{"id":18972,"date":"2018-12-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-024-gods-perfect-timing\/"},"modified":"2018-12-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T06:00:00","slug":"revelation-024-gods-perfect-timing","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-024-gods-perfect-timing\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 024 – God’s Perfect Timing"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18972","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 024 - God's Perfect Timing","sermon_date":"20181230","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6334,"sermon_slides":6335,"sermon_mp3":6337,"sermon_id":"1230181710305122","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"6:9-17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nGod\u2019s Perfect Timing\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 12-30-18\n\nRevelation 6:9-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 24\n\nGood morning everybody, almost a Happy New\u00a0 Year to you.\u00a0 If we can take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 6 and verse 9, looking this morning at verses 9-17, with 2018 almost behind us and 2019 in front of\u00a0 us, it\u2019s a good time to think about God\u2019s Perfect Timing.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the title of our message this morning, God\u2019s Perfect Timing<\/em> as we continue through verse by verse the Book of Revelation.\n\nWe\u2019re in that section of the Bible, the futuristic section of the book where Jesus is in heaven, He has taken a seven-sealed scroll which He is qualified to open, and as He breaks these different seals on the scroll another judgment comes to the earth.\u00a0 The first judgment that He brought in, early on in the Tribulation period was the man, the antichrist, the rider on the white horse, chapters 6:1-2, who seem to bring in world peace.\u00a0 [Revelation 6:1-2, \u201cThen I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, \u201cCome.\u201d [3] I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.\u201d]\n\nHe will actually guarantee Israel\u2019s security and once that cove with Israel is entered into, according to Daniel 9:27, the tribulation period at that point will begin.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d]\n\nThe church, as we have studied, can\u2019t be here during this time because our presence on the earth is preventing that rider on the white horse from coming forward in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:6, \u201cAnd you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so<\/em> until he is taken out of the way.\u201d] God is currently restraining the coming of the antichrist through the presence of the church.\u00a0 But one of these days the church will be translated into heaven through an event that we call the rapture (are you looking forward to that), and once that happens there will be nothing left to hold Satan\u2019s hands at bay, he will, under God\u2019s sovereignty, bring forth his antichrist.\n\nBut the peace that he brings will be short lived, it will quickly disintegrate into war; that\u2019s seal judgment number two.\u00a0 It\u2019s very different than Jesus Christ, Isaiah 9:6-7, which you no doubt have seen many times, it\u2019s on all our Christmas cards this time of the year. That when Jesus comes into the world at His second advent He will bring in a forever peace. [Isaiah 9:6-7, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.\u00a0 [7] There will be no end to the increase of His<\/em> government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousn\u00adess from then on and forevermore.\u00a0 The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.\u201d]\n\nBut not so the artificial Christ of the first seal judgment, a temporary peace and that\u2019s really the best the world system has to offer people.\u00a0 If people will reject Christ, the truth, what they are stuck with, what they must settle with is an artificial substitute and the artificiality of the anti\u00adchrist\u2019s peace becomes evident because world war breaks out with the second seal judgment.\n\nAnd if that weren\u2019t enough then you have seal judgment number three which we\u2019ve already studied, worldwide famine, economic collapse.\u00a0 And when we were looking at that a couple of weeks ago I tried to make the case that the teetering economies of the world with their artificial prosperity is virtually setting the stage for this worldwide economic collapse through widespread national debt.\n\nThen seal judgment number four comes to the earth as the fourth seal is opened and horrifically a quarter of the world\u2019s population is destroyed.\u00a0 And when you look at numbers this large it\u2019s hard to identify these with anything that\u2019s happened in the past.\u00a0 There\u00a0 obviously have been terrible events concerning rapid destruction of life in past history but nothing on this magnitude.\u00a0 And so we are taking these judgments as future, yet to come.\n\nSo that would leave seal judgment number five and seal judgment number six which we will study this morning.\u00a0 So notice, if you will, Revelation chapter 6 and notice, if you will, verse 9.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;\u201d you\u2019ll notice again with all of these judgments it\u2019s the Lamb breaking these seals and bringing these judgments to the earth.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see the wrath of the Lamb later described in this chapter.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice it\u2019s called \u201cthe fifth seal.\u201d\u00a0 So the understanding of the Book of Revelation is that we are to take these judgments in chronological order. That\u2019s why they\u2019re described first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.\u00a0 And when this seal is opened you have something that looks like a massive degree of martyrdom.\u00a0 Certainly God\u2019s people throughout history have always been persecuted; certainly around the world we see examples of Christianity persecution today.\u00a0 In fact, The Voice of the Martyrs ministry documents all of these persecutions in our world today, arguing that there have been more people killed in the twentieth century alone, now moving into the twenty-first century, that have been killed for the cause of Christ in all of the last two thousand years of church history.\u00a0 So we see martyrdoms but apparently this trend will accelerate when seal judgment five comes to the earth and you have those, it says there in verse 9, \u201cslain.\u201d I saw \u201cthe souls of those who had been slain.\u201d\n\nNow when you look up this word \u201cslain\u201d in the original language it means killed by violence.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s happened.\u00a0 These are people that haven\u2019t died of natural causes and things of that nature, they have been slain through violence itself and as John sees a heavenly altar he sees the souls of those slain, believers, under the altar itself crying out to God.\u00a0 And we ask ourselves, well what got these people into so much hot water that they went through a violent death for the cause of Christ?\u00a0 And the answer is right there in verse 9, it says, \u201cbecause of the Word of God, and because of the testimony.\u201d \u00a0The Word of God is logos<\/em>, the testimony is martyr\u00eda<\/em>, where we get the word martyr, and what got these people into trouble with the world system during the tribulation period that\u2019s coming is they stood on two things, the Word of God and their testimony.\n\nAnd may I just say to you that as you look at the new year coming those are the two things that\u2019ll get you into trouble with people every single time.\u00a0 Number one, standing on the Word of God, what God has revealed in this book, the Scripture, and number two, speaking up about Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Speaking up about Jesus Christ doesn\u2019t get you saved, faith alone saves.\u00a0 But speaking up about Christ is a testimony to the world of what Jesus has already done in our hearts.\u00a0 And we have a tendency to shy away from these two things because of the reaction that it brings.\u00a0 In fact, I would contend this, as you went through the holiday season, New Year\u2019s Eve tomorrow, New Year\u2019s Day on Tuesday, probably maintaining a walk with the Lord in His Word and in your verbal testimony are probably the greatest two struggles in your life.\u00a0 And I can say that from personal experience because those are the two greatest struggles in my life as well, staying in the Word and speaking up for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these two things did for this crowd of martyrs that got destroyed through a violent death with the opening of seal judgment number five.\n\nRevelation 12:11 says, \u201cAnd they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently this crowd of martyrs, more important than physical life itself was God\u2019s Word and their testimony concerning Jesus and the world system reacted against them.\n\n2 Timothy 3:12 makes us a promise.\u00a0 It says, \u201cIndeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 The more you live out your faith publicly the more you can expect an onslaught from the world system and that\u2019s what this crowd of martyrs, who have just suffered a violent death, verse\u00a0 9, are experiencing.\n\nSo John moves away from what he sees, verse 9, in the fifth seal judgment, and then he starts talking about things that he hears.\u00a0 Look at verse 10, It says, \u201cand they cried out with a loud voice, saying, \u2018How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 John hears a request, a request from these martyrs for their blood to be avenged.\u00a0 Now when you look at this in the original language this is not a whisper that\u2019s happening; this is not a quiet form of prayer.\u00a0 This is a loud scream by these martyrs.\u00a0 This is an exclamation; it\u2019s the same word that\u2019s used to describe demons possessing people and screaming at Jesus Christ in His first coming earthly ministry.\u00a0 That\u2019s the same word.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t just say \u201cvoice\u201d there, it says \u201ca loud voice,\u201d and the word \u201cloud\u201d literally is a\u2026\u00a0 you can recognize an English word from those two words, megaphone.\u00a0 They are just yelling out to the Lord, how long, Lord until you avenge our blood, until you avenge us.\n\nAnd\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice that in this exclamation and in this cry they appeal to God\u2019s character.\u00a0 They call God, verse 10, \u201choly and true.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, Lord, this is an injustice that has been perpetrated.\u00a0 This is contrary to\u00a0 Your ways, this is contrary to your Will, this is contrary to Your wishes, how long, they\u2019re yelling out to God, megaphone, exclamation, screaming, how long are you going to allow this to transpire?\u00a0 We have a tendency to think that God has somehow, when we don\u2019t get immediate answers to our prayers, when injustices are perpetrated against us, we have\u00a0 a tendency to think that God has somehow forgotten about those injustices.\u00a0 But I can assure you based on the authority of God\u2019s Word that He has not forgotten.\u00a0 In fact, you might recall the words of Genesis 4:10, very early on in the Bible we have the first murder, Cain murdered his brother, Abel, as you know, and God says this in Genesis 4:10, the blood of your brother is cries out \u201cto Me from the ground.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 4:10, \u201c\u201cWhat have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.\u2019\u201d]\n\nI mean this injustice has happened and his blood is personified as crying out to God to correct the problem, bring justice to this situation.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these martyrs who have just suffered this violent death, this is what they are calling for; they\u2019re crying out to God.\u00a0 And may I just say that that is the call of the ages, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Because all of us are living in a fallen world, all of us suffer injustices, all of us suffer unfair treatment and we\u2019re always asking God to correct this problem.\u00a0 And what we learn in these verses is we\u2019re told to wait a little while, by way of application, because God\u2019s timing is perfect.\u00a0 God knows exactly what has happened; He has actually a plan of justice in motion whereby injustices will be rectified.\u00a0 The problem with us is we want those injustices corrected now on our schedule and God says wait on Me because My timing is perfect.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of 1 Peter 5:6 and although we are not going to be in these judgments we can certainly make applications of them to our lives.\u00a0 1 Peter 5:6 says, \u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you\u201d when? \u201cat the proper time.\u201d\u00a0 The perfect timing of God.\u00a0 In other words it\u2019s not yet time for this violence to be avenged but payday someday.\n\nIt\u2019s also very interesting for me to observe here in verse 9 and specifically verse 10 that these martyrs who have suffered this violent death under the altar portrayed as departed and in the presence of the Lord are, number one, fully conscious, and number two, fully conversing.\u00a0 In other words, the other world, the world that these folks move into after death is just as physical, it\u2019s just as real, it\u2019s just as personal as the world that we\u2019re living in now.\u00a0 I think we kind of look at the afterlife as some kind of mystical experience that we\u2019re not sure about.\u00a0 But biblically speaking this is a full conversation that\u2019s happening.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that they have a remembrance, it\u2019s very clear what happened to them, and they\u2019re yelling out to God, megaphone form---when are You going to fix this problem?\n\n2 Corinthians 5:8 says this concerning the presence of God,\u00a0 \u201cwe are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what death brings; death is not an ending, it\u2019s a beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s a transfer, if you will, from the physical realm of this world into a very real existence in the next realm.\u00a0 In fact, Paul Himself couldn\u2019t wait to get there.\u00a0 Philippians 1:21-23, Paul says, \u201cFor to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. [22] But if I am<\/em> to live on<\/em> in the flesh, this will mean<\/em> fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. [23] But I am hard-pressed from both directions,<\/em> having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that<\/em> is very much better;\u201d\u00a0 Conscience and conversing.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that the verses continue, look at verse 11, John continues to record what he saw and he heard.\u00a0 Verse 11, there was as the answer of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is coming forth, \u201cAnd there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.\u201d[Revelation 6:11]\n\nThey\u2019re given a white robe; now it\u2019s sort of hard to put a robe on, isn\u2019t it, if you don\u2019t have a body?\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s very interesting because I\u2019ve always thought of this in terms of folks will not, in this case, receive their resurrected body until Revelation 20:4-5, the beginning of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 [Revelation 20:4-5, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw<\/em> the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. [5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s when they will receive their resurrected bodies.\u00a0 \u00a0I actually think there is a case to be made in Scripture that people have some sort of intermediate body awaiting their resurrected body.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s true with people in heaven and I also think it\u2019s true with people in hell.\u00a0 You recall Luke 16:24, the rich man who died and went into Hades?\u00a0 \u201cAnd he cried out and said, \u2018Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger\u201d isn\u2019t that a body part, a finger? \u201c\u2026 in water and cool off my tongue,\u201d isn\u2019t the tongue a body part? \u201c\u2026 for I am in agony in this flame.\u2019\u201d\n\nNow this is not something to be dogmatic about; this is not something necessarily to start a new church over because a lot of people would disagree with me on this and say well, you just sort of go into heaven in sort of a soulish experience awaiting your resurrected body.\u00a0\u00a0 But to me this looks like they already have a body before their resurrected body and perhaps it\u2019s a vailed hint of some kind of intermediate body that people in heaven receive, and in hell also receive awaiting the final resurrection.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of things that can be learned here simply by letting the details of the Bible speak for itself.\n\nBut it\u2019s also interesting that God gave them a white robe, and by way of application I can\u2019t think of any more important gift than that because to me that white robe speaks of the transferred righteousness of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In fact the white robe I would argue is probably the most important Christmas present you could ever receive because the reality of the situation is in the final day I don\u2019t really plan on standing before the Lord through my own self-righteousness.\u00a0 Gee, Lord, look at what I\u2019ve done for You kind of thing, which really isn\u2019t going to get me very far in the end.\u00a0 I plan on standing before the Lord in the righteousness that He gives me at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nPhilippians 3:9 says, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d\u00a0 The Protestant Reformers called this alien righteousness.\u00a0 Why do they call it alien righteousness?\u00a0 Righteousness from another world, righteousness that\u2019s not our own, that is transferred, a fancy name is imputed to us at the point of faith.\u00a0 Maybe this white robe here represents the transferred righteousness that these martyrs have already received.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I could answer all the particularities of this but I know this, that\u2019s not the Christmas present I want--- in fact, that\u2019s a Christmas present I desperately need.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t have that white robe what am I left with?\u00a0 I\u2019m left with my own self-righteousness.\u00a0 Self-righteousness will not stand, God demands perfect righteousness and thus I must receive it\u2014transferred alien right\u00adeous\u00ad\u00adness at the point of faith.\n\nAnd so we are given this robe that it perhaps gives us some kind of an intermediate body prior to this, I\u2019m not completely sure on it, but they\u2019re given a message from Jesus Christ that they are to wait a little while. Verse 11, \u201cThere was given to each of them a white robe and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer\u201d for their vengeance from God in other words, \u201cuntil\u201d what? \u201cuntil the number of their fellow servants and their brethren [who were to be killed even as they had been,] would be completed also.\u201d So God\u2019s justice is not denied; in this case it\u2019s being delayed.\u00a0 God is going to avenge these martyrs; He\u2019s going to avenge every injustice that\u2019s ever been perpetrated in human history and what we are called to do is to wait on the perfect timing of God.\u00a0 In this case there are more martyrs to come in the tribulation period and once that number has been made full, once that number has been made complete, it\u2019s the Greek word, pl\u0113r\u014dth\u014d, being made full, being complete, then God will deal with injustices that come our direction.\n\nIf you\u2019re into New\u00a0 Year\u2019s resolutions for the year 2019, how about this for a New Year\u2019s resolution\u2014learn to wait on the Lord.\u00a0 Learn the discipline under His power of simply waiting on Him to fix problems in your life rather than you going out and trying to fix everything on your own, in which case you\u2019ll probably make it worse, just learn the discipline of taking issues that come into our lives and saying even though this is bigger than me I\u2019m just going to hand this over to the Lord, He knows how to fix this, and watch your level of joy increase in the year 2019 rather than always trying to fix in our own flesh problems and injustices.\n\nAnd so the fifth seal judgment has been opened and these martyrs are portrayed as crying out to God for justice in the presence of the Lord.\n\nAnd now we move into verses 12-17 where the sixth judgment takes place; the sixth seal is opened and what we see are cosmic disturbances taking place.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 12 \u201cI looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made<\/em> of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;\u201d so you\u2019ll notice that John is looking in this vision that he sees on Patmos back in the first century, John having been brought into heave to see these things and again it\u2019s very clear it\u2019s the Lamb, Jesus Christ, bringing this judgment to the earth as He breaks the seal.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice John gives us a number here, \u201cthe sixth seal\u201d indicating that these things are meant to be understood chronologically.\u00a0 And what takes place here is very interesting to me, not just an earthquake but \u201ca great earthquake.\u201d\n\nNow having been raised in southern California I know a little something about earthquakes, having gone through in my life multiple minor tremors or earthquakes.\u00a0 And nothing brings\u00a0 you to an awareness of the fact that you have no control over your life that you think you have when the earth itself starts to shift under your feet.\u00a0 I mean, it is a feeling of absolute helplessness when that happens.\u00a0 You realize very fast there are things that happen in this life that we have no control over.\u00a0 And we are very deceived today because we think we have a lot of control over things.\n\nAnd so what does God do?\u00a0 He sends an earthquake into your life.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a physical earthquake, maybe it\u2019s a relational earthquake, maybe it\u2019s an emotional earthquake, maybe it\u2019s a psychological earthquake but the fact of the matter is we look at those things as the enemy but the reality of the situation is that earthquake may become your best friend because it\u2019s emptying us of the deception that we are under that we are really in control when in reality we\u2019re not in control at all.\u00a0 I mean, has an earthquake of some sort hit your life in some sense; that maybe a friend!\u00a0 That may be a change of perspective for all of us as we move into the year 2019.\n\nIt talks here about an earthquake but let me tell you something, it\u2019s not the only earthquake that\u2019s coming in the Book of Revelation. There\u2019s earthquakes and then there\u2019s like REAL earthquakes; I mean, this is a REAL earthquake but it\u2019s sort of minor compared to the earthquake that is described in the Book of Revelation, chapter 16 and verse 18, and it says there, \u201cand there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and<\/em> so mighty.\u201d\u00a0 So don\u2019t think that this is\u00a0 the last earthquake that we encounter here in the Book of Revelation, more apparently is coming.\n\nAnd as these cosmic disturbances are being described John says \u201cthe sun,\u201d in this case the s-u-n sun became black as sackcloth and the moon became blood red.\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice the simile here; a simile is where you equate two things metaphorically through the word \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas.\u201d\u00a0 The Greek word for as is h\u014ds<\/a><\/em>, the Greek word for like is h\u014d<\/a><\/em>mios<\/em>, and those are used repeatedly in the Book of Revelation because John, I believe, is struggling to describe what he\u2019s seeing.\u00a0 I mean, he doesn\u2019t have all of the, assuming these things happened in the 21st<\/sup> century, he doesn\u2019t have all of the sophisticated vocabulary so he starts to analogize this to things from his own time period.\u00a0 It was \u201clike\u201d this, it was \u201cas\u201d that.\n\nIt would be like taking Benjamin Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers, bringing him back from the dead and setting him in Hobby International Airport.\u00a0 I mean, he sees someone talking on a cell phone, how would he explain that?\u00a0 He\u2019s got no vocabulary for cell phone so he says it\u2019s \u201clike\u201d such and such, trying to describe it in sort of a struggle from his own time period.\u00a0 He sees an airplane land or take off; he sees an airplane being refueled, he sees luggage being loaded on an airplane, he sees someone on the internet, he hears someone speaking over the loud speaker.\u00a0 How would you describe that as Benjamin Franklin with a 17th-18th<\/sup> century vocabulary?\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 So you\u2019d be forced to use similes, it\u2019s \u201clike\u201d this, it\u2019s \u201clike\u201d that.\u00a0 And this is the struggle that John is in because He is told by way of commands the vision is coming, now write it down.\u00a0\u00a0 And so he uses over and over again these similes.\n\nIn fact, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 8 and verse 8 you\u2019ll see John using that kind of simile.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice what he says there.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood.\u201d\u00a0 People say what is that, is that a nuclear bomb with radioactivity contaminating the waters.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s what it is but let\u2019s pretend it is.\u00a0 How could John say that?\u00a0 Well he couldn\u2019t, so he says it\u2019s \u201clike,\u201d it\u2019s like a mountain on fire that hit the ocean and the ocean, a third of it turned blood red.\n\nWe continue on with these cosmic disturbances, verse 13 and he says, \u201cand the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as\u201d notice the simile again, \u201ca fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 14, \u201cThe sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their place.\u201d\u00a0 Now when it says \u201cevery mountain and island were moved\u201d you shouldn\u2019t interpret that as the mountains at that point are completely destroyed because they\u2019re not.\u00a0 When you go down to the second part of verse 15 you\u2019re going to find people hiding in the mountains.\u00a0 So the mountains are not eradicated as some teach, they\u2019re just somehow displaced, just somehow moved showing the sovereignty of God, that God is bigger than the greatest things on planet earth, the mountains themselves.\n\nAnd if God is greater than mountains themselves why is it so difficult to trust Him with the mountain in your life that you can\u2019t move, economically, financially, relationally, emotionally, whatever it is there\u2019s something in your life that\u2019s bigger than you and just because it\u2019s bigger than you doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s bigger than God.\u00a0\u00a0 God is sovereign over those mountains as we see here in the Book of Revelation.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting to me, he says the sky rolled up like a scroll.\u00a0 Now when you back up to Revelation 5 and verse 1 isn\u2019t it this seven sealed scroll that Jesus is opening, that Jesus is qualified to open, that\u2019s bringing these judgments to the earth?\u00a0 So the judgment emanating from the scroll are kind of creating in John\u2019s simile here the sky itself rolled up like a scroll.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of a reminder of where these judgments are coming from; they\u2019re not happening spontaneously, they\u2019re not happening coincidentally, they\u2019re not happing accidentally, they\u2019re happening through the sovereign outworking of God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 And it\u2019s the same with trials in your life, the trials that you\u2019re facing sort of come at us by surprise but as you begin to walk with the Lord and trust Him through those circumstances what you\u2019ll quickly see is those things are orchestrated by God.\u00a0 Those are faith building exercises that God introduces into our lives.\n\nWe drop down to verse 15 and look what it says, \u201cThen the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting how calamities of this nature are the great equalizers, because it mentions here all of these people that apparently in the world system hold power but what good is that power and those resources in the day of judgment.\u00a0 Who is affected?\u00a0 Number one, kings. \u00a0Number two, great men.\u00a0 Number three, commanders.\u00a0 Number four, the rich.\u00a0 Number five, the strong.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m so glad this one is put in here, even the slave is affected as well as the free man.\n\nThe delusion of having the world resources is you think that somehow\u00a0 you\u2019re higher or better than somebody else who doesn\u2019t possess the same resources.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting how judgment affects all of us, rich and poor, slave and free; it\u2019s the great equalizer.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like in the movie Titanic when the rich were discovering the Titanic was leaking they thought they could sort of buy their way out of their problem.\u00a0\u00a0 But the Titanic affected upper class, it affected lower class, it affected everyone equally and that\u2019s what the judgment does.\u00a0 It reminds us that all of us in the hands of a sovereign God are equal and equally in need of His grace.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice verse 16, it says, \u201cand they said to the mountains and to the rocks, \u201c\u2018Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;\u2019 [17<\/a>] for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d\u00a0 Who do they want to be hidden from exactly?\u00a0 Well, they want to be hidden from the One who\u2019s on the throne and who is the One on the throne?\u00a0 It\u2019s God the Father and God the Son.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it says in verse 17, \u201cthe great day of their<\/u> wrath has come.\u201d\u00a0 Why does it say \u201ctheir wrath\u201d?\u00a0 Because in Revelation 4 and 5 we learn that it\u2019s God the Father, Revelation 4, and God the Son, Revelation 5, on the throne of God.\n\nRevelation 3:21 you might recall, says \u201cHe who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Once you get to verse 15 they are afraid; verse 16, of this one that sits on the throne, the triune Godhead.\u00a0\u00a0 And backing up to verse 15 what are they trying to do?\u00a0 They\u2019re trying to hide from Him.\u00a0 You see that in verse 15, you see that in verse 16.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover as you move through the Book of Revelation is that the human heart is perpetually gaining greater and greater hardness against God.\u00a0 The first thing you see early on in these judgments is people are wanting to hide from\u00a0 God.\u00a0 But what you\u2019ll discover as you go through the Book of Revelation is the hardness of the heart continues to grow where in Revelation 9:20 they would not repent, they\u2019re becoming recalcitrant against God.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:20, \u201cThe rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands\u2026.\u201d]\n\nFirst they\u2019re hiding from Him, then they wouldn\u2019t repent according to His Word, and it gets so bad that you get to Revelation 19:19 and John says, \u201cAnd I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.\u201d\u00a0 Now they\u2019re not just stubbornly rebelling against God, refusing to repent, they are going out and fighting against God Himself.\n\nSo first they hide from God, Revelation 6; Revelation 9 then they\u2019re simply stubborn against God, and then Revelation 19 they do something which to me is absolute insanity, they go out and try to fight Jesus coming back to the earth at the end of the seven year tribulation period. What an interesting role model of the human heart and what it\u2019s capable of.\u00a0 I would say this: the longer a person stays away from Christ and refuses to respond to His free offer of salvation the more difficult it is for them to respond to that free offer of salvation the next time it\u2019s offered to them.\u00a0 And then if they shut God out again it becomes more difficult the third time around, and it becomes more and more difficult the fourth time around.\u00a0\u00a0 You see, the same Son which melts is the same Son that hardens.\u00a0 The same Son, S-o-n, Jesus Christ, that can melt the human heart is the same Jesus Christ doing the exact same teaching that hardens the human heart.\n\nHebrews 4:7 says, \u201cTODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 4:7, \u201cHe again fixes a certain day, \u2018Today,\u2019 saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, \u2018TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 Why does the Bible place so much emphasis on \u201cTODAY\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 Why does it say \u201cToday is the day of salvation\u201d?\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 6:2, \u201cor He says, \u2018AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.\u2019 Behold, now is \u2018THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,\u2019 behold, now is \u2018THE DAY OF SALVATION.\u201d]\n\nBecause God knows something about the human heart.\u00a0 If the grace of God is not received early on then it becomes more and more difficult to receive that grace as the difficulties of life unfold.\u00a0 And you see, this is something we need to be teaching our youth because what\u2019s going through their mind is the same thing that was going through your mind when you were their age, oh, I\u2019m just going to out and sow some wild oats, I\u2019m just going to go out and live my life and then when I get ready I\u2019ll trust Jesus Christ as my Savior.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work that way.\u00a0 The next time the gospel is offered to you so much of life will have unfolded living outside of His grace, so many consequences most likely will have come into your life, a root of bitterness can easily develop against God.\u00a0 And so after all of that life unfolds the offer of salvation is given and it\u2019s just postponed because it\u2019s more difficult to penetrate the human heart.\n\nThat\u2019s why here at Sugar Land Bible Church we place an emphasis on children ministries.\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to get these kids young before they go off somewhere else and the difficulties and the adversities of life come upon them in such a sweeping fashion that they will never trust Christ as Savior.\u00a0 Why not get to them early, before the college professors get to them?\u00a0 Before the temptations into immorality and other things get to them?\u00a0 Before the temptation for drug abuse comes their way?\u00a0\u00a0 Why not get them the gospel?\n\nOne of the things I\u2019m so thankful for in my life is I was raised in a Christian environment, protected from a lot of things that I see other people experiencing that I was protected from simply because I was raised in a Christian based environment.\u00a0 I\u2019m so thankful for the fact that I trusted in Christ as a teenager, before life really began to unfold with its difficulties and its adversities and its problems and its setbacks, before I could start blaming God for problems that I myself created.\u00a0 I\u2019m so thankful for the fact that I had Christ early.\n\nAnd some of you need to trust Christ now, because the reality of the situation is this idea that I\u2019m going to postpone it.\u00a0 That\u2019s a delusion! First of all,\u00a0 you may not even be alive tomorrow if you think about it, given the reality of death in our world.\u00a0 Secondly,\u00a0 you have no idea what\u2019s happening to your heart as this process of unbelief is continuing.\u00a0 And there are some things in my life as a Christian and your life as a Christian that you know that the Holy Spirit through the process of progressive sanctification wants to root out.\u00a0 Oh, you know, I\u2019ll just let it slide because after all, 2019 will come and go and there\u2019s always 2020.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take care of that in 2020 under God\u2019s power, 2019 is my time.\u00a0 What a deception!\u00a0 I mean,\u00a0 you\u2019re assuming that by the time 2020 even rolls around you\u2019re even going to have a desire to change.\u00a0 Today is the day of salvation. [2 Corinthians 6:2, \u201c\u2026Behold, now is \u2018THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,\u2019 behold, now is \u2018THE DAY OF SALVATION\u2014\u201d]\u201cToday if\u00a0 you hear His voice do not harden\u00a0 your hearts.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0[Hebrews 3:15, \u201cwhile it is said, \u2018TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.\u201d\u2019]\n\nAnd so we see this progressive hardening of people as the judgments unfold.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s an upside to this; there are many people that are saved as we\u2019ll see in Revelation 7.\u00a0 That\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 In fact, I believe the greatest harvest in world history [can't understand word] is just around the corner in the future tribulation period.\u00a0 I\u2019m sort of the belief of Tim LaHaye and John Walvoord and many others there will probably be more people saved during the tribulation itself than all of church history combined.\u00a0 I\u2019ll try to show you where some of those prophecies are next week in Revelation 7.\u00a0 But the same Son that melts is the same Son that hardens.\u00a0 And there\u2019s also, as you travel through the Book of Revelation, an increasing hardness in people wanting nothing to do with God.\u00a0 And the condition gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse to the point where they\u2019re not interested in hiding from God any more, I\u2019m going to go out and fight His return, Revelation 19.\n\nWhich group are you in?\u00a0 Are you in that group that\u2019s hardening their hearts against God by way of application?\u00a0 Or are you in that group that\u2019s softening its heart towards Jesus Christ?\u00a0 Hide us from the one who sits on the throne?\u00a0 [Revelation 6:16, \u201cand they said to the mountains and to the rocks, \u2018Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;\u201d\u2019]\n\nLook at what it says here in verse 16, \u201cFor the great day of their wrath has come\u201d I\u2019m looking there at the end of versed 16, \u201cand from the wrath of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 Why in the world would it be called \u201cthe wrath of the Lamb\u201d?\u00a0 I mean, when you think of a lamb do you think of wrath?\u00a0 I don\u2019t, I think of a docile creature.\u00a0 So to me the word \u201cwrath\u201d and the word \u201clamb\u201d is a self-contradictory concept.\u00a0 We might call this today an oxymoron, a self-contradictory statement.\u00a0 It\u2019s like saying black white top, jumbo shrimp, postal service, government efficiency, government intelligence, Microsoft works, and my personal favorite, reasonable attorney\u2019s fees.\u00a0 I mean, two ideas that contradict each other, \u201cthe wrath of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 Why is Jesus portrayed as a lamb and also one of wrath?\u00a0 The very simple answer to that is because He\u2019s not just the Lamb, He\u2019s the what?\u00a0 He\u2019s the lion, Revelation 5:5, \u201cthe lion that is of the tribe of Judah.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 5:5, \u201cand one of the elders said to me, \u2018Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThe same Jesus Christ as the Savior is the same Jesus Christ in heaven opening these seals, bringing these horrific judgments to the earth.\u00a0 Hide us from the one \u201cwho sits on the throne\u201d the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, \u201cthe great day,\u201d verse 16, \u201cof their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d verse 17.\u00a0 [Revelation 6:16, \u201c\u2026and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;\u201d]\n\nMatthew 24:12 says, \u201cBecause lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.\u201d\u00a0 Before lawlessness really overtakes your life and your love for the things of God grow cold, what does the Bible say?\u00a0 It says \u201cToday is the day of salvation.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 6:2]\n\nNotice if you will verse 17, \u201cfor the great day of their wrath\u201d why \u201ctheir\u201d? Because it\u2019s plural, God the Father, God the Son, on the throne, bringing this wrath to the earth, Jesus specifically bringing it because of the seven seal scroll and Him opening it, \u201cfor the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now unfortunately there\u2019s a lot a lot of theology there in verses 16 and 17 because what people are arguing today, and I cannot believe that this movement is offending, but because the word \u201cwrath\u201d isn\u2019t used (the Greek word org\u0113s<\/a><\/em>) until verses 16 and 17 everything that\u2019s happened up to this point is not the wrath of God.\u00a0 So if I don\u2019t see the word wrath the wrath of God hasn\u2019t started yet is the logic.\u00a0 And they will argue that yes, correctly (at least on this point) that the church is exempted from the wrath of God.\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says, \u201cwho rescues us from the wrath to come.\u201d\u00a0 [\u201c\u2026and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.\u201d]\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, \u201cFor God has not destined us for wrath, [but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,]\u201d and that\u2019s true, but you see the wrath of God doesn\u2019t start until seal judgment number six and so the church will be here for these first five judgments; that\u2019s called the pre-wrath rapture theory.\u00a0 If that\u2019s what you believe then number one, you can\u2019t believe Jesus is coming back today, can you?\u00a0 The doctrine of imminency, the any moment appearance of Christ, because the church will have to experience these first five judgments before they have the hope of being raptured.\n\nBy the way, is there any comfort in that?\u00a0 And why did Jesus, when He introduced this concept of the rapture, John 14:1 says, \u201cDo not let your heart be troubled\u2026.\u201d Suddenly my heart is troubled.\u00a0 Why did Paul say \u201cComfort one another with these words\u201d?\u00a0 What comfort is there in that if I\u2019m going to be here to experience these first five judgments\u2026 prewrath rapture of the church?\u00a0\u00a0 Originally postulated by a guy named Van Campen, in his book The Sign<\/em>, and then it became somewhat popular through the ministry of Marvin Rosenthal and now others are promoting this idea and when you actually look at what they\u2019re saying they\u2019re very aggressive about this.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is it changes your whole mental outlook.\n\nInstead of waiting for the any moment appearance of Jesus Christ what are you doing?\u00a0 You\u2019re arming yourself, your stock-piling, and by the way, let me say it\u2019s not a bad idea to be a prepper, it\u2019s not a bad idea to know how to use a weapon, it\u2019s not a bad idea to have savings and supplies and other things in your home.\u00a0 I have some of those things myself but it has nothing to do with the fact that I think I\u2019m going into the first five seal judgments.\u00a0 I\u2019m not planning on seeing the antichrist; I\u2019m planning on seeing Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In other words, being a prepper is just of smart living in a fallen world where things can go wrong, but being a prepper has absolutely nothing to do with my eschatological position.\n\nAnd you wonder why there\u2019s so many sad-faced saints out there today, so many [can't understand word].\u00a0 I mean, I would be a sad-faced saint too if I thought that my divine destiny was to move into these first five seal judgments and then maybe I\u2019d have the hope of being raptured.\n\nSo how do we answer this idea? Well, the word \u201cwrath\u201d isn\u2019t used yet, so the wrath of God doesn\u2019t start until seal number six and so we\u2019re here for the first five seal judgments, pre-wrath rapture of the church as they call it.\u00a0 Well, one answer to that is the word \u201ccome.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You recall that I told us as we studied this material to focus on the word \u201ccome.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cFor the great day of their wrath has\u201d what? \u201ccome,\u201d verse 17, the Greek word erchomai<\/em>.\u00a0 Where does the word \u201ccome\u201d start?\u00a0 It starts in verse 1, \u201cThen when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures with a loud voice of thunder saying\u201d what? \u201cCome.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 3, \u201cWhen He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying,\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cCome.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cWhen He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying,\u201d what? \u201cCome.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 7, \u201cWhen the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying,\u201d what? \u201cCome.\u201d\n\nSo when it says, \u201cFor the great day of their wrath has come\u201d verse 17, same verb, erchomai<\/em>, the expectation is that you would back up in the chapter and apply the wrath of God to the whole chapter.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the answers you can give to these people that are trying to argue that this is not the wrath of God.\n\nBeyond that would you say that the flood that hit this world, the global deluge, was the wrath of God?\u00a0 I think it was, and yet as you study the flood story in Genesis 6 and Genesis 7 and Genesis 8 do you find a single reference to the word \u201cwrath\u201d or \u201cwrath of God\u201d?\u00a0 You do not!\u00a0 My point is simply this: the word itself doesn\u2019t define the wrath of God; the concept is there whether the word is there or not.\u00a0 Why is it called \u201cthe wrath of the Lamb\u201d?\u00a0 Because Jesus, Revelation 5:7, has taken the seven sealed scroll and He, Jesus, beginning in Revelation 6:1 is opening the different seals on this scroll which are bringing forth God\u2019s judgment to the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it keeps saying the Lamb opened, the Lamb opened, the Lamb opened.\n\nThis is very clearly the wrath of Jesus Christ, whether I have the word wrath here to satisfy me on that or not.\u00a0 The word \u201cwrath\u201d itself is immaterial; it\u2019s irrelevant.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a descriptive phrase.\u00a0 The concept is there; the whole seven year tribulation period is the wrath of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why you, as a blood-bought saint, as a member of Christ\u2019s church won\u2019t see one millimeter of it because if the whole thing is the wrath of God how could I be here for that when my Bible and your Bible, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Romans 5:9, a plethora of Scriptures I could give you explain that you are not a candidate for God\u2019s wrath.\n\nAnd since you\u2019re not a candidate for God\u2019s wrath and since you\u2019re going to be exempted from this time period life today can get rough but not as rough as it\u2019s going to be; you\u2019re exempted from it.\u00a0 Praise the Lord for that.\u00a0 You ought to shout for joy.\u00a0\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t go through life so down and depressed and beaten back.\u00a0 You ought to have a walk of optimism in the year 2019.\u00a0 Well gee, pastor, would you please preach on something practical, give us something relevant.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t the joy in your life relevant?\u00a0 And how are you supposed to have joy in your life if you think that you\u2019re moving into the wrath of God.\u00a0 I think theology, particular this area here is highly relevant.\u00a0 So what is happening here in Revelation 6:16-17?\n\nRevelation 6:16-17, \u201cand they said to the mountains and to the rocks, \u201cFall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; [17] for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d\u00a0 What is happening here?\u00a0 The pagans, the unbelievers, who don\u2019t know anything about the Bible, or theology, or the judgments of God, they\u2019ve finally figured out what\u2019s happening and that\u2019s why the word \u201cwrath\u201d shows up.\u00a0 This is coming from the unbelievers, the earth dwellers on the earth at the time.\u00a0 You don\u2019t figure out when the wrath starts based on what unbelievers, how it finally dawns on them.\u00a0 You figure out when the wrath starts simply by looking at who\u2019s opening the seals, Jesus Christ, and tracking that word \u201cCome\u201d which goes all the way back to the beginning of that chapter.\n\nAnd yet this last one on the list at the very bottom, prewrath rapture of the church, what is it saying?\u00a0 The church will be here for three-quarters of this time period in their scheme.\u00a0 The whole thing is wrong that they\u2019re teaching; the whole thing is false.\u00a0 And I have noticed\u00a0 this, the people that promote these kinds of doctrines, midtrib, posttrib, prewrath, have you ever noticed that they always have something to sell?\u00a0 I mean people say well, I love Infowars<\/em> and Alex Jones\u2026 I don\u2019t!\u00a0 You know why I don\u2019t love Inforwars <\/em>and Alex Jones? \u00a0Because Alex Jones, almost every opportunity he gets bashes the pre-trib rapture of the church.\u00a0 Why does he do that?\u00a0 Because them man sells what?\u00a0 Survival gear! You\u2019re not going to sell out your stock of survival gear teaching what we teach here at Sugar Land Bible Church, when it comes directly from your Bible the church is removed from the earth before the wrath of God comes.\u00a0 The wrath is something now dawning on the pagans as they\u2019re contemplating what happens.\n\nRobert Thomas, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Revelation, says this concerning this sixth seal judgment: \u201cMankind in his rebellion correctly analyzes the cosmic and terrestrial disturbances as a part of the great end-time day of wrath from the one sitting on the throne and from the Lamb. The verb \u0113lethen<\/em> (\u2018has come\u2019)\u201d [right there in verse 17, \u201cthe great day of their wrath has come,\u201d] \u201c\u0113lethen<\/em> is aorist indicative, referring to a previous arrival of wrath, not something that is about to take place. Men see the arrival of this day at least as early as the cosmic upheavals that characterize the sixth seal (6:12-14),\u201d which is what we\u2019re studying here, \u201cbut upon reflection they\u201d who\u2019s \u201cthey\u201d? the pagans, \u201cprobably recognize that it was already in effect with the death of one-fourth of the population (6:7-8), the worldwide famine (6:5-6), and the global warfare (6:3-4).\u201d In the prior seals.\u00a0 \u201cThe rapid sequence of all of these events could not escape notice, but the light of their true explanation does not dawn upon human consciousness until the severe phenomena of the sixth seal arrive.\u201d\n\nThis is the pagan trying to figure out what\u2019s happening and it finally hits them; this is the wrath of God!\u00a0 And when they say \u201cthe great day of their wrath has come\u201d it\u2019s an aorist indicative referring to a previous arrival of wrath. We figured it out, this is the wrath of God and guess what?\u00a0 It\u2019s been happening through the whole chapter.\n\nThat\u2019s how you understand Revelation 6, you don\u2019t have to get into this idea that part of the tribulation of God\u2019s wrath because the word is there and in another part it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Those are all false schemes that are floating out there that should be rejected by careful Bible students and careful readers.\u00a0 Are you telling me that Jesus in heaven opening various seals on a scroll, bringing the antichrist, world war, famine, a death of a quarter of the world\u2019s population, and unprecedented martyrdom is not the wrath of God?\u00a0 And yet that\u2019s their position.\u00a0 They\u2019ll look at\u00a0 you square in the eye and say that\u2019s not the wrath of God.\u00a0 Well what is it then? Oh, it\u2019s the wrath of Satan. Oh, it\u2019s the wrath of the antichrist.\u00a0 Excuse me\u2026 Jesus is causing these things in heaven by opening the scroll.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it says as clear is it can be seen \u201cthe great day of their wrath has come and who can stand.\u201d\n\nWhich brings up another question with which we\u2019ll close.\u00a0 Who can stand during this time period?\u00a0 I mean, if it\u2019s as bad as we\u2019re making it sound, as the Bible portrays it, who can stand? Well, you start getting an answer to that in Revelation 7.\u00a0 The question in Revelation 6 leads to the answer in Revelation 7 because God has His people in place.\u00a0 Who would those be? Those would be the 144,000 Jewish evangelists coming from the twelve tribes of Israel, which to me is exciting when\u00a0 you contemplate the fact that over two thousand\u00a0 years of worldwide dispersion God has sustained ethnically, nationally, the nation of Israel and look at this\u2026 there they are in their land in unbelief, waiting for a conversion.\n\nSee, every time God bring something dark there\u2019s always a bright spot.\u00a0 The Judges era was a dark time period, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Three hundred years of a very difficult time period.\u00a0 But do you know there\u2019s a bright spot in it?\u00a0 Read the story of Ruth, which continues the Messianic lineage leading to David, ultimately to Jesus Christ during the very difficult time of the Judges.\u00a0 The pre-flood world was very difficult but there was a bright spot, wasn\u2019t there?\u00a0 There was Noah and his family that walked by faith.\u00a0 How about the days of Elijah, that was a pretty dark time, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 And yet what does 1 Kings 19:18 say?\u00a0 I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.\u00a0 [1 Kings 19:18, \u201cYet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.\u201d]\n\nAnd guess what folks,\u00a0 I won\u2019t\u00a0 lie to you, the world we\u2019re living in right now pre-tribulation, pre-rapture, is a dark place, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0 But you know there\u2019s a bright spot in it?\u00a0 It\u2019s you!\u00a0 It\u2019s His church.\u00a0 It\u2019s His people.\u00a0 What does Paul say?\u00a0 Romans 11:5-6, \u201cIn the same way then, there has also come \u00a0\u00a0to be at the present time a remnant according to God\u2019s<\/em> gracious choice. [6] But if it is by grace<\/u>, it \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.\u201d\u00a0 Every era of history, tribulation, flood, present day, judges, you name it, God is always at work with people.\u00a0 And God, just by virtue of the fact that you\u2019re here today and listening to this is at work in your life, in the midst of some of the darkness that we see all around us.\n\nDid you notice what Paul said there in Romans 11?\u00a0 \u201cBy grace.\u201d\u00a0 How do you get on the right team exactly?\u00a0 By grace!\u00a0 Well what is grace?\u00a0 It\u2019s favor coming your direction that you don\u2019t deserve, that\u2019s grace, unmerited favor.\u00a0 How is it accessed?\u00a0 It\u2019s accessed through the gospel; the gospel is what?\u00a0 The death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ which bridged the gap between sinful humanity and a holy God that only He could do.\u00a0 And His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished.\u201d\n\nSo how do you receive this unmerited grace and unmerited favor?\u00a0 You receive it just like you received, just this last week, a gift, a present.\u00a0\u00a0 What if I were to tell my daughter when she turns sixteen, I\u2019ve got a bright red Ferrari waiting for you in the driveway.\u00a0 Now you all know I\u2019m hypothetically speaking!\u00a0\u00a0 The keys are there, the tank is filled with gas, have a great time.\u00a0 Oh by the way, you can start making payments on that beginning next month!\u00a0 What did I just do?\u00a0 I took a gift and turned into something that she must earn.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 And this is the problem with how the gospel is presented.\u00a0 Yeah, Jesus did it all but you\u2019d better pray, pay and obey.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the gospel!\u00a0 The gospel is it is completed, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d\u00a0 [John 19:30, \u201cTherefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, \"It is finished!\" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.\u201d]\n\nRevelation 22:17 says anyone can come and drink from \u201cthe water of life without cost.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 22:17, \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who hears say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s why this remnant of the last days, Paul says, is by grace.\u00a0 If you won\u2019t receive the grace of God it\u2019s like taking a Christmas present and saying I\u2019m too prideful to receive that present.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want that present.\u00a0 If you want to make that decision that\u2019s your prerogative.\u00a0 God is not going to override your free will but He\u2019ll offer it to you.\u00a0 And as we talked this morning that offer, which is out there for you right now, may not be as appetizing for you six months down the road\u2026 same offer but a lack of receptivity.\u00a0 So why not just receive this present now?\u00a0 Why not let today be the day of salvation?\n\nWhy not do what the Bible says, to trust in Christ, which means to believe; you come under the conviction of the Spirit and\u00a0 you place your hope for your eternal destiny, not in your performance but in Jesus Christ alone, and you receive that gift and now you\u2019ve come onto the wining team.\u00a0 If the gospel is something you want to receive you can receive it right now, without doing anything.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that the transaction that takes place in the quietness of your own mind, the quietness of your own heart, as the Holy Spirit places\u00a0 you under conviction the best you know how you trust in that message, the gospel.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to raise a hand to do, walk an aisle to do, join a church to do, give money to do, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord, when you respond to His offer.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now even as I\u2019m talking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you need more explanation I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for the Book of Revelation and what it reveals to us.\u00a0 I ask, Lord, that You\u2019ll guide us next week in our study as we look at the bright spot in the midst of the darkness, Revelation 7, the hundred and forty-four thousand Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 Help us to walk these things out this week by way of hope.\u00a0 Thank You for the hope that You\u2019ve given us in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t