This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day two of our look together through Revelation chapter 16. We're
looking this week at the seven bowls of God's judgment and we're learning this
week what these bowls have to teach us about who God is as judge. Yesterday we
learned something about how the judgments of God intensify, or they seem to at
least to us because of the patience and the grace of God, Him giving us an
opportunity to accept Him, to repent.

We learned a second, in fact even a second and third truth we're going to look
at together today. The second truth we learned from what happens in Revelation
16 is the parallels to the plagues of Egypt. We learned that God tends to work
in the same way in history.

He gives us the pattern of what He's going to do and then He repeats it many,
many times because He wants us to understand who He is and how He's at work and
we learned that from chapter 16 in the awesome parallels that we see to the
plagues of Egypt. Now we focused on this last week. We want to just touch on it
again this week.

We can't help but touch on it because we're going to read together verses two to
four and you're going to see it there. Let me read those verses for you. "The
first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land and ugly and painful sores
broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it turned into blood like
that of a dead man and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel
poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water and they became blood. "
The parallels between what happened in Egypt when Moses went before Pharaoh and
Pharaoh said no I won't let the people go you remember and so those 10 plagues
came upon Egypt.

Those plagues in Exodus chapter 7 to 13 here are the plagues. "Blood, frogs,
gnats, flies, the death of livestock, boils upon people, hail, locusts,
darkness, and then the death of the firstborn. " Now as we go through Revelation
chapter 16 we're going to see many of these repeated.

In fact I want to highlight that for you today even before we get to the end of
the chapter. We're going to see reflected the same judgments in the book of
Exodus and the book of Revelation. We're going to see again in this chapter
blood and we're going to see frogs and we're going to see flies and we're going
to see boils and we're going to see hail we're going to see locusts we're going
to see darkness we're going to see death in these very same judgments almost
identical.

Now why does God do this? Why are they so much the same? Why as we said last
week did they sing the song of Moses right before this happens?

Do you think God's trying to get our attention with this? Of course he is and
it's to show us something about who God is. Now it's not that God's boring
somehow, that he's not creative, that he doesn't know some different way to
judge if he wanted to use a different way to judge.

Absolutely not. God is not boring. God is faithful and in showing us in even way
way way back in the book of Exodus allowing us to see the pattern of how he
judges.

He is being faithful to show us who he is and to show us where this world is
headed. The same judgments, many of them that took place in the Old Testament in
a limited way in one country that was oppressing God's people, these same
judgments will take place at the end of time in a universal way over all of the
earth that has oppressed God's people. God is foreshadowing in the Old Testament
exactly what he's going to do at the end of time.

He is faithful. The more you read the Bible the more you're going to find this.
The more you see how God's plan ties together down through the ages, the more
you see what a creative and awesome God we have.

God is consistent. He is faithfully consistent whether the nation is named Egypt
or Babylon as we're going to look at next week or Rome as they face today or
whatever nation is to come. It's foolish to battle against God because he knows
the plan and he is a faithful God and he faithfully shows us his plan again and
again and again.

He does not want us to miss it. So you see in the parallels to the plagues of
Egypt the faithfulness of God even in his judgment. There's a third truth that
you and I learn about the judgment of God in Revelation chapter 16.

The third thing we learn about is the difference between the natural
consequences of sin and the final judgment of God. Let me read for you verses
five to seven as some of these judgments continue to unfold. Verse five, "Then I
heard the angel in charge of the waters say, 'You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were the holy one because you have so judged, for they have
shed the blood of your saints and prophets and you have given them blood to
drink as they deserve.

' And I heard the altar respond, 'Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your
judgments. '" These judgments of God are an expression of the justice of God.
These judgments of God are inevitable because the justice of God is part of his
character and there is a difference between the natural consequences I might
face today because of a sin that I allow into my life and these judgments.

You and I every day we face natural consequences of sin in our lives. Some of
the consequences of sin we face because other people have sinned. We live in a
sinful world and so our lives are not perfect because someone else has sinned.

I may have to suffer in a relationship or in my finances or in my family because
of their sin. I may even suffer in my health because of their sin. I may even
see somebody I love die because someone else is driving drunk because of their
sin.

Because of the sin of someone else you face the consequences. It's also true
that we face the natural consequences of sin because I have sinned, because you
have sinned. There are bad things that happen in your life because of your sin.

There's no doubt about that. That is the natural consequence of sin. That is
different from God's final judgment.

And here's the difference. You and I know as believers that if we begin to
choose to follow God faithfully in an area to not sin that that natural
consequence will be removed. I may still have some of it for quite some time
because it may have affected many people but God will begin to bless in an area
that has been an area of curse for me because I've decided to follow him.

These final judgments are not that way. They will occur no matter what because
this is where the world is headed. Because this is where hearts that are apart
from God are headed.

It's not as if we could just decide to all listen to God and all of a sudden the
world would get better and this would not have to happen. God's told us the
future and the future is there will be some who do not follow him and because of
that this world and the sin in it the evil in it will be judged. Now does that
mean that I should just say well I'd be better off because everything is just
going to turn out bad in the end.

I'd be better off not even thinking about this world at all. I'd be better off
just sort of focusing on what it means to be with God in eternity. What it means
to live for him for eternity.

Not at all. What you do in this world can build towards eternity. The fact that
there's evil in this world does not mean there's none good.

The fact that this evil is going to be judged in this world does not mean that
the righteous thing that you do because of your love for God is not going to be
blessed. These are existing right alongside of each other right now. It's not as
if one totally outlaws the other from happening.

So do not think that the good that you do in this world is not hurt is not
affecting this world and do not think that it will not last forever because it
will. It will last. The natural consequences of sin that you and I face in our
lives today because I do the wrong thing or someone else does the wrong thing
because of that natural consequence I face a personal hurt in my life.

Do not confuse that with the direct final personal judgment of God. God has set
up this world in such a way that when I do the wrong thing I'm going to face a
consequence for that whether I break a physical law or a moral law but in the
end of time we know that God's judgment will come. At the end of time it will be
evident to all that God is the one who is doing this.

There'll be no one else to point to nothing else to think of because only the
power of God could cause this to happen. They'll all know, everyone will know,
every eye will see who it is and why it is happening. At that time it's as if
the curtain is pulled back and sometimes today people can blame the natural
consequences of their sin on someone else or pretend it's not happening.

There'll be none of that at the end. The whole world will see what's being
talked about here. God you are just in your judgments.

Now some will still flee from him, some will still refuse to repent but all will
see that God is just in his judgments. What will people do when they see the
justice of God? We're going to talk about that together tomorrow but as we close
together today let's just talk to our father for a minute.

Our father we thank you that you are a just and holy judge. Sometimes the word
judge scares us but it doesn't have to. Because of what Jesus has done we don't
have to face your judgment.

Instead we look forward to an eternity of relationship with you. God in
recognizing who you are, your character, we thank you that you will not allow
any sin, any evil in your sight. That you are a God who wants to live in
perfection and holiness.

Lord if only we could begin to learn from you in that and we have because of
Jesus. Help us to continue. Lord Jesus we are grateful for your death for us on
the cross that has provided for us a way to not face this judgment but instead
to live forever with you.

In grateful praise we thank you. In your name, amen.