Why Repent
“I wish masks worked. Most Americans now wear them. Telling people they have been conned doesn’t make them happy.” From “Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns Part 3: Masks” by Alex Berenson
Text: Rev 9:20-21 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
I. The Context
In the Book of Revelation chapter one shows us the “Alpha and Omega”. Chapters two and three describe the seven churches. Chapters four and five find the church in heaven, I interpose the rapture. Then:
Rev 6:1-2 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
While the seven seals are being opened we get two pieces of good news, kind of.
Rev 6:9-11 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. … and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
And…
Rev 7:14-17 So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
What are we seeing? The church age has ended. The church has been raptured. The antichrist has been released with the first seal. We have war and all of its wicked attributes across the earth. There is a spiritual war going on simultaneously. People are getting saved. The fifth seal describes their salvation costing them their lives. The second mention of the tribulation souls comes just before the seventh seal and the seven trumpets. It describes: Rev 7:9-10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
The fact that they are with Jesus and not on earth tells us that their faith is tied to their deaths.
Who is killing them and why?
II. Our Text has the answer.
Rev 9:20-21 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
These are the people doing the murdering of those who profess Jesus during the tribulation.
Their number one characteristic is they “did not repent”.
They have a god. They worship their god. Somehow the worship of their god calls for the elimination of those that worship Jesus.
They are joined with their gods who are demons.
How did their lives get linked to the demonic?
“And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
What murders were they involved in before they started murdering the believers?
The answer is abortion. Abortion has become an international right that is defended with a zeal that goes beyond reason. Think about the woman who wants to film her abortion and post it on Youtube for the world to see.
The leading cause of death in 2020 was abortion with 42.7 million deaths or murders. Compare that to the 1.9 million Covid deaths worldwide.
How did they get linked to the demonic?
By their sorceries. Here is the Greek word:
pharmakeia (far-mak-i’-ah); from NT:5332; medication (“pharmacy”), i.e. (by extension) magic (literally or figuratively): translated: KJV – sorcery, witchcraft.
I smoked weed and moved up and down the drugs available to me. I did LSD for the first time and wrote a letter to a friend describing the experience which included a definitive new strong belief that there is no God. While my letter travelled to him, he had sent a letter to me with his first time experience with LSD and the same conclusion that there was no God.
Years later, I had a friend who was going to do LSD for the first time. He was an Anthropology Graduate student. He was going to write notes. As the drug was beginning to make its way into his body, spirit and soul; he wrote “There is no God”.
We live in “A Brave New World” and the powers that are want us to have our “soma”. Here is an explanation of Huxley’s use of “soma” in his novel published in 1931:
Soma is a drug that is handed out for free to all the citizens of the World State. In small doses, soma makes people feel good. In large doses, it creates pleasant hallucinations and a sense of timelessness. The citizens of the World State are encouraged to take soma by “hypnopaedic” sayings like “A gram is better than a damn.” When they experience strong negative emotions, citizens take a soma “holiday” to distract them from the unpleasant feelings. John sees soma as a tool of social control. He says that taking soma makes the citizens of the World State “slaves.”
Now that marijuana has become the new wonder drug that can heal every known sickness in the world. You might want to question why the powers that be are so interested in getting us all on drugs?
Rom 6:16-17 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
This is the defining verse of the generation that will refuse to repent and will eventually work with the government or just allow the government during the times of the tribulation to murder Christians.
This is all before they receive the “mark” (mask).
God is giving them room for repentance. Once they take the mark their fate is sealed.
These people are very committed to their sin and the government and laws support their sin.
The next identifying feature is “sexual immorality”.
Who would have guessed that in the year 2021 one of the main political concerns of our nation was whether or not men who had transgendered into women could play against women in sports as a woman.
As a young pastor in Seattle I remember preaching about the world wide web. I used spiders as my example. The point was from the very beginning 4 of the top 5 web pages were porno.
We have become a society where “the thrill is gone”. Normal sex between a married man and woman is something experience by a smaller and smaller segment of our society.
Enough said, our society embraces the demons that accompany all forms of sexual sin.
The last attribute of the people that are going to joyfully murder the Christians during the tribulation is that they will not repent of their “thefts”.
The ten commandments make a clear statement: “thou shall not covet”.
You can desire things, a wife, a house and a life. You just cannot desire something that someone else has. Coveting what belongs to someone else is a sin.
Much of modern politics revolves around manipulating us to think that it is unfair that “they” have more than us. The toxic mix of Marxism and Socialism is the rule of the day. The big boys on top aligned with the government boys always do well and the regular people have no interactions with them. It is the neighbor down the street who opens a business and does well, he is the one targeted in the future world economic system.
We just watched this happen with the shut downs. Somehow it was safe to go to Walmart, but not church or the small independent business down the street. Some states had wars over whether a landscaper could do his job or not.
The natural evolution of wealth in every totalitarian system in the history of the world is the players on top and the rest of us equalized in our poverty and “soma” (bread and circuses) or (food stamps and youtube).
Covetousness hates people who work hard and succeed. We as a nation are doing everything in our power to destroy those kind of people.
A person could go on and on about all of these things. If you can’t see these attributes of humanity forming all around you; you must be spiritually blind.
What would happen if you opened your eyes? If you do it during the tribulation it will cost you your life.
III. Place yourself
2 Thess 2:7-12 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
It would be another sermon that would explain how the spirit of lawlessness becomes the law of the land (we are already there in so many ways).
We rather repent or this…
We are the deceived who perish: “with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
We believe and live lies: “that they should believe the lie”
We love our sin more than truth: “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.“
Conclusion
Gal 6:7-10 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.