question in the book of Revelation is not when will that happen? 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.920 The question is, are you ready for when it does? 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:35.680 Are you prepared? 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:44.000 Are you living your life as a follower of Jesus so that when that day comes, you are ready? 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.239 This book is a called a radical discipleship. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:02:01.359 And over the course of this series, we're going to look at not a timeline of things you should do, but a number of things that the Bible says, the Revelation says you should do in the ways that you should follow Jesus so that you are ready when that day comes. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.120 So how do we live in the meantime? 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:04.400 We've talked about worship. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:09.199 Talk about how important it is to engage corporately in worship and prioritize worshiping the Lamb. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:23.759 That's where we've talked about the fact that God is with us in the suffering, that He's not distant and isolated, He's with us in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of our struggles, which is important because one thing the book of Revelation shows us is that we are subject to struggles. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:28.719 And today I'm going to talk about potentially the most important thing that you could do. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:41.199 And I'm going to argue it's something that every single person in this room at Monroe, at Saginaw, online, every single one of us need to engage in in some way, shape, or form, and that is the act of repentance. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.800 If you open up your Bibles with me, Revelation chapter 8 and chapter 9, we're going to look at both of those chapters. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:48.800 We have a lot of space to cover today. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:59.120 So we're going to move through these chapters, but we're going to see how the seven trumpets in the book of Revelation is a call to repentance for God's people. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:01.520 Would you pray with me as we jump into it? 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:06.319 Lord Jesus, I'm so thankful for you and thankful for your word and your truth. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:13.120 God, today we we come together and we are simply, just very simply, the core of what we do, we are seeking you. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:26.000 So Lord, may you speak through everything that happens here this morning so that we become more aware of your word, more aware of your truth, and more aware of your call on our lives. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:36.000 And may you give us the courage and the boldness to do exactly what it is you call us to, so that we can be the kind of followers that you have called us to be. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:37.680 It's in Christ's name that we pray. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.639 Amen. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:45.199 Alright, let me let me uh let me kind of set the framework of where we are in the book of Revelation at this point. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.159 Last week we kind of landed in chapter seven. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:55.680 Chapter seven is this really powerful chapter that falls at the tail end of the opening of the seven seals. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.199 When you're in chapter seven, only six of them have been opened. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:02.159 Today we're going to show you what happens when the seventh one is open. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.840 But what you'll see in Revelation is that there's groups of seven. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:15.840 There's seven seals, there's seven trumpets, or seven bowls, and every time after the sixth one is open or revealed or utilized, there is a break in the action of sorts. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:19.920 There is an interlude, if you will, before the seventh one is engaged with. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.480 In chapter seven is that break. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:27.120 You see, in the first six seals, we saw these horses, right? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.120 These different color horses with horsemen on the backs, and they would come in. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.959 And it was kind of this sign of judgment that was happening on the world. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.720 And you get into the sixth seal, and you're like, oh my gosh, the end is coming. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:42.399 Number seven is upon us, the final judgment is about to happen. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.959 And John says, pause for a second. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:51.839 And in chapter seven, he says, the four angels stand at the four corners of the earth, and they are holding back the winds. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.959 The winds in scripture always represent the judgment of God. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:05.600 So the angels are holding back the judgment of God so that the Bible says they can mark the faithful upon the foreheads with the mark of God. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.360 This is not the mark of the beast. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:14.720 We're going to talk about that next week, but before there was a mark of the beast, there was a mark of God upon the foreheads of the faithful. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.120 This is straight out of the book of Ezekiel. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:27.199 So the angel said, Before we can destroy, before the final judgment happens, let us go through the earth and mark the people who have given their lives over to Jesus on their foreheads. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:29.680 This is very similar to the Passover. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:38.879 When the Israelites wiped blood on the doorframe, so the Spirit would pass over in the same way they're being marked on their foreheads, the seed of perception. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:41.439 I promise you, we're gonna talk more about this next week. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:48.720 The mark the faithful, and this is so important because it's gonna come up in chapter 9 on why this is important. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:55.680 But what we need to know at this point is before the seventh seal is opened, the angel said, Hold on, wait a minute, let me mark the faithful. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:59.279 And this is when we see the number 144,000. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:06.879 That is not an arithmetic thing, that is not a specific number, that is a representation of the people of Israel. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:16.399 But John also turns and he sees not just Jewish people, but he sees people from every tongue, every tribe, and every nation who are also being marked on their foreheads. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.680 This huge multitude is the word that he uses in chapter seven. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:22.560 A multitude of people who are saved. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.560 This is where we're at as we step into chapter eight. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.680 And I think it's important to understand where we're at. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:31.600 We we just got through six seals. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.160 It feels like the final judgment is upon us. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:36.079 The angels have marked the faithful. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.240 It feels like we're gonna get into chapter eight. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.199 That seventh seal is gonna be open and it's done. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:43.279 Listen to how it starts. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:48.959 In chapter eight, verse one, he says, When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.399 This is different. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.759 This is this is not what we experienced with the six, because the six were these horses that were writing. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:02.560 So you got galloping horses, you got noise, you got chaos, and the seventh one starts, and there was silence in heaven. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:08.079 He said, I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:13.759 We'll get we'll get to the trumpets in a in a moment, but remember, seven angels were just given seven trumpets. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.360 Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:25.439 He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.800 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:43.120 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth, and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:48.480 Then the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared to sound them. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:08:03.360 Now, this language is really important because remember, we go into this thinking final destruction, final judgment is coming, and what we actually get is very intentional, different language. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:12.639 The picture that's being painted here with this angel and the golden censer and the incense is a direct picture of the Day of Atonement. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:24.879 And the day of atonement was when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies and offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people to find atonement, which is literally means at one moment. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:31.600 It is bringing together two people from a broken relationship, bringing together God and the people. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.559 And on the day of atonement, the priest would go with a golden censor in the book of Revelation. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:46.799 He would go with a golden censer, not a brass one that he used every other day of the year, but he would use a gold one on the day of atonement. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:48.879 That is the censer that the angel holds. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:54.399 And he wouldn't just take a little bit of incense, he would take handfuls of incense, as much as he can carry. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.039 He was given much incense. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:05.279 And he goes in and he throws the incense upon the coals, and smoke goes up to God along with the prayers of the people. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.440 This is atonement imagery. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:19.519 When we thought final judgment and destruction was coming, what we actually get is a picture of the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives when the seventh seal is opened. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:22.240 But then there's these seven trumpets. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:27.039 These trumpets that were handed to all the angels, and they are ready to blow these trumpets. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.519 This is what's about to happen, we're about to dig into. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:35.360 Now, trumpets were, man, really important back then, more so than what they are for us today. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:47.840 You know the first time the people of God heard a trumpet blown was when God was meeting with Moses on Mount Sinai, and there were clouds and there was thunder, and the Bible tells us there was a sound of a trumpet. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.399 It was not blown by Moses or any man. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.799 It was this was a sound from heaven. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:58.559 The God was proclaiming his presence and his power and his majesty and his sovereignty. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:04.559 In Numbers chapter 10, God tells Moses to create two silver trumpets. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.440 When one of those trumpets is blown, the leaders would assemble. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.840 When both of them are blown, everyone would assemble. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.000 These were ways to communicate with the people. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:19.360 When it came to military, militaries would use trumpets to communicate to one another, to call people to action. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:25.200 They would blow trumpets in certain ways, and the army would know exactly what they needed to do in response to that trumpet. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:30.720 But there was one even more important way that the trumpets were used. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:40.080 In the seventh month of every year, the Jewish people would celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:44.879 And during this time, the trumpets would be blown a hundred times. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:58.480 And this would be one of the ways that they would acknowledge the goodness of God, that they would send their prayers to God, but more importantly, it was a call to prepare ourselves to meet our God. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:05.679 It was a call at the blowing of the trumpets to repentance for the people of Israel. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:08.559 Friends, this is so important. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:17.600 We open up the seventh seal, and what we see is the day of atonement is upon us, and the trumpets are about to be blown, which are what? 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:25.200 Immediately when John's readers would have heard this or read this, they would have said, This is a call to repentance. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.679 So as we enter into chapter 8 and chapter 9, what we see is not just destruction and judgment. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:46.240 Sure, we see judgment, but we also see a blatant call to all those who are striving to follow Jesus to repent of our sins, and he's going to show us a picture of what happens when we don't. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:48.320 Listen to what happens here. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.240 This is the the we're gonna read the blowing of the first trumpets. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.480 Just I want you to just listen to this and picture what's happening. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:04.240 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:09.840 A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.080 The second angel sounded his trumpet. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:15.600 Something like a huge mountain all ablaze was thrown into the sea. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.759 A third of the sea turned into blood. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:22.480 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:30.879 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star blazing like a torch fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and the springs of the water. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.039 The name of the star is wormwood. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:38.000 A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:52.960 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark, a third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:56.159 A lot of destruction. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:03.120 What we see is a picture of a fallen creation, not totally destroyed, but diminished. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:06.639 I mean, how many times did you hear the words a third in there? 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:11.759 What John's trying to communicate to you is that we live in this world that's not as it should be. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:18.080 Some elements have been destroyed, and it's certainly been diminished. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.080 And the thing is, you and I know this. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.720 Like we feel it every day. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:31.840 Every day of our lives, we turn on the news, we look in our own communities, our own households, our own families, our own relationships, and we realize that the world isn't as it should be. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:33.759 The world's broken. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:43.360 Relationships that are falling apart, marriages that are on the rocks, struggles with our own sins and torment and anxieties in our lives. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:51.279 Like we just know, we know in the depths of our soul that the world is not as it should be, and that should be a warning to us. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:55.919 But listen to the real warning, warning in verse 13. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:11.200 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:16.320 It's as if this eagle is saying, Hey, I know those may not sound great. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.799 Just get ready for the next ones. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:22.720 Because these next three are for you. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:29.360 Like those first four really kind of talked about the creation as a whole and the fallenness of creation. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:36.000 But now the warning is, hey, we got three more trumpets, and these trumpets, well, they're for you. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:45.200 So woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of what is about to take place. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:51.200 Because we're about to see the real danger of sin in our lives. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:54.320 Chapter 9 begins this way. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:01.360 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.799 The star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:10.000 When he opened the abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:15.440 The sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.320 Now, let me just clarify what he's talking about here. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.639 In the book of Isaiah, Satan is referenced as a fallen star. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:30.639 So when John says he saw something like a star falling from the sky, what he's actually talking about, this is the fall of Satan from grace. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.720 And he receives a key to the pit, the shaft to the abyss. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.480 The abyss here means Hades. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:49.919 Now, I don't think this is the same key that's talked about in chapter one when Jesus has the keys to Hades, but he's given a key to the shaft that leads to Hades, to the abyss. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:52.159 And he opens it. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:59.200 And when he opens it, smoke begins to billow out like a large furnace and it begins to darken our world. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:06.240 And what we begin to see is this picture of the reality that you and I both kind of know, but we really need to name it. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:16.879 We're not just wrestling with a world that is dysfunctional, we're wrestling with a world that has evil in it that is actively pursuing you and trying to draw you away from the will of God. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.879 There is evil that has spilled into this world. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:23.679 And it's not just the smoke, it doesn't just look this way. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.679 Listen to what he says in verse 3. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:34.879 And out of the smoke, locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.080 Now I'm gonna skip the next couple, we're gonna come back to it. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:44.559 But in a few verses, he's gonna actually give a description, a visual description of what these locusts-like creatures look like. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:46.960 So we jump over to verse 7. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.919 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:55.360 On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:56.879 I want to pause there for a second. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.240 All throughout Revelation, there's two different types of crowns named. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:07.759 There's a Stephanos crown, that is the crown of victory, and that is reserved solely for Jesus and the saints. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.400 There's the diadems that you'll see on the beast later on in another message. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.319 Those are for maybe the demonic beings or those who aren't divine. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:23.519 Here, this is a Stephanos crown, but notice that he says it is like a Stephanos crown. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:28.079 It is not a crown of victory, but it looks like a crown of victory. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:30.880 And their faces resembled human faces. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:35.039 Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:46.720 They had breastplates like I lost my spot, breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:55.279 Like sometimes we think about this creature and we think, man, this is such a scary creature, but the language that he uses is actually kind of powerful. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:57.680 It's regal, even. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.200 There's almost an attractiveness to what he's describing. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.640 In fact, we had AI create an image for us on what this looked like. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.640 That's an AI-generated image of what this creature would look like. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.359 I'll be honest with you, it doesn't look like what I thought. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.119 We begin to look at this, there is a regalness to it. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.519 There's a power and an authority that comes with this creature. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.079 And that is the genius of sin. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:26.960 The sin presents itself in a powerful way. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:34.960 Sin presents itself like opportunity, like pleasure, achievement, advancement, success. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.920 It presents itself in a way that's very alluring and very attractive. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.720 You know that's true because you have sin in your life that is very alluring to you. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:52.079 Things in your life that draw you in, that you're attracted to them, and you just kind of feel yourself like this gravitational pull. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.200 You know it's a sin. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.640 You know God doesn't want you to do it, but it's so attractional. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.440 This is what sin is. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:07.039 The genius of sin is that it convinces you that it's attractional, that it looks good. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:18.240 And it's not until we get up close, like really begin to cozy up to this sin that we realize that our sin has a verse 10 reality to it. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.839 Verse 10 says, they had tails with stingers, like scorpions. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:29.839 And in their tails, they had the power to torment people for five months. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.279 You don't see that until you get up close. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.720 And then when you cozy up to sin, the sting and the destruction of sin begins to take place. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.319 Let's jump back to verse 4 and look at how he describes it. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:53.680 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people, listen to this, only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:58.480 They were not allowed to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:03.839 And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:08.559 During those days, people will seek death, but will not find it. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:13.519 They will long to die, but death will elude them. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:29.119 They were given the ability not to not to kill, but to torment for a long period of time those who did not have the mark of God upon their forehead. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:37.440 Those who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus, those who have not surrendered their lives to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Prince of Peace. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:50.000 Those people who had who had found themselves more in alignment with fallen Babylon, the brokenness of this world, than they did with Jesus, find themselves suffering under the consequences of sin in their lives. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.599 And these people weren't indifferent to it. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.680 They weren't indifferent at all. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:57.839 In fact, they were desperate. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.799 I mean, these verses five and six are they're haunting passages. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:10.240 Because the reality of sin is that there is an invisible line that we all find ourselves crossing at some point. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:16.559 And that invisible line is that point where no longer are you choosing sin, and sin is now choosing you. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:22.000 Because when you started, you told yourself you could stop whenever you wanted. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:23.839 And you might have been right. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.359 Maybe you could have early on. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:32.079 But at some point in time, you cross an invisible line in your life. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:38.000 And you realize that while the sin may not be killing you, it is certainly enslaving you. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.599 Because sin always enslaves. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:49.359 And that is when we find ourselves persecuted by sin and the sting of the scorpion stinger in our lives. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:59.279 So much so that we begin to beg for our life to end because we discover that our willpower is not enough to overcome the sin in our lives. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:07.440 Because you've crossed that line, and you're no longer choosing sin, but sin instead is choosing you. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:18.000 Verse 13, the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:24.640 He said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound to the great river Euphrates. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:34.079 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour, and day, and month, and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.799 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:40.799 I heard their number. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:44.400 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.880 Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue and yellow as sulfur. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:55.119 The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:00.799 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:08.799 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails were like snakes having heads with which they inflict injury. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:14.400 You can tell that he's really struggling to communicate this vision he saw in language we understand. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:26.400 There's a lot of descriptors like like and as, but but there's so much to unpack here, but a couple things I want to note talks about the great river Euphrates. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.599 Let me show you a map of where the Euphrates River sits. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:34.319 You see Israel down kind of the middle bottom, and the Euphrates River is well north. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:36.480 They're in Syria and going through Iraq. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.200 And you may think, why in the world are we talking about the Euphrates River where it's not in Israel? 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:45.119 And this letter was actually written to churches on the far side of Turkey. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:47.920 Why in the world are we talking about the Euphrates River? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:57.599 Because the people of Israel, the people of God during that time, would have heard the Euphrates River and would have immediately remembered historical moments. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:04.559 Because you see, when the Assyrians came and conquered Israel, they crossed the Euphrates River. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:10.480 When the Babylonians came and conquered Israel, they crossed the Euphrates River. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:12.880 You see, the people of God knew one thing. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:19.200 When an advancing nation is growing their territory beyond the Euphrates River, they are in trouble. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:19.680 Trouble. 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.200 I can't talk today. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:23.279 Like it's a danger. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:25.279 It is a warning sign. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:30.640 When an advancing army crosses the Euphrates River, they knew that they were in trouble. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.640 They knew that they were next. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.720 They knew that they were coming for them. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.559 This is a warning sign. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:40.000 And he says there's 200 million troops. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:41.920 You know what 200 million means in the Bible? 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:42.799 It's a lot of people. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:43.759 That's what that means. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.440 It's not a specific number, it just means like an incomprehensible number of people. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:51.039 It probably more than doubled the population of Israel at the time. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.519 200 million troops. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:01.599 What John is trying to communicate is there is destruction, there is judgment, and there is death on the horizon. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:08.960 For those who have given themselves over to sin have been captured and enslaved by sin, death is upon us. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:12.480 You know what the crazy thing is, though? 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:16.240 That's not even the most horrifying thing about this whole passage. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.240 This is the most horrifying part. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:32.400 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:38.400 They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.680 Idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.920 Nor did they repent of their murders like magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their thefts. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:54.640 You see, the greatest horror of this whole story, it's not the smoke out of the abyss. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:01.519 It's not the locust-like creatures, it's not the 200 million people or the fact that an army is crossing the Euphrates. 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:12.319 The most horrifying thing about this story is that the human heart can actually watch and witness the fall and destruction of creation around them and still believe you don't need God. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:22.799 All those people watched all this happen, and they still failed to repent of their own wickedness and their own brokenness. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.960 This is right now in your life. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:34.799 Revelation 9 is happening right now in your life. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:42.720 This sin is tormenting you, it is calling you, it is enslaving you, it is pulling you away from the will of God in your life. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:49.039 And destruction is necessarily coming because sin always brings destruction. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:58.400 And we see a warning when we see that the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:04.880 I think John could write these words about this very moment in our lives. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:10.000 About how many of us look around the world and we see the destruction around us. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:16.160 We've seen lives torn apart and destroyed through alcohol. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:18.720 Yet we haven't stopped. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:25.279 We've seen marriages fall apart because of pornography, yet you look at it every night. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:35.119 You've seen relationships fall apart, you've seen jobs lost, you've seen lives lost, careers lost, you've seen, you've seen it all. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.279 We've watched it all. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:47.359 Yet, how many times we find ourselves just so deeply entrenched in our sin, we said, yes, it's destroying everything else, but I still don't need Jesus. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:51.039 The answer is simple, friends. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:58.319 It is to repent, it's to turn away from our sins and our brokenness. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:06.480 And while it may sound simple on the surface, it is one of the maybe most difficult, uncomfortable things you'll ever do. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:08.559 But it is necessary. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:13.279 This is why when Jesus came in the gospel of Mark, he says, repent and believe. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:13.759 Why? 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:16.559 Because the kingdom of God has come near. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.559 Repent and believe. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:24.559 For the kingdom of God has come near. 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:28.559 Why repentance? 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:31.359 Because your willpower is not strong enough. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.880 Sin is always stronger than your willpower. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:39.200 This is why Jesus came and lived a sinless life. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:46.319 And he took your death, your sins upon himself, died on a cross so that you wouldn't have to. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:55.359 That if you put your hope, your faith, and your trust in Jesus, if you trust the words of this text, if you trust the word of God, you can be saved. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.079 You can receive that mark on your forehead. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:01.839 But it requires repentance. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.559 It requires a turning away. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.720 So here's three simple steps for you. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:09.039 Step number one, confess. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:14.720 Confess your sins to God and possibly to someone else. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.920 Maybe you need to speak for the first time the sin that has gripped your life to God, and you've never done it. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.160 Maybe because you're ashamed of it, you're embarrassed by it, whatever it may be. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.880 Or maybe the other biblical thing to do is to confess your sin to someone else. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:39.440 You need to go to a trusted friend, a prayer team member, staff person, someone you trust, and just say, Hey, I need to confess a sin to you. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:42.160 It will begin to set you free. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:48.000 Immediately when you do it, you'll begin to feel like freedom is actually possible in your life. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:52.240 Maybe for you, you just need to turn away from sin. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:57.839 Like you need to put boundaries and barriers in your life to keep that thing away. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:01.519 You need to put systems on your computers so you don't look at that stuff anymore. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:07.440 You need to stop hanging out with people to keep encouraging you to drink things and partake of things you don't need to partake in. 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:14.319 You need to find relationships and friends that actually nurture you and your marriage rather than tear your marriage apart. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:19.839 Like you need to put steps in your life to actually separate yourself, to turn away from sin. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:22.880 And the third thing is you need to turn to Jesus. 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:25.680 That Jesus is the only way. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.720 This is that's what the whole book of Revelation is about. 00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:31.279 That Jesus is the only way to avoid destruction. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:35.440 It's the only way to avoid where sin is taking you, is through Jesus Christ. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.839 And maybe for you, you just gotta give your life over to him. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.759 You've been you've been playing church for a while. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:48.880 You show up on Sundays, you might even go to a small group, maybe read your Bible every once in a while, you pray before dinner, but you're not actually living out of Christian faith. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:54.480 You haven't actually put your faith in Jesus, you haven't allowed Jesus to be your savior. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:59.039 You know that he's the savior, you haven't let him be yours. 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:04.240 And maybe for you, your decision today is very simply to put your faith and your trust in Jesus. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:06.880 Maybe, maybe for the very first time. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:09.920 There's a man by the name of Bill Wilson. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:14.000 In the 1920s, he was a successful stockbroker. 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.279 He was intelligent, well respected, people loved him. 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:19.359 He was also an alcoholic. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:22.960 And that alcoholism began to be a growing problem. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:30.000 It it caused his career to suffer, it strained his marriage, it broke relationships, and it damaged his health severely. 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:32.559 He spent multiple stints in the hospital. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:39.279 He talks about one stint in the hospital that he had that he was, he had told people time and time again he was going to quit and he never could. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.920 He never had the willpower, never had the strength to be able to do it. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:45.519 He kept finding himself in the hospital because of the alcohol. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:56.480 One day in the hospital, he was sitting alone and he just remembers crying out to God for help for the first time in his life, kind of surrendering himself to the idea that he can't do it himself, and he needs a higher power. 00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.880 And he says that was the moment that he experienced God in the most powerful way. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:03.200 He never experienced God like that before. 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:09.039 God showed up when he cried out, he encountered God, and something inside of him changed. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:11.519 And he was sober ever since. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:13.920 Never touched alcohol again. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.519 In fact, years later, he helped start Alcoholics Anonymous. 00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:25.759 That's how thousands and thousands of people, some of you in this room, have been helped by Alcoholics Anonymous because of his story. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:31.039 But what strikes me the most about Bill's story is that the consequences weren't enough. 00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:34.880 He saw the consequences, that didn't stop him. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:38.319 He saw the warnings, that wasn't enough. 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:43.519 He experienced the pain, and that wasn't enough either. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:47.440 And I hear his story, and I'm like, man, this is Revelation 9. 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:54.880 This is a world that watches the destruction around us, and for whatever reason, we still believe we don't need Jesus in our life. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:04.880 Because recognizing something is destroying you, and turning away from it are two very different things. 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:13.200 You are not called to recognize your destruction, but you are called to flee from it and flee to Jesus.