Letters to the Churches Part 9

Let's pray and then we will get into our Bible study today From Psalm 119.

We pray let my cry come to you. Oh Lord. Give me understanding according to your word Let my plea come before you deliver me according to your word

My lips will pour forth praise for you teach me your statutes My tongue will sing of your word for all your commandments are right

Let your hand be ready to help me for I have chosen your precepts I long for your salvation.

Oh Lord in your law is my delight Let my soul live and praise you and let your rules help me

I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek your servant for I do not forget your commandments in Jesus name.

We pray Amen okay, as Is our custom we always open it up for questions?

Which basically means that whatever prepared Bible study that I have there's a risk. We won't get to it and that's okay

We've had some amazing Bible studies on the fly, which I think is a lot of fun So it's with that in mind that I'm now going to check the chat window

I'm looking to see if Bruce Burns is here whether or not we're gonna be derailed really severely Good morning is the sound on yet?

I think it is y 'all can hear me because I think Stephen Elliot Yeah, then there's Luis and Bill good to see you guys

No sound yet. Yeah, they said okay good. All right. Thank you. All right.

So, all right any questions about the sermon? Yeah preached on Isaiah 64 that interesting prayer of judgment

Which when you had to consider it here, it has some very amazing gospel themes in it But all that being said we've been working our way through the book of Revelation and there's something

I want to show you from the Old Testament before we Start getting into the trumpets if you would and in the book of Jeremiah chapter 15

Jeremiah 15 15 I'm having a speech impediment today Apparently it just came on suddenly

Jeremiah 15 Yahweh said to me though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my heart would not turn toward this people send them out of my sight and let them go

God's a More than a little bit annoyed with Judah at this point and Jeremiah is the prophet that God sends immediately before Judah is sacked by Nebuchadnezzar the

Babylonian army and Then sent into exile and we cannot under Underplay the amount of devastation that they that God inflicted on them nine in ten

People living in Judah at that time died in Nebuchadnezzar's campaign only one -tenth of them survived so when you think of like Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego when you think of Esther and Mordecai these people lost

Countless numbers of relatives in the campaign of Nebuchadnezzar and why is

God angry with Judah well Judah here in the Old Testament is a type and shadow if you would of the great apostasy before the return of Christ and And so you see that Judah has gone deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into flat -out rank idolatry and it the idolatry of Judah at this time is so perverse that If you really want to get an idea of just how far off the rails they've gone that in Solomon's Temple They had erected little grottoes inside of the temple and erected pagan

Sanctuaries inside of Solomon's Temple Also as part of the temple complex itself, they had set up temple prostitution both of homosexual and heterosexual stripe

I mean I years ago I kind of quipped, you know, how did that Church Council meeting go?

You know, I have a great idea here at the temple. I think we should set up a brothel

You know, what do you guys think? You know it in and the people that they're around the table at the

Church Council meeting said yeah I think that's a great idea. Let's set up a brothel. I mean just that's just how wicked things have gone and You'll note that one of the themes you see it in Isaiah.

You see it in Jeremiah is That God has continued to send Prophet after prophet after prophet calling them to Repent and now things have gotten to the point where God is just done.

He's He's at this point his anger and his wrath are kindled and he's done with him

We're he's absolutely done and he makes this horrifying statement though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me

Yet my heart would not turn toward this people Send them out of my sight and let them go and when they ask you where shall we go?

You shall say to them thus says Yahweh Those who are for pestilence to pestilence to those who are for the sword to the sword

For those who are for famine to famine for those who are captivity to captivity Now you're gonna see a similar statement coming up in the book of Revelation and it's stated about Christians you have to pay attention to this when

God speaks in these ways because God has determined particular things and Then you'll note verse 3.

I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers declares

Yahweh the sword to kill the dogs to tear the birds of the air and the beast of the earth to devour and destroy and I will make them a horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of what

Manasseh the son of Hezekiah the king Of Judah did in Jerusalem and here's the part

I really want us to focus in on I will appoint for them four kinds of destroyers Now if you remember when we looked in the the opening of the seals in the book of Revelation There was there were four particular seals that I kept emphasizing were if you would

Kind of the status quo God has sent these things on the earth war pestilence famine

Things of this nature and in as we get to the trumpets and blowing of the trumpets of God You're going to note the same pattern is going to be

Repeated there's four types of destroyers that God has appointed during the period from Christ's ascension

Until his return and glory on the last day and these are things that Continue to plague planet earth.

So the first four that we saw in the seals That's an incomplete number because there's like four more and so think of these is in in kind of the

Jeremiah 15 -3 way of thinking I'm gonna point over them four kinds of destroyers

That's that'll help you kind of frame this because you can see that God follows a very consistent pattern here

In fact, you cannot understand the book of Revelation Unless you have a very firm grasp of How the

Old Testament works and how the types and shadows work and really know your Old Testament So we're back here.

I'm gonna back up into the context in Revelation 8 when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about a half of an hour

And this is the big pause Between the first vision of the seals and then the vision of the trumpets

Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God Seven trumpets were given to them and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer

He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne

Couple weeks ago when we when I read this out I made a big to -do about the fact that our prayers are twice here already in the book of Revelation Mentioned they're gathered up in bowls.

They come before God. Don't let that detail slip by you prayer is vital its

Major important it is not a small thing. It is a big thing So the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel

Then the angel took the censer filled it with fire from the altar Threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder rumblings flashes of lightning and earthquakes

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them the first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire

Mixed with blood and these were thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up a third of the trees were

Burned up and all green grass was burned up. Now a simple way to understand what this is referring to is

What happened in the summer in on the west coast? fire

All right, or as Chaka would say akiata Sorry land of the lost original one reference here with the slea sacks never never mind.

Yeah tough crowd today tough crowd Yeah Anyway, so So the when

Barb and I in in the early part of the fall this year traveled to to Prescott, Arizona We went straight down to Texas and shot across Texas through New Mexico on into Arizona one of the things that was really discouraging for me as a photographer was just The sheer amount of smoke and haze and it's this ugly putrid orangish

Look that stuff and and it was coming in from California But there were there were forest fires in California in Colorado, you know all up and down the west coast

It was just horrible In fact, if you remember I remember reading a story that the smoke from the fires from the west coast

They they tracked it it traveled all the way across the Atlantic and they were having haze in France In in the evenings as a result of the smoke that had traveled all the way from California across the globe

So the idea here is is that in the in -between time from Christ's ascension until his return?

You're going to see natural disasters and fires and things like this being a part of what's going on So when you see a major forest fire when you hear that California is once again burned down because of the

Santa Ana winds and arsonists Think of it as if you would one of the fulfillments of what's being talked about here.

That's that's the idea second angel blew his Trumpet something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown in the sea and the third of the sea became blood and so this is uh

This is really talking about the the disasters that you see happening on the oceans The third of the living creatures in the sea died a third of the ships were destroyed so you'll note that as as we experience well extinctions of Whales and sea creatures and things like this and then think of all of the all of the major shipping

Catastrophes that we have the Titanic would fit into this category. It's part of this Ongoing this one of the destroyers that God has established in the in -between time to two if you would remind us that that sinful humanity needs to repent that they are under the wrath of God that the and you'll note that these things come with Like unexpected they just come out of nowhere and yet having been on planet

Earth for 52 years now I can say that they happen with enough frequency that that we note we should note these things

We should pay attention to that. This is one of these destroyers if you if you would Third angel blew his trumpet great star from health fell from heaven blazing like a torch

It fell on a third of the rivers on the springs of water. The name of the star is wormwood Third of the waters became wormwood and many people died from water because it had been made bitter

I I think I think a good way to think about this is just Well, let me ask you this you guys

Would any of you eat any of the catfish caught because there are caught in the Red River in the north Would any of you eat that catfish?

Only for people from Missouri, right? Yeah, so you'll note then this this idea of it becoming bitter

This is this is a polluting of freshwater sources and it's a major problem and you'll note

This is something that we have to be vigilant vigilant vigilant. And what is that vigilant? we have to be vigilant against you know as we conserve and Steward the things that God has given us freshwater being one of them

And so you think of all of the polluted waters and and things of this this is again This is a description of what life is like here on planet earth when

I was a kid growing up When I would go to camp I would go to camps up in the sierra nevadas or the near the oregon border

And back in those days you could actually drink from freshwater springs and it was not an issue

At today you can't the places where I Was would camp and hike and things as a kid.

You can't drink from those those those those streams anymore uh, you're you're going to get uh, giardia or some kind of sickness in your stomach and that's that's not a fun thing to have to deal with so But you know again, it's it's fascinating how all of these things have become polluted and then talking about the things on the oceans

Uh back when barb and I graduated from high school Uh, one of the things that our parents did is that that they gave us a a wonderful, uh,

Graduation present and was a whole group of us from our school. We went on a cruise, uh down in the uh,

In the uh in the caribbean and it was a lot of fun. One of the places we went to was saint martin

Of course, you know, we the package that we got we got the cheapest rooms ever I mean we did we had no porthole.

We had no concept of night and day. It was just nuts Anyway, so we were in saint martin. One of the things

I loved to do was to go uh snorkeling I didn't scuba dive So I went so I went on a pack one on one of those tours

And they took us to this beautiful reef and I went snorkeling in this reef and it just stood out to me because the coral

Columns they were like 30 40 feet high And swimming between them and just the the fish and everything like that was just an amazing

Adventure and then years years ago, maybe You know 15 years later barb and I went on a cruise and we were on the same island

And I asked if I could you know if there was a if there was any way to go back to that coral reef for the purpose of uh,

Going snorkeling and they said no that reef is closed because it died The whole reef died

It's like what? The whole reef it was one of the most spectacular things i've ever experienced or done

And uh, and now there's no there's nothing there anymore except for these dead coral

It's just weird when you think about it. So again, we're interpreting this in light of Jeremiah 15

I will point over them four kinds of destroyers All right. So this is this is a picture of that.

This is what god's doing following that same that same Concept here.

So we've got four angels four destroyers. These are things that are present on planet earth now and they have been

You know for from time immemorial During the time of christ's ascension until his return

And now things are going to take a very interesting turn One that's going to require us to spend a little bit of time doing some cross -reference work verse 13 um

Oh, wait that fourth angel blew his trumpet third of the sun was struck third of the moon and third of the stars

So a third of their light might be darkened. Now. This is an event that we have yet to see here All right.

Um Third of the night might be kept from shining. Likewise a third of the uh, third of the night

So you'll note that when uh popular um Evangelical books that deal with the end of the world, you know in the past few years

There's been the uh, the four blood moons book by by hagee. It's all garbage.

It's nonsense Okay, uh, this is not describing Celestial phenomena that we can predict and has been happening

Since the creation, you know, for instance, we can predict lunar eclipses we can predict

Solar eclipses. This is not what this is talking about and a blood moon is just a lunar eclipse

And so this is not what this is talking about Well, this is you know, and this is one of those themes that you you can see christ talking about it

You can hear see the uh, the apostle john talking about this very clearly that in the days coming before the return of christ um

There are going to be celestial events That will cause huge dread on planet earth.

So this fourth destroyer here Uh, we have yet to see it and um, all

I can say is stay tuned buckle up You know if when this shows up, uh, I I assure you things are going to get nuts

Now the next part so then I looked I an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew overhead whoa whoa

Whoa to those who dwell on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets and the three angels are about to blow

And here comes the fun part Okay tough to Interpret, but when you kind of see how this works

You you can't unsee it and that's the nice part So the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star

Fallen from heaven to earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit

He opened the shaft of the body's bottomless pit And from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace

And the sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth and they were given power like the power of scorpions on the earth

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree But only those people who do not have the seal of god on their foreheads

They were allowed to torment them for five months But not to kill them and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone and in those days

People will seek death and not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them Now the appearance of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle on their heads

Were what looked like crowns of gold? Their faces were like human faces their hair like women's hair their teeth like lion's teeth

They had breast plates like the breastplates of iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots

With horses rushing into battle they have tails and stings like scorpions Their power to hurt for five months is in their tails and they have as a king over them the angel of the bottomless pit

His name in hebrew is abaddon and in greek is called apollyon now let's talk about what's going on here because this is a wild picture if you would

And the key to unraveling this picture is in the last part They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit

Well, let me just ask you If you were to take a guess, who do you think the angel of the bottomless pit is?

Satan that's right, you know, and but you have to say it like dana carvey. Could it be satan? All right Yes, it's satan absolutely satan

So what is this a picture of and and here's where we got to remember one of the major things about the book of revelation

These are word pictures All right. These are paintings with words and uh, and one of the things you'll note that um

And some classically good paintings Always have certain symbols in them or things like that that are put paint put into the painting

And so, uh, you know when you study the you know, the works of da vinci and michelangelo and others

Uh, or you know, you know you you can see that there's obvious imagery symbology that's put into these paintings

You have to think of it this way This is a painting with words and you kind of have to crack it open

So the first crack and cracking it open then is identifying who their king is their king is who it's satan

That's who he is. That's what we're talking about here Now, let me give you another text that I think is going to be really helpful in this regard

And one that we've looked at a couple of times along the way as we've been looking at the book of revelation

But one worth considering again Now concerning the coming of our lord. Jesus christ and are being gathered together to him

We ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word

Or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the lord has come So you'll know even in the apostle paul's day there were people who were forging letters and saying this was a letter from paul and Using his name for the purpose of passing on false doctrine and teaching that horrible doctrine called

You've been left behind Okay so the original left behind series was a

False letter that the apostle paul didn't write but somebody put his name on it. All right

So let no one deceive you in any way that day will not come unless The rebellion comes first.

I keep pointing it out and i'm going to continue to point it out. The word for rebellion is apostasia

Apostasia So if you've ever heard or read in church history conversations or articles or theological treatises related to what is called the great apostasy

That is what this is referring to So the idea is is that there's little mini apostasies along the way within christian within christian history but the apostasies like birth pangs

Grow in intensity And scope and magnitude the closer we get to the return of christ

So the the days immediately before the return of christ are not days of fidelity to the word of god

They are days of rebellion against the word of god and rebellion against christ full -blown rejecting of the authority of scripture

Within the church And so you get you get a flavor for what this is like in all of the different aberrant groups that are out there from the liberal forms of christianity that deny

Miracles deny that christ rose from the dead basically turn the bible into aesop's fables

To the wingnut wacker doodlism of the nar where they have modern day apostles decreeing and declaring and commanding and all this kind of stuff

And I you know, I I would just again point to somebody as bizarrely and obviously

Demonized as kenneth copeland. I mean that guy continues to put his foot in his mouth

Uh, so back in march, he he declared covet 19 to be over he commanded and controlled

Covet 19. Yeah, I blew the wind of god on you and he went You know like like a lot of good that did right?

Just two weeks ago. There was a video making the rounds where using that same formula there were people in his church

And kenneth copeland had people putting their hands on their head if they if they're experiencing male pattern baldness

And he was commanding their hair to grow And i'm basically saying do you do you not understand that this false doctrine comes with a huge price

First kenneth copeland expects you to buy him a new private jet to be taught these things and secondly, you're going to end up in hell

All right, but the idea here is is there's a growing rebellion growing apostasy and it's not outside the church.

It's within the visible confines of the church But that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first And then the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction

This is the one who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called god or object of worship

So that he takes his seat in the temple of god and this is not referring to a rebuilt temple

On the temple mount in jerusalem the temple of god in pauline theology is the church so what we are expecting then here is if you would the the

The ultimate not the penultimate but the ultimate expression of the man of lawlessness

As a man who comes up as a churchman And he is a miracle worker.

He can perform signs and wonders even calling down fire from heaven exalting himself and claiming to be god

And doing so within the context of the christian church and a large number

Vast number of countless multitudes within the visible christendom go.

Yeah, that guy's my god And the thing is the scripture warned us ahead of time

And paul says do you not remember that when I was still with you? I told you these things and then here's the part and you now know

What is restraining him? So that he may be revealed in his time

And this is the part that's really vague. So when you read the commentaries on this portion Everybody notes that paul is referring to the fact that there is some type of a restraint put on the devil

And he will not be unrestrained until sometime in the days immediately before the return of christ

And when the restraints come off The best way to describe what is going to happen is all hell is going to break loose

And that's the picture that we get In our text here in revelation chapter nine

And so when you go back interpret it then through thessalonians second thessalonians, too

The fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star fallen from heaven Oh how you have fallen from heaven day star, you know son of the dawn, right?

This is this is a picture of what this so we got the devil himself. He's this fallen star

And what does he what does he do? He has the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit

This is a picture of when the devil all the restraints are lifted He's given the key to the bottomless pit.

And what does he do? He opens the door and what comes out? the demons

And they're given the ability to torment people for a short amount of time

And you'll note they're described as locusts. What do locusts do locusts eat up all the green leafy stuff.

All right So we're basically going to come to a time When the world and I would even say the church is so overrun by the demonic

That they're going to basically eat up all the green leafy bits of sound doctrine that there is out there

And their teachings are going to torment people This is a psychological torment rather than having the peace that comes from the gospel

You get the torment the uncertainty the lunacy the mad ravings and being driven by the demonic

Stuff that comes along when it's replaced with with doctrines of demons So the idea here is is that as we get closer to the return of christ there is a season where well, like I said all

Hell breaks loose and so what we're looking at here then is a picture of that the restraints coming off the devil

The demon hordes that have been bound in the bottomless pit coming out and wreaking havoc on humanity and the church

And it's just a frightening picture. That's what we're looking at here the removing of the restraints and the devil

He basically having free reign to do what he wants to do For a season, but the food supply on planet earth is not allowed to be touched.

All right So the first woe has passed behold two woes are still to come now

Let me quick check questions before make sure I don't go too far Okay Um, diane says, um, i've heard that the word chernobyl translates to wormwood

Is that true? I have no idea I I don't uh spreckens the uh, russian so yet I don't know

That's not the way to say it is it never mind, okay Okay, leviticus 26. God says seven times punishment for a disobeying his covenant

And if ye will not yet for this This all hearkened to me

I will punish you seven times more for your sins Yeah, look that uh, elizabeth great point.

So in leviticus 26, you kind of see the same pattern. So here we got seven seals seven trumpets

These are judgments if you would and so god punishing humanity for continuing to persist in their sin and rebellion against god and of course

Throw in the leviticus, uh, the jeremiah text from 15 for tormentors i've sent there's patterns here that repeat

And that's what we're seeing here. And then you're going to notice also, um There when we go back now into the old testament into the book of exodus

During the the the 10 plagues that god sent on egypt. One of the plagues was what?

locusts So you start to see kind of themes that are related now as we're moving forward

You're going to begin to pick up pieces that say you're going this sounds a lot like What we saw in the 10 plagues and and there's a reason why you should do that.

So, uh elizabeth I i'm going to I see your leviticus 26 and i'm going to add to it the book of exodus in the 10 plagues

But again, these are the repeating patterns of god's judgment and you can see this All right verse 13

The sixth angel blew his trumpet I heard a voice from the four corners of the golden altar before god saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet

Release the four angels who are bound at the great river euphrates So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour the day the month and the year

They were released to kill a third of mankind Okay The number of the mounted troops was twice ten

Thousand times ten thousand. I don't do math, but that lot sounds like a big number Yeah, it's a huge number

I heard their number and this is how I saw The horses in my vision and those who rode them

They wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur And the heads of the horses were like lion's heads the fire and the smoke and the sulfur came out of their mouths

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed by the fire the smoke and the sulfur coming from their mouths

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails For their tails are like serpents with heads and by means of them they wound so this is if you would a picture of like humanity falling by Warfare and armies and things like this.

It's just again. This is horrible Nasty picture so the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues

Listen to these words Did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons

And idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and which Cannot see or hear or walk nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts

Yes, marilyn well

Yeah Yeah I I don't know.

That's a good question. Could it be covet? I think covet is pictured It's part of the it's part of what's described here in the pestilences and things like this

So we're taking a kind of a holistic approach All right, all of these calamities that we see happening here on planet earth in our lifetime and in it and In the 52 years that i've been alive there seems to be a ratcheting up of these calamities

You know, I'm, you know, I am so looking forward to the end of the global pandemic But I I just wonder if the politicians are going to allow it to end

You know, I just Just I just wonder sometimes, you know,

I think back to the fellow who asked his doctor, you know Doc, when do you think the the pandemic's going to be over?

He said i'm a doctor not a politician. I have no idea. Yeah so It's like yeah

Okay, so that that we we have we we did some fact checking snopes checked it out

I know Okay, so chernobyl according in ukrainian languages translates to wormwood

And chernobyl technically fits into this kind of idea of a whole region being embittered and you know made this

Completely polluted by radiation. This is part of the ongoing plagues. Now. Here's the thing One of the things

I am marveling at And it's in the context of what we just read Of you know

The rest of mankind who were killed by these plagues did not repent of their works or their hands or give up worshiping demons um

Have you seen a great movement on planet earth to repent of sins?

And humble ourselves and call on god to relieve us of the pandemic of covid Not at all

Okay, and in the charismatic nar churches every single one of their prophets

Have fallen on their faces multiple times this year. Have they repented of their

Sorceries of their false doctrines and not at all It's it's just staggering to me.

You know that somebody Who you know i'll give you an example We there's a lady by the name of cindy jacobs and cindy jacobs was one of the early

So -called apostles on the scene when covid started really, you know It looked like we were going to be going into uh, you know lockdowns and things like this she held a church service

And she in her prophetic office Declared covid to be illegal and commanded it to go

How'd that work out? Okay She also prophesied

That donald trump would win re -election How'd that work out?

It didn't Right and so these people Constantly are falling on their faces 2021 has proven that they do not hear the voice of god

Yet they all still are prophesying And offering up words and and you know as we get closer to the end of 2020

You can see that they're already Starting to create anticipation for the end of the year when they're going to be releasing their prophetic words

For the year 2021 And it's like who

Is so boneheaded to think they're hearing the voice of god After every voice of every prophecy they gave in the course of a year turned out to be false

Well this time i'm really going to hear god's voice Okay So you'll note that you know covid kind of fits in this pattern where There's people who've legitimately died it's affected the entire globe

And people have been shown to be blasphemers of god

And have they repented? No Has humanity cried out for god to god to free us from the plague?

No Everyone's going on their merry way They seem more annoyed and agitated by this than anything and rather than using the time of this pandemic to Retrospectively look at their lives and say, you know

My sin contributed to this My sin is part of what brought this on rather than doing that they just continue on And uh, and none of this even registers but the whole point of things like this

God is trying to get our attention. And what what what's the point of all of this?

That we repent That's the purpose of it, let's see here one um

Instead of humble repentance it seems we're posting signs expressing how we can

Beat this thing by working together even at the university. I work at stronger together is the slogan of the week

I All right, this is where my jaded self comes in Uh, if you haven't seen jaded rose, bro, uh, let me let me give you an example so in the corporate world,

I I hated working in the corporate world because it always seemed like um People would make really dumb decisions.

They would break things that were working Okay, you know because that's they had the power to do that And so one of the uh, one of the websites

I would go to for solace and to uh, um To feed my dark sense of humor was a website called despair .com

And if you've never seen despair .com They sell they call them demotivational posters because in the co in the corporate world

They have you know, people get this corporate artwork, you know, and you know, we're you know Eagles flying and all this kind of stuff, but the demotivational posters

I thought were just a scream and one of them that was my absolute favorite one It showed a group of hands all together in the center and that was the photograph and the in the in the the demotivational slogan was um

Committees because none of us is as stupid as all of us so Again, that's the my dark side

So Stronger together. Yeah I all I know is that when you get a whole bunch of people together

If they if they don't have any real biblical insight Then all you're doing is pooling ignorance stronger together stronger in what ignorance or in real wisdom?

But what this world needs right now? is to hear the call of repentance and For people to basically say listen

This is god's trying to get our attention here And god has the ability without warning to wreck the entire global economy

And he's done this God is to blame. He's the one who sends these pestilences for what purpose?

To get our attention to recognize our wickedness And recognize that the reason why the world is as messed up as it is is because of your sin and mine

You know i've been saying for months that the pandemic is an extended lenten season

It's an extended season of penitence And stop looking at your neighbor and says well my neighbor needs some repenting.

No look at yourself You need some repenting. I need some repenting That's the idea

And so you'll note The what's the purpose of these plagues god's trying to get your attention for the purpose of repentance so that you can be forgiven

So the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues. They did not repent They did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons.

That's a frightening terrible statement right there worshiping demons And idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk and you know what's really funny is is that um in Grand Forks, North Dakota and also

Minnesota. This is not a lot of like salient examples of idolatry of this kind uh, but it exists

Quite deeply in many cultures on planet earth travel to india

Travel to india the whole nation is filled with idols You know some of my favorite photographers are from the east from thailand from china from japan and also in uh in india

And I marvel at the photography that I see of people who are burning incense to these idols

Who are going into these temples where there are extremely elaborate

Beautifully crafted idols You know and then towns that have spent years worth of resources for the purpose of erecting ginormous statues to uh

One or the other of the so -called gods of hinduism Yeah They're beautiful But they're horrifying because These gods do not exist

And so you'll note that when the end finally comes god will judge all of these idols themselves

For scum stupid is stupid does isn't that the essence of stupidity stubbornness? Yeah. Yeah Okay, louise and bill ask if People get bad service from for example a mechanic or a contractor

They're all over the place screaming What phonies they are lawsuits, etc But a prophet like kenneth copeland calls the virus done in march and people still support him

Oh, yeah, they they they not only continue to support him. They uh, they try to Shut down guys like me who call him out for what he is a false prophet it's

It was absolutely stunning in christianity today just a couple of weeks ago There was an article

By a fellow who said just because the false because the prophets of our time

Said that trump would win re -election and they and that didn't happen. He said that doesn't make them false prophets

And my immediate question is well if that doesn't make them a false prophet then what does

Who can say thus saith the lord trump is going to have a second term? And it not and it not come to pass and you sit there and go well,

I thought you said thus saith the lord Well, I just made a mistake

That's not a mistake that's not a slipsie it's not an oopsie -doopsie All right You know,

I I make a mistake when I put a little bit too much salt in my eggs still it's a tasty mistake, but um

That's a mistake This is claiming to hear the voice of god and to speak on god's behalf

It's a breaking of the second commandment And scripture is very clear in deuteronomy 18 that any prophet who prophesies something and it doesn't come to pass

They are a presumptuous prophet and the prescription for presumptuous prophets in deuteronomy 18 is death and yet the you know ken copeland continues to uh rake in the money

Money How is that even possible? I don't know james. Did you have a question? Yep, deuteronomy 18 deuteronomy 18.

Yep Okay so Well, this is fun

Nothing like doing revelation in uh in december. Oh, the weather outside is frightful

Anyway, sorry Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head

His face was like the sun his legs like pillars of fire He had a little scroll open in his hand

He set his right foot on the sea his left foot on the land and called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring

When he called out the seven thunders sounded and when the seven thunders had sounded I was about to write

But I heard the voice from heaven saying seal up What the seven thunders have said

And do not write it down Okay And then the angel whom

I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand to heaven And swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and what is in it

The earth and what is in it the sea and what is in it? That there would be no more delay

But that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel the mystery of god would be fulfilled

Just as he announced to his servants the prophets So whatever the seven thunders said

We know they said something Don't know what they said God said not not that's not going to be written down john knew

We don't know but then at this point the final trumpet god's not going to delay

It's going to all come to an end now, let me ask you Uh off the bat right now. Do you guys remember?

How many times has the world ended so far in the book of revelation? Once it's already ended once So this is what we're building up to so then the voice

That I heard from heaven spoke to me again saying go and take the scroll that is Open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land

So I went and the angel And told him to give me the little scroll and he said to me take it eat it

And it will make your stomach bitter But in your mouth, it'll be sweet as honey

And I took the little scroll from the hand the angel ate it and it was sweet as honey in my mouth

But when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter and I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings

So you see here a picture of the consuming of the word of god if you would And and it being a you know that yeah, it tastes good

But it's got a bitter aftertaste to it And that's kind of the idea of the book of revelation itself on the one hand the book of revelation provides us comfort

And the reading of god's word Is one of these things that brings us joy in the immediate term

But as god gives us greater understanding of the depth of our own sin of the consequences we've collectively

Brought on ourselves as a result of our rebellion against god And of the difficulties that are ahead.

You'll note that there it's kind of a bitter sweet thing Sweet to learn the word of god bitter when you consider its consequences as they say ignorance is bliss

But a proper consuming and eating of the word of god and of the prophetic word

It's one of these things that has a mixed Result in how we feel it

Have you ever noticed that because as you've studied the word of god you sit and go I never realized just how

Bad it really is and the word of god is the thing that taught you that on the one hand You're thankful that you have a deeper understanding of the word of god

That's a joyous thing and at the same time what ends up happening is is that you sit there and go but man, um

This is pretty awful That that's kind of the point, right? Chapter 11 now before I get too far

I might want to do Yeah, all right, so i'm gonna i'm not going to go any farther in revelation here just don't want to do a quick Quick mini study on something real quick here since we're talking about the word of god

And uh, there's something i'm i'm cooking on and I think it would be fun to throw this in at this point in the gospel of john chapter 10 one of the most abused texas texas

Say I I yeah, I woke up this morning and I have a speech impediment. So So One of the most abused texts in all of scripture

Is this one? Where christ talks about how his sheep hear his voice?

So let me let me read the text in the this discourse of christ truly truly I say to you

I am the door of the sheep all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them

I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture

The thief comes only to steal to kill and to destroy And in a previous installment of our bible studies here

We've noted that the thief here is not the devil The thief are the false teachers christ is referring to the pharisees who are heretics

It says i'm the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep

Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me

Just as the father knows me and I know the father And I lay down my life for the sheep and I have other sheep that are not of this fold

I must bring them also and listen to this and they will listen to my voice So there'll be one flock and one shepherd for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life

That I may take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down in my own accord

And I have the authority to take it up again this charge I have received from the father So you see in here this idea of christ his sheep know his voice

Earlier in the text you have a more explicit statement along those line the sheep hear his voice

He calls to his own sheep by name and leads them out when he's brought out of the zone. He goes before them

And the sheep follow him for they know his voice a stranger They will not follow but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers

So you'll note here there in scripture christ talks about the fact that his sheep know his voice

And there is a major teaching within the visible church today as a result of the charismatic and the pentecostal movements

And it's also been taught explicitly by men like rick warren

Formerly bill hybels of willow creek. He's been forced to resign in shame um, but also erwin mcmanus and other major luminaries within the

Within the evangelicalism they say this Let me let me Kind of sum up their doctrine

Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship That's their starting point and which of you

When you are in a relationship does not have two -way conversation with the person you are in relationship with and so Christianity is according to them just like if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend and I always get weirded out here because I don't like the idea of jesus being my girlfriend.

That just doesn't work for me. So, um and so What they end up doing is chiding you along these lines

So you will pray to god and you say lord I need this and please help me with that that's one -way communication

But jesus says his sheep hear his voice. Do you hear the voice of jesus?

If you don't hear the voice of jesus, you need to ask yourself. Am I really in a relationship with him?

And you sit there and go There's something wrong with this, but I don't know what it is All right

Now this is where the prophet jeremiah is going to be helpful and hang on a second here i'm going to rely on my bible study notes for this one because I've been taking extensive notes on the topic

Kind of studying this out through all the scripture And this is a very very fascinating concept when we look at it in scripture.

Let me see here Uh Here we go now i'm gonna i'm gonna give you a couple of places first before we get into jeremiah

All right We're gonna go old old way back way back. All right, we're gonna go into the book of exodus exodus 19

And in exodus 19 i'm gonna note this Um, this is part of a unit within the book of exodus

We're at the beginning portion of this unit of the book of exodus and this unit ends with the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices on the people

Of israel as well as the book of the covenant that god commands moses to make

And I want you to pay attention to how some of these these verses work So we'll apply our three rules for sound exegesis, which are context context and context

So exodus 19 one on the third new moon after the people of israel had gone out of the land of egypt

On that day they came into the wilderness of sinai They set out from rafadim and came into the wilderness of sinai.

They encamped in the wilderness There israel encamped before the mountain while moses went up to god

Yahweh called to him out of the mountain saying thus you shall say to the house of jacob and tell the people of israel

Now this is the first beginnings of it. So what's happened? Moses has been called up to have a meeting with god where mount sinai

And here god says to them you shall say to the house of jacob and tell the people of israel

You yourselves have seen what I did to the egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself

Now therefore if you will indeed and watch this obey my voice

And keep my covenant you shall be my treasured possession Among all peoples and for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of israel now Did the people of israel?

Hear a still small voice whispering to them within their hearts No How did they hear god's voice?

And know what to obey moses told him

Moses told them This is a major Teaching in scripture

That what moses said? God said and god held people accountable for not obeying god's voice when they didn't obey what moses said

So you're going to note the first this is really one of the first instances in the old testament of the teasing out of a theme within all of scripture and that is

Where do we hear the voice of god? Where In the scripture

So you'll note here that what moses wrote God spoke So when we read torah

Whose voice are we hearing? Gods, and this is a consistent theme in scripture.

And so here's what it then goes on to say So moses came called the elders of the people

And moses set before them all these words that the lord had commanded him

And all the people answered together all that yahweh has spoken we will do

They received moses's words as god's words And said we will obey what the lord has spoken

And all that the lord has spoken we will do moses reported the words of the people To yahweh and yahweh said to moses behold i'm coming to you in a thick cloud

That the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever

All right, that's kind of like the first instance that we have there of it But this is a theme that then repeats itself throughout scripture.

All right, let me give you another example here Where is my

Hold on a second here. I've got to switch notebooks I have

A couple of different books on that. I keep in my ipad. Ha ha ha ha

Ah, here it is. Jeremiah 11 Give me a second here Jeremiah 11

All right. Jeremiah 11 verse starting verse 1 the word that came to jeremiah from yahweh

Hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of judah and the inhabitants of jerusalem

You shall say to them Thus says yahweh the god of israel Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant

All right That I commanded your fathers when

I brought them out of the land of egypt from the iron furnace saying listen to my voice

Where does god say his voice is to be heard? In the scriptures

And do all that I command it command you So shall you be my people and I will be your god that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers

To give them the land flowing with milk and honey as at this day Another that's just a stunning example here

Um But there are other passages along these lines So if you if you were to train this out, in fact

This is i'll give you guys a little bit of homework because i'm going to wrap up here Uh, do a do a study

In the old testament and if you don't have a bible, uh online bible, you can go to like biblegateway .com

Uh and do it there but search out the phrase hear my voice

Or just look for the word voice and look in the old testament and trace it out and you will see very clearly in scripture

That the voice of god is heard in the scriptures It's considered synonymous to disobey is to not listen to his voice and god places his voice in the scriptures

Now christ himself does the same thing when he talks about to the disciples

That and this is in the gospel of john. I believe in chapter 17 But i'll tease this out a little bit more as as the study develops

That christ says that he prays for those who would believe in him Through them through the apostles

All right So where do we hear the voice of christ today?

In the scripture there is no other place that I can go with certainty to know that i'm hearing the voice of christ

So somebody comes to me. Oh, I I had a vision of jesus last night and he appeared with an angel called uh wealth transfer and uh, and uh, he's uh, he's told me that uh,

That there's a season coming and that there's going to be a shaking you know You know Yeah, thanks.

I appreciate that now If you don't leave my presence there will be a shaking I will be shaking you With an inch of your life, you know get out of my presence, right?

But uh, yeah, you get the idea. So we'll come back to this. We'll talk about this more I've been taught just what you said in the southern baptist church

Yeah, I I know I I hear it a lot in you know When I preview sermons and things like that for fighting for the faith

This is the reason why i'm i'm i'm actually trying to concisely put this into A teaching where you can have confidence that when it talks about hearing christ's voice

Christ is not referring to a still small voice that he's supposed to speak to you He's talking about you listening to his voice in the scriptures the only place where we can hear the voice of christ so All right.