Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We welcome you to the study of the precious Word of God. We again would be grateful to God for His mercy and His great grace to give us the privilege of bringing through the radio program His blessed eternal truth. We do trust that our listeners are vitally interested in the teaching of God's precious word. For thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, said the psalmist long ago. But we are especially covering a subject of deep interest, as well as timely interest in relation to the world in which we are living, as we have been considering, from the early chapters in the book of Exodus, the character of the world in which we are living in. as pictured by the land of Egypt and the great empire of the Pharaohs long ago. We have particularly been applying our present study to chapter ten in the book of Exodus and the plague of locusts, one of the divine visitations of judgment that God sent upon the gods of Egypt and upon the people of Egypt. Now may I again remind my hearers, there is a day coming, and it may be very soon, when God's judgments are going to be visited, poured out, not upon one nation only, but upon the whole world, and upon the whole earth, the visitation of divine judgments will conclusively fall with terrible destruction. We would be faithful to warn our listeners, there is judgment ahead. Are you ready and prepared by God's grace, saved through the precious blood of Christ, to face that which the future holds? It is a wonderful thing to realize, and let me just insert this, there is therefore now no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. as we read in Romans eight and verse one. How precious when a soul is trusting Christ, sheltered by the blood of the Savior, and can truthfully say in the words of the poet, There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me, the fire and the torment mine eyes shall never see. But just as God sent a plague of locust, one of the many plagues, upon Egypt long ago, We are now noting from the book of the Revelation a similar plague in chapter nine that is also a plague of locusts, but of such a terrible character that they are beyond the description of literal locusts. We turn immediately to chapter nine of the book of the Revelation, and we would like to read verse one, two, and three. The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. To him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit. There arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke, locus upon the earth. And unto them was given power, meaning authority, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Now let us again repeat. This is a vision that was given to John the Apostle in the great book of the Revelation concerning the end judgments. And the fifth trumpet judgment is what is included in this account. And there is the fall of an actual person as a star from heaven. It could possibly be Satan himself as being described by this graphic description of falling from heaven. Or it could be of an ecclesiastical character whom we have suggested could possibly be the Antichrist, but a great dignitary falls from a place of lofty position onto the earth. And yet he is given, by permitted authority from God, he is given the key of the bottomless pit. Now the expression, the bottomless pit, may I be faithful as well as clear? The expression of this bottomless pit, which occurs seven times in the book of the Revelation, is always connected with evil and judgment. It is the very language that describes to us the pit of evil, the pit of Satan's power, the pit of Satan's authority, the pit of Satan's destruction. I cannot magnify enough. I cannot amplify sufficiently the power of evil that Satan controls. But here is the thought. In the coming day of judgment, he is permitted to open this bottomless pit. My beloved, may I state, it is from this bottomless pit, evils are coming out under satanic authority and power to fill the earth with the great delusion and destruction that will follow. I don't know how many of you realize it, but I want to tell you very frankly that Satan, the devil, is running loose and his power is becoming greater. And this is in accordance with the revealed word of God, that before the Lord Jesus comes to the earth the second time, the power of Satan will be greater than ever before. Now let me give you a comparison to note. When the Lord Jesus Christ came the first time, You may read in the Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke and John, but especially Matthew, Mark and Luke, you will read the abundance of demons and evil spirits that fill the land of Israel at the first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in like manner, but may I say more intensified in my humble opinion, not just in the little land of Israel, but throughout the whole world. There will be the evidence of evil spirits and satanic delusions and satanic power and authority manifested. Now again, my beloved radio friend, please may I speak, for I am preaching in the light of eternity. You and I need to be delivered. You and I need a person who can deliver us from such power. And thank God there is one. And it is our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself on the cross. for our sins that He might deliver us out of this present evil world. And thank God for that Savior. But now we noted in verse two, when He opened the bottomless pit, a smoke came out, like the smoke of a great furnace. And it was the smoke that polluted the air. The sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Now the sun is a light-giving body. As you and I well know, it gives us the light of creation every day. And we walk and live in the light and the warmth of the sunshine. And also we breathe the air that God has so freely given to us, the oxygen around it. Now these two metaphors, the sun and the air, they illustrate to us the truth. The sun is the source of light. The air is the source of life which we breathe. And the power of Satan is going to bring moral and spiritual darkness upon and through all the earth in such a manner that the morality of men and women will be darkened by the power of Satan. May I say that even now there seems to be moral darkness in the mind and in the heart of men and women today prevailing. You say, where does it come from? I'm telling you, frankly, it's the devil himself that's darkening, corrupting the minds of mankind. Beloved, moral darkness, moral pollution. We hear much about pollution, but who gives any objection to moral pollution? You can read your newspapers, and there you have printed moral pollution within the pages of the daily paper. You see it upon the screen, the moral pollution of the earth. You see it with your own vivid eyes, your own natural eyes as you walk around. And the moral pollution of this scene, may I say, I want to go on record. It is a moral pollution of great darkness that comes from the hand of the devil. But I want to make it very clear that our scripture that we are reading is yet to be fulfilled in the future. so that we can say at the present moment it is going to be worse in days ahead. For evil men shall wax worse than worse, deceiving, and being deceived according to Second Timothy chapter three and verse thirteen. Now let's see what comes out of the smoke. Here's where the locusts come in. Verse three, Revelation nine, there came out of the smoke, locusts upon the earth. Now, may I point out, there is no question of doubt, these are satanic agencies that are let loose, as we have indicated, that they were given power as scorpions of the earth at power. Satanic agencies. And, beloved, may I say, very, very faithfully, earnestly, the satanic agencies of the host of evil are very apparent today in their character, in their manifestation. Oh, beloved me, I say very frankly, if you cannot trace or attribute conditions to God, there's only one other source that you must. That which is good comes from God. That which is evil comes from Satan. And beloved, as we look around us, the world is filled with satanic influences, satanic sources of evil, evil spirits that certainly magnify, manifest, and proclaim as well as show the authority of faith and in their missions. Oh, beloved, what will it be in that coming day when the satanic agencies of the bottomless pit are let loose upon all the earth? And they are given power, meaning authority, to thus inflict a judgment upon their victims. And to think of what it will mean in that coming day that may not be very far ahead. Now, beloved, please, I want you to realize the character of the world in the light of the book of Exodus, but I want you to realize the character of the world in the light of the book of the Revelation as we look at this judgment of the locust. What a world we live in. I am glad that I am saved with joy, with thanksgiving and gratitude that I feel deeply. I thank God for saving my poor, precious, though unworthy, soul. I have found a deliverer. I have Christ as my Savior. My radio friend, have you? I warn you to flee from the wrath that is to come. I plead with you to escape from the coming judgment. By going to Christ, other refuge have I not, wrote the poet, hangs my helpless soul on thee. And may you find that rock of ages for your soul today. Father, bless thy word. We ask in Jesus' name for his glory. Amen.