“No Christ, No Hope” — Pastor Dave Zuleger
Sermon Outline
Revelation 9: No Christ, No Hope
Introduction: The Ugliness of Sin and Satan
First Woe (vv.1-12)
Second Woe (vv.13-19)
Unrepentant World (vv.20-21)
Repentant Worship
South Cities Kids
Can you think of a time when you wanted something you shouldn't have? A time when sin seems like it might make you more happy than obeying God?
The ugliness, scary locusts and horses that are going to torment all the people who don't worship God are meant to show us how awful and horrific sin and Satan are. Sometimes Satan tries to trick us into thinking the things he offers will make us happy. This picture in Revelation shows us how ugly it is and what a horrible end it is.There is a "star that falls" and opens up a great abyss. There's also a leader of all the evil angels named "Abaddon." Many people think is talking about Satan or one of his really important leaders. (Jesus says something about this in Luke 10)
The good news is that the evil demons fell. They will not win. The bad news here is that they are on earth for some time to cause chaos.The other good news is that those who are sealed are protected from these horrible things in Revelation 9. Do you remember who those are that are sealed? It's those who have their sins forgiven by the blood of Jesus.
So, even though Satan tries to trick us and make us believe God doesn't love us - if you trust in Jesus - he will keep you safe.In this chapter there are scary locusts that come and sting and hurt people. There are also scary horses that have flames coming out of their mouths and snakes as their tails to hurt people. Can you imagine scary animals like this?
I think this is to show that God will punish those who oppose him to get the attention of the world. They will suffer because of their sin. They will be tricked by words and by many snake-like deception.The saddest thing about this whole chapter is that even after all these horrible things happen—people do not turn and ask God to forgive them for their sin. Isn't that sad? Isn't the saddest thing in the world?
God offers forgiveness to us if we'll only say we trust in Jesus. But, these people don't want it.Revelation 9 is supposed to show us how sad and hopeless life is without Jesus. And how it always leads to death. But, what would life with Jesus lead to?
Read: John 10:10. What does Jesus come to do? Do you trust him?
