The Tormenting Plague Of Hopelessness

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 9. It has been my hope that as you have seen the events of this week unfold, particularly in Japan, you have been reminded of the six seals, that God is at work in this world, and that what we see happening is not just the chance happenings of weather or geological movement, but is really you are witnessing God at work as he has told us in the book of Revelation, how he is working in this age. Those are the sorts of things that Revelation are talking about.

Well, before we look into the Word of God this morning, let's pray. We are dependent upon God for all our understanding, but more than that, we are absolutely dependent on God for His Word to change us. So let's pray to that end. Father, this book that is before us, It was never intended to satisfy our idle curiosity. It was intended, Lord, to bless us in the reading of it.

It has been given to us so that we would gain heaven's perspective on the events of this world, that we would be a people of hope, that we would be people who would remain faithful to our Lord and King Jesus, because we understand from heaven's perspective what actually is happening. So now, Father, give us confidence and hope as we look into your word today. Grant that, Father, that we would remain steadfast as we live in a world of persecution and seduction.

Help us now, we pray for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. we live in the heart of a famine We do And I don mean that we living in the midst of famines that we know about in Sudan and Chad and so forth Rather, a plague of locusts has overrun the entire globe and we are in the middle of a locust plague. Now you might be sitting there saying, what are you talking about?

A locust plague? I haven't seen hordes of locusts overrunning my house and through the gardens and stripping the trees of all their vegetation. What are you talking about? Well, let's look at Revelation chapter 8 verse 13 through chapter 9 verse 12. And here you find described a plague of locusts. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead.

Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow. And 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 bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of 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 will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. In appearance, 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 woman's hair and their teeth like lion's teeth. They had breastplates like 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, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek he is called Apollyon The first woe has passed Behold two woes are still to come A trumpet has sounded, and locusts have been unleashed over the entire world.

Let's recall where we are in this book. It's been a few weeks, so we need to review just a bit. You recall that we are in the throne room of the Lamb, in the control center of the universe, where Christ is sovereign and in charge of all that happens on earth. We have seen his sovereignty as the Lamb on his throne, as he breaks the seven seals that seal the scroll and thus execute his purposes.

And then as we watched, we saw seven angels approach that throne to receive seven trumpets. Now remember that the key to understanding the trumpets is to see their connection to the plagues that God unleashed on Egypt that preceded the rescue of God's people. As each trumpet sounds, plagues are unleashed against the enemies of Christ. The difference between the trumpets and the seals is that the seals are talking about what God is doing in the entire world with everyone, everyone but when we come to the trumpets we are seeing God's judgment against his and our enemies and so as each trumpet sounds these plagues are unleashed against the enemies of Christ and like those original plagues these plagues harden the hearts and expose the hearts of the oppressors and the seducers of God.

These present day plagues, like the original plagues, set the stage for God to display his glory. For as he hardens the hearts of our enemies, he sets the stage for the eruption of his glory at the seventh trumpet when Jesus appears. Now, you also have to see them occurring like the seven seals. They are a series of calamities that occur again and again throughout the age.

These are not single and separate events, but woes that can be seen in any day of the year in any part of the globe. And then you must also remember that this is giving us heaven perspective on what happening around us When we look at what happening in the world around us here the bottom line When we're looking at what's happening in the world around us, we may say, where is our resurrected Lord? Jesus was raised from the dead to be Lord of all.

Where is his lordship? And what we're seeing then is heaven's perspective in that the events of the world are really the lamb on his throne executing his purposes. And so it's to give us heaven's perspective so that we remain faithful to Christ in the midst of all that's happening. That we have hope. That we get that perspective that will keep us faithful in the midst of persecution and seduction.

The two great enemies in this book. And as we read the trumpets, as we look at the trumpets, Jesus wants you to understand that he judges our persecutors and seducers. And he does it in such a way that it will lead to our victory and the display of his glory just as it did in the original plagues that he unleashed on Egypt. So, as you look at this plague of locusts, bottom line, as I've read through this text, here's what you need.

You need to gain hope. Believe it or not, this is to give you hope as you gain heaven's perspective on God's works of woe and judgment in the world today. It is intended to give us hope. And that's how we're going to look at what we see in chapter 9. Now after the angels, the first four angels have blown their four trumpets, John looks overhead and as he does, he sees an eagle flying across the sky.

And this eagle is proclaiming something. All right. Now, if you see an eagle today, you know, if we see an eagle, we typically in our culture think USA because that's the symbol of our country. It's the symbol of majesty and power. And we think of our country because that's the symbol of our country. But when John looks up and he sees that eagle flying across his field of vision, he doesn't think of USA. he thinks judgment.

Because an eagle is a sign of judgment. In Hosea, for example, Hosea chapter 8, verse 1. Here's what we read. And note this. It says this. the trumpet to your lips. Isn't that interesting?

Set the trumpet to your lips. One like a vulture or an eagle is over the house of the Lord because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. In the Old Testament, that eagle was a sign of judgment. You can look at Jeremiah chapter 48 verse 40. For thus says the Lord, Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab.

The city shall be taken and the stronghold seized. In other words, here's an eagle. That's a sign of the judgment that's going to come upon Moab. So when John sees that eagle flying overhead, he automatically associates him with judgment as well as the eagle proclaiming what he does. Now the eagle is flying over his prey. He's flying over his prey.

Who is his prey? It's the dwellers on the earth. Those who dwell on the earth. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth. Remember now, that's a key phrase in the book of Revelation. The earth dwellers, those who dwell on the earth.

The earth dwellers. Those are the enemies of God. Those are the ones that we're going to see continually through the book who stand against God's people and stand against God. They are people with an earthly vision. Their horizon only goes as far as the earth. They have no other horizon but the earth.

Their dreams are all about what's happening here and now. Their plans are all about what's here and now. They are sunk deep. Their roots are driven deep into the world of today. They are God's enemies. They have no other perspective than that.

And as the eagle flies overhead, you can hear him cry, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow. Now the eagle is saying here that there's greater judgment coming than what we've seen in the first four trumpets. It's going to get worse than the first four trumpets. Now things are really going to get intense.

These are going to be harsher judgments than the first four because they will be aimed directly at the wicked. When we look at the first four trumpets they are aimed at the environment of the earth dwellers the environment of the wicked people But these now these next two these next three are going to be aimed directly at the wicked These horrific plagues must fall on unbelievers. Christ is sovereign here.

And the sounding of the trumpet means plagues against his enemies. Now where's the hope here? You gain hope because it is God who sends these terrible plagues. It is God in Christ who is sovereign, the Lamb on his throne, who sends these terrible plagues on his enemies. Now, we move on. The fifth trumpet sounds.

And a sparkling star down on the horizon, already fallen, catches John's eye. But it's really not a star. It's a creature, some kind of a creature, who, he observes, receives a key to the abyss, the bottomless pit. And he takes that key and he opens the door to that pit. Now this star, this creature with the keys, is identified in verse 11. They, that is the residents of that pit, they have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit.

His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. This star, this creature with the keys, is the angel of the bottomless pit. He is the king of those who occupy it. His name is Abaddon, destruction, or in Greek, Apollyon, destroyer. Now that's interesting because in the last plague in Egypt, there was something called the destroyer who went through and killed the firstborn of all those who did not have the markings on the door.

This is Satan, king of the locust-like creatures and a fallen angel. now look how do you gain hope by that gain hope by realizing that god sends this terrible plague through satan it is god who uses satan you know what we often think we often think satan uses god don we it not the case You know what Martin Luther once said He said always remember that Satan is God Satan That is to say, Satan can't do anything without permission from God. He can't do anything. Now, John does not see Satan fall.

Notice how it's stated in the first verse. I saw a star fallen. Perfect tense. It's already fallen. But he hasn't seen it yet until, you know, as I imagine it, just kind of on the horizon. The star has fallen already.

He sees this fallen star. Why is that? Because the judgment of Satan began with the incarnation, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Look with me to the scripture reading from this morning, Luke chapter 10. Now look, you know what? this is where the book of Revelation sheds light on this passage. Luke chapter 10.

Let's read it again. You read it already. Luke 10 beginning in verse 17. Jesus has sent out the 72 and they've cast out demons and done all kinds of things in Jesus' name. And they come back and they're saying, wow, look at all the great things we did. But it was, man, this was one great mission trip, Jesus.

Man, we really did. Man, this was great. And here's what Jesus says in response to them. Luke chapter 10. There it is. Verse 17.

The 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

I saw Satan fall. There's Satan falling. And by the way, note, in this context, the serpents and scorpions are connected to the enemy, Satan. and by the way, those scorpions ought to start making something ring in your head, which is what we're going to see in Revelation chapter 9. So these aren real serpents I don think these are real serpents and scorpions Jesus isn saying yeah I given you all this power You can go walking on snakes and they can bite you and you not going to die That's not what he's saying here.

He's talking about the serpents and scorpions or those who are connected to Satan. I've given you this authority over Satan and all his demons, if you will. But let's continue. I want you to look at John chapter 12 as well. John chapter 12 right before Jesus is crucified and he's making this statement about his death John chapter 12 verse 27 now is my soul he's speaking to a crowd of people now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this purpose I've come to this hour Father glorify your name Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus answered, the voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. You see, the judgment of Satan has already begun with Jesus' death and resurrection.

And then lastly, why do I think this is Satan in Revelation chapter 9? Because if we go a little bit further ahead to Revelation chapter 12, here's what we're going to see in verse 7. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven, and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

More on this later. but it's clear that this is Satan that has been thrown down. Now please note in chapter 9 again that he is what? Where does he get those keys? is given the keys to the abyss. The keys are given to him. Keys are a sign of authority. And so he is given authority over the pit and all its occupants.

Now please note, he doesn't possess the keys. The keys are given to him. Do you see that? Again, look back at Revelation 1. Revelation chapter 1, verse 17. And keys now are given to Satan.

He possesses a derived authority. Please note that. Neither Satan nor his evil servants can any longer unleash the forces of hell on earth unless given the power by the resurrected Christ, by the Lamb on the throne. As we read through this book, we see the sovereignty of the Lamb on the throne expanding. Do we not? We see now that even though the one who is the tormentor of human beings only does so under the authority of the risen lamb.

Jesus is sovereign in all of this. Heaven's perspective, you gain hope by realizing the sovereignty of the lamb, even over Satan. Even over Satan. Now, with the opening of the abyss, the vision gets even stranger. You know, I think people love this book just because, man, it is really wild, isn't it? Man, he opens this pit, okay?

So here's Apollyon. Got your virtual vision glasses on so you can see this, right? Let your imagination go now. Here's what happens. So Apollyon is given these keys. He goes to the pit, the abyss.

He unlocks it, opens a door or something, whatever it has symbolically now And huge billows of dark smoke come blowing out of that pit and darkens the sky And you're standing there looking at all these dark clouds of smoke just billowing up. And all of a sudden, out of those clouds of smoke come these swarms of locusts. They just appear out of the smoke. just gives you the heebie-jeebies doesn't it just to see that happening all this these swarms of locusts just come flying out of those billows of smoke it's just like egypt in the days of old here's a plague of locusts unleashed but this is a latter-day plague unleashed upon the world now and this plague has monster locusts in it i mean when those locusts come flying out you don't see these tiny little grasshoppers.

You're seeing these incredibly monstrous looking locusts. All right? And what you find described here are all the parts of a locust exaggerated. Okay? Now, now, you're supposed to see here, Joel. All right?

When you read the book of Joel, and I don't know if you caught it today, But in Joel, the prophet, God sends judgment on his people with a locust swarm. Now, we don't know whether it's a literal locust swarm or if it's a locust swarm of an army. But the point is, the picture all the way through Joel is the picture of this swarm of locusts. And this, this builds off of that.

You're supposed to, and Joel builds off the original locust plague. So you have this plague thing coming in. And some of the descriptions you read here we've seen in Job. But what you find described here, all the parts of the locusts exaggerated. They have the appearance of horses prepared for battle. You know, the armor that horses used to wear.

They have human faces and crowns, which make them look incredibly fearful. They look demonic. That's the point. They look demonic. Their antennae are like women's hair. really long they have the teeth of lions now we heard that in Joel this morning they have teeth like lions that is they have this incredible destructive power As locusts come through they eat everything They eat everything in sight.

They strip everything. As we heard in Joel today, the description of the branches of the tree stripped until they're white. Locusts eat everything in sight. They have the teeth of lions. They have incredible destructive capability. Their thoraxes are like breastplates of iron.

And like any swarm of locusts, it sounds like chariots and horses headed for battle. The thunder of the cavalry or the chariot forces coming into battle. But then they also have something that no other locusts have. You know what it is? They have tails like scorpions. These locusts not only eat, they can sting.

These are monster locusts. And unlike normal locusts, they have the power to torment their victims for their entire existence. It says twice in this chapter that they're going to torment them for five months. What's the five months all about? Five months is the life cycle of locusts. If that's the case, this is an incredibly severe locust plague, since they're not going to just strike occasionally now, right?

They're going to be at work their entire life cycle. We're talking about unceasing, unrelenting locust plague. It doesn't end. For the entire lifespan, they're going to be stinging. All right? That's the picture.

But the weirdest thing about these locusts, the absolute weirdest thing about this, can you see what it is? they are told to leave the vegetation alone. That's weird. Locusts, that's all they live for. They live to eat all the vegetation. That's all they do. But in this vision, the locusts are told leave the vegetation alone and instead attack and sting and torment people. now what is God trying to communicate here this speaks of God judgment against his enemies and ours the persecutors and the and the seducers who intend to move us away from faithfulness to our Christ Now why do I say this is judgment?

First of all, judgment against our enemies. The locusts are commanded to torment only those who are not sealed. Now you remember chapter 7. Chapter 7, you remember, is that interlude in the seals in which God shows us that there is protection for his people. Those who have God's seal will remain faithful to him. All right?

He seals them, right? You remember, to protect them and to make them into a fighting force. And here we see that that seal protects us, protects God's people from this plague. We belong to God and thus we will not be subject to this plague. This is a judgment against our enemies. And just like Egypt, this is a plague of judgment against the enemies of God.

It's built on the plague of Egypt, you remember. And that was, you remember reading back then, the locusts only affected the Egyptians, not the people of Israel. The darkening of the sun has already been associated with judgment in chapter 6 and 8. All right? Where the sun and the moon and the stars are darkened and so forth. And the fact that he says this is smoke from a furnace should remind you of the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Look back at Genesis 19, verse 28. Genesis 19, verse 28, you see the story of Abraham here. As God is, as after God has had his exchange with Abraham in the person of this visitor. And in Genesis 19, verse 28, you see, And Abraham looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley. and he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like a smoke of a furnace.

The smoke of a furnace speaks of judgment. Now here's the question. Who are these agents of torment? Who are these agents of woe? Who are these agents? of God's judgment. They are, in fact, demons.

Loosed on the enemies of God's people. Why do I say that? Well, who is their king? It is Satan. He is their king. And the pit throughout the Scriptures has often been identified with the place of punishment for these supernatural beings and for men as well.

For example, in Isaiah 24, Turn back to Isaiah 24. 24. 21 and 22. On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit. They'll be shut up in a prison and after many days they will be punished.

There is this development through the scriptures of this pit, Sheol, eventually becomes the punishment of demons and so forth, particularly in Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 verses 30 and 31, Jesus is confronting this man who's possessed by all these demons. And Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he said, Legion, for many demons had entered him and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

So this is the abode of demons. Satan is allowed to unleash his demons against those who do not have the seal of God. Now, why do they look so strange? Why do they look so strange? To emphasize the horrific judgment they're going to visit upon unbelievers. for example this last week I was looking at Jans's book Jans has this huge book it's about that thick it's called uh the history of painting I think and so I was looking through this book and there's one artist that I like his name is Hieronymus Bosch he was a Dutch painter from the 14th century late 1400s to early 1500s and I love his stuff because it's really weird it just got this really weird stuff like the temptation of St Anthony he got fish that look like fish heads but they gondolas And a man with a thistle for a head And there was another picture called Death and the Miser.

And he's trying to show how misers are condemned and that their whole life in this painting, that their whole life is wrought with troubles. And you see the miser reaching into a strong box. And around this strong box are all these rat-like looking creatures. And what he was trying to say by that is, he thinks the security is in the strong box, but there's all kinds of evil things that are going on.

See, there's evil in that box, not security, not like the miser thinks is security. There's evil there. There's bad things that are going to happen because of these little vermin like creatures that are also in that box along with his money. Well, that's what John is doing here with these weird looking locusts. He's trying to get the point across. These monster locusts are monster locusts because what they're going to do is terrible.

It's awful what they're going to do. And they're allowed to torment our enemies for five months. Again, remember that even numbers are figurative in this book. And if five months stands for an entire life cycle, so these demons are allowed to torment our enemies in an unrelenting fashion. This is a plague that won't let up. It is a constant, unrelenting torment.

That's what the five months is about. But again, again you say, okay, let's find hope here. Here's our hope. Number one, it's God's judgment against His enemies, okay? Alright? But, notice this.

Look at verses 3 through 5. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they what? They were given power like the power of scorpions of 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 do you see what going on here They don do this on there They can do anything other than what they allowed to do what they commanded to do They are limited.

This is limited. It is limited by the sovereignty of the Lamb upon the throne. You gain hope by realizing that it is the Lamb, it is God that sends this terrible plague. Now here's the bottom line. And this is, if you forget everything else, let's not forget this. What is this plague?

What is it? What is this plague? What is this torment? Look at verses 3 through 6, and we find out in verse 6. We already just read 3 through 5. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it.

They will long to die, but death will flee from them. This is a plague of hopelessness. Now notice the plague that these locusts bring. They are unleashed to sting those who have not been sealed. This is like a scorpion sting. It's so painful that you just want to die.

Have you ever felt that way? I've talked to some people, you know, and I've visited them in the hospital. Some folks from our congregation, and they would have some particular ailment. And I can remember two conversations like this, where the man said to me, you know what? The pain was so, so incredibly intense, I just wanted to die. Okay?

I just wanted to die. That's pretty intense pain, isn't it? That's like the pain of a scorpion. You'd rather die than for the pain to continue. And notice what he says in verse 6. People will seek death.

They will long to die, but they will not find death. It will flee from them. All right, these demonic locusts will impose a form of, okay, let's put it in quotes, psychological torment. I use the word psychological in its broadest sense, and that is, I couldn't think of any other word. This isn't physical pain. This is not physical pain.

It's a torment that will induce a desire for death and yet an unwillingness to commit suicide If you want to put it that way I want to die so badly I can stand my life I can stand the way things are But won commit suicide Death flees from them This is severe suffering that causes a desire for death in place of a life of torment That is the nature of this plague the unending torment of hopelessness and despair The famine caused by these locusts is not a physical famine, it's a famine of the soul. this plague of locusts this demon plague reminds our persecutors that their earth-mindedness is vain and they are separated from the living god and separated from all hope but you know what here's the point it's a plague and what happens in those plagues it hardens hearts that hopelessness and despair hardens their hearts and they turn away from God rather than turning to him this unrelenting hopelessness and despair does not cause them to turn to God it actually hardens their hearts and they look everywhere else how does this happen how does this happen you know one way it's through the deceptive teaching of demons the deceptive teaching of demons. You look for hope everywhere else but in God. I'm reminded of this every time I go to one of the NANC training things where I go teach, like a couple weeks ago when I was in Portland.

One of the things assigned to me is a lecture called Comparing Counseling Philosophies. Okay, that's one of the lectures that they make me do. I like it. And what that does is to compare all these different psychological, some of these psychological systems and how they view man, what they think is the problem, what they think is the answer and contrast that to what biblical counseling would say.

And I'm reminded of this every time I do this lecture that people are hopeless and helpless but they don't turn to God. They turn to these other things. These other answers. The problem is there's a conflict between the id and the superego. That's your problem. And what you've got to do is let the ego control.

Or what the problem is, is that you haven't reached your potential. You've been squashed. That's not really a problem. You're just an animal that's been conditioned. And all the hopelessness and despair does not cause people to look to God. Hopelessness should lead you to Christ, but hearts instead are hardened and people continue to look elsewhere for answers.

And because of that deception, the events of this world and the events of people's lives make them live in fear and terror in response to their hopeless plight. now some of you young people know how this works better than me but you know you can go anywhere on the internet and there's almost always a comment section even on youtube right so you go to youtube go to youtube do this this afternoon go to youtube type in tsunami in japan i did that a couple times this week because you know we i didn't know what was going on i want to get some information. Tsunami in Japan. Of course, you know how it comes up.

You get one here and this whole side down here of different ones you can look at. I go on raw video. That's when I went to. And of course, there's this comment page. There's these comments below when you watch it, right? You can comment on what you're watching.

And I read some of those comments. Things like this. If there is a God, he ought to be fired. Right? just go there you'll see a lot of those kinds of comments what's the point i'm making the point i'm making is people people look in despair at what's going on and harden their hearts instead of coming to christ they harden their hearts hopelessness should open your eyes to the hope that's in jesus but this plague hardens their hearts now God unleashes this plague through the instrumentality of Satan and his demons in order to display his glory when he comes for us we've got to always keep that in mind he's setting the stage we need to get heaven's perspective the hopelessness and hardness of hearts around you is the judgment of God against our enemies And what a horrible judgment this is What can you take away from this text What are some takeaway points, if you will?

Here's one. God is sovereign. The Lamb is on the throne. The Lamb is on the throne. When you look at the hopelessness and hardness of the hearts around you, it's not that Jesus is not Lord. It is because He is Lord.

Nothing that goes on in this world is beyond the sovereign control of the Lamb on His throne. That's what John wants you to see. Here's another thing. Get heaven's perspective. Get heaven's perspective. God has a purpose for his people and you may go out and you may say I don't understand it you would think that people who who are despairing in their life would love to hear the gospel of Jesus and you may think it's your fault I was just reading something earlier today alright I've got to say something to my roommate but it's got to be just the right words in the right way, and it's got to be just right.

I've got to be very careful. And we tend to think that people are going to be converted because of our cleverness. You know what? People aren't converted that way. They're converted by the powerful work of the Spirit of God. But there is a hardness out there that is a judgment.

And you need to understand that. Now, that does not mean you stop. It doesn't mean you stop proclaiming the gospel. It's just realize that you're not the center of the gospel. That lamb has his purposes. That brings me to the third takeaway point this morning.

And it does relate to how we look at Christ and how we share the gospel. The bad news is this. The horror of God's judgment. for those who are enemies of God hopelessness and despair will be their lot and harden their hearts and I believe that that judgment is just a taste of the hopelessness and despair that going to characterize eternity in hell There is going to be hopelessness and despair in hell.

And God is giving them a taste of it. I remember talking to someone some months ago. who was just doing this, basically. I was trying to say to him, you need to repent. You need to come to Jesus. You need to believe in Jesus. You need to stop what you're doing and just cast yourself on the mercy of Christ.

And this was his response, basically. I'm not going to do it. I don't want to do it. This is what I told him. Part of the torment in hell, if you don't repent, part of the torment of hell is you're going to remember this conversation. and you're going to be despairing forever. But the good news is this.

Here is the good news. There are those whom God has sealed, and they will surely be delivered. Because these demons cannot touch those who are sealed with the seal of God. and so when I say when you go out there don't think it's your fault that there's hardness of heart it doesn't mean give up either it means there are some people experiencing despair and hopelessness who will turn to Christ because they are sealed of God and they will be delivered the Lamb's purposes will not be thwarted and so the good news for us is that those who've been sealed, those who have been sealed and are the sealed of God, will first be delivered from hopelessness and despair and will not live a life any longer of hopelessness and despair.

It's not our plague. And in that there is hope. Let's pray. Father just reading this chapter in this book could almost overwhelm your people with sorrow to think that there has been unleashed in this world a plague of demons who torment people with hopelessness and despair that hardens their hearts. We are almost overwhelmed with that truth. And yet you have written this in the context of a book that's intended to give us hope. and you have because there are those who are sealed and for those who are sealed they will never be overcome by this plague of despair we thank you for the hope that we have in christ and pray that you would work in us a desire to see people delivered from hopelessness and despair but to realize that Your judgment is great and that it does not just happen in the physical world, but there is horrific judgment of a righteous God that touches hearts.

God, give us hope, we pray. Give us gratitude that You sealed us. Help us. to gain heaven's perspective for your glory, for our good, for our hope. Now, fathers, we come to this table. Our prayer is that we would see Jesus, given for sinners like us, a powerful Savior who saved us into a marvelous, joyful life. thank you for your son as we meet with him today give us joy we pray in his name amen