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[0:00] with me as we stand together and we read with one another the Word of God found in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 8, we'll read all 13 verses. The Word of God says, When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

[0:16] And I saw all the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him so that he might add to it the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and threw it to the earth and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

[0:46] And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. The first angel sounded and there came hail and fire and mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

[1:23] The name of the stars called Wormwood and a third of the waters became Wormwood and many men died from the waters because they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it in the night in the same way. Verse 13, then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. Let's pray.

[1:56] Lord, we thank you so much you've given us this day and Lord, we praise you for allowing us together together to read publicly your word. We pray as we have heard it and we've read it, Lord, that you would now speak to our hearts and minds. Lord, that the truth of it would captivate us. Lord, that it would draw us closer to you. It would move us further to a greater sense of obedience and Lord, that it would lead us to be more Christ-like in the culture and in time you've placed us. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Revelation chapter 8 is the breaking of the seventh seal. And in the breaking of the seventh seal, I want you to see this morning the resounding alarm to repent.

[2:36] The resounding alarm to repent. Throughout scripture, trumpets are used for a number of matters. Trumpets are used to call the nation together for worship. They're used to signal the going out of an army to battle. They're used of a gathering together of people like when they were building the wall in Nehemiah's time and people had to gather together in one spot. Trumpets are often used throughout scripture to call God's people and all mankind to attention. Based upon the sound, or the declaration of the sound of the trumpet, men would respond. And what we see is God is about to sound the trumpet. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that a trumpet will call us home. We call that the rapture of the church. For those of you who have not been with us, we know at this time the church is present in heaven. The church has already been raptured.

[3:27] After Revelation 3, the church is in heaven. And the believers we see coming to Christ after that are those who had never had the opportunity to respond to the gospel. And they respond in part because of the evangelism of the 144,000 sealed witnesses. But what we also see is that God sounds one trumpet and calls his church home. And then later on, he's about to sound seven trumpets. And these trumpets are the resounding call for men to repent. Because there's a repeated phrase found throughout the book of Revelation that in spite of all these things, men would not repent. It is amazing how God uses circumstances and situations to call us to focus not only on our own lives, but on eternity. And how he calls us to look to something beyond ourselves. You saw it this morning in the testimony of Lizzie when she made that video. Very simple testimony, but it is a testimony of how God used circumstances in her life to call her to himself. Many of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior could probably give very similar testimonies. Maybe it wasn't as a result of a death of a loved one. Maybe it was something else. But God used a circumstance or a situation in your life to show you the reality of who he was and who he wanted to be to you. He had to bring you to the end of yourself so that you could look to someone beyond yourself to save you and to redeem you.

[4:50] Man desperately needs a redeemer, but until man understands he needs redemption, he will not look for that redeemer. And God uses these things to call us to attention. And what we see going on in the book of Revelation is God's final call, his final cry for man to stand up and to take notice.

[5:08] For man to repent and to turn and he's giving them opportunity. Listen, if Revelation was all about God's judgment, then he would have said one word and the world would have been destroyed and men would have been judged. Let us not fool ourselves. God did not have to delay and redeem us because we were born as a sin nature. We rejected him. We made willing choices to deny our creator. We made willing choices to live as if he didn't exist. And at any moment, God in his holiness, holy, holy, holy, as we sang earlier, one of my favorite hymns, God in his holiness would have been absolutely justified to condemn us and judge us to a Christless eternity. But he didn't. He was gracious. And up to this point, he's been gracious in your life and my life, giving us opportunity because the Bible says that God is not slow, but he is patient. Not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to everlasting life and they should repent. And what we see in the book of Revelation is God in his patience. If

[6:09] God just wanted to judge mankind, think about this, he's already raptured the church. He would be absolutely justified in rendering one final judgment and wiping everyone off the face of the earth.

[6:21] But he did not. He did it progressively because in his patience and in his kindness and in his goodness and in his love, he is giving man the opportunity to repent. This is why when we finally get to the end of the book of Revelation and we see this world being consumed completely by fire, we have to say, God is right. Man wanted nothing to do with him and they rejected him. And he's calling out to them, this seventh seal is the resounding call of God for men to repent. And it is displayed in seven trumpets, which also contain the seven bowls. And God is desperately calling out, look to me, look to me, look to me. But as Jesus said in the book of John, men love darkness rather than light.

[7:11] And they fled from the light and ran into darkness and they long to have their way and not his way. We need to have an understanding that by the time we get to this point in Revelation, Revelation 6 shows us that everyone on earth already knew God was judging them. They made this declaration that day of the Lord has come and his judgment is fierce. But yet though they knew he was judging them, they did not receive him. I want you to see four truths from Revelation 8 as these trumpets sound, as he's calling men to repent. Number one, we see a pause in heaven. We see a pause in heaven. The very first verse says, when the lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Now, some biblical scholars say that's a half hour according to heaven's time.

[8:00] You say, well, how long is heaven's time? I don't know. But I know that the Bible says a day with the Lord as it was a thousand years and a thousand years as if a day. So I don't know how long half an hour is. Could be a long time. It could be 30 minutes. I don't know. But it's a half hour according to heaven's time and something amazing happens. And the reason this is amazing is because of everything we have seen happening up to this point. We have been in heaven now since Revelation chapter 4.

[8:24] And I don't know if you realize it or not. This is why, by the way, I stop right here. I don't mind the children crying. I don't mind them talking back to me. I don't mind it if they throw stuff at me. It's okay. I don't mind the activity and I don't mind the busyness because let's be honest. I know it's completely side-frame. Our world is a loud world and it's busy with activity and activity is a display of life and it's a display of energy. And God has given us that. And this is exactly, I'm not completely chasing a squirrel, by the way, because this is exactly what we see in heaven.

[8:57] As soon as John is in heaven, the first thing that captivates his attention is there are flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and this radiance of the throne. And around the throne, there are these angels that are calling out, holy, holy, holy. And then there are the elders who are falling down and throwing their crowns before his feet, declaring his praises. And all throughout these scenes of heaven, one thing you notice is heaven is not a bunch of people floating around on clouds being quiet. Did you ever catch that? Heaven is not floating around, plucking a harp and everything's quiet. No, it is jubilee. It is excitement. I get a little carried away sometimes when I preach.

[9:32] I get a little worked up. I get a little baptic-costal every now and then. Sometimes my soul comes out of me. But guess what? You haven't seen anything yet. When I get to heaven, it's going to be better because that which hinders me now will be cast off then. And I believe the Lord's got a good soul ready for me. He's got a clean soul and a purified body. And he's going to give me one that can actually dance and move and sing and shout and declare his praises. Heaven is a place of excitement.

[10:00] It is a place of worship. It is a place of loudness. And all the multitude of angels and the people and the elders and the church and everybody's declaring God's praises. And the lamb breaks the seventh seal and silence. It stops. Why? It's amazing. I remember one time in particular that I was preaching to church where I pastored before this. And I was really getting excited at that time. I don't know if you can believe that or not, but I was really getting carried away. And one of the young ladies that we had known, my family and I knew for a long time, was setting second pew from here. And I remember for some reason I slapped the pulpit. I don't know. I was just excited, right? I don't normally do that.

[10:43] Maybe that's why I don't stand next to it anymore, but I slapped it and it just echoed. She jumped up out of her seat and screamed, ah! And everybody else was quiet. It just got deathly silent in the sanctuary for a minute. She never did let me live that one down. But it was just that abrupt, something amazing happened. Why did everything go quiet? She was asleep. You know, I didn't realize she was, I wasn't trying to wake her up, but she was asleep. Careful where you sleep. Pastor may slap the pulpit, right? That's what happened. I woke her up when I did that. But everything just fell silent. It is amazing how, even in our lives, if you're watching a sporting event and something tragic happens in that sporting event, how a hush falls over the crowd. Maybe you come up on something you've never seen and all of a sudden it's just this silence. It's this hush. What happens is when the Lamb opens that seventh seal, heaven goes quiet. Why? Because they're seeing something we don't see.

[11:33] They see. They see what that seventh seal contains and they see the judgment that's about to fall upon man. And they see God's wrath that's about to be poured out upon the earth. Friend, listen to me.

[11:43] If you think in heaven you're going to take pleasure in God judging man, read the book of Revelation. Because they were speechless at what God was about to do. And it moved them to silence in the presence of a holy God. Their worship stopped. Their celebration ceased. Their declaration of his glory held on for just a moment. They had to pause and gather themselves because of what God was about to do.

[12:11] Friend, I think it's high time that the church sets silence every now and then at the judgment that's awaiting the world who does not know Christ as their Lord and Savior. I think if the church would ever stand aghast at what it looks like for man without Jesus Christ that the church would be motivated to boldly declare the work of Jesus Christ. Because we take it lightly. We think, oh yeah, well they just don't know him. I guess they're going to miss out on heaven. They're not going to miss out on heaven. They're going to experience hell. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the truth.

[12:45] And when you read the book of Revelation, by the way, you'll see that it is an eternity. And it is an eternal pain. It is an eternal torment. As a matter of fact, we'll read very quick. It says they will be tormented without ends for all of eternity. Crying out, wanting to die, but not be able to die. And that should move us to silence. And that should move us to be still.

[13:08] Even at times in the midst of our declaration of worship, in the midst of our celebration of who he is, it should cause us to pause and to be still and say, what about my loved ones? What about my neighbors?

[13:24] Friend, what about you? What about me? Do I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? Do I honestly know him? Or am I on the other side of that sounding warning?

[13:36] We see the pause of heaven. Number two, we see the preparation to sound. We see the preparation to sound because not only was there a silence, but during that silence, something amazing was going on because John says silence fell upon heaven. And for about 30 minutes, everyone was still about half an hour. And he says in verse two, and I saw the seven angels, by the way, this is a very specific designation. I like how I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. This is the preparation. These are very specific angels.

[14:07] Angels is a great study throughout scripture. And someday, maybe the Lord will allow us to, angels is a phenomenal study because angels are a powerful force. Again, not some little weaned creatures flying around with a halo. These are created powerful beings that do God's bidding and beckoning.

[14:21] As a matter of fact, we see throughout scripture that angels have very prominent positions. And the Bible says that you have angels who keep guard over you. Mine must be a strong one. He's probably a tired one as well because, you know, I take a lot of risks that I probably shouldn't risk.

[14:35] Jesus says that every child has an angel who is a guardian over them, that one is designated to them. When we get through the end of the book of Revelations, you'll see John fall down and worship before an angel. And this angel will tell John to stand up. And he'll tell John to stand up.

[14:48] I am your ministering angel. He is there to minister to John. So think about that as believers. Next time you feel like you don't have the strength to persevere. Next time you feel like you don't have the strength to make the right choice.

[14:59] Next time you feel like you don't have the strength to choose not to sin. God is there. But there are these angels that John says here that are the ones who stand before the throne of God. These are very specific angels. These are the inner circle angels, if you will, like the secret service, right?

[15:15] The people who are constantly around his throne. Gabriel describes himself when speaking to Zechariah in the temple. He said, I constantly stand in the presence of God. If Gabriel is one of these seven, we don't know for sure.

[15:25] But we do know that Gabriel is of that order. He is one of those angels. And there are at least seven more angels whose whole job it is to stand around the throne. That's a cool job. And they're to be right there.

[15:37] And when God says do something, they do it. And when God gives them a command, they obey that command. And John says, I saw these seven angels who stand before God. They were given seven trumpets. The word given here is a very loaded word.

[15:49] And it seems to imply that God gave them the trumpets. It is the same word that is used in the original language anytime God gives something. So these are gathered around his throne. And from his throne, from the very person, if you will, of God, he gives these angels that are closest to him the trumpets that he wants them to sound.

[16:08] What does this show us? That in the preparation, everything that happens flows from God. That's important. Everything flows from God. From those closest to God.

[16:20] From those nearest to God. Because God is doing something. And what he's doing is he's calling men to repent. Friend, listen to me. In your life, God has done some things in your life. And he at times has sent angels to sound a trumpet that only you can hear in your life.

[16:35] Because God is doing something in your life. And the things coming to you are coming from the throne of God to call you to God. He is doing some amazing things. Maybe nobody else can hear that trumpet sounding.

[16:47] Maybe nobody else can see it as you can. But God is doing something. You say, well, how do I know it's the Lord doing it? Because the Bible says no man comes after God. No, not one. There are none who are righteous. None.

[16:57] That we're all desperately wicked. So this whole reality, this whole thing, this whole drawing, this whole thinking about God, that's not natural to man. Because you have a sin nature. I know it's a kind of evangelism thing, but we need to stay with it.

[17:09] It should be an evangelism thing. Because, by the way, the gospel is evangelistic, right? It's about Jesus Christ. And the fact that we think about him, we think about eternity, we think about what Christ has done, that's not of us.

[17:21] That's not what we do naturally. That's God sounding a trumpet in our life, showing us who he is, how he's called us to himself, showing us where we are, showing us where we need to be.

[17:32] And that comes from the throne. And just like these seven trumpets, there was a preparation. God took the initiative. God made the plans. And now he's about to give them the power to sound the trumpet. We see here the preparation to sound.

[17:45] And it says, and the seven angels, verse 6, and the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. They're getting ready. Because God has given them a command.

[17:56] He has told them, there's something I want you to do. Friend, listen to me. There are times when God is getting your attention. And that command, that attention was something that flowed from the throne of God. And God told one of his specific messengers, this is what I want you to do.

[18:10] I care so much about this individual. They'll sound the alarm where they can hear it. These preparations are intentional, they're purposeful, and they are powerful.

[18:21] Number three, we see the petitions rising. This is something that we ought to pay very close attention to because often in our time, we think that prayers are not that powerful.

[18:32] If we thought prayers were powerful, then we would pray more. And if we thought that prayers were powerful, we would be like the New Testament church. I love the fact that it says when the New Testament church in the book of Acts had a prayer meeting, the walls of the building were shaken.

[18:47] I take that literally. That literally, the place where they were at was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they began to proclaim with all boldness, Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection.

[18:58] That when they prayed, something happened. Many of us were like the prayer meeting that was going on when Peter was in jail. We're sitting there praying, oh Lord, please set Peter free. Oh Lord, please set Peter free. Peter's asleep in the jail and an angel of the Lord, in response to the church's prayers, goes and kicks Peter in the side.

[19:14] The shackles fall off of his feet and he says, Peter, it's time to go. And he marches Peter through one gate, through the second gate. And Peter's like, wow, I'm free. So Peter runs to the house where the church is gathered and knocks on the door. And a slave girl opens the door and Peter's sitting there.

[19:27] And she goes back in and she tells everybody praying. Peter's at the door and they say, you've probably seen a ghost. That's not true. Now think about that. Just for a minute, one of the greatest oxymorons I've ever seen in the scripture, the church was praying for Peter's release and then the church would not believe that God had released Peter.

[19:41] Why? Because they were already doubting their prayers. And so many times we're like that too. We don't think that God really responds to our prayers. And if we really thought that he responded to our prayers, we would pray more. And if we would pray more, we would pray more specifically.

[19:54] And we would call out to him with bold declaration. And we would call out to him with expectancy. And I wonder how many of us expect something when we pray. I know some great prayer warriors. And I love the people who are great prayer warriors.

[20:06] And I love the fact these people are usually so humble and meek. And I love how when they tell me something like, well, I'm going to pray about that. Then I know that that thing is almost as secured and sealed in heaven as anything God is going to do.

[20:19] They'll tell you, okay, well, I'm just going to pray that God does that. And it's almost like it's guaranteed it's going to happen. I've met just a few people that can step out in that kind of boldness. And then I just step back and I just watch and see what God does in response to their prayers.

[20:31] And I'm usually blown away. He's done some amazing things that I've seen as a direct response to individuals who really know the power of prayer. And we see this here in Revelation 8, the petitions that are rising.

[20:43] And we see how God responds to prayers. It ought to be a motivation for us to pray. After the angels were given the trumpets, in verse 2, it says in verse 3, another angel came and stood at the altar.

[20:54] This is another angel. This is one like the others, but it's another angel. Some see this as being Jesus Christ. I don't think so. The reason I don't think so is because it is designated as another angel, as the same type as the ones who had the seven trumpets.

[21:09] And also, Jesus is the one opening the scroll, so we can't see him as the one carrying the censer. But another angel came and he stood at the altar holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar, which is before the throne.

[21:25] So now here we see this angel doing what Zechariah was doing when he had the vision of the coming of John the Baptist. He had the censer, and he went before the altar, and he got the fire from the altar. That would be the altar of sacrifice.

[21:37] Those that are with us in Leviticus on Sunday nights. That would be the altar of sacrifice, the brazen altar. And he took that over to the golden altar, the altar of incense, which was before the throne.

[21:47] Because if you remember, the very last piece of furniture you found in the tabernacle before you entered through the veil to the Holy of Holies was the altar of incense. Because before you went in there, you would put incense on this altar, and that altar was to be a sign of the prayers of God's people ascending into the presence of God.

[22:05] Now that was important before you went into the presence of God, because you want the intercession of the people of God before you go into the presence of God. Because if you don't, you may not be welcomed into the presence of God.

[22:15] He is holy. So this altar, this golden altar of incense, is before the throne, literally. And we see this. And this angel takes some of the fire from the sacrifice, and he brings it over here to the altar of incense, and he adds it, the Bible says, to the prayers of all the saints.

[22:31] Now we know that the prayers that we have seen in the book of Revelation are not church-age prayers, because their cry is, How long, O Lord? How long? How long will you delay your judgment?

[22:42] How long? They are imprecatory prayers. That is, asking God to judge people for their rejection of Him. That's not a church-age prayer. We're asking God to be gracious and merciful, but remember, in Revelation, we're not looking at church-age.

[22:55] We're saying, God, what we see in Revelation is the people of God are saying, God, how long are you going to let man mock you? How long are you going to let God look down on your holiness? How long is it going to be, O God, before you really call men to account?

[23:10] And these are the prayers that the incense is offering. And it says, and that smoke rises up to God, and God does something in response to what He hears and smells.

[23:21] Friend, listen to me. What's amazing here is you see prayers being offered, and you see God on the throne responding. That's a reality that is present today.

[23:33] God responds to the prayers of the saints. It may not happen when we want it to happen, but it does happen. It is a present reality.

[23:45] And we see it here that when these prayers rise up, then God says, blow the trumpets. How long? Now is the time. Blow the trumpets. We also see that this angel takes this censer, and he takes it and he puts some of the fire in it, which is a representation of the prayers of the saints, right?

[24:02] And he casts it to the earth. I mean, think about that. It's almost like literally the prayers of the saints are thrown on the earth. No saints are present on the earth at this time other than the 144,000 sealed witnesses, so it's not going to harm them.

[24:15] And hell and fire and brimstone fall and pills and thunder and flashes of lightning. And it's almost like judgment is coming because the people of God are praying. And if in that day judgment can come because the people of God pray, how much more could salvation come because the people of God pray?

[24:31] And we see God responding to the prayers of his people in a very literal way. And it is thrown upon the face of the earth, and God takes action.

[24:43] So we see here the pause in heaven. We see the preparation to sound. We see the petitions rising. And fourth and finally, we see the powerful destruction.

[24:56] We have four trumpets that are sounded here. Four trumpets that are sounded very intentional here. And they come with four displays of a powerful destruction.

[25:07] And God is doing it in a very intentional order because he's trying to wake men up. I don't know how many of you get up on an alarm clock, but I would dare say that most of us do.

[25:19] At least one person in the house does. In my house, that person is me. It is my job to hear the alarm to get everybody else up. It amazes me. I guess mine is the only one that works.

[25:31] Because when my alarm goes off and I get up, everybody else is still asleep. And even if, well, take that back. Brayden usually gets up without an alarm. Brayden's theme is sun's up, I'm up. So we put very dark curtains in Brayden's room, right?

[25:44] So he doesn't know when the sun is up. Because it was like 4.30 one morning. He was looking at me. I said, Brayden, what are you doing? He said, sun's coming up, Dad. So I got up. I said, nope, go back. Sun's not all the way up yet. You know, but that's just his theory.

[25:57] But in our house, somebody has to respond to the alarm. And then go get everybody else up. Some of you, it only has to kind of halfway sound. That's the way I used to be.

[26:09] It didn't really matter. Now I know how many times I set my alarm early enough that I know how many times I can hit snooze before I really have to get up. I have my get up time and then my really get up time, right? They're like, well, I better get up now time.

[26:22] And we know that there can be a number of alarms that sound and then I finally need to get up. But that alarm wakes us up. And this is exactly what God is doing. What God is going to do here in this destruction is he's going to take the very thing that man is trusting in.

[26:37] He's going to take the very thing that man is worshiping. He's going to take the very thing that man is relying upon and he's going to shake it up a little bit. Listen, I love creation. I love creation.

[26:48] I love this earth. I love the world that God has created and formed and I love nature. I love being out in it. I love understanding it. But listen, I don't want anybody to take this wrong and I have to say this because I know sometimes we may do it.

[27:02] But I also know the reality that this world is passing away. And I don't need a scientist to tell me that because Isaiah has already said that he's stretching out the heavens like a scroll, that he's going to tear the heavens apart.

[27:14] And then Peter tells me that this world will be consumed by fire. I know in the book of Revelation it says that he will create a new heaven and a new earth and it will be right again. So as much as I love what he has created, I'm not going to worship what he's created.

[27:30] Because I'm going to let the creation point me to the creator. But man has a problem. Man worships the creation rather than worshiping the creator. We want to, as Casting Crowns says, we want to hug the trees and kill the children.

[27:42] We want to save the planet and forsake mankind. We want to be concerned about a hole in the ozone layer, which I'm not telling you it's not there because Isaiah has already said it's there.

[27:56] He said it's being tore apart. And we want to get bent out of shape about that, but we don't want to get bent out of shape about the hole in men's hearts. That God has said eternity in the heart of all men and men need something to fill that void in that hole.

[28:08] And we concern ourselves more about the hole above us than the hole inside of us. And God's going to take that and pull it out from under man. As John MacArthur said, in this day, Earth Day is going to be a bad day.

[28:20] Because when these trumpets are blown, the earth suffers. Paul says in the book of Romans that all of creation groans until the day of redemption. That nature itself groans until man is finally redeemed.

[28:33] That it is not the problem of this world, it is man's problem that has created problems for this world. And when this powerful destruction starts happening, the first trumpet sounds. And it says, And hell and fire and blood fell out of heaven, and it destroyed a third of the earth.

[28:47] A third of the trees were burned up. And all the green grass. You say all the grass? No, the Bible very clearly says all the green grass. Not all grass is green at the same time. Some of it different seasons.

[28:58] But at that time, the earth is burned up. It is scorched. And then the second trumpet sounds. And something like a fiery mountain, which was probably a meteor or an asteroid, falls into the sea. And the sea turns blood red.

[29:10] And a third of the sea, a third of the things that have life in the sea die. And a third of the ships are destroyed. Because now earth is being scarred. And now the ocean, the commerce, and the trade is being scarred.

[29:21] But I saw an image the other day of how many shipping lanes there are going across the ocean. And how much commerce depends upon the ocean. And when we are living in a worldwide economy like we are in the book of Revelation, when a third of it disappears, guess what?

[29:36] That's going to bring things to a little bit of a crippling halt. So a third of it is destroyed. And then the third trumpet sounds. And there is a star that falls out of heaven. This literally means some heavenly object.

[29:47] And that star has a name called Wormwood. You say, well, is that Satan? I don't think so because he doesn't come up until the sounding of the fifth trumpet. And we haven't got to that yet. It is literally a star which is directly connected to bitterness or something being poisoned.

[30:01] And that's why they give it the name Wormwood. It is a picture of a plant that is in that region of the world even today. And it is cast into the fresh water. So now all of a sudden, one thing, a third of the salt water is destroyed.

[30:13] Now a third of the fresh water is going to be destroyed. You can live a number of days without food, but you cannot go very long without water. Because that's when it says when a third of the fresh water, the rivers and the wells and the springs, a third of that is destroyed, then many men will die.

[30:28] See, God is not bringing rains upon men yet. He's still doing it upon creation. And when creation begins to grow, men begin to pay. Men begin to pay the ultimate price and they die. And then it says the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were darkened so that the sun did not shine for a third of the day.

[30:45] I don't know if that means that the day will go from 24 hours to 16 hours. I don't know. And a third of the night was darkened. And what we see is that God is raining his judgment upon this planet and upon the cosmos.

[30:58] Because these are the things that man has trusted. And listen, think about this. If the sun was darkened for a third and the moon was darkened for a third and the stars of the sky were darkened for a third, can you imagine what that does to the tidal waves and tsunamis coming?

[31:11] And can you imagine just what that does to climate? What we see here is that everything that man is called upon or everything that man is trusted in as being stable is being shaken up.

[31:22] It's being shaken up. Earth begins to have scars on it it used to not have. The sea begins to have problems it used to not have. The fresh water begins to have problems it used to not have.

[31:34] The heavens begin to have problems it used to not have. Everything that man is called upon is consistent. Everything that man is dependent upon. As a matter of fact, Genesis says that God set the heavenly objects in the sky to be signs and a testimony, right?

[31:47] That's what he says. He created the stars and the planets and everything to be signs and testimonies declaring his order for seasons and order. And all of a sudden he's shaking those up because that which men has counted on as being consistent now gets shaken.

[32:00] And sometimes that's what it takes to wake us up. Is that which has always been true all of a sudden not being true? And where do we go from here? And God is sounding the alarm.

[32:13] The sad reality is, he says there's an eagle that flies in mid-heaven, kind of above the earth and below the heavens. There's this eagle flying and he says, Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[32:26] Thrice repeated whoa means for each one of the three trumpets to be sounded. God has sounded the alarm to repent. Man does not repent.

[32:37] So, whoa is going to fall on him threefold. The sad reality is that men still will not repent. Because they love their sins more than they love the Creator.

[32:50] I know it seems to be a hard passage. But friend, I want to ask you something. How long has it been since you praised God for sounding the alarm in your life? How long has it been since you praised Him in His grace and His mercy?

[33:03] Because really, the repetition of a third of shows us that God is in complete control. And that God is not bringing a final complete destruction yet. He's giving two-thirds the opportunity.

[33:18] He's giving more of an opportunity than He is bringing a judgment. He's giving more of a chance to repent than He is bringing judgment. God is definitely in control. So how long has it been since we praised Him for sounding the alarm which led to our repentance and our turning?

[33:33] How long has it been since we got excited because He called out to us? He shook up what we were standing on so that we would trust Him and follow Him. And if you say, well, it's been too long, then why not praise Him now?

[33:47] Or maybe you say, you know what? I've heard that alarm sound. I've heard that trumpet blow. But I've never responded. My friend, the only question I have to ask you then is, why not?

[34:02] Because there will come a day where that final trumpet is blown. And I'm reading ahead in Revelation. In my daily reading, I'm reading ahead in Revelation. And when that seventh trumpet is blown, then the seven bowls come.

[34:17] And when the seven bowls are poured out, it's too late. It's too late. Everything is falling on man. Friend, how long has it been?

[34:29] And why do we delay? Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much. We give You all the praise and the glory and admiration. Lord, we thank You for being the one who calls us to Yourself.

[34:42] Lord, You love us enough to sound the alarm in our life. You love us enough to call us as Your people to attention. So, Lord, we give You the praise for that. Lord, I pray. Lord, that You would lead and guide each one of us.

[34:55] Lord, that we would draw close to You. Lord, we would be motivated to proclaim Your Gospel. Lord, we would share it with the lost and dying world. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[35:29] Amen. Amen.

[36:00] Thank you.

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[42:59] Thank you.