The Apex of God's Wrath

If you have your Bibles with you, open them please to Revelation sixteen. Revelation Chapter sixteen. Stephen alluded on last week to the fact that we are moving into another sort of category here. And as we have seen these pictures of the wrath of God play out again and again, we are reminded of how this recapitulation also brings us to a place of increasing intensity. And as the intensity increases, we have come to this last outpouring of the wrath of God. And here we see the ultimate increase of intensity. Here we see finality in the bows of wrath. We see God's wrath poured out to the fullest. Now, this is not the end of the book of Revelation, because there's more to come in this progressive parallelism. But as we've looked at this picture again and again and again of God pouring out his wrath, we see a picture of the increasing intensity of the wrath of God as we move toward the end. But the end is not God pouring out his wrath. The end is the return of Christ. The end is the establishment of the new heavens and the New Earth and the New Jerusalem. That's the end. This is merely the end of his wrath being poured out. Now there is more to be explained about the wrath of God, But as far as the picture of these sevens, this number of completion, and the complete wrath of God against sin, this is the ultimate picture. Listen to this from Robert wall in the New International Bible Commentary on Our Relation, he writes, the exaltation of Christ began a period of increased tribulation, envision by the trumpet plagues that will intensify in severity until the complete collapse of the fallen creation eventuates in vision by the bold plagues. The inevitability of complete chaos and the utter inability of any social institution to do anything about it points to the ultimate hope of Christ's return when he comes from outside of history in order to transform history. Against this field of vision, then, the bold judgments represent the conclusion of the third woe, the demise of evil dominion, and the preparation of the new social order characterized by God's shalom and grace. Amen. This reminds us that there has to be something else, not just something more. The idea that there is something more carries with it the idea that what we have right now is okay. They're just more of the okay that we need. And as we read progressively through Revelation, the idea is communicated is not that things are okay and we just need more of that which is okay. The idea is that things are ruined and we need something else, a new heaven and a new earth. But before there can be recreations, to be d creation, and that is essentially what we see in Revelation chapter sixteen. Today we'll look at these first eleven verses. On next week we'll look at this sixth bowl by itself, and this idea of the battle of Armageddon. We'll look at that on its own, because it bears it carries with it so much baggage, and we've heard so much about it, and we have so many preconceived ideas about this battle of Armageddon that we're going to take time to deal with that on its own. But today we'll look at these first five bowls and the wrath of God being poured out in d creation. Look with me, if you will, Revelation sixteen. Beginning in verse one, then I heard a loud voice from the temple, telling the seven angels go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, just are you, o, Holy One, who is and who was? For you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And heard the altar saying, yes, Lord, God the Almighty, true, and just are your judgments. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had power over the plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bull on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of Heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. As I read through this passage again and again over the course of this week, I have to be honest with you, there was part of me that, after a while started to yearn for something else. There was part of me that just got weighed down with the picture of how awful this judgment is. There was part of me that was looking for upside, if you will. But that's not what Revelation sixteen is about. Revelation sixteen is a picture of the ultimate wrath of God. Revelation sixteen is a picture of what happens when enough is enough. Revelation sixteen is a picture of what happens when God's patience runs out. Revelation sixteen is a picture of what your sin and my sin truly deserves. And yet it's still not enough to describe what it is that sinners deserve. There's more description to come, and that description in and of itself is still not enough. Remember, we are dealing with symbols here, we're dealing with signs. Here, we're not dealing with things that are literal. So what John is doing for us, as he's been doing throughout the rest of the time and Revelation, is he's trying to use word pictures in order to help us understand the magnitude of something that you and I can not grasp. This is negative, this is destructive, this is awful. And yet it's only a picture of what is to come. Not only that, it's only a picture of the intensification of the judgment under which we set even now, think about several things as we go through this. First thing I want you to think about is this, we are seeing a picture of what God thinks about sin and sinners. We're seeing a picture of what God thinks about sin and sinners. You know, we often hear love the sinner, hate the sin. God judges sinners for sin. Revelation sixteen is not about a God who is judging sin as an abstract idea. He's judging sinners as concrete people. He judges the sinner and the sin. The second thing I want you to keep in mind is that you are guilty of this and that in this room today. There are people who fall into two category worries. Number one, you either fall into the category of the sinner who has this coming in your future because you are unrepentant and have essentially taken the mark of the beast and worship at the altar of the beast as opposed to worshiping at the altar of the lamb of God. And this is what you have in store. This is what God thinks about your sin. You think your sin is not all that bad, but listen to me. Revelation sixteen is not about what God does to people who are notorious sinners. Revelation sixteen is about what God does to individuals whose sin and word and thought and deed. You don't have to be a murderer or a mass murderer to stand in line for Revelation sixteen. All sin deserves Revelation sixteen, all of it. If you're not in that category, then you're in the category that says, the only reason I don't have this coming is because Christ has endured the equivalent and more on my behalf. Keep that in mind as we go through this. This is about how God thinks about sin, and this is about what you either have in store lest you repent and believe, or what you had in store until you're repented and believed. And if you're in that last category, please don't ever forget that the only reason that this wrath is not stored up for you is because it was endured by Christ. First thing we see here in this decreation is the boundless scope of God's sovereignty. All creation is touched here. The first bowl touches the earth. And as I say, decreation, here's why I listen to this. The first bowl touches the earth. Genesis chapter one, verses nine through ten. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good. This was the third day of creation. Why is it that God can judge the whole earth? Because God created the whole earth. This is why. So this is d creation. God created the earth. Now he's d creating the earth. This gives us a picture of his sovereignty. He has sovereignty over the entire earth. Secondly, the second Bowl the seas. We go to Genesis one twenty one. By the way, what happens when God judges the seas, They turn into blood, and every living creature in the seas dies Genesis one one. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the water swarm, according to their kind, and every wing bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. The God who created the seas and every creature in the seas, at the end of days kills everything in the seas. Why because He's sovereign. They are his to do with as he pleases. And in Revelation chapter sixteen we see the complete sovereignty of God. Then the third bowl the fresh waters. The fresh waters really coincides with what we saw in the first bowl and the second bowl as it relates to decreation. The fresh waters are waters like the seas, with their waters on the land, and so there is an overlap between the fresh water the land and the sea. The fourth bowl the sun. In Genesis chapter one, verse fourteen nineteen, God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the fourth day. God demonstrates his sovereignty over every realm of creation. The land, the sea, the rivers, and the heavenly bodies were all created by him and will all be d created by him. This is a picture of the sovereignty of God. There's an amazing thing that happens. And we'll talk about Romans one a little bit later. But in Romans chapter one, what do we see that men ought to know that there is a God? Why ought they to know that there is a God? Because of what he created? And yet they do not acknowledge this God who created all things. But God will remind them the earth is his, that the seas are his, that the rivers are his, and that the expanse of the heavens are his. This is a picture of the sovereignty of God. God is to be acknowledged in every sphere. Believer, listen to me. Do not accept this idea that says God's sphere is the religious sphere, and that we're to worship God in the religious sphere but allow the other spheres to be dominated by other individuals. Nothing could be further from the truth. The heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens scream to us that there is a God and that He is in control of all of these things. Mother, Father, teach this to your children. Don't you dare teach your children that we know about the Bible, but the people who don't love our God God know about science. Don't you dare teach your children that we know about religion, but they know about the way the world works. Don't you dare allow them to imbide this lie that says Christianity is sufficient. But when it comes to our origins and where man came from, other people have to give us answers to those questions. In Revelation, chapter sixteen. The evolutionists are screaming, this is a cosmic accident. There is no God, and God says, fix the earth. The evolutionists are saying life merely evolved out of the water, so we can find water on other planets, that we can find life because water is the source of life. God says, I'll kill everything in the water. The evolutionist says that all of this is merely the result of organized chaos. God says, I'll burn you with your own son, because he's not yours. The son is mine. I made it all. There is no escaping the irony that man looks at nature and either one worships nature or two begins to view nature as just this empty mechanism that happened by accident. And at the end of the age, God reminds us that every sphere is his. He created them, and he will de create them. Secondly, we also see in this decomprehensive nature of God's judgment. Don't miss this if you read this carefully. Here's what's happening that there's an escalation to this. The first angel pours out his bowl on the earth. Now what we see from this is that people are impacted. Look at this again. So the first Angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. God pours out this bowl of wrath on the earth and people get painful sores and boils. It almost doesn't seem right. It would seem that if God was going to impact people, that it should say God poured out the first bowl upon all flesh. But he didn't. He poured it upon the earth. How does God pour out a bowl of wrath on the earth and people get diseased? I'll tell you how our food supply. Why do I make that argument? Two reasons. Number one, because that's the way that whatever is on the earth gets into us. The things that grow on the earth we eat. So now our food supply on the earth is taken away. If your food supply on the earth is taken away, where do you go. You go to the sea, because that's where your food supply has to come from. We can't grow food anymore. We grow food and we get sores and boils. What are we going to do? Go to the sea, eat the fish? Second bowl food source from the sea is gone. We're in trouble. What are we going to do? At least we have water. We can survive for a while with water. Third bowl, fresh water gone. Our food from the earth is gone. Our food from the sea is gone. Our fresh water is gone. Let's run to kings and governing authorities and ask them to do something. Next bowl, kingdom cast into darkness. Do you see the progressive picture and the comprehensive nature of God's judgment? This is the end. This is not localized, by the way, this is the entire earth. It's like the flood, the whole world flood. I know there are people who try to argue for a localized flood, but the localized flood was a picture of the judgment that is to come. If you believe in a localized flood, then you believe in localized judgment to come. Folks, God is not going to judge localized earth. There's a comparison here to the Seven trumpets and to the plagues in Egypt. No doubt that there's a comparison here to Egypt. We heard about that in last week. Only this time it comes after the song in fifteen in the first Trumpet, we see the earth affected, and the first bull the earth is affected, and both of these correspond or the second one corresponds to the sores and boils in Exodus nine to ten. But there's a difference between the first trumpet and the first bowl. And the first trumpet the earth is affected, but not the people, and the first bowl the earth is affected and consequently the people. In the second trumpet, the sea is affected, just as in the second bowl. But in the second trumpet one third of the sea creatures die, and the second bowl all of the sea creatures die. Third trumpet, rivers and springs are affected. Third bowl rivers and springs are affected. Both of these correspond to the rivers of blood in Exodus seven nineteen. But in the third trumpet there is warning and in the third bowl actual judgment. Fourth trumpet refers to sun, moon and stars. Fourth bowl refers to the sun. Fourth trumpet, you get partial darkness. Fourth bowl, the darkness is complete. Trumpet the pit of the abyss. Fifth bowl the throne of the beast. Both of these bring about darkness, which corresponds to Exodus chapter ten and verse twenty two. In the trumpets, the fourth trumpet brings partial darkness or the bowl. The fifth trumpet rather releases evil angels. In the bulls, it brings suffering to all who follow the beast. In the seventh trumpet, the river euphrates, and in the sixth trumpet, rather the river euphrates. In the sixth bowl, the river euphrates. The correspondence here is to the frogs in Exodus chapter eight, But in the sixth trumpet there's death to one third of humanity by war. In the sixth bowl, as we'll see next week, there's warfare that involves all the kings of the Earth. Trumpet brings lightning in Hal as the seventh bowl. Lightning in hal corresponds to Exodus chapter nine, Verses twenty three and twenty four, But in the seventh trumpet there's merely lightning in Hal. At the end of the seventh bowl there's lightning and hail and the declaration it is done. There's parallelism here, but it's progressively worse. This reminds us that time is limited. But there's also a picture here, thirdly, of the incomparable extent of God's mercy. Yes we see his sovereignty, yes we see his judgment, but we also see the incomparable extent of God's mercy. Why, folks, the scope reminds us that He is the one who supplies all our needs. You didn't eat today because you were wise enough and industrious enough to eat. You didn't eat today because somehow you brought forth your own bounty. You ate today because the earth has brought forth what it was created to bring forth by God. You eat today because the sea brings forth what it's created to bring forth by God. You drink fresh water today, why, because these springs bring forth what God allows them to bring forth. And Revelation in sixteen stands there to remind you, and to remind you me. Don't forget. You don't have to eat, You don't have to survive. Folks, This is why we give thanks. Remember how Jesus taught us to pray. Think about the parallels here our father in heaven, How will be your name, your kingdom? Come? You will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. To see the parallels, there also the parallel with the Exodus, reminds us of God's mercy up until now. God has judged man. Before the flood, God judged man the whole world, but Noah, shim Ham, Jayfith, and their wives survived and the Promised seed endured. God was merciful. Sodom the other act in the Big Three where God judges twin cities but gets his people out and safe, and finally the Exodus, where God judges Pharaoh and his entire army and rescues his people and judges him through the plagues. But this time is different. This time is the end. May ask you this, do you believe that Revelation sixteen comes upon a generation that is more worthy of judgment than any other generation that lived before no Which means that every generation that has survived since the flood has not survived because they were better than the Genesis sixth generation. Every city that has survived since Sodom and Gomorrah has not survived because they were better than Sodom and Gomorrah. Every city that survived since Egypt and Pharaoh has not survived because we're better than Egypt and Pharaoh. We've survived because God said not yet no other reason. The cry of the martyrs also reminds us that God is patient, but his patience is limited. I want you to notice something. Look here again, begin with met verse five. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, just as you, o, Holy One, just to you, Holy One, who is and who was? For you brought these judgments. You notice anything missing there? By the way, just to you, Holy One, who is and who was? Several times we've seen this configuration before, who is and who was and who is to come? But in the final judgment we just hear who is and who was? Why? Because he's come, and he says, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. Now, notice there's a play on words here. There's several things caught up in this. They have shed the blood of your people, and you've given them blood to drink. In other words, the water turns into blood. He's not saying from now on they're going to survive on drinking blood. They're not going to survive. Giving them blood to drink means that they're going to die. In other words, they killed your people and now they're going to die. Symbolically, they fed off the blood of your people, and symbolically, because they can't survive on the blood that you turn this water into, they die by the same means. The other thing is that drinking blood is idolatry. What are they guilty of idolatry? You gave them blood to drink. It's exactly what they deserve. But the next phrase, and I heard the altar saying, huh, yes, Lord, God the Almighty true, And just are your judgments? What is that? The angel says, they killed your people and they deserve what they've got. And then there's the altar. Do you remember what's coming up from the altar? The prayers of the martyrs like incense. Listen to this from Revelation six nine to eleven. When you opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, Oh, Sovereign, Lord, Holy and True, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brother and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been unmistakable parallel. This is what's coming from the altar. This is a picture of the mercy of God, the mercy of God that says, I will not only avenge my righteousness, I will avenge my people. Well, saints, remember this when you were ill treated, remember this Romans twelve. If we don't avenge ourselves, why number one, it's not my position. Number two, God can do it a whole lot better than you can. That's the cry that's coming on the altar. God is avenging his saints. He will avenge his saints. The fourth thing we see is the recalcultrate nature of man's rebellion, even the natural thing to think, here's the natural thing to think. This is the way our minds work. Our minds say, okay, wait a minute, the food supply on earth untrustworthy, and we're bringing out in sores and boils. We run to the sea and everything in it is killed. Now we don't even have fresh water. Now, we don't even have shelter from the sun. So we've got nothing to eat, we've got nothing to drink, and the sun is beating down on us like it's never beat down on us. Before we're done, it's over, we're through. Now. Here's what you and I naturally think. You and I naturally think that at this moment, people say uncle. At this moment, people say, okay, God, I quit. At this moment, people say, okay, God, I'm sorry. At this moment, people say, okay, God, please forgive me. At this moment, people say, okay, God, please save me from your wrath. But twice in this passage we read they don't repent. They knew God was in control. Verse nine. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. They cursed his name. They didn't repent and give him glory. They cursed his name. Every man knows that there's a God. Listen again, Romans Won told you we're gonna look at this passage beginning of verse e tighten, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Folks, there's no man who doesn't know, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they knew God. They knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal Man, and birds and animals and creeping things, and then God gave them over. Every man knows there's a God. You don't have to prove God's existence to any man. Every man knows there's a God, and any man who tells you that he doesn't believe in God is lying either to you or himself, or both. Every man believes in God. There's no such thing as an atheist. There are only men who suppress the truth they know in their unrighteousness. By the way, little footnote here. If every man knows that there's a God and they're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and you respond to them by trying to give them evidence for God, then what you're saying is the answer for unrighteousness is evidence. Men don't fail to believe in God because they don't have enough evidence. They refuse to believe in God because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And the answer for unrighteousness is the Gospel. So if we're doing apologetics with no gospel, we're wasting our time. These people know there's a God, food supply on the earth gone food supply, and the sea gone fresh water, gone, suns scorching them. What do they do? They curse God. They don't say, Oh, Mother Earth, are you angry with us? They curse God. They could not find relief from their agony. So knowledge of God in itself is not enough. Agony is not enough. People gnawed Verse ten. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of Heaven for their pain and sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. Only God's mercy and saving grace brings repentance. That's it. Listen, to this again from Romans Chapter two, verses three and five, three to five. Do you suppose, old man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. Because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Folks, wrath doesn't bring repentance. Can I just speak for a moment to parents? Wrath doesn't bring repentance. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. And how many of us parent our children with wrath and anger, thinking if I just beat them hard enough this time, then they'll stop doing it. If I just yell at them loud enough this time, then they won't do it anymore. Because my wrath and the level of my wrath is what is going to bring about righteousness in my child. Wrong answer. Wrath does not produce repentance. Wrath does not produce repentance, and increasing The level of wrath that we inflict on our children is not going to increase their level of repentance. What it will do is increase the hardness of their hearts against wrath, because it will take more and more and more and more as we progress. It's the grace of God that produces repentance, not wrath. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. And if there's ever been an example of that, here it is. This is more wrath than you and I could ever inflict. And what happens their hearts are hardened. What happened to Pharaoh? His heart was hardened. Okay, maybe this time, maybe this plague, maybe this plague, maybe this plague. No, and even even even when his heart was soft enough to let them go, what happened as soon as they left, he had to go get him. Here's something else. Don't assume that people's circumstances are going to bring them to God. The gospel does that. The Gospel does that. Not people's circumstances, only the Gospel. We're not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God under salvation, the gospel, not wrath, not wrath. Do we punish sin. Absolutely we do. Absolutely we do. But the goal in punishing sin is not that the punishment of the sin will bring about the repentance. Yet shows a picture of the wrath of God against sin, and it is a platform upon which we proclaim the Gospel, which is the only hope that there will be an experience of anything other than wrath. Finally, this decreation shows us the limited power of Satan's kingdom, the fifth Bowl. Look with me if you will the fifth bow, verse ten. The fifth things will poured out his bowl on the throne of the Beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues and anguish and cursed the God of Heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. Listen to this from Alan Johnson. The Fifth Bowl plagues the kingdom of the Beast into darkness. This is not a reference to the fall of the Roman Empire or Caesar worship. John's words would include this level of meaning, and to thirteen, john used the word throne to designate the stronghold of Satan at Pergamum. Thus, the throne of the Beast symbolizes the seat of the worldwide dominion of the great Satanic system of idolatry. This system is plunged into spiritual darkness or disruption, bringing chaos on all who sought life and meaning in it. This is not just a single isolated place. This is the entire world system as we know it. Those who accept the mark of the Beast are not located in one geographical area. Remember, this mark is a picture of those who reject the true triune God and accept the false Trinity. They're everywhere, and so this last plague impacts everywhere the entire world, in the entire world's system. Those who depend on anything other than God, it is cast into darkness. Again, we're using zymbolic language here because there's almost a sense in which is doesn't make any sense. The sun has been intensified, which means it would be brighter. Right, How do you get cast into darkness when the sun is brighter. We're not talking about the light of the sun, folks. This is evil darkness. This is spiritual darkness. And this is contrasted with the Kingdom of light. Listen to this all from John, same author first in his Gospel John eight twelve. Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John twelve thirty five and thirty six. So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while. Longer walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light. Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. John twelve forty six. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. And then in his first epistle, First John, chapter one, verses five to seven, this is the message we have heard from him, and proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we have fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. Finally, on John two eight through ten. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you which is true in him and in you, because darkness is passing away. In true light is already. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him. There is no cause for stumbling still. Think John in Revelation sixteen is talking about the light of the sun as you in. The darkness that they're in is a spiritual darkness. But I want you to note that this is not our end You see, believers experience the wrath of the beast, but we don't experience the wrath of God. The wrath of the beast can be endured. And what's the worst thing that the wrath of the beast can do? Take your life? Last time I checked, the death rate was one per person. You're gonna die anyway, Amen, You going home one way or another. Wrath of God, however, food supply on the earth gone food supply, and the sea gone, fresh water supply gone, shelter from the sun, gone scorched by the sun. We run to those whose mark we've taken, to those whom we trust, and there is nothing but darkness but that's not even the worst part. When your life finally ends, your judgment has only just begun. Jesus says, don't fear him who can destroy the body. Fear the one who can cast both body and soul into hell. Being a Christian doesn't mean that we escape difficulty and the here and the now, But it does mean that we don't experience the wrath of God here, and more importantly, we don't experience the wrath of God than But back where we started. Why what's the difference between me and the ones who experience justly this judgment from God. The experience is I've been washed in the blood of the lamb. The difference is all of this has been endured on my behalf by Christ. See, it's not that God looks at me and says, you know what, you get a pass. It's not as though God looks at those of us who belong to Him and say, you know what, you're so cute and goudly, you'll get a pass. Because all of sin and falls short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. Every last one of us deserves Revelation sixteen, And the only difference between us and them. Is that Revelation sixteen has already been paid for on our behalf, because Christ has endured it, and more he is endured the full weight of the wrath of God. It will take all eternity for those who worship the beast to experience that wrath, and Christ took it upon himself in the matter of one incarnation, and the majority of it in the matter of a day. This is how serious God is about sin. This is what sinners have in store, this is what saints have been forgiven, and this is what God says is just let's pray. Father, as we bow, we bow with hearts that are heavy. For who can read about the wrath of God and not have a heavy heart? Grant by your grace that we would not take sin lightly. Grant by your grace that we would understand the magnitude of your righteousness and therefore understand the magnitude of our guilt, the magnitude of Christ's forgiveness, the magnitude of the mercy and grace that we have received, and magnitude of the wrath that sinners are storing up for themselves. Not that we might boast, but that we might proclaim. Father, I pray for any soul of the sound of My voice who sits right now under this condemnation, that you would grant repentance and faith, that they would not be like those who experience your wrath and yet refuse to repent, but that your kindness would lead them to repentance. The kindness of opening up their eyes to see who you are, The kindness of opening up their eyes to see the wrath that they are storing up. The kindness of opening up their eyes to see that Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for the unjust, in order that he might bring us back to God. The kindness of allowing them to hear this truth and the here and the now before it is too late cramp by your grace, that your kindness would lead them to repentance and faith in Christ. This is our prayer, this is our hope, this is our desire, and we ask it in the name of our just judge and righteous Redeemer, Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.