After the angel's ominous warning of "Woe, woe, woe" at the end of chapter 8, trumpets 5 and 6 wreak exactly that upon the inhabitants of the earth, delivering horrific supernatural judgments.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
I am preaching this message to our Church on Halloween. And for many Christians in North America, Halloween has been a source of seemingly endless urban Legends and rumors. There was the Satanic panic of the 80s where some parents were convinced that their children would become possessed if they watched cartoons like Heman or Smurfs. To this day, there are rumors every Halloween that parents need to watch out for candy laced with razor blades or drugs. Some are certain that there are thousands of Satanists sacrificing cats in the Woods every Halloween, and I know all the dog people are like, I don't see what the big deal is, but perhaps the most disturbing rumor of all, the one that chills me to the bone is the rumor that the Book of Revelation is hard to understand because mendacity say, we for you see, the word revelation means that something has been revealed.
And the first words of this book tell us exactly who it is that's being revealed. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And God wanted us to read this book so much that he promised those who would take the time to read and respond to it a special blessing. And that blessing is found in chapter one, verses three. As always, let's claim it together.
It says, Blessed is he or she who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near. But God knew these wicked rumors would persist that revelations hard to understand. So we also included in the book an easy to follow outline, and we find that in chapter one, verses 19, where Jesus gives John these instructions, write the things which you have seen that was the resurrected and glorified Jesus. In chapter one. Then John is told to write about the things which are present tense.
It refers to the Church age, which began around 32 Ad, continues to the present day and is prophesied in chronological order in chapters two and three. And then lastly, John is told to write about the things which will take place after this. John is told to write about future events that will take place after the Church age ends, and those future events make up the third act of the Book of Revelation, which begins in chapter four, verses one, let me read it to you. After these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven.
And the first voice which I heard that was the voice of Jesus in chapter one, was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.
And up John goes serving as a picture of the Church who will be raptured to be with the Lord. And Jesus takes all of chapters four and five to make sure we don't miss the fact that the Church is with Him in Heaven before His wrath is poured out upon the Earth that has rejected him in chapter six, verses 16, those on the Earth reveal that they know and understand the source of their catastrophes, identifying it as the wrath of the Lamb. Who is the Lamb? It's Jesus.
So chapter One introduces the focus of Revelation Jesus Christ.
Chapters two and three take us through the Church age up to the present day. Then the Church goes up. In chapter four, verses one, we see her safe and secure in heaven for chapters four and five before wrath is poured out on the Earth, beginning in chapter six, and that wrath continues for seven years, a time period known as the Tribulation, and it's documented in chapter six through 19, at which point Jesus returns to the Earth with his Saints in what is known as the Second Coming, and there will be even more revealed in the astonishing final few chapters of this amazing book.
But if you love Jesus, you belong to Jesus. Then here's what you need to know.
For now, your story ends with the words and they live happily ever after. At this point in our study, we are in the great Tribulation, the second half of the seven years of tribulation the world will experience shortly after the Church is raptured as Jesus unsealed the scroll that is the title deed to the Earth. Each seal released a judgment upon the Earth. When we reached the 7th and final seal, we learned that it consisted of seven subjudgments known as trumpet judgments, and we saw the first four trumpet judgments unleashed in our previous study of chapter eight.
Today, in chapter nine, we'll continue with the remaining trumpet judgments as they shift to become supernatural not only in origin but in their very nature.
How bad are these judgments going to be? Well? Chapter eight ended with this ominous verses, and I looked and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe woe to the inhabitants of the Earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three Angels who are about to sound. The idea being as awful as the things that have already taken place have been there is worse yet to come. They say the best scary stories are the ones that are true, and that's what makes the story we're about to dive into.
Absolutely terrifying. Let's read together in verses one. Then the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the Earth. So understand what the text says. John is not watching this star fall.
He's looking at a star that had previously fallen to the Earth, and it says to him underline that word, Him to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. That word him tells us that the star is not a what but a who. Specifically, this is the fallen Angel, Lucifer, A-K-A. Satan. The Prophet Isaiah wrote, how you are fallen from heaven.
A Lucifer son of the morning and Jesus told his disciples I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. So write this down on your outlines. It's your first fill in the star is Satan. The star is Satan. But what is this bottomless pit or abyss, as some translations render it in the Greek, it's the word Abusas Abusas.
And if you want a more detailed explanation of what I'm about to share, I recommend that you go to our website and listen to our study on Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31. I put the link on your outlines for you. We don't have time today to do an actual study on the abyss, but I can share a few cliffs notes that will help you understand what's going on here. The Bible teaches a three tiered cosmological model. There are the heavenly places, including heaven.
There is the Earth, and there is the underworld known as Hades. There are three distinct areas or compartments in Hades. On one side you have paradise, also known as Abraham's Bosom. On the other side, you have death or the grave, and in between them is this place known as the Abyss. This pit, this hole, this gap also called the bottomless pit.
Here in Revelation, if a person dies rejecting God, their spirit goes to the death side of Hades. It's a place of torment and suffering where they await the Great white Throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20, verses eleven to 15. If a person died with their faith in God before Jesus died on the cross, they would go to the paradise side of Hades to await Salvation. It was a place of rest and comfort, but it was not a place of full joy because Jesus was not there. Now why did they have to wait for Salvation?
Why couldn't they go straight to heaven? Because Jesus had not yet paid for their sin with his blood and life on the cross. When Jesus died, he descended with the keys of Hades and death and led all those who were awaiting Salvation up to heaven in victory. From that moment on the paradise side of Hades has been empty and it always will be. The death side of Hades continues to grow as all who reject God arrive there, following the end of their earthly lives, where they await their final judgment.
Now, as I said, between the paradise and death sides of Hades, there is this great Gulf that the Bible says no one can cross known as the abyss or the bottomless Pit. The abyss is a place of torment where God imprisons demonic entities who have done things so wicked they cannot be allowed to remain free. Even in our age of evil, we know that their number includes the fallen Angels who participated in the abomination of Genesis six that produced the Nephilim. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I put another link on your outline so that you can go and listen to our study on Genesis six, where I get into that in detail.
Do you remember the story of the demonpossessed man in Kadara and his encounter with Jesus?
Jesus confronts two men who are possessed by thousands of demons. A Legion is what they're called. And if you're not familiar with the text, I'm talking about. It's a great bedtime story for the kids. I'm just kidding.
There are a few details in that interaction that I'd like to draw your attention to in Luke chapter eight, verses 28 we read when he the demonpossessed man saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with you, Jesus? Son of the most high God, I beg you, do not torment me. So the demons inside this man speak with one voice, and they recognize who Jesus is. But as we just said, they're demons. So what could Jesus possibly do that would torment them?
Well, a few verses later, in verses 31, we find the answer, it says, and they begged him that he would not command them to go out into the abyss. The Greek word for abyss is once again Abu SAS, the same word used in Revelation chapter nine, verses One for bottomless pit. It's the same place we're talking about. The demons Jesus encountered during his earthly Ministry knew who he was. And when Matthew records the same story, he adds a little more detail regarding the protestations of these demons.
They say, Have you come here to torment us before the time before the time? These demons were also aware that they had a future destiny of destruction and that Jesus had authority over them. And if you're familiar with the story, you'll know that they asked Jesus to let them go into something else. They know Jesus is going to cast them out of this man. They don't want to be sent to the abyss, though they're seeking some other living thing they can go into.
And so Jesus says, you can go into the pigs. And they do. They know that their future is in the abyss. And they beg Jesus not to send them there early, because apparently it's so awful that even demons are terrified to be confined there. As I mentioned earlier in Revelation 20, verses one through three, we learned that Satan himself will be imprisoned in the abyss.
Let me read it to you, it says. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the Dragon. And just in case we're confused about who the Dragon is, Jesus spells it out for us. That serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for 1000 years.
And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shot him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nation's no more till the 1000 years were finished. So make a note of this. According to the Scriptures, the bottomless pit, or the abyss, is a place of torment where God imprisons demonic entities for egregious offenses. The demonic entities that are currently in the abyss right now are worse than anything we've ever seen in our lifetimes. And they have been imprisoned and tormented for a long, long time.
They're not going to be happy when they get out. And when they do, it's going to be hell on Earth. Verses Two and he that's Satan open the bottomless pit and smoke a rose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. If you and I were standing in 17th century London right now, we would find ourselves enveloped by the smoke of various fires that burned day and night.
And this was because the intelligentsia of the day had identified fresh air as the cause of the Black Death, the plague that killed around one third of Europe's population. Today we know the real problem was fleas who were spreading the bacteria to rats, who were spreading it to people at the time. Such a suggestion would he been viewed as ridiculous in our world today? The intelligentsia scoffs at the idea of demons they'll mockingly say, Well, we now understand that demons are merely projected manifestations of fear, anxiety and other psychological issues.
Church they were way off in 1666 and they're way off today.
The Bible says demons are at work presently causing people to experience depression, emotional distress and relational trauma. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul said, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against very real demonic forces. While we can't yet know, some scholars believe the Abu SaaS to be in the center of the Earth in a spiritual dimension because it is described in this chapter as a pit beneath the surface of the Earth wherever it in. Verses two tells us that at this moment in the tribulation it's opened.
And the description we read makes it sound as though a hole literally tears open in the Earth.
Yes, it will be just as terrifying as it sounds. And more. Verses Three then out of the smoke locusts came upon the Earth. As we read through this chapter, I think it'll become clear that John is not saying they were literal locusts. He's saying their number was so great as they poured out of the abyss that they looked like a swarm of locusts spreading out across the Earth.
They were so numerous that their presence blocked out the sun, just like a swarm of locust does. And the darkness these locusts bring is certainly more than physical. They are an unspeakable evil unleashed on the Earth. And I'll share the punchline up front. These locusts are clearly demonic entities of some sort.
And our first clue is fairly obvious. They come out of the abyss, they come out of the bottomless pit, it says, and to them was given power as the Scorpions of the Earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the Earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Now there's an obvious parallel here to the 8th plague in Exodus chapter Ten. Just as that plague fell exclusively upon those who were opposed to God, so too, this judgment shall fall exclusively upon those who are opposed to God.
The 144,000 of Revelation, chapter Seven and those on the Earth who have turned to Jesus will not be affected by this judgment, which will only make those on the Earth who are affected, hate and persecute them with even greater ferocity. Even during the tribulation, the words of Second Timothy 219 ring true. The solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his. Verses Five and they the locusts were not given authority to kill them, to kill people, but to torment them for five months.
Their torment was like the torment of a Scorpion when it strikes a man. The Bible describes these things that come out of the abyss as being like locusts. And it says they torment men like stinging Scorpions. But we also see they must have permission to do this. Verses Three says they were given power.
Verses Four says they were commanded, and verses Five says they were not given authority to kill them. Satan and his allies would love to kill everybody on the Earth because it would prevent anybody else from being saved. It would damn as many people as possible to hell for eternity. Instead, the Lord grants them permission to torment those upon the Earth that they might repent. As always, God is calling the shots, and these demons are subject to His authority.
Gas is Satan. For those on the Earth who are opposed to God, this torment will last for five months. We are to. Verses Six tells us the effect of these horrific locusts, it says in those days men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die and death will flee from them.
That is dark.
Because these locusts are demonic entities, we can assume that the torment they inflict is not only physical but also spiritual in nature. What we're likely talking about here is millions and millions of people being possessed by demons, just like the man in Gadera that Jesus encountered. It will be so unbearable to be possessed by these demons that people will want to commit suicide but will be unable to. And that's what we see. When the Bible tells us about cases of demonic possession, the person is not in control of themselves, so they can't kill themselves even though they want to end it.
They're just tormented. They cut themselves. They harm themselves. They hurt themselves. But they don't kill themselves.
And even if they could get a knife or a gun or some pills, it won't work. It won't work. During this judgment, this torment will be inescapable just as literal locusts destroy all traces of life. Turning once green fields into deserts, this demonic swarm will destroy all traces of life in those who refuse to turn to the Lord, turning once sovereign men and women into literal slaves of darkness. God is giving those who reject his offer of Salvation a preview of the alternative.
These demons will be their brethren for all eternity, where suffering and unfulfilled desire for death will continue forever.
Men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die and death will flee from them. Tragically, we'll learn that few, if any, will repent and this will go on all over the world for five months. It'll be a horrific time. Would you write this down?
Because the torment of the fifth Trumpet is likely demonic possession. Tribulation Saints are unaffected. Verses seven gives us more details about these things that come out of the abyss. It says the shape of the locusts was like, meaning John's doing his best to describe what he sees with his limited vocabulary because he's never seen things like this before. The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.
On their heads were crowns of something like gold. And so the crowns here are Stefanos Victor's crowns, because for these five months they've been given permission to conquer the Earth. And their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like woman's hair. And their teeth were like lion's teeth.
And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron. And the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots. With many horses running into battle, they had tails like Scorpions. And there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months, and they had his King over them.
The angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abidon. But in Greek he has the name Apolyon or Apollo. If you actually imagine this thing in your mind, it's terrifying. And again, I believe these are pretty clearly demonic entities, almost certainly fallen Angels in their true revealed form, not disguised as human beings. We're not explicitly told that the people on Earth can see these demonic entities as John can.
Obviously, John is looking from heaven, and John has perception to see and perceive both the spiritual world and the physical world. So it could be that the people on Earth can't perceive them. But by now you know my personal belief, which is that those on the Earth can also see beings in the supernatural dimension. At this time in the Tribulation, I've shared repeatedly that I think around the 6th Seal Judgment, the veil that currently conceals the supernatural world from the natural physical world is dissolved for lack of a better word.
The Bible tells us that Angels can take physical human form.
We see that throughout Scripture and that was true of the fallen Angels in Genesis chapter six. But here in Revelation chapter nine, with that supernatural veil removed, I believe we're seeing these fallen Angels in their true, horrific, grotesque form. And people on the Earth are seeing them. Verses eleven, it said, and they had as King over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is a baton. But in Greek he has the name Apollon or Apollo.
So both Apollo and Abandon mean destroyer. Would you write that down? It means destroyer, and this destroyer rules over whatever it is that is released from the bottomless pit, and he rules over them as their King. Jesus revealed Satan's agenda in John Ten saying the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy all the way back in Proverbs 30 27 is a verses that seems completely out of place and causes one to think, well, that's a strange observation to include in the Bible.
It says this the locusts have no King, yet they all advance in ranks.
That verse is an observation of literal locusts. But the locusts of Revelation 911 do have a King, we're told, and the Holy Spirit tucked that verses away all the way back in Proverbs so that we would understand that these locusts in Revelation Nine are not literal locusts. They're not insects. They are demonic entities under the leadership of Satan, a Polyon, a Badon Apollo. Verses twelve, one woe is passed.
Behold. Still two more woes are coming after these things. One woe down, two more to go. One of the things we're discovering is that Revelation is, for the most part laid out chronologically. The phrase after these things metata in the Greek makes it clear that whatever is about to happen next follows what happened previously.
Logical enough. Right. Let's take a look at verses 13. Then the 6th angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the 6th angel who had the trumpet release the four Angels who are bound at the Great River Euphrates. There are apparently four fallen Angels, Angels who are allied to Satan who participated in his rebellion in heaven, who are apparently so wicked and did something so egregious that God bound and imprisoned them at the Great River Euphrates, an earthly location where they remained to this day.
And it's an interesting location. It's significant. It was part of the boundary of the Garden of Eden and of the promised land. That region. You should know this Mesopotamia is the cradle of civilization.
And as we shall see in later chapters, it will also be the casket of civilization. The River Euphrates flows through presentday Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the region of Babylon, an area that's been a demonic stronghold since Adam and Eve committed their first sins. There it was the site of the first murder and the world's first mass rebellion against God at the Tower of Babel under the leadership of Nimrod, the First Antichrist and the Father of paganism. The Bible teaches that there are powerful demonic entities sometimes referred to as lowercase G gods or gods of the nations in the Old Testament, and these demonic entities are territorial.
They are based in certain locales and the spiritual activities of people in that region seem to affect their power without getting into what could easily be its own study.
I'll share that I agree with the view that these regional powerful demonic entities are supernatural beings who were created by God to sit on the Divine Council and still do but rebelled against God. In other words, they were given authority by God over certain regions of the Earth to rule and fulfill the will of God. But they became corrupted and have used their power for their own evil purposes to try and establish their own mini kingdoms. That would seem to imply that these fallen Angels were reading about here, operated in this geographic region, and as I said, participated in something so wicked and evil and egregious that God chose to bind and imprison them there, preventing them from any further actions.
Until this time, as the 6th Trumpet judgment unfolds, these wicked Angels are unleashed upon the Earth once again in verses 15, it says so the four Angels who had been prepared and then underlined this for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind death, given a leave of absence for the fifth trumpet returns to the Earth with a vengeance.
At this point, the world has lost hundreds of millions of people. In the Rapture, the fourth Seal Judgment killed a quarter of the Earth's population. A great multitude has been martyred. Countless people have been killed by the other judgments, and now a third of those still left on the Earth are wiped out. Conservatively.
We're talking about the deaths of over 3 billion people by this point in the Tribulation. And I had you underline the phrase the hour and day and month and year because it's just one of those little clues that Jesus put in the Book of Revelation to let us know that this is not all allegorical. It's not all spiritual or mystical. It doesn't apply to all of Church history. This is about a specific hour, day, month and year.
Jesus could not be clearer. Verses 16 now the number of the army of the Horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them. So John doesn't count this army like 123-4567 eight. He's told that they number 200 million.
And there are a couple of possibilities regarding the identity of this army. Some say could be a human army. And this idea gained significant traction when people were stunned by China's claim in the May 21 one 1965 edition of Time magazine that it could field an army of 200 million people with just a month's notice. Now it may be that at this time an army from a country or countries that do not want to submit to Antichrist leadership revolt against him. They refuse to follow Jesus, but they also refused to follow Antichrist and the war their March sparks kills countless millions of people.
That could be the case. But as I've read John's description of this Army, I've read how they came to be. As I've noted the supernatural shift that happened with the fifth trumpet. As I've noticed that they are led by these four fallen Angels released from the Euphrates. It's my personal belief that this is an army that is demonic in nature.
The supernatural and natural worlds continue to collide and merge at this time as these supernatural entities cause physical death and destruction upon the Earth. Now it may be that there are some human beings working in partnership with this demonic army, but I think John is most likely describing an army of supernatural beings as I just went through this and read it over and over again and read these descriptions. I just think that it doesn't line up when people say, oh, this is a description of military equipment.
There's no military equipment that looks like a lion's face. The blades of a helicopter don't look like woman's hair.
These are just extreme stretches for us to take with the text. And I changed my position on that. For those of you who go way back with me. And I'm pretty sure very confident that this is a supernatural army, not a natural army of 200 million people after billions have been devastated and the Earth lies in complete destruction, I just don't see it. So would you write this down?
While this army may include some human participants, it is led by four fallen Angels and constructed of demonic entities. So while this army may include some human participants, it is led by four fallen Angels and constructed of demonic entities. In John's day, the east was considered anything east of the River Euphrates. Remember the Magi, the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus, the infant? They were described as being from the east, even though we know they likely came from Babylon, not an area we think of when we use the term the east to John India, would he been the Far East?
Essentially anything east of Jerusalem was the east. All we know for sure is that this army of 200 million is going to come from east of the River Euphrates. And if you find the idea of a supernatural demonic army crazy, you should know that there is a precedent for spiritual armies in the Bible. In Two Kings chapter in verses 13 to 17, we read about the Prophet Elisha, who prayed for his assistant to see into the spiritual dimension at a moment when they seemed to be doomed.
What the man saw was an army of God's Angels, including horses and chariots.
And if Angels can organize into an army, then fallen Angels can certainly do the same thing. Verses 17 and thus I saw the horses in the vision. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth, blue, and sulphur yellow. We don't know the significance of those colors today, but I'm sure it'll be clear at the time, and the heads of the horses were like the heads of Lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone by these three plagues. A third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths for their powers in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents having heads, and with them they do harm.
Some see modern weaponry being described here, while others, like myself, see demonic forces. You know where I stand. I tend to lead much more toward the idea of demonic forces. By this point in the Great Tribulation, the dream of a humanistic and secular one world utopian society lies in ruins. The Earth has been devastated by one disaster after another.
Most of the population has been killed or murdered. The streets are littered with corpses. Men and women have been reduced to living and thinking like animals. The idea that people have power has been exposed as a joke. Antichrist has been exposed as an impotent fraud.
How do people respond? Verses 20 but the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues underline the rest of this verses did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk. The idea in verses 20 and verses 21 that we'll read in a minute is that those on the Earth refused to repent of the evil they had been doing since the days leading up to the Rapture.
Despite all the warnings and evidence that God gives them in the Tribulation, they just continue in those same wicked ways. Even after the 6th trumpet, our brother John provides an explanation for why people do this writing.
This is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. Why don't these people repent for the same reason? Most don't repent today at the end of the day they love their sin. They love the darkness more than they desire the light.
They don't want to give up the sins they enjoy in the dark. It may very well be that those on the Earth who refuse to repent after the fifth Trumpet lose the ability to ever repent. This would again parallel the Exodus plagues where Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his own heart before God stepped in and hardened it for him. It is a disturbing biblical truth that one can blaspheme the Holy Spirit and lose the opportunity to ever be saved long before one's earthly death. There is a point where a person hardens their heart in the face of such overwhelming evidence that it becomes clear they will never turn to the Lord.
Such was the case with Pharaoh. Such was the case with most of the religious leaders in Jesus Day. And indeed, such was the case with most of Israel, and some might think. Come on, Jeff, we don't worship those kinds of idols in the 21st century. Really, we don't even need to have gold or silver made into an idol.
We'll worship it just for being gold and silver. We'll devote our lives to working for it. Look at any parking lot and tell me nobody is worshiping God's made of metal. How many people do you know who idolize their house or the house? They're killing themselves to try and earn enough gold and silver to buy?
Trust me, we worship idols made of wooden stone. The overarching point here is that these people are wholeheartedly, committed to earthly material things. They are not interested in spiritual or eternal things. Everything they desire and crave is on the Earth. Like Pharaoh.
When faced with the overwhelming power of God over Egypt, we see those who hate God dig their heels in even deeper in stubborn rebellion against the Lord. Verses 21 and they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. It's interesting that John says they wouldn't repent of their murders. It's never been legal in any functional society to kill your neighbor because you simply cannot build a functional society if that behavior is permitted. So what form of murder could we be talking about here?
That is seemingly widespread in the days leading up to the Rapture and after it and socially acceptable under Antichrist. And I suggest the answer is abortion. In most First World countries, the government uses taxpayer money to subsidize the murder of the unborn. We live in an age where killing children in utero is not considered a sin but a right to be celebrated.
He mentioned. Sorcery the Greek word is faramachia from which we derive the word pharmacy. And I know and understand that there are legitimate psychiatric medical conditions. There are people whose actual physical brain chemistry is imbalanced and medication is needed to help with that. I understand that, but we also all know there are many people who are on psychiatric drugs like antidepressants because they're filled with existential angst and emptiness caused by being out of relationship with God.
When a nonbeliever looks at the world and concludes that their life is meaningless and hopeless, can I tell you they're not wrong? They are seeing things clearly because life is meaningless and hopeless apart from Jesus and the solution, in that instance, is not to try and medicate away the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The solution is to receive the Holy Spirit and discover a life of meaning and hope in Jesus Christ. A study concluded in 2014. It's the most recent data.
We have found that 19.1% of American adults were taking antidepressants on at least a monthly basis. That's one out of every five adults. This verse is not talking about legitimate medical issues with brain chemistry. It's talking about people who would rather self medicate than repent, give up their sin and turn to Jesus.
And then it mentions their sexual immorality, which is the word parnaya from which we get the word pornography. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that thanks to the Internet, pornography is part of mainstream culture on an unprecedented scale. Its usage is not only accepted in our society, it's assumed it's assumed 30 years ago those who wanted to view pornography would he to risk sneaking into a store to buy it, risking public embarrassment. They'd have to order it through the mail and wait for an unmarked package to arrive, hope their neighbors didn't see it.
Most boys would only come across it if somebody discarded a magazine in the Woods.
But today it's already in our homes. It's already in our pockets, on our phones, freely available, waiting for us. I tried, but I couldn't figure out a non sketchy way to say I did some research into this, so please note this was statistical research strictly, and while exact figures can be hard to find, I did learn that one in five searches on a mobile device is for porn. One in 590 percent of teens and 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral when they talk about porn with their friends, teens and young adults aged 13 to 24 believe not recycling is worse than viewing pornography.
The percentage of men and women viewing Internet porn on a regular basis is staggering and tragically.
There's no discernible statistical difference between the habits of Christians and nonchristians. When we last checked, 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month. The Church is still lagging way behind reality when it comes to confronting this issue, and those stats are way worse. Today, I can tell you that most churches are silent on one of the sins their congregation is most likely to be struggling with. It won't take you very long to realize that porn will destroy your thought life, your emotional life, your marriage, your sex life, and your relationship with Jesus.
I don't need to sell you on sexual purity, because if you're dabbling with porn, then you're already experiencing the consequences. And if you're doing that, you need to repent. Jesus is calling you to repent right now. And when I talk about repenting from porn, then the goal is not to have you cry your eyes out and dramatically pledge to never, ever do it again if that happens. Okay, but that's not the goal, because genuine repentance is about much more than just an emotional response.
Like any addiction or sin. We cannot repent unless we're willing to make serious changes in our lives. But if you are willing to do that, then there is hope. Do whatever it takes. Install accountability software on all your computers, tablets and phones.
I recommend a service called Covenant Eyes. Make your spouse your accountability partner. Yeah, really? Stop watching shows that put pornographic imagery in your head. Go through a recovery program.
Freedom really is possible. It really is possible. Those on the Earth have no interest in giving up their sexual immorality. They would rather go to war with God than allow Jesus to be Lord over their sexuality. And we see this play out in all kinds of other areas.
If you haven't noticed, it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. Instead of having meaningful Godly relationships. The norm in our culture now is just to use an app to find someone who wants to have a one night stand with you or a strictly physical relationship. That's the norm. People hooking up left, right and center.
The norm is to have no moral guidelines in your sexuality, but just to have it ruled entirely by your own desires. The only rule is do whatever feels good to you.
People won't repent of that. Even in the tribulation. Even in the tribulation, as the love of many grows cold, our society has less and less of a conscience regarding thefts. Everybody cheats on their taxes, right? Everybody fakes sick days, everybody overbills for their time.
Everybody cuts corners and helps themselves to things they want but can't afford it's. Okay to steal from a wealthy Corporation, right. And if you think thievery and corruption are bad today, what do you think it's going to look like in the Great Tribulation after all these judgments, when it's every man for himself?
I would argue that as we look at the world around us today, we already see a society that refuses to repent of these types of behaviors. I would he negligent if I ended this message without asking you the single most important question that exists.
Are you saved? Are you saved? And let me be clear what I mean by that? Do you believe that without Jesus, you are trapped as a sinned who cannot make themselves clean enough for God? Do you believe that?
Do you believe that Jesus lived a perfect life in your place and then died on the cross for your sins so that you could be forgiven and accepted by God? Do you believe that? Have you accepted Jesus offer to trade His life for yours? Do you believe that your life now belongs to Jesus? Is he your God?
Is he the master over your life? Have you given him the authority to call the shots in your life or are you still living however you want. Listen to me. If you're not saved, you don't know how many more chances you're going to get. So don't say I'll think about this tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.
In a few years. Life so crazy right now. This may be your last chance before your heart becomes so hardened that there's no way back. This may be the line where God says you've had enough revelation. Now, if you don't want it now, knowing everything, you know, everything you've seen, everything God has revealed to you.
If you're still not interested, you're never going to be interested. The Bible says four times today. If you will hear His voice, do not Harden your hearts. If the tribulation teaches us anything, it's that God will do whatever it takes to make it clear just how desperately we need Him when it comes to our Salvation. All options are on the table.
God loves us enough to let the bottom fall out of our lives. If that's what it takes to make us realize that we're lost without them. So if you're not saved right now, Jesus is calling out to you. Repent. Turn to Him, place your faith in Him.
Trade his life for yours, be forgiven and he'll go to work making you whole. If you want to learn more about the gospel or if you've made that decision for the first time, please let us know. Please go to Gospelcity CA gospel to learn about your next step. For those of us who are saved, the list of things that those on the Earth would not repent of are always that we can give Satan a foothold in our lives. We may not be able to be possessed as Christians, but we sure can be oppressed, and we can allow that demonic oppression into our lives.
And there are many other secret sins, addictions, idols and substitutes for God that we can find ourselves trapped by simply because we give Satan a crack to exploit in our spiritual armor. If you've given Satan a foothold in your life repent today, that doesn't mean you should just cry about it and make a bunch of promises to God that you know you're not going to keep. It means choosing to stop belief, choosing to stop believing the lies you've been telling yourself. Lies like this isn't hurting anyone.
Lies like I'm doing fine.
This isn't affecting me. Repent, confess to the Lord what you've gotten yourself into and do whatever is necessary. Make whatever changes are necessary to walk in freedom and turn away from that sin. Repentance is in the change, not just the emotions. No matter how long or far you've gone into a secret sin.
If you'll repent, the Holy Spirit will bring you peace and comfort. He'll meet you and go to work healing you and making you whole. Why? Because your Heavenly Father loves you. He loves you always.
No matter what would you buy your head and pray with me. Jesus, I pray right now for anyone watching or listening to this who is not saved. You are not their God. You are not their Lord. I pray right now.
You would overwhelm them with the reality of your presence and with your spirit, and they would turn to you and say, Jesus, I need you right now. And if that's you, you need to respond to what God is saying to you right now. Jesus, I pray for those of us who do belong to you who know that we have been saved by you. Lord, we just invite your spirit to examine our lives and reveal to us if we are giving Satan any opportunities to establish a foothold in our lives.
If we are revealing a crack in our spiritual armor for Him to exploit so that he can oppress us and trap us in shame and condemnation.
Lord, if any of us are in that place, Lord, would you just speak first by your spirit, your love for them, unconditionally that you do not love us because of anything we do or don't? Do you love us because Jesus has made us righteous and you've adopted us as your children. But, Lord, I pray for anyone who knows what that is, that you will convict them right now in the name of Jesus. Lead them to repent on an emotional level and on a spiritual level, and then give them the faith and the courage to walk out that repentance in practical ways, doing whatever it takes to stay away from that ensnaring sin.
Lord, I pray that you would bring freedom to people even as they repent right now.
And, Lord, we ask that you would continue to just stir our hearts for those who don't know you, to be filled with compassion for them, to keep praying for even those who seem to be impossibly hardhearted right now. And Lord, to keep looking for opportunities to share the truth of the gospel with those who don't know you. Lord. Give us boldness. Give us faith.
Give us a sensitive heart to what your spirit is doing around us at all times, that we might be a part of your work on the Earth in this, our time on the Earth. We love you, Jesus. We're so thankful for what you saved us from and what you saved us to it's in your name. We pray. Amen.