FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 62

TITLE: THE FOURTH AND FIFTH BOWL JUDGMENTS

TEXT: REVELATION 16:8-11

INTRODUCTION: (1) WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING TODAY.

* IN FACT, IT’S A SUBJECT THAT WE HEAR ABOUT FREQUENTLY IN CONVERSATIONS, NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND ON THE NEWS AND T.V. MAGAZINES AND DOCUMENTARIES.

** IT IS A SUBJECT THAT IS GREATLY DEBATED AND WE ARE TOLD BY SOME THAT IT IS A GREAT DANGER TO OUR PLANET AND IS CAUSED BY CO2 EMISSIONS AND BY OTHERS IT IS CAUSED NATURALLY.

*** AND THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF OPINIONS AND SCIENTIFIC STUDIES THAT ARE CITIED TO SUPPORT YOUR POSITION.

**** IN FACT IT HAS BECOME VERY POLITICAL, IN FACT TO THE PLACE THAT WE ACTUALLY HAVE A GREEN PARTY THAT IS COMMITTED TO ENVIRONMENTALISM AND IS PRETTY POPULAR IN THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF OUR COUNTRY.

(2) MY POINT BEING, THE ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING ARE HOT POLITICAL TOPICS THAT WE WILL HEAR MUCH MORE ABOUT AS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS APPROACH IN 2008 IN MANY PRIMARIES AND ULTIMATELY ON ELECTION DAY ON NOVEMBER 4TH, 2008.

* NOW REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT THESE HOT TOPICS, THIS ENVIRONMENT IS GOING TO GO THROUGH CATACLYSMIC CHANGES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

** THE EARTH, WHICH SOME PEOPLE WORSHIP TODAY IS GOING TO FACE TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS AND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME, IN FACT A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH IS COMING.

*** IN FACT PETER SAID THIS IN HIS 2’D EPISTLE IN CHAPTER 3 IN VERSES 10 THROUGH VERSE 13.

**** II PETER 3:10 – BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME LIKE A THIEF, IN WHICH THE HEAVENS WILL PASS AWAY WITH A ROAR AND THE ELEMENTS WILL BE DESTROYED WITH INTENSE HEAT, AND THE EARTH AND ITS WORKS WILL BE BURNED UP.

V. 11 – SINCE ALL THESE THINGS ARE TO BE DESTROYED IN THIS WAY, WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE OUGHT YOU TO BE IN HOLY CONDUCT AND GODLINESS,

V. 12 – LOOKING FOR AND HASTENING THE COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD, BECAUSE OF WHICH THE HEAVENS WILL BE DESTROYED BY BURNING, AND THE ELEMENTS WILL MELT WITH INTENSE HEAT!

V. 13 – BUT ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, IN WHICH RIGHTEOUSNESS DWELLS.

(3) NOW PETER TALKS ABOUT A FUTURE TIME WHEN EARTH’S ENVIRONMENT WILL BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED BY A HOLY GOD.

* AND AS WE COME TO OUR TEXT TODAY IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, JOHN TALKS ABOUT A TIME OF FUTURE GLOBAL WARMING THAT IS UNPARALLELED IN HUMAN HISTORY.

** AND THIS GLOBAL WARMING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH NATURAL OR MAN-MADE CAUSES, BUT ARE TOTALLY ROOTED IN SUPERNATURAL CAUSES THAT COME FROM THE VERY HAND OF A HOLY GOD.

*** AND AT THAT TIME, PEOPLE WILL BE “SCORCHED WITH FIERCE HEAT” IN THE HEAT WAVE OF ALL HEAT WAVES.

**** AND RATHER THAN PEOPLE REPENTING AND TURNING TO GOD AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME, THEY BLASPHEME GOD AND DO NOT REPENT.

(4) BUT GET THIS. FOLLOWING THIS TERRIBLE JUDGMENT WILL BE DARKNESS OVER THE KINGDOM OF THE BEAST.

* AND IT WILL BE SO DARK, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FEEL IT, TO THE DEGREE THAT PEOPLE WILL “GNAW THEIR TONGUES BECAUSE OF PAIN.”

** SO HEAT AND DARKNESS WILL BE THE TWO JUDGMENTS WE WILL STUDY UNDER THE 4TH AND 5TH BOWL JUDGMENTS.

*** AND THAT IS NOT ONLY THE TITLE OF THE MESSAGE TODAY BUT ALSO OUR OUTLINE OF REVELATION 16:8-11.

**** NO. 1 THE FOURTH BOWL, VV. 8&9; AND NO. 2 THE FIFTH BOWL, VV. 10&11.

(5) SO YOU CAN TELL I LABORED HARD AND LONG TO COME UP WITH THIS TITLE AND OUTLINE.

* HEY, BUT YOU’RE WORTH IT!

** AND WITH THAT PROFOUND TITLE AND OUTLINE IN MIND, LOOK AT REVELATION 16:8 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR FIRST POINT TODAY, THE FOURTH BOWL.

I. THE FOURTH BOWL, (READ V. 8)

A. NOW THE FIRST 3 ANGELS POURED OUT THEIR BOWLS ON THE EARTH, BUT THIS FOURTH ANGEL POURED OUT HIS BOWL UPON THE SUN.

* NOW THE SUN WAS CREATED ON THE 4TH DAY ACCORDING TO GENESIS 1:14-19.

** AND THE SUN HAS BEEN USED BY THE CREATOR TO SERVE MANKIND AND MUCH OF OUR PLANET’S PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES DERIVE THEIR ENERGY FROM THE SUN.

*** BUT AT THIS POINT OF THE TRIBULATION, THE SUN WHICH GOD USES TO GIVE US LIGHT, HEAT, ENERGY AND MANY OTHER BLESSINGS, WILL BE TURNED INTO A TOOL OF JUDGMENT.

**** FOR NOTICE IN V. 8 THAT POWER WAS GIVEN TO IT, THE SUN, TO SCORCH MEN WITH FIRE.

1. NOW SOME TRANSLATIONS COMMUNICATE POWER WAS GIVEN TO HIM, THE ANGEL, BUT THE BETTER TRANSLATION APPEARS TO BE TO IT – THE SUN.

* BUT REGARDLESS OF WHICH TRANSLATION IS BETTER, THE SUN WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BLESSING TO MANKIND BECOMES A SOURCE OF JUDGMENT.

** AND THIS JUDGMENT COMES FROM THE HAND OF GOD, THERE IS DIVINE INTERVENTION FOR THE PHRASE “IT WAS GIVEN” OR “POWER WAS GIVEN” OR “THE SUN WAS GIVEN POWER” DEPENDING ON WHICH TRANSLATION YOU HAVE POINTS TO ONE GREAT REOCCURRING TRUTH IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND IN THE BIBLE.

*** AND THAT IS THE SOVEREIGN CONTROL OF GOD OVER EVERYTHING.

**** FOR YOU SEE THE PHRASE “WAS GIVEN” OR “POWER WAS GIVEN” REMINDS US ONCE MORE THAT THE ALMIGHTY IS OVER THE WHOLE PROCESS.

2. FOR THERE IS NO INDEPENDENT POWER IN THE SUN TO MAKE A DECISION TO DO THIS.

* AND IF THE SUN IS TO SCORCH PEOPLE IT IS BECAUSE GOD GIVES IT POWER TO DO SO.

** GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE SUN, MOON, STARS, THE EARTH, HEAVEN AND EVEN TO THE POINT AS MATTHEW 10:29 SAYS: “ARE NOT TWO SPARROWS SOLD FOR A CENT? AND YET NOT ONE OF THEM WILL FALL TO THE GROUND APART FROM YOUR FATHER.”

*** NOW WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE OR BETTER SAID WHAT AN ALMIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!

**** WELL, THE ALMIGHTY ORDAINS AND AUTHORIZES THE SUN TO JUDGE PEOPLE.

3. LIT. “TO SCORCH MEN WITH FIRE.”

* AND THE WORD SCORCH LIT. MEANS “TO BURN WITH HEAT”, “TO BE TORTURED WITH INTENSE HEAT.”

** AND THE NOUN FIRE AT THE END OF V. 8 INTENSIFIES THE PICTURE.

*** I MEAN WE UNDERSTAND THE HEAT PRODUCED BY FIRE AND IF YOU GET TOO CLOSE TO A FIRE YOU GET BURNED AND IF YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO A FIRE FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME YOU GET SCORCHED, BURNED.

**** AND A SECOND DEGREE BURN BRINGS ABOUT BLISTERING ON THE SKIN AND SOME NERVE DAMAGE.

***** WHEREAS A THIRD DEGREE BURN CHARS SKIN AND DESTROYS NERVE ENDINGS, AND SOMETIMES DAMAGES THE UNDERLYING BONES, MUSCLES AND TENDONS.

4. AND 2’D DEGREE BURNS CAUSE EXTREME PAIN BECAUSE THE CAPILLARY BLOOD VESSELS IN THE SKIN ARE DAMAGED AND THE NERVE ENDINGS ARE STILL WORKING TO SOME DEGREE.

* AND IT APPEARS WE ARE LOOKING AT 2’D AND THIRD DEGREE BURNS FROM THE SUN UNDER THIS JUDGMENT AS PEOPLE ARE SCORCHED WITH FIRE FROM THE SUN.

** NOW ADD UP THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE FIRST FOUR BOWL JUDGMENTS.

*** THERE ARE MALIGNANT AND LOATHSOME SORES ALREADY ON THEIR BODIES, THE WORLD’S OCEANS HAVE DIED AND STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN AND FRESH WATER HAS TURNED TO BLOOD.

**** THINGS ARE REALLY BAD AND PAIN AND SUFFERING AND THIRST ARE AT HIGH HIGH LEVELS. WE ARE TALKING AGONY.

5. AND THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING ANTI-CHRIST AND HAVE RECEIVED HIS MARK ARE IN THE GREATEST AGONY, FOR THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE THE SORES, BELIEVERS WHO ARE LEFT WHO HAVE NOT SUFFERED MARTYRDOM DO NOT HAVE THESE SORES, WE LEARNED LAST WEEK IN REVELATION 11:2.

* AND IT APPEARS THAT ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND FOLLOW HIM ARE SCORCHED.

** FOR IN THE GREEK TEXT THE ARTICLE “THE” IS BEFORE MEN MAKING REFERENCE TO MANKIND.

*** MEANING THE SUN WAS GIVEN POWER TO BURN “THE MEN” WITH FIRE, MOST LIKELY TAKING US BACK TO REVELATION 16:2 SPEAKING OF THE BEAST WORSHIPPERS, THOSE WHO FOLLOW ANTI-CHRIST.

**** AND IT APPEARS TO ME, AND I’M NOT BEING DOGMATIC HERE, IT APPEARS LIKE GOD PROTECTS HIS OWN FROM BEING SCORCHED WITH FIRE, A CLEAR MIRACLE.

6. SO ONLY THE BEAST WORSHIPPERS ARE BURNED FROM THE SUN. AND V. 9 APPEARS TO SUPPORT THIS IDEA. LOOK AT V. 9 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 9. NOW THE DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE” IS USED AGAIN IN THE GREEK TEXT BEFORE MEN, “THE MEN WERE SCORCHED WITH FIERCE HEAT.”

* AND A REPETITION OF MEN WITH THE ARTICLE APPEARS TO PINPOINT AGAIN THE BEAST-WORSHIPPERS, AND THE REPETITION OF THE SCORCHING WITH FIERCE HEAT STRESSES THE DREADFUL SEVERITY OF THIS JUDGMENT UPON THE BEAST-WORSHIPPERS.

** THIS IS MORE THAN A HEAT WAVE, BUT A BURNING WAVE FOR THERE WILL BE FIERCE OR GREAT HEAT, THE ADJECTIVE MEGAS IS USED AGAIN.

*** AND THE LATE DR. HENRY MORRIS, THE FOUNDER OF THE CREATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND THE INSTITUTION OF CREATION RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT FROM THIS KIND OF HEAT THE POLAR ICE CAPS COULD MELT RAISING THE WORLD’S SEA LEVEL 200 FEET!

**** AND GET THIS, THE DEAD OCEANS FILLED WITH BILLIONS OF DEA SEA CREATURES WOULD LITERALLY FLOOD AND DESTROY MANY OF THE MAJOR CITIES OF THE WORLD LOCATED ON THE COASTS.

1. CITIES LIKE NEW YORK, LA, LONDON, TOKYO AND NUMEROUS OTHERS.

* SO POSSIBLY THE SUFFERING EVEN MULTIPLIES MORE.

** NOW AT THIS POINT, YOU WOULD THINK THAT THE UNPARALLELED DISASTERS OF THE FIRST 4 BOWL JUDGMENTS WOULD LEAD PEOPLE TO REPENT AND TURN FROM ANTI-CHRIST TO THE TRUE CHRIST.

*** BUT QUITE THE CONTRARY. FOR INSTEAD OF REPENTING AND TURNING TO THE ALL-POWERFUL ONE WHO HAS POWER AND CONTROL OVER THESE PLAGUES, THEY BLASPHEME THE NAME OF GOD.

**** THEY LASH OUT AT GOD AND SPEAK REPROACHFULLY TO HIM, THEY RAIL, THEY REVILE, THEY LASH OUT AT GOD.

2. AND BELOVED, THEY KNOW THAT GOD IS BEHIND THOSE PLAGUES, THEY KNOW THAT GOD HAS “THE POWER OVER THESE PLAGUES” BUT THEY DON’T REPENT.

* THEY LOVE THEIR SIN SO MUCH AND ARE SO DECEIVED BY ANTI-CHRIST THEY NOT ONLY WILL NOT GIVE UP THEIR SIN BUT BLASPHEME THE NAME OF GOD IN THE PROCESS.

** AND IF YOU WANT A PICTURE OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY AND HARDNESS OF HEART, YOU HAVE A CLEAR ONE HERE.

*** FOR RATHER THAN GIVE IN AND GIVE UP THEIR SIN AND TURN FROM IT, WHICH WOULD BRING GLORY TO GOD, THEY HOLD ONTO IT AND DEFY GOD AND SPEAK REPROACHFULLY OF HIM.

**** NOW THIS IS NOT LOGICAL, THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE, BUT SIN NEVER DOES. SIN IS NOT LOGICAL, IT IS EMOTIONAL, IT’S ABOUT FEELING AND YIELDING TO OUR DESIRES, OUR APPETITES, OUR WANTS, OUR LUSTS.

3. AND MANKIND LEFT TO HIMSELF WITHOUT GOD MOVING IN THE HEART WITH SOVEREIGN GRACE, PEOPLE WILL FREELY AND MILITANTLY CHOOSE SIN OVER CHRIST, READ JOHN 3:16-19.

* AND BELOVED, PEOPLE LOVE DARKNESS, THEY LOVE THEIR SIN. AND AT THIS POINT OF THE TRIBULATION UNDER THE 4TH BOWL JUDGMENT, PEOPLE WILL TAKE ON THE CHARACTER OF THE GOD WHOM THEY SERVE-SATAN.

** AND RATHER THAN BLAMING THEIR SIN FOR JUDGMENT, THEY BLASPHEME GOD, AND WILL NOT GIVE HIM GLORY, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN THE RESULT OF THEIR REPENTANCE.

*** REPENTANCE GLORIFIES GOD AND I WILL DEVELOP THAT MORE IN MY CONCLUSION TODAY.

**** AND THESE PEOPLE WILL NOT REPENT AND GLORIFY GOD, AND THAT IS THE SPIRITUAL RESULT OF BOWL #4 WITH TERRIBLE PHYSICAL RESULTS.

4. BUT THE JUDGMENTS CONTINUE TO ROLL OUT. LOOK AT V. 10 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE THE FIFTH BOWL JUDGMENT.

II. THE FIFTH BOWL, (READ V. 10)

A. NOW UNDER THE FIFTH BOWL GOD GIVES THE SCREW AN EXTRA TURN, HE TIGHTENS THE SCREW A LITTLE MORE.

* FOR GOD WILL TURN OUT THE LIGHTS AS HE DID A LONG TIME AGO IN EGYPT IN EXODUS 10:21-29 UNDER THE 9TH PLAGUE.

** AND EXODUS 10:21-23 SAYS:

V. 21 – THEN THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, “STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND TOWARD THE SKY, THAT THERE MAY BE DARKNESS OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT, EVEN A DARKNESS WHICH MAY BE FELT.”

V. 22 – SO MOSES STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND TOWARD THE SKY, AND THERE WAS THICK DARKNESS IN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR THREE DAYS.

V. 23 – THEY DID NOT SEE ONE ANOTHER, NOR DID ANYONE RISE FROM HIS PLACE FOR THREE DAYS, BUT ALL THE SONS OF ISRAEL HAD LIGHT IN THEIR DWELLINGS.

*** NOW IT WAS SO DARK IN EGYPT, YOU COULD FEEL IT.

**** AND AS WE COME BACK TO REVELATION 16:10, AS THE FIFTH ANGEL POURS OUT HIS BOWL, HE POURS IT OUT “ON THE THRONE OF THE BEAST, AND HIS KINGDOM WAS DARKENED.”

1. NOW COMMENTATORS DISAGREE OVER WHERE SPECIFICALLY THIS BOWL WILL BE POURED OUT.

* SOME THINK IT WILL BE ON THE CITY WHERE THE BEAST RULES, WHICH COULD BE ANYWHERE FROM JERUSALEM, TO ROME TO BABYLON.

** TALKING ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL OF THE BEAST. AND THIS IS WHERE THE BOWL IS DUMPED.

*** BUT IT’S IMPACT, ITS EFFECT IS WORLDWIDE, FOR IT SAYS IN V. 10 “AND HIS KINGDOM BECAME DARKENED.”

**** AND HIS KINGDOM, HIS SPHERE OF RULE, HIS ARM OF AUTHORITY WILL REACH THE WORLD.

2. BELOVED WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A LITERAL CONCRETE KINGDOM WITH GEOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATIONS, NOT AN ABSTRACT RULERSHIP.

* THE BEAST IS THE MAN IN POWER AND HIS POWER THAT IS GIVEN TO HIM IS WORLDWIDE. SO I BELIEVE THE DARKNESS WILL BE WORLDWIDE COVERING THE WHOLE EARTH.

** LIT. HIS KINGDOM IS FULL OF DARKNESS, OR PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS.

*** AND THERE IS NO ROOM FOR TAKING THIS AS MORAL DARKNESS OR SPIRITUAL DARKNESS, FOR THAT HAPPENED LONG BEFORE THIS AS HE TOOK POWER, AND I COULD SAY BEFORE THAT GOING ALL THE WAY BACK TO ADAM AS ADAM SINNED AND SINCE THAT TIME, THERE HAS BEEN GREAT MORAL DARKNESS AND MEN LOVE DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT.

**** BUT BEYOND THAT, AND EVEN A GREATER ARGUMENT IS THIS DARKNESS IS A REAL PHYSICAL DARKNESS LIKE IN EGYPT BECAUSE PEOPLE FEEL IT, “THEY GNAWED THEIR TONGUES BECAUSE OF PAIN.”

3. AND THE VERB “GNAWED” LIT. MEANS TO CHEW AND IT IS IN THE IMPERFECT TENSE HERE WHICH MEANS THEY “KEPT ON CHEWING THEIR TONGUES, THEY CONTINUE TO BITE THEIR TONGUES IN PAIN.”

* AND THIS EXPRESSES A MOST AGONIZING AND EXCRUCIATING TYPE OF PAIN. SEVERE AGONY.

** AND THE TEXT DOES NOT TELL US PRECISELY HOW DARKNESS CAN CREATE SUCH AGONY SO I’M NOT GOING TO SPECULATE AT THIS POINT.

*** BUT TO SAY, IT WILL BE LIKE EGYPT’S DARKNESS THAT COULD BE FELT.

**** AND FROM TONGUES THAT ARE CHEWED UP, PEOPLE BITING THEIR TONGUES FROM PAIN, THEY DO NOT BITE THEIR TONGUES IN WHAT THEY SAY. FOR LOOK AT V. 11 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 11. NOW THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE BEAST USE THEIR TONGUES TO BLASPHEME THE GOD OF HEAVEN.

* AND THE REASON THAT IS GIVEN IS “BECAUSE OF THEIR PAINS AND THEIR SORES.”

** NOW THE WORD “PAINS” PLURAL COMMUNICATES TO US THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE PLAGUES PLURAL, AND THIS IS FURTHER EVIDENCED BY THE PHRASE “THEIR SORES.”

*** FOR THEIR SORES WERE GIVEN TO THEM IN BOWL NO.1, BUT THEY ARE STILL PRESENT UNDER BOWL #5. FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE BOWLS ARE RAPID FIRE, IN A MACHINE GUN TYPE OF BEING POURED OUT.

**** BUT GETTING BACK TO THE IDEA OF CUMULATIVE EFFECT, ALL THESE PLAGUES ADDED UP HAVE DEVASTATING EFFECTS AND ARE CLEARLY ACTS OF GOD, THEY ARE SUPERNATURAL.

1. BUT AGAIN INSTEAD OF REPENTING OF SIN, THEIR WICKED DEEDS AND TURNING TO GOD, THEY BLASPHEME GOD.

* BELOVED, IN AN ULTIMATE ACT OF DEFIANCE THESE PEOPLE HARDEN THEIR HEARTS MORE THAN LASH OUT AT THE GOD OF HEAVEN VERBALLY.

** THESE JUDGMENTS COME FROM ABOVE, FROM THE GOD OF HEAVEN, THESE PEOPLE KNOW IT, THEY KNOW WHY THEY ARE BEING JUDGED, BECAUSE OF THEIR DEEDS, BUT DIG IN AND FIRE OUT WORDS OF BLASPHEMY AND DO NOT REPENT.

*** HOW SAD!

IN WRAP UP OF OUR STUDY TODAY, (1) I WANT TO MAKE ONE APPLICATION GOING BACK TO V. 9 AND THE PHRASE “THEY DID NOT REPENT SO AS TO GIVE HIM (GOD) GLORY.”

* NOW THE MEANING IS, IF THESE BEAST-WORSHIPPERS WOULD HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR SIN AND REPENTED, THAT TURNING WOULD HAVE GLORIFIED GOD, FOR IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ADMISSION THAT GOD DID WHAT HE HAD TO AND ALL HIS WAYS WERE RIGHT.

** AND MY POINT AND APPLICATION IS THE BIBLICAL TRUTH THAT REPENTANCE AND OR CONFESSION OF SIN GLORIFIES GOD.

*** LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN. PROVERBS 28:13 SAYS: (READ IT). ALSO READ I JOHN 1:9.

**** NOW THE WORD CONFESS IN I JOHN 1:9 LIT. MEANS TO EXPRESS COMPLETE AGREEMENT.

(2) THEREFORE CONFESSION IS FULLY AGREEING WITH GOD ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIN AND THE AWFULNESS, THE HEINOUSNESS OF IT.

* NOW THE BEAST-WORSHIPPERS BY REPENTING WOULD HAVE BEEN AGREEING WITH GOD’S JUDGMENT THAT THEY WERE WORTHY OF IT AND ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS OF THEIR SINS WHICH CAUSED IT.

** AND WHETHER IT BE CONFESSION OF SIN BY A BELIEVER OR REPENTANCE BY AN UNBELIEVER, BOTH ARE ACTS OF WORSHIP AND GLORIFY GOD.

*** LET ME FURTHER ILLUSTRATE FROM SCRIPTURE.

**** THE O.T. ACCOUNT OF ACHAN IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF HOW GOD IS GLORIFIED IN CONFESSION OF SIN.

(3) IF YOU REMEMBER IN JOSHUA CHAPTER 7, ACHAN DISOBEYED GOD BY STEALING TREASURE FROM THE CITY OF JERICHO.

* HE FOOLISHLY THOUGHT HE COULD HIDE HIS PLUNDER, HE THOUGHT IF HE BURIED HIS TREASURE IN HIS TENT, NO ONE WOULD EVER KNOW.

** WELL, THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT KIND OF LOGIC, PROVERBS 15:3 SAYS, ALSO READ HEBREWS 4:13.

*** WELL, BACK TO ACHAN, GOD SAW RIGHT THROUGH THE DIRT, AND HE WAS SO DISPLEASED AND OFFENDED BY THIS ACT OF COVERING HIS SIN, THAT THE ENTIRE NATION OF ISRAEL SUFFERED FROM IT.

(4) FOR ISRAEL WAS DEFEATED IN BATTLE AT AI, AND MANY JEWISH PEOPLE DIED IN A CLEAR ILLUSTRATION THAT GOD CANNOT BLESS SIN AND WHAT WE DO AFFECTS OTHERS.

* WELL, WHEN JOSHUA REALIZED WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND ACHAN’S SIN WAS ABOUT TO BE REVEALED, SAID THIS TO ACHAN IN JOSHUA 7:19:

** THEN JOSHUA SAID TO ACHAN, “MY SON, I IMPLORE YOU, GIVE GLORY TO THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, AND GIVE PRAISE TO HIM; AND TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. DO NOT HIDE IT FROM ME.”

*** NOW GET THIS: JOSHUA MADE THE BIBLICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CONFESSION OF SIN AND GLORIFYING GOD.

**** FOR CONFESSING SIN GLORIFIES GOD; IT EXONERATES GOD AND ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE IS HOLY, PURE AND JUST WHEN HE ACTS IN JUDGMENT AGAINST SIN.

(5) BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, EXCUSING SIN AND NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT BLAMES GOD, OFFENDS GOD AND IMPUGNS GOD.

* SO HOW CAN GOD BE GLORIFIED IN OUR MIDST TODAY?

** WELL, GOD IS GLORIFIED BY SAVING PEOPLE. AND IF YOU ARE HERE WITHOUT CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR TODAY, TURN TO CHRIST IN REPENTANT FAITH.

*** ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SIN, YOUR REBELLION, YOUR PRIDE, YOUR WILLFULNESS AGAINST GOD, AGREE WITH HIM THAT YOU ARE A WICKED SINNER AND RECEIVE HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR MASTER AND SAVIOR, TURNING TO HIM AND FOLLOWING CHRIST.

**** THAT WILL GLORIFY GOD, GIVE HIM GLORY TODAY.

(6) BUT LAST OF ALL, TO FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, CONFESSION OF YOUR SIN GLORIFIES GOD. DON’T DENY IT, DON’T BLAME IT ONE SOMEONE, TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT, CONFESS IT-NAME IT AND FORSAKE IT.

* AND THAT GLORIFIES GOD.

** BELOVED, DON’T MINIMIZE IT OR TRY TO HIDE IT. CONFESS IT AND FORSAKE IT AND WALK WITH CHRIST.

*** I CLOSE WITH I JOHN 1:9 AND PROVERBS 28:13 AND WILL READ THEM AGAIN. (READ THEM)

**** BELOVED: GLORIFY GOD BY CONFESSING SIN TO HIM.