{"id":18977,"date":"2019-02-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-029-the-sins-god-hates\/"},"modified":"2019-02-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:00:00","slug":"revelation-029-the-sins-god-hates","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-029-the-sins-god-hates\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 029 – The Sins God Hates"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18977","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 029 - The Sins God Hates","sermon_date":"20190224","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6462,"sermon_slides":6464,"sermon_mp3":6466,"sermon_id":"224191353215301","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"9:13-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Sins God Hates\u00a0\u00a0 2-24-19\n\nRevelation 9:13-21\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 29\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and turn them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 9 and verse 13.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Sins God Hates.\u00a0 What are the specific sins that as humanity persists in those sins they will actually trigger the wrath of God to planet earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s what our passage this morning speaks of.\u00a0 We find ourselves this morning, as we\u2019re moving verse by verse through the Book of Revelation, into the trumpet judgments, chapters 8 and chapter 9.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen the trumpet preparation, chapter 8, verses1-6.\u00a0 And then what begins to take place is the various trumpets begin to sound and as each trumpet sounds another judgment comes to the earth.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen a third of the earth\u2019s vegetation destroyed, a third of the earth\u2019s ocean destroyed, a third of the earth\u2019s fresh water supply destroyed.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen a third of the luminaries darkened.\u00a0 And last week we saw a horrific judgment, chapter 9, verses 1-12 where demons were released from the abyss to torture men, humanity, for five months.\n\nAnd what we have this morning is the sixth trumpet judgment, chapter 9, verses 1-13 involving a destruction of a third of the earth\u2019s population.\u00a0 I believe that this judgment that we\u2019re studying this morning is very different from the judgments that we saw last week.\u00a0 The judgment we saw last week is trumpet five, the early part of chapter 9; the judgment that we\u2019re studying this morning is trumpet six, end of chapter 9.\u00a0 The source of the judgment that we studied last week is demons coming forth from the abyss.\u00a0 This particular judgment is a slightly different nuance.\u00a0 It\u2019s not so much a fallen angelic army coming out of the abyss; it\u2019s a human army coming out of the east.\n\nDemons were very much in play in the judgment we saw last week but here humanity and demons using humanity is very much in play in the judgment that we\u2019re looking at this morning.\u00a0 And it\u2019s always painful to look at these judgments that are yet to come to planet earth but at the same time I think there are things about God\u2019s character that can only be learned as we pay attention to the full counsel of God\u2019s Word, including the parts of God\u2019s Word that are unpleasant for us to absorb at first sitting.\n\nHere\u2019s sort of an outline that we\u2019re going to be using this morning as we focus our attention on Revelation 9:13-21.\u00a0 The first thing we see is we see an army that is released from the east. Take a look if you could at Revelation 9 and notice, if you will, verse 13.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,\u201d now you\u2019ll notice that we make reference to the fact that it keeps saying first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and here we are at the sixth trumpet.\u00a0 And so quite obviously what is happening is there\u2019s a chron\u00adology here.\u00a0 The Lord expects us to understand these judgments in chronological sequence.\u00a0 Now there are some exceptions to that rule that we\u2019ve covered; as time permits we\u2019ll cover those today\u00a0 as well. But the reality is this is a chronology.\u00a0 This is what makes the Book of Revelation unique;\u00a0 it takes prophecies which are scattered all over the Bible that are very difficult to put into a chronological framework and it takes those prophecies and orders them for us chronologically.\u00a0 So now we are at the sixth trumpet judgment.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice what it says there in chapter 9 and verse 14 as this trumpet is sounded, look at verse 14, \u201cone saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, \u2018Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now where exactly is this river called the Euphrates?\u00a0 It\u2019s located in the east, it runs alongside a parallel river, the Tigris, two great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, and in between those two rivers is an area that we call Mesopotamia in Greek.\u00a0 Meso means middle, and you recognize the word potamia as in Potomac, river or rivers, it\u2019s an area between\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the rivers.\u00a0 The Hebrew name for that area is what is called Shinar; Shinar is a Hebrew term, Mesopotamia is a Greek term, and it literally means between the rivers.\u00a0 And today we would categorize it as modern day Iraq.\n\nIt\u2019s largely the area where human history began.\u00a0 Abram, when he was called by God was called out of that area.\u00a0 He was an idolater and he was told to walk by faith to a land that the Lord would show him in his faith walk.\u00a0 And so what is happening here is four angels, apparently according to chapter 9 and verse 14, are released from this river called the Euphrates.\u00a0 Now you might be saying to yourself well I think you\u2019re taking the name Euphrates too literally.\n\nThe reality of the situation is the Book of Revelation mentions geography many times and to the best of my awareness and to the best of my knowledge every time the Book of Revelation makes reference to a geographical area it is always meant to be understood literally.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen Asia mentioned in chapter 1 and then then the seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Sardis, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Laodicea, etc.\u00a0 The Euphrates River is mentioned twice.\u00a0 And also what you have in Revelation 16:16 is a place called Armageddon.\u00a0 By the way, I was just there, I had a chance to give a talk there on Mt. Megiddo overlooking the valley of Armageddon. \u00a0It\u2019s a literal mountain and valley in northern Israel.\u00a0 It\u2019s a compound word, \u201cHar\u201d mountain in Greek, and it\u2019s combined with Megiddo, referring to Armageddon, a literal geographic place on planet earth where human history as we know it will end.\n\nSo these angels are called upon to be released from this area called the Euphrates.\u00a0 And I believe this\u2014this particular judgment that we\u2019re looking at today, trumpet judgment number six, is meant to be understood in light of a bowl judgment that we haven\u2019t looked at yet, bowl judgment number six.\u00a0 In other words, trumpet six will take place in the first half of the tribulation period\/ bowl judgment number six will take place in the second half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 But the two judgments are related to each other although they take place at different times, because what is happening is an army is being assembled from the east here in chapter 9 and by the time you get to chapter 16 the Euphrates River itself is supernaturally dried up to prepare the way for this giant army from the east making its way into northern Israel for what purpose?\u00a0 To fight the final battle\u00a0 of Armageddon, to wipe out once and for all the Jewish people.\u00a0 And two, under Satan\u2019s design to resist the coming of Jesus Christ to planet earth.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t seen the end of that process yet but certainly it begins here with this sixth trumpet judgment.\n\nRevelation 16:12, which will happen later but is related to this judgment says this: \u201cThe sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates;\u201d the same river mentioned here, \u201cand its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.\u201d\u00a0 Many, many Bible teachers, including some very good ones, like the late John Walvoord, and you\u2019ll see this in his Revelation commentary, believed that this giant army from the east must be China, after all, China is in the east and only China could come up with an army that\u2019s this large.\u00a0 And so many people believe that this is a reference here to China.\n\nHowever, I would gently disagree in this sense\u2014do a word study on the word \u201cEast\u201d in the Bible.\u00a0 What you\u2019ll discover is \u201cEast\u201d always has a specific meaning; it is always referring to that area that I had up on the screen, Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq, between the rivers.\u00a0 In fact, when you study the Garden of Eden you\u2019ll discover in Genesis 2 it mentions those same two rivers and it mentions the Garden of Eden as residing in the east.\n\nGenesis 11:2 talks about what I like to call the first united nations conference, where the nations of the world came together and they shook their collective fists in God\u2019s face and tried to set up the first world government in human history.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll discover that that building project took place right there in the east.\u00a0 It says Shinar, Genesis 11:2 and it specifically in the east. \u00a0\u00a0[Genesis 11:2, \u201cIt came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.\u201d]\n\nAnd by the way, we just got out of the Christmas season.\u00a0 At the end of last year in December you had all of\u00a0 your Christmas cards, the three wise men, the magi, coming from the east.\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew 2:2 tells us that that group was coming from the east.\u00a0 One of my favorites during that time of the year is the bumper sticker that says \u201cwise men still seek Him.\u201d\u00a0 Where do those wise men come from?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s a foregone conclusion that they came from that general area of Mesopotamia, Shinar, what we would call modern day Iraq, and there\u2019s a city in that part of the world called Babylon.\n\nYou say Babylon, why is that a big deal?\u00a0 It\u2019s going to become a very big deal in Revelation 17 and 18.\u00a0 Babylon, as I\u2019ll try to defend before you, I believe will be the seat of the antichrist\u2019s power during the tribulation period and here I think is one of your first hints in the Book of Revelation of that coming world capital.\u00a0 Why is this giant army coming from the east to the Euphrates River?\u00a0 Because the antichrist, who\u2019s running the world from Babylon or modern day Iraq during this time will summon this army from that part of the world.\u00a0 The army, I don\u2019t think can fit between those two rivers, but the antichrist\u2019s empire can fit between those two rivers and that\u2019s the designation that he summons this army from to make their way into northern Israel to fight the final battle, called the Battle of Armageddon, to eradicate the Jewish people and to resist the personal coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s interesting how all of these clues start to fit into shape.\n\nNotice, if you will, Revelation 9 and take a look at verse 15, \u201cAnd the four angels,\u201d watch this now, \u201cwho had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.\u201d\u00a0 One of the most interesting things to me to study in the Word of God is the timing of God.\u00a0 Did you know that God\u2019s timing is precise.\u00a0 I mean, when you study the timing of God it\u2019s revealed over and over again in Scripture its absolute ironclad precision.\u00a0 For example, many people in the earthly ministry of Christ wanted Christ to manifest Himself to the world before His time had come.\n\nRemember what Jesus said in John 2:4, \u201cAnd Jesus said to her, \u2018Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.\u2019\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll find the same thing in John 12:27, Jesus said, \u201cNow My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, \u2018Father, save Me from this hour,\u2019\u201d the ordeal of the cross, \u201cBut for this purpose I came to this hour.\u201d\u00a0 You see, in the timing of God and the providence of God the issue of the cross was important, the what question, but when that event would take place is also important to God.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u201d is just as important as \u201cwhen,\u201d \u201cwhen\u201d is just as important as \u201cwhat.\u201d\u00a0 Over in John 7 and verse 6 it says this, \u201cSo Jesus said to them, \u2018My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Man always wants to do things on his schedule but Jesus is very clear that when it comes to the things of God they take place on His calendar, not man\u2019s.\n\nIn fact, Jesus proclaimed His Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel at just the right time.\u00a0 Did you know that, when you study the seventy weeks prophecy?\u00a0 Like 19:42 it says this as Christ is speaking, \u201c\"If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 44, \u201cand they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.\u201d\u00a0 The day is important, the time is important to God.\n\nAccording to Galatians 4:4 we learn that Jesus Himself was not dropped into history in His first coming at some random time; He came at a precise time.\u00a0 Paul writes, \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d\u00a0 Here in Revelation 9 in the verse we just read, verse 15, timing is very important, it talks about a specific hour, day, month, and\u00a0 year, for these angels bound at the river Euphrates to be released.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:15, \u201cAnd the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.\u201d]\n\nI say that because I hope it is to\u00a0 you a way of encouragement because many of us struggle in our lives concerning the pattern of God. We get frustrated with God---God, something should have been happening by now in my life, I should have been married by now and I\u2019m not.\u00a0 And those that are struggling with that I would encourage you to talk to all the people that are married.\u00a0 [Laughter] Or I should have had that promotion by now and I don\u2019t have it.\u00a0\u00a0 Or I should have been retired by now, I should have owned my house free and clear by now.\u00a0 We\u2019re always struggling because we\u2019re trying to fit God into our timing and yet what we discover in the Bible is that God doesn\u2019t do things according to my schedule.\u00a0 He does things according to His own time schedule.\n\n1 Peter 5:6 says, \u201cTherefore humble yourselves\u201d see, it\u2019s humbling to submit yourself to the calendar of God, \u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,\u201d He\u2019s mighty because He controls the chronology of our lives, \u201cthat He may exalt you\u201d when? \u201cat the proper time.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s a timing to things.\u00a0 Things take place the Bible says in their seasons.\u00a0 And maybe that desire of your heart that you\u2019re yearning for, maybe God is going to fulfill it at some point.\u00a0 The Bible does say \u201cDelight yourself in the Lord and He will give\u00a0 you\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cthe desires of your heart.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 37:4.\u00a0 It just may be that the time is not right.\n\nSo this angel, these angels are released from the Euphrates River in modern day Iraq at the right time and they summon this giant army and it says \u201cand the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill\u201d look at what it says here, \u201ca third of mankind.\u201d [Revelation 9:15]\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, when you drop down to verse 18 you\u2019ll see the same thing, \u201cA third of mankind was killed by these plagues.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 9:18, \u201cA third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.\u201d]\u00a0 This army is so large, this army is so powerful that as they\u2019re being summoned from Iraq or Babylon they make their way into northern Israel from whence they came, all of the countries, and they destroy a third of mankind in the process.\u00a0 That is a figure, a statistic which is mindboggling when you think about it.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t we learn earlier, Revelation 6:8, with the fourth deal judgment that a quarter of the world\u2019s population had already been destroyed?\u00a0 [Revelation 6:8, \u201cI looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.\u201d]\n\nAnd now we learn that a third of the remaining population is\u00a0 yet to be destroyed.\u00a0 It\u2019s like taking\u00a0 your hand and you\u2019ve got four fingers and you\u2019re holding it up and you put down your little finger and that\u2019s the fourth seal judgment, a quarter of the world\u2019s population wiped out.\u00a0 And then this judgment comes along and says a third of humanity was wiped out.\u00a0 Now you put down one more finger and of your original four you only have two left.\u00a0 By this time in the judgments a half of the world\u2019s population has been eradicated, annihilated.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why it\u2019s so difficult to find this judgment in church history.\u00a0 History has been bad but not this bad.\u00a0 This is talking about something taking place on an unprecedented scale.\n\nAnd there are many, many verses in your Bible which comment on the fact that there\u2019s coming upon the earth a season of duress and distress that will be so extreme that it\u2019s unrivaled by anything that\u2019s ever happened in this world.\u00a0 Joel 2:2, of that time period says, \u201c\u2026There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it\u2026\u201d\u00a0 [Joel 2:2, \u201cA day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.\u201d]\n\nDaniel 12:1 says, \u201cthere will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 12:1, \u201cNow at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.\u201d]\n\nWe have on the screen Jeremiah 30:7, \u201cAlas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob\u2019s distress <\/u>(Genesis 32:8; 35:10), But he will be saved<\/u> [s\u014dz\u014d<\/em>] <\/u>from [apo<\/em>]<\/u> it.\u201d And we have the words of Christ Himself in Matthew 24:21-22 where Jesus said, \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.\u201d\u00a0 A third leading ultimately to a half of the world\u2019s population is eliminated by the time we get to this sixth trumpet judgment.\u00a0 And people say well, who was God to do that?\u00a0 Who does God think He is?\u00a0 Is He the Creator or something?\u00a0 Yes, He is the Creator and that\u2019s what gives Him a right to bring judgment because He is the One that gave man life itself on day six of creation.\u00a0 And if God has the authority to bring humanity into existence in His providence, in His sovereignty, He has the authority also to decrease the population radically of mankind, which is apparently what happens here with this sixth trumpet judgment.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice here that the numerical count of the army that\u2019s coming is given in verse 16.\u00a0 John says, \u201cThe number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard\u201d as John is receiving this vision, \u201cI heard the number of them.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 9:16]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now I\u2019m one of those that wants to take every single number in the Book of Revelation literally and I do that, partly following the advice or the exhortation of Robert Thomas in his wonderful scholarly commentary on the Book of Revelation, and if you\u2019re down to your last shekel and you can only afford two commentaries on the Book of Revelation and\u00a0 you already have a Bible I would get John Walvoord\u2019s wonderful commentary on the Book of Revelation and Robert Thomas\u2019s two volume set on the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 And Robert Thomas says of this, \u201cno number in Revelation is verifiably a symbolic number.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 8 to 22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 408.<\/em>]\n\nIn other words, you take every number at face value unless you have grounds for not taking it literally.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a little problem here; it mentions an army of two hundred million [200,000,000] and some of the Greek scholars have told us that the Greeks didn\u2019t even have a number that high in their counting system; there was no number two hundred million.\u00a0 And so consequently I started to look this up in the original language and what you discover is it\u2019s the same expression used to describe the angels in Revelation 5:11.\u00a0 Of those angels it says \u201cmyriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.\u201d\u00a0 Literally ten thousand times ten thousand.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:11, \u201cThen I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.\u201d]\n\nAnd consequently no one takes the angelic count as one million, we take that as a number that\u2019s incalculably high.\u00a0 And when you look this up in the Greek, in the original language, it doesn\u2019t really say two hundred million, what it says is \u201cten thousand by twenty thousand.\u201d\u00a0 And because that\u2019s a nearly identical expression as you find describing the angels, I think John\u2019s point is not to give us a precise count; he\u2019s simply making the point the number was incalculably large.\u00a0 I mean, it was a number that was astronomically high.\u00a0 Now if you want to take the number two hundred million at face value I think you\u2019re on good grounds to do that as well.\u00a0 What I\u2019m saying is that\u2019s not what the Greek text really says.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t just say ten thousand times ten thousand describing the numerical count of the angels.\u00a0 It literally says, \u201cten thousand times twenty thousand.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, this army is so big that\u2019s coming, it\u2019s even greater than the seeming infinitive of the angels themselves,\u00a0 an army translated in English of two hundred million.\n\nDo you realize that when John received this vision on the Island of Patmos in the first century there weren\u2019t even two hundred million people on the planet earth at the time?\u00a0 And he\u2019s describing an army that far surpassed anything that he was ever aware of concerning a numerical count.\u00a0 So what is the conclusion with the two hundred million?\u00a0 I think what it\u2019s saying is a lot, I mean, so many you can\u2019t even number them.\u00a0 It\u2019s even more difficult to number this army than it is to number the angels themselves.\n\nAnd notice the army\u2019s description is given there in Revelation 9:17.\u00a0 Notice what it says, \u201cAnd this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.\u201d\u00a0 What you have here is a description of this army; the horses are described, the riders are described, the breastplates on the riders themselves are described, the heads of the horses are described, the mouths of the horses are described, and you\u2019ll notice right there in the middle of the verse John uses the expression \u201clike,\u201d do you see that?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2026like the heads of lions;\u201d what kind of figure of speech is that? That\u2019s a simile.\u00a0 Why does John keep saying \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d? Because he was given a very difficult task; he was told Revelation 1:11 to \u201cWrite in a book what you see,\u201d and I believe some of the things that God showed John were so astronomical, like this count here of an army, so beyond his comprehension that he simply uses the word \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d to analogize it to something that he would understand.\u00a0 [Revelation 1:11, \u201cWrite in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.\u201d]\n\nAnd so what is this army that\u2019s coming with this intricate sophistication?\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s some kind\u00a0\u00a0 of advanced weaponry of some kind that John is trying to describe.\u00a0 That\u2019s a possibility.\u00a0 I am sort \u00a0\u00a0of the opinion that this army is influenced heavily by Satan; we\u2019ll see that around Revelation 16:12.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:12, \u201cThe sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.\u201d]\n\nAnd I believe that John perhaps could be seeing in this vision the angelic realm.\u00a0 Of course he has made many references in the book to the angelic realm behind the scenes motivating this army.\u00a0 I think the army is a human army that John\u2019s vision could go beyond that and he could see the fallen angelic satanic kingdom itself motivating this army.\n\nIt\u2019s very similar to Peter and his conversation with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi where Peter (and I was just there in Caesarea Philippi) made the statement when the Lord began talk about dying on the cross Peter says that wouldn\u2019t be a good career move for you at this stage.\u00a0 A Messiah doesn\u2019t die on a cross, He rules and He reigns.\u00a0 And you remember what the Lord said to Peter?\u00a0 \u201cGet behind me\u201d who? \u201cSatan.\u201d\u00a0 [\u201cBut He turned and said to Peter, \"Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 16:23]\u00a0 In other words, the Lord saw the angelic demonic motivation behind Peter\u2019s statement and it\u2019s very likely that that\u2019s what John could be describing there in verse 17.\n\nAs we move into verses 18-19 you see the destruction that this army will wield.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, chapter 9 and verse 18, \u201cA third of mankind\u201d that\u2019s a lot of people, \u201cwas killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.\u201d\u00a0 Now this third is also mentioned, as we saw earlier, back in verse 15.\u00a0 It says, \u201cso that they would kill a third of mankind.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 9:15, \u201cAnd the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.\u201d]\u00a0 So that\u2019s mentioned not in verse 15, it\u2019s also mentioned in verse 18.\u00a0 [Verse 18, \u201cA third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.\u201d]\n\nThis become important because we have many Bible teachers today that are trying to tell you, the late R. C. Sproul being one, that the Book of Revelation concerns events that already happened.\u00a0 That\u2019s a doctrine called preterism.\u00a0 Preterism means past in Latin, or gone by.\u00a0 And they take all \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of Revelation\u2019s global language and they use what I call the ram, jam and cram method of interpretation and they try to cram the whole thing back into the events of A.D. 70 where the Romans invaded Jerusalem and over a million Jews lost their lives.\u00a0 I\u2019m here to tell you this\u2014A.D. 70 was a terrible time period but nothing on par with what\u2019s being described here.\u00a0 Hitler\u2019s holocaust was a terrible time period but nothing on par to what\u2019s being described here.\u00a0 This is describing a judgment that is so broad in its scope it becomes impossible, if words mean anything, to find some sort of historical parallel.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we at Sugar Land Bible Church teach that this particular judgment is future; it\u2019s yet to come.\n\nWe have more of a description of this army and the destruction that they will wield in verse 19.\u00a0 Notice what it says, \u201cFor the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.\u201d\u00a0 So we have a description of what\u2019s coming out of their mouth, a description of what\u2019s coming out of their tails, and out of their tales comes something that\u2019s so lethal that it brings death to mass amounts of people.\n\nOne of the things to watch as you move through the Book of Revelation is how these judgments continue to accelerate.\u00a0 If you go back to Revelation 9:5, the passage that we looked at last week concerning the locusts coming out of the abyss, Revelation 9:5 says, \u201cAnd they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.\u201d\u00a0 We had scorpion stingers earlier in chapter 9 only for five months and it was not allowed to kill anybody.\u00a0 Now we have something coming out of the tails of these entities that are being described and now people are being killed, not just stoned.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just located or restricted to a five month period and you see, what the Lord is doing here in these judgments is He\u2019s gradually turning up the thermostat.\n\nFor example, in Revelation 8:8 it talks there about a third of the ocean being turned to blood.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 8:8, \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 And then you go to Revelation 16:3 and it says all the ocean turned to blood.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:3, \u201cThe second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.\u201d]\n\nWhat is the Lord doing?\u00a0 He\u2019s gradually turning up the temperature as humanity persists in its sin and its unbelief and this is very similar to how the Lord works.\u00a0 You study for example the plagues that took place in the days of Moses, ten plagues, and what you discover is early on Pharaoh and his magicians could reproduce a lot of the plagues that the Egyptians were experienc\u00ading under a cultic and satanic power.\u00a0 And then it got to the point of the gnats where God was bringing forth some\u00adthing that even Pharaoh and his magicians could not imitate or replicate.\u00a0 And finally they said to themselves this is the hand of God because God was turning up the temperature.\u00a0 He was turning up the thermostat.\u00a0\u00a0 He was trying to get people\u2019s attention.\u00a0 And then finally you get to plague number ten in the Book of Exodus and Pharaoh\u2019s firstborn son is killed and all of the firstborn all over Egypt are killed and Pharaoh had a change of heart and he let God\u2019s chosen people go.\n\nWe see that pattern here in the Book of Revelation as things are progressively getting worse.\u00a0 And may I just say that that could be something in your life that God is\u00a0 using to get your attention.\u00a0 You have a problem, you try to fix it, and it doesn\u2019t get fixed; and then you try to fix it again and not only does it not get fixed, it gets worse, then it gets worse, and it gets worse, and then finally you say to yourself Lord, what are\u00a0 you doing in all of this?\u00a0 And God says that\u2019s the response I wanted from\u00a0 you from day one because God knocks\u00a0 us down many times so that we what?\u00a0 We look up.\u00a0 And many times we are kind of confused as to what is happening in our lives; we don\u2019t understand the disciplinary hand of God because we don\u2019t understand the pattern of God and how God charac\u00adteristically will do this.\u00a0 And this is what is happening here in the Book of Revelation.\n\nNow we come to verses 20 and 21 where we have the conclusion of the chapter. Don\u2019t celebrate yet, there\u2019s a lot to talk about here in verses 20 and 21, which is a record of humanity\u2019s non-repentance.\u00a0 Look at what it says here in chapter 9 verses 20 and 21, \u201cThe rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent<\/u>\u201d (you should underline that, \u201cdid not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; \u00a0[21] and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.\u201d\n\nYou would think that humanity would turn to God at this point and say Lord,\u00a0 You\u2019re sovereign, You\u2019re in charge, You\u2019re in control, \u201cnot my will be done but Thy will be done.\u201d\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 In fact, you might recall from Revelation 6:15-16 that when these judgments officially hit men were hiding themselves in caves and among the rocks and among the mountains.\u00a0 \u201cFall on us and hide us,\u201d Revelation 6:15-16, \u201cfrom the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 6:15-16, \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; [16] and 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;\u201d]\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting now humanity is no longer hiding; now they\u2019re simply saying we won\u2019t repent.\u00a0 And the disintegration of the human heart continues until we hit Revelation 19:19 where the human race does something which to me boggles the mind, it unconscionably dumb and stupid what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0 They\u2019re going out and they\u2019re fighting God.\u00a0 How do you fight God?\u00a0 That\u2019s an impossibility.\u00a0 Revelation 19:19 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 Revelation 6, humanity is hiding.\u00a0 Revelation 9 humanity refuses to repent.\u00a0 Revelation 19 now they go out and actually fight God, and they oppose God.\n\nYou say why is this so significant?\u00a0 Why is this interesting?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s the condition of the human heart.\u00a0 There\u2019s an awful lot of people out there that think this, particularly young people.\u00a0 And we know it\u2019s true because we all had these same thoughts going through our minds when we were young\u2026 well, I\u2019m just going to be away from God for a while, sow a few wild oats, I\u2019m going to get my career started, I\u2019m going to make some money, I\u2019m going to do this, I\u2019m going to do that, not that those things, making money, having a career in and of itself is necessarily a bad thing but many people plot their lives as if God doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get my way first, I\u2019ll do what I want to do and then at a given point in time, middle age, later age, I\u2019ll get right with the Lord.\n\nLet me tell you something beloved, it never works that way; the longer a person spends away from God the harder and the harder and the harder their heart becomes.\u00a0 The idea that I can go off into sin, do my own thing, be my own boss and somehow I\u2019m going to get spiritually sensitive later on, that\u2019s a complete myth.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 The human heart, to a large extent, is not softening, it\u2019s growing harder and harder against God, because you know what happens to people?\u00a0 Life happens, difficulties come, and if a person is not walking with the Lord and they don\u2019t have a biblical framework or grid through which to understand their trials what will happen is that root of bitterness will be planted in their hearts and they\u2019ll start getting angry and more angry and more angry against the Lord and finally they\u2019ll get to the end of their life thinking that that would be the time of greatest spiritual sensitivity\u2026 many times it\u2019s the greatest time of spiritual hardness in people.\u00a0 Talk to people who are elderly, in convalescent hospitals, getting ready to die. What you see in many cases is not a softness of the heart, not a spiritual sensitivity; there are some, but by and large the rule, the norm is anger towards God\u2026 how could God have allowed this to happen to me, etc.?\n\nAnd when you understand this pattern of the human heart you start to understand why the Bible places such a priority or an emphasis on today.\u00a0 For example, the Book of Hebrews, 3, verses 7-8, \u201cTherefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, \u2018TODAY\u201d not tomorrow, not next month, not next year, \u00a0not in the next season of my life, \u201cTODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,\u00a0 [8] DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS [AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,]\u201d\n\n2 Corinthians 6:2 says, Behold \u201cnow\u201d or today \u201cis \u2018THE ACCEPTABLE TIME.\u2019\u201d of salvation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[2 Corinthians 6:2, \u201cFor 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, behold, now is \u2018THE DAY OF SALVATION.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Behold now is the day of salvation, get right with the Lord now, before the cruelties of life overtake you, because now you have someone to walk with you during life\u2019s adversities.\u00a0 The human mind is deceived into thinking that I\u2019ll get spiritually right and spiritually sensitive later and it never works that way.\u00a0 And those of you that are parents and those of you that are grandparents, you need to be teaching this concept to your children over and over and over again, that now is the time to get right with the Lord, now is the time to walk with the Lord.\u00a0 Do not put off for tomorrow, spiritually, what can be accomplished today because life doesn\u2019t get easier and the human heart doesn\u2019t grow softer.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to learn to walk with the Lord now.\n\nAnd some of you, right now, within the sound of my voice, have something in your life of a sin pattern that the Holy Spirit has been trying to straighten out for a long time and\u00a0 you\u2019ve been putting it off, putting it off, putting it off, thinking there\u2019s some other season in your life whereby you\u2019re finally going to get that thing in order.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that the more you try to contain sin and the more you try to control sin the more sin actually ends up controlling and containing you?\n\nYou look at 800 years of the nation of Israel in Canaan and all of the apostasy and falsity that they gave themselves to prior to the Babylonian captivity and you say what caused the whole thing?\u00a0 Read the first and second chapters of the Book of Judges and you\u2019ll\u00a0 see what caused the whole thing.\u00a0 God said very clearly when you go into Canaan I want you to take the Canaanites and to eradicate them, to push them out, to destroy man, woman and child.\u00a0 And the nation of Israel, as they went into the land under the days of Joshua fulfilled the will of God, maybe three-quarters, roughly; they were about seventy-five percent loyal and obedient.\n\nBut Judges 1 and 2 says they let this people group live and that people group live and that people group live and what happened is those people groups over the course of time got the upper hand, brought tremendous idolatry into the land of Israel leading to the Babylonian deportation and the scattering of the northern tribes.\u00a0 And the whole thing could have been prevented \u00a0had the people of God done what God said right out of the gate.\u00a0 And you\u2019ve got people groups in your life, sinful patterns, we all have them, that are trying to get control, gossip, anger, any number of things and the Holy Spirit keeps saying over and over again, you need to reckon that dead, you need to walk according to the new nature.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t do that, we indulge in the sin nature.\u00a0 And what happens is the sin nature starts to get an upper hand on us and the whole course of our lives are changed consequently.\n\nThe Bible says \u201cToday if\u00a0 you hear His voice do not harden your hearts, today is the day of salvation.\u00a0 [Hebrews 4:7, \u201cHe again fixes a certain day, \"Today,\" 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.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 6:2, \u201c\u2026.Behold, now is \u2018THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,\u2019 behold, now is \u2018THE DAY OF SALVATION\u201d]\u00a0 And the Bible says this over and over again because it understands the wickedness of the human heart and how when it\u2019s away from the things of God it becomes progressively calloused.\n\nBut notice if you will Revelation 9:20-21 and that\u2019s why I\u2019ve titled this sermon \u201cThe Sins God Hates\u201d because if my count is right here there are six sins and if these sins are resident in a world and in a culture God, after a season of grace, will always bring diving judgment.\u00a0 These are the big six sins that will bring the wrath of God to this earth during the tribulation period.\u00a0 And I think if\u00a0 you\u2019re intellectually honest, and we all seek to be that way, we see those same sins dominating our world today and our culture.\u00a0 They\u2019re being mainstreamed..\u00a0 I have them all underlined.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:20-21, \u201cThe rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons<\/u>, and the idols<\/u> of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; [21] \u00a0<\/sup>and they did not repent of their murders<\/u> nor of their sorceries (pharmakeia<\/em>)<\/u> nor of their immorality<\/u> nor of their thefts.<\/u>\u201d]<\/u>\n\nThe first one is the worship of demons, demon worship, tapping into the dark side, tapping into sort of a power source that doesn\u2019t necessarily emanate from God.\u00a0 We see that all the time, don\u2019t we? Psychic hotline, palm readers, Ouija<\/em> board, horoscope (which I call a heirescope).\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting to me that when you watch certain videos and movies, crime solving programs, how many of them claim that they solve crimes today by tapping into those individuals that have some kind of foresight, some kind of ability to solve the crime, some type of ability to supernatural powers to look behind the scenes.\u00a0 I think\u00a0 of books that are very popular today, even amongst Christian families, I think of the Harry Potter series and how the writer of that Harry Potter series claimed that they had an ability to write that series lickety-split with very little deliberative process going on in the mind.\n\nAnd to be honest with you, I\u2019m a writer myself, I try to be, I struggle and strain with every sentence.\u00a0 I could not imagine a scenario whereby something overcomes me and allows me to produce literature where I\u2019m not struggling at all because some higher power or greater power is giving me those scripts and those narratives.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the Harry Potter series came into existence.\u00a0 I can count numerous examples like this for you and it\u2019s interesting to me how those types of things are actually mainstreamed into the culture, and even in some Christian homes.\u00a0 The worship of demons!\n\nAnd then it mentions here idols, idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:20-21, \u201cThe rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons<\/u>, and the idols<\/u> of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; \u00a0[21] \u00a0<\/sup>and they did not repent of their murders<\/u> nor of their sorceries (pharmakeia<\/em>)<\/u> nor of their immorality<\/u> nor of their thefts<\/u>.\u201d]\n\nIdolatry, what is that?\u00a0 It\u2019s worshipping something ahead of God.\u00a0 And when a person becomes an idolater they\u2019re violating the first of the two commandments.\u00a0 \u201cThou shalt have no graven images.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThou shalt have no other gods besides me.\u201d\u00a0 [Exodus 20:3, \u201cYou shall have no other gods before Me.\u201d\u00a0 Leviticus 26:1, \u201cYe shall make you no idols nor graven image\u2026.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God is very clear that He does not what His people trafficking in idolatry.\u00a0 An idol is not necessarily something small made of metal like a statue; it can be a person you worship instead of God, a career you worship instead of God, something that you\u2019re looking to for your security, like a retirement account that you\u2019ve not placed above God in terms of importance.\u00a0 It\u2019s anything that we get our worth from and our sense of well-being from other than God.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting to me that some of the most innocuous and harmless things can end up becoming some of the greatest \u201cgraven images\u201d in our lives.\u00a0 And it\u2019s foolish to become an isolator, isn\u2019t it, because what can an idol do?\u00a0 It\u2019s made of silver and brass and stone and of wood; it can\u2019t see, it can\u2019t hear, and it can\u2019t walk.\u00a0 And God is saying to His people come to Me, I\u2019m all powerful, I\u2019m present everywhere at once, I\u2019m personal, and I will meet the needs in\u00a0 your life, not this thing that you have set up to eclipse Me.\u00a0 I like to call that line there in verse 20 the idiocy of idolatry.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s crazy to worship something in place of God when that thing is just finite and created and has no power to deliver.\n\nStudy Isaiah 46 this week, it says this concerning idolatry.\u00a0 Baal, an idol in Babylon has bowed down, Ebo stoops over, their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle, the things\u00a0 you carry are burdensome, a load for the weary beast. God is chastising His people for idolatry and He\u2019s saying\u00a0 you\u2019re carrying around these metal statues, are you getting tired?\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you getting fatigued?\u00a0 Because the day is going to come when you\u2019re going to be so old you\u2019re not going to carry that dumb piece of metal around anymore.\u00a0 What are you doing to do then?\u00a0 In fact, the day is going to come where you\u2019re going to be so old and sick and infirmed that you\u2019re going to need someone to carry you around.\u00a0 You think your idol is going to help you at that point?\u00a0 He says, Isaiah 46:4, \u201cEven to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.\u201d\u00a0 Why give your life to something that can\u2019t help you when you need it?\u00a0 Why not have a relationship with the living God that can see and hear and walk and can make the provision for the deepest needs at the times of our life where we need them the most?\n\nBut that\u2019s not the direction of humanity.\u00a0 Humanity will worship demons, they will have given themselves over to idolatries.\u00a0 Look at verse 21, \u201c\u2026 they did not repent of their murders\u2026\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 9:21, \u201cAnd they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.\u201d]\n\nI think when New\u00a0 York State recently passed a legislation favoring abortion up until the point of birth\u2026 do you understand that New\u00a0 York State just did that?\u00a0\u00a0 And now how New\u00a0 York State has become a model for other eastern coast states doing the same thing.\u00a0 I think when that happened that issue in and of itself was really not what bothered me.\u00a0 What bothered me was the complete and total celebration that the people in leadership of that state had when they passed this abominable law, how they lit up the Empire State building and so forth, with the rainbow colors and I was watching very carefully the reaction of those that had passed this law.\u00a0 I mean, what really stuck out to me was not the law itself (which is horrendous and abominable) but what disturbed me was how happy they were, how jubilant they were, how ecstatic they were that they did this.\u00a0 And beloved, I know enough about God to know this, God is not mocked.\u00a0\u00a0 Your Bible is very clear that those within the wombs of their mothers are people.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t my perspective, it\u2019s what the Bible says.\n\nLuke 19:44, a verse we read earlier, Jesus said it well, \u201cThey will level you to the ground and your children\u201d where? \u201cwithin you.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Romans did to the Jews in A.D.\u00a0 70.\u00a0 Josephus talks about it, how they ripped open (the Romans did) the wombs of the Jewish women and strangled to death the child to eradicate the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the earth.\u00a0 Jesus describes that judgment coming and He specifically says \u201cyour children within you.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 25:23, to Rebekah,\u00a0 \u201cThe LORD said to her, \u2018Two nations are\u201d where? \u201cin your womb.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not here to preach my brand of politics folks, I\u2019m just a Bible teacher but the fact of the matter is if you have any respect for this Book that we call The Bible, your position politically has already been determined\u2026 you\u2019re pro-life, because God Himself is pro-life. [Clapping]\n\nAnd I know this much, the perpetual holocaust on the unborn that\u2019s gone on in the United States of America since the infamous Roe vs. Wade decision is not something that God can just turn His back on.\u00a0 Do you remember the very first murder in the Bible?\u00a0 Genesis 4:10 where Cain murdered Abel.\u00a0 Remember what God says.\u00a0 He says, \u201cHe said, \u2018What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.\u201d\u00a0 This insane abortion mindset that we have in this country, as God is my witness, is going to trigger the wrath of God and it will bring the wrath of God to this earth during the seven year tribulation period.\u00a0 And when I talk like this I have to be very careful because there are people within the sound of my voice that have had an abortion.\n\nAbortion is not just the woman\u2019s fault, is it?\u00a0 There\u2019s two involved and many times the man, for whatever reason, is pressuring the woman to have an abortion. But\u00a0 here\u2019s the reality of the situation.\u00a0 Every single abortion, late term or early term, stops a human heart from beating.\u00a0 That is a biblical fact, that is a scientific fact, that is a medical fact and I realize that there are about a million and a half of these per year in the United States.\u00a0 And I know there are many people in the sound of my voice that have either had an abortion or participated in an abortion.\u00a0 And to such people I would plead for you the grace of God.\u00a0 Murder is an awful thing, but did you know this?\u00a0 The grace of God is so broad and so expansive that it can even cover that sin along with any other sin.\n\nThere are three people in the Bible that had blood on their hands who ended up being God\u2019s choicest servants.\u00a0 Do you know who they are?\u00a0 Number one, Moses.\u00a0 Number two, Paul.\u00a0\u00a0 And who\u2019s the third one, David.\u00a0 You know David, who committed murder, wrote this in Psalm 103:12, \u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far He has removed our transgressions from us.\u201d\u00a0 Why does it say \u201ceast is from the west\u201d?\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t it say north from the south?\u00a0 Well, there was a north pole and there\u2019s a south pole, right.\u00a0 The distance between the north and the south is not infinite. But is there an east pole and a west pole?\u00a0 There\u2019s not, so the distance between the east and the west is of such a magnitude that it\u2019s an infinite line.\u00a0 David, who had blood on his own hands having murdered Uriah, the Hittite, said that even that sin itself was thrown as far as the east is from the west.\u00a0 And so if a person has participated in an abortion in any way, a horrific act, God will not look the other way as this holocaust continues in our culture but the grace of God is available as well.\n\n\u201c\u2026worship of demons, idols, murderers,\u201d notice the next one there, verse 21, \u201csorceries,\u201d you\u2019ll notice I put the Greek word translated sorceries, it\u2019s pharmakeia<\/em>. \u00a0Now what English word do you think we get from pharmakeia<\/em>?\u00a0 Pharmacy, where you get drugs.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that in our culture pharmakeia<\/em> or drugs, drugs that used to be taboo, are now sort of becoming legalized?\u00a0 In some cases sold over the counter.\u00a0 When I was coming of age marijuana was always considered to be a no-no, that was taboo.\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting to me to watch how many of our states, like the state of Colorado, which is I guess what they mean by Rocky Mountain high\u2026.[laughter]\u00a0 have taken marijuana itself and assigned some kind of legitimate use for it.\u00a0 See what\u2019s happening?\u00a0 We\u2019re being desensitized to the things God hates.\u00a0 He mentions worship of demons, idols, murders, sorceries, now what\u2019s the fifth one here, immorality.\n\nBeloved, the fact of the matter is God has a sexual standard.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t invent it but the Bible says the sexual standard is one man for one woman for one life, period!\u00a0 Now I recognized that many people have fallen short of that standard and I\u2019m here to plead with you concerning the grace of God and its availability, but that never changed the standard.\u00a0 The standard is the standard, regardless of whether we have lived up to the standard or not.\u00a0\u00a0 And God has a sexual standard\u2014one man for one woman for one life!\u00a0 Anything outside of that would violate His perfect blueprint for the human race.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting today that every form of sexuality is being promoted except one, \u201cone man for one woman for one life.\u201d\u00a0 If you say that you\u2019re considered intolerant, hateful, a bigot, and as long as you promote anything other than that you\u2019re considered to be in vogue.\u00a0 See, what\u2019s happening is we\u2019re becoming desensitized to the very sins which will bring the wrath of God to the earth in the tribulation period.\n\nThe last one here is thefts, and by the way when you study the word \u201cthefts\u201d in the Greek language here\u2019s the word that comes up many times, klepto, as in kleptomaniac.\u00a0 Thefts, what kind of thefts are we talking about? White collar thefts?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Blue collar thefts?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But the greatest form of theft that\u2019s happening in our world, in our culture is what I would call socialism leading to communism.\u00a0 The Bible says if you want to eat\u00a0 you should work.\u00a0 The Bible always intended for man to work.\u00a0 Genesis 3:19, \u201cby the sweat of his own brow.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 3:19, \u201cBy the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.\u201d]\n\nAnd then Bernie Sanders comes along and he tells these very young millennials that rule doesn\u2019t apply to you, after all, you have all these student debts and student loans and you shouldn\u2019t have to work for yourself because we\u2019ll set up all of these programs whereby we\u2019ll take away from one person and give it to you and that\u2019s what you call socialism leading to communism which is the doctrine that you work and I eat; not I work and I eat but you work and you eat.\u00a0 And let me ask you just a basic question; can you think of anywhere on planet earth an example where socialism or communism has actually worked?\u00a0 It always sounds so good on paper but when you start to actually scrutinize where it\u2019s been implemented it\u2019s always a disaster.\n\nIn Venezuela right now the middle class, if there even is a middle class, is eating out of garbage cans because they fell for the socialist or communist allusion which is you can eat if someone else works, which is a rebellion against the principles that the Creator has established going all the way back to Genesis 3:19.\u00a0 The reason Marxism or socialism or communism never works is because you eventually run out of something called OPM, Other People\u2019s Money.\u00a0 The whole concept behind socialism and communism and Marxism is theft; you\u2019re taking away from somebody else that earned it by the sweat of his brow and you\u2019re transferring it\u00a0 yourself despite the fact that you never earned it.\n\nAnd why am I making an issue out of this?\u00a0 Because the millennials today coming up think that Jesus was a socialist or communist revolutionary.\u00a0 That\u2019s what they\u2019re taught many times in the public school, and this is one of the things they believe.\u00a0 And it\u2019s all dressed up in the name of compassion.\u00a0 I mean, wasn\u2019t Jesus in favor of the poor?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t He care about the needy?\u00a0 Well listen folks, if you want to care about the poor and the needy the last thing you would do is to set up socialism and communism because socialism and communism creates the needy, creates the poor.\u00a0 The ones administering it live like kings; have you noticed that?\u00a0 But everyone else in Venezuela is eating out of garbage cans.\n\nAnd theft is what socialism and communism actually is.\u00a0 It\u2019s other people\u2019s money.\u00a0 Jesus was not a communist!\u00a0 Jesus was\u00a0 not a socialist because the last time I checked the Bible says \u201cThou shalt not steal.\u201d\u00a0 And it also says, \u201cThou shalt not covet.\u201d\u00a0 There is absolutely no way you can get the principles of God\u2019s Word to somehow mirror Marxism or communism and\u00a0 yet it\u2019s institutionalized theft and it\u2019s the very thing that\u2019s going to bring the judgment of God during the tribulation period.\u00a0 I call these the big six. The worship of demons, the worship of idols, murders, sorceries, immorality and thefts.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:20-21, \u201c The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons<\/u>, and the idols<\/u> of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; [21]\u00a0<\/sup>and they did not repent of their murders<\/u> nor of their sorceries (pharmakeia<\/em>)<\/u> nor of their immorality<\/u> nor of their thefts<\/u>.\u201d]\n\nAnd so we\u2019ve completed our list of trumpet judgments and guess where we\u2019re at here?\u00a0 Number six; remember what I taught you a few weeks back?\u00a0 When you had a six look for a what?\u00a0 A lunch break because a lunch break is coming, not just in a minute but a lunch break is coming in Revelation 10 and 11 where the chronology will stop and we\u2019ll get some information about a little book that John eats and also the two witnesses.\u00a0 And so I would encourage you to read Revelation chapter 10 in preparation for next weeks sermon.\n\nIf\u00a0 you\u2019re here today and all of this is new to you it could be because you don\u2019t know Christ personally.\u00a0 Jesus stepped out of eternity into time to bear a consequence that we could never bear on our own.\u00a0 He bridged the sin gap between lost humanity and a holy God.\u00a0 His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 He rose from the dead, He ascended to the right hand of the Father, He empowered the church from that position with a simple message, and the message is this: if you will trust or another way of saying it is believe in what I have done in your place, not what you do for yourself, but what I have done in your place, then\u00a0 you can have the gift of eternal life.\u00a0 And so we like to conclude each of our services with that opportunity.\u00a0 Becoming a Christian is not a twelve step process; it\u2019s a one step process where the Spirit of God places you under conviction and the best you know how in the quietness of your own mind and heart you trust or rest or receive, all synonyms, not in your own works but in what Jesus did in your place.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you can do that right now as I\u2019m speaking and you can do that now as the Spirit places you under conviction.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to join a church to do, walk an aisle to do, give money to do, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in His provision and His provision alone for your eternity and the safe keeping of\u00a0 your soul.\u00a0 We invite you, we exhort you and encourage you to do that right now as I\u2019m speaking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nShall we pray. Father, we\u2019re grateful for the parts of the Bible that are more difficult to absorb and handle but these things reveal to us Your perfect character which we desire to walk in this week. 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