Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] When I was a youth pastor, I thought that I had one of the greatest illustrations ever to communicate the extent of our sinful hearts in the way the power of the word of God by the Holy Spirit changes us and purges us of sin.
[00:00:22] And it was a story of a friend of mine whose cat, its tail had become infected and swollen. Maybe it had been bitten by something and just really nasty tail.
[00:00:39] And an old farmer told him to pour gasoline on the cat's tail.
[00:00:46] And I think he actually used diesel fuel.
[00:00:50] And he poured this on his cat's tail.
[00:00:54] And when he did, this infection and maggots just start coming from the tail.
[00:01:04] And you're looking at me the same way the students and parents and kids looked at me the first time I told this story.
[00:01:11] You're still really awkward.
[00:01:13] And I said, this is the way the Bible uncovers our sin and purges us of sin. And this wasn't received well. Just notice the silence across the room right now, just like some of you are looking at me with your heads turned like a confused dog.
[00:01:29] Who is this demented person?
[00:01:33] How cruel.
[00:01:36] And one of the parents that night, you know, they're going to teach this young, ignorant youth pastor, you know something. And they kind of confronted me and said, you went a little too far with that illustration.
[00:01:50] You know, you could have proved your point another way.
[00:01:54] And I've kind of felt that all week as I read Revelation 16.
[00:02:00] Is this too much?
[00:02:03] Could I prove this point of God's justice another way? It's when you read through it, it is extremely severe. It's scary, it's terrifying, it's awkward.
[00:02:15] I've thought, how can I Joel Osteen this sermon?
[00:02:23] Because this passage of Scripture is God literally purging the earth of sin in a very horrific way. And it just sounds like too much, especially for those of us who've gone through the book of Revelation and we've gone through these cycles of last day judgment over and over and over. And it's as if, okay, we get it, God's going to judge the world.
[00:02:51] There's justice for those who do not follow after Christ. It gets uncomfortable. And if we're honest with ourselves at times as Christians, we even want to apologize for God's judgment and justice in the Bible. This week I heard Joel Osteen being interviewed and someone asked him about hell and he said, well, we're made for heaven. Let's get on to heaven.
[00:03:17] And some of us, we know the end of Revelation and we're thinking, let's just get on to heaven. Summarize this chapter and let's move on.
[00:03:27] But the bowls of wrath are God's final judgment on the earth.
[00:03:33] The last day judgments that we've seen in the seals, the trumpets, and now the bowls.
[00:03:40] God is executing justice in the world. We see it. Sometimes we've seen these descriptions. Sometimes we can make a one to one to comparison. What's going on, wars, rumors of wars that Jesus told us about.
[00:03:54] But all of this justice climaxes with the bowl judgments.
[00:04:00] We've seen the seals, we go back and we go through that picture of God's judgment. We almost see that from earth.
[00:04:10] This is what God's judgment from earth is going to look like in the last days. And the point of the seal judgments is to declare that God is sovereign now and he's unfolding justice even now.
[00:04:22] And then we talked about the trumpets, this next cycle of judgment, communicating and explaining the same type of judgments, just from another direction.
[00:04:35] And the trumpets were a warning.
[00:04:38] Hey, God is issuing a warning on the world right now. As you look around and you see chaos and destruction, wake up, hear the trumpets.
[00:04:48] But the bowl judgments that we're going to look at today are the last, most severe, final judgment of God that leads to the end.
[00:05:00] It is the complete and final judgment of God on the earth.
[00:05:05] And again, all of these depictions of judgment are to remind us of the plagues in Egypt. What God is doing in the world right now, and what he will do is shake the world. Sending in these plagues, which we talked about last week, are strikes on the earth.
[00:05:25] He's shaking the earth to say, I'm coming to get my people.
[00:05:29] Wake up.
[00:05:30] I'm coming to get my people.
[00:05:34] And in this section of Scripture, beginning in chapter five of Revelation 15, as we see God's judgment, we are to consider our own sin. That's where we're to start.
[00:05:48] And this picture of justice, severity of justice, is to cause us to realize the severity of our sin.
[00:06:00] Why does God explain judgment in such a way?
[00:06:05] Just to scare us.
[00:06:06] It is scary, but it is to remind us of how severe our sin against him really is.
[00:06:15] We see first of all that our sin is against God.
[00:06:18] We see that in verses 5, beginning in verse 5 of chapter 15, after John has seen this declaration of God's justice in heaven and that the saints of God are protected and sealed once again in the justice of God. They are singing the song of the Lamb. After this he sees notice verse 5. After this, I looked in the sanctuary of the tent.
[00:06:48] Witness in heaven was open. Now here's a picture of the tabernacle. Remember the earthly tabernacle pictured. The tabernacle or the place of God that is in heaven, the holy of holies, where the Ten Commandments would have been and the earthly tabernacle. But here, the place where God resides, his presence symbolized by the tent of witness. This picture, this place is opened. Now remember, this was a place where God's presence on earth was manifested.
[00:07:22] And it was the place where the priest mediated justice for sin through the blood of animal sacrifice.
[00:07:31] He was the mediator, the stand between God and the people, offering justice for sin so that God's presence could continue to rest with the people.
[00:07:41] And here in heaven, this vision of this tabernacle, this tent of meeting, this place where the Ten Commandments is this, this tent of witness declaring God's justice is opened up and out of the sanctuary. Notice the seven angels that we talked about last week, that they're going to issue these seven strikes or plagues on the earth.
[00:08:05] They came out, and notice, notice, clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chest. And so they are dressed like cosmic priests in the same way the earthly priests were mediating the presence of God through the justice of the sacrifice.
[00:08:28] They're coming out of the sanctuary to mediate justice. But it is against all who do not, except God's ultimate sacrifice for sin, the Lamb that was slain. And notice verse seven. And one of the four living creatures. These are these beings that set God's presence apart in heaven and protect it.
[00:08:52] Notice they gave the seven angels golden bowls full of the wrath of God, complete. They're holding in their hands bowls that symbolize the wrath of God. And it has reached a boiling point, the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. This eternal God, who we talked about last week, is pure and just.
[00:09:16] We've sinned against him and now his wrath is full and it is complete. It's reached a boiling point and it will be poured out on the world by these angels. Notice verse 8.
[00:09:30] And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.
[00:09:36] It is as if God's nostrils are flared and he is reached a point where his anger has been kindled to completion and they're coming out.
[00:09:49] And no one can go into the presence of God in this moment.
[00:09:54] Notice no one could enter until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
[00:09:59] What's being communicated here is there was a time where God was allowing intercession for sin. And it's now over.
[00:10:07] It's over now. He comes to issue justice on the world through these cosmic priests who will strike the earth in finality.
[00:10:19] But we see here that this justice comes from God. It's not arbitrary.
[00:10:25] It comes from his presence, his character and we talked about last week. He is just and he is perfect. So as we move through chapter 16 and we see this horrific judgment on the earth, we are to remember this comes from God.
[00:10:39] A holy right and pure God. And so the justice we're about to see is right. Because we're going to want to say, no, no, no, that's too much.
[00:10:49] That's too much. You went too far in describing judgment.
[00:10:54] No, God is just and God is perfect. And he can't go too far in describing what it means to sin against a holy and perfect God.
[00:11:03] And we see in this description, first of all, that sin is painful.
[00:11:09] The justice upon sin communicates to us first of all that sin is painful. Notice verse one of chapter 16.
[00:11:16] Then I heard a loud voice. This is God's voice from the temple, telling the seven angels, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of wrath of God. Pour this on the earth. This fiery wrath symbolized in these bowls that are full of God's justice, poured out on the earth. And so the first angel went and poured out his bowl. Notice on the earth.
[00:11:43] And harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
[00:11:53] Painful, diseased blisters begin to torment the people on the earth. Notice. Who gave themselves over to the beast.
[00:12:03] Now we've said that the beast governed, ruled by Satan, whose intent is to destroy the church.
[00:12:13] Is this Antichrist figure that pops up throughout human history.
[00:12:18] Rome would have been a type of this figure that would demand allegiance.
[00:12:24] You must surrender to the emperor. You must surrender to the government. You must surrender to this ideology and deny Christ first and foremost.
[00:12:36] And all who do this will suffer painful, painful judgment.
[00:12:47] Painful, these blisters, sores just like the plagues in Egypt.
[00:12:53] And the point is, you can have short term peace with the world.
[00:12:56] You can give yourself over to idols and rulers and government and false ideology just so that you can live at peace with the world. Remember, you can buy and sell, but that's painful. In the end, short term peace will lead to eternal pain.
[00:13:14] Sin is painful.
[00:13:16] We see next sin is death. Notice verse 3. The angel poured out. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. And what we're going to begin to see here is in the striking of the earth, the striking of creation, there is a de Creation, that begins to happen.
[00:13:32] Remember in the beginning when God speaks all things into existence, and then he begins to separate the land from water and the expanse from the sea. Well, here the Earth has been struck, and now the sea is struck.
[00:13:47] And notice, it became like the blood of a corpse. Consider the ocean becoming like thick, coagulating blood.
[00:14:00] It is the stench of death.
[00:14:03] All marine life begins to die on the earth.
[00:14:09] And notice verse four, the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs and water, they became like blood. What's going on here? All life is being cursed.
[00:14:22] All life, just like the Nile was turned to blood and life in Egypt was cursed.
[00:14:30] But this is global.
[00:14:33] This is the world.
[00:14:35] And life sources are ruined.
[00:14:38] We have earth and sea, and now the rivers. Think about the Garden of Eden, the rivers that provide life there. Here, life on planet Earth is cursed. Now we go back to the other judgments, the seals. There was one fourth of the Earth that was cursed in this way. And then in the trumpets, it was a third of the Earth. Here. This is global devastation.
[00:15:03] Life on planet Earth is being destroyed.
[00:15:07] Now, what's interesting, in Egypt, remember they had their gods that they trusted in that controlled creation, that they worshiped.
[00:15:16] And Rome had the same type of gods.
[00:15:19] They had the sea God, the river gods, they had the Son God.
[00:15:28] And what God is doing here in the last days is proving I'm God.
[00:15:35] I created all of these things.
[00:15:38] So you worship your creation gods? Well, I created even them. In some sense, I rule over them, if they even exist.
[00:15:49] And even for those who would worship creation, well, I am the Creator. That you haven't seen past your creation, he is proving that he is the Creator by taking creation apart.
[00:16:04] We have nowhere else to go for life.
[00:16:09] It's dreadful, the stench of death.
[00:16:13] But notice next we see sin deserves justice. Sin is painful.
[00:16:18] Sin leads to death.
[00:16:20] Sin deserves justice.
[00:16:22] And this is kind of an interruption here.
[00:16:26] When we hear the angel in charge of the waters say, just are you Holy One? Because at this point you're going, God, that's too much.
[00:16:36] That's too much.
[00:16:38] Well, this angel breaks out and says, it's not too much. Why not? Holy One? You are holy, who is and was. You are eternally holy.
[00:16:47] For you brought these judgments. The judgments come from you.
[00:16:53] This isn't climate change.
[00:16:57] This is God who is breaking out against the earth.
[00:17:02] Notice. For they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets and you have given them blood to drink. For this is what they deserve.
[00:17:11] The word deserved. There is the same word that is used Throughout Revelation. Worthy is the Lamb.
[00:17:18] He is worthy of praise. They are worthy of justice.
[00:17:21] They are worthy to drink the blood of wrath.
[00:17:26] Why? Because they oppose your people, your church, your word. Verse 7.
[00:17:32] And I heard the altar saying, yes, Lord, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. You are right.
[00:17:38] Don't get it twisted. God is right in doing this, especially against those who opposed his Word. Notice the description of those who preach the Word. This is a picture of the church that is declaring the Word and those who oppose the church. In Pastor Clay's prayer, we talked about it. He prayed for the folks in Iran and the folks in Nigeria who are being killed because they are Christians.
[00:18:10] And there is this picture in Revelation around the fifth seal where the martyrs are crying out those who've died for their faith. How long will you vindicate our blood? How long will you allow this to go on where it seems as though we're in the wrong and those who oppose us are right because we're dead?
[00:18:30] Oh, there's a day coming where heaven will break out in praise because the blood of the martyrs will be vindicated, and those who oppose the Lamb and his people will be judged.
[00:18:44] And as we look at this picture here, we are to remember, and it sort of tempers our anger that God will issue vengeance in a much clearer, better way than we ever could.
[00:18:58] And so we hope in that, and we look to that.
[00:19:01] But sin deserves justice.
[00:19:04] Next we see sin is tormenting. Notice the fourth angel, he poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch the people with fire.
[00:19:14] And they were scorched by the fierce heat.
[00:19:19] And notice what they do.
[00:19:21] They curse the name of God who had power over the plagues. Okay, we get it. This is God doing this to us.
[00:19:29] They're awakened to the fact that no one can control creation like this. There's got to be something beyond creation that's doing this to us. Oh, it's the God who created all things. They're beginning to see clearly. And we would say, okay, they're going to repent. No, they curse God for it. Why would you do this to us?
[00:19:51] He's holy and he's just, and we've sinned against him.
[00:19:56] They do not repent. They do not give him the glory that he deserves.
[00:20:01] We see this terrifying moment. The sun flashes out to burn and scorch the people of the earth.
[00:20:11] Burn.
[00:20:13] Its heat would suffocate them.
[00:20:17] We read in the Psalms that the heavens declare the glory of God.
[00:20:22] We often think the heavens are so beautiful.
[00:20:27] Look at the sun and moon.
[00:20:29] The sun rises every day and declares us to us, God's justice and his faithfulness. It comes every morning.
[00:20:38] The sun also declares God's glory in another way.
[00:20:42] Every time we walk outside and feel its heat, we are to be reminded there is a day coming where God's heat will blast the earth and those who have opposed him will be scorched by it.
[00:20:59] What a terrifying picture.
[00:21:04] The scientist who is so wise that he denies God exists, the environmentalist who bows down and worships creation and misses the God who created it on this day will not be able to do that now. There's a God behind it all. And now I see.
[00:21:24] But it will be too late. His justice is being finished.
[00:21:27] And this leads to anguish. Notice the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, the source of all opposition.
[00:21:37] God begins to go after the heart of those who oppose him.
[00:21:44] Notice. And its kingdom was plunged into darkness.
[00:21:48] So those who oppose God, they're cast into a darkness.
[00:21:53] This symbolizes God's judgment, alienation. And notice what they do.
[00:21:59] People gnawed their tongues in anguish, curse the God of heaven for the pain and sores.
[00:22:08] And then it's emphasized again, they did not repent of their deeds.
[00:22:14] Sin leads to torment and anguish.
[00:22:21] That's where it's leading, the temporary peace that we get from sin. Well, this is the final picture of what sin does to us. It alienates us from God. It pushes us away from God. It makes us his enemies. And notice, even in light of all this judgment, they're not repenting.
[00:22:41] Before they would even confess with their tongues that Jesus is Lord, they would gnaw them off.
[00:22:49] Before I would acknowledge they hate God that much, before I would acknowledge in this pain and agony, they would gnaw their tongues off. And notice how the painful sores are just mounting here.
[00:23:08] The pain and agony of sin, it just mounts to the end. And they are so hard in this moment that they will not turn from their sin to Christ. And again we're reminded of Pharaoh.
[00:23:22] Remember, the plagues come in to Egypt, and is he going to repent?
[00:23:29] Is he going to bow to the God of Israel? And it seems like he is. Okay, I relent. Take your people out.
[00:23:43] Exodus tells us that all that did was harden Pharaoh's heart against God.
[00:23:50] And that's what the justice is doing here.
[00:23:53] It is another form of judgment that God would turn the world over to their sin and delusion. And instead of surrendering in the most horrible conditions for us, we would say, oh, it's all it's logical. Give up, surrender, cry out in repentance. No, they continue to curse God, God, you are wrong. You shouldn't be doing this.
[00:24:21] And their hearts are hardened in rebellion, which is just another form of torment. And we know those people in our life where they're in sin and we confront them and they cling to their sin and they will not repent. And they just get into their own minds and their own hearts, and that is a form of alienation from God. And. And they begin to torment themselves in their rebellion. When we're looking in going, no, would you just turn to cry? It would be a lot easier for you. Your life would be a lot easier. Just turn to Christ.
[00:24:54] No, it's a picture of the human heart.
[00:24:56] I'm right, God's wrong, and I will not give up on that.
[00:25:02] But notice we see even further sin is delusional. Verse 12.
[00:25:07] The sixth angel poured out.
[00:25:15] His bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Now, there's another picture imagery here. The Euphrates was the boundary around Israel that protected them from their enemies. It was thought, we've already seen in the trumpets, this has happened before, this protection has been removed.
[00:25:42] And here what's going to happen is the world is going to assemble against God and his people.
[00:25:49] Some people believe this is literal Israel. And the nations of the world and the kingdoms of the world will gather around Israel on the last days.
[00:25:58] But ultimately we have to know they are opposing God. Ultimately, whatever that looks like.
[00:26:06] The people of the earth have reached a point. The kingdoms of the earth have reached the point where they are tired of being judged, tired of being enduring justice from God, and they're going to lash out against God. And so they gather against God.
[00:26:22] And notice I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, this is Satan. And out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. This is this unholy trinity. But notice it's coming from their mouths, which will likely involve teaching some sort of religion.
[00:26:42] Three unclean spirits, like frogs.
[00:26:47] Now, what does that mean? Well, frogs were supposedly the most unclean thing. This is the most unclean kind of teaching that could come out, this ideology.
[00:27:00] Notice verse 14. For they are demonic spirits performing signs, and they go abroad to the kings of the world to assemble them for battle on the great day of the God Almighty.
[00:27:13] And so the world and the kingdoms of the world are so deceived that they think they can oppose God the holy God of the Bible and his people and they want to wage war against him.
[00:27:32] So delusional that they can defeat God.
[00:27:37] But notice God is just allowing this to go on.
[00:27:40] He doesn't stop it.
[00:27:43] Okay, you think you can defeat me?
[00:27:46] You are so deceived and delusional. Okay, let's fight.
[00:27:52] Get all your folks together.
[00:27:55] Let's see how this is going to go for you.
[00:27:58] And it's a form of judgment that God allows this delusion to pervade. Paul talks about a strong delusion in the last days when he talks about the man of lawlessness.
[00:28:10] Where the people of the earth think they can defeat God. We see it in glimpses where folks just. They deny reality, they deny God's design, they deny God's law. The Bible is a myth. This is a joke. This God thing, it's just made up fairy tale.
[00:28:29] But God will allow it to pervade in this moment to the point where this is a fool's game and we can defeat your foolish God.
[00:28:42] Now, how would this take place?
[00:28:45] What would this look like? Well, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.
[00:28:52] Hates Christians, by the way. I don't care what the Pope says.
[00:28:58] Hates Christianity, wants to kill the infidel pigs.
[00:29:04] It's the fastest growing religion in the world. In the next 20 to 30 years will overtake Christianity.
[00:29:10] Not saying that's how it happens, saying that's how it could happen.
[00:29:17] What if God is allowing that to happen.
[00:29:23] And the nations are gathering against him and his people?
[00:29:27] How is that going to turn out?
[00:29:30] What is that going to look like for you? Who say, I believe in Jesus, I'm trusting Jesus, I will follow Jesus, I'm taking up my cross.
[00:29:40] What's that going to look like for you?
[00:29:43] Well, we see that that sin, the false ideology is delusional. We must cling to truth. And this is why verse 15 just sort of interrupts the passage, behold, I'm coming like a thief.
[00:29:56] So in these moments when you see the delusion, understand this interruption in the chapter is intentional and it's by effect these cycles of judgment and is horrible. And we get to this delusion and what's going to happen, Jesus interrupts and says, I'm coming. Hold on, I'm coming.
[00:30:19] Before I get to the end of this chapter. No, I'm coming.
[00:30:22] Notice like a thief out of nowhere. And blessed is the one who stays awake keeping his garments on that he might not go about naked to be seen and exposed.
[00:30:36] Point is, keep your work clothes on, not your PJs, don't go to sleep.
[00:30:43] Don't sleep. On the return of Christ.
[00:30:47] And as you see the world around you and you see all the violence and you see all the destruction, and it seems as though the world is rising up and is going to overwhelm the church. Overwhelm Christ. Over.
[00:31:00] No. Jesus says, hold on, I'm coming. This is on purpose.
[00:31:05] I'm coming.
[00:31:08] Next we see sin is the war against God.
[00:31:12] And they assembled them at the place that is in. That in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
[00:31:19] Now, this is very complicated because this place doesn't exist.
[00:31:25] There's a lot of theories about where this Armageddon is.
[00:31:30] Well, it refers to a mountain.
[00:31:34] But when you begin to do research, the mountain does not exist.
[00:31:38] There is a valley of Jezreel where God wants in. Judges 4 and 5, go, read this story where God lured out the Canaanites.
[00:31:50] He brought them into this, to Mount Tabor.
[00:31:54] At that time, 10,000 troops.
[00:31:59] And the Canaanites see the Israelites and say, okay, we got them. And they rush out. But what happens? God routes the Canaanites.
[00:32:09] And I think that he's just pointing back to a story like that and saying, this is going to happen again. God is going to draw out the kingdoms of the world, and they're going to oppose him and his Christ and his people.
[00:32:22] And then he's going to route them in their delusion.
[00:32:27] We're going to talk about the battle of Armageddon, which really doesn't happen. God just routes everybody.
[00:32:33] He wins.
[00:32:35] That's the point here. They're assembled for this battle that God ultimately uses to draw them out and destroy the kingdoms of this world.
[00:32:46] They war against God, and they're defeated by God, which we see here. Finally, justice will be final.
[00:32:55] After all this war, this rout that takes place, the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne.
[00:33:07] It is done.
[00:33:11] At this point, judgment's over.
[00:33:14] God destroys his enemies and it's done. It's complete.
[00:33:18] The word means to be filled, to completion, finished. Judgment is over.
[00:33:25] And these words will haunt those who oppose Christ forever.
[00:33:30] Because, as we read earlier, these are the same words that came from Jesus at the cross concerning your and my sin. It's finished. I paid for it.
[00:33:42] But here, those who oppose Christ and reject him will pay for their sin, and it will be done upon them forever.
[00:33:52] God's judgment is final. It will be brought to completion. And after this notice, we see verse 18. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder.
[00:34:03] And a great earthquake was such that it had never been seen by man on earth. So great was that earthquake. Now remember, if we go back to chapter eight, verse five, we see these same kind of signs when that cycle came to an end.
[00:34:20] Last day judgments, Jesus going to come. We see these same sort of wonders. In chapter 11, verse 19, we see the same type of wonders. These lightning, thunder, earthquake.
[00:34:33] And it represents the presence of God. And so what he's saying here again, as we finish this cycle, then the presence of God comes to earth.
[00:34:43] This will be the end. And Jesus will come and rule and reign. And what we're going to see in the next six chapters of the book, what this looks like. But here it's over.
[00:34:53] God comes to earth.
[00:34:56] And notice the great city was split into three parts.
[00:35:03] And the cities of the nations fell. And God remembered Babylon the great.
[00:35:08] What's he talking about here?
[00:35:10] Well, Babylon comes from what we know as Babel, where the kingdoms of this world thought they could be God and build a tower to God.
[00:35:22] And God separated them, wiped them out, spread them across the earth.
[00:35:28] Here, when God comes, he will remember all of the kingdoms of this earth whose face here is Babylon. For the believers reading this, it would have been Rome.
[00:35:40] She will be judged. Notice to make her drain the cup of wrath of his Fury. In chapter 14, we have this horrific picture of all of the sinful deeds of man that are put in a bowl. And God crushes them and they turn to blood, which fills this bowl up.
[00:36:02] And here, those who oppose God, they will be forced to drink such justice down, Meaning they will be judged in a way that fits their crime, wrath, full wrath and fury of God. Verse 20.
[00:36:22] And every island fled away, and no mountains were found. Nowhere to hide in great hailstones. About 100 pounds each.
[00:36:33] That's not a hail storm.
[00:36:36] That's Jeff Duerson's truck.
[00:36:43] I asked him to crank it right there. Boulders crashing on the earth.
[00:36:51] Think about during storms and your car gets those little dings in them. Get an insurance check for that. Some of you boulders, 100 pounds just crushing things everywhere. What's the point? There's nowhere to hide.
[00:37:09] And so what are the people of the earth going to do? Notice they curse God for the plague of the hell because the plague was so severe. So we get to the end and we think they're going to give up. I'm sorry, God. I'm so sorry.
[00:37:26] I knew better. I'm sorry. No.
[00:37:30] Even at the end, the people of the earth are cursing God's name.
[00:37:36] I Hate you.
[00:37:38] You're wrong for doing this to me.
[00:37:41] Understand this. No one will go to hell kicking and screaming because unbelief is unbelief. And a hard heart is a hard heart that will reject Jesus forever. And that's what people will go to hell for. And they will go to hell rejecting Jesus.
[00:38:00] It's sad.
[00:38:02] It's scary.
[00:38:04] And if you're here today, I want to plead with you to believe in Jesus alone for salvation.
[00:38:10] Stop cursing God.
[00:38:13] That hardness in your heart is only going to get worse if you don't bow to Jesus.
[00:38:17] Trusting in him alone for salvation, his cross, his righteousness, his resurrection. It is your only hope to be saved from your sin and the wrath of God coming.
[00:38:32] This is in the Bible, guys.
[00:38:34] Do we believe this?
[00:38:40] I had a close friend of mine just a few weeks ago after the sermon who said, I'm not sure I do because my life doesn't look like it.
[00:38:52] I have family members going to hell.
[00:38:56] I have friends going to hell.
[00:39:00] And I don't pray for them. And I don't talk to them about Jesus. Do I really believe this?
[00:39:07] This is to shake us.
[00:39:11] This is to wake us up.
[00:39:15] God will remove layer by layer from creation where there is nothing to protect those who oppose Him.
[00:39:22] Nothing to save them.
[00:39:24] In the earth and the sea, the rivers, the sky. No kingdom. No kingdom.
[00:39:30] You won't be able to run to a government to protect you from God.
[00:39:34] No king will protect you from God. He will take it all away. It will be you and him.
[00:39:40] And what are you going to do?
[00:39:44] The severity of this judgment is to reveal the severity of our sin. Do you get that?
[00:39:52] It's not just to paint this horrible, awful picture mean God.
[00:39:58] It is to communicate something you've done to God.
[00:40:05] We get this right, our sin against a person defines and gives us a sense of the severity of that sin.
[00:40:15] If you sin against a small child, we would look upon that and say, that is horrific and you deserve severe justice.
[00:40:25] You sin against an axe murderer. You're like man. He had it coming.
[00:40:34] You see it differently, right?
[00:40:38] Let this sink in your soul today.
[00:40:43] God is holy.
[00:40:45] He's perfect, he's pure.
[00:40:50] There's no sin in him at all.
[00:40:53] The most beautiful, glorious, perfect being in all the world.
[00:41:02] And you've told him, no, you're not.
[00:41:06] I want to be you.
[00:41:09] You sinned against a holy, perfect God. I've sinned against a holy, perfect God. That is to divine, to define the severity of my sin.
[00:41:21] It's infinite, it's horrific, it's terrible.
[00:41:27] That we would sin. We don't see God that way. We're blinded by sin. We don't see him in that light because of our sin.
[00:41:37] If we could see him in all his glory, we would go, why would anyone ever sin against him? Why?
[00:41:44] And we would see how horrible it is.
[00:41:47] And that is the picture that's being painted for us here.
[00:41:51] That God is holy and just and he's good and he's pure and this is his world. And we've treated it as though it's ours, that this is my life.
[00:42:00] And so there's a day coming where God will judge the. There's no way. There's no number on it. The trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions infinite sinful actions against him. Think about that since Adam. The number of sinful actions and sinful thoughts and sinful deeds against a holy and perfect God.
[00:42:23] If you could put it in a bowl, a raft, it's terrible.
[00:42:30] Tens of thousands of years, more like 10,000 years, all at once judged.
[00:42:40] That's horrible. And that's what's going on here.
[00:42:42] It is to reveal the severity of our sin.
[00:42:46] But this is what it's supposed to do for the believer today.
[00:42:50] And I want you to get this.
[00:42:54] I want you to get it today.
[00:42:57] The severity of this judgment here is meant to magnify the mercy of the cross.
[00:43:03] You need to get that today.
[00:43:07] You need to be scared of God's wrath. He's just and he's perfect, and you've sinned against him, and that's a terrible thing.
[00:43:15] And you will be judged.
[00:43:18] God's not going to take your sin and say, okay, I'm going to judge it over here. If you never believe in Jesus, you will be judged.
[00:43:29] And that's terrible.
[00:43:32] But it is to maximize in our lives the mercy of the cross.
[00:43:38] See, we like to say, why do bad things happen to good people?
[00:43:45] You ever heard an unbeliever who's questioning Christianity say, if there is a God, why don't all these bad things happen to good people?
[00:43:52] The immediate response is, they don't.
[00:43:55] Bad things don't happen to good people.
[00:43:58] We believe what the Bible says.
[00:44:01] There's no one who is good. No, not one.
[00:44:05] There's some injustices in the world that's hard to explain.
[00:44:09] But ultimately we are sinful before God. We will get what we deserve.
[00:44:15] The real question when we look at all this is why is the worst thing. Why did the worst thing ever happen to the only good person that all of this judgment here could be wrapped up and unleashed upon him in one moment. Jesus at the cross. That's what happened at the cross.
[00:44:38] God is at pains to describe his justice here. And ultimately all of it infinitely was unleashed upon His Son at the cross.
[00:44:49] As we think about all this, it is to emphasize God's patience with us, that he would be patient with Me, and that he would be merciful with we and send His Son to die through for me.
[00:45:03] Why did the worst thing happen to the only good person?
[00:45:07] And here's the answer. He chose it.
[00:45:11] He chose it.
[00:45:13] The Garden of Gethsemane.
[00:45:15] Jesus sees the blowtorch of God's wrath. He sees Revelation 16 and it brings him to his niece. He says, let this be cup pass from me. Because he knows what he's facing.
[00:45:33] He knows he's facing the pain of our sin.
[00:45:37] He knows he's facing the stench of death to be cut off in some way from the goodness of God His Father, and only know his judgment for our sin.
[00:45:54] He faces the justice. He chooses it.
[00:45:58] Not my will, but your will.
[00:46:02] And he is scorched in torment and anguish and sent to darkness to become an enemy of God, drinking the full cup of wrath that was meant for you and I.
[00:46:14] And if you would believe in him today, he says to you, it is finished, before he will say to you, you are finished.
[00:46:25] Oh, would you believe in Jesus today?
[00:46:28] Would you trust in Jesus today?
[00:46:31] Maybe in this moment, all the chaos, all the craziness of your life in the world would just come to this one moment where you would say, this is what makes sense, looking for peace. Well, there will be no peace if you continue to reject Jesus.
[00:46:51] Would you believe in Jesus today?
[00:46:54] Because the cross puts this view of God's wrath in perspective.
[00:46:59] When we go to the cross, we look at this judgment and we're not saying, oh, that's too much.
[00:47:07] No, we go to the cross and go, my sin was too much.
[00:47:11] I did that to the Son of God.
[00:47:17] And there his mercy for the believer becomes too much.
