But we are working through the book of Revelation and we're up to Revelation chapter 16.
And in verse number one, it begins by saying,
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
And so the title for the sermon this morning is the seven vials.
We see all seven vials being poured out in this chapter.
Now you may recall in Revelation chapter 15, God was preparing the angels,
the angels were coming out of the temple
and they were given by one of the beasts that surround the throne of God.
They were given the vials of God's wrath and they were just preparing.
Chapter 15 was just a preparation for God's wrath being poured out.
And even at the beginning of chapter 15, the saints of God are praising God,
they're singing a song, the song of Moses and they're singing the song of the lamb,
praising God for his judgment that it's righteous, it's true.
It's what is needed in a wicked world.
And now chapter 16, we begin with them pouring out the wrath.
And notice that it says at verse number one,
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels.
So whose great voice is this speaking to the seven angels?
We'll just backtrack to the previous chapter, Revelation 15 and verse number eight.
Revelation 15 verse number eight says,
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.
And no man was able to enter into the temple
till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
And so the only one that is in within the temple is of course the Lord God at this stage.
No one else is allowed to enter the temple
until all the seven last plagues are poured out upon the earth.
And so the voice, I believe the voice, the great voice coming out of the temple, of course,
would be God's voice instructing the angels it's time to pour out the wrath.
And so we continue there in verse number two, it says,
And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth.
Now you need to, I want you to pay attention where these vials are being poured onto.
It's for this one, this very first vial, it says it's poured out.
He poured out his vial upon the earth, upon the earth.
I'm going to touch upon that in a moment.
It says, And there fell a noisome and grievous sore
upon the man which had the mark of the beast
and upon them which worshiped his image.
And so I didn't know what the word noisome meant.
I had to look it up to be honest with you.
But noisome basically means putrid or an offensive smell.
And so when this first vial is poured out, you know, people,
and it's very specific about which people are suffering his fates.
It says that the men which had the mark of the beast
and upon them which worshiped his image.
And so if there are other people that have not taken the mark of the beast,
this wrath is not falling upon them directly.
It's directly falling upon those that have taken the mark of the beast.
This is important because there are still people getting saved even after the rapture.
And so those that are getting saved, those that are not taking the mark,
remember we've got the two witnesses still are preaching the gospel.
And we have the 144,000 servants of God from the 12 tribes of Israel
doing a work for God.
And so there are still people that are getting saved during this period.
And so you notice that God's wrath falls upon those
that have already aligned themselves that they are reprobate,
reprobate concerning their faith.
They've side with the devil.
They've side with the antichrist.
They've taken the mark of the beast.
And so this, this wrath falls upon them.
Now, you know, this grievous sore upon like, it's,
I don't know, have you ever had a sore in your body?
And it just continues to, it just never seems to heal.
You know, sometimes you might have, I've had like a burn, you know,
and then with that burn comes the puss and the pussy skin.
And sometimes it just seems like it's just, I mean, this is,
is this going to heal?
You know, it just continues to potentially erupt a little bit.
And then the puss is flowing and, you know, that's the kind of idea that,
you know, these people have been hit with such a sickness in their bodies
where it just, it's just, it's disgusting.
It's like, it smells from a distance.
And this is coming upon those that worshiped the dragon and the beast.
And so the first thing I wanted to notice, as I said, there was
that this vial has been poured out upon the earth.
Now this is important because we remember, we're going through the second telling
or the retelling of the events of the end times.
And we've seen, you know, previously we saw the rapture.
We saw the son of man, Jesus Christ coming in the clouds
and reaping his harvest, which is the rapture.
And then straight after the rapture, we have God preparing his wrath.
And now we have the wrath being poured out.
And so we have a retelling and we're the first telling
of the events of the book of revelation.
It wasn't the seven vials.
It was the seven trumpets of God's wrath being blown upon the earth.
And so I want you to, uh, I want you to go to revelation 11.
Please keep your finger there in revelation 16 as well.
Keep your finger there in revelation 16.
And the, the correlation between, you know, the first trumpet
and the first vial is amazing.
The second vial, the second trumpet, you know, the third trumpet,
third vial, you'll see a correlation, a direct correlation between these numbers.
And remember the first vial, whether it said it's been poured upon the earth.
Now, when you look at revelation 11,
revelation 11, oh, sorry, wrong passage.
Revelation eight, please come with me to revelation eight,
revelation chapter eight and verse number seven,
revelation chapter eight, verse number seven,
revelation eight, verse number seven.
It says the first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood.
Look at this.
And they were cast upon the earth, cast upon the earth.
And the third part of trees were burnt up and all green grass was burnt up.
And so both the first trumpet and the first vial judgment
are said to be judgments upon the earth.
Okay.
Now you'll, you'll notice that this will continue.
This similarity will continue with these judgments.
And so I do believe the best way to interpret these passages
is that God begins when he begins to pour out his wrath,
his first judgment falls upon the earth.
And so with that in mind, you will have the first trumpet blown
and then the first vial poured.
God's focus and attention is on the earth.
That's where his judgment's going to lie.
Just to compare this, I just want to reinforce this.
Come back with me to revelation 16, please.
Revelation 16, Revelation 16 and verse number three.
And I, you know, I did not know this, you know, until, you know,
probably maybe five, six years ago, really.
When I started to, you know, I learned this,
I heard great preaching about this and the correlation was just too clear to ignore.
Because when you look at Revelation 16 and verse number three,
revelation 16 and verse number three, it says,
and the second angel poured out his vial, where?
Upon the sea.
So the first vial was upon the earth.
The second vial is upon the sea.
And it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea.
And so as his vials poured out, you know, the seas turned to blood.
It says every living soul died in the sea.
So this would be every, every ship on the sea.
You know, every sailor on the sea, every, every fisherman on the sea.
You know, as waters turn to blood, I don't know exactly what the reason
for that might very well be, whether there's, you know,
some tidal waves or whether the ships just cannot float in this blood.
Now, someone once said to me, you know, that they don't really believe that it's blood
in the, or that the seas have turned to blood.
Because if it was blood, blood congeals.
You know, if you bleed, eventually your blood hardens once it mixes with oxygen.
And so it congeals.
But notice what it says, how it says, it says in verse number three,
and it became as the blood, as the blood of a dead man.
And so it is blood, but it's not blood as we know it.
Obviously, yes, our blood congeals, you know?
And so, you know, that probably doesn't make a lot of sense in that light,
but it's as the blood.
It is blood, but it's not blood of men.
And obviously that blood operates a little bit differently.
But I want you to notice there that the vial is poured upon the sea.
Now, if you come back with me to Revelation 8 and verse 8.
So keep a finger, keep a finger in Revelation 8 and Revelation 16,
because we are going back and forth here.
Okay.
Look at Revelation 8, 8, and we're going to look at the second trumpet.
Okay.
The second trumpet judgment of God in the first telling, it says,
and the second angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast,
where?
Cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood.
And the third part of the creatures, which were in the sea and had life died.
And the third part of the ships were destroyed.
And so you can see God focuses his judgment on the earth.
Now with the second trumpet and the second vial, his judgment falls upon the sea.
Okay.
Now I find this really interesting and we're going to keep going.
I just find it very interesting when, you know, have you ever been, you know, full of wrath?
Have you ever been so angry?
And, you know, it's an emotional response that you have.
And sometimes when you are worked up and angry, you know, you're not very orderly, are you?
Like you might be a little bit out of control.
You might be behaving in a way that you realize, boy,
I wouldn't behave that normally if I was in control of my emotions.
You know, we lose control of our emotions when we get overly upset or overly angry.
What I find amazing with God's wrath is that his wrath is orderly.
Like God's in control.
Like, well, God has not lost control.
Okay.
When we look at these judgments, how severe these judgments going to be
where everybody on the sea is going to perish, you know, but God's in control.
He says, all right, it's time to judge the earth.
All right, good.
Now it's time to judge the seas.
Okay.
And so I believe the best way to understand, you know, the wrath of God is definitely
first trumpet, first vial, second trumpet, second vial.
Okay.
So with the first trumpet, we see that as this great star fell from heaven,
it fell upon a third of the rivers.
And upon, sorry, I'm looking at a third angel.
Sorry about that.
It says on the earth, it says a great mountain burning with fire was cast in the sea.
And the third part of the sea became blood.
So a third of the sea becomes blood with the trumpet.
And then the vials poured out and the entire sea turns to blood.
Okay.
So you've got God's wrath, you know, and then you've got a second portion
of that wrath fallen upon the earth and then falling upon the sea.
All right.
So now let's look at the third vial.
If you go back to Revelation 16, let's look at the third vial and verse number four,
Revelation 16 and verse number four, it says, and the third angel poured out his vial
upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became blood.
So remember the first one was against the earth, second against the sea.
And now the third is upon the rivers and fountains of waters.
And they also become blood.
Okay.
But this is important because it's the river system.
It's the fountains of water where we nourish ourselves and, you know, get our water source.
You know, I mean, water is crucial for the survival of man.
And so even, you know, the very source of, of our drinking water is being affected and
turn into blood.
Now come back with me to Revelation eight, Revelation eight, and let's look at the
third, um, trumpet in Revelation eight, verse number 10, Revelation chapter eight
and verse number 10, the Bible says, and the third angel sounded and there fell a
great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp and it fell upon the third part
of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
You see the same thing.
Okay.
And then it says in verse number 11 and the name of the star is called wormwood.
And the third part of the waters became wormwood and many died of the waters
because they were made bitter.
And so very similar, like the sea with a trumpet, a third of the rivers,
a third of the fountains turn to blood.
Oh, sorry.
Become bitter like wormwood.
And then you've got the third vial again upon the rivers, upon the fountains of water,
and they all turn to blood.
It's like, it's bad.
And then it gets worse.
Okay.
It's bad.
And then it gets worse.
So the first judgment of God upon the earth, the second judgment upon the seas,
the third judgment upon the rivers and fountains of waters.
You can't ignore the consistency of the Bible, can you?
When you look at the vials and the judgments and the trumpet judgments.
Okay.
So again, God's judgment, God's wrath is very orderly.
He's not out of control.
I love that about my Lord God, because I anger my God sometimes.
You know, sometimes we commit sin and we know we're not right with the Lord,
but God's in control and God knows how to chastise his people,
but his chastisement is always in control.
It's always for the purpose of yielding fruits of righteousness in our lives.
Now come back with me to Revelation 16 and verse number five.
Revelation 16 and verse number five.
It says, and I heard the angel of the water say, thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art and wast and shall be because thou has judged thus.
Boy, his judgments, his wrath, thou art righteous.
You're doing the right thing, God.
This is the right thing to do.
You know, again, when we go to the book of Revelation, it might feel overwhelming.
It might feel, boy, like how disastrous, and it is disastrous,
but you need to understand that God is a God that is long suffering,
merciful, slow to anger, the Bible says.
He's given us chance after chance to trust upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, he gives us days and days and days to be made right with him.
But you know, at these end times, that's it.
It's over.
You know, God's patience has run out.
It's time for him to pour out his wrath upon those that already reprobate anyway.
They've already aligned themselves to the devil and the antichrist.
Look at verse number six.
This is why it's righteous, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and thou has given them blood to drink, for they are worthy.
What are they worthy of?
Drinking blood because their fountains are turning to blood.
Okay.
What have they done?
They've shared the blood of saints and prophets.
So you can see how this follows the great tribulation, great tribulation,
the persecution of God's people.
You know, the saints of God being put to death,
and then of course those that remain are caught up in the clouds of Jesus Christ in the rapture.
And so God is judging this wicked world for all of the tribulation, trouble,
torments, you know, torture even, you know, the murder of God's people.
This is it.
God's done with it, right?
He's pouring out his wrath in a mighty way against the wicked.
And verse number seven, it says,
And I heard another out of the altar say, even so, Lord God Almighty,
true and righteous are thy judgments.
They're all in agreement.
These voices come in from heaven.
They're all agreement.
Yes, Lord, true and righteous are thy judgments.
I think, you know, I don't know where you all stand.
Like, I know when I was a kid and I would read the end times,
I'd be like, boy, you know, I feel like I'm kind of feeling sorry for the people on the earth.
But as you mature, as you grow, as you know the Bible more,
and you know the Lord God more, and you know his righteousness more,
all we can say, you know, especially at this time, we're going to have new bodies.
We're not going to have the sin nature.
We're not going to have defects like we have today.
Like we're not going to have roadblocks and going,
that doesn't seem to make sense to me.
You know, a merciful God, loving God will do such a thing.
But once we have those new bodies and we're in a rapture with the Lord God,
you'll be saying the same thing.
You'll be saying this is righteous.
This is just.
These people deserve the judgment of God.
Let's look at the fourth vial, verse number eight, Revelation 16, verse number eight.
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun.
So the sun's been targeted and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
So I believe this is saying that, um, you know,
as the sun is affected by this vial judgment of God,
that it begins to burn at an extreme heat.
You know, and we get sunburn even these days, right?
But this is a time when people, you've got to find safe.
You've got to find shelter.
You've got to find a place away from the sun
because the men on the earth are going to be scorched with fire.
Now again, where is the vial being poured out upon the sun?
Now let's look at Revelation eight and look at the fourth judgment there
in Revelation eight, verse 12, Revelation eight, verse 12.
It says, and the fourth angel sounded and the third part of the sun was smitten.
Again, the consistency, right?
Judgment one of the, of the trumpets and the vials, the earth.
Judgments two of the trumpet and the vials, the sea.
Judgments three of the trumpet and the vials,
the rivers and the fountains of water.
And then judgment four from the trumpets and the vials judgment upon the sun.
And as we continue in Revelation eight, 12, it says in the fourth angel sound,
the third part of the sun was smitten
and the third part of the moon and the third part of the stars.
So as the third part of them was darkened
and the day shone not for a third part of it and the night likewise.
And so what we saw in the first telling is not only was the sun affected,
but also the moon and the stars.
And there will be an increase in how much night there is.
There'll be less sun, there'll be less daytime at the fourth judgment.
But not only is there less sun, once the fourth vial is poured out,
the sun is burning at an intense heat.
Okay. An intense heat.
And look at verse number nine.
Sorry, go back to Revelation 16.
Look at verse number nine.
It says, and men were scorched with great heat
and blasphemed the name of God, which have power over these plagues.
And they repented not to give him glory.
Now, again, when I was young, I would read this and I'd go,
what's wrong with people?
God's just, these are supernatural events.
This isn't just normal cataclysmic times of a volcano or of a tidal wave or an earthquake.
These are supernatural.
They even know.
It says they blasphemed the name of God, which have power over these plagues.
They know it's God doing this.
And I remember just as a kid reading this and go, what, what is wrong with people?
It says they repented not to give him glory.
Until I learned the reprobate doctrine.
All right.
Until I learned that there comes a time where someone crosses the line with God
and they cannot believe on the Lord Jesus Christ any longer.
They've lost their chance.
Their hearts have been darkened.
Okay.
Not because that was God's initial plan for them.
They've been hard against God.
They rejected God.
God's given them time and time and time again to be made right with him.
And they decided, no, I'm going to reject God.
And so God says, all right, I'll reject you in return.
That's what the word reprobate means.
Rejected.
Now that makes sense.
We've seen already those that take the mark of the beast.
They are reprobate.
Their names are taken out of the book of life.
And if their names are taken out of the book of life, if they can't be saved,
if their destiny is to be damned, of course they're not going to repent from their ways.
Like it makes sense to me now.
But I remember as a kid, I would read, I go, what is, this doesn't seem normal.
This doesn't seem natural.
Or now I get it.
Well, it's not natural.
It's unnatural because they've turned against the Lord and the Lord has rejected them.
Like I have no doubt when we as God's people,
go through some trial that God sends our way and we know it's the hand of the Lord.
And we know, oh yeah, that's why.
Cause I did this and that.
When we recognize that, I have no doubt as God's people, you quickly humble yourselves.
Maybe not quickly.
Eventually you'll humble yourself and say, yes, Lord, you're right.
I deserve to go through this difficulty.
Yes, Lord, you're right.
My eyes have not been upon you.
They've been on whatever else it is.
Right?
Like we, we would quickly acknowledge that.
And I, you know, even when we go door to the soul and we speak to the unsaved, the
lost, sometimes they talk about hard times that they've gone through and they say,
I think the Lord has put that has given me that, or God has seen me through that.
They're not saved, but you know, when they go through a difficult, it's like,
they're willing to sort of just submit themselves.
Well, I guess this is my lot of life.
Like, you know, I must've done something wrong.
And, uh, you know, usually people that are soft and like that, you know,
they're ready to hear the good news of the gospel, but these people, these reprobates,
they know it's God.
They know that you deserve it, but they just start blaspheming.
They start, you know, they're speaking against his name, against Jesus Christ.
Of course, they've aligned themselves with the Antichrist.
That's their God.
Satan is their God.
And so just like Satan would blaspheme and the Antichrist blasphemes against God,
they're doing the same thing.
Now we're going to look at the fifth vial, the fifth angel.
It's now, it, uh, it changes a little bit.
Okay.
We no longer have these direct judgments upon different places like the earth, the seas,
the fountains, the rivers, and the sun, but you'll still see a very strong correlation
between the trumpet and the vial judgments.
So look at verse number nine, sorry, verse number 10.
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast.
Remember the beast is the Antichrist.
And so this vial is fallen upon the seat.
A seat is a place of authority.
Like it's kind of like the, the, the, the throne of the Antichrist, where he's set up.
It says not only his power base, his seat of the beast, it says,
and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain.
So when you read this and let's keep going, verse number 11,
and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented
not of their deeds, we already understand why they don't repent of their deeds.
Okay.
But when you look at the fifth vial, it doesn't look that bad.
Okay.
The kingdom was full of darkness.
Okay.
It goes dark.
All right.
But then all of a sudden they're also gnawing their tongues for pain, but God
doesn't tell us exactly what's causing that pain from the fifth vial.
Okay.
So this is where we go back to the fifth trumpet.
And you read about that in revelation nine, verse nine, sorry, chapter nine,
revelation chapter nine, come with me to revelation nine.
Let's remind ourselves of what the fifth trumpet was.
So revelation nine, verse number one, revelation nine and verse number one,
it says, and the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven onto the earth.
And to him was given the key of the bottomless pits and he opened the bottomless pits.
And there arose a smoke out of the pits as the smoke of a great furnace.
And notice the rest of this, it says, and the sun and the air were darkened
by reason of the smoke of the pits.
So when we come to the fifth trumpet, there's also darkness, but the darkness on the earth
has been caused by the smoke coming out of the bottomless pits.
It's darkening the sun.
It's darkening the sky.
Okay.
But not only was it darkened, it says in verse number three,
and they came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.
And unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Drop down to verse five.
And to them, it was given that they should not kill them,
but they should be tormented five months.
And their torment was as a torment of a scorpion.
And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it
and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them.
So notice what do we see with trumpet number five darkness.
And we see these locusts with scorpion tails,
you know, causing torment on the people for five months.
Well, that aligns perfectly with what we see in the fifth boil, right?
We saw there was darkness upon the sea to the kingdom
of the beast was full of darkness and they know their tongues for pain.
Well, now we know where that pain is coming from,
from the locusts of the bottomless pits.
And verse number 11 says,
and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their souls and repented not of their deeds.
So we get a little bit extra information.
Not only are these people, I believe they're paralyzed,
the power of the scorpions, you know,
they paralyzed their prey before they eat it.
And so I see these locusts doing the same thing.
They can't die.
You know, death is fleeing from them.
And not only that, we get the extra information here
that they, you know, blaspheming against God.
Again, they recognize this is the hand of God.
This is the judgment of God that has fallen upon them.
Now come back.
We've made it to Revelation 16.
Revelation 16.
And the correlation continues.
The correlation continues between the trumpets and the vials.
It says in verse number 12,
and the sixth angel poured out his vial,
where?
Upon the great river Euphrates.
And the water thereof was dried up
and that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
All right.
So the river gets dried up.
I mean, you go, well, that doesn't seem that significant.
Like that's not that bad.
Like after the torments and all that,
like just the Euphrates river being dried up,
doesn't seem that bad.
It says, why was it dried up?
For the purpose of the kings of the east,
that they may be prepared.
They're going to be prepared themselves for battle.
We'll talk about that for a moment.
But when you think about the Euphrates river being dried up,
what's the big deal about that?
Well, that's why you need to look at the trumpet.
Okay.
So come with me to Revelation 9 and verse number 13.
Revelation 9 verse number 13.
Revelation 9, 13.
It says, and the sixth angel sounded.
And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar,
which is before God, saying to the sixth angel,
which had the trumpet,
loose the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
So notice the Euphrates river has been mentioned both
with the sixth trumpet and the sixth vial.
Now we saw with the sixth vial that the river has been dried up.
Okay.
Yes.
For the Kings to be able to cross the river to prepare themselves for war.
But also we see that there are four angels that are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Now I don't, I can't tell you the, the, the physics behind this.
Okay.
But it seems like as the river Euphrates has water, how it's running,
that these four angels are bound there.
They can't, they can't escape out of that.
But then we have the Euphrates river dry up and now they're free.
Now they're free to go about what God requires of them.
And you may recall what that was in verse 15.
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour
and a day and a month and a year to slay the third part of men.
So these angels go, man, that must be a horrible existence to just
be under the Euphrates river.
Well, they're prepared for that.
Like God made these angels for that purpose.
Like it's not horrible for them.
Okay.
Once the river Euphrates dries up, all right, this is our purpose.
This is why we've been created.
You know, to be prepared to slay a third of the population.
I mean, this is a great massacre that takes place.
You may recall in verse number 16, it says there,
and the number of the army of the horsemen were 200,000 and I heard the number of them.
200,000 thousand is 200 million of the army of these horsemen.
Okay.
So you may recall that these horses had the face of a lion that had tails and like snakes.
And they, you know, out of the lion's mouth, they would breathe out fire.
And, you know, even if you try to attack from the rear,
you'd be attacked by the snake tail, you know, of these horses.
And so once again, supernatural events, supernatural, a supernatural army,
you know, that massacre is a third of the population.
So yeah, you know, the river Euphrates is drying up might not seem like a big deal
until you realise a third of the population is going to perish.
Right, so hold on, that's something significant.
Okay.
But the correlation is all there.
Now we saw in Revelation 16 that, you know, we see the kings of the east,
they're preparing themselves and it continues in verse number 13.
It says, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon
and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
And my kids love frogs.
Sorry guys.
And I know you guys gave Mickey a frog as well, a little frog, little baby frog.
Okay, well, nothing wrong with frogs.
But what we see here is that from the dragon, who's the dragon?
Satan, the beast, who's the beast, the antichrist, the false prophet,
you may recall a second beast came and was able to perform miracles
and he gave life to the image of the beast.
And so out of these three, you know, Satan speaks and the antichrist speaks
and the false prophet speaks.
And as they speak, you've got these spirits coming out like frogs.
They look like frogs out of the mouth and for what purpose is this happening?
If you continue then verse number 14, it says,
for they are the spirits of devils working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world,
to gather them to the battle of the great day of God almighty.
So the devil's speaking, the antichrist, what are they doing?
They're saying, look guys, we're under attack.
Like this is war.
God is destroying our kingdom.
God is pouring out his wrath on the earth.
We've lost a third of the population.
So they start to preach what?
It's time to fight back.
And this is not the first time the devil's trying to fight.
We've seen world war on the earth and attempt to destroy the whole earth.
Okay, when it came to the first part, the first three and a half years,
we also saw war in heaven where the devil and the angels,
they try to take over heaven.
Whatever, I don't know why they even try to attempt such a war,
you know, in a place where God's throne is.
And then they fail at that as well.
And, and then they try to have that.
They do make war against the saints.
Okay, and then of course, God begins to pour out his wrath.
God sends his horsemen, God sends his angels to fight back.
And now like they're like, come on guys, we've got to fight.
Right, if we're going to survive, you know,
we're going to have to fight back against God.
Now, what I find really interesting is that obviously this is preaching the, you know,
the words, the influence coming from the devil, but also the beast and the false prophet.
This false prophet, you've got an unclean spirit like a frog affecting the people of the earth.
And if you can keep your finger there, come with me to, where do I get to turn to?
First John, please come with me to first John, chapter four,
John chapter four, first John chapter four, first John chapter four.
Revelation gives us an insight to the influence of false prophets.
I mean, we don't think like that.
Like we obviously understand there are false prophets in the earth.
We obviously understand that.
You've probably attended churches of false prophets.
You know, some of you have been in charismatic churches or
all kinds of church where you say, look, the gospel is not even preached here.
Like these people aren't even, like they say Jesus, but it's another Jesus.
They say the Holy Spirit, but it's another spirit.
You know, some of you have been in churches with false prophets
and sometimes we can downplay and yeah, even I, I think I downplay it as well.
They're just saying stupid things.
But when you understand that there's a spirit attached to that kind of preaching
that can influence the hearers.
You know, Revelation gives us like the insight into the spiritual realm here.
It's not just false things that are being taught.
It's not just a false gospel being taught.
There is a spirit, an unclean spirit involved in the preaching of those words.
This is why when you get to first John chapter four, it makes a lot more sense.
Like the severity of what John is telling us here in first John chapter four, verse number one.
It says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God,
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Look, we're warned by John.
Like to the, he says beloved, you know, beloved, he's like, I love you.
He's saying to his people, look, I love you.
I want you to be safe.
I want you to be protected.
He goes, please don't just hear every false prophet.
You got to try the spirits.
This gives us a lot more insight.
Well, what are you talking about?
Look, I hope you're at New Life Baptist Church because you've determined
Pastor Kevin Zepulveda has the right spirit, has the Holy Spirit of God.
You know how the Holy Spirit is helping our pastor to preach the word of God.
I hope you determine that and you got confidence in that.
They should still test everything you hear with God's word
because you've got the Holy Spirit as well.
Okay.
Like I still can make mistakes because I still have flesh.
I'm still a man.
All right.
But by now I hope you've more than determined.
Now our pastor preaches by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But there are false prophets that preach with the power of unclean spirits
that look like frogs and they come out of the mouth.
You don't see this.
This is a spiritual realm.
They come out.
All right.
And they influence the hearers.
So you got to be careful who you listen to.
Like when you go on YouTube and go,
I'll just listen to some random Christian person about some random topic.
Look, before you listen to them, you don't know how you might be influenced.
Can you at least find out what they believe about salvation?
Let's start there.
Can I see if they're saved to begin with?
And if you determine, look, they're not saved,
or I can't find any preaching about salvation.
Look, as a pastor, I'm just warning you stay away.
Look, these frog-like unclean spirits,
they're influencing the kings of the earth, the entire world.
We've got to fight God.
You say that's stupid.
Of course it's stupid.
Like what chance are they going to have against God?
But somehow there's influence, there's power.
And don't tell me you can't be influenced.
I'm not saying you're going to be influenced.
Oh, I'm going to fight against God.
You're not a reprobate.
But I'm trying to say, look, there are influences of the devil.
He's seeking to devour us.
He's seeking to attack.
Like you're saved.
He can't stop you from being saved.
You're saved, praise God.
Once saved, always saved.
But the devil want nothing more than to affect us.
So we can't serve God at our fullest capacity.
You know, he'll try to confuse us with doctrines,
being tossed about to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
They'll be the goal of the devil to stop us as a force for Jesus Christ.
If you're still there in 1 John 4, it says in verse number 2,
He by know ye the Spirit of God,
every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come.
And even now already is it in the world.
So there is an Antichrist that will come.
And we see the spirit of the Antichrist,
these unclean spirits coming out of his mouth.
But then he says, but they've already here.
They're already, Antichrist are already in this world.
False prophets are already in this world.
And so you need to try with spirit.
Look, I love, I love the new IFB and the old IFB and just standard IFB.
I love, look, yes, I grew up in a Baptist church, you know,
but when I was about 12 years old, roughly,
my Baptist church support us that the Catholic church were like our brothers in the Lord.
That we're trying to be more like the Catholics
and the Catholics are trying to be more like us.
And at 12, because I'm ready to save boy,
the Holy Spirit said within me, you know, that's garbage.
That's rubbish.
Okay.
And you know what?
I concluded when I was a young man, I don't want to be a Baptist.
I'm not going to be a Baptist any longer.
If this is the garbage they're teaching
that we're becoming more like Catholics and Catholics becoming more like us,
that was a Baptist union church, not an IFB.
So I had this conclusion, I don't want to be a Baptist.
And then through my teenage years and later years,
I started attending Presbyterian churches.
I think we went to an Anglican church at one point.
And, um, and I just, I just couldn't find what I was seeking.
I didn't know exactly what I was seeking.
I wanted a church that was teaching from the King James Bible.
That's what I wanted.
I wanted a church that was clear on the gospel.
Like I wanted a church where people took God's word seriously.
You know, and they want souls like serious enough to go away.
People are going to hell.
We need to give them the gospel.
That's what I was looking for.
I didn't know what umbrella of Christianity that would come under.
And then I heard about the independent Baptists.
And I already said, I don't want to be a Baptist.
And I look at the independent Baptist on the internet,
the way they got King James Bible.
They've got the right gospel.
And they're doing soul winning.
Like that's kind of what I'm looking for.
And I'm like, no, but I already said I want to,
because they think, I didn't understand.
They think they're trying to be like Catholics
and the Catholics are trying to be like them.
I didn't know the difference between independent Baptist and Baptist.
I had no idea.
It's all Baptist to me.
And so for a long time, I just resisted.
Not, not, not.
And I tried different churches.
Surely there's a Presbyterian out there.
You know, that's got the right doctrines and the right Bible
and actually preaching God's word.
And eventually I just caved in and go, you know what?
I better attend one of these.
I better check it out.
You know, and then I started to understand the difference
with the independent fundamental Baptist churches.
That's why I'm an independent fundamental Baptist today.
Because I feel like I went through a journey
trying to find the best church and the IFB churches
were the best churches.
Like, Oh, I'm going to be an independent fundamental Baptist
till I die because of that journey.
I didn't grow up in the, in those churches.
You need to understand, I wanted to reject anything Baptist.
You need to understand I'm not some programmed kid
that just grew up in the system and I'm just IFB
because that's just how it has always been.
That's not, it's been a journey for me.
It's been a journey for me, but even then to my surprise
and to my sadness, there are unsaved false prophets
leading independent fundamental Baptist churches.
Okay, so I thought, and some of you might still think
that as long as it's independent fundamental Baptist,
King James only, it's going to be sound.
You still take the instructions of John.
Beloved, believe not every spirit
but try the spirits, whether they are of God,
because many, many false prophets are gone out into the world.
And if I saw something special
in the independent fundamental Baptist churches,
where do you think Satan's going to attack the most?
Those same churches.
He's going to bring in his false prophets.
They'll go through the Bible college system.
They'll look like sheep.
They're sheep and they're wolves in sheep's clothing.
They'll start preaching false gospels at you.
And before you know it, you're going to be at church going,
I don't know if I'm saved.
I don't know anymore because the simplicity of the gospel
has been so corrupted by some false prophet.
We forgot the instructions.
Try every spirit, test.
So, you know, I hope New Life Baptist Church continues the day I die.
But I know the reality of life.
You know, people might move, you know, our children might,
you know, find work in different places
and start attending other churches.
And, you know, they'll think,
well, I was part of an IFB church.
I'll just go to another IFB.
And I'm just saying, look, just try, test, please.
Before you just commit yourself to a church
or under the leadership of a pastor,
please at least figure out what spirit is he of?
Does he have the Holy Spirit?
Or am I going to be sitting there week in, week out?
Listening to unclean spirits like frogs affecting my life.
So the church we attend is very important.
Very important.
Come back with me to Revelation 16, verse number 14.
I'll just repeat this.
It says, for they are the spirits of devils.
It's hard for us to believe that, but that's the truth.
Like, I don't want to believe that.
Like, I don't want to believe in the independent fundamental,
and I'm saying all churches.
I'm just about, I don't want to even think that
within an independent fundamental about the churches.
There are devils, preaching, spirits of devils,
working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world,
to gather them to the battle of the great day
of God almighty.
Now, who are these kings on the earth at this point in time,
getting themselves ready to battle
against God?
Well, come quickly with me to Revelation 17.
Revelation 17 and verse number 12.
The Bible reads,
and the 10 horns which thou sawest are 10 kings,
which have received no kingdom as yet,
but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
The beast is the antichrist.
You may recall that this beast comes out of the sea.
This symbol, and he had seven heads and 10 horns,
and these 10 horns are the 10 kings.
It says here in verse number 13,
these have one mind, so they're all in agreement,
and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Look at verse number 14.
These shall make war with the lamb,
and the lamb shall overcome them,
for he is lord of lords and king of kings,
and they that are with him are called
and chosen and faithful.
Okay, so that's us.
We're going to come with Christ.
You know, Revelation 19,
when he comes on his white horse,
those that are coming with him are those that are called,
chosen and faithful.
That's what the,
these are titles given to the saints of God.
So we're coming back with him on these horses,
but notice that the kings that make war against God
are these 10 kings that are all in agreement,
and they're going to give their power and authority
all over to the antichrist or the beast.
All right, back to Revelation 16 and verse number 15.
Now verse number 15 might seem like it just comes out of nowhere,
but look at, let's read it.
It says, behold, I come as a thief.
Now who says those words?
It's Jesus, right?
Now we often associate this coming as a thief,
especially in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 as the rapture.
And rightly so.
When it comes to 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5,
it's definitely referring to the rapture.
You know, Christ also speaks about the thief in,
like in the Olivet Discourse,
such as Matthew 24,
you know, being the need to watch,
but the rapture has already taken place.
We already saw the Lord coming in the clouds.
So he's saying these words again,
but let's understand why that might be.
Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
So just like the instructions that he gave for the rapture,
you know, he's coming as a thief.
Okay.
So the world does not know when the Lord is coming,
but he says to his people,
Hey, watch, you know, keep your garments,
lest you walk naked and they see his shame.
Now you say, well, hold on pastor.
We've already been raptured.
Who is he speaking to?
Well, we know the context
that the devil is getting these armies prepared to fight against Jesus.
So we know that what these people are watching for
is the coming of Christ on his white horse.
Okay.
Then the instructions is given to these people.
Watch of course are those that got saved after the rapture.
Okay.
Remember the two witnesses,
they're still preaching the gospel.
They're still doing great works for God.
Okay.
And so even though God is pouring out his wrath,
and of course we've seen that his wrath
is pulling upon those that have taken the mark of the beast.
Like I said before, there are still people getting saved.
And so for those that are getting saved,
the instruction is very similar to the instructions
that we received in preparation for the rapture.
Watch Christ is coming.
He's coming as a thief.
Okay.
Yes, for the unsaved world,
but he wants his people that are getting saved after the rapture
to watch for his coming.
Just keep his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
Now, if you keep your finger there,
come with me to Revelation chapter three.
Come with me to Revelation chapter three.
Let's understand what it means to keep your garments
lest he walk naked.
Did you know spiritually we can walk naked before the Lord, spiritually?
Of course, when we think of nakedness,
we're talking about shame.
And obviously when you know, we're naked,
we want to cover our shame.
We want to put on clothes.
You know, it's embarrassing.
It's shameful to walk around naked.
But spiritually God uses this illustration
of keeping your garments.
Now, what we're looking at at Revelation chapter three
is what God spoke, what Jesus spoke to the church of Laodicea,
the Laodicean church.
And notice what it says here in Revelation 3 17.
The church says,
Because thou sayest, I am rich and increase with goods
and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
So the Laodicean church was naked.
They're saying they're rich.
We've got all these possessions.
God says you're naked.
Because what is Jesus Christ looking at?
The spiritual life.
God is looking at the inner man,
not what they have on the outward.
And then this is the instruction that God gives the Laodicean church in verse 18.
Gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich,
thus riches in heaven.
And white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.
And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
All right.
Now look, the church, obviously these are saved people.
Okay, these are saved people.
But, and you know, you can go back and listen to this,
you know, go back to Revelation 3 if you want.
I'm not going to preach all over again.
But when the Bible speaks of our garments
and when it comes to just our Christian life,
there's always the reality of our position before God
and our walk before God.
Okay, our position before God,
once you trusted Christ as your Saviour,
you have the righteousness of Christ upon you.
Okay, so God looks at you positionally
as his son, he sees the righteousness of Jesus.
But even though positionally, nothing will ever change that.
In our daily walk, we also have garments of our daily walk.
And as we walk, those garments get dirty.
They get spots.
They need to be washed.
They need to be cleansed.
This is why we need to go before the Lord on a regular basis
and confess our sins, you know,
because when we're walking away from the Lord,
we're walking in darkness and God is lights.
There is no darkness in him.
And so we break our fellowship with the Lord God.
And you can go so far walking with spots
and you know, spiritually speaking,
so far you're not going to church,
not reading your Bible, you know,
not trying to win souls, not praying,
you're not serving the Lord,
maybe even having a disdain for God's people,
you know, to the point where your garments are so filthy,
you're like, why am I wearing these garments?
And they come off and you're naked, spiritually speaking.
So the instruction is look,
come back and buy the white raiment.
Of course, salvation is not something we buy.
It's a free gift.
Okay.
But walking with the Lord is effort.
It requires work and effort,
you know, to walk with him faithfully,
to be clean in our walk and our righteous,
our fellowship before the Lord God.
And so look, that's the reality of us today.
That's the reality of the lay of the sin church
when John wrote those letters.
But for these people that are getting saved after the rapture,
it's a reality for them as well,
because they still have the sinful flesh.
They haven't received the new resurrected bodies like we have.
They're still in the sinful flesh,
and they're going to enter Christ's millennium
with that sinful flesh still upon them.
And so they still have the same struggles like we do.
Like potentially as they see God's wrath fall upon the earth,
maybe they haven't fully understood their value in God's eyes.
Like, man, God is trying to destroy the entire earth.
Maybe they're even getting a little discouraged,
a little bit cast down, you know,
maybe a little influenced by these devils going out,
influencing the whole world and the kings to turn about against Jesus.
And so going back to Revelation 16,
Revelation 16, you know, 15,
he gives those instructions to God's people on the earth
that are saved, still in flesh.
They've not taken the mark of the beast.
He says, look, blessed is he that watchef,
keep his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
He's encouraged them, look,
make sure you stay close fellowship with God.
Make sure you stay walking faithfully with him.
Make sure you keep your garments on and your garments white.
And so those are the instructions God has given
these people that got saved after the rapture.
Verse 16, and he gathered them together into a place
called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.
And now this is the only place in the Bible
that the word Armageddon comes from.
Now, when we think of the word Armageddon,
maybe because of Hollywood movies and things,
Armageddon, we often think about it as the end of the world.
And in many ways it kind of is because, you know,
this final battle is when Christ comes back
and then the end of the world as we know it,
and then Christ begins to rule for a thousand years.
Okay. So in some sense it is, okay.
But Armageddon just means, so I had to look this up.
It comes from the word Har Megiddo, Har Megiddo.
And the word Har means mountain, mountain of Megiddo.
And so Har Megiddo became just Armageddon, you know,
as time and language changes.
And so, you know, Megiddo is a place that is, you know,
in the land of Canaan.
I can't remember how far it is from Jerusalem,
but it is a plain field, like a flat field
where historically there have been many battles
in that place.
And so the same place where there's been many battles
over the years is the same place
that there's going to be this final battle
with the Kings of the earth against Jesus Christ.
And it says in verse 17,
and the seventh angel poured out his vial.
So we had the seventh vial now into the air
and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven
from the throne saying, it is done.
So this is the end of it, okay.
We're at the seventh vial, it is done.
Look at verse 18, and there were voices and thunders
and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake,
such as was not since men were upon the earth,
so mighty an earthquake and so great.
So notice voices, thunders, lightnings, and an earthquake.
Now go back with me to Revelation 11,
where we had the seventh trumpet being blown.
Revelation 11 verse number 15,
Revelation 11, 15, it says,
and the seventh angel sounded
and there were great voices in heaven saying,
the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
Well, that makes sense.
Like I said, it is done, right?
Now it's time for Christ to reign on the earth.
Once the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial
are poured out on the earth.
Drop down to verse number 19, it says,
and the temple of God was opened in heaven
and there was seen in his temple,
the arc of his testaments
and there were lightnings and voices
and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail.
So in Revelation 11 with the seventh trumpet,
we've got lightnings, voices, thunders, earthquake.
At the seventh vial in Revelation 16,
we've got voices, thunders, lightnings, earthquake.
So you can see it's the same thing again,
the same, the correlation cannot be ignored
with all the trumpets and all the vials,
they've been pulled out.
One, you know, trumpet one, vial one, trumpet two,
you know, vial two, trumpet three, vial three,
trumpet four, vial four, trumpet five, vial five,
trumpet six, vial six, trumpet seven, vial seven.
Now what we saw in Revelation 11 was the great hail.
Well, Revelation 16 gives us more information
about this great hail.
It says in Revelation 16, verse number 19,
it says, and the great city was divided into three parts
and the cities of the nations fell.
Like this earthquake is so severe.
This hail is so great.
It says the cities is like the,
think of like just towel scrapers just collapsing
and great Babylon came in remembrance before God
to give unto her the cup of the wine
of the fierceness of his wrath.
Look at verse number 20,
and every island fled away and the mountains were not found.
And look at verse 21,
and there fell upon men a great hail, there it is,
a great hail out of heaven.
Every stone about the weight of a talent
and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail
for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
It says every stone of the hail has the weight of a talent.
Now again, people have different ideas
of how much things weigh in the Bible,
but roughly, roughly it's thought that a talent
is about 30 kilograms.
Okay, so a piece of hail so massive
that it's like, it's traveling through the sky
at 30 kilometers, sorry, 30 kilograms.
Like I've had, have you, you've driven through hail storms
I'm sure and it leaves a few dents in the car.
Like this is going to wipe out your car.
There'll be no car once this thing falls on your car.
When this thing falls in your house,
like this is going to smash through your ceilings.
Okay, this is going to kill people on the earth.
If people have not died from the earthquake,
if they've not died from towers and buildings
and cities collapsing, they're dying from the great hail.
Even every island it says there fled away.
You know, I assume tidal waves from all the earthquakes
and these islands, these small islands
are probably being completely overrun by water.
So boy, that's pretty massive.
The seventh vial, the seventh trumpet,
it's quite a destruction on the earth.
Come back with me to verse number 19.
It says, and the great city was divided into three parts.
They say, what is that great city referenced here?
Well, come back with me to Revelation 11.
Revelation 11, so this is one specific city
that just from the earthquakes breaks into three pieces.
Okay, now go to Revelation 11 and it says here,
this is speaking about the two, to the two witnesses.
And you may recall that two witnesses,
whether that's Moses and Elijah probably,
where they died.
Remember that they were cured by the Antichrist
and then they came back to life.
Well in Revelation 11, it says,
and after three days and a half,
the spirit of life from God entered into them
and they stood upon their feet
and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
And they heard a great voice from heaven
saying unto them, come up here though.
And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud
and their enemies beheld them.
Look at verse number 13.
And the same hour was there a great earthquake
and the 10th part of the city fell, that's Jerusalem.
And in the earthquake was slain of men 7,000
and the remnant were affrighted
and they gave glory to the God of heaven.
So of course, the two witnesses
that got all these people saved,
they're giving glory to God in heaven
for the reprobates, they're blaspheming God.
Okay, two different reactions coming from the earth.
But I want you to notice that at this great earthquake,
when these two witnesses ascend,
that a 10th, 10% of the city of Jerusalem falls.
Okay, so you can see this judgment on Jerusalem
already taking place.
Let alone the 42 months that it's been trampled
on the feet of the Gentiles and the power of the Antichrist.
And then when we get to the seventh vial,
it says about the great city, it's divided into three parts.
So, I mean, this city is just being kind of demolished,
you know, city of Jerusalem, bit by bit by bit.
And not only is this city though divided into three parts,
it says, and the cities of the nations fell.
So every city essentially has fallen apart on the earth.
Okay, and then it says, and great Babylon came
in remembrance before God.
So for me, I know there's been teaching
that Babylon is Jerusalem.
But for me, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Because Jerusalem has already been trotted under the foots.
Its desolation was already drawn light at the midpoint.
We'll talk about this more as we go through
and we identify who Babylon is.
But it's already been destroyed.
It's already a 10th part of it's been wiped out.
And then we have a third, it's divided into three parts.
So it's not like God has not been thinking about Jerusalem.
It's been tasting the wrath of God over this period.
So we have Jerusalem being divided into three parts.
We have the cities of the nations fallen.
And then we have great Babylon coming into remembrance before God.
To give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Now God is saying, all right, now it's time for me to judge Babylon, this great Babylon.
And of course, as we continue going through these chapters,
we'll identify what Babylon is or what it represents.
All right, so the title for the sermon was the seven vials.
The seven vials, Revelation 16, Revelation 16, the seven vials of God.
Boy, aren't you glad we're going to be raptured before any of these things take place?
But thank God, you know, even, or you'll talk about God and his wrath being orderly.
You know, so orderly that his wrath is poured upon those that have taken the mark of the beast.
And God, yet even in his wrath is merciful.
People are still getting saved.
Right, you know, praise God.
The two witnesses are still doing a great work.
People are still getting saved.
And he's still encouraging those that are getting saved.
Hey, watch as the armies of the earth are getting ready to fight against Jesus.
He says, no, you know, you watch, you be ready.
You know, you make sure you're walking in white arraignments,
that you're not naked, that you're a good testimony on the earth.
You know, I do believe there are still going to be many people getting saved.
Like we need, like when we think about the chronology of the Bible,
we still need many people getting saved.
Because then Christ begins the millennium
and there needs to be people that enter into the millennium
and they get married and start to, you know, have children and generations after generations.
We still need a people to be righteous on the earth.
They have trusted Jesus Christ as their savior,
to be able to go on, go into millennium in the natural bodies,
getting married and bringing forth new generations on the earth.
All right brethren, I hope you've learned something today.
Let's pray.