Revelation 16. Let's begin reading in verse 17. Finishing the chapter to verse 21. Revelation 16. 17-21. When you have found it, please stand in order of reading the Word of God. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air. And a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying, It is done. And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there was a great earthquake such as there had not been Man came to be upon the earth. So great an earthquake was it and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. And every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And huge hell stones, about 100 pounds each, came down from heaven upon them. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of hell, because its plague was extremely severe. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So we've come to the seventh bowl of judgment. It's being poured out upon the earth. And we've already noted that unlike the seven seals and the seven trumpets, which deal with partial judgments, the seventh bowl or the seven bowls of judgment deal with completion and finality. Now, yes, some of the bold judgments lead up to final judgment, but the main purpose of the bold judgments is declaring God's sweeping destruction of the earth because of the sin and evil that has been so pervasive throughout human history. Christ has defeated sin and its consequences, but the kingdom has been advancing in the hearts and minds of the redeemed. And while they have done so, they still live with the effects of sin in this fallen world. and God's people have remained vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy but this will not last forever Christ is coming once again to fully redeem his people and destroy for all time the enemies of God as we read here in a display of divine fury and as we've been reading there will be no escape the earth will be destroyed Sin and evil will be completely eradicated. Now these final verses of Revelation 16, they conclude the fifth major section of Revelation. And you've noted that much of this fifth section has dealt mainly with the wrath of God. Now this is not going to be the last time we hear about the wrath of God in Revelation. There's going to be much more concerning God's wrath in these coming chapters. But John here closes out this fifth section with a description of finality or final judgment. Now, it may seem as one author put it, quote, In reading Revelation, Christians may become weary of the unrelenting scenes of divine wrath as God brings down his enemies one by one. Some readers may even think that John's gospel focus has wavered or been forgotten, end quote. Now that author went on to argue that this should never be the case with the readers of Revelation. He argued that one should never grow weary of this constant theme, especially when you understand the purposes John had in mind in writing the Apocalypse. I agreed with this author as I read on. One of those central purposes John had in mind in writing the Apocalypse was an evangelistic purpose. And this would certainly make sense for these unrelenting depictions of divine wrath let me explain a bit further the Bible says in Ezekiel 33 verse 11 that as I live declares the Sovereign Lord I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their ways and live now revelation does in fact give unrelenting depictions of God's holy wrath and they are absolutely horrific nevertheless God has been greatly merciful in giving us this book and revealing so much about his wrath. You see, God certainly could have withheld these revelations from John. God could have left us in the dark concerning his fury, his coming divine wrath. Yet God in his mercy has given us one depiction after another warning us over and over again that he will never undermine his holiness or his just integrity he must destroy his enemies his holiness and justice demand that sin and evil be held into account and he will punish the wicked forever therefore revelation comes to us like a sledgehammer just pounding this theme home to us Therefore we are without excuse John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has written the very words of God to us so that we may be Overwhelmingly warned about coming judgment And you know this God has never been obligated to do anything or say anything to sinful humanity Yet he has why Because he is a merciful and loving God He has chosen not to keep us in the dark. He has sent his son into our world, the light of the world, to save us from our sins and to destroy the works of his supreme enemy, the devil. And as the victorious Christ, he is coming to judge and destroy all of God's enemies, including the wicked. Now, who are the wicked? The wicked are all sinners. They are in the category of the wicked unless they heed God's warning of coming judgment. How do we heed this warning? Well, God in his mercy has given opportunity for all sinners to bow the knee, repent from their sin, and trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ so that they may escape God's coming wrath. And that opportunity is here and now so long as we are alive and the earth remains as is. But revelation warns us that this opportunity will not last forever. The age is coming to a close. And when Christ comes to execute the wrath of God, opportunity will be no more. And that the coming of Christ could, in fact, occur at any moment. So today is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Do not harden your heart. or you will perish forever. Understanding this, the apocalypse is part of God's gospel revelation. God has spoken and he has acted. Therefore, we must respond in faith before it's too late. There is no and there can be no indecision. There is no middle ground. You will respond one of two ways. You will either repent and believe in order to be saved from God's wrath or you will reject the gospel of Christ and perish eternally in God's wrath. There is no such thing as indifference or indecision when it comes to the gospel. You either repent and believe or remain as is and perish. That is at the heart and soul of Revelation. Let's look at our text for today. I want you to notice early on, verse 17 gives us something that may sound a bit familiar to you. It says, Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne room, saying, It is done. If that sounds familiar, it should. You remember what Jesus cried victoriously from the cross before he breathed his last? It is finished. If this call from heaven then reminds us of Jesus' final cry from the cross, no doubt it reminded the author of the same thing. John wrote both the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. Certainly he would have had Jesus' cry from the cross in mind when he heard that and wrote it down. So there seems here to be a connection of this cry of command from heaven with the cry of victory from the cross. I'm not the only one. You're not the only one who thought of this. Listen to commentator Richard Phillips. He wrote this, quote, By connecting this cry of divine judgment with the crucified Christ's cry of salvation, we join judgment and salvation as two sides of Christ's double-edged gospel sword, end quote. So there is a profound, redemptive, historical relationship between Christ's cry from the cross and his loud call from heaven. Having accomplished redemption by his atoning death, Jesus, there on the cross, uttered the Greek word tetelestai, which means it is finished. It is accomplished. Now from heaven at the end of the gospel age, at the brink of his return, Jesus shouts a different Greek word, gegonon. which means it has come to pass or it is done. Sounds very similar in English, we could use either phrase to mean the same thing, but Greek is nuanced a bit differently. Richard Phillips went on to write this quote, this perfectly fits the redemptive relationship between the two events, the cross and his coming. The salvation that Christ accomplished on his day of crucifixion will fully come to pass only in the crowning victory of Christ's return. We're going to talk a little bit more about this towards the end as we push hearers to a response. But with this announcement, the rest of the text now gives us four conclusions or four endings that come when Christ returns ending this age. I believe it to be this gospel age in which we now live. Let's look at them. Number one, the first ending of the text describes the end of the world. Look at verse 18. And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there was a great earthquake such as there had not been since the man came to be upon the earth. So great an earthquake was it and so mighty. Now remember, Much like the rest of Revelation, you should keep in mind, this is apocalyptic language. Symbolic language. This reminds us that these descriptions are not to be taken literally. Now we find this same type of writing, this genre, if you will, used elsewhere, particular with the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. They used this type of apocalyptic writing describing the end of something. or describing an intervention of God into human history. The prophet Joel used this type of writing when describing the day of Pentecost. That's in Joel chapter 2 verses 28 to 32. There he describes apocalypticly an arrival of God we know to be in the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Now, we should know that these descriptions from Joel did not literally occur. How do we know that? We know that there was no record on the day of Pentecost of blood, fire, and billows of smoke ascending out of the belly of the earth. We know that there was no record of the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood and so forth. Yet Peter said in Acts chapter 2, 16 through 21, that that day, the day of Pentecost, fulfilled the prophecy of Joel concerning the great and terrible day of the Lord. It was not to be taken literally. Joel was writing apocalyptically. It was an apocalyptic prophecy describing an intervention of God into human history. The prophets often wrote that way, whether they described an act of God's judgment upon a nation or God's intervention in another manner. Here, John is also writing apocalyptically, describing the end of human history, if you take the position that I hold to, the end of human history or the end of the world. Others who take a historical position would say it's describing the intervention of God in AD 70. But again, we ask. If we believe and hold toward these judgments describing the end of all that is, how will this text prophesying apocalyptically of that event, how will that event be manifest? Well, while we don't take these descriptions literally, there are other texts in the New Testament that we can look to where the authors were writing like in the epistles, where there you can get a more literal understanding of the coming of Christ. But John here states that God is coming in judgment to bring an end to the world. And this intervention of God is described apocalyptically much in the same way as the Old Testament prophets wrote concerning the coming of God. And John had alluded to this already in Revelation 6, 12-14, speaking of a great earthquake and the sky vanishing like being rolled up like a scroll in the sky. Symbolic language. He uses other descriptions of natural phenomena that were seen in the Old Testament. In the event of the giving of the law, you remember when God there on Mount Sinai, peals of thunder, earthquake and so forth, there those natural phenomena actually did occur. But yet in other places in prophetic writings, these same descriptions of peals of thunder, earthquakes, so forth, were used apocalyptically and symbolically. I could give you several. Things like earthquakes, flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder were often used. And while we may not understand this passage to be absolutely literal, it does, however, intend to convey complete and total destruction. God will shake the earth to its core. He will destroy all things. The author of Hebrews states in Hebrews 12, 27, an epistle. Quote, the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. You skip down to verse 20 in our text. John states the sweeping nature of this judgment where it reads that every island fled away and the mountains were not found. Again, symbolic language here. These objects, mountains and islands, were often used symbolically to depict permanence. To the ancients, nothing was more immovable than mountains or islands. Yet in God's coming judgment, here's what this means, that that which is immovable or seemingly indestructible will be destroyed. Again, language symbolizing devastation, complete judgment, destruction. So, we can argue about placements, we can argue about literal or symbolic interpretations of these events, but we must agree on the purpose of their insertion here is that is to convey complete destruction. What context you put that in may differ, but this is symbolic language to convey annihilation, destruction. Everything that seems impervious to humanity will be destroyed by God. Peter, he wrote more literally of the end rather than apocalyptically. You remember he stated in 2 Peter 3, 6-7 and 11-12 that the world was destroyed first by water and that the present heavens and the earth are being reserved for fire. kept for the day of judgment and destruction for ungodly people. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief." We've already seen that in Revelation alluded to. It will come like a thief, in which, as Peter describes in his epistle, the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with fervent heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered. And since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? Holy in conduct and godliness. 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 fervent heat." An epistle. Writing in the genre of epistle, hardly ever using apocalyptic or symbolic language at times, but in the epistle, or the genre of epistle, they're writing more literally. Perhaps if nothing else would drive someone to Christ, we would think it would be the warning of the smashing of our world at the end of the age. People often argue with me that you ought not to scare people into the gospel. Well, I think one of the purposes of John here and to his congregation was not only to get them to persevere, but also to the ungodly. that his incessant warnings of perishing, of God's terrible judgment gives us instruction on how one of the appropriate methods of sharing the gospel with people is warning them of destruction. Noah was described as a herald of righteousness. And what was he doing in heralding the gospel at that point of progressive revelation in his day? He was warning them of coming destruction, the flood, in hopes that they would respond. And he preached for over a century, God in his mercy, giving them warning after warning through the lips of Noah. Now at the end, John, even in his day, warning incessantly, of the wrath of God, giving the audience, particularly the ungodly audience, opportunity to hear and be warned to make preparations. So it's an appropriate method for you to declare to the world the coming judgment of God. That if that draws people to the gospel, God has used that as a tool to open their ears and soften their heart. God is drawing them to himself through his word. Again, it takes the spirit of God to move upon a heart if they would ever respond. But one of the tools in this method of approach is warning. Warning of the judgment to come. Paul urged another application from the future end of the world. He wrote to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 731, quote, the present form of this world is passing away. He taught that Christians should therefore live here with an ear or with an aim for living in Christ's eternal heavenly kingdom. So one to warn people of the coming judgment so that they would heed the warning and flee to Christ, the other to again Encourage Christians reminding them that the current form of this world is passing away and Paul Telling his audience to live in preparation for the coming kingdom in its fullest form Paul explained in first Corinthians 7 29 to 31 for the appointed time has grown very short and From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it." What is his point there? Paul is not saying that Christians should reject the affairs of this present life, but rather we should avoid being preoccupied with the affairs of this life. And all that we do here and now should serve the then and there to which we are called in the kingdom of Christ, as well as the advancement of the gospel, which alone grants admission into the glory to come. So practically, as you declare the gospel to people, use the warnings of God that are coming, the warnings of judgment. And let us get our eye off this world and not be so preoccupied with these things of life in preparation for the coming judgment. So the first warning in this apocalyptic language is the coming end of the world. But then there's a second ending he alludes to. This is the end of worldly society as you look at verse 19. The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. Now, in John's day, the great city would likely have been understood as Rome. If so, Rome was to be the symbol of the world system. John could not have been referring to the literal nation of Babylon. That city, that nation had been deserted for centuries, even in John's day. It is likely, however, that the great city is referring not only to Rome here, because Babylon, like before, as we read in previous texts, was referring not merely to one city or one nation that falls under the judgment, but the cities of the nations, that is, the entire corrupt world system in service to the dragon in opposition to Christ. Leon Morris wrote this, that the great city, quote, stands for man ordering his affairs apart from God along with the pride of human achievement, the godlessness of those who put their trust in man, end quote. So also the fact that the seventh bowl is poured out into the air there in verse 17 strengthens the idea of the great city as the anti-christian world system or society that is under the prince of the power of the air. Satan himself the dragon. The devil has manipulated and empowered worldly opposition to God since our first parents in the Garden of Eden. But now his spiritual realm and the worldly culture that he has led into rebellion against God come under final judgment. He does have, as Rick and I were talking this morning, about the kingdoms of the world are under his influence and power. How did he tempt Christ? Offering him the nations of the world the the kingdoms of the world if he would only bow down and worship Christ. He does in fact He has been granted this by God the prince and power of the air remains under his power and influence but here God is reminding that it's coming to an end That it will be destroyed it will be uprooted and totally annihilated Matthew Henry He wrote this, quote, Satan had used all possible means to preserve the anti-Christian interest and to prevent the fall of Babylon. That is all the influence that he has upon the minds of men, blinding their hearts, raising their enmity to the gospel as high as could be. But now here is a vial poured out upon the dragon's kingdom, and he is not able to support his tottering cause and interests any longer. John sees the great city, the ungodly world culture here split into three parts. This is, again, language showing the complete destruction of the city of man. Commentator Kistemacher, he wrote this, quote, all the human arguments and philosophical allegations that have been raised against the knowledge of God are utterly destroyed. Again, Phillips writes, quote, the universal scope of the destruction is seen in the falling of the cities of the nations. It is not just Rome or some later great capital of evil that is decimated, but all the world's cultural, political, economic and sociological centers. They fall because they are part of the Babylonian world system. The great city of the human Satan alliance against God has fallen together with all its tributaries that cover the earth so that its pieces topple to the ground. This judgment symbolizes the shattering of its power as it meets with the over mastering judgment of the Almighty God whose supreme authority its citizens have presumed to defy." John then adds the statement in verse 19, God remembered Babylon the Great. How often has it seemed to many that God has forgotten the affairs of this world? That God has forgotten about the terrible injustices against his people and the high-handed sins of wicked people in positions of worldly power. How often does it seem, even to the people of God, that we grow weary with the affairs of this world and the wickedness that is so pervasive. God, have you forgotten? The fact is, God has not forgotten. He has heard the cry of his people under affliction, the prayers from the altar, And when he chooses to remember so as to act against the wicked, those who oppose Christ and his gospel in the persecuted church will receive their just due in devastating judgment. This is part of our faith. That we wait upon the Lord, that the Lord will come according to his own sovereign timetable, and we should never grow impatient or ever envy the lives of the wicked in the meantime. Because the wicked are filling up their cup of judgment along with while God is slow to wrath, giving the ungodly ample opportunity to repent. So believers today are never to be intimidated by the menacing power of the world or enticed by the seductive pull of its sinful pleasures. When Christians are tempted to desire worldly approval, we should remember the end that is in store for the world. Perhaps you remember Psalm 73, 18 through 19, where Asaph admitted that he envied the wicked until he remembered their end. He wrote, truly, Lord, you set them in slippery places, you make them fall to ruin, how they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. Judgment awaits the worldly society of unbelief and immorality. As one author put it, quote, the mills of God, if they grind so slowly, are never stopped except by human repentance. This is why we raise our children not for this world, but for the kingdom to come. While believers live in the world, we must not be of the world so as to enter into its ways of thinking and acting. We must not dream worldly dreams. We must not dream about financial security and self-centered agendas and recreation. Churches must not try to put on a worldly facade or adopt styles of worship designed to win approval of the great worldly city. Since our citizenship is in heaven, Paul wrote, this is not in worldly society but in Christ's kingdom. We are to set our sight on things above. Paul wrote in Philippians 3 verse 20, From heaven we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. So the end of the worldly society, the worldly system, the end of the world, the end of its ways. The third ending, thank God the ending of sin. The reason God remembered Babylon is that God keeps close record of all sin. The Old Testament presents countless examples of God noting, recording, and remembering sin, as well as his obligation to punish it. From Cain to Lamech, Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas, to Ahab and his wife Jezebel, God brought in, in time, the terrible destruction he threatened for sin. Often, God patiently provided long opportunity for repentance and salvation through faith. Paul writes in Romans 3.25 that in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins, not fully punishing them immediately. You see, God restrains wrath as He invites sinners to repentance. But yet God operates on His time clock, not ours. His ways are not our ways. is slow to anger and patient. The day of his wrath may be so prolonged, it may take a long while. God is patient. And it may look like to some that he has forgotten. But when judgment strikes at last, it may then look like sudden remembering. But the law of God has never been compromised. Ezekiel 18, 20, the soul who sins shall surely die. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. But according to the text, according to the gospel, sin will be brought to an end. Paul wrote that after Christ ascended into heaven in 1 Corinthians 15, 25, he writes, Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. In the cataclysmic end of the world, including the final judgment and its punishments, we see the end of sin in the creation that God has made. No wonder the angels will sing hallelujah for our Lord God Almighty reigns. Richard Phillips wrote this, quote, God judged sin, the sin of Babylon, by making her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. This shows that our sins do not merely deviate from the owner's manual of life in some impersonal way, but rather give personal offense to the holy God who has made us. God responds to sin with the fury of His wrath. It also shows the perfect justice by which God makes an end of sin. The punishment of Babylon fits the crime. She made others drink to be intoxicated by her abominations, so now she must be intoxicated with the terrors of divine judgment, drinking the cup of God's wrath down to its dregs. So, knowing that sin will be defeated at the end of the age should decisively shape the lifestyles of those who look to Christ for salvation. What must we do? Let us mortify sin, because it is not going to be a part of the life to come. We prepare now, because if you long for the life to come, this will be your objective. You will be in constant battle with your sinful self, because you are preparing for the life to come. Otherwise, when you cherish your sin, you desire a life that tends to it. You will remain in it. Do not let sin master you, or it will condemn you. The world is coming to an end, all of its sinful ways. The ungodly need to heed the warning of God. It's coming in horrific Passion, complete devastation. To the godly, engage the battle. Prepare for the life to come. Sin will have no part of it. Therefore, let us mortify our sin. Let's battle together. The text gives us the final ending. The end of gospel opportunity. We've already talked about this, but it's driven home in the text. The end for sinners to be forgiven and cleansed through faith in Christ is coming. The writer of Hebrews made this point in Hebrews 9.27, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. You ask, where is this understanding of the ending of opportunity found in the text? I understand that and I agree with that, but Joe, your content must come from the text. Where is that? Well, this brings us back to the first thing we considered. The two sayings of Christ. How they both reveal how He defeats sin. One was Christ saying on the cross, to Telestai, it is finished. Redemption was accomplished through the cross of Christ, ratified through the resurrection. Our forgiveness is based upon the atoning death of Christ. Therefore, we are required to trust in his death for the payment of our sin. It is absolutely essential, non-negotiable. The cross of Christ, the foundation for forgiveness. Without believing and trusting in his death, there will be no salvation, no pardon for you. That is The first way, Christ conquered sin through the cross, it shall reign no more in the lives of the beloved. But the other way is revealed through his second saying, it is done. The second way Christ deals with sin is through final judgment. The cup of God's wrath is poured out for all sins. Either Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for you on the cross or you will be made to drink the cup of God's wrath in your eternal ruin on this dreadful day of judgment that is soon to come. Christ will either take it for you or you will take it upon yourself. John's vision showed that even as the terrible judgment falls on the last day, Christ's enemies were still found. Did you notice this? Still found. Cursing God. Verse 21. And huge hell stones, about 100 pounds each, came down from heaven upon men. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of hell, because its plague was extremely severe. This reaction to God's just punishment confirms their enmity towards God. As unrepentant enemies and sinners, they are smitten to the ground with great hell stones, about a hundred pounds each, which fell from heaven on them. Again, apocalyptic language. That understanding of interpretation is applied here. Great hailstones from heaven are oftentimes been used as a biblical symbol of wrathful judgment on the enemies of God. You can see Isaiah chapter 28. Hailstones of this colossal size would easily have enough force to slay all those beneath them, utterly silencing the lips that curse their God. As we noted in the previous sermon, the world dies in its sin, unwilling to repent. The hearts of the wicked only further harden even under divine judgment. This text reminds us again of the condition of the human heart, but for the grace of God. No matter how horrific, how convincing to the enlightened heart of the judgment of God can be, to the heart that remains in death, in sin, Even these horrific judgments that should confirm to all cannot, cannot change the heart of a wicked person. Can a leper change his spots? An Ethiopian is skin. That even this description of hellacious judgment cannot soften the heart of the wicked. Again, that reminds us, folks, of the absolute miraculous power needed in the salvation of a person. That's why Paul wrote about just as God spoke light into the darkness of creation, so He shall shine the light of truth into your heart, into human hearts. Paul seems to be equating there that the power needed to change a heart The heart of a sinner from death to life is the same power that was executed by God in the creation of the world. That's when we talk about how miraculous regeneration is. Even this display of... I mean, John is laying it down as God revealed it to him in the most horrific terms imaginable, but it still cannot cause the sinner to repent and believe. They continue to blaspheme. Oh, but for the mercy of God. This is why we praise Him for His mercy. This is why we fall on our face and give Him thanks. Because it is impossible for you to change your own heart. It is impossible for you to wake up one day and, I have decided to follow Jesus. The only way you will decide is that there is a preemptive, miraculous strike to the heart that will change you. Regeneration must precede faith. You must exercise faith, yes, but you will only exercise that faith by being miraculously enabled to do so. That's why all the glory belongs to Him. I just found that interesting. Even in this horrific act of judgment, it's not enough. The text reminds us of the condition of the human heart. As I warned last week, God rains down judgment after judgment upon the earth to humble and bring the last members of the elect to himself. It's the tool he uses, but he still must intervene upon the heart. But he will use warnings of judgment to bring his people to himself as he softens their heart. But there's a flip side to that judgment, as we talked about last week. As He will use it to draw in His elect, He also uses it to harden the wicked, making them even more ripe for judgment. That's a terrifying thing. The hardship God brings upon the world for its sin has a two-fold purpose. To soften those He intends to save and to harden those He has passed over. There may be those today hearing these words who are desperately in need to heed them, yet it will have no effect upon their hearts. The hardships they suffer may in fact torment their souls, but it will only further harden their hearts towards Christ and His people unless God intervenes. How is it, ask yourself, if you're even interested in what I'm saying, How is it when God strikes you in your life? And He will. How is it when God strikes you and removes your comforts and strips you down leaving you nothing? Does it draw you nearer to Him? Or does it make you even more indifferent towards Christ and His Gospel? I heard a fantastic sermon last week on the book of Job. And the dear brother was preaching to a room full of ministers. And he asked us every morning, if God took away everything from you, would you still worship Him? What do you use ministry for? Oh, your ministry is a reflection of your love for Him. What if He took it away from you? Would you still worship Him? Joe Allen, if He took away your ministry next Sunday, would you still be found in the church house singing His praises? with the people of God, listening to the Word of God and following the Word of God. God has a way to intervene in our lives to prove our faith, and He often uses hardship. Now, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. We're not talking about eternal judgment, but we're talking about sometimes to His faithful followers, He will, and it's so like God, to insert pain. Through the crucible of life, He will strip you down, take away from you things, loved ones, jobs, ministries, will you still worship Him? God will use hardship to draw His people to Himself. That's what we looked to last week. And it's even alluded to here that He will use judgment to save the elect, but to harden the wicked. How is it that you respond? You will give indications of your soul and how you respond to hardships that will show how you will respond to judgment when it comes. We're not talking about periodic hardships now, but we're talking about we've moved from minors to majors. There are the hardships throughout life that God assigns for us. And when He rained down His fierce anger of judgment upon the sinful world, Our minor hardships will be nothing in comparison to that. Yet as fierce as it will be, it still will not have the power to change the hardened hearts of unbelief. God may use hardships as a tool, but He must move upon the heart of unbelief in order that it be humbled, softened into repentance and faith. The only thing hardship and fierce judgment will do if God does not intend to show mercy and intervene to soften the heart is to harden the unbelieving wicked heart for eternal judgment. He's glorified nonetheless. God will either soften your heart and save it, or condemn your heart and pass over it in judgment, and He's going to get the glory out of both. Now if this word strikes your heart, to which you tremble and see that you need forgiveness of sin through Christ's death, bow the knee right now. In the theater of your mind and heart, cry out to God. Humble yourself before Him. Cry out to Him that you agree that you are a terrible sinner and that you understand that Jesus Christ is your only hope for forgiveness and salvation. Who said a Calvinist doesn't preach the gospel? Inviting sinners to repent and believe. Bow the knee and confess that you believe in the sinless Christ, His substitutionary death for you and His glorious resurrection on the third day. Believe and live following after His teachings. You repent from your sin and you believe. Repentance is a continual lifestyle of the elect. How do I know that I've been drawn to Christ and forgiven? You follow Him. You battle sin. Repent now. Repent from your life of disobedience and unbelief. Commit to following the teachings of Christ. Look to Him and only Him. Follow Christ, only Christ, and then you will escape the wrath to come. And I can offer this to you right now because the opportunity for forgiveness and salvation still stands. But I do not know for how much longer. You have the opportunity now. Please take full advantage of it. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Do not harden your heart, for if you do, you're only further calcifying it for the day of judgment, that when it comes, you will continually blaspheme the name of Christ. You will hate the judgment, but your heart will be so hard, you will continue to thumb your nose at the risen Christ. Confess your sins and your need for Christ, so that you will flee the wrath to come. or continue to harden your heart and perish eternally. God has warned you. How merciful, loving, and patient. May God add blessing to the reading, hearing, and proclamation of His Word.