God, just remove evil from the world. God, if I were in charge, that's what I would do. Why don't you do that, God? Get rid of all evil.
Okay.
Well, if tonight at midnight God removed every ounce of evil in the world, how many of you would be left here at 1201? Thanks for joining us today for the Summit Life podcast with J.D. Greer. I'm Molly Bidovich. At Summit Life, we're always praying for one thing above all else, fruit that lasts.
That means lives being changed by Jesus. People finding forgiveness, freedom, and new life through the gospel. It means believers growing stronger in their faith, rooted in God's Word, and equipped to follow Christ in every area of life. It also means local churches being strengthened, pastors encouraged, leaders equipped, and congregations sent out on mission. And ultimately, it means multiplication.
Disciples making disciples and churches planting churches so the gospel continues to spread. That's why Summit Life uses media as a tool, not as the destination, but as the megaphone to proclaim the message of Jesus clearly and faithfully. If you're listening today, know this, God is at work often in ways we can't see through simple faithfulness and shared truth. If you'd like to learn more about this mission or explore free resources, visit jdgreer.com.
Now, grab your Bible and head back to the book of Revelation. In the midst of all the frightening images, we might ask: where is hope to be found? Pastor JD encourages us to find it by keeping our gaze on this glorious picture. Jesus reigns victorious. Here we go.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer. and he was giving much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints.
rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.
So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, take and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter. but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it.
It was sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, My stomach was made bitter. And I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings. Yeah. Revelation chapter 8, if you got your Bibles, Revelation chapter 8.
Revelation is not just a book of random speculations about the future. Revelation is a book that profoundly shapes how you see life in the present. It's about the end of the world and the return of Christ, a subject which both fascinates and terrifies a lot of people. When I was in high school, a little book came out that took the world by storm. It was by Edgar Wisnett, who was a former NASA engineer turned prophecy expert.
It was called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. Dr. Wisnick claimed that the rapture, which is when Jesus comes in the clouds to gather believers to himself before he brings the end of the world, Dr. Wisnick predicted that the rapture would occur during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah in 1988, which took place between sunset of September 11th to sunset September 13th. A lot of people objected, and they were like, Yeah, but didn't Jesus say that no man could know the day or the hour of his return?
And Dr. Wisnett was like, Yes, yes. He said we couldn't know the specific day or the hour, but he never said we couldn't know the three-day window in which the day and the hour would occur. The book sold four and a half million copies. If you try to find one of these today online, it'll go for about $80.
Back then, they were like 35 cents. This little book was a big deal at my little Christian school. I had to read it. Everybody was talking about it. The book was, in some parts, fascinating and in other parts, odd.
For example, one of the 88 reasons why Dr. Wisnet said Jesus would come back in 1988 was that in 1988, the United States turned 212 years old. And well, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Plus, in 1988, the U.S. Congress was meeting for its 100th session.
So, obviously, with those two things lining up in one year, 1988 would clearly be the year of Jesus' return. September 13th, 1988, the last day of the three-day window, was a Tuesday. I remember it well. I was in the 10th grade. And when soccer practice ended that afternoon, it was just before sunset.
So, our coach at my little Christian school sat us all down in the bleachers, the whole team, and said, Well, fellas, we're just going to wait this thing out and see what happens. And then he looked at me. He looked at me specifically. He said, JD, if it does, we all get raptured. Please make sure all the equipment gets put away after it's done.
That is not a joke. He actually said that. Of course, sunset came and went with no Jesus in the clouds. And so the next year, the same author released 89 reasons why Jesus would come back. In 1989, he explained he had gotten the date wrong because he'd used the Gregorian calendar instead of the lunisolar one, which, of course, you know, happens to the best of us.
Now, you may or may not have had that same experience, but I know some of you grew up with all kinds of questions about the second coming of Christ, when it's happening. and how it's happening and whether there's a rapture involved and if you're gonna be left behind. Later in this message, I'm going to try to answer some of those questions, or at least I'm going to give you some handles to help you think about them. But first, let's just walk through Revelation 8 through 11. Revelation 8.1.
Opens by telling us that at the opening of the seventh seal judgment, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Up until now, the scenes in heaven have been quite boisterous. People falling on their faces, worshiping around the throne, proclaiming Christ's worthiness, casting their crowns at his feet. But here, at the beginning of chapter 8, all the praises stop. And not a word is spoken.
There's complete silence in heaven for about half an hour. And that's because the last of the seven seal judgments has been opened, which introduced us to a new round of judgments called the trumpet judgments. All in all, there are three different sets of judgments presented in the tribulation. There are the sealed judgments, that was Revelation 6 and 7. Which we've already covered.
Then there are the trumpet judgments. That's what we'll look at today. And later we'll cover the bold judgments, which will be in Revelation 15 through 18. Each of these series of judgments consists of seven judgments each, so 21 in all, and all of them take place during this seven-year period that we call the Great Tribulation.
Now, remember, there are a couple different ways to read the book of Revelation. Actually, there are several different ways to read the book of Revelation, but there are two primary ways.
Some say that we should read this book as if it's talking about an actual seven-year period coming in the future. If you read the book that way, as I do. You will read these three sets of judgments as occurring chronologically. meaning we got the seal judgments. Then we got the trumpet judgments, and then after that, we got the bold judgments.
As one set ends, another set begins, each round getting more intense than the one before. The other way to read the book is to see the tribulation not as a literal seven-year period coming in the future. but as a metaphor for the age that we're living in now. If you read the book that way, the things we read about in Revelation are symbolic of things we are already going through. And if that is the case, if that's how you read the book, then you will see the seal, the trumpet, and the bold judgments as basically three different accounts of the same thing.
John is not giving us, if you read this way, he's not giving us a specific chronology so much as he is taking us through these symbols cyclically. three different times. You'd think of it like you'd think of an instant replay in a football game, showing the same play from three different angles.
Now, as I've explained, I read the book more chronologically. I believe Revelation presents these things as future things. And honestly, y'all, it's just hard for me to read all this stuff as if it's stuff that is already happening right now that we are already going through. I'm not saying that the age we live in now is easy. I'm just saying that some of the stuff we see in these judgments is really bad and goes beyond what we seem to be going through now.
That said. I still think there's a lot we can learn about our present situation. From what Revelation tells us about the future, because, like John says, even if the official Antichrist, capital A, is not here yet. The spirit of Antichrist, 1 John 4, 3, already is here. Remember, I told you this in our last study.
The best way. To see the great tribulation is as an intensification of what we're already going through. What we're experiencing now are the tremors, like the early tremors before a big earthquake comes.
So with that in mind, Let's just walk through the trumpet judgments, okay? You better buckle up. Get your tinfoil hats on, okay? This is not for the faint of heart. Chud Ray verse 7.
The first angel blew his trumpet. There followed hail and fire mixed with blood. These were thrown down upon 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. One thing to notice.
Today, as we go through these trumpet judgments, is how they mirror the plagues in Exodus. Among the first Exodus plagues was hail raining down on the earth. Here we've got hail and fire mixed with blood, which obviously intensifies that plague.
Some scholars wonder whether this might point to volcanic activity or even the fallout from a nuclear bomb. Verse 8: The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain. By the way, when he says something like a great mountain was thrown into the sea, what he means is, I don't really know how to describe what I saw. I'm doing my best, but I didn't quite understand it. And when it happened, a third of the sea became blood.
Another allusion, by the way, to the Exodus plagues. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Again, this might be symbolism pointing to a nuclear bomb as or it could be an asteroid, some say. Astronomists say that if an asteroid of any size were to hit the earth, it would look like a burning mountain hitting the sea and it would do so at about 130,000 miles an hour. Which would cause massive devastation and a severe disruption of the food supply, which is what is being pointed to here.
The third and the fourth trumpet judgments are very similar. Verse 10, the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water, and many people died from the water because the water had become bitter. Another allusion to the Exodus plagues. In the Exodus, God had made the bitter water sweet. Here that is being reversed.
In chapter 9, we see the fifth and the sixth trumpet judgments. Chapter 9, verse 1, and the fifth angel blew his trumpet. And I saw a star falling from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft. Of the bottomless pit. Here, this falling star is a reference to Satan.
who is described by Isaiah as a star who fell to earth. The bottomless pit, scripture tells us, is where some of the demons are being held. By the way, in my transcript, I got all these references if you want to see them later. Verse 2, heave, this falling star, Satan, opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
Another allusion to the Exodus plagues, the sun being darkened. Then from the smoke came locust on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpion. scorpions on the earth. Another allusion to the Exodus plagues because now we got locust, okay? Verse 4, they were told, these demons were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree.
But only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads that were allowed to torment them for five months. But not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. This judgment points to a massive increase. in demonic activity on earth. Here's the thing to know about demons.
First. They're real. Second, demons are always given limits for their work in the world. Meaning they can only do what God allows them to do, which is good. Because otherwise they would destroy us all.
Even here in this judgment, they are told not to destroy the earth. and they're told not to touch believers. But they do have power to afflict terrible things on unbelievers. Look at how he describes these demons, verse 7, in appearance the locust. We were like horses prepared for battle.
Their faces were like human faces, their teeth like lion's teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. By the way, you are not supposed to try to recreate this image in your head like some kind of grotesque type of locus. This is symbolic speech. locust with the man's face.
means that these demons have human-like characteristics. Teeth like lions' teeth means they're predatory. And beloved, notice, I want to point out again: whenever God chooses an animal to represent the demonic, he always chooses a member of the cat family, okay? Just think about it, okay? They had breastplates like breastplates of iron.
That means they are invulnerable to human resistance. Verse 5 tells us they have tails that sting like scorpions, which means they cause physical sickness. They cause mental anguish. They promote thoughts of depression and suicide. They intensify things like anger and blasphemy and rage and pride.
They magnify feelings of despair. Listen, demons do not invent sin in your heart. They take whatever is already sinful in you and they amplify it. Like pouring gasoline on a campfire. Again, I want you to notice the similarity with the plagues of the Exodus.
Here we've got angels who destroy a significant part of the population. which is similar to the 10th plague where the death angel killed every firstborn in Egypt. In chapter 9, verse 20. The Apostle John brings the trumpet judgment to a close by saying this, verse 20. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues.
did not repent of the works of their hands. Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immoralities or their Thefts, which is similar, by the way, to how Pharaoh responded in Exodus by hardening his heart.
Now you read this. And you wonder, really, like after all of this, they still won't repent? I have to wonder what excuses will they come up with not to repent. Will they try to explain all these things away? It's just a run of really bad luck.
Or these things make them rage more against God, blaming him for all these things, saying, How can there even be a God of love if these kinds of things keep happening on earth? Most likely, they will turn to the false promises of the Antichrist instead of turning to Jesus. I know it all seems kind of crazy. But it does make me ask this right here, right now. What excuses are you giving?
to avoid repentance. Again, the tribulation is an intensification. of what we're already experiencing right now. And the Bible tells us that even now God allows tragedies, tribulations into your life to wake you up to him. He shakes you.
Sometimes he wounds you. to wake you up. I talked once with a professional athlete who had just signed a multi-million dollar contract. To play for a professional team. This lifelong dream, but then he'd done something really stupid and gotten seriously hurt while doing it.
Which not only ended his career. It voided his entire contract. All the money was canceled. He lost literally. Everything.
And he told me through tears. I can't believe I threw away my entire career. for a few seconds of fun. We talked together. We even cried together for a while.
He looked at me and he said, Pastor, do you think God is trying to speak to me through this? And I was like, bro, I think God is screaming at you through this. He said, What do you mean? I said, Well, you say you can't believe you threw away your entire career for a few seconds of fun at a party. What if the bigger tragedy was that God saw you were throwing away your eternity for a few seconds of fame on a football field?
Maybe this is not God telling you he hates you. Maybe this is love. And then I told him, just like I'm telling you.
Sometimes God in his love puts you flat on your back.
So you will finally be looking in the right direction. I will never forget sitting there in that coffee shop right here in the triangle with this guy. And when I told him that, tears just welled up in his eyes, and he said, I know that is what God is doing. I've been running from him, and he's calling me back to him. And I invited him to give his life to Jesus.
And right there in front of me, he bowed his head, he afraid to receive Jesus as his savior. In fact, it was a little weird. When I asked him if he wanted to receive Jesus, he was like, yes. And he reached out and he grabbed both my hands and kind of pulled me close to him and started to pray out loud. And I felt so self-conscious about it.
Here I am in this coffee shop holding hands with a grown man. A famous man who was just pouring out his heart to Jesus, but he wasn't shy about it at all. It was one of the sweetest repentance prayers I'd ever heard. Here's my question. What if God is doing that in your life right now?
What if all this stuff that is going on in your life, whatever it is, what if it's not God rejecting you because he hates you? What if he's trying to wake you up because he loves you? That's what's going on here in Revelation 9, 20. Is God is saying, wake up. This world is nothing to make your home, it's nothing to trust in.
One of the things I always say is, these things in your life aren't happening to pay you back for your sin. They're happening to bring you back from your sin. Will you repent? Are you going to be like these people? Who despite all the wake-up calls?
Chapter 9, verse 20. They did not repent of the work of their hands, but they hardened their hearts like Pharaoh in the Exodus. In chapter 10, we've got a Brief introlude. During which John tells us about another mighty angel that he sees holding another little scroll. A scroll which explains more about these judgments and God's work on earth, chapter 10, verse 9.
So I went to the angel and I told him. to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, take and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. That's an image, by the way, taken from the prophet Ezekiel.
Who describes the message from God that he received in the same way? It's sweet to the taste. Because it comes from God. A God of love who's provided for our salvation, but bitter to the stomach. Because it also describes judgments on earth that are coming against people, people who refuse to come to Jesus, people we know.
And we love and that we work alongside. You know, sometimes in this place on a Sunday morning when we sing about the coming of Christ. I will often find myself there in worship saying, Jesus, I want you to come back. But there's still so many people who don't know. People whom I love who have not yet repented, and yes, I want your justice on earth.
I do, and I want your kingdom to come. But give them more time. Please bring them to repentance before it is all over. Sweet and bitter. Every faithful Christian experiences the Bible this way.
By the way, something that's really popular in our day. It's for people to try to change this part of God's message. To leave out the bitter part. as some kind of archaic superstition from the past.
So that all we're left with is a God of snuggles and rainbows and giggles who only creates warm, fuzzy feelings in your heart. But hear me, no faithful Christian has ever read these things that way. This book This scroll. This scroll is not a book of suggestions where you take the parts you want and leave what you don't. Like it's a buffet line at the Golden Corral where you assemble your favorite religious meal.
Jesus claimed to be the Lord from heaven with all authority. He either is or he isn't. He said, This book comes with his authority. Again, it either does or it doesn't.
So either accept what it says or reject it. But don't do the logically incoherent thing of taking the parts you like and leaving out the parts you don't. That is not submissive worship. That's idolatry. Because it's recreating God in your own image.
You're basically saying to God, I don't like the way that you are, so I'm going to refashion to you into the God I want you to be. You can do that. When my second daughter, Allie, was a little girl. We got her one of those Build-A-Bear packages for her birthday.
So she and I went down to the mall. And she got to assemble her little stuffed bear exactly the way that she liked it. It was fuzzy where she wanted it to be fuzzy. It was exactly the crazy mismatch colors she wanted it to be. And that's fine when a child is building a play toy.
But it's an insulting way to approach God.
Well, I don't like that part, and I don't like this part of your message, and I don't like this part of you. This is the God that I want. What? You end up with is basically a God who is just a deified projection of you. That's why I say it's idolatry.
It's self-worship. Either accept this book as it is, the Word of God, or reject it. Listen, this book should offend you. It should be bitter at times. If it doesn't offend you, you're not reading it right.
And when it offends you, you're going to have to decide: okay, am I going to reject God's word about himself and recreate God in my image? A God who likes what I like, is okay with whatever I'm okay with, hates whatever I hate, or am I going to submit to who he says he is and change my heart to conform to his rather than his shape to conform to mine? If you're a faithful worshiper of God, you take the bitter along with the sweet. At Summit Life, our mission is simple but profound, to take people deeper into the gospel and to advance it wider across the world. With your support, we are able to meet people right where they are, whether it's in their homes, cars, or workplaces.
As a media ministry, we share God's word through a variety of platforms. Our nationwide radio programs deliver powerful, gospel-centered teaching each day. Our Bible teaching podcasts offer in-depth, accessible teaching on the go, while our question-driven podcasts address real-life questions with biblical wisdom. And our rapidly growing digital ministry uses online platforms to spread the gospel worldwide. Your giving makes this possible.
Each donation extends our reach, one listener, one household at a time. Together, we can take people deeper into the gospel and advance the gospel wider in the world. Join us today as a monthly gospel partner. Your ongoing gift supports our radio and digital ministries plus print resources. As a thank you, we'll send you Pastor JD's signature book, Gospel.
This book cuts through religious superficiality, revealing the revolutionary truth of God's acceptance of us in Christ. It introduces a gospel prayer to help you experience new depths of passion for God and fresh obedience to his calling. Become a gospel partner today. Visit jdgreer.com or call 866-335-5220. Together, let's bring God's healing and truth to the world.
Chapter 11. You still with me? Hang with me, okay, for just a few more minutes, and then I got some killer takeaways at the end, okay? I promise. Chapter 11, verse 3, we're told about two witnesses.
Whom God raises up to lead in a global revival. And I will grant authority, he says, to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. Sackcloth means that their message is one of repentance. They are commanding people to turn from worship of themselves to worship of Jesus. Verse 6 tells us that the world hates their message and does all they can to resist them, but these witnesses are endowed with God's power.
by which they can do miracles, including even the power, John says, to stop the rain. And secondly, they're supernaturally preserved in the world, so they can't be totally snuffed out. You see in verse 3 that they prophesied for 1,260 days. which if you're doing quick math in your head, that's three and a half years. or half of the seven-year tribulation.
Verse 7 tells us that after they have finished their testimony, The beast from the bottomless pit, that is the Antichrist, filled with demonic power, is given the ability to destroy them. By the way, interestingly, the word used for finished there in verse 7. is the same word Jesus used when he died. Before he gave up his spirit at the cross, he said, to tell us die, it is finished. That's the same root word for what John says right there.
Verse 11 tells us they lay dead for three and a half days, similar, of course, to Jesus laying dead in the grave for three days. During which time the world rejoices over their deaths. And then, verse 12, they hear a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here. They went up to heaven in a cloud. While their enemies watch them.
Okay, two questions. First, who were these witnesses? Real quick.
Some read this extremely literally. believing they are two specific individuals who lead in global evangelization.
Some even say it's Elijah and Enoch, since those two Old Testament saints are the ones who never officially died.
Some say it's Elijah and Moses. Others see these two witnesses as representing all of God's witnesses during this time: Jew and Gentile. Who faithfully testified to Jesus' salvation during the tribulation? This is what I personally believe. Still, others say these two witnesses represent God's messengers throughout all of history.
As in one represents the Old Testament and one represents the New. Whatever it is, the plot line is the same. The witnesses are faithful. They are hated. They suffer.
God gives them miraculous power and preserves them until their work is finished.
Okay, second question. is verse 12. When the witnesses hear a loud voice and get called up to heaven to meet Jesus in the clouds, is that an allusion to the rapture? Where Jesus appears in the clouds to rescue his church out of a world undergoing judgment. Is that what is happening here?
And the answer to that is... Maybe. Interestingly, the word rapture never occurs in the book of Revelation. You get the idea for the rapture from other passages in the New Testament like 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. You basically got three options when it comes to the rapture, okay?
Hang with me. The rapture could happen before the tribulation. That is before the seven years of the tribulation officially start. That's called the pre-trib position or pre-tribulational rapture of the church. If you read the Left Behind series, that's the perspective that they take.
Any Left Behind fans out there?
Okay, how many are team? Kirk Cameron? Team Nick Cage. That's a tough choice, right? One's a committed Christian, the other is the greatest hacker of all time, so it's a tough choice, okay?
Then there's mid-shrib. That position means you believe Jesus will come back in the middle of the tribulation. And if at that point, if you believe that way, you'll probably see verse 12 as an allusion to the rapture. After the first three and a half years of the tribulation, they're called up. The last option is what they call post-tribulational, which is the idea that when the tribulation is fully over, Jesus comes back to earth physically to officially commence the millennium, and that's when the church joins him.
You say, Pastor. Which one are you? Honestly, I go back and forth depending on the day. I'd probably stay mostly in the mid-trib to post-trib categories, but We'll see, okay? For those of you who don't believe in a rapture at all, you can count on me flying over to you as we zoom through the sky, smacking you in the back of the head.
I'm like, I told you so, okay? Chapter 11 ends. With the two witnesses joining the 24 elders. and the four living creatures worshiping the land. And while they're there worshiping, they say, Verse 17, we give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was.
And he shall reign, verse 15, forever and ever, which is, by the way, where Handel got the words for the hallelujah chorus. By the way, do you see how revelation goes in cycles? You got a series of judgments on earth. Faithful testimony and suffering by Jesus' witnesses, and then we always end up back in the throne room in worship. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Revelation 8 through 11, okay?
That's four whole chapters, y'all.
Now, like I do with the sealed judgments, I got four takeaways. Four takeaways. Here's takeaway number one. Expect suffering. Expect suffering.
Regardless of how you think about the timeline. We can and should expect continued trouble until Jesus comes back. Y'all remember the best way. To see the great tribulation is as an intensification of what we're already going through right now. As the Apostle John tells us, 1 John 4:3, the spirit of Antichrist is already here.
Bad news. He hates you. And he's in charge of a lot of the world's systems. Education, business, entertainment, the military, media, world governments, which means you should never expect to be loved and appreciated by this world. Yo, I'll just go ahead and tell you: if the world generally is a big fan of yours, you're not doing it right.
If the Antichrist likes you, Like, that's a pretty good dude. That's bad news for you. But be encouraged. John says his reign is just for a little time. That's why these visions of judgment always end up with a picture of a sovereign Jesus on a throne above it all.
Because what that means is that he gets the last word and this terrible time where the spirit of Antichrist holds sway, that's coming to an end real soon. In fact, I love how Randy Alcorn says it. This troubled world. Full of tribulation is as close to hell as believers will ever get. Y'all think about that.
There's so much about this world I love. But this troubled world that we live in right now, this is as close. to hell as I will ever get. The flip side is it's as close to heaven as unbelievers will ever get. Persecuted believers around the world stay faithful.
Soon your suffering will be swallowed up in everlasting joy. Takeaway number two. Embrace judgment. As I alluded to earlier, a lot of people have a hard time thinking about a God of love judging the world. But it's a very important part of the Christian worldview.
In fact, chapter 8, verse 3. We read this at the beginning, but I didn't talk about it. Scripture presents the angel. Pouring out the trumpet judgments As standing before the golden incense altar in heaven. An incense altar which represents the prayers of the saints.
We learned that from the tabernacle. And get this. John listen. John presents the trumpet judgments. as God's answer to prayers the saints have prayed for years.
Look at verse 5. Then the angel took the censer. And filled it with fire from the altar, which represents the prayers of the saints, and he threw it on the earth. In other words, these trumpet judgments are God's answer to all the prayers the church has prayed for years. You're like, whoa, I never prayed for any of that.
Yeah, but you pray for healing for the world. And see, without justice, there's no healing. You see, ultimately, what causes all the pain in the world is sin. What causes family trauma and physical sickness and natural disasters and betrayals is the curse of sin. And unless God brings sin to an end.
Suffering and injustice will only continue. See, if God allows him into heaven. Sinners would just turn heaven into hell again. God is judging sin. He's removing it because that's the only way to peace.
It's the only way to the world as we've always wanted it. It's the only way to the world that we've prayed for. Y'all, the great biblical dilemma is how God could exact perfect justice on the earth and still save sinful people whom he loves. Like I've told you before. We're like, God, why don't you stop all evil?
God, just remove evil from the world. God, if I were in charge, that's what I would do. Why don't you do that, God? Get rid of all evil.
Okay.
Well, if tonight at midnight God removed every ounce of evil in the world, how many of you would be left here at 1201? Anybody? Heaven is described as a place of no more tears. And I want to be in a place like that. But I've asked you before, if heaven is a place of no more tears, how can J.D.
Greer get in there? Because I think of how many times I've caused tears through my selfishness or my thoughtlessness. Can I go? Can you go? Not as you are.
The great biblical dilemma is how God could exact perfect justice on the earth, how He can get rid of all sin and still save sinful people whom He loves. And the way that he did that was through the cross where the lamb who was slain Where perfect justice meant perfect love. Jesus died a brutal death. He suffered our judgment against our sin, and now he can save all those who put their hope in him. For those who receive Christ's offer to save them, they can go into God's new world of perfect justice with their sins forgiven, their hearts changed, Christ having paid the price for their justice in their place and broken the power of sin in their lives.
Listen, your sins, your sins will either be judged in Jesus on the cross. Or you'll be judged for them. For those of you who are not Christians, You say you want justice in the world, but hear me, friend, you don't want justice right now. Justice would destroy you and me. All you need is mercy.
And Christ has offered that to you. The word the two witnesses use is repent. Repent means change your mind about Jesus. Change your mind about who's in charge of your life. Change your mind about who should get the glory from all that you do.
Change your presuppositions about who God is. Your arrogant presuppositions, where you dare to say, God, I don't like you this way. I don't like what you teach about this. I'm going to make you this way. Repent of all that and believe and submit to what Jesus has revealed.
Ultimately, friend, listen, there's only two categories of people in the world. Those who have submitted to Jesus. and received his salvation and those who are in rebellion against him. Which category are you in? You know, they say that when the news about the sinking of the Titanic was being reported in New York.
For almost a week, the New York Times, on its front page, printed out two columns. One called lost and one called saved. Those who made it to a lifeboat? We're saved. Those who didn't were drowned.
Unless you were Rose, who found a floating door and refused to share it with your supposed boyfriend Jack.
Okay, accepting that. Otherwise, there's just two categories. In the same way, there are only two categories of people in the world: those who've been saved by Jesus. and those who will drown in judgment. Which leads me to number three.
Be broken. Christian, I want to urge you. to stare into these visions with eyes wide open. until it turns your stomach bitter. Every person you know will spend eternity in heaven or in hell.
Do you care? Does that break your heart? Has it changed your life? When's the last time you told somebody about Jesus? Do your friends know?
Does your family know how urgent the message about Jesus is? Do your kids know? Do your parents know? Many Christians are functional universalists. A universalist is somebody who believes that ultimately everyone will be saved and there's no future judgment for anybody.
That may not be what you actually believe in your head.
Okay.
But it's how you live. You don't live with any urgency? You just ignore the bitter parts. You don't live with any brokenness about people you say you love who are headed toward judgment. You are a functional universalist.
Listen, if you really believe these things... It has to change how you see the world. It has to change what's important to you and how you talk to your friends. I saw an ABC News story about a woman who parked her minivan on the side of the road to run drop off something on a friend's porch. She hopped out.
And to her horror, it started to roll backwards. It was on a pretty steep incline. She'd forgotten to take it out of gear and at the bottom of the hill was another high traffic road. Her twin two-year-old daughters were in the back seat. She tried to get back in, but she couldn't reach the front door in time.
So, in a split-second decision, she just threw herself under the van. Just in front of the back wheel to try and stop the van. Miraculously, it worked. It crushed three of her ribs and it almost killed her. In the interview on ABC, she said without any hesitation, it was worth it.
Our message is even more urgent than that, isn't it? We've got a world headed toward judgment, and it's worth the sacrifice of everything to get it out: our money, our time, our bodies, all of it. Paul said he was in anguish night and day over the fate of fellow Jews who had rejected Jesus. His soul was never really at rest. knowing how many people he loved around him that were still lost.
He took vacations, I'm sure. But even on vacation, there's an angst, there's an unsettledness because I know what's happening in this world. Is that how you feel? God, give us a brokenness that leads to prayer and urgency. and sacrifice and telling people the good news about Jesus.
Finally, number four. Be confident. Be confident. Again, every presentation of judgment in Revelation ends with a glorious picture of Jesus on the throne at the end. Surrounded by people of every tribe and tongue and nation worshiping.
What we see is that though this world with devils filled would threaten to undo us. We see that Jesus' mission will be accomplished. And he expects his church. Because of those visions he's giving us, that's why he's giving them to you. He expects you to be bold and audacious, expecting his protection and provision.
Pastor Tony Evans in Dallas. Tells the story of doing an evangelistic crusade. In Bryce Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, go Gamecocks.
Somewhere between 15 and 20,000 people had gathered there to hear Tony Evans preach the gospel. And before the service, all the planning team, all the local city pastors, they'd gathered downstairs underneath Bryce Stadium. To go over the night and just to pray together. It had been overcast the whole day, and just before they went into prayer, one of the coordinators walks in. Just a few minutes before seven.
This is bad news. We've just been warned that a major storm is coming our way. It's scheduled to be right over top of us at 7 o'clock. Torrential rainpour.
So Pastor Tony said we Me and all the local city pastors and all the event coordinators, we went into prayer. We prayed that God would hold off the rain, but Tony says we're all praying safe prayers. It's like, you know what a safe prayer is? A safe prayer is where you say, Lord. If it be thy will.
Don't let it rain. You throw in the if it's your will bit because that way, if it still rains, you can get God off the hook.
So all his pastors are praying all these safe prayers. At the very end, we were done. We were about to walk out. Little five foot one lady named Linda. Since you want to pass her.
She's just one of the backstage volunteers. She interrupted us when we got done. She said, hey, can I pray? We all felt a little sure and so we all rebowed our head. She prayed.
She said, Lord. We are here at Bryce Stadium doing what you asked us to do. You asked us to proclaim your word, and we have spent money and time and energy putting this crusade together, doing what you told us to do, God.
So it seems to me that you would be embarrassing yourself, Lord, if you let it rain.
So, therefore, Lord, and here's where it got crazy, Dr. Evans said. I command you to stop the rain. Dr. Evans said all the preachers looked at each other sort of nervously and waited for lightning to strike this poor little 5-foot-one woman who was commanding God to stop the rain.
Well, then we all walked up into the stadium. He said, It's now seven o'clock. It's time for the service to start. The MC comes out and says, Ladies and gentlemen, We know rain's supposed to come, but we're just gonna go as long as we can. We began the service, Pastor Tony said, and you could see all those dark clouds.
Headed toward us. And you can hear thunder. He said, and eventually you can start to hear the rain, the swatter of rain, just outside the stadium. Then it began to mist in the stadium and you could see people start to leave.
So there I was sitting on the platform. When I looked down from the platform, about three rows back, Pastor Evans said, There's little Linda in the crowd. sit next to a gentleman who who opened up his umbrella. and put it over him and her. Linda, he said expressionless.
quietly reached up her hand. and pushed away his umbrella. And then it happened, Dr. Evans said. As we sat there in Bryce Stadium with our own eyes, We saw the rain clouds split, half of them.
When Around the left of the stadium, and half of them went around the right of the stadium, and then they came back together at the other end of the stadium and reigned on the other side. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. Dr. Evans said the preachers. We're being spiritually polite.
But Linda prayed with an audacity that came from knowing how committed the lamb on the throne is to doing what he said he'd do.
Now hear me. My point is not that you should never say if it's God's will when you pray. No, we always pray in submission to God's will. The point is that visions like the ones we see in Revelation prompt that kind of audacity. And there are times when we say, Jesus, yes, the opposition we face is fierce, but you said that this gospel would be preached in all the world.
And God, I'm not really in charge of all the world right now. I'm not in all those places, but I'm in this place with this person.
So let it happen right here. Why don't you give me that power that you promised and you pray open a miraculous door so that somebody can hear and experience the gospel? And though this world with devils filled would threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed His grace to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness, grim, we tremble not for him. One little word will fail him.
That word above all earthly powers. That word is the word of faith. The word of the gospel. The name of Jesus. We speak the name of Jesus who lost us in the world.
And that one. Mighty little word will fail him.
So two questions today. Have you received him? Are you ready? Yo, listen, life is short. It's like a vapor, scripture says.
An accident, a heart failure. A car wreck could do more than put you flat on your back like happened to my professional athlete friend. This very day. You could be an eternity. Are you ready?
Have you received Jesus? Are you fully submitted to him? There's only two cones. Those united to Jesus are saved and those apart from him are lost. Only one life to live will soon be passed.
Only what's done for Christ will last. That's one question. Here's the second question: Believer, are you ready? Let me ask. Let me ask that this way, if I could, if Jesus came back today, right now.
Came back right now at this moment. What would you regret leaving undone?
Somebody you never told about Jesus?
Somebody you never got reconciled to, you never asked for their forgiveness, or you never extended them your forgiveness? Are you ready? Be ready. Be ready, the Son of Man comes at the hour you think not. Or, how about this?
What audacious thing is God telling you to attempt for the gospel? Is He putting something in your heart right now?
Something stirring in your heart, somebody you need to share Christ with, some bold venture. Listen, don't Do it all willy-nilly. I mean, I'm not telling you to go do something stupid. But you got to listen for the Spirit's leadership. What audacious thing is he putting in your heart?
Maybe it's just to reach out to somebody this week, reach out to somebody this week. Maybe invite them to the church of the dome. Reach out and pray for a miracle. Bow your heads, if you would, at all of our campuses. Bow your heads with me.
Are you ready? Are you ready? If you're not ready, I want to give you a chance to get ready.
Okay? If you've never received Jesus, If you've never received Jesus, then right now would you just say, Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Savior. I surrender to you. I receive you as my Savior. I surrender to you.
Believer. Let me just leave you in this moment. I want you to pray for courage. to do what God is telling you to do. Here at Summit Life, our mission is to help people dive deeper into the gospel and apply it to everyday life.
And one area where we all need that kind of wisdom is our relationships. That's why we are offering a digital resource from Pastor JD called From the Beginning, God's Design for Relationships. When you give any amount today at jdgreer.com, we'll send it to you as our thank you. We'll see you again next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.
