Well, we are in Chapter 15. When I left off, before I went off to Ethiopia, we were in Chapter 14, and we worked ourselves through there. And I actually pulled a portion of my conclusion out of that sermon, and I put it right here by way of introduction, just to remind you, because the relationship to what I'm going to say today is very strong. In chapter 14, I said it this way at the end of my sermon. I said, the Bible has never lied to you, never. The Bible always has said that there are only two ways, there are only two roads for each of us to be on. Jesus called them the broad way and he called it the narrow way. And it's very, very easy to be on the broad way because you just have to be alive. But the narrow one is entered only through faith in Jesus Christ. Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and Him alone. The broad way, he says, is easy and many are on it, but its end is destruction. So though it appears to be the right way, the good way, and certainly it's the most comfortable way, he says its end is destruction, but the way following Jesus is a narrow one, it is a difficult one, but its way will end in life. And so you have two realities based on these two roads. You have the one that is life and the other way that is death. And I said this before we prayed, each one of you, is on one of those roads. And so my question to you is simply this, which one is it? Which one is it? If I were to pull you aside today, if I were to just have you sitting with me and I say, well, where are you? Would you begin to hem and haw or would you be able to look with confidence due to what you know is to be true, and you would say, no, I am on that narrow path. My hope is in Jesus alone. That's it. Or would you say, you know, I don't know some days. Or I know for a fact I'm on that broad way. The answer is only going to be to turn to Jesus. But that's the question, really. Stripping away everything else, that's the only question that's going to ultimately matter. And I want you to think about that. I want that question, which one is it that you're on, to echo in your mind throughout this sermon. So we're going to read this little chapter, chapter 15, and then my prayer is that God will work so as to reveal to you where it is that you're at and what must be done before Him. So John writes in chapter 15, and I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had come up victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, you king of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed. And after these things, I looked. And the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple. They were clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls, full of the wrath of God. who lives forever and ever. And it ends here. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. May the Lord bless his word. We're now done with that long interlude that we were in, where it was giving a lot of backfill and explanation about how Satan is working with his demonic forces behind the scenes in and through human efforts and energies and actions. My effort in that was to try to help you see that nothing that takes place in our world whether it's fun or not so fun, is simply happening. It's all working out. And that there are evil, wicked fingers turning the switches and knobs. And that behind even all of that wickedness and evil where the spiritual forces are at work is God. That He nonetheless stands sovereign and perfect and complete. And that He alone can take evil that is intended and make it good. So that even in the midst of all of that wickedness, God is at work moving everything toward its inexorable end. Nothing will thwart Him. And in all of that interlude, we then end off, and now we come back into the chronology of this important book. And we have this prelude. This is now introducing the seven plagues that are going to be the final plagues that bring about the end. So it functions as a prelude of the outpouring of his final judgments. And it's a mirror to the vision of John in chapters 4 and 5. If you remember there, we just finished with all of the seven churches and their words of warning and of praise. And then it's moved from earth back into heaven, and there he saw God high and lifted up, and the angelic voices crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. And His throne is there, and there's the rainbows, and the crashing of the thunder, and the lightning, and all of that. And everyone's falling down and praising Him. And then we see the Lamb who was slain, Jesus, who is able to be the only one to open the scroll that will begin to set everything into motion. And all of that was a prelude to then what we have already gone through. So chapter six, all the way up to chapters 14, all of that was introduced in chapters four and five. Now, John is doing a similar thing. He is again back in heaven, and he's looking at heaven and what's going on in heaven. And all of it is in anticipation for the final plagues to unfold. When you looked at the one in John chapter four, you saw a throne of God, you'll remember that. You may remember, hopefully you do, that the throne was seated on this sea of glass, or you could also call it crystal. And we talked about the idea that within apocalyptic literature, that idea of sea is one of chaos, unrest, brokenness, fear. And here it is, God seated above it all, and the sea of glass represented really fallen creation. the brokenness and sinfulness of this world that we live in, how wars and rumors of war and hatred and vile things happen every day. And it's just this constant unrest like the sea. And yet seated above it all, totally at rest, sovereign over it all, is God. And that's the image that's given. But now, in contrast to the other lack of holiness on the earth, in contrast to the brokenness and the aching, in contrast to the fact that in heaven the angelic hosts are crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, three times holy. You know that that is a method of writing that says there is none that can be more holy than you. You define holy, you are holiness. Holiness is God and God is holiness. And then out of that is that scroll, remember? The scroll is there. And then John begins to weep because it has seals on it. And no one is worthy to be able to open the seals. But if the seals aren't open, then the righteousness of God won't happen. God will not punish sin. God will not make the world right again. Everything that he and every other human being that trusted in God has waited for and wanted and yearned for is going to be a joke. It's going to be a lie. And so he's broken. He's like, no one in heaven can open the scroll. And it's there that Jesus is brought front and center. Here we find that through his death and resurrection, he alone is the one worthy to open it. And all you've been doing since that time in the book of Revelation is watching the unfolding of those judgments. Time after time, the scroll is broken, and the scroll is rolled out farther, and more is read, and more is read, and now we've had the trumpets and their judgments, and now it's to the point that it's time for the final seven. Now, after reading the judgment, after judgment upon the hardness of man's heart, because they don't want God, even as He stretches forth His hand upon them, and He brings judgments upon them, and harm is done to them, and they are pressed for their sin, and their sin and their hateful hearts are being shown for what they are, they shake their fist at God, the best they do is they want to have a mountain, they crawl in a cave and say, follow me, I don't want God, I'd rather just die. as if that's going to hide them from God. We see that over and over again. So it all ends in chapter 14. In chapter 14 and verse 10, it talks about the cup of God's wrath. That it's now time. Then in verses 14 to 16, we saw this when I was last here, of the coming judgment. And it's a vicious, powerful, horrible image there of the sickle cutting down the grapes and gathering them into the winepress of God. But these are not grapes. These are humans. These are our friends and our family. If you are not in Jesus Christ today, these are you. Make it personal, it's you. And if you're sitting next to one who's not a Christian and you are, it's that person. And they're gathered into this winepress, as described, the winepress of God. And then 19 and 20 then, it graphically speaks to the judgment. The angel swung its sickle to the earth, gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the winepress. That's very graphic. God trampling his enemies under his foot. God's saying it's done, I'm tired, no more. We're not doing this. This is the day that I have established that I will make all things right. And the only way God can make all things right is to deal with all things wrong. And what's gonna happen starting here in chapter 15 on is whatever you thought was bad up to now is nothing. In fact, if you were alive during this time, what, chapters 15, 16 deal with? If you were alive during that time, you would exist and look back on the earlier chapters of Revelation as the good old days. Man, I wish we just had big flaming mountains hitting the sea. Man, I wish this was happening. I wish that was happening, because what's going to happen makes all of that pale. So in light of all of that, I wanna be very honest with everyone here about what my goal is today. Whatever you think, first of all, whatever you think you are going to lose out by not trust, by refusing to trust, let me rephrase that. Whatever you think you're gonna lose out if you trust Jesus as your Savior is a height of stupidity. I would just look at you, if you were to say, well, yeah, but I'm not willing to give up my job. I'm not willing to give up my quest for power. I'm not willing to give up my lies. I'm not willing to give up my porn. I'm not willing to give up. I love those things. I'm not willing to give them up. I'm not wanting to follow him. I would just look at him and say, you're an idiot. And those of you who know me know I would say that. You're just an idiot. Seriously. You seriously are going to tell me that you think that following Jesus, because you know if you follow Jesus and you're truly wanting to follow Jesus, you have to follow only Him. You don't get to add Him to your collection of pretties. You get rid of the pretties and it's only Christ. He is your Lord. He is your Savior. And I say to you right now, my goal right now is to help you grasp that you are in the height of stupidity if you sit here and say, I'm not willing to lose all for Jesus Christ. Second, I want you to know that my goal is that whatever you think the wrath of God and His judgment is going to be, is light years beyond what you can grasp. Whatever you think it is, times it by infinity, add a one, and you're still not there. Think about the worst thing that could be in your life. The worst thing that could happen to you for all eternity. Just add it and stick it in your head. Maybe you've been through horrible misery. Maybe you've had horrible difficulties in your life. You say, you don't know my life. And I'll say, I don't know your life. I will just simply say to you this simple. That's kind of an awkward statement, but you know what I mean. I'm simply saying this. Whatever you think that was, that is not even a drip. of what it will look like when the wrath of God is unleashed. The infinite God who possesses all power whom you have rejected, though he has given you life and breath and many good things, and that you have heard and heard, some of you, since you were born, you have heard the way of salvation, the hope of Christ, and you have said, I am not one of you. I don't want it. I don't think it. I don't believe it. I don't think it's right. I don't think it's fair. No. And all this time you have enjoyed the goodnesses of God, and now it's time, and you will face the fullness of His wrath. Third, God is not reluctant to bring forth His judgment. So don't think you got that working for you. You who are younger and you've learned how to turn those little eyes at your mom and dad or your husband or wife or your boss and say, oh, I'm sorry. And all of the other little ploys that we do to avoid the disciplines and the difficulties of life and judgment and hardships just that mom and dad, family, government, what might ever give to you. Understand, God is not afraid to show His wrath. It is part and parcel of His being. He delights in His wrath. It is righteous and good, and He will show it to you in its fullness. And fourth, in this passage, we begin to get a small taste of the level of God's utter hatred for sin. which, for those of you in here who have trusted in Christ, it then begins to make the work of Jesus on the cross all the more breathtaking. That God hates sin this much, that for all eternity, this level of wrath will pour unending from Him. And then you say, and I'm safe, I'm forgiven. So with that in mind, and that as my introduction, let's look. The first four verses are the key. The second part of this little chapter is really simple, and we'll deal with it in just short order. But we want to look at verses 1 through 4. In verse 1, it is an introductory one. It sets the tone for both chapters 15 and 16. I saw another sign from heaven, and great and marvelous. You might have a translation saying amazing. Great and amazing was his vision. What is it seven angels who had seven plagues which are the last why because in them the wrath of God is finished So first of all what we need to note is that what John is writing and what he sees he calls it great and marvelous amazing Now this pairing, great and marvelous, only occurs here in chapter 15. Here and in verse 3. It's a very unique phrase and it's capturing the fullness of the glory of God in His wrath. Let me say that again. It is capturing the glory and power and majesty that is God in his wrath. God, I've already said it, but I'll say it again. God is not embarrassed of his wrath. He doesn't try to hide it and say, well, I don't want people to see what I can be because I can get really ugly. No, his righteous isn't ugly. His righteous is great and what? And marvelous or amazing, right? John says that, oh my goodness. Maybe your wrath is ugly because it's wrapped up in sin. It is not that way with God and he's not hiding it. He is now going to bring it in full display. John sees in this vision what can only be understood as this earth-shattering, completely captivating vision of God rising up and being filled with His wrath toward those who have been not His subjects, those who have been in rebellion to Him. Now when you and I, we create God in our own image, what we do is we try to make a very manageable God. And beloved, if you're a Christian, you do this. Every one of us does it. We all have to fight against that desire to manage God and make God in our image. And don't any of you say, no, I don't do that, because the fact that you're saying that says that you already don't even know yourself rightly. We all struggle with that, but the non-Christian does it all the time. No, he's just a God of love. If he's a God of love, he should... and they don't even know what love means. that God is love and therefore who gets to define what love looks like? God, not you. And we're always trying to make God manageable and comfortable and safe. We want a God maybe that might mildly convict you and make you uncomfortable so that you can send out prayer requests, pray for me, I'm really struggling with this, but you have no intention of actually struggling with it. You'll make a God who should provide for you relief from your hard life, or give you a job, or give you a spouse, or whatever it might be that you're yearning for. We'll make that God, but we will not allow God, too often, to be simply who He is. But whenever you do that, whenever you make God in your image, you've made an idol. But when, hear me please, when you embrace the mystery that is God, and the majesty of how God reveals himself, what you will be is you will be filled with a mixture of thought and emotion. You will be forced, once you start to embrace that this is how God is, and this is who God is, and he hasn't asked me how I feel about it. In fact, if you were to come to me, because I've had these conversations, and you say, well, I just don't know if I'm comfortable with this. Anyone know what I would say? It's three words. I don't care. I don't care how you feel about who God is. I don't care about how I feel. God doesn't care how you feel. God's not like, oh, well, gee, I'm sorry. You know, what can I do to help? I mean, would you like me to be what? Well, it just seems like you could be a little more tolerant. Okay. Okay, I'll do that. Thanks. You know, I've been looking for self-improvement. I mean, honestly, we're laughing, but do you really think God cares if you don't like who he is? He's like, what you would end up being is Job. He'd just strip you of everything. Just everything. He'd just take it all away. There's nothing left. You're just there, sitting in a pile of dust and ashes, scraping the sores off of your body in abject pain, surrounded by friends who will do nothing but not encourage you. And you'll sit there in silence for seven days as you ache. And then God will come, and He will say, stand up, you. Act like a man, because I'm going to ask you questions, and you're going to teach me. Really? You don't like me? You don't approve of me? You don't think that this is acceptable? You don't think that ought to be that way? Oh, I'm sorry. I feel awkward about myself at times, too. I'm almost embarrassed to do it, but you know I gotta do it. There's a rule book. No. He would look at me and say, you tell me where you were when I set the stars in place. You tell me. Come on. Go ahead. Tell me. You think you're so great? You think you know enough to judge me? You tell me when the earth was born. You tell me how the universe works. Just go ahead. Explain to me the atomic structure. I'll judge you afterward. Were you there when the calf is prancing newborn on the hill that you've never seen? Were you there? Can you establish the deeps? Have you named each star? Tell me them. I want to hear them. Name them. I'm going to start pointing them. You just sit here and be quiet until I reveal you the stars. But your job is to shut up and do one thing. Name every star. I have. Obviously, you're so smart, you can do it. That's what he's saying to Job. Job is horrified. Two chapters of questions no way he can answer. And he finally says, never mind. Never mind, I'm stupid. I'm going to put my hand over my mouth, and I'm going to shut up. Do you think God would be happy? No. He says, stand back up. I didn't tell you to sit down. Read it. Stand up. Gird yourself like a man. I'm not done with you. Who are you to think that you can tell me when you can put your hand over your mouth? I'm God. You're not. You don't get to tell me I'm not going to talk anymore. No, I got more questions. Then he turns up the heat and asks you more questions that are impossible to answer. Can you take a proud heart and make a humble? Can you? Which one of you in this room is so arrogant that you think you can take a proud heart and humble it? You can't even deal with your own heart. Do it, come on. You who say God's not fair. You who say this wrath stuff is just extreme. Can you make a simple man wise? And what you're doing right now is the answer, right? You better shut up. You realize I way, way, way, way, way, way overstepped myself here. Who are you, God? Who are you to do this? And finally, Job figured it out. It wasn't shut up, Job. It was, I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna ask you, God, and you teach me. No more fighting. No more debating, no more rationalizing, no more stupid stuff. Moms and dads, friends, your other friends, your family, stop pretending like we're in a conversation with God. You're not. He's not conversing with you. He is telling you, as God and King, this is how it is. What does Paul say when you say, well, this is not right, it's not fair? Paul says in Romans 9, what? Who are you, oh man, oh human, to question God? He won't even answer your debate. He won't answer the question. You are like, I have a question. He's like, I don't care. You're not God. You don't get to question God. And these words, I know, are in the minds of some so offensive, but that is why the wrath of God in chapter 15 is there. Because you find offense at that. That you actually think you have something that you can hold against God and make Him give you an answer. And He's like, I won't. I made you. I have the right over you as much as anyone, and then infinitely more. And when you have that, what happens is a simple reality. You fear. And that's what I want you to do today. I want you to be afraid. I want you to be a little uncomfortable. In fact, some of you, I'm hoping that you're thinking, back it down a bit, Matt. I invited friends. And I really, I'm just that way. I want to turn it up more and say, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to fear. I want you and I, I want us to be gripped with the holy fear that this is our God. The Bible talks about the fear that what you have here in Revelation is God who is utterly terrifying. And as you stop, and you're squirming and fighting God's revelation of Himself, and you say, I don't like it, I don't like it. Once you will sit still, just stop and relax, you will begin to understand why fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. And it's the beginning of life. Everyone says, well, the fear of God means just having this awe. No, it means terrified. It literally means to be terrified. And the only way I can do it is I don't know your parenting style. And so don't judge me. You're not God. So don't, I don't know your parenting style, but you go and ask my children, any one of my children. If there was ever a time as a child, and you know they all come here, they love me, they hug me, I bubble kiss their grandchildren, all right, so we remember all that too. But you ask my children if there was ever a time where they said or did something where they became very, very afraid. And they will say yes, oh yes. I don't know what the story will be because I probably don't remember it. I remember crossing that line with my father. I couldn't find the reverse fast enough. I didn't know that was in him, but I went over that line. Now, look, I'm not talking about those abusive parents who their children are constantly quaking in fear, and you think, yeah, I'm bringing the fear of God in them as you're smacking them around and berating them, and that's not our God, is it? But when you stand up and you shake your fists at your father and you say, how dare you? I've got rights or whatever it is that all of a sudden you realize, whoa, I went way too far there. And you back it. This is what God is. Who are we, oh man, to question God? Who are we? And when you start to see that aspect of God's wrath, you start to grow in wisdom. And so the Proverbs of the Bible say that the fear in God, that it brings you great confidence. It doesn't make you run from God. It actually gives you great confidence as you learn to fear God because you know Him for who He is. In chapter 14, it says that He is called the fountain of life to those who fear God. That having the fear of God, He says, is even better than all the riches of the world. because you now are rightly understanding Him, and you're placed with Him. Another thing that happens when you grasp how fearsome He is, is that you actually develop hope. Isn't that crazy? As a Christian, when you become filled with the fearsomeness of God, you have hope. Why? Because you realize God really is awesome. I mean, He is truly awesome. And if he is this, then who can thwart his purposes? Who can keep his hand from moving? And then you're like, well, okay, first he's amazing. Second, no one can stop him. And third, I have Jesus. I'm safe in God. His wrath is satisfied. So, if He is fearsome and no one can stop Him, and God is for you, who can be against you? And you're like, this wrathful, terrifying God's not so bad, because He's on my side. Or rather, I'm on His. Paul says it that way, right? That's all he's saying. In Romans 8, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we're being put to death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Then Paul says, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through God who loved us. Why? For this reason, I am convinced that neither death nor life, angels or principalities, things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or anything created shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The terrifying reality of God's wrath for the non-Christian is just that, terrifying, because you can't escape it. The terrifying reality of God's wrath for the Christian is it's not terrifying in the sense of hopelessness, but it's terrifying in its vastness. As your eyes and ears and heart begin to grasp that you're safe from that, This idea of marvelous or amazing is used and reserved for God and his actions. And so when he overthrew the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, you remember in the Exodus event, and there it crushes the greatest army on the earth in just that split moment. Moses, and we'll talk about this in a moment, Moses wrote a song and in it he used that term. It was awesome. It was awesome. It was marvelous. You say, what's so marvelous? A lot of people got died. Yeah, and those guys are coming over to kill these guys. And these guys were God's people and God saved them. That's the idea. In the Psalms though, it's very interesting. You find the same term used to speak of God's person and God's works. It's that the glory of the heavens are to display that he is truly marvelous. It reminds us that beauty found in creation is not an end in itself, but it's designed to say, if this is beautiful, how much more beautiful is the one who gave it? Whether it's something that's very gentle and subtle, like a spring breeze that carries that scent of flowering plants and you realize it's here, spring is here. Or it's the shocking power of the tsunami that's literally destroying hundreds of thousands of people. It's all designed to point to you that He is amazing. But there's also the way, and this is very interesting, that this term, when it's used in the Old Testament, it gets used to speak of God being holy. You and I think of holiness too often as moral. Don't do this, do that. But when you understand that the word and the idea of holiness first and foremost speaks of uniqueness, of being set apart, of being something other, then you can understand that when it says that God is holy, it means he's not like you and I. And therefore, he is marvelous. He is marvelous. So you have these seven angels. And it's the first time they're introduced for us, these seven angels, and they have seven plagues. And they represent then the marvelous, frightening, awesome image of God in His wrath. Now why? Why is it all so amazing? Why is John stunned? It says at the end, because in them, in these seven angels and their plagues, the wrath of God is finished. So he says, it's coming to an end. So in verses two through four, we see heaven itself now, it's filled with all of these victorious people. I saw as it were a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had come up victorious from the beast. So now we're actually in the vision Now remember, we have again this vision of this sea. It's a crystal or glass and fire. Remember what I said about the sea? It represents chaos of humanity and creation, all of that roiling about like a storm-tossed sea. But before, in chapter 4, it was just there as a sea of glass. Now, it's got this mixing up of the fire. And the question is why. And the why is because chapters 6 through 14 have happened. Up to that point now, God has been pouring out various aspects of his judgment and hardship upon humanity and unleashing the beast and allowing Satan to do his work. And all of this is going on. And so now that crystal sea is not just settled, it's broken up with all this fire of God's judgment. So it's this outpouring of judgment. But it's also a rebellious world still. It's still that broken crystal sea. And we're given here a picture then of those who had come through that time and is out from the midst of that sea. These people being described here are those who were in the tribulation and they died for the sake of Christ, for the name. They suffered in the tribulation because they claimed Jesus Christ as Lord. They're most of you, right? You claim Christ as Lord. They refuse to worship the Antichrist. They refuse to take the mark of the beast. They just said no. Now again, imagine what's going on because if you live during that time, you have to take the mark or you don't get to eat. You don't get to work. You don't get to sell. You lose all of that. That's called starvation. and you're gonna have friends and family and they're gonna look at you and say, take the mark, take the mark, you're stupid. They're able to eat, you can't eat. What kind of, it's a no brainer, just take the mark, it's just a mark. God knows what is in your heart, it doesn't matter. He knows that you worship, just take the mark so you can eat. And you're like, I can't take it, I won't take it. So they're living pretty, they're getting comfort, they're having food, you're suffering and you're dying, who's the fool? I'm just gonna ask you, who is the fool? The one eating and drinking or the one suffering and dying? Because they will not take the mark. It's not in the passage, I'm just asking you. Who's the fool? The one eating and drinking. Doesn't look like he's a fool, but what's on the other side when the eyes of those faithful Satans who have suffered and died for the name of Christ, what's on the other side? They're in heaven with their Lord. And the ones eating and drinking and laughing and mocking and shaking their head with sad wonder at these poor fools who will not stop worshiping this unknown God. And why don't they just worship the beast? Come on, just worship the beast and live. They will drink at some point, their last drink, and they will die. And they will not stand before God with joy. What you have here is this imagery that is designed to see that you pass through death into this world and reality of peace and triumph, of bliss and safety. These are people who suffered at the hand of Satan, and they came out the other end, and guess what? They found out that God was faithful. And so they're standing before God. Meanwhile, underneath their feet, the chaos continues, where all their friends who are thinking, stupid Grayson, why didn't he take the thing, idiot? And here is Grayson, safe and sound and filled with bliss, while the sea continues below him. There's no more battles, no more sin in them. Can you just, just that alone, isn't that good enough? To not ever again have sin in me. No more sin affecting them, they're finally at rest. I want you to remember that, those of you in this room who don't know Jesus. They're standing in bliss and joy and at rest, they're at peace. How many people resent God because their life doesn't have what they want in it? They're not at peace. So their answer is, I will hate God for that, as if that will bring them peace. Rather than turning and repenting and coming to Jesus Christ, and in him you find peace. But he says, I won't give that peace until you have me. And that peace will be for all eternity. So in the end, these so-called victims will be standing above the rest of the chaos that you will still be in if you are a non-Christian. That idea of the harp, that they have the harps of God, that just is a biblical imagery of joy. Whenever you see the harps come out in the Bible, just think joy. It's party time. It's time to rejoice. Now, it's not clear. They're talking about these two songs, the Song of Moses and the Song of Lamb. It could be that that's one song, but it also could be that it's two songs. I think it's two. That's how I'll treat it. We have this thing called the Song of Moses. There are two in the Old Testament. One is Deuteronomy 32. And in that, God makes Moses teach them this song. All of Israel has a word. Learn this song word for word. And it's not a happy song. Don't turn there. Just hear it. It's not a happy song. It's a song basically that they're singing about how they eventually will disobey God, be rejected by God, and be punished by God. It's a really fun song. And everyone's singing, I'm going to sin against God and rebel against him. And God's hand will be against me. And then I will be shattered. Oh, yeah, I'll be shattered again under the hand of God, because I'm such a sinner. I mean, it's that it's a hard song. You're like, I don't want to learn this. But God says, no, you're going to learn it because that's what you're going to do with the hope that in the end, God would make it all right nonetheless. Then there's the other Song of Moses, Exodus 15, is where the Egyptian army is chasing after the people of God. God opens the Red Sea. They come through the Red Sea. They come out the other side. They're like, yes. They turn around. Oh, no, the whole Egyptian army is in the Red Sea coming after them. We're dead. God says, no, they're dead, closes up the Red Sea. They're dead. You're not. And at the end of that, in Exodus 15, the song is written of the triumph. I don't have the time, but I did write it out for you in my notes if you have them. I'm just gonna pull out a few key statements in that. The song has statements like this, you're burning anger. You did send forth your burning anger and it consumes them, the enemies as chaff. who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders. He looks at all the peoples of the earth and he says, as a result of what you've done, they tremble. They're filled with anguish. They are dismayed. Trembling grips them. They are melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. And now here, by the greatness of your arm, they are motionless like stone. See, here is a song of praise to God's wrath and how everyone melts away when they see him flex his wrath, if you will. And so then it says these words, which will sound very similar in a second. And your people, you pass over your people whom you have purchased. You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of their inheritance. The place, O Lord, which you have made for their dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever." And we're heading toward that point here in Revelation. And so that's one song that they're singing. They're also singing the Song of the Lamb. That's back in Revelation 5, 9 and 10. Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals. Why? For you were slain and you purchased for God with your blood men from every tongue, tribe, tongue, people, and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests who are God and they will reign upon the earth. Just like in the Song of Moses, he purchased for himself a people and they will reign. So they're singing these two songs, and what they're doing by doing that, it's really kind of cool, is they're taking the Old Testament, and they're taking the New Testament, and they're bringing them together, and they're saying, it's summed up, it's finished, it's done. Can you not see that from the beginning to the end of the Bible, one message that God will reign is here? And so as the people of God were saved through the Red Sea, which really represented for them a barrier to salvation, right? When they came to the Red Sea, they couldn't get by it, and the army was coming. They're dead. There is no salvation. And then God opens a way of salvation. So the people of God in the tribulation were also carried safely through a different kind of sea, the sea of humanity, the sea, that crystal sea, the sea of sin and chaos, and they were brought safely into the presence of God. That's the imagery. And then from these two songs flow this final song of praise in verses three and four. It starts with this declaration of God's work are all great and marvelous. So there's that phrase again, great and marvelous or amazing are your works. Oh Lord God, the almighty. So the opening thing is whatever you do and whatever you're going to do is great. It's amazing. It's marvelous. It's not over the top. It's not just a tad off. It's right. There's a declaration of God's omnipotence. He says righteous and true are your ways you king of the nations who will not fear Oh Lord and glorify thy name for you alone are holy You are the king of the nations. You are sovereign and omnipotent You're able to accomplish what you will nobody will stop you There's this declaration that his ways are right and true In other words everything he's done and will be do will be found to be right I remember a man that I worked with many, many years ago. I was in college. And I worked as a security officer for Lockheed Corporation. And I was in their inner sanctum where all the cool electronic stuff were. And you always worked with the second guy, and I was with him, and he saw what I was reading. I had my Bible, and I was reading through it, and he asked me, you really believe that? I said, I do. And he got angry. He's like, why do you believe that? And so I proceeded to tell him why, and also about the gospel. And he says, shut up, I don't wanna hear it. And he was actually spitting, he was so angry. I'm like, what's up with you? And he's just angry. And he's like, if there's a God, I spit on him. I hate him. I reject him. And I'm like, why? He's like, he took my life. If there's a God, when I see him, I'm gonna punch him as hard as I can, because I hate him. I didn't know what else to do. And I'm who I am. I said, well, you're an idiot. He said, you really think you're gonna punch God? You really think? Did not God make you and did he not make your wife and does he not have the right to take whom he wishes? And you say, no, he doesn't have that right. And God says, but I do. I do. You can say all you want, but I do. I possess that. He never, to my knowledge, turned, we became friends and he used to yell at me all the time and I kept giving him the gospel. He never, to my knowledge, believed. But see, to him, all of God's ways are not righteous and true. And that's usually one of the stumbling points for people to say, well, I will not trust in Christ because I don't think what he does is right. I got friends. And you're saying they're going to go to hell. Yes, they are. Well, I don't think that's right. But you don't understand, once you grasp that everything God does is right. Then that goes away. And by the way, you're not ever going to judge God. There's a declaration as king of the nations. And here again, we see the nature of what sin is, because we rebel against our creator and Lord, and we keep trying to make other things be our king, whether it be ourself or others, but we try to make everything be king but Jesus. But he is the king of the nations. And it also is mocking Satan, because at this point on earth, he has established himself as the king. Everyone is worshiping the Antichrist. Everything's coming around for Satan except that there's a problem God is the king of the nations and Finally, there's that anticipation of the setting up of the kingdom of God on earth where finally the nations will be able to come and worship Jesus as Lord and King all of that in this little song and From there, it transitions from that powerful vision to the angels. And we'll go very fast through here. Because there's very little that requires much comment. You can just read it and I'll say that's what's going to happen. You have angels coming out of the temple. But I do want you to kind of get the sense of the solemn nature of the description. So after all of this is going on, I look and the temple of God is open. Notice how, I mean, it kind of piles up a lot of descriptors. The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, which is the imagery of the faithfulness and promises of God in heaven. So we know it's not an earthly temple. Here it's a heavenly temple. It's open. So kind of, you know, picture the songs all end. The song of Moses is done. The song of the lamb is done. The song here that they just sang is done. And now the heavenly voices are all kind of coming to an end. And you hear this click and this big honking doors, you know, start to open up. And here you're looking now into the very heavenly temple. And out comes these seven angels. And they have the seven plagues in verse six. Now, you know, they're not like, hey, high five. It's a very solemn moment as these powerful angels are coming one by one by one. Their linen is bright. Everything about them is just flashing forth purity and righteousness. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls. Something beautiful. Something neat. But it's filled with what? Verse 7. It's filled the wrath of God. seven angels, perfection, completeness in that number, holding these bowls. And here comes one of the four living creatures, another angelic being, remember, and he's pouring out whatever that would look like. I don't know what it looked like, but it's gotta be frightening. And he's filling up each bowl with the wrath of God. And when I have a very active imagination, I'm picturing this big golden jug that represents the fullness of God's wrath, the fullness. And he comes and he pours and he pours. And if I were doing the show, the movie, it would kind of like zoom in on that. And you'd see the last of it coming out and trickling. And finally, that one little drip, that's the last of it, just goes, boop, into the seventh bowl. And then you hear a noise, and you look, and the doors are shutting. And they shut, and it's that deep, you know, that deep noise that echoes of, boom, it's done. And here are seven angels, seven bowls filled with the wrath of God, and God closes Himself in His, get this, three heads, He closes Himself up in His temple, where he's all alone, just the triune God. Because he is now filled with his wrath and he's about ready to pour it. So you're on the outside looking and it's filled with smoke. Somebody thinks, maybe I should try to see if everything's okay and say, no, I'm not going there. I'm not touching that. All of the earth is fighting and doing their evil. And unbeknownst to them above them, above all of that in heaven, it's all silent because God is shut up in his temple and he's all done. When I introduced my sermon, I said I had certain goals. Let me remind you what they were. You tell me if I manage it. Don't really tell me, just in your own head. Whatever you think you're going to lose out, because you trust in Jesus, that will be the height of your stupidity. If you think you're going to lose something because you're going to trust in Jesus, you're stupid. You won't lose anything. Not in the end. Second, whatever you think the wrath of God and His judgment will be is light years away from the reality. You have no clue. Third, God is not reluctant to bring forth His judgment. It's good, it's right, and it displays His glory in an amazing, mighty way. And fourth, if we are able to see that, then we can get a small taste of the level of God's hatred for sin, which makes the work of Jesus Christ all the more breathtaking. I post on our Facebook page this quote by Sproul. He says, the most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the cross. If ever a person had room to complain for injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. Beloved, all of you who have Christ, who have been saved, you are a people who should be eager to give thanks. You should be eager to praise him because you are richly loved and you are wonderfully saved. But the Bible also talks about the hands of God. the hands of God. In the book of Hebrews, it says it very simply. It says, it is a terrifying, horrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The writer of Hebrews says, there is no good thing for you that's going to come when you fall into the hands of the living God. At the same time, the Bible says this by the Apostle John in John 10. Now listen, especially those who, you don't know Jesus Christ. You're not his follower. I want you to be his follower. Listen to what he says in John 10. Jesus says these words, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. And what do I do? I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. It's just like the two ways. You can fall into the hands of God, and it's a terrifying thing. where you can come to God through Jesus Christ and you will be kept safe in his hand for all eternity. It's one or the other. You have heard what is coming. My conscience again is clear. You have heard the word of warning and you have only two options. Resist God and face his wrath. or turn to God through Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sin.