REVELATION 4-9 WHAT REVELATION REVEALS2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 4-9 What Revelation Reveals

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. The book of Revelation can be quite a daunting book to read.

for many people. Some people are fascinated by prophecy, by the book of Revelation. They could just, you know, spend their whole Christian devotional life in the book of Revelation and, you know, Ezekiel and Isaiah and all the prophecy related things. And there's a great appreciation for that. But there's also, for many, just kind of that apprehension and that kind of mystery of, you know, what is this about? And why am I reading it? I think a lot of times Christians...

kind of have that wrestling and have that question, why am I reading this? As you're reading about all of the symbols and things and some things that are hard to understand, and certainly you and I can relate to that, right? That reading the gospels,

is completely different than reading the book of Revelation, right? You have to think things differently. You're not interpreting it the same way. You know what I mean? You're not processing it the same way and trying to evaluate the scriptures in the same way. It is a whole different thing. And yet I do want to encourage you from verse three of Revelation one this morning, there is a promise of blessing.

It says, It's important to remember as we get started in the book of Revelation this morning that there is a blessing. It does require more effort on your part. You do have to think about things a little bit differently. There is some interpretation necessary as you work your way through the book of Revelation, but...

there is a promised blessing for those who will spend the time, who will engage with God in his word through this book called Revelation. Now the name Revelation comes from verse one, where it says the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that word revelation simply means to uncover or to unveil something.

And I was thinking about it in terms of something hidden behind a curtain. You know, on a stage before the show starts, there is the curtain and you hear the hustle and bustle behind the curtain, right? But you don't know what's there. You don't know what the backdrop looks like. You don't know what the scene is until the curtain is pulled open.

And then as the curtain is removed, there is that revelation of what's behind it. There's the uncovering and unveiling of what's behind it. And that's what we see taking place here in this book. It's a revelation. And so I've titled the message this morning, What Revelation Reveals.

The book of Revelation gives us revelation. It's called revelation because it is the Lord pulling back the curtain and giving us a glimpse into eternity.

the events that are yet to come, things that we would, you know, label as the tribulation and the millennium and the second coming of Jesus Christ and those events that are yet to take place. And we see God pulling back the curtain and saying, let me show you, let me give you a peek at what is going to take place. But as we look at

the chapters we read this week, chapters four through nine this morning, I'm really going to focus not so much on the events themselves, but some of the concepts that are revealed, that God pulls back the curtain and some important truths for us to consider, to be reminded of, and to meditate on.

And so we're going to start in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, and we're not going to go through all of the verses of the passages we're looking at today, but just getting some highlights, a little bit of an overview to remind us of some of these important truths.

So point number one is going to be found in Revelation chapters four and five. And that is that Revelation reveals the reasons to worship God. Here's an important reason to spend time in the book of Revelation is to get a glimpse at and understand why we worship God. Let's jump into Revelation chapter four, starting in verse one. It says, "'After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.'"

And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald."

Here as we're following along with the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, we see in the first couple chapters, he's writing about the appearance of Jesus, the vision of Jesus that he had. He writes from Jesus to the churches in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. And now in chapter 4, he's brought into the

heaven. He's brought into the presence of God. He's caught up into the presence of God in heaven, and it describes a little bit of the throne and the one who sits on the throne and the colors and the brilliance and the glory that he's experiencing there.

And so in chapter four and five, that's what we're looking at is this glimpse into heaven as God pulls back the curtain and says, let me give you a glimpse. Let me give you a little hint and show you a little bit about what it's like in heaven, in the presence of God. It's interesting to look at these occurrences throughout the scriptures. Whenever we get glimpses into heaven, we always find that there is worship taking place.

You could think also about Isaiah chapter 6, when he is caught up in the year that King Uzziah died, he's caught up into the presence of the Lord, and the angels there are worshiping the Lord, and the glory filled the temple, and the train of his robe, and there is the earth shaking from the voices of the worship and the praise, and that's very similar to what we see happening here in Revelation chapter 4 and 5. And so as we look at this worship that takes place in these chapters, we

it gives us some good insights into why we worship, into reasons that we will worship God, but also can be and should be worshiping God today. And so we continue on in Revelation chapter four, jumping to verse six. It says, before the throne, there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature like a calf. The third living creature had a face like a man. And the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Verse 8. The four living creatures each having six wings were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

Here we begin to look at the reasons to worship God modeled for us by these four living creatures. Now there's a lot that could be said about these four living creatures, and you can spend a lot of time studying these and seeing these guys throughout the rest of the scripture and their place in the presence of God. But I'm not going to get into that. But instead, just to focus on the worship that they offer and the things that they declare there in verse 8.

It says they do not rest day or night. And I would ask you to consider that for just a moment. There are these created beings who seem to be the highest order of angels who exist in the presence of God. And their sole purpose is to declare the holiness of God day and night forever.

Forever. This is what they do. This is their mission. This is their life. They do not rest day or night and they cry out saying, holy, holy, holy. And here we get the first reason to worship God. And that is that he is holy. Holy.

They also call out, Lord God Almighty. And we see that we worship God because He is Almighty. And then they describe God as being the one who was and is and is to come. He is eternal. And they give us a glimpse at an understanding of the reason why we worship God. Because He is holy.

Now, we think of the word holy, and we typically associate that with being set apart from sin. That is, you know, God is holy. That is, he has no sin. He has no shadow. He has nothing like sin. And that is absolutely true of God. But it's not the limit of what that word holy is all about. The word holy, it means to be set apart from sin.

It means to be distinct and different, really. And so as you think about the holiness of God, understand that it's not just that God is perfect and without sin, but it also goes beyond that to give us the understanding that God is completely and utterly different than anything else. There is nothing like God.

He is far above any created thing, any angelic being, any part of creation, any element of the universe that you might try to liken God to or equate God to. God is holy. He is set apart.

We'll see in just a moment. He's the creator. So that makes him completely different from the get-go. He is not like you. He is not like me. He's not just like one of us who just happened to have no sin. He's not just like an angel, only like a step above. But God is holy, holy, holy. Completely distinct, completely separate, radically different than anyone or anything that we could think or know.

He is the Lord God Almighty. That title Almighty speaks to the power of God, that He is all-powerful, that He is not limited in His power, but that He has all power. He has all strength. He has need of nothing.

He requires no help from anybody. He requires nothing from anybody for himself to be fully satisfied, for himself to be sustained. He is almighty. He has everything and all power and all that he needs and all that we need. It's all found in him. And this has always been the case. These living creatures continue to cry out, who was and is and is to come. It speaks about the past and the present and the future of

of God. And this is one of the ways that God is unique and distinct and different than anything else we've ever known. And that is, God has no beginning. He was. And that's always been true. He always was. Now, you and I can stop to try to think about that. What was it like for God before creation, since he existed before creation, since he's always existed? What was it like for God? What kind of existence was that for God before he said, let there be light?

Was God just sitting there in darkness for ages and ages and eons and eons until he said, hmm, let there be light. And then there was light. What was it like for God before that? Now you can boggle your mind for a long time and find no answers because, well, God is holy. He is completely different and distinct from us. We have no idea what it's like to be God.

But God is the one who was, who always was, who always has been. He has no beginning, but he is. He exists right now. He continues to exist and to reign and to continue. And he always will. He is the one who is to come. Now you and I have been given promises of eternal life.

that we will live forever. And maybe you've, you know, even heard the expression that, that we all will live forever. It's just a matter of whether we will live with God or apart from God and that, that we all have an eternal nature in that way. And that is true, but, but it is also true because that's how God has created us. And we'll see that a little bit more in just a moment, but God is not that way. He's different. We exist because

Because God wills us to exist. But God exists because God exists. He was. He is. He is to come. And so these four living creatures worship God continually. This is why we worship God. Because he is holy. Because he is almighty. Because he is eternal.

Well, it goes on now in verse 9 and 10. It says,

to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. Here we find the second reason we worship God. And that is that he is our creator and he is our sustainer. We're introduced to a new group now. When the four living creatures worship, then these 24 elders join in and worship God also.

A lot could be said about these 24 elders and a lot of discussion could be had about who they are and all of that. I'm not going to get into that, but just notice the worship that they give. They join in as the four living creatures worship. Then these elders worship and they worship God for the fact that he is the creator. He has created all things.

These are human beings. These are probably representatives of us, the church, all believers in Jesus, the saints, who worship God because he has created us. Why do you exist? How did you get here? It's been a work of God from the very beginning. He is the one who has given you life. But not only that, they worship him spiritually.

Because he is the sustainer of life. He's not only the creator, but he's the sustainer. He says, it says in verse 11, by your will they exist and were created. That we exist, first of all, from the beginning because God formed us. He fashioned us. He gave us life. But he doesn't just, you know, kind of begin the work and then just say, okay, you know, you're on your own. Takes off the training wheels and gives us a push and like, yeah, go for it. Every breath, every breath,

The scriptures describe that your very breath is in the hand of God. The only reason why we continue to exist is, well, because God wills it. The only reason why we have eternal life is because God wills it. The only, like in eternity, if you think about beyond this life into eternity, the only reason why we will exist there is because God allows us to. He enables us to. He wills us to.

We don't ever become self-sufficient and independent and we don't need God and we just exist on our own, you know, through our own resources or through our own being. That never happens. We exist from the beginning because God created us and ongoing because it's by God's will that we exist and throw things on the floor. It's by God's will.

Now we're going to move on into chapter 5. And the scene continues in chapter 5 as there's the father on the throne. He has a scroll in his hand. No one is worthy to read the scroll except they find the Lamb of God. In verse 6 of Revelation chapter 5, it says, And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain.

having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

In chapter 4, we saw this worship scene happening before the throne. That is the picture of the Father sitting on the throne. Now we find this scene continue and worship continues. Now falling down before the Lamb. It's a reference to Jesus Christ. And they fall down before Jesus to worship. It says each one has worship.

These 24 elders as they worship the Lord, they're all musicians. They're all joining in the worship and they're praising God. In verse 9 it tells us, they sing a new song saying,

Here we get the next reason why we worship God, and that is he is our redeemer and our reconciler. As they worship the lamb, as they worship Jesus here in this scene, they worship the

They declare, you have redeemed us. You were slain. Here is the Lamb of God who stands there, perfect, flawless, sinless, but he was the one who was slain. He is the one who sacrificed himself on our behalf so that we could be redeemed. That word redeem, it means to purchase back.

And the idea and the understanding of, well, Revelation and the scriptures is that you and I as humanity, we were bound up in our sin, destined for destruction. All of the destruction that Revelation will describe and all the wrath that will be poured out and the eternal judgment that follows. That's what we were owed. That's what we were deserved. We were on the track to receive all of that. But then came the lamb.

who by his own blood purchased us. He bought us and gave us the opportunity to escape all of the things that we deserve, all of the judgment that is owed to us, to be forgiven and set free from that bondage to sin and death. He's redeemed us by his own blood. He's worthy of our worship. But then it goes beyond that. In verse 10, it says, and you have made us kings and priests. And here's where I get the idea of the reconciler.

Not only did he just, you know, give us the opportunity to escape the judgment, but then he gives us the opportunity to walk with God and be part of God's work in this world and in eternity. We get to be reconciled, brought into right relationship with God, kings and priests to God, not lowly scumbags who just barely escaped judgment, but kings and priests is how God relates to you because God

of the work of the lamb because of what Christ has done for us. And so we worship God because he is holy, because he is almighty, because he is eternal, because he is our creator, our sustainer, but also our redeemer, our reconciler. Nobody was found in Revelation chapter five who is worthy to read the scroll to purchase us except for one God who became man, the lamb, Jesus Christ.

Well, the worship scene continues in verse 11 through 14. It says,

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said, amen. And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever.

The final point that I would highlight for why we worship and the reason to worship God is because he is worthy. And this is clearly shown in these verses as all of creation declares the worthiness of God.

Notice the scene in verse 11 as you look and there's the voice of many angels around the throne. So it's not just the four living creatures any longer. We're not just talking about the 24 elders. They're part of the scene, but they're just part of the scene. Here we have many angels. And how many? Well, the number was 10,000 times 10,000, but that's not meant to be a precise mathematic calculation because then he goes on to say, and thousands of thousands. Okay.

And so you get the idea here. There's a huge multitude, hundreds of thousands, worshiping God. And what are they saying? Worthy is the lamb who was slain. You see, if we don't worship God, we put ourselves in opposition to this huge multitude in the presence of God who say, God, you are worthy. We need to be reminded sometimes of the worthiness of God.

That worship is not about how we feel about it. It's about how worthy God is. And these, this huge multitude before the throne declare that God is worthy. Notice in verse 13, every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea. Now it goes beyond the angelic beings, beyond those who are, you know, they're directly in the presence of God. But all of creation, right?

is involved in the worship of God. And what are they saying? Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. The fish, the animals, all of creation. Remember when Jesus was writing into Jerusalem and the people were saying, you know, hallelujah, blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And the religious leaders were like, hey, tell these guys to stop. And Jesus said, if they stop, the rocks will cry out.

And, you know, we can look at that and go, well, that's kind of a cool thing, you know, but Jesus wasn't really joking. I mean, that's like a literal thing. Creation itself declares and proclaims that God is worthy of worship and praise. The four living creatures join in in verse 14 and they say, amen.

The 24 elders, they bow down and they worship the Lord. Here in the presence of God, as the Lord pulls back the curtain and gives us a glimpse into the throne room, into what happens there, we see incredible worship and reasons why we worship God. Because he is holy and almighty and eternal. He is the creator. He is a sustainer, redeemer, and reconciler. Bottom line, he is worthy.

I would ask you to consider this morning as we, to close the service in a little bit, we'll have one last closing song and a time to worship. And I would ask you to consider, will my worship reflect these realities of who God is? Will my worship be about who he is and his worthiness? Sometimes, you know, we kind of just

fizzle into worship, we fizzle out of worship, we're here, but we're zoned out, you know, might even be saying the words, but our mind's somewhere else, that we're not really engaged in the declaration, in the proclamation, in the adoration that God deserves. And this is one of the reasons why it's important for us to spend time in the book of Revelation, to be reminded about who God is, his greatness, his worth of our worship.

We worship God because he is holy, almighty, eternal, creator, sustainer, redeemer, reconciler. He is worthy. Well, we want to move on now to look at some other things that are revealed here in the book of Revelation. And so now we're going to jump to Revelation chapter six for point number two. And that is Revelation reveals the severity of God's wrath. Revelation reveals the severity of God's wrath.

I kind of didn't prepare you for that, right? I mean, you're like, let's go into a time of worship. Oh, praise Jesus. Whoa, wait, wait, wrath? Wait, what are you talking about now? This is important as well. This is an aspect of God's nature and character that we need to grasp and have a good understanding of. And God pulls back the curtain and says, I want to show you this part of my nature. You need to understand it.

Let's consider what it says here in Revelation chapter 6 verse 12. We're jumping into the beginnings of the tribulation period and the opening of the seven seals. Here in verse 12 through 17, we have the sixth seal. And here's what it says. I looked when he opened the sixth seal.

And behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up.

And every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Verse 15. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand?

Who is able to stand before the wrath of the Lamb? One of the important elements that we find here in the book of Revelation, in the unveiling, in the revealing of the wrath of God, is the reminder that life is much more than our day-to-day routines. And that the stakes in life are incredibly high.

This understanding gives us an appreciation and awareness, a perspective on life that we desperately need. It is very easy for us to kind of get in the

kind of the routine, you know, and we go about our day. We don't think much about eternity. We don't think much beyond our scope or just, you know, what's happening this day or this week or, you know, what Christmas presents we're buying or getting or, you know, we can easily just kind of limit ourselves to this little circle of understanding and things that we focus on. And the book of Revelation will pull us out of that to think and understand the bigger picture of

That in reality, there is the wrath of God that will be poured out upon the earth as these seals are broken. Now, we were introduced to the scroll back in Revelation chapter 5. There on the throne stood the Father, or sat the Father. He had the scroll in his hand. Nobody was found worthy except the Lamb. And he takes the scroll and he begins to open it. And this scroll is sealed with seven seals. This scroll has often been described as the title deed to the earth.

It's not specifically called that in the scriptures, but there's interesting parallels to the practices of the Jewish people in that they would have, you know, if you sold something or you were buying something back, there would be that title deed. And the way that you would be

to buy it back is the scroll of the deed would be open and there would be, you know, this requirements that would be set. And so the idea is to begin opening the scroll, there would be written requirements on the outside. And when you met those requirements, you could break that first seal and read on. And then here's the requirements that are found next.

And you read those, when you meet those requirements, you can break the next seal and read on. So, you know, you have to be a descendant of this tribe and you have to, you know, come from this family and you have to, and he would go down. And so this is describing a scroll that has these seven seals. And as these requirements are met, the seals are broken. And with the breaking of each seal, events are taking place upon the earth. Here's a quick look at the seven seals.

The first seal is broken and the Antichrist comes onto the scene conquering. Then the second seal is broken and peace is taken from the earth.

Then the third seal is broken and famine is brought upon the whole earth. Then the fourth seal is broken and death is brought to one fourth of mankind on earth. The fifth seal is broken and martyrs are comforted in heaven. The sixth seal is broken and there's catastrophic events that we just read about here that take place.

And then the seventh seal is broken and there's silence in heaven and seven trumpeters are brought forth. Now here as the sixth seal is broken, it describes for us all of humanity, kings and slaves, free and every aspect, every social class,

All genders, there's no discrimination here. All of humanity is experiencing this wrath. They're hiding and they're saying, who can stand before the wrath of the Lamb? Now this is happening as the sixth seal is broken, but really this is just the beginning because now come the seven trumpets. As the seven trumpets are brought forth and you continue to read through the book of Revelation, you find the first trumpet is

A third of the vegetation on earth is burned. Then the second trumpet sounds and a third of the sea is turned to blood. Then the third trumpet sounds and a third of the water is made bitter. Then the fourth trumpet sounds and a third of the stars are darkened. The fifth trumpet sounds and there's five months of demonic torment. The sixth trumpet sounds and four angels come forth to kill one third of mankind. The seventh trumpet sounds and the temple in heaven is opened and seven bowls are brought forth.

And now we have seven more judgments in the form of these bowls. The first bowl is poured out and a foul and loathsome sword breaks out on humanity. Then the second bowl is poured out and the sea becomes blood. The third bowl is poured out and the fresh water becomes blood. The fourth bowl is poured out and the sun scorches men. The fifth bowl is poured out and there's darkness on the kingdom of the Antichrist. The sixth bowl is poured out and the kings gather to Armageddon. And then the seventh bowl is poured out

and there is great earthquake, and there is hail, and then immediately after that is when Jesus Christ returns to put an end to everything and establish his kingdom upon the earth. But we have here these seals, which bring forth the trumpets, which bring forth the bowls, all of these different kinds of judgment that are brought forth. This is describing to us real events that happen in

in a specific succession, a specific order. This happens, then that happens, then this happens, then that happens. A lot of the language is difficult to understand. It's poetic, mysterious, but at the same time, it's describing real events that will take place, real destruction that will happen, real wrath that will be poured out. And these are important reminders for us.

We're entering now, or I guess we're not entering. We are full-fledged into the Christmas season, right? We have the manger scene up here. Isn't that nice? You know, we have Jesus in a little, you know, manger and Joseph and Mary, and we can sing songs like Silent Night and Holy Night and all this calm, you know, just this kind of nice, peaceful, joyful, Merry Christmas. We celebrate, and we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We celebrate. It's worth celebrating, right?

And next week, as we have Christmas Eve service, we'll be celebrating that. I kind of doubt I'll be teaching from Revelation next Sunday, just so you know. I'll pray about it as I read the chapters this week. But we'll be celebrating the birth of Jesus, celebrating that Jesus being God became a man. It's amazing what God has done. It's amazing. The peace, the Prince of Peace found in Jesus Christ. Worth celebrating. But it's also important to remember that there's more to Jesus than

than this aspect of his nature. There's more to Jesus than just this element of his life. There's more to Jesus than just his first coming, even if you include, you know, going up to the crucifixion and then resurrection and ascension into heaven. There's more to Jesus than that. That's not the limit. That's not the extent of who Jesus is. Another aspect of the life and nature and character of Jesus, well, is what's revealed as these things.

Men and women, kings and slaves, hide in whatever cave they can find and call to the mountains and rocks. Please fall on us. Who can hide us from the wrath of the lamb? The wrath of the lamb. That is a reference to Jesus Christ. Yes, he came in peace. He came as a baby. He came to bring peace. He came to bring redemption and to reconcile us to God. But he also will come with wrath.

with wrath that is so fierce and so severe that the world has never seen the kind of wrath that it will experience in this time. The prophet Isaiah talks about this as well in Isaiah chapter 13, verse nine. He says, behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy its sinners from it. Some people have a hard time

Putting this verse in the context of Jesus. No, Jesus is about love and peace. And, you know, that's, that's, he came, you know, as sweet and they sang silent night. It was beautiful. Yes, all true. But the whole purpose of his coming was to give you an opportunity to be delivered from what's coming next. Cruel.

with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy its sinners from it. Jesus is also a holy God who will deal with sin and wrath will be poured out on all humanity because of sin.

The book of Revelation, it gives us, as you look at chapter 6 through 19, describe for us that tribulation period where the wrath of the Lamb is poured out upon the earth. The wrath of God is poured out completely. And there is great devastation. Let me give you a little sample of the scope of this. Here's a quick look at some math based on what happens in the fourth seal.

So you have the seals, then the trumpets, then the bulls. As the fourth seal is opened, it says that a quarter of the earth is killed. Now, looking at this morning's population, we have about seven and a half billion people on the earth as of 5.30 this morning. Then doing some math, 31% of the world claim to be Christian. Now, we'll just assume that everybody who claims to be a Christian is actually a Christian and assume that

The Christians will be raptured, taken out of this world, caught up to be with the Lord in the air before the tribulation begins. Lots of reasons to believe that. Not going to get into those. But that means that about 2.3 billion people would be caught up to be with the Lord and taken out of the tribulation period. Now, that means going into the tribulation period, we have about 5.2 billion people on the planet. Now, the fourth seal is opened.

And one fourth of 5.2 billion people are killed. That adds up to about 1.3 billion people. 1.3 billion people killed in this one seal, not including all the other judgments and all the other surrounding things and normal issues of life. 1.3 billion people killed as a result of this. This is wrath at a scale that we have no concept of.

This is really difficult for us to understand. Can you comprehend 1.3 billion people dying as a result of this judgment? Probably not. I would give just as a comparison this hurricane season. We had a real tough hurricane season this year, didn't we? I mean, lots of devastating storms and floods and it's just wrecked havoc and tons of property and all kinds of damage. But as you look at this

year's hurricane season and add up the totals, you have about $370 million in property damage, about 882 deaths. That's with Harvey, not this Harvey, Hurricane Harvey, with Elsa, I mean Irma, with Jose, Maria, you get the point, right? You add all this whole season's hurricanes together. Puerto Rico, great devastation, right? Huge damage, lots of people suffering. And

People affected by the storm and then the effects of the storm, you know, the aftermath of the storm, we're still at about a thousand people dead. Compare that to 1.3 billion when the fourth seal is opened up. Here's another thing to think about. World War II, deadliest war in all history. It's estimated that about 3% of the world's population died.

in World War II, in the war itself, and the, you know, things related, the famine related to the war, and all of those kinds of things. That's 60 to 80 million people. Again, World War II, devastating, horrible, not to water that down, but understand the scale. 60 to 80 million people is, it's hardly nothing in comparison to 1.3 billion. Understand, the wrath of God is

is severe. The devastation is going to be beyond what we can really understand. Later on, as the trumpets are sounded, the sixth trumpet sounds, and a third of the earth is killed at that time. Took out 1.3 billion in one judgment before. Now in this judgment, another 1.3 billion wiped out because of the wrath of the Lamb. The great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?

This may not be your favorite aspect of God's character and nature, but it's an important one. God pulls back the curtain and he says, I want to show you a little bit about my nature, a little bit about my character. Here's how I feel about sin. Here's what I'm going to do to deal with sin. It's not that God enjoys wrath. It's not that God's just angry and he's just looking for an opportunity to lash out at people, but he is holy. He will deal with sin. He doesn't enjoy wrath.

Now, some people would say, well, if God doesn't enjoy it, then why is God going to give it? I mean, why didn't God just create us in a way that he wouldn't have to deal with us in this way? And we could go around and around with lots of questions like that. I would go back to when you were young. Remember when you were young? You were a teenager and you could not wait to turn 18. Then you would be an adult. And you know what you could do? Anything you want.

You would have those longings, right? Oh, I just can't wait till I'm an adult. And then I get my car. Now I could do anything I want. I can go anywhere I want. I can come home anytime I want. I can stay up all night if I want to. I don't got people telling me what to do. And you have all these aspirations, right? Things that you think you will do when you become an adult. And then you become an adult. And what happens? Well, maybe you try to do all those things for a little bit. But it doesn't take very long to realize there's good reason why people don't live that way, right?

You do go anywhere you want. You do stay up all night as often as you want. You just don't want to the way that you thought you would. Your perspective changed. Reality sets in. It changes your perspective. It changes your understanding. And you can look at that in a lot of different examples. But

Just kind of likening that to, we look at God and go, wonder why God did this way, and wonder why God, you know, gives wrath when he doesn't want to give wrath. And we can try to figure it out all we want, but at the bottom line of it is, our perspective is skewed. We really have no idea what it's like to be God. And we think we could know, and we think we could tell him, God, if you would have just asked me for counsel, I would have told you how to make us better and how to do all this right. No, God is holy. He is perfect. He is flawless. He doesn't enjoy wrath. He doesn't enjoy

but he is going to bring wrath because of sin. And that leads me to the last point for this morning, and that is Revelation reveals the wickedness of man's heart. If you'll jump with me to Revelation 9. Revelation 9, verses 18 through 21, we're jumping into the sixth trumpet as the judgment is being poured out. In verse 19, it says, "'By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.'

For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents having heads, and with them they do harm. Verse 20. But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their adultery.

Here, God pulls back the curtain and says, look, I want to give you a glimpse at the kind of situation we're dealing with in the heart of humanity. Here are these people who have survived thus far into the tribulation. They've seen much judgment. They've survived the wrath of God being poured out to a greater degree than the world has ever known. They've seen radical works of God and judgments of God. And what does it say?

as they experienced the sixth trumpet it says they saw all of this and they would not repent god shows us in this the wickedness of man's heart they're involved in idolatry which can be the worship of these objects but it's the worship of anything it's the the positioning of anything instead of god the the passion for anything except for god or instead of god

They're involved in murder. Now that's kind of the classic one, right? Everybody says, I'm not a bad person. I don't murder anybody. I haven't killed anybody. But then it goes on to talk about sorceries and sexual immorality and thefts. We wouldn't equate thefts and murder, right? But these are the kinds of sins. And this isn't like the established list of official sins. This is just, here's a couple of samples. It's sin, right?

That whatever sin people are struggling with or holding on to, they're holding on to it in face of judgment and seeing and knowing that God is bringing his judgment. He's bringing wrath and there's this stubborn refusal. No, I am not giving up my sin. No, I'm not going to give up. I'm going to do what I want to do. No, I will not submit to God. Now, the incredible grace of God is that this is all brought up because even in the judgments,

God is extending opportunity for people to repent. I mean, we can look at the severe wrath of God and go, whoa, that's serious, that's severe. Yes, but it's also God is bringing this severe judgment so that people have the opportunity to repent. But here you have humanity seeing all of these things and saying, no, stubbornly holding onto their sin. It shows us how bad the sin condition really is. That's why Jeremiah says, the heart is desperately wicked.

Not just like a little bit wicked, not like we have a few issues, you know, I kind of got some struggles, you know. No, we need to understand God pulls back the veil so that we can see the issues of our heart. We are desperately wicked. As we begin to understand that, we begin to realize what a miracle salvation is.

Again, it's not that Jesus just kind of like helps us clean up our life. It's like, you know, Alcoholics Anonymous, right? Just kind of like helps us kind of get in the right path, you know, kind of get things cleaned up and get things. No, no. This is an absolute miracle that you would forsake your sin and submit to God and believe in Jesus Christ is an incredible miracle of God. It's incredibly valuable.

Now we could think that surely people would repent if they saw all of these judgments and knew that it was God's judgment. People would see these things and for sure they would repent. But God pulls back the curtain and says, nope, let me show you. Even in the face of certain judgment, the heart is wicked and loves its sin so much that it will hold on to it even in the face of judgment like this. Sometimes we think about it the other way too, right? If only people could see some great miracle, then they would believe.

But God's shown that also. You look at the life and ministry of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, and it didn't make people believe. We could think that it would, but it wouldn't. It doesn't. Because the issue is our heart, the wickedness of our heart, our love for sin, our rebellion against God.

Revelation reveals the wickedness of man's heart. That in the face of all these things, and several times throughout Revelation you'll see this, there's all these judgments coming, but people are cursing God. They're refusing to turn from sin. This is the reason why God is bringing forth this severe wrath. This is really important for us to grasp hold of because it helps us to remember the battle that we're facing. Remember Paul said that we don't struggle against, we don't battle against flesh and blood.

So many times we're involved in the battle against flesh and blood. We're trying to persuade people, convince people, rebuke people, you know, win arguments against people into the kingdom of God. But it's really a spiritual work that must take place. And it's a miracle. The sin issue is much deeper than we many times realize. And there needs to be a radical intervention of God and the willingness on the part of the person to receive that intervention for someone to be saved.

That's what you need. That's what I need. That's what the world around us needs. How do you reach people who are so entrenched in sin that even in the face of these judgments, stubbornly say no. Paul says you do it with gentleness. Remember he told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all.

Be patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance, that they will escape the snare of the devil. God wants us in gentleness to break through, to reach. It is the patience of God, the love and kindness of God that brings us to repentance. He says, you do the same. You can't win them in with an argument. You can't win them in with a debate. You can't win them in with some type of, you know,

convincing debate, the issue is far deeper than that. This is also important for us to remember that the wickedness of man's heart to remind us not to play with sin. And this morning, I want to finish up with that. Actually, Ronnie and the worship team is going to come up and they're going to close this out in a song. But as they get ready, I just want to ask you to consider, is there any areas of issues in your life that you're just kind of allowing, you're just kind of playing around with sin? And I would ask you to consider this morning that

Sin is not something to play around with. It's not something to, you know, just kind of allow casually or to put up with because, well, look at the real issues of the heart. There needs to be, for us, a real, full, radical surrender and submission to God because the root of sin, the wickedness of sin is, it's very deep. And he who is, you know, the son sets free is free indeed. That is absolutely true.

So be set free. Don't go back. Don't carry on. Don't persist. Don't play around with sin. As you look at Revelation chapter two and three, Jesus writing to the different churches, there's a couple of things he says to every church. One is hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. And another thing is overcome. And I would phrase that this way. There is a need for you and I to walk with God until the very end.

The book of Revelation reminds us of the stakes. There is huge stakes involved in this life. And we need to walk with God and hear from God all the way to the very end because of who God is and because of what is to come and the wickedness that is found in our hearts.

As they close us out in this worship song, I would invite you to seek the Lord for your own heart, to ask God to do a work in you that you would walk with him until the very end. As you understand this revelation, as God has revealed this part of his nature, his character and his plan. I would also invite you to pray. Pray for the people around you. Pray for the lost. They need God's intervention. They don't need just like a little bit of help, but they need a radical work of God. Let's pray for them.

as we worship the Lord together. There's great reason to worship God, so let's do that now. Let's let our worship reflect the worthiness of God.