In the fifteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, we had sort of the introduction to chapter sixteen, as we saw the seven angels in heaven who are given the seven final plagues which complete the judgment of God upon the earth. And these seven angels came out of the temple and they were clothed in pure white linen. And they were given seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God to be poured out upon the earth…filled with the people who had rejected salvation. And the temple of God was filled with the smoke from the glory of God and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues were completed…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 1

• John says that he hears a voice from the temple…but we’ve already established who is alone in the temple, right?  Therefore this commandment to “go and pour out the righteousness of God upon the earth,” who does it come from?  You guessed it, God!
• He has given this commandment before hasn’t He?  “Go, My Son and pour out righteousness upon the earth!”  But the first commandment was to offer salvation to man by the perfect sacrifice of God’s only Son…and now God’s only Son is about to come again!  We’ll see Him ride onto the scene in Chapter 19…but something is off…there’s a problem…the first and primary commandment of God has been rejected…Salvation has been forsaken, and so there is nothing left you see…
• Man cannot save himself.  No other god is able to save.  Money means nothing.  Respect means nothing.  Accomplishment means nothing…the only thing that matters is the only thing that will remain…what have you done, in your life, with Jesus Christ?  Everything else will pass man…but here’s the secret…you can make everything count…how?  Do it for Jesus!
• Why do you want to be on time everywhere you go?  So that folks can think highly of you or because you want to honor Jesus?  Why do you want to vacuum the carpets of the church and keep the calendar on the webpage updated?  So that people can pat you on the back or stand in awe of your clean and orderly church body?   Or simply because you want to honor Jesus?  Here’s a major one…why do you want to serve your husband…so he’ll do what you want and be more like what you want him to be…or simply because you want to honor Jesus in your marriage?
• Are you sure what you’re doing even matters?  The first commandment…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all of your strength…or – nothing – you – do – matters.  Tough truth…but true nonetheless and these folks here are seeing that truth play out. 
• The Anti-Christ can’t help them.  The beast can’t help.  The false prophet can’t help.  Nothing helps…everything is falling apart…why?  Because they have rejected Jesus man…rejected the call to make their life matter…rejected the thought of loving Him above themselves…even one who is saved can find themselves in a life of everything falling apart because they somewhere sometime believed that they would be the first person in history to compromise and not go the way of consequence.
• Here in this chapter 16, righteous consequence has arrived and it has arrived because of the Word of God…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 2

• And so the medicine to cure the world of unrighteousness begins with grievous, loathesome sores upon those who have taken the mark.  Something that seemed a no brainer for sure in the recent past.  Something that seemed so sophisticated and wise…”I had to,” they may say!  “I couldn’t buy or sell without it.”  “I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t pay my cable bill….Unless I compromised.  Surely God understands that…I’m a good person…I was just…hungry.”
• The illogical logic of sin man.  “Surely God understands.”  The truth is, surely you don’t.  “Don’t take the mark,” the angels cried out to man in Chapter 14.  “Refuse the mark,” the 144,000 would testify throughout the entire world.  The two witnesses of Chapter 11, the clear Word of God…every pastor, every real-deal Christian they have ever spoken to on this subject has said to them, “you take the mark, you are lost.”  And yet…they did.
• What more can be done?  Once sin has been chosen man…what more can be done?  Grievous sores will come.  They will come upon your life, they will even come upon others man…as no doubt one came home with the mark and persuaded the house to follow them…the answer is, you refused to understand then, although the counsel of God’s Word was so very clear…unfortunately you will understand now…and notice, three times in this chapter, men curse God.
• That is the real reason by the way.  The real reason for this illogical false logic of “God understands”.  “God has to grant me grace.  God has to forgive me.”  The real reason why folks don’t heed the Word of God…because deep down…they don’t love Him man…They say they do, they may even feel as if they do…but oh how their lives find them out…as sin proliferates…and then…foul and loathsome sores…and they openly blaspheme…we’ll see that three times in this chapter.

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 3

• So the first bowl affects man, the second affects the sea and every living creature in the sea died.  The beautiful beaches of the world are peppered with decaying flesh…and I can’t help again to see how that is just like sin.  A beautiful beach you know…seagulls cawking…waves crashing and then the camera pans out…two people sitting on beach chairs, not wearing wedding rings, drinking Corona…ever see that commercial?
• Oh now Matt you’re going a little crazy…what’s wrong with that?  Nothing, I’m not saying that there is…but would the commercial appeal to this world if it was a couple wearing wedding rings and sipping ice water?  Not really.  In fact in today’s world it would be called “hateful!”  And so no I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with that by itself…but there is something drastically wrong with this world…right?
• And the beach that appeals to the sinful desires of the flesh…the destination of that beach is revealed to us here…littered with death man…Look I know sin and seduction and fantasy are appealing…all the emotions that are aroused when you watch that commercial but so will be the mark!  Open your heart and mind to wisdom!  What will come of it!? 
• A new game just came out for Wii or Xbox…let’s get that for little Jimmie’s birthday.  What will that do to him?  We can just sit on our couch and watch church on TV, no need to go anymore!  What will that do to your family and the local church for that matter!  Everything is discounted and plenty if we buy with the mark…and if we don’t take it then we have to buy food from our neighbor at double the cost because of the risk he is taking…no brainer!  But it seals the deal man!  I watch folks seal the deal on their kids all the time…I see myself doing it and constantly pray for wisdom in this…
• Because I don’t want to raise happy children…I want to raise strong children!  That if the Lord tarries they may have the capacity to walk in wisdom…to see what’s really going on…to look beyond the Corona commercial and see Revelation 16!  All the creatures in the sea dead…why?  Sin.  Period. 
• Not to say, “well we busted the sea, let’s go chill at the river.”  Man that is so sad.  I’ve burned this relationship, this job, this church, this marriage…I’ll just go get another!  That will fix everything…”  Tragic!  It doesn’t work.  If you burned here, you’ll burn there…it’s not the situation, it’s not the commercial, it’s not even the Corona man…sin is the problem!  Look what happens to the rivers and springs of water…the next place you turn, the next marriage, the next job, the next church, the next the next the next…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 4

• Bloodied too, just like the sea…oh that we would be people of understanding and people that live lives that matter…that honor Jesus Christ!

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 5 – 6

• So this third angel pours out his vial upon the rivers and waters and as they become blood he proclaims the righteousness of God.  Seems harsh to some however it’s as God said to Job, let’s reason together…As Jesus hung on the Cross, praying forgiveness for even those that had nailed Him there that day, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” as His heart broke for all of mankind, John Chapter 19 tells us that water and blood flowed from His side.
• That water and blood meant nothing to the crowd at Golgotha, means nothing to these people that are upon the earth…and to be quite honest, means nothing to those who do not turn from their own sin…That water and blood was rejected by man’s own choice, however reject Jesus or accept Him, every knee will bow…rejecting Jesus doesn’t make Him any less God…doesn’t make Him any less Savior and so righteousness prevails…He shall be the Savior of the world, the kosmos…It’s up to you and to me how that applies.
• Applied via the cross and He saves us.  Applied via true and righteous judgment, He saves the coming kosmos from us…Look at the next verse as we conclude…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 7

• This is mysterious because we know that the temple in heaven is occupied at this time by only One and John hears another voice coming from the altar…which is a Greek word “thuse-ias-ta-deon” meaning the place of sacrifice…occurs in 21 verses in the Bible…so we have triple sevens and the sacrificial altar of God and oh by the way, only God is around…who could this be?   Who is this voice?  I suggest that this is Jesus Christ himself and just as His plea for forgiveness has fallen on deaf ears, now He observes what is befalling of those that have rejected Him and He embraces the Father. 
• Lord, God, Almighty, 7-7-7, true and righteous are these judgments…and note, this proclamation originates from where?  The place of sacrifice!
• In our times of trouble there can be a tendency within us to question the fairness of God…but the altar, the place of sacrifice, the cross…will clear all that up for us.  If you don’t see this then you’ll go through your life blessing God on the mountain tops and cursing Him with unbelief in the valleys.  The cry of “this is not fair,” in any situation, is simply sin.
• Yes you could be treated poorly, yes you could get the short end of the stick, yes you could be taken advantage of…but what are you due?  The Bible says in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrated His love for you that while you were still in your sin, Christ died for you?  Is that fair?   Is that right?  That my friends is the very definition of right…in fact we call it…righteous…
• And so what is fair?  What is right?  You may have it twisted…it’s quite right for you to be taken advantage of…Jesus was.  It’s quite right for you to get the short end of the stick…God the Father did…complaining about your husband, your wife, your job, your singleness, your mom, your dad, your friend, your siblings only means that you are not listening to the cry from the altar…you have forgotten the cross of Calvary…and if you view every situation of your life through the lens of the cross of Jesus Christ, the same love that poured forth from Him will begin to pour forth from you and you will endure with great strength man…and in your heart of hearts, not just your mouth, but in your actions you will live out, “true and right are Your decisions and plan for my day Lord God Almighty” as you meet Him at the altar…ultimately we must continually meet Him there…at the cross…