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okay let’s take our Bibles turn to the last book of the Bible Revelation and we’re looking at chapter n the last part of that verse 12- 21 and as you’re turning there let me have a word of prayer let’s pray father we thank you this morning for bringing us here thank you Lord for another day to live and thank you Lord for another day to come and worship you to hear your word to have it enter our minds to have it move our Wills to have us Changed by it I pray Lord Jesus that you may be glorified today as the word of God is brought forth to your people and I pray this in Christ’s name amen from time to not from time to time I would go to Princeton and um when they had Book Fairs a lot of times the libraries especially the theological libraries would empty their shelves and sell their old books so I bought a book for 10 cents and the book the name of the book was the a great time to be alive and it was sermons on Christians during wartime It Was Written in 1908 long time ago and in the book there was a little article there um actually it was preaching the person preaching was preaching on a book that was written uh and published in France called the insanity of Jesus kind of caught my attention in which the author said that in the 19th century Europe Jesus would have been put under restraint as a megalomaniac Afflicted with mystical hallucinations of a Kind well-known to clinical medicine at that time so modern the modern world has has been wise in their conclusion and Jesus is insane this this the spectacle that happened there the writer is saying the preacher is saying now spread before us as common sense the world having common sense sense and Jesus being mad and then they include this in it well during the Civil War they told Lincoln that Grant was a drunkard and Lincoln answered that he wish he knew what kind of liquor Grant drank that he might give it to his other generals so one who cares about Mankind might wish today that Jesus Madness would infect us all and if to be sane is to be like the modern world and if to be mad is to be Christlike then insanity is our profoundest need he went on to preach this when Sir Isaac Newton announced the law of gravitation men talked about him just as men talk about Jesus said one man Newton is a deranged poetical fancy said another critic this crazy mathematician will not have 20 followers in his lifetime well that is that was actually true Newton lived 40 years after the publication of his book and his converts numbered less than a dozen but at last one of them and then a mass of them f T an astonishing experience as it dawned on them that Newton’s Revelation was not to range poetical fancy but actual fact astounding fact and universal law such a profound change the preacher said will someday alter Mankind’s judgment concerning Jesus real wisdom lies in in knowing Jesus because he speaks the truth in fact he is the truth it will be a fact for mankind that Jesus is who he said he was the god man the Savior and the judge if Jesus is rejected and ignored by mankind then all that is left is Hell on Earth and that is true if somebody rejects Jesus Christ there is not much left except judgment so that brings me to the Book of Revelation because I’ve been preaching on from this section of scripture that Humanity at that time is actually experiencing hell on this Earth and so the The Book of Revelation as I’ve already mentioned is God’s final unveiling of the last days it’s talking about things that will come to pass Hereafter and in the second Vision that I’ve been examining and we’ve been examining together in Revelation it’s it’s about Christ and his Earth judgments and here we see in this second half of the seven-year tribulation period upon the Earth very unusual things are taking place on the earth with creation and also with those who dwell on the earth I left you off last time with the blast of the fifth trumpet and the first woe judgment which gave us a depiction of Terror that would come upon the Earth the fearful character of divine judgment is expressed in the description of the battle ready Locust likee demon Army a de demonic army with a specific mission to inflict harm for five months unsinful ungodly and the wicked people of the earth and the Army was described last time from verse 7 to verse number nine or verse number 10 that that it would be an army that would be irresistible it would be Army that would be intelligent it would be an army that would be seductive it would be an army that would be ferocious Invincible Swift moving Unstoppable and then notice in verse number 10 of chapter n it says they all they have taals like scorpions and stings and in their tails is their power to hurt men for 5 months so they have the ability to harm and to cause agon and suffering but only for a limited amount of time because here we’re speaking of the fearful character of God’s judgment which is Unstoppable once God says to do it it’s going to start and finish it’s going to be within boundaries and he’s going to use in this case demons that were Unleashed from the pit of Hades or the abyss to do his judgment it is a time that Hell Comes To Earth to Earth and hell is quite literally Unleashed on mankind the instrument of God’s judgment is an Unleashed segment of a fallen of of Fallen demons with Satan as their King if you notice in verse number 11 it says they have a king over them the angel of the Abyss his name is in Hebrew is a badon and in Greek it is Aon and then we come to verse 12 so the commander-in chief we we can make no mistake that it is Satan himself and those two names mean the same thing that he is a Destroyer the angel of the underworld and King of the wicked demon Army is always and has always been a destroyer he opposes the authority of the true and living God and causes havoc and destruction among his faithful followers it’s always been the case but here it’s at a heightened level that this tribulation period un asks human wickedness and also demonstrates the true character of Satan so the horror of this judgment which God allows is awful and yet this is the the first woe from last week yet there’s something worse to come and notice in verse number 12 it says the first woe is passed behold two woes are still coming after after these things so on this Lord’s day we will proceed to the second woe judgment because the first woe is passed and the second woe judgment is the sixth trumpet and if you notice in verse 13 it says then the sixth Angel sounded and I Heard a Voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God so all these judgments come that are coming we must not forget it is the day of the Lord it is the day of the Lamb’s wrath which means that all the judgments that take place are under God’s Direction and control so this is the end of human history where God has been holding back for many years and offering repentance throughout the whole time and yet we come to this point and it seems like repentance is no longer available in fact the people who live on earth don’t even want it so this second woe is more frightening than the first so consider six frightful things that that are revealed as the Judgment of God is Unleashed on the earth dwellers during this second half of the tribulation and the first thing the first frightful thing we see is in verse 13 to verse number 15 and that’s the appointment of the second demon Army and notice what it says in verse 13 then the the sixth Angel sounded and I Heard a Voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God now we see here that this voice who is this voice who is speaking well the only one who could be speaking in this area by the golden altar before God is is Jesus himself so the re the these demons are released by The Lamb so the the four horns spoken of here are similar to the altar of incense used in the Tabernacle and in the temple the horns on the altar were a symbol of God’s power of of God’s sovereignty and often we see in the Old Testament it is a symbol of God’s J judgment and also justice as we already noticed in the the first part of Revelation where it talked about the horns and just for our information the horns of the altar confer Sanctuary to a to the accus in the case of God’s justice like for example adonijah in the Old Testament in First Kings chap 1 adonijah was afraid that Solomon was was actually going to kill him and so he runs and holds on to the horns of the Altar and he takes hold of the horns because he was afraid of King Solomon and he spoke out and he says let King Solomon swear that today he will not put his servant to death with the sword and Solomon responded if he’s a worthy man he won’t die today but if there’s wickedness in him he will die and eventually we see that Solomon said just go home go home but he ran to that Altar for God’s justice and who’s this solitary voice well it is the lamb and for several reasons it is the Lamb first this is still the time of the Wrath of the Lamb and then second the golden altar of incense is where the Lord receives the prayers of the Saints to carry out Justice that the trumpet judgments are partially an answer to the prayers of the persecuted Saints in Revelation 8 and verse number three and here in chter 9:14 who has the authority to give a command to least bound Angels well the only one who has that kind of Authority or power is Jesus himself for it says in verse 14 it says one saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet release the Four Angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates so these bound Angels they must be evil angels because there’s no instance in the scripture that gives uh that actually have good Angels bound anywhere so these evil angels are under the authority of the Lamb so he’s the lone voice speaking saying to release these four angels and he releases them from the Euphrates the great river Euphrates now you you you would think well why is that an important point in this passage of scripture because it does say in verse number 14 the one saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet release the Four Angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates this Great River really points more than to a geographical place to the east more important importantly what actually happened at that place some of the world’s greatest events took place at the river Euphrates it is the place where the world powers start Assyria Babylon Persia began there and spread their evil and idolatrous domination around the world and these evil angels are Bound by God from bringing Havoc upon Humanity until God says you’re going to be released because even back then these four Angels were helping Satan carry out his mission in the early parts of human history and the goal of Satan back then with these angels was to destroy destroy those who are believers because they uh were created in God’s image they were there to overthrow the kingdom of God and the rule of God they were to retain control of what they still possess also they were to regain lost territory so there was a definitely a goal to these demons and there was a strategy that they had they wanted entice people to sin they wanted to hinder any kind of spiritual disciplines that anyone had at that time also they wanted to misrepresent God in truth and they wanted to oppose anyone who would proclaim the name of the Lord as their King and savior so Satan and his demons go and strategies are seen at the great river Euphrates what happened there well the Euphrates was one of the four rivers which came out of the Garden of Eden and there near this River Man’s first sin was committed Satan’s original deception of Adam and Eve happened there the first murder was committed there at Euphrates the first war was fought there at Euphrates the the Tower of Babel was erected in defiance against God signifying the origination of false religion Nimrod built the city of Babylon where idolatry received its origin it was Babylon the children of Israel were taken captive into so Babylon of old will be rebuilt we’re going to see that in Revelation and it will become the headquarters of antichrist if you look go quickly over to Revelation 18 and verse number two it says this there and it’s talking about Babylon in that passage Revelation 18:2 it says and he cried out with a mighty voice saying Fallen Fallen as Babylon the great but notice what it says she has become a Dwelling Place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean hateful bird so these demons were eager to Bring Havoc upon mankind but God bound them right at the great river Euphrates prohibiting the Fulfillment of their their intended dastardly deeds and with the release of the four confined demons the character of Satan will be starkly manifested so we see so far that these demons are released by the lamb from the Euphrates that have been bound there for a very long time a third thing that we see in back in chapter 9 verse number 15 that the the Angels over the demon Army there’s four prepared for de from for a Divine time notice how specific the scriptures here but I just want to remind you that even in the first chapter of the book of Acts times and Seasons remain completely in the power of God when the disciples were told it is not for you to know times and epics which the father has fixed by his own authority look at verse 15 it says the Four Angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released this was well within the plan of God that he held them there and prepared them for this specific time God being Sovereign over all these things that these Angels were Bound by God and prevented from doing any harm until the exact hour of God’s appointment the time schedule is determined by God not by man Not By Angels but God Alone that that should encourage us to know that God is in control of all things and he’s in control of even the Demon World they can do nothing without his authority they are on a Long Leash and even when one comes to Christ and we are God’s possession he cannot touch God’s possession he cannot take your salvation away from you and then notice in verse number 15 these four are prepared for divine torment it says and the Four Angels so that they would kill a third of mankind now remember the other demons released from the abyss they could only harm for five months and cannot kill but now we see these four angels are almost the leaders these are leading Angels they have power they probably as I already mentioned helped Satan in the beginning to do a lot of mischievous Deeds Before the Flood and here we have them released and what are these four angels to do they are given the task and the authority by God to go kill a third of mankind now I don’t think they had to be convinced to do that I think that was well within their uh desires to want to do that matter of fact maybe that’s part of the reason why they’re bound because that’s what their their intentions were back then to just kill people and Satan still does it today he’ll he’ll he’ll tempt someone to a place to take their own life he’ll tempt someone to a place to do destruction to another life he’s still doing those dastardly Deeds today we have to be aware of his his devices and not give into him that the voice of the spirit of God must be louder than his voice there’s a third thing in our text and that’s the amount of this the demon Army in verse number 16 it is a terrifying number notice what it says it says and the number of the armies of the horsemen were 200 million I heard the number of them 200 million that’s an overwhelming number a massive force of military power because again the Euphrates was in the East so most likely these four angels are going to be getting nations in that area and bring them against uh God’s people and also against the Dwellers of the Earth at that time so it is a it is a vast and overwhelming Army almost Beyond human computation and a good way I think to put it in perspective is it would be it would be like measuring one mile wide and 85 miles long that is a large amount of a demon army or a demon Le Army I should say it that way that is going to come against the Dwellers on the earth look at the fourth thing is the appearance of this Army in verse 17 and verse number 19 Not only was this Army a ter had a terrifying number but also a threatening appearance I don’t know if you ever saw uh Even in our Mo modern military how when mon modern military Warriors are fully battle dressed they have their heads and these masks on and they have their weapons and everything around them uh you don’t want to go mess with them right because they are very impressive they have a a a wicked appearance to them and it instills fear on the onlookers or those who come in contact with them which is one of the purposes of overcoming your enemy look at verse 17 it gives us a descript of the appearance of this Army and this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them and the writers had breastplates the color of fire and Heen and brimstone and the heads of horses are like the heads of lions now just imagine this massive Army from the East energized by demonic strength looking like horses like bodies with head like lines writers with fiery breastplates with a color of red and Dusty blue and sulfur or yellow and then they have Lion’s heads and look at verse 17 out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and BR limstone this is like fire breathing coming out of their mouth horses lion serpents equal deadly Warfare there’s no one who can escape this Army there’s no one who could really fight against this Army and win no human at least and if you notice they have extensive power in verse number 19 it says for the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails for their tails are like serpents and have heads and with them they do harm so they have power in their mouths of course we saw the power that if fire and smoke and brain Stones coming out of their mouth that’s their power to destroy anyone who comes near them and then also they have tails like serpents and what is their job is to do harm now some have said well maybe this is a picture of a modern mechanical Army I don’t know all that I know is that the Bible describing something quite Fierce and an army that cannot necessarily be defeated Not By Any Human Army against this Army there’s a a fifth thing that I want you to notice in verse number 18 not only is there an extensive power in this Army not only only not only do they have a terrifying appearance and they have a terrifying number a threatening appearance but they also the fifth thing would be the atrocity of this demon army they terrorize a terrorizing death they have these demons are to kill onethird of mankind a third of mankind it says in verse 18 was killed by these three plagues now actually the word plagues could mean blows or lashings some have said this could be an indication to the plagues of of of course Egypt where God was trying was using the plagues to bring people to repentance give them giving them one last chance to repent by his judgments three these three plagues are the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceed out of their mouths in verse number 18 so this massive Army of Horsemen 200 Mill ion strong will do just that they’ll happy to do that they’re equipped with horses breastplates of fire red blue and sulfur yellow and by the power of their tail and the brimstone and fire and smoke which proceeds out of their mouth these evil spirits will kill onethird of the world population now earlier in the fourth seal we saw a fourth of the population is killed and now an additional third is killed you know our present po population today is 8 billion in the world the two judgments the two actually the two judgment accounts for for half the world’s population 4 billion people killed now now of course I don’t know the number of the population at that time people have been been being killed all along but imagine 4 billion people being killed there’d be bodies piled up everywhere know you can’t no time in this kind of atmosphere to bury them the stench must have been unbelievable also or the stinch will be when it actually happens so not since the the time of Noah and the worldwide flood has the Earth’s population come under God’s God’s judgment like this but why all this God’s judgment coming down on Humanity I’ll ask the question again how did the people of the earth respond to the judgments of God Almighty do they run toward the merciful god for Relief do they repent of their sin and turn toward God and place their faith in Jesus Christ well that brings me to my sixth terrifying fact the astounding picture of human depravity well the answer to that question is no they rejected the love of God in Christ’s sacrificial death in the place of Sinners and now not even the wrath of God could persuade these hard Hearts to repent the people of the Earth would not change their mind on God’s offer of Salvation in Christ and I want you to notice the evidence of that found in verse number 20 of Revelation 9 it says the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent they did not repent those who survive are declared to be unrepentant they didn’t repent of their evil works and the worship of Idols which their hands had formed so their non repentance is observed in their Works notice in verse number 20 it says and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the of the works of their hands they didn’t repent The Works of their hands what is that you know the works of someone’s hands actually here in creating Idols works are are always the public and undeniable evidence of what is really going on someone’s heart what evidence is in your life that you’re a Christian or what evidence in your life proves that you’re not a Christian see evidence that will be exposed and revealed in the final Judgment at the last day when God opens the books and he reveals the works of men’s Hearts so the non-rep is seen by their works also the non-rep is observed in their worship are these people religious oh yeah they’re religious you heard the statement before religious but lost they’re religious lost blind dead but man they worship in verse number 20 it says this and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of their The Works of their hands as so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and ofone Stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk rather worship dumb Idols that can do nothing for them than the true and living God the Fountain of Living Waters you see how dead people are that was this is not far from a description of our of us too is the same right if it wasn’t for God’s divine work God the Father drawing us to Salvation and God granting you and I faith and repentance to believe we would not believe we had no ability to believe we were completely depraved in the spiritual realm of things people would rather worship and they do worship something or someone objects that they don’t really have to change anything I will worship a God who lets me do what I want who lets me live according to my passions and desires I’ll worship a god like that that was their attitude they don’t have to change anything they can still live according to their old passions and desires and fulfill their lust with whatever gratifies them and gives them pleasure and the result of rejection and ignoring God’s mercy and Grace results in worshiping Idols there is never a neutral place in the beings life you are worshiping something you are living for something God’s made by the hands and imaginations of people Paul said to the Corinthian Church correcting them on their especially eating meat sacrifice to Idols he says to them no but I say that the things which a gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to Demons not to God and I do not want you to become sharers in demons that’s 1 Corinthians 10: 20 the worship of idols is devil worship the worship of any kind of imagination you have of God is devil worship that is the work of Satan to destroy the image of God and the truth of God it always issues in evil Lifestyles and immorality total satanic false religion that’s what we have at this time atheism Twisted philosophies subversion of morality paganism intellectual Insanity especially what is right and wrong what is good and evil especially with God’s way and what what is every other way so their non-rep is observed by their Works their non- repent repentance is observed by their worship and their non-rep is observed in their Defiance against God’s law notice what it says in the next section of our passage in verse number 21 but before I read that I just want to let you know that these people’s wickedness and the works of their hands is done against the first and the second table of God’s law always reminds me of James chapter 2:10 if you stumble and break one God’s law you’re you’re guilty of all of it well these people at this time they don’t want to repent they love their lifestyle they love their worship and not only that the demon Army that’s killing them are their servants so the demons don’t care they don’t care about anyone even people that worship them they care about no one they have only one goal and that’s to absur the authority of God and his Rule and his truth now these people here they already broke the first and second commandment by their worship of Idols they’re making Idols with their hands and what is the first and second commandment you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on Earth beneath or in the water under the Earth and then notice in verse 21 and they did not repent of their murders that’s the sixth commandment and then their sorceries it’s this interesting word sorceries here it’s the word formia for drugs Satan uses many drugs to entrap people and slave them it also the word can also be translated ma magic potion charm casting of magic spells witchcraft all kinds of sorceries and anything connected to that it’s a broad word and brings in all these things because the people had all kinds of devices and implement the things they were implementing in their demonic worship it all goes on today too so they break the first and second commandment the sixth commandment murders they’re murdering and the demons are having authority to kill them they also break the seventh commandment and they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries verse number 21 nor their immorality nor their immorality so so sexual Freedom part of probably part of their worship too no more boundaries do what you want satisfi your lust and desires and then they also break the eighth commandment it says the last part of verse 21 nor their thefts nor their thefts but even after the first woe judgment and now the second woe judgment mankind still did not repent of their sins and worship the true and living God see this only brings me to one conclusion how depraved and dark is the human heart back in the Book of Genesis because of Adam’s sin of Disobedience to the revealed word of God man lost his innocence incurred the just penalty of spiritual and physical death and became subject to the wrath of God they became inherently corrupt it’s called in theology today radically depraved that means that man doesn’t have a choice to say yes to God or no to God Martin Luther wrote a book called The Bondage of the will as far as your will is concerned concerning God it’s bound by your sin sin is the slave master to all people and that slave master is cast aside when those come who come to Christ as their lord and savior so radically depraved that is utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God that’s us that’s not just these people here that’s us you see the work God had to do to save you he had to move Heaven and Earth to save you we had no choice in the matter we couldn’t save ourselves we we only could come with all our sin to Jesus to get saved because he did all the work he paid the full price so a person is incapable of choosing and doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace man has no recuperative recoup recuperative that’s what I’m trying to say powers to enable him to recover in other words man is hopelessly lost so that should make our Salvation even much sweeter to know that we could have never done anything at all to please God or save ourselves it’s all about Jesus it’s all about what God has done man’s salvation is thereby holy of God’s grace through the Redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ even here at this time with an awesome display of God’s power to save and even to destroy right before their eyes they remain stubbornly rebellious all men of all time are thus Sinners by Nature by choice by Divine declaration and are thus guilty standing condemned before God and that is a sad history if someone stays there but the grace of God is still available today you can still get saved today you can still be transformed by the Holy Spirit today and made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ trusting him as Lord and Savior and if you are saved to be serious about living for the Lord and passing on the truth that he’s given you to others so still after six a six-fold judgments up to this point in Revelation Humanity continues in their evil ways nothing is left for them except the heavier J judgments of God to come when there’s no gospel and Christ is rejected and I also say Christ is ignored because ignoring Christ is rejecting him too so where there is no gospel in Christ is rejected there will also be an absence of the transforming purifying redeeming quality of life because it is found only in the power and the grace of God brought about by faith in Christ and divine mercy that’s the only way anyone would get saved so if Jesus is rejected and ignored by you or by mankind then all that is left is hell and I think that in in a very real sense these pictures of what’s Happening Here is a picture of hell when God is absent with his mercy and his grace and all that is there is Judgment it’s a horrible time to just to read it it is this is upsetting to read this and yet is true see real wisdom lies in knowing Jesus because he speaks the truth he is truth and it will be fact for mankind that Jesus is who he said he is the god man the Savior the Lord the judge and the one coming again that’s who he is so if you don’t know Christ repent before it’s too late and if you do know Christ live for him with all your heart mind soul and strength amen amen let’s pray Lord thank you again for this sobering passage of scripture Lord I just pray that those who he today would make sure that they don’t end up there but they have consciously called on you as Lord and Savior I pray Lord that you would continue to save people Lord that you wouldn’t allow them to be left in their depravity but Lord you would Grant to them faith and repentance that they may come they may seek Christ as their lord and savior they may come with their sin to you because you died for that sin and they would come by faith and receive you as their own I pray Lord that you would continue to bring the gospel to those who don’t know strengthen Believers today with the truth so they they have discernment to know what is good and what is wrong what is your way what is every other way what is evil so Lord we would have the ability by your spirit to turn from it to identify to expose it Lord make us holy people godly people so we lord would live for you every day of our life struggling against sin in the power of the spirit putting on the whole armor of God that we may stand up against the Ws of Satan who’s still active today not only the girdle of truth but Lord also the breastplate of righteousness and our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and taking up the shield of Faith that’s able to ward off and deflect all the Flaming missiles of the enemy and then that we would put on the helmet of salvation always growing in our knowledge and wisdom of Christ and then Lord the sword of the spirit able to do close combat with the Enemy when he comes against us in that evil day and he presses his Temptations hard upon us we would stand firm because we know the truth I pray that for us and so today bless us go with us as we move through this week and let us be a light to the world and salt to the Earth and I pray this in Christ’s name amen amen