Sermon
The Temple of Doom
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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We are tonight in Revelation chapter 15.
Revelation 15 chapter mention
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We're going to look at verses 1 through 8. I told you we just titled it tonight,
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The Temple of Doom, but let me kind of explain.
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This is kind of what we've been approaching this as, just to kind of help you know.
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Tonight, we're definitely going to do the big overview of this particular set of verses, okay?
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When I say a big overview, that means we're going to do that overview.
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We're going to read the scripture.
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We're going to kind do it with a huge overview and even looking at other passages
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in the Bible that tie into this.
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And then what we're going to do, which we may get to the first part tonight,
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we may have to wait till next week to pick up.
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We do a deeper dive in sections of this, a little bit deeper directly into it.
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So that's the approach that we're taking.
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So Revelation chapter 15 tonight, and we'll look at verses one through eight.
Revelation 15 chapter mention
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Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had
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seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
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And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been
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victorious over the beast in his image and the number of his name,
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standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
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And they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, in the song of the
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Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.
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Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations.
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Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
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For you alone are holy, for all the nations will come and worship before you,
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for your righteous acts have been revealed.
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After these things, I looked at the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in
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heaven was open and the temple was open.
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And the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple clothed
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in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chest with golden sashes.
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Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden
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bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
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And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power,
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and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
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Father God, I pray tonight you'd open up your word to us tonight that we can
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understand it in truth. In Jesus' name, amen.
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When they think about the future, people tend to worry about many things, right?
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The destruction of the environment, global warming, political unrest and instability,
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terrorism, crime, economic and financial collapse,
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the continual decline of moral values that we see that destroy all relationship
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and are all causes really for concern.
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And a further cause for anxiety with people today is the sense of just that
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forlorn or total emptiness fostered by this anti-God philosophy of humanism
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that is in our world today.
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And for those who believe that there is no personal God, there is no one home
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in the universe, so to speak, so they have nowhere to turn for ultimate answers, help, or meaning.
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Now, I don't know if you realize this. You've probably been in that point,
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maybe before you met the Lord, but how do you think you'd feel if you had no hope?
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No hope. At least that's how they feel, right?
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But what's truly frightening about the future is really not any of those things,
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but what should actually stop the heart of sinners is what God will do, Brother Ronnie.
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God's judgmental anger and fury is a terrifying reality, and it just looms over
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the horizon of human history. You can look all throughout Scripture.
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Psalm, Joel, Acts, 2 Timothy talk about it.
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Because they willfully ignore the reality, people do not fear what they should fear.
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Jesus actually exhorted people to what?
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To fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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Remember that in Matthew chapter 10? because God is a just judge and God is
Matthew 10 chapter mention
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angry with the wicked every day, it says in Psalm 711.
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And the writer of Hebrews actually adds this.
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It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Hebrews 10, 31.
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So throughout human history, God has poured out his wrath and judgment on sinners.
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And Adam's sin in Eden, you know, it brought the entire human race under God's judgment.
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Romans 5, 12 tells us about that. But by Noah's day, people had become so wicked,
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if you remember, that God sent that cataclysmic judgment of the flood to destroy the world, right?
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Genesis chapter 6 talks about this. Only Noah and those with him on the ark were spared.
Genesis 6 chapter mention
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And centuries of disobedience by the Jewish people ultimately led to their judgment
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as first the northern kingdom of Israel, and then the southern kingdom of Judah
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actually went into captivity, right?
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God's wrath and his judgment were the constant themes, if you will,
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of the Old Testament prophets.
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They frequently warned, we've looked at some of this before,
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but briefly let you know again, review it, the coming day of the Lord.
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Whether it was an imminent historical judgment or the final eschatological day
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of the Lord here in the book of Revelation, right?
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During the tribulation, all the historical day of the Lord judgments were previews
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of this last and most terrible day of the Lord that we're looking at.
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So Isaiah even warned of God's coming judgment.
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Listen to this. He said, well, for the day of the Lord is near.
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It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
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Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified.
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Pains and anguish will take hold of them. They will rise like a woman in labor.
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They will look at one another in astonishment.
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Their face is aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
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cruel with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation,
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and he will exterminate its sinners from it.
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That's Isaiah 13, 6-9.
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Wow. We have a holy God, y'all, that will not tolerate sin.
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You know, I started to think, you know, about this. I probably watched that
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movie or some of those movies way back a long time ago with old Arnold, The Terminator.
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You know, I thought, like, well, you know, terminate. Yeah, but here in this
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passage, it says exterminate.
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What's the difference between terminate and exterminate i mean terminate is
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really generic right it's like it doesn't have it's just like put an end to
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something right but exterminate y'all that is like to annihilate.
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To wipe it out. And it usually involves violence and destruction.
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That's what it says in the passage about God's anger. And Ezekiel described
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the day of the Lord in Ezekiel chapter 30, verse three, as a time of doom for the nations.
Ezekiel 30 chapter mention
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And Joel actually exclaimed, alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is near
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and it will come as destruction from the almighty. Joel chapter 1 verse 15.
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And Amos, famous Amos, right?
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Cried out to sinners in Israel, prepare to meet your God in Amos chapter 4 verse 12.
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Even the prophet Zephaniah gave the following frightening description of the day of the Lord.
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Listen to what he said about it. He said, near is the great day of the Lord,
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near and coming very quickly.
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Listen, the day of the Lord.
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In it, the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day,
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a day of trouble and distress,
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a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom,
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a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against
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the fortified cities and the high corner towers.
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I will bring distress on men so that
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they will walk like the blind because they have
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sinned against the Lord and their blood will be poured
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out like dust and their flesh like dung
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neither their silver nor their gold
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will be able to deliver them on the day of the lord's wrath
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and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of his jealousy for he will make
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a complete end indeed a terrifying one of all the inhabitants of the earth that's
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zephaniah 1 14 through 18 so that's that's where you see that it's a it's a complete,
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it's an annihilation of all those who've refused to repent and receive the mercy and grace of God.
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Job actually warned in Job 21 verse 30. He said that the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity.
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They will be led forth at the day of fury.
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You know, the historical outpourings of God's wrath, they fall into several
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categories, if you will.
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And I'm going to share a few of those tonight. You've probably heard of these before.
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But number one, first of all, is what we might call sowing and reaping wrath.
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You probably guess what that's about, sowing and reaping wrath.
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People sin, and they suffer the logical consequences of that sin.
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You know, whatever you sow, you're going to reap, right? So those who plow iniquity,
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according to the Bible, and those who sow trouble, harvest it.
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It says in Job chapter 4, verse 8, and Galatians 6, verse 7 and 8, it talks about that.
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And a second kind of wrath is cataclysmic wrath.
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And that's when God actually sends massive destructive judgment, cataclysmic wrath.
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So we have sowing and reaping wrath. We have cataclysmic wrath.
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That judgment may engulf the entire world as it did with the flood that we talked
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about earlier in Genesis 6 through 8, or a smaller region as when God actually,
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if you remember, in Genesis 19,
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he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Romans chapter 1 reveals God's wrath of abandonment.
Romans 1 chapter mention
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That's the third one, God's wrath of abandonment. When Paul three times used
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the phrase, if you remember,
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God gave them over to demonstrate God's judicial abandonment of sinners,
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removing restraint to the deadly consequences of their sinful choices.
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You might have seen it like he gave them up or gave them over,
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gave them to a reprobate mind, right?
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Hosea chapter 4, verse 17 declares, Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.
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As previously noted, you know, last week and I think even before,
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God's temporal judgment is poured out in the historical day of the Lord judgments.
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And finally here, as we reach this passage tonight, there is eternal wrath, eternal wrath,
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God's eschatological wrath, if you will, that will in the future,
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let's talk about here tonight in Revelation 15, will be poured out on the whole world.
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1 Thessalonians 1.10 talks about that. Chapter 5, the 1 Thessalonians verse 9 talks about it.
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The ultimate result of eternal wrath will be the sentencing of all unrepentant
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sinners to hell forever.
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But throughout the entire historical outpouring of God's wrath from Eden,
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the Garden of Eden, to the final explosion of his eschatological wrath that
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we look at in Revelation, a strange paradox exists.
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God, y'all, is busily working. Don't miss this.
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God is busily working to save sinners from his own wrath.
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He is busy working to save sinners from his own wrath. That's why Jesus came.
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That's what salvation is all about. We are saved from the wrath of God.
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Because as we've learned in weeks past, just like John 3.36 says,
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our famous chapter, we love 16,
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3.16, talks about in verse 36 that those who don't believe that God's wrath
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actually makes its home with them and abides on them.
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And that's why we read that passage earlier. God is angry with the wicked every day.
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But God is busily working to save sinners from his own wrath because he is holy,
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he is just, he is merciful, he is gracious, right?
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He wants to see people saved, to see them saved from his wrath.
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And the way he provided, which was who?
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His son, Jesus, right? That took all our punishment upon himself.
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He made a way, y'all. He made a way.
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God's nature here encompasses not only righteousness and holiness,
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again, like I said, but also grace and mercy, right?
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And even during the devastating judgments of the tribulation that we look at,
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God will call sinners to salvation.
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He'll do it. If you remember using the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that we studied
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in chapter 7 and chapter 14, The two witnesses we studied back in chapter 11,
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a host of redeemed Gentiles and Jews in chapter 7,
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and even an angel, if you remember, flying in heaven in the sky in midheaven
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in chapter 14 that proclaimed the gospel.
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So as the outpouring of divine wrath here escalates.
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God's evangelistic efforts will escalate as well. You see that?
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The result will be the greatest harvest of souls in human history.
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We saw that back in chapter 7, verse 9 of Revelation.
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A redeemed Israel and souls from all the nations will be saved,
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many to survive the tribulation and enter the millennial kingdom.
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Now, there will be many, many that will be martyred, but there will be many that will survive.
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Chapter 15 and 16, we're in 15 tonight, but they present the specific phenomena,
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if you will, of the final outpouring of God's wrath before Christ's return.
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That wrath is expressed by the effects of the seventh trumpet,
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as it talks about in verse 15.
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We haven't quite gotten there yet in chapter 11, which are the seven bowl judgments
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described in chapter 16 and chapter 15.
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The shortest in Revelation, chapter 15, It really forms this introduction to
Revelation 15 chapter mention
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those rapid fire judgments, if you will.
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But this chapter here is not written for the specific purpose of defending God's wrath.
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Since we read in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 4, it says, His work is perfect
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and all his ways are just. Amen.
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God's actions need no defense. I don't have to defend God.
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He doesn't need it. It's just like, I don't have to prove the word of God is
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true. It's self-evident.
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God's already said it, right? I mean, you don't have to prove it.
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We're talking about almighty God here.
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But nevertheless, I think several reasons for the outpouring of God's wrath
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here, it can be discerned in this text.
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In fact, a scene in heaven that we see here referred to anticipates the bowl
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judgment as it did in the case of the seal, if you remember back in chapters
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four and five, and the trumpet in chapter eight judgments.
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This is the third heavenly sign that John has seen in Revelation.
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In chapter 12, verse one, if you remember, he saw the sign of a woman clothed
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with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars.
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And in chapter 12, verse three, he saw the sign of a great red dragon having
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seven heads and 10 horns that we studied and on his head were seven diadems.
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And the terms great here and marvelous, they really express that enormous importance
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of this sign, if you will, okay,
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as it contains to this final outpouring that we're looking at of God's wrath on the wicked,
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on unrepentant sinners that's on the earth.
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The sign itself here consists of seven angels. If you look at the text again,
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seven angels who had seven plagues.
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We're in Revelation 15, 1 through 8, by the way. The same beings who care for
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and minister to God's people will bring God's wrath to the sinful world.
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Plagues, literally that word plagues, literally means a blow or a wound.
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And so it's so used in such passages as Luke chapter 12, I think Acts 16, and many others.
Luke 12 chapter mention
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It describes the beast's fatal wound that we studied a few weeks back.
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So the seven plagues are not really diseases or epidemics, but they're powerful,
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deadly blows that's going to strike the world with killing impact.
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So these seven plagues, the seven bold judgments are the last,
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it says in this passage, and they're also the worst, by the way,
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plagues, because in them, it says the wrath of God is finished.
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So it's important, I think, tonight, y'all, that we note that the fact that
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they are called the last really implies that the preceding trumpet and seal
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judgments were also plagues expressing the wrath of God.
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God's wrath extends throughout the tribulation. I don't want you to miss that.
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And it's not confirmed to just a brief period at the very end,
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as some people argue, that they are the last.
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Also, I think, indicates that the bowls actually here come after the seals and
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the trumpets in chronological sequence.
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So this tremendous outpouring of God's final judgmental fury here was actually
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anticipated earlier in Revelation. It's actually the culmination,
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if you will, of the great day.
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Back in chapter 6, it says, the great day of God, the Father's,
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and Jesus Christ's wrath.
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It's the third woe, if you will, predicted in chapter 11.
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The time of destruction, chapter 11.
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The unmixed wine. Remember that we studied that? The unmixed wine of the wrath of God.
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This final reaping of the earth, we studied back in chapter 14,
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the final trampling of the grapes
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of the wrath, of God's wrath that we studied last week in chapter 14.
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That word thumos, it just means wrath. It's a strong word. It describes rage
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or a passionate outburst of anger.
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God's anger must be expressed against all unforgiven sin.
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Tells us that in chapter 14, verses 8 and 10.
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In chapter 16, verse 19. In chapter 19 that we're going to get to,
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verse 15 talks about this.
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God's final wrath is called his fierce wrath. his fierce wrath.
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The prophet Zephaniah actually wrote of this final outpouring of God's wrath in Zephaniah 3 verse 8.
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Listen to it. He says, therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord,
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for the day when I rise up as a witness.
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Indeed, my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms,
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to pour out on them my indignation, all my burning anger, for all the earth
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will be devoured by the fire of my zeal.
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It's true that as Peter wrote, the Lord, you'll remember this one,
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is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
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Amen? 2 Peter 3, 9. Yet, Eastwood, those who refuse God's love,
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reject his grace, and scorn his mercy will inevitably face his wrath.
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And as this chapter unfolds, as we unpack it some more, three motives for the
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final outpouring of God's wrath, I think it's going to really evident to all of us.
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The vengeance of God, the character of God, and the plan of God.
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The vengeance of God, the character of God, and the plan of God.
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All right, we're 22 minutes in. Do y'all want me to look at the vengeance of
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God or you want me to wrap it?
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All right, let's try for the vengeance of God. We'll see if we can knock this
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one out tonight. We're going to concentrate to start with on verse 2 of chapter 15.
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He says, and I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who
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had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name
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standing on the sea of glass holding harps of God.
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Y'all see in this remarkable vision, John saw something like a sea of glass mixed with what? Fire.
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The sea was not an actual ocean because in chapter 21, we hadn't got to it yet.
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Verse one, he saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the
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first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea.
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When John John actually saw a transparent crystal platform before God's throne
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shimmering and glistening.
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John saw the same sea-like crystal platform in chapter 4, verse 6,
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if you remember, when he said before the throne, there was something like a
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sea of glass-like crystal.
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Moses also had a vision of it, by the way. When he and the elders of Israel
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saw the God of Israel and under his feet, there appeared to be a pavement of
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sapphire, it says, as clear as the sky itself. That's Ezekiel 24, verse 10.
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Ezekiel actually described it as something like an expanse, like the awesome
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gleam of crystal, he said in Ezekiel 1, 22.
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But this, y'all, this tranquil beauty of the sea was mixed with the fire of
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God's judgment, which was about to be poured out on where? The earth, right?
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And those who reject God's grace and mercy, as scripture says,
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face a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will
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consume the adversaries, it says in Hebrews 10, verse 27,
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because our God is a consuming fire, Hebrews 12, 29.
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Fire is associated in Scripture with God's judgment.
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John saw gathered around the throne of God, those who had been victorious over the beast.
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These are the believers, right?
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Redeemed during the tribulation. We saw them in chapter 6, 7,
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17. We'll see them. Chapter 12, 13.
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They'll be victorious over the beast because of their undying faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Revelation chapter 20, which we'll get to, verses 4 through 6,
Revelation 20 chapter mention
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describes their resurrection and their reward, by the way.
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In fact, all the way back in chapter 13 of Revelation, it says of the beast,
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the Antichrist, it was also given to him to make war with the saints and to
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overcome them. Y'all remember that, right?
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But Antichrist's triumph will be short-lived. And in the end,
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the tribulation saints will be granted triumph over him, prevailing under the
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pressure to which the world has succumbed.
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Not only, y'all, will the tribulation saints triumph over the beast,
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but also over his image and the number of his name.
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The beast crony false prophet will perform many lying wonders,
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as y'all remember, to deceive people. One of them will be to set up an image to the beast, right?
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Which he'll order everybody to worship on pain of death. We saw that back in chapter 13.
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The false prophet, I think also chapter 5, the false prophet will also require,
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if you remember, everyone to receive a mark representing either the beast's
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name or the number of his name.
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And those without that mark, we study, will face execution and will be unable to buy or sell.
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That's all the way back in chapter 13 and in chapter 5.
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But the tribulation believers, by God's power, eternally triumph over the whole
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enterprise of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet.
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There's victory in Jesus. Amen? I mean, even those martyred for their triumphant
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faith will receive their glorious rewards, it says in chapter 20, verse 4.
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That the tribulation saints are seen in this passage actually holding what of
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God? Remember, what were they holding?
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It's a musical instrument, harps, right?
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Harps of God. It really indicates that they're rejoicing, y'all.
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They're singing praise to God.
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Harps were also associated with praise earlier in Revelation,
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if you remember, back in chapter five and chapter 14, even, as they're frequently in the Old Testament.
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These believers rejoice, y'all, because their prayers for God to take vengeance
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on their persecutors, all the way back in chapter 6, are about to be answered.
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The appearance of the tribulation saints makes the point that God sends his
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wrath as an act of vengeance on those who mistreat his people.
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Jesus himself actually warned. Listen to this. whoever causes one of these little
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ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy
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millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
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Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that
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stumbling blocks come, but woe to the man through whom the stumbling block comes.
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If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you.
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It is better for you to enter life crippled or lane than to have two hands and
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two feet and be cast into eternal fire.
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If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you.
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It's better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into fiery hell.
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See that you do not despise one of these little ones.
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For I say to you that their angels in heaven, their angels in heaven,
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continually see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
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Matthew 18, verses 6 through 10. So unbelievers, y'all,
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will be condemned to eternal hell for mistreating God's people,
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for rejecting the gift of salvation that God has freely offered,
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that forgiveness, that total restoration.
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That actually it's like spitting his face, right, trampled underfoot the blood of Christ.
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And it reveals their evil, impenitent hearts.
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Listen to this. He says that he will also say to those on his left,
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depart from me, accursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared
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for the devil and his angels.
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For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.
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I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.
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Naked and you did not clothe me.
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Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will
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answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or
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sick or in prison and did not take care of you?
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Then he'll answer to them, truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did not
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do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
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Matthew 25, 41 through 45. You see, the Apostle Paul wrote, never take your
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own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.
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For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
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Romans 12, verse 19. You see, the Old Testament likens persecuting God's people
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to poking a finger in his eye.
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Did you know that? in Zechariah 2, verse 8.
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The psalmist also wrote of God's vengeance for his people. Listen to what he said quickly.
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O Lord, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O judge of the earth.
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Render recompense to the proud. How long shall the wicked, O Lord?
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How long shall the wicked exult?
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Pour forth words. They speak arrogantly. All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.
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They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.
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They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the orphans.
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They have said, the Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.
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Pay heed, you senseless among the people. And when will you understand, stupid ones?
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He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye does he not see?
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He who chastens the nations will he not rebuke? Even he who teaches man knowledge.
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They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemned the innocent to death.
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But the Lord has been my stronghold and my God the rock of my refuge.
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He has brought back their wickedness upon them, and he will destroy them in their evil.
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The Lord our God will destroy them.
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That's Psalm 94 verses 1 through 10 and verse 21 through 23.
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You see, the believers pictured here will have undergone the terrors,
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if you remember, of the tribulation, suffered painful, violent deaths as martyrs.
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Yet despite having endured the most intense persecution the world will ever
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know, their faith, which is a gift from God, by the way, will endure.
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And eventually they will stand, y'all.
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And they'll not just stand, brother Ronnie. They will stand triumphantly.
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They'll stand triumphantly before
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the throne of God, watching as God takes vengeance on their persecutors.
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Next week, we're going to pick up with the character of God.
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Any thoughts tonight, just on this first part here tonight? Any feedback,
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any thoughts, anything that jumped out at you?
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Does God see? Does God know? You know, I often think sometimes,
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you know, we, it's just happened to hit me.
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It's like at times we think we can, And we can fool other people.
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You know that? You can fool other people, at least for a season.
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But we got to realize, y'all, that we can't fool God.
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There's no room door you can lock. There's no place that you can go.
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I don't care if you throw your cell phone in one of those, what do they call
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it, Faraday pouches or whatever it is.
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I don't even know if that's the right terminology, whatever it's called,
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that blocks all the signals. And you're untrackable.
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God knows right where you are. He knows exactly what you're doing,
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exactly what you're thinking. And somehow we think that somehow mankind thinks
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in general we're going to escape.
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We're going to escape the judgment of God. The only way that you're going to
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escape, that I'm going to escape the judgment and the wrath of Almighty God for us.
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Only way is through who? Jesus Christ on the cross.
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And by the way, don't forget that, how glorious that is, y'all.
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Because honestly, think about this.
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He bore all your punishment, right? All of it. You know what that means, don't you?
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There's no punishment left. That means when you get a flat tire tomorrow,
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Brother Ronnie, I hope you don't, but I'm just saying, if you get a flat tire,
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That doesn't mean God's trying to punish you in some way.
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Jesus took it all. Jesus took it all.
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But God is here to walk with us as believers, y'all, to walk with us in victory, right?
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To lead us in that path. But those who refuse and turn away from what God has
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offered time and again, even in the tribulation period, over and over again,
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there will come this day.
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Like we said, his wrath will be unveiled, right? and it'll be poured out upon
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the unrepentant, unregenerate sinner.
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I don't know about y'all, but it gives us a sense of urgency.
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It should, that we don't want anybody we know, and I've had this theme before
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we talked about it, to have to go through that.
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But by the way, we don't have to defend God. Y'all remember that tonight.
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You don't defend God's actions because, let me just remind us again in case
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any of us have forgotten,
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every person in this room tonight, including me, deserves to burn in hell for
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all eternity, and that is God's justice, demands it.
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Everybody deserves that. If you get anything above hell, you've been blessed.
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Anything. It is only because of his mercy and grace and Jesus taking our punishment
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at the cross that we can have forgiveness,
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that we can be credited again with the life that Christ lived on our behalf
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with his righteousness and not our own, y'all.
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That's the only way. That's the only thing good about me is Jesus.
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And so I think if we remember that, it helps us to always keep in our mind and
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our vision, our spiritual eyesight. Wow.
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For the grace of God, man, for what he did for me, I deserved hell.
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God is just, in other words, don't miss this, in sending every person on the planet to hell forever.
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He's just if he did it. God is just if he chose to not save anybody.
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The fact he chooses to save some will come is all glory to him, all glory to him.