Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
We come today to an on going reminder in the Bible. Over and over we see in the Scriptures the thinking of the lost toward the works of God. Repentance is hard to come by for those whose attitudes are resolved to stick to their independence. The Apostle Paul wrote in Rom.2:3-9 that sorrow and anguish comes upon all men who despise the riches of the goodness of God. Men despise the patience and goodness of God intended to lead them to repentance. As the late pastor, Adrian Rogers said in one of his books, “If the love of God does not bring you to repentance, then the judgment of God will not bring you to repentance. [Unveiling The End Times In Our Time p.187.]
We love the lost sinner and we witness to the lost sinner, but only they can choose to repent. To repent is not simply to feel sorry for something you did, that is remorse. Remorse is not repentance. Repentance is changing the way you look at yourself in the light of your sinful condition; it is looking at your Savior, Jesus Christ and saying I am grateful for you dying for my sins on Calvary, and the change brought about by this change of mind is you saying “I accept you as my Savior”. It is a 180 degree turn around in your thinking. It is an about face toward Christ, whereas before you had your back turned to him. It is acknowledging his divine Person and his sacrifice for you, and accepting Christ as your Savior.
Repentance applies to Christians as well, for if we turn our backs on the Lord in acts of disobedience and sin, whether they are sins of the mind, tongue or overt acts then we must repent. I John 1:9 applies here. After confession to God we are to get back in the saddle and learn God’s word. True repentance for the believer has not taken place until there has been a correct change in actions regarding consistent obedience to Christ. Until then the believer is said to be carnal.
Today we resume with - the fifth bowl judgment.
16:10
The unsaved are living a nightmare at the end of the seven year tribulation period. With each successive judgment comes compounded misery, and as we have seen so has the hatred for God intensified. Wickedness and evil and sin will be put under Christ’s footstool before long as Christ prophesied, Heb.10:13, and at the time of this prophecy our Lord is simply rearranging the furniture of the earth to suit his comfort.
The fifth angel pours his bowl of judgment upon the seat of the Antichrist, upon his throne, his dominion and his kingdom will become dark. The false light he used to draw men to himself will be put out. Lost mankind will bank their future and sell their very souls to reap the blessings of the Antichrist. They will have sought his favor and given in to his vision for ruling the world. Though many lost souls will have died and many will be alive suffering agonizing pain at this juncture of the tribulation, they still see a purpose to their resistance to God. But now their mere mortal leader’s power and kingdom are fading quickly. The Antichrist cannot save them, and they start to realize their foolish decision to follow him and murder God’s children. In misery they will chew on their tongues in pain, a physical and psychological pain; truly the way of the transgressor is hard.
v11. They will continue to speak irreverently as they blaspheme the God of heaven. They only have something to say to God when things aren’t going their way just as men do today. When something bad happens they curse God, and blame God for letting sinners sin. Their pains and their sores from the first and fourth bowls is unbearable and there is no clean water to cleanse their sores and refresh their thirst; after all, they want nothing to do with God, forgetting God made the refreshing water. They will want as most want today, they want what God has created, but they do not want him and his Son..
Unfortunately many times as believers we want the blessings of God, but not the word of God.
We want God to give, give, give, and then leave us alone to squander, and waste away our opportunities.
You would think that with all of the things that show mankind his smallness in this world that men would repent and turn to God for forgiveness and restoration, but most never do.
The same will be true in the future tribulation period.
The diseases and starvation epidemics all over the globe, compounded by nations moving to all out war, compounded with despair does not bring men to repentance. John says at the end of v.11, “ and repented not of their deeds.”
“Repented not” is the Greek verb ou- metenoesan,[ Aor.A.I] from metanoeo. Once again this word means to change in ones thinking which brings about a subsequent change in ones actions as noted in our opening remarks. They repented not.
v.12 - The sixth bowl judgment
The sixth bowl is God’s intervention which makes way for millions of combatants to enter the arena of battle. The waters of the Euphrates River will be dried up to give easy and immediate passage way toward the Valley of Megiddo.
Remember the sixth trumpet judgment when two-hundred million demon horsemen were released wherein they killed one-third of lost humanity. This demonic horde was released by the permission of the sixth trumpet angel, Rev.9:14-18.
The greed and power lust of the unsaved, in particular the kings of the earth will escalate tensions across the globe. Four powerful forces will converge on the Palestinian area and not one of them will ever expect what will happen once they are staged for the final showdown. Not one will understand why they hate Israel so much because all of the forces joined together are spiritually blind. They have believed the lies of the Antichrist as prophesied in II Thess.2:10-12.
Not one group has the best interest of mankind in mind. Not one group will have a prayer offered up to God to give them victory, and to protect their soldiers. Not one soldier will quote from Ps.91.
By drying up the Euphrates River the Lord is opening up the passageway to draw in the massive military forces from the Far East.
Dan.11:36-44 gives the prophecy of the rise of power of the Antichrist and it also gives the prophecy of those opposing powers from the north, south, and eastern nations who will come upon him.
As the last of the bowl judgments are dispensed the Antichrist will see how weak he is and how useless his limited powers are against the will of almighty God.