The Inescapable Corruption of Sin

we live in a postmodern era where any absolute truth is being denied you've heard plenty about that we've spoken about that that is the rebellion against truth that is a rebellion against the god of truth there is truth and god has ordained truth in every aspect from the physical to the spiritual realm and there is an inescapable absolute law that is in operation you may not believe it that doesn't change it if you'll open your bible to galatians chapter 6 i want you to see how simply that law is laid out verse 7 galatians chapter 6 verse 7 do not be deceived god is not mocked for whatever a man sows this he will also reap for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life the apostle paul here declares something that is a self-evident truth it is axiomatic it is not arguable what you sow you reap that simple and absolutely true the agricultural illustration cannot be gain said whatever you sow you will reap but paul is not talking about agriculture he's talking about the realm of spiritual life and he says if you sow to the flesh sin you will reap corruption that is inevitable and that word in the original greek means decay ruin death or destruction so if you sow to the flesh it is inevitable that you will reap corruption decay ruin death destruction on the other hand if you sow to the spirit you reap eternal life everybody in the world is sowing to one of those two either to the flesh in sin or to the spirit in righteousness and the outcome is absolute but let's talk about sowing to the flesh and reaping corruption sin has consequences it has personal consequences it has physical consequences it has relational consequences it has national consequences it has global consequences and most significantly it has personal consequences and ultimately eternal consequences every sin ever committed by every person will be judged and in our current situation in the world people keep asking me the same question do you have any confidence that things are going to get better that's the question is there a better life in the future is there hope for us is this in fact the way the world is going to be from here on out the only answer that i have for you is this this is an absolute law and when enough people are sowing to the flesh sin relentlessly it accumulates a kind of corruption that is inescapable it's inescapable and god will not overrule the law of sowing and reaping and the world is so totally dominated by the flesh by sin that it cannot avoid a harvest of corruption decay destruction ruin and death now as people face the realities of life in our day most of them would would like to change it there are the elite globalists who meet in davos switzerland at the world economic forum high powered extremely wealthy people who believe that their objective is to save the planet to avert climate collapse through the elimination of fossil fuels plastic and i suppose hairspray and they want to introduce into the world a new future by a new green world order and then there are the social anarchists the protesters and the rioters who are trying to reset society to their will by fear and anarchy they don't really have a plan for the new world they only have a plan to tear down the one that exists they create chaos for chaos sake looting shooting killing those that they view as oppressors or capitalists they are after a scorched world that they can redo in godless immoral socialism then there are the race hustlers relentlessly assaulting white people dividing everybody into an identity group and accusing everybody of cosmic sins because of who they are not what they did they're at the same time attacking any unity in the country any good will any remnant of love and compassion forgiveness they're attacking marriage they're attacking the family they're attacking mothers they're attacking fathers they're attacking attacking sexual normality fidelity you know all this and all of these groups are basically using this coveted virus lockdown as a tool to get to the reset that they're after the only thing that stands in the way really is the church of jesus christ and so the church must be marginalized now there are some folks who are still singing god bless america irving berlin's famous 1918 song and hoping for some divine intervention and hoping for the salvation of capitalism and democracy and kindness and good will do they have any realistic hope let me say this if we actually identified the necessary conditions for god to bless america the politicians the policy makers the media moguls the social leaders the educators and the general population would be offended by it they want god to bless but not on his terms it's a really contentless wish it's a sentimental wish there is a path to blessing but you have to be willing to acknowledge it all of that to say this are things going to get better the immediate answer is no no for one clear reason [Music] what people sow they reap and they sow sin and reap corruption then you have so many people sowing sin that the harvest of corruption is massive back in job chapter 4 and verse 8 we read according to what i've seen says eliphaz those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it that's the harvest those who are trying to fix the world have an impossible task trying to fix the world environmentally trying to fix the world socially trying to fix the world economically trying to fix the world morally trying to fix the world sexually trying to fix the world politically is trying to get a crop different than what is being sown not going to happen the foundational truth is this the dominating presence and power of sin accumulates a massive harvest of corruption destruction ruin and death look there are 1189 chapters in the bible four of them don't involve a sin cursed world the first two and the last two before sin and after sin before the fall and the new heavens and the new earth everything in between is just the history of sowing and harvesting sin and corruption i i want you to understand how common this is declared in scripture so just listen for a moment and think about your own experience in reading through say the old testament to start with the old testament is a series of disastrous consequences isn't it from adam and eve and the disaster of the fall which affected the entire universe every human being the cain enables disaster to the disasters in the life of the patriarchs and moses the nation israel the kings the priests even some of the prophets and the gentile nations the whole story of the old testament is a story of sin and corruption [Music] sin has built in consequences listen just for a moment i'm going to just speak some things that are located in the book of proverbs i won't identify where i'm just going to let you listen those who do evil lie in wait for their own blood they ambush their own lives the curse of the lord is on the house of the wicked his own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held by the cords of his own sin he who sins against me injures himself and all those who hate me love death the years of the wicked will be shortened the wicked will fall by his own wickedness the cruel man does himself harm the wicked earns deceptive wages he who pursues evil will bring about his own death the evil man will not go unpunished he who seeks evil evil will come to him the wicked are filled with trouble wickedness subverts the sinner adversity pursues sinners the house of the wicked will be destroyed he who tells lies will perish he who is careless of conduct will die the violence of the wicked will drag them away and that's just a sampling of what is all through the book of proverbs those are maxims that we have to understand what you sow you reap is just being said over and over and over and over and by the way what you sow you reap but not you alone cumulatively everybody else is brought into that corrupt harvest looking at a couple of other portions of proverbs let me read chapter 1 verse 25 and you neglected all my counsel and didn't want my reproof i will also laugh at your calamity i will mock when your dread comes when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you then they will call on me but i will not answer they will seek me diligently but they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord they would not accept my counsel they spurned all my reproof so they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices for the waywardness of the naive will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them but he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil the sixth chapter of proverbs starting [Music] in verse 14 we read who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil who spreads strife therefore his calamity will come suddenly instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing and then this familiar passage proverbs 6 16 there are six things which the lord hates yes seven which are an abomination to him haughty eyes a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked plans feet that run rapidly to evil a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife among brothers sowing those things reaps a harvest of corruption and also produces the judgment of god back in numbers 32 and verse 23 we read these familiar words you have sinned against the lord and be sure your sin will what find you out and what about the new testament turn to romans chapter one very familiar portion romans chapter 1 verse 18 for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness what i want to introduce here is this sin has consequences and they're not some some neutral cosmic law that produces those consequences those consequences are the direct expression of the wrath of god it is the wrath of god that is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness you say does everybody suppress the truth about god of course because that which is known about god is evident within them for god made it evident to them for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse for even though they knew god they didn't honor him as god or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened professing to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible god for an image in the form of corruptable men and birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures all the false religion in the world is open rebellion against god going against even the revelation of god visible in creation and understandable by human reason it isn't just something that happens because sin generates it what happens is not generated by sin it is brought by god it is the wrath of god that wrath means god gives people over here's the sowing and reaping gives them over they sowed lust he gave them over to lusts lust in their hearts to impurity so their bodies would be dishonored among them that's a sexual perversion they exchanged the truth of god for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever amen for this reason god gave them over to degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural homosexuality same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own person the due penalty of their error aids aids is not simply because of some viral agent it is that god uses that as an act of his own wrath they didn't see fit to acknowledge god any longer verse 28 says god gave them over to a depraved mind out of that came all unrighteousness wickedness greed evil envy murder strife deceit malice gossip slander they're haters of god insolent arrogant boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents without understanding untrustworthy unloving unmerciful and though they know the ordinance of god that those who practice such things are worthy of death they not only do the same but also give hearty approval to those who practice them as i've been saying in some of the media interviews our culture looks like a national version of the jerry springer show where people laugh at perversion that's what happens when you sow sin you get the harvest of corruption think about it there are something over 7 billion people in the world approaching 8 billion the vast majority of those people are very busy sowing sin and the harvest of corruption is massive it's reminiscent of actually what happened back in the book of genesis you remember the words familiar words of genesis 6 and verse 5 just before the lord sent the flood then the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and down came judgment wiped out the entire human race except for eight persons you sow that sin you reap the harvest of corruption and down comes divine judgment and what does divine judgment look like well initially it's god just giving you over to your lusts multiplying the perversities multiplying the iniquities as they're listed at the end of the chapter and the corruption accumulates and accumulates and the weight the sheer weight of that corruption is incomprehensible particularly when god is too holy to look on any corruption the offense to god is massive and far beyond our comprehension and don't think you can reverse it be not what deceived god is not mocked don't be deluded into thinking that god will not allow the harvest of the seed sown no amount of psychology no amount of social science no amount of education no amount of green energy no amount of racial reparations can change that harvest the world is reaping that harvest but all of these people who are trying to fix the planet are doing nothing more than arranging deck chairs on the titanic as it goes down or building sand castles when a tidal wave is coming people are using covid to help in their silly reset efforts and they're keeping the population in fear as long as they can at every point so that the human race gets into a free fall from which it cannot recover the truth is it isn't a free fall and it can't recover humanity is like a man who jumps off a 40-story building and then starts wondering how he can change the inevitable consequence before he hits the pavement the bible is so explicit on this and yet it is so rarely addressed it's everywhere in scripture let me share some things with you jeremiah the prophet the weeping prophet writes in chapter 19 verse 3 hear the word of the lord o kings of judah and inhabitants of jerusalem thus says the lord of hosts the god of israel behold i am about to bring a calamity upon this place at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle because you have forsaken me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of judah had ever known and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent slaughtering babies and have built the high places of baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to baal a thing which i never commanded or spoke of nor did it ever enter my mind therefore behold days are coming declares the lord when this place will no longer be called topheth or the valley of ben hinnom but rather the valley of slaughter i will make void the council of judah and jerusalem in this place that will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life and i will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth and i will also make this city a desolation and an object of hissing everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters i will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters because they're starving in a famine they will eat one another's flesh in the siege in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them is serious about the consequence of sowing sin the prophet nahum opens his prophecy [Music] the oracle of nineveh the book of the vision of nahum the elkishite a jealous and avenging god is the lord the lord is avenging and wrathful the lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies the lord is slow to anger and great in power and the lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished that's the word of the lord through the prophet in matthew 10 28 our lord says do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather feel fear the one who can kill both soul and body in hell that one is god himself romans chapter 2 sinners are not only experiencing the harvest in the present but paul says they are storing up wrath for the future when there is the revelation of the righteous judgment of god the bible is just full of these warnings full of these warnings in the new testament the warnings are more specific more specific in the sense that christ has come salvation in him has been provided and made clear the preaching of the son of god calls to repentance and calls to faith have been sent out to the people and they were rejected they were rejected by herod they were rejected by the jewish religious leaders they were rejected by the nation they were rejected by the scribes they were rejected by the gentiles by pilate by the romans by the rest of the lost world came unto his own his own received him not and so now the culpability of the world is compounded significantly because in hebrews chapter 10 it's not just a matter of rejecting what god said in the old testament but what god did through his son listen to these words in the 10th chapter of hebrews for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth that's the gospel what is going to happen a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries and he looks back to the old testament and says anyone who has set aside the law of moses dies without mercy but how much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the son of god and regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace and that's when god says vengeance is mine i will repay it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living god no reset is possible and again most who want god to bless them have no interest in meeting the conditions of blessing which are pretty simple repent and believe in the lord jesus christ morality doesn't help we went through the era of the moral majority that didn't accomplish anything because external morality just makes people into pharisees pharisees are the model for history of morality covering blasphemy jesus saved his most severe words of judgment for the most religious people he called them snakes white washed tombs hypocrites children of the devil and sons of hell superficial religious morality spirituality as you hear people refer to it today is just sowing sin and will always reap corruption i want you to listen to the words of isaiah in chapter 34 just the opening ten verses draw nero nations to hear and listen o peoples let the earth and all it contains here and the world and all that springs from it the lord's indignation is against all the nations and his wrath against all their armies he has utterly destroyed them he has given them over to slaughter and this looks at the future when that is accomplished so their slain will be thrown out and their corpses will give off their stench and the mountains will be drenched with their blood and all the host of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll all their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine or as one withers from the fig tree for my sword is satiated in heaven behold it shall descend for judgment upon edom as an illustration and upon the people whom i have devoted to destruction the people whom i have devoted to destruction the sword of the lord is filled with blood it is sated with fat with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of rams for the lord has a sacrifice in bozera that's a city in edom and a great slaughter in the land of edom wild oxen will also fall with them and young bulls with strong ones thus their land will be soaked with blood and their dust become greasy with fat for the lord has a day of vengeance the recompense its streams will be turned into pitch and its loose earth into brimstone and its land will become burning pitch it will not be quenched night or day its smoke will go up forever from generation to generation it will be desolate none will pass through it forever and ever so you ask me again is there hope for the future listen to paul's simple statement first corinthians 16 22 if anyone does not love the lord he is to be cursed if anyone does not love the lord he is to be cursed corruption the divine curse on sinners is inescapable there will be final judgment and that's what those prophets i read are talking about turn now with me to the book of revelation chapter 20 verse 11. here's the final judgment then i saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them and i saw the dead the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books god keeps a record of their sins according to their deeds and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hades or the grave gave up the dead which were in them they were judged every one of them according to their deeds the whole world will be judged according to their deeds and they ever sowed sin and always reaped corruption then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and anyone's name not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire eternal punishment eternal punishment paul said if anyone doesn't love the lord he is to be cursed that curse is eternal punishment that's the judgment to come but but i want to show you something what happens before that what happens before that let's go back to the sixth chapter of revelation this is going to be a rapid tour sixth chapter of revelation in the fifth chapter the son of god comes before the throne of god and he takes the sealed scroll the sealed scroll is the title deed to the universe the universe has been under the curse but now it's time in the future for the lord to take back the universe the scroll is the title deed to the universe and in order to take it back he unrolls the scroll one seal at a time roman wills were sealed seven times the lord is going to take back his creation by the way all the preoccupation with social issues all the interest in social justice financial equity redistribution oppression victimization socialism identity fixation all of those things are so meaningless in the light of what is coming as we have to know this because we have to know the future and the lord has showed it to us the lord begins to unroll the scrolls first is a writer on a white horse verse two who has a a bow and a crown and he went out conquering and to conquer this is a peaceful conquering he has a bow without an arrow worldwide peace daniel 9 talks about the same thing anti-christ secures that global peace it's a bloodless victory yes the world is headed toward a fragile superficial global peace it doesn't last very long the lord breaks the second seal and the peace is over a red horse seen in john's vision and him who sat on it to him it was granted to take peace from the earth and that men would slay one another and a great sword was given to him so in the future there's going to be a fragile piece taken very quickly by bloodshed and death now just exactly when does this happen this is a period known as the tribulation before we get to chapter six we go through chapter four and five and we see glorified saints in heaven i'm convinced that the church will be taken out of the world jesus will come and call us those in dead in christ will rise first and those who remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the lord in the air he takes his church out he removes us he saves us from the wrath to come and then the wrath begins to break loose as god begins to judge the world slaughter through battle assassination rebellion revolt massacre as a result of all of that when the third seal is broken in verse five there is a scale a scale they're measuring grain or food and heard something like a voice at the center of the four living creatures those are angelic beings saying a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not damage the oil and wine that's famine those are famine conditions there will come in following war famine and poverty the fourth seal is opened and an ashen horse that's a word actually cloros from which you get chlorophyll a kind of a pale green horse the one who sat on it had the name of death in hades authority was given to them following this ashen horse death and hades authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword famine pestilence wild beasts of the earth eight billion people that's two billion people slaughtered in that judgment will be a time of pestilence that's the word thanatos meaning death the fifth seal identifies some martyrs and then the sixth seal down in verse 12 is broken a great earthquake the sun became black as sackcloth like goat hair and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree cast its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places this is frightening this is terrifying it goes from the killing of people to judgment on the cursed earth jesus talks about this and it's recorded in matthew and also in luke an earthquake the sun becomes black the moon turns to blood volcanic eruptions no doubt across the earth spewing steam and gas and dust a smoke darkened sky normal daylight and darkness are confused stars verse 13 fall that's asterace it can refer to any stellar body can refer to stars but any stellar body the earth will be pummeled by comets meteors asteroids unimaginable destruction hitting the globe like cosmic machine gun fire fiery balls plunging out of the darkness no place to hide no place to hide people will try verses 15 to 17 they'll try to hide and say to the rocks and the mountains fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of the wrath has come and who is able to survive the sky is split our lord in luke 21 talked about the terrors in the sky isaiah 34 i read it to you already the prophet says that the sky is rolled up like a scroll it's rolled up like a venetian blind let loose every mountain and island are moved this is a complete shifting of the earth's crust it is the great day of god's wrath in chapter 8 we see the seventh seal after an interlude there was silence in heaven for about half an hour and he's i saw the seven angels stand before god and seven trumpets were given to them so the seventh seal is now described as seven trumpets when the seventh seal and final seal is broken there will be the sounding of seven trumpets blown by seven angels who stand before god look down to verse six and the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them these are more rapid fire than the seals that stretch through the time of tribulation a seven year period the first sounded there came hail and fire mixed with blood they were thrown to the earth third of the earth was burned up a third of the trees were burned up all the green grass was burned up more volcanic eruptions lava fire smoke producing a hail storm all mixed with the blood of those that are killed the globe is a raging fireball destruction of crops destruction of vegetation destruction of animals forests and human life the second angel sounds and a mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood god judges the land in verse seven he judges in verses 8 and 9 the sea third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed god judges the oceans asteroids again pummeling the ocean creatures dying billions of stinking dead sea creatures floating on the ocean shipping is destroyed at least a third of it then the third angel sounds in verse 10 and a star fell from heaven burning like a torch another heavenly body comes down and falls on a third of the rivers in the springs of water from the earth to the sea to the fresh water this particular star is called worm wood appsynthos that was a toxic bush referred to about half a dozen times in the old testament the waters are made toxic a third of them become toxic and many died from the waters because they were made essentially poisonous the fourth angel sounds and a third of the sun third of the moon third of the stars were struck the third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it and the night in the same way that is an incredible judgment on the sun the moon the stars isaiah writes about it ezekiel writes about it joel writes about it amos writes about it our lord speaks about it and here we have it in the vision of the revelation these are more of the signs in the sky that christ referred to in luke 21 the sky begins to collapse the sun [Music] is interrupted in its normal appearance the moon the stars day and night dramatically altered tides all over the world altered receding so far as to expose the under belly of the sea and inundating other parts of the earth with tidal waves the likes of which no one has ever imagined and in verse 13 there was an eagle flying in mid heaven saying with a loud voice whoa whoa woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound four have sounded three more and the fifth angel sounded and i saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him that's satan not only do you have the disintegration of the sky the poisoning of fresh water destruction in the sea all of those natural judgments are then basically compounded when the lord allows satan to be released out of hell he opens the bottomless pit verse 2. then out of the bottomless pit come demons described like locusts who have the power like spiritual scorpions they come out they were told not to hurt the grass or any green thing which means there's some time lapse here so that grass has been able to grow again but only the men who didn't have the seal of god on their foreheads so they come back and do deadly demonic damage but they're not permitted to kill anyone but to torment them for five months their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man and in those days men will seek death and not find it they will long to die and death flees from them hell belches out demons who heretofore had been contained there they come to torment the world they have a king verse 11 says over them the angel of the abyss his name in hebrew is abaddon the greek is apollyon the destroyer worse is yet to come verse 13 the sixth angel sounded and the sixth angel blows the trumpet and what is released is a massive army of 200 million according to verse 16. 200 million and they come verse 18 and they kill a third of mankind by fire smoke brimstone no doubt contemporary weapons of some sort verse 20 shows you the response now they've gone through seven seals and six trumpets the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues didn't repent of the works of their hands so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts no repentance john is seeing this vision of the future in chapter 11 [Music] in verse 15 we have the seventh angel sounding and here is the declaration the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and he will reign forever and ever and the 24 elders representing the church sitting on the thrones before god fell on their faces in worship saying we give thanks o lord god the almighty who are and who were because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign and the nations were enraged and your wrath came and the time came for the dead to be judged and the time to reward your bondservants or your slaves the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name small and the great and to destroy those who destroy the earth the temple of god which was in heaven was opened the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a hailstorm as the divine vengeance machine of god begins to roll again people are identified as those who destroy the earth they destroy the earth by sowing sin and reaping endless corruption chapter 16. in chapter 16 you have the seven bowls that come out of the seventh trumpet these are rapid fire in days or weeks and here is more the seven bowls of the wrath of god seven bowls of the wrath of god a loud voice again there's 20 times that said in the book of revelation first angel pours his bowl on the earth and it becomes a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image malignant it's actually the word el cas in greek from which we get ulcer second angel poured his bowl into the sea and it became blood like that of a dead man and every living thing in the sea died already a third of it is dead and now everything in the sea is dead as these final judgments come third angel pours out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water and they become blood fresh water is made toxic over the whole earth over the whole earth verse 8 the fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun and it was given to it to scorch men with fire maybe that's when it's going to be with no vegetation and no water to drink in the sun making the temperature 150 degrees men were scorched with fierce heat did they repent no they blasphemed the name of god who has power over these plagues and they didn't repent so as to give him glory the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became darkened and they nod their tongues because of pain all the people who were part of the kingdom of the antichrist are inflicted with more pain and they blasphemed the god of heaven because of their pain in their sores and didn't repent of their deeds always the same reaction and then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river the euphrates and its water was dried up so the way would be prepared for the kings from the east what's that and i saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs spirits of demons and what are they doing they're gathering the armies of the world those that are left verse 16 to a place called a armageddon called armageddon they come there to fight the son of god they don't repent [Music] the final devastation seventh angel pours out his bowl on the air and a loud voice again come comes out of the temple from the throne it is done flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and a great earthquake such as there has not been since man came to be upon the earth so great an earthquake was it and so mighty the great city was split into parts cities of the nations fell babylon the great was remembered before god to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath babylon is the name for the final world religion and the final world global economic system every island fled away the earth's surface was re adjusted earlier but now every island fled away in the mountains were not found everything is flattened out huge hailstones a hundred pounds each came down from heaven on men who blasphemed god because of the plague because its plague was extremely severe chapter 17 says at the same time god is destroying the world religion that has been developed chapter 18 he destroys the world economic system and you can read the details all of these tremendous judgments judgments on the land judgments on the sea judgments on the rivers judgments in the sky make environmentalism idiotic and to try to reset social structures folly because this is what is coming and we're nearer to it now than we've ever been there's a global world described in the book of revelation one world religion revelation 17 one world economic system revelation 18. we're closer to that than ever in history chapter 19 then christ comes i heard a loud voice again a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong to our god because his judgments are true and righteous for he's judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality that's the false religious system he has avenged the blood of his slaves on her the second time they say hallelujah her smoke rises up forever and ever 24 elders representing the saints and the four living creatures the angels fell down and worshiped god who sits on the throne saying amen hallelujah and a voice came from the throne saying give praise to our god all you his slaves you who fear him the small and the great more hallelujahs peels of thunder verse six hallelujah for the lord our god the almighty reigns then the marriage supper of the lamb believers are given their rewards verse 11 heaven opens after heaven pours out praise at the beginning of the chapter heaven then opens and out comes a white horse and the one on it is faithful and true and this is a visionary picture of christ returning his eyes are a flame of fire on his head are many diadems all crowns he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself people always ask me what that name is it is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name was the word of god and the armies which are in heaven and that would be the angels and us clothed in fine linen white and clean are following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of god the almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords there will be judgment an angel standing in the sun cries with a loud voice come assemble for the great supper of god you may eat the flesh of kings the flesh of commanders the flesh of mighty men flesh of horses and those who sat on the flesh of all men both free men and slaves small and great and i saw the beast the antichrist and the kings of the earth and his armies assembled to make war against him they were all brought together in the bowl now they're at armageddon and obviously the lord is victorious the beast is seized the false prophet who deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image the two were thrown into the lake of fire and which burns with brimstone the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh that's how it all ends it's where the world is headed now as christians what do you think we ought to be busy doing well that'll be busy doing what we have been called to do and that is preaching the gospel so people will believe in jesus christ and not be there when this happens that's our calling after that chapter 20 says i saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand he laid hold of the dragon the serpent of old who is the devil and satan had bound him for a thousand years threw him into the abyss shut it sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed and then he would be released for a short time and i saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them and i saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of jesus and the word of god those who had not worshiped the beast that were his image and had not received the mark in their forehead in their hand they came to life and reigned with christ for a thousand years that's the kingdom how long is the kingdom a thousand years if you say does it mean a thousand years if it doesn't mean a thousand years you're going to have to tell me what it does mean and i'm not going to believe it because it says a thousand years so for a thousand years christ is going to reign for a thousand years christ is going to reign i want to take just a minute and tell you what it's going to be like as the prophets tell us it's the world we're all waiting for according to the old testament prophets there will be universal justice and peace all wars will cease because there's no military left in the world taxation will go down crime greatly reduced plentiful rainfall abundance of food and cattle are pictured by isaiah the curse on the earth is partly lifted there will still be death but people who die at 100 will die like a child the land of israel become a garden a river will be created when the mount of olives is split when jesus hits it that river will flow into the desert and it'll blossom like a garden poverty and distress and inequities will disappear animal creation will be changed the line will lie down with a laminate child can play in a snake pit amazing things you can find them all in the old testament prophets the earth now is flat and one place is exalted jerusalem jerusalem will be exalted zechariah 14 the whole world will be depressed and jerusalem exalted isaiah 2 micah 4. it's incredible how the lord will restore the earth its paradise regained paradise regained for a thousand years there will be justice and equity our job is not to do that in a superficial way our job is to preach the gospel because only jesus can rescue someone from the wrath to come at the end of the thousand years chapter 21-22 says he creates the new heaven and the new earth the current universe is uncreated second peter says it melts like fervent heat there's an atomic implosion in its place a new heaven and a new earth the final eternal state described in 21-22 how do you escape these judgments you remember the words of hebrews 2 3 how shall we escape if we neglect what so greatest salvation knowing the terror of the lord to come paul says we persuade men first thessalonians 1 10 is probably the best place to finish it says jesus rescues us from the wrath to come what is the job of the church it gets sucked up in every worldly enterprise to try to negate an inescapable law of sowing and reaping foolish foolish there's a harvest of corruption and it's going to get worse and wrath is going to come and our responsibility is to tell people that only jesus can save them from the wrath to come father we thank you for your word it's just overwhelming really thank you for giving me grace to [Music] present this and i only pray that you were honored and glorified so many people fooling around going to churches that talk to them about how they can have success or prosperity in this world and we don't understand that this world is already under your wrath and headed to terminal wrath and eternal wrath and our job is to declare that jesus and jesus alone delivers from the wrath to come may we be proclaiming the gospel [Music] you must be so burdened disappointed with so many so-called christians who are caught up in [Music] superficial things trying to fix a careening world that can't escape the inescapable absolute that what sinners so leads to a harvest of corruption and it accumulates even as it did in genesis when you drown the whole world you will not do that again but the judgment will come and it will be by fire and we would say even so come lord jesus but may we be faithful to proclaim the gospel not only are you a god of wrath but you are a god of love who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life that saving faith we pray for your glory amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 271,431

Rating: 4.8599534 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: 5YYVAdVpWvc

Length: 69min 3sec (4143 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 11 2020