His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt speaks of the real danger of idolatry.

Matt VanderVen: In all of idolatry, we open ourselves up to demonic forces, oppression, affliction for the believer. For the unbeliever, possession. I also realized that most do not build these little gods with their hands and carry them around, right? Most people don't probably haven't seen something like that. But I know there are those that are worshiping money and materialism as a god. So they may be having it in their pocket, they may have it in their bank account. They didn't necessarily realize it as a shrine, but it's something they're putting all their power and love and trust in.

Again, you might be saying, well, money's paper and materialism, those are just objects. They they can't hurt me. Again, maybe, but the demons behind them can certainly enslave you at best. And if you're unsaved, destroy your soul at worst.

Guest (Male): 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's also true in the tribulation period. That comes to our attention today on His Perfect Love as we dive back into our study in Revelation. In chapter 9, we read of a demonically inspired army that will be used to kill a third of mankind. Now you think that those that weren't destroyed would wise up, repent, and turn to the Lord, but they don't. Pastor Matt Vanderboegh says it's a warning to us all of what can happen when we open ourselves up to demonic forces and engage in idolatry.

Matt VanderVen: Even in the midst of righteous judgment, God is still desiring that people will what? Come to salvation. Most of us in that time of judgment, no longer are we looking for that. We've kind of said you've gone too far. The line's been drawn, right? You with me? No, that's not God's heart. God says he doesn't find joy that any should perish. We read scriptures like that that are very clear. So these demons are bound again at the Great Rift of Euphrates. Where is that? Well, that's located and we know where that is, right? Anybody who's studied geography, you've been to the Middle East, you've traveled to that area, you know that it flows through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

It's approximately It empties, by the way, into the Persian Gulf. It's the longest river in Western Asia, okay? It measures about 1,740 miles. This is a legitimate body of water, okay? Many believe it speaks, however, to this area. They would note that that this is probably more like the region of Iraq, Iraq, if you're looking for it specifically. Now, let's keep reading here. So it says that they released the four angels, they're bound on the Great Rift of Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, day, and month and year, very specific timeline to God's intention for this judgment, were released to kill a third of mankind.

That's exactly what it means. It's literal. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million, right? And I heard the number of them and thus I saw the horses in the vision of those who sat on had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, okay? That's a dark blue, and a sulfur yellow. And their heads of the horses were like the heads of lions and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed. So the details of how it's happening by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came forth out of their mouths.

So whatever comes out of this mouth, this fire, uh brimstone and smoke, this is this is what's going to do it for their powers in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents having heads and with them they do harm. I have never seen an animal on earth that can do this. Have you ever seen an animal on earth that can do this? I'm not saying that in the Great Tribulation Look, we're not going to be here, right? With the rapture of the church. But even if you do believe that you are going to be here, okay?

Let's say you don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and you're here this morning. Um you can I was teasing you can high five me on the way up. That's cool. But um it's a twinkling of the eye, 200 milliseconds. You can do that, right? I'm just kidding. Please understand. It's really not a laughing matter. But the reality is during this moment, people on this earth are going to see something that John is struggling to describe. 2,000 years ago, had he ever seen a missile? Had he ever seen modern technology that we understand today? No, he's relating it to things that he could understand in those days.

Have you ever seen fire? Yeah, he's seen fire. So there's things that he he understands here. So now we're given the details here. These four demons are going to destroy a third of the human population. I'll be careful how I say it cuz as we read, it's actually not them, is it? They don't actually destroy humanity themselves. No, what do they do? What did we you and I just read here in the Word of God? They actually corrupt or influence a portion of humanity and that portion of humanity was how many people? 200 million. And they create this large arm army that's going to do the slaughtering, right?

It says very clearly 200 million riders of horses. These men obviously are demonically influenced led by these four demon angels, okay? That are led and this passage provides a powerful imagery, okay? These destructive demonic influence or possession possibly of these leaders of this army is what's going to cause them to do this. So whoever the leader of that army is, whatever that nation is, whatever that group of people are, he is going to be either if he's an unbeliever, which at that time would make sense cuz all the believers have been taking out or martyred, right?

He is going to turn around and he is going to lead this demonic cohort to come against the rest of humanity. Isn't that interesting? And God is going to allow all of this and again, it's to bring judgment and he's going to do it through chaos and warfare. And it's very important point here that these demons again, I keep going back to this, they're not in control. God is. They're just being allowed to carry out the destruction of 1/3 of the population to be destroyed. That's it. God is in complete control of this. Their fierce appearance of the riders of the horses, verse 17, look at it with me again.

It says that I saw the horses in this vision who sat on them and they had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow, okay? So some believe John here is describing again modern warfare in terms of again 2,000 years ago. John again didn't know what a missile was or a nuclear warhead was or is. Think about it. Hyacinth blue, a dark blue, deep blue, if maybe I can say it that way, mixed with a little bit of yellow, right? Something that looks a little sulfury and has this blue appearance. You know what it reminds me of is I was reading this last night, Lisa is making dinner, you know?

And she is cooking on the stovetop. When I turn natural gas I understand it's natural gas and we put things in natural gas, but I've also gone out and had a cookout outside, I've turned on a grill. I've looked at a lot of different things that have fire and flames. And often what I'll notice in those fire and flames is there's awful and sort of a darker blue and then there's a sort of yellow almost kind of appearance towards the top of the flame. And sometimes if it's really hot, I can even see a shade of what in it?

Red. I don't know. I honestly do not know. But it's the closest thing that I can think of that would relate to And again, this is just my opinion. You be Bereans. I'm not telling you Please don't misunderstand. I am not saying thus saith the Lord. I would never do that. But I clearly read here something that's got me thinking about this in a way that he's trying to explain it because I don't think it's actually just talking about the breastplate as though that's part of the weaponry. I don't see people riding around with a breastplate on and people dying because somebody's riding a horse and they've got a breastplate on.

The breastplates are what? Normally in a military situation, defensive. They protect you from somebody else trying to bring a what? A mortal wound. Right? It's it's something to guard your uh vital organs, your visceral area, right? All of it, right? So you think about it. It's it's not that's not what we're reading here. It 's not serving the normal purpose. It's describing something different to us. But again, it reminds me of maybe a flame on a stove. So I started thinking more about them. I'm like what would have flames like that? And then now you add the fire red that speaks of fire and well, possibly Again, I use that word possibly.

This is coming out of back of something because he says it's out of the back, right? And so out of the front and back. So I started thinking what would do that, right? We're not sure. Maybe this is a stretch, but I think the imagery here makes sense, right? Especially when you when you read further where it says that and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions and out of their mouth which sounds like a lion roar. So like a very loud sound. You know when I think of a lion, I don't think of lion being timid or like a little cat, a home like meow.

You know I don't That's best I got. We don't We don't see anything like that, right? And I've never heard a cat, you know, like a little baby cat come out and go like you know? Uh I I Have you ever Maybe some of you are like my cat does that when he's hungry, but I have never seen a cat do that is my point. Normally it's a very sort of docile, timid kind of like meow unless they're when they're upset, right? Or something like that. But no, this is a very loud sound. That's what we understand because when you go to a zoo and you ever hear a lion actually really roar, it can thunder.

It can even shake the earth. You can definitely feel it in your bones. That's the idea here. And I started thinking about when you have planes or other things that start to go fast, even supersonic, and I started feeling about you know, started thinking about that and I said, boy, even if you go to an air show, when you when you feel a plane goes go by like that in an air show, what's it feel like? Shakes you, doesn't it? Could it be a little horse? Absolutely. You go to the racetrack or some place where horses are running around in a circle, it can also feel like that very close to the racetrack, too.

I'm not saying it has to be, but the idea here is it says the head of the horse. So it's going to make a loud sound and I started thinking, well, that's exactly what happens when a missile pierces air, right? And starts to break the certain barriers of sound. I You do hear those kind of effects. Uh I don't know. Maybe maybe you know, John's describing something different, but it says roaring like a lion. So again, possibly. And out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. Again, I've never seen a horse do that, but that helps me start to kind of understand fire, smoke, and brimstone.

You start thinking about that for a minute. John's describing something. Boy, we do see that, especially piercing air going that fast, fire behind different You know the whole thing, brimstone, ash, everything that's especially as it hits. Again, this looks the imagery of modern warfare, possibly. Also interesting is please note that the death that's brought here and this is one of the things that started convincing me of this as I was reading about it. Because you will notice here that it doesn't say that the riders actually inflict the death, the ones wearing the breastplate. It didn't say that.

And thus I saw the horses in the visions who sat on them and had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow and the heads of the horse were like the heads of lions and out of their mouths came fire, smoke uh uh and stone out of the heads of what? The horses, not the riders. Did everybody just see that and underline that in their Bibles? Very important point. So the death is not inflicted by the riders, but instead by the horses. So again, that leads me to think that the death would make sense if it's inflicted from a maybe a technology, a war uh item something that could do that.

Um again, I find that very interesting as well. Now look at verse 19, right? Or Let me go back to 18. But these plagues are a third of mankind was killed by the fire, smoke, and brimstone which came out of their mouths. Something that's that kind of catastrophic death, okay? For their powers in their mouth and in their tails. I started thinking, okay, that could be a vehicle or something like that that has the ability to shoot in either directions, fire. I don't know, but I've never seen again a horse be able to fire out of their backside and out of their front side.

For their tails are like serpents having heads with them that do harm. And I just started thinking about that. Now he goes on to say Look at verse 19 again. For their powers in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents having heads. What's a serpent tail move? It can move, right? You think about the cartilage and how an animal or serpent moves. So the powers in their mouth and tails. Maybe again this is speaking of some type of military um weapon, something that can fire ballistics from the both sides of that weapon.

We really just don't know for sure, but it's clear to me that doesn't seem to be like an ordinary horse that I understand or have ever seen. Just like it was an ordinary locust that I'd ever seen coming. You know these things are speaking to us more um figuratively in regards to what it's trying to describe. And it could be simply at that time due to again the severity of the judgments. Maybe the horses are all that's left to fight. Maybe it is literal horses and that all of the other parts of military and technology fuel.

4 billion people have died. Maybe all of that's left is horses because all of the other technology has been brought to a halt. I don't know. But certainly there's something going on here very um very sobering to me as I read this, very clear. I understand why it's called the second woe. Clearly again the severity of consequence of humanity's rebellion against God and that's what Jesus wants us to see here. Now, I get to this point, right? And I'm like wow. Like most of us here this morning, I have a hard time reconciling in my brain.

Maybe that's cuz I'm I'm pretty logical. I have a hard time reconciling how something could go to this extent and regardless of where you are today, even an unbeliever, wherever you might be, that you wouldn't say enough. Like stop. Like relent, please. I think of somebody being tortured, you know? Um generally torture tactics or interrogation tactics are often used to get something uh information intel out of someone. And then ultimately the reason that they share that intel is because they want the what to stop, the torment and torture. We were already told in the Bible used the specific term torment, didn't it?

We read that last week in our passage. So clearly we understand that there's immense pain going on, even so much pain that people want to die, but cannot. So that tells me a lot that's going on. I can't reconcile in my mind why somebody isn't tapping out and going, you know what? Enough. I can't handle it. I've watched my wife, my family, my kids, other people that are of age that are one willing to submit, die. Maybe I'm the only one left. Like what does it take for someone at that point to be humbled to say I give.

Jesus, I'm going to do it your way cuz clearly I can't I can't control any of these things that are happening, no matter how many bunkers or shelters or how much rations I have. And I'm not escaping this. And so then I I start reading that with that mindset because it's almost in disbelief that that could happen. And I guess maybe I'm surprised. Is there anybody else surprised here that after such a great judgment and devastation that Jesus doesn't have everyone's attention and the remaining people alive uh would be cry aren't crying out for help, forgiveness and salvation?

I guess I truly marvel at this cuz I I find it to be incomprehensible. But then I read these last two verses which probably is the most shocking and alarming portion of this whole chapter. Even in spite of these horses, these military, this war, all of that. These last two verses in this chapter is what is so striking to me. But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent from the works of their hands that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood which can neither seen nor hear nor walk, right?

And they did not repent of their murderers uh their murderers, excuse me, or their sorceries or their sexual morality and thefts. So they refused to repent and turn from their wickedness of idolatry and disobedience and call upon God for forgiveness. That's the real rub here. They refused to do it. Now I want to I want to be clear. This is very very important this passage. I encourage you to take notes and write these things down when people try to make all kinds of reviling accusations against God. Being that this is the most shocking to me, what is most shocking isn't that they couldn't.

It doesn't say that. It says that they would not, wouldn't. And that's something that's very important. Let's Let's understand that here this morning. This is not God's doing that he is uh unjustly pouring out this judgment and people are crying out and going no more, no more, no more and God is like turning a deaf ear to them. That's not what's happening. He is giving them a choice. They have a choice to choose just as we do today. And it says that they would not, not that they could not. Please, that's so important. They would not, right?

Had they had a choice to repent and chose not to, you know, or could not, then that's God, right? Then we would start to come back to that idea maybe some are created to go to heaven and some are created to go to hell. But that's not what this says here. This clearly says that this is a choice. And then I started thinking about it and I went wait a minute. I don't have to look to the Great Tribulation or the future to figure this out. It's happening right now. And I thought let's just take the few moments we have left in our message, our time here this morning and let's look about at these two verses because this is pretty much what sums up God is summing up in some ways the decalogue again, which was our Ten Commandments in some capacity here.

That's what it really reflects on. And and clearly he's telling us stop, repent, don't continue in these actions, right? And it's already happening. It's not like this sin is going to then all of a sudden find itself only in the Great Tribulation. The battle is in the mind and it's already been for thousands and thousands of years. It actually went back to the garden where first an original sin occurred. So here, you know um what do we read? Well, the first thing we saw is that they're what again? But the rest of mankind who were not killed these plagues did not repent of their works of their hands that they should not worship demons.

What do we call that? Idolatry. Everybody here understand what that means, idolatry. It means anything you worship that's in your heart between whatever you and God, anything that takes that space by definition is idolatry. That's a very broad definition, but a very accurate definition. Often we try to reinterpret that. Well, God, you know what I mean. No, no God doesn't. Doesn't change his his law, his rules that way, his commandments, statutes, and judgments. He says and idols of gold, silver, and brass and stone and wood which can either see nor hear, right? Nor walk. In other words, we carry those things with us.

They don't, you know? We grab them, we have control of them. They don't have control over us. Now it's interesting, right? I was uh doing an inspection. So you know on my day off I do some inspections. So I went in and did an inspection as a code officer. And I went out to a home. I I I don't want to be too specific case there was somebody here is this on the radio, what have you. Um but I went out to a home and I walked into a It was very very nice home. And I walked in because they were doing an addition and I thought okay, this nice, you know?

So I come in and I turn to my left and I have to admit to you I I haven't seen this too often. I see it sometimes in certain restaurants or things like that, but I I've really not seen it much in homes anymore, especially um on this side of the hemisphere. But I saw a basically this little idol, this pagan idol that was set up right in this house, right? And I sort of noticed that it was a shrine and it was right off the living room. And I And I must admit I did do a double take cuz I thought boy, you know, you I read this in the Bible.

I'm walking to a house like this. I start praying, certainly. But I noticed that wow, this is still happening. I think sometimes we don't recognize that this is still very much happening. So it was a shrine, there's these idols and I thought to myself, well, under I understand the people living here, you know, they're they're worshiping this idol that they bought on Amazon or they bought online or they made with their hands. And I started thinking about it and I and I I almost wanted to turn to the individual and say you know where that came from.

It came from the earth, you made it or or the product developments of the earth. Um it's a shrine. And And I I almost imagined the conversation. They would say, well, you do realize that the shrine can't hurt me. This idol can't hurt me. And I would have turned and said, yeah, you're right. The idol can't hurt you, but the demon lurking behind it can. And that's just what popped in my mind and I started looking at in this context here and I started thinking that's exactly what the problem is in all of this. In all of idolatry, we open ourselves up to demonic forces, oppression, affliction for the believer.

For the unbeliever, possession. Okay? I started thinking about that, right? We just saw an example of that with this four angels that are going to somehow uh come against this 200 million people that are going to go off and be used to attack the own their own human race. I also realized that most do not build these little gods with their hands and carry them around, right? Most people don't probably haven't seen something like that. But I know there are those that are worshiping money and materialism as a god. So they may be having it in their pocket, they may have it in their bank account.

They didn't necessarily realize it as a shrine, but it's something they're putting all their power and love and trust in. Again, you might be saying, well, money's paper and materialism, those are just objects. They they can't hurt me. Again, maybe, but the demons behind them can certainly enslave you at best. And if you're unsaved, destroy your soul at worst. You know this is the first half of this list that's found in this section, okay? Now look at the next section that he goes into, right? So he says they're worshiping demons out of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood uh which neither see nor walk.

Okay, that was the first half. Now verse 21 gives us the the latter half of the list. And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual morality, and their thefts, okay? So I start start going through this as well, right? And next we read of murders. Those who take life from another without cause, those who love violence. You know this is not accidental, but premeditated. Again, that's the difference between kill and murder, right? Premeditation. Again, destroying God's creation of life. And then I start to think of the 60 plus million abortions and the acts like that.

Murdering little unborn babies. And then I started thinking the other end of that spectrum, the assisted suicide that happens so often in Europe and other parts of the world where it's practiced on the books as law and elderly folks are literally being murdered even at their request, nonetheless murdered. And then I started thinking about everything in between. You know all darkness and demonic activities like this, things like this. Well, we may think we have free will in these things, they are forbidden by God's commandments. And those that are practicing sorcery, so the next thing on the list, sorceries, the occult, you know any kind of magic Now I want to be clear here when we say magic, some people say, oh magic.

I'm not talking about illusions, you know right? There's illusionists. You know what those people are? They take an sleight of hand. That that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about someone that would have engaged in sort of um witchcraft maybe is a better term, voodoo, fortune tellers, horoscopes, uh white witches, dark witches, you know wickedness and darkness. Some of you are going to say, oh here here he goes. He's going off the video games. What do you mean? Alternate and augmented reality, storyboard games that create environments for wickedness and evil. And people, young people or an old people like are drawn to it.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Matt Vanderboegh on His Perfect Love. We're going through Revelation at the present time and I'll remind you that you can hear the program again when you visit His Perfect Love dot org. That's His Perfect Love dot org. We're also at one place dot com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you on the go. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website His Perfect Love dot org.

We can't thank you enough for your prayers for this ministry. Please pray that as God's word goes forth that lives will be greatly impacted for the glory of God and people would grow by His grace and love or even enter into a relationship with Him. And if you have a prayer request, please send that our way. You can email that to us through our website at His Perfect Love dot org. If you live in the Mechanicsburg, PA area, we hope you'll stop by for a visit just like you hear on the radio. Pastor Matt teaches verse by verse through the Bible here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore.

Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek gathering on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg dot org for more information. And then join us next time when Pastor Matt will pick up where we left off in Revelation here on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore.