Sermon Tone Analysis

March 20, 2012

By: John Barnett

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Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without Jesus ?

Hitler freed Germany from their consciences and it brought the killing fields, the gas chambers and an industry of death.

That was the darkest hour of the 20th century.

Mankinds unending fight with God atlast brings them the freedom they always wanted, life without God.

And what does life become without God ?

A living death, a living Hell of inutterable blackness.

That’s Revelation 16.

The end has come.

In a very brief span of time, the long awaited moment has arrived.

In seven swift strokes the desire of a world wanting no part of Jesus- is granted.

God shows to us what life without Jesus will be like.

These 7 bowls of plagues are for the lost.

Revelation 16 is no less than a foretaste of Hell.

Think of how the earthdwellers in just a few moments begin an inexhorable plunge toward Hell.

In 21 vivid verses John sees and records for us what happens when mankind joins fallen angels in living without God.

• Human bodies oozing malignant sores,

• Earth’s oceans become death washing up on every shore,

• All water has the stench of corruption rising from every river, stream, faucet and well on the planet,

• People’s bodies burning from a solar fire pouring down from the skies,

• then there is added to all that an instantaneous impenatrable darkness.

And as all the earthdwellers seethe with rage toward God Satan’s trio of demons gathers the earth as a vast army to fight God and toward Armageddon they go in hatred of the creator,

• finally, as they gather, the earth convulses in the greatest quake ever, all cities are leveled, islands sink and 60 to 120 pound hailstones raining down upon the earth obliterating the monuments of earth and the men that built them.

*ENOUGH SAYS GOD! Let’s listen as we stand for the reading of the Word of God*

For the redeemed, the glory of Jesus shines from each plague.

Revelation 16 is an art gallery with seven divinely inspired* PORTRAITS OF CHRIST.

* Against the darkened screen of Christ's wrath poured out upon sin, are seven glowing pictures.

Look at these riveting portraits of Jesus.

Pause with me before each one:

1.

In v. 1-2: without Jesus is decay and corruption but with Jesus has *SANCTIFYING POWER* as the One who cleanses and keeps (Jude 23-24)

2. In v. 3 without Jesus is death and hopelessness but with Jesus has *LIFE GIVING POWER *as the One who gives abundant life (Jn.

10:10)

3.

In v. 4-7 without Jesus isendless thirst but Jesus has *SATISFYING POWER* as the One who promises us we will never thirst (John 7:37-39)

4. In v. 8-9 without Jesus life is a burning prison but with Jesus has* LIBERATING POWER* as the One who sets us free (Jn.

8:31-36)

5.

In v. 10-11 without Jesus is impenetrable darkness but with Jesus is *ENLIGHTENING POWER* as the One who gives us daily light and true spiritual sight (Jn.

8:12; acts 26:18)

6.

In v. 12-16 without Jesus isonly enslavement to demon masters but Jesus has *CONQUERING POWER* as the One who always leads us into triumph ( I Cor.

2:14)

7.

In v. 17-21 without Jesus is only hopeless destruction but with Jesus is *SECURING POWER *as the One who gives us our ultimate eternal security (Rom.

8:31-39, Heb.

7)

So what is life like apart from Jesus ?

Without His power life is reduced to living Hell.

• First, sores ooze from their bodies as all the evil within starts to come out, a sign of inward corruption.

• Second, the waters of the sea filled with life become a stench of dead blood a sign of man’s hopelessness apart from God.

• Third, all the streams of water on earth are poisoned, a sign of absolute desperation as water is imperative for life as is Jesus.

• Fourth, the sun which keeps life sustained on earth flares up blazing and burning the planet, a sign of false worship which started with sun worship is now powerless befoe the Creator.

• Fifth, from the brightness of a fiercely blazing sun to absolute blackness in the realm of the beast.

This is a sign of the spiritual darkness Satan brings.

• Sixth, the waters of the great dividing river Euphrates dries up.

A demon trio rounds up the army of the antichrist and Armageddon is their destination.

• Seventh, the greatest quake of all time is unleashed by God and more devastation occurs in that big one than in every other one combined.

There are 5, 319 quakes on record at present.

*Jesus is the Ultimate Security contrasted to the utter insecurity of earthdwellers*

*BOWL # 1 MALIGNANT SORES REVELATION 16:1-2*

*THE HORROR OF LOCKED HEARTS*

Revelation 16:1-2 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” 2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

“The most terrible situation in life is when Almighty God is powerless to gain an entry into the citadel of the human heart, for God has given men the terrible responsibility of being able to lock their hearts against Him.”

First a malignant sore, oozes out the unmitigated corruption, the filth of their unrepentent souls.

This is the fulfilment of Moses’ prophesy of Deuteronomy 28:27, 35 “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.

35 “The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

Einstein “easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man”.

So judgment will not produce repentance because only God’s kindness does (Rom.

2:4).

What is the lesson in v. 1-2?

Only Jesus has SANCTIFYING POWER as the One who cleanses and keeps (Jude 23-24)

*BOWL #2 REVELATION 16:3 THE SEA OF DEATH*

Revelation 16:3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

From time to time, off the coast of California and elsewhere, a phenomenon known as “the red tide” occurs.

These red tides kill millions of fish, and poison those who eat contaminated shell fish.

In 1949, one of these red tides hit the coast of Florida.

First the water turned yellow, but by midsummer it was thick and viscous and coucntless billions of dinoflagellates, tiny one-celled organisms.

Sixty-mile windrows of stinking fish fouled the beaches.

Much marine life was wiped out, even bait used by fishermen died upon the hooks.

Eventually the red tide subsided, only to appear again the following year.

Eating fish contaminated by the tide produced severe symptoms caused by a potent nerve poison, a few grams of which, distributed aright, could easily kill everyone in the world.d

An unchecked population explosion of toxic dinoflagellates would kill all the fish in the sea.

The phenomenon is well known, but scientists do not know what causes the proliferation of these creatures or what normally limits it.

One theory is that it is caused when cobalt in an area reaches a certain density.

Using the sea as a dumping place for nuclear and other waste may one day raise the level of cobalt to the point where it triggers a dinoflagellate plague.

This may not fully explain what wil happen when the second vial is outpoured, but it certainly illustrates it.

The disaster described is quite credible.

In v. 3 Jesus has *LIFE GIVING POWER* as the One who gives abundant life (Jn.

10:10)

*BOWL # 3 REVELATION 16:4-7 JESUS - SATISFIER “TO THIRST OR NOT TO THIRST”*

Revelation 16:4-7 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.5

And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink.

For it is their just due.” 7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

Water, the Wonder Fluid; For a brew that’s colorless, tasteless, odorless, and calorie free, water takes a punch.

It is the only substance necessary to all life; many organisms can live without oxygen, but none can live without water.

Life and life to come can both be reduced to a simple common denominator.

No life form known by us on earth can exist without water.

And no life form will ever be able to exist in eternity without the water of life!

Many creatures can live without oxygen, but none without water.

God gives an unbelieving world graphic picture.

No water, no life.

Why?

To portray a spiritual truth - Only Jesus is satisfier and can give the water of life!

Not to thirst can only mean come to Him.

Revelation 22 ends with a call, lets turn there 22:17.

Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God? “Only Jesus can satisfy your soul”.