We'll stay right there where Brother Mike read in Revelation 17. I've often said that the Gospel is a simple message, easily understood, but impossible to receive with the understanding of faith unless God, in His power and His goodness, breaks our sinful natural wills and brings us to believe and to love that truth, follow it, live by it. And the gospel is a simple message, but I've often added this, the Bible is not a simple book. When you consider passages like Revelation 17 and all the symbolism that is here, and you might wonder how in the world can anybody understand all that? So I'm going to take it a little bit at a time. I'm only going to try to deal with the first six verses today. The title of the message is A Great Mystery Uncovered. Now most of the symbols that you see in Revelation find their origin in the Old Testament. And we'll look at some of that, but we're going to stay right here. Chapter 17 of the book of Revelation begins the sixth vision that covers this book. You know, when we began, I told you there's seven visions. The whole book of Revelation, from the first chapter to the last, is made up of seven visions that Christ gave to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. Now, each vision shows the totality of the New Covenant era, the New Covenant age, from beginning, the cross of Christ, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, to his second coming. Each vision encompasses that whole time. But it shows us this from a different view and shows us what's happening through symbolism. And one of the symbols here, especially here in this Revelation 17, is this woman called Babylon, the great whore. Verse five says, mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots. That's one of the symbols. And what does that mean? Well, this sixth vision, which begins at chapter 17, ends at chapter 19, and then you have the last vision. This sixth vision shows Christ conquering Babylon. Now, whatever Babylon is, it's not good. You can at least see that. That's very simple. She's called the mother of harlots, and that's sinful. That's not a good thing. Christ is the Savior of sinners, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord our righteousness. And so this sixth vision shows Christ, the King of kings, the Savior of sinners, conquering actually not only Babylon, but one who is called the beast. We've read about these beasts before. and the false prophet who is the other beast. There's the beast that comes out of the sea covering the whole world. That's false ungodly governments and the beast that comes out of the land which is called the false prophet here who is false religion. Babylon is the mother of them all. But look at verse one. Let's just take it through and I'll do my best to keep this in order and simple as I can. You know, that's one thing about Babylon. Look, it says, there came one of the seven angels. These are the seven ministers who poured out the seven vials, who blew the seven trumpets. Seven meaning the complete revelation and work and power of God throughout the age. There's nothing going to be left undone here. That's what that seven means. Seven is always in the Bible, Old Testament and New, the symbol of a complete, finished work. That's why Christ is my and your seven. He is our Sabbath, Sabbath being the seventh day. He finished the work and we rest in our Sabbath, which is Christ, it's not Sunday. Now, Sunday's a good day. It's a day of the Lord, but so is Monday and Tuesday. Now, Sunday's the day we're to meet together. We call it the Lord's Day in that sense. And that's when the apostles, after the resurrection, met together with the church to worship and all of that. But our Sabbath is Christ. He finished the work, and we enter into His finished work. We rest from our labors. which means he rested from his labor, which means he completed all righteousness. We rest from our labors, which means we repent of our dead works. We rest in him. So here's these seven angels which had the seven vials, bowls of God's judgment, manifestations of God's judgment throughout the New Testament age. We've seen them, we'll see them again until he comes. Wars, rumors of wars, disasters, tornadoes, earthquakes, pestilence, COVID-19, whatever you want to, all of that. Why are these things coming? People always want to find somebody to blame, and usually you can find somebody who started this. But it's the work of God. God's in control, folks. Do you think that if it weren't God's will that COVID-19 would have never come into this world? You say, could God stop it? Well, sure He could. He's the Lord of the Earth. And this earth is a sinful place. And we're feeling the effects of our own sin. That's why we need salvation from sin. And the only way of salvation from sin is the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate. So here they come with the seven vows. He said, they talked with me, saying unto me, come hither, come here. Telling John, come here. I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." Now this great whore we're going to see is Babylon. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Sitting on many waters means that she has sway over all the world, all nations of the world. She was judged in chapter 16. What we're going to be told in chapter 17 is why she's judged. It's gonna be spelled out. The scriptures, the scriptures often in the Old Testament, and I'll give you an example is Proverbs 7. You read that, that whole chapter. Often describes false religion by the symbol of a harlot. And you know why? Because it looks good on the outside, but it's deadly on the inside. That's right. False religion is impressive. I'll never forget when I made a trip to Mexico with Brother Mayhem to see a missionary down there. And we'd go out into these little towns. The people were poor. They lived in huts with dirt floors, but there was always a big, impressive Catholic cathedral right in the middle of town, full of gold. And it was impressive. And somebody said, well, how do they keep people up from how they're stealing? They threaten them with hell. You steal from the church, you're going to hell, and there's no hope for you. Well, that's the great whore. That's part of the great whore. Her sin is spiritual whoredom, enticing sinners by her deceptive appearance and empty love. Now, don't get me wrong. The Bible says a lot about physical harlotry and physical fornication. and they're bad and we're to avoid them. But there's nothing as deadly as spiritual whoredom, spiritual fornication. This whore sits upon many waters because her influence is worldwide as she deceives all nations. She's an agent of the red dragon who is Satan. She's empowered by Satan. Her goal is to seduce sinners into false professions of religion, false refuges of salvation, and draw them away from Christ and the gospel of grace. You see, this is a very confused thing. Think about religion today. Think about what people call Christianity today. It's a massive confusion. How many churches we have in Albany, Georgia? Everybody believes something different. It's confusion. And I'll tell you why in just a moment. But the gospel of Christ is single simplicity. Remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, I fear less Satan as he deceived Eve with his subtlety. Deceive your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Who Christ is, what he accomplished, how he saved sinners. It's so simple. But man by nature doesn't want it. Why? Because it doesn't allow him to boast in himself. And he'll boast either in his works, or he'll boast in his decision, or he'll boast in a combination. And it gets complicated, because what's good enough for one isn't good enough for another. Oh, you're saved by grace, but you've got to be baptized. You're saved by grace, but you gotta do this, you gotta do that. That's Babylon. Many who profess to believe in Christ but have not been born again by the Spirit will be seduced by this great horror. But now take heart now, true believers, Those who are sealed by God in their minds and hearts with the glory of God in Christ, they won't fall prey to her deadly doctrines. Look over at verse 14, we'll just jump ahead for this message. These shall make war with the Lamb. Babylon the whore, the great harlot, the false prophet, they'll make war with the Lamb. Until Christ comes again, they'll be at war with us. War with Christ. The Lamb shall overcome them. He's really already overcome them, but he's talking about the second coming here. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Now look, and they that are with him. They're called. Now how were you called? By the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Spirit. And chosen, that's election. And faithful, that's preservation. Huh? We'll be fine. As long as you focus your attention on Christ, the Lord of glory, and the righteousness that He accomplished on Calvary to save you from your sins, and don't look away. I was talking to Brother Gary Shepard and talking about a man who started going to his church and kind of rose up fast and seemed so encouraging as a believer. And then all of a sudden he left. And I asked Gary, I said, why did he leave? And Gary said, well, I wasn't preaching enough law for him. He wanted some legalism. He wanted to complicate. He wanted to be, he was enamored with things that would take him away from the simplicity, the singularity that believers find in Christ. The glory of his person, the power of his finished work. There's an important contrast made between this harlot here, and later on we'll see in Revelation, the bride of Christ. While very seductive because of her wealth, her glamour, her celebrity, because of her natural appeal to the religious pride and self-righteousness of unbelieving sinners, the beauty of the harlot is temporary, it's fleeting, lasting, as John says in another place, in just one hour. That's what it really, that's symbolic of just a very short period of time. Her days are numbered. But the beauty of the bride of Christ is eternal. Eternal. You know, that's why in the marriage vows, of earthly marriage, we say, till death do us part. Doesn't always work out that way, I know. But it's a symbol of how the bride of Christ is married to Christ, and there'll never be any divorce there. The church is clothed in the perfect righteousness of her bridegroom. Think about that. That's what you have if you're his. An imputed righteousness. I'm not afraid of that word. I love it. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness with that word. And yes, from that comes life, but we stand in the radiant and spotless beauty of Christ adorned. for him. Look at verse 2. He says, This great whore, she sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. That speaks of spiritual fornication that evil governments, evil rulers, and nations of the world have committed. And they all have committed it, even America. even America. Instead of seeking and believing and loving and worshiping, serving and leading the people to the one true and living God, they align themselves with the great whore. You can see it in the spirit of ecumenism. Did I pronounce that right? Ecumenicalism, maybe. Everybody's right, nobody's wrong. And if you say I'm wrong, oh, you've just, that's hate speech. We ought to outlaw that. This wine, drunk with the wine of her fornication, symbolizes her doctrine, her false doctrine, and her influence saturating and controlling the minds, the affections, the will of all who follow her false religion. And remember, I said this in the 10 o'clock message, and I'm sure we could probably add things to this, but when you think about the things that are common to all false religion, there's two things that I mainly think of. Number one is salvation conditioned somewhere at some stage to some degree in some way on people, on sinners. You make the difference. That's what false religion teaches. See, the true religion of Christ tells us God makes the difference. Some people say, I don't like that. Well, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. But God says he makes the difference. Now he says that, doesn't he? And then the second thing is they always measure righteousness and holiness and goodness on a sliding scale as they compare with one another. But true religion, the true gospel, tells us that we can only measure righteousness by the perfection of the law that is found in Christ. His obedience unto death. And what does that tell us? We need a righteousness that we cannot produce. We need the righteousness of God. But the wine, the doctrine of her fornication points you elsewhere. Look at verse three. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. The wilderness is the ungodly world. What we're dealing with in our time is the church in the wilderness. We're in the wilderness. Albany, Georgia is part of the wilderness. It's not the holy city that some people think it is. The holy city is the heavenly Jerusalem. And so we are carried into the wilderness. John was carried into that wilderness. And he says, I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns. Now this scarlet colored beast, which is the same one that arose out of the sea back in Revelation 13, Sin is often symbolized under the color of scarlet. You remember in Isaiah 1, come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be as white as snow. They'll be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. We who've been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit thank God that he's put away our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. But this harlot rides in rest upon that sin. That's her hope. In pride. Self-righteousness. This is one reason she and her followers hate the light of the truth of Christ. It exposes their hope as being a curse. Being no hope at all. That's why men and women hate the light. It exposes their deeds as evil. What they're riding on. What they rest upon. is a sham religion. Full of the names of blasphemy, the beast upon which she sits is full of pride, self-righteousness, unbelief, all titles and doctrines that dishonor and deny the true and living God and His way of salvation. That's what blasphemy is. Having seven heads and ten horns. That symbolizes just what it symbolized back in Revelation 13, the completeness of her rebellion, seven heads and 10 horns, evil power and her attempts to overthrow Christ and the church. It's a complete rebellion, that's what that means. It's a judgment, 10 horns, a judgment that is false. She judges herself to be saved. She judges her followers to be saved. But they're not. They don't look to Christ. Verse four, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color. She was decked, the word is gilded, you ever heard of the gilded lily? She was gilded, she was decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. You see, idolatry, false religion, sin may appear to be beautiful, appear appealing to the eye, but it's deadly to the souls of men and women. Remember what Christ told the Pharisees? Outwardly, you appear righteous unto men. You're like whited sepulchers. You go to a graveyard and you see a beautiful monument, but dig up the body there and look at it. You're not going to see a beautiful sight, are you? You're going to see a rotten corpse. And that's what false religion is. Decked with gold and precious stones, it may appear to be valuable. False religion can appear valuable. I've heard people say, I know they don't believe the gospel, but I'm glad they have religion because that keeps them out of jail and stuff like that. Well, that's okay, but as far as eternal life, that has absolutely no value at all. Worthless. The cup in her hand, golden cup, full of abominations. Sin may be contained in a golden vessel. but it's still intoxicating with the poison and brings sinners to judgment of wrath from a holy and just God. Abominations, filthiness, evil and deadly. Look at verse five. And upon her forehead, now the forehead symbolizes the mind. This is what's in her mind. And this is what's in her heart, a name written. Mystery Babylon. The mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. The first thing you need to understand about this is what is a mystery in the Bible? And I've often told you this, you know this. A mystery in the Bible is not like a mystery novel that you read. where it kind of makes you a Sherlock Holmes and you've got to figure out the clues and come to a conclusion who the murderer is or anything like that. That's not what a mystery in the Bible is. A mystery in the Bible is something that is hidden to the natural man and is only made known as God reveals it or uncovers it. Over in Matthew chapter 11, or Matthew chapter 13 rather, The disciples asked the Lord, why do you speak in parables? And here's what he said to them in verse 11. He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given. If you understand the mysteries of God's word, it's because God has given you an understanding of this. We read that in Matthew chapter 11, where the Lord said, in verse 27, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. It's a gift. Do you realize that? If you know the Gospel, if you know Christ, it's a gift. It's a mystery that has been uncovered to your mind and your heart. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. It's been uncovered. And who's the one who reveals it? God is. The preacher preaches it. The reader reads it, but it's God who uncovers the mystery. And how do you know that it's God that uncovered it or revealed it to you? Because if God has done it, it will be a, not only has God given you eyes to see and ears to hear it, he also gives you faith to believe it. I read the Bible and I preach the gospel and anybody can understand physically in the air, what the hell I'm saying, but do you believe it? It'll be accompanied with God-given faith and God-given repentance. Well, here's Mystery Babylon. Do you know where Babylon comes from, where the name comes from? It comes back in the Tower of Babel or Babel, however you want to pronounce it. Exactly. You know, where they were trying to reach God by building a city or a tower, as some people say. And God struck them with confusion of languages. And we get the word Babel. You're a babbler. A vain babbler. And that's where the name Babylon comes from. And Babylon was the great enemy of Jerusalem. Remember how the river Euphrates flowed through Babylon? And the way God conquered it back then to get the children of Judah out of Babylon was to dry up or dam up the river Euphrates? We read that in the last one. Well, that's what Babylon is. It's confusion. And that's what false religion is. It's confusion out there. As I said, how many churches are in Albany? And there's probably one starting up this morning. Uncle Joe got a vision or a dream and he's gonna preach. That's the way it is. That's Babylon. Verse 10. I'm not in verse 10, verse 5. Upon her forehead, a name written, Mystery Babylon, the great mother of harlots, abominations there, verse 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints. Babylon hates the truth. and hates God's people. And all throughout the New Age, people of God have been martyred, killed for their testimony of the truth, and killed by Babylon. More have been killed by false religion than any other entity. Drunk with the blood of... That is, she's satiated. She's satisfied when she kills one of God's people. and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." That's something. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. Well, let me close with this. When John says he wondered with great admiration, that certainly does not mean that John admired this evil harlot. He didn't. The word admiration here means astonishment. That's what it means, literally. John was astonished and amazed that any who claimed and professed to be followers of Christ could be instrumental in killing men and women who truly bore testimony of Christ and his gospel. And John states this in his first letter. Remember 1 John 2? Those who went out from us, but they never were of us. John had seen open enemies of Christ and his church commit horrible and cruel crimes against true believers, but here he sees the apostate church, and he's gonna be calling it the false prophet. That's antichrist of what you were talking about, Mike. People who name the name of Christ, but they despise and stand against the truth of Christ as revealed in God's word. Think about that. That's an astonishing thing, isn't it? But it's true. And thank God Almighty that He's delivered us from that false, false religion that we naturally would be in and remain in and willingly be in and remain in were it not for His grace. And one thing we can say now, we always keep this in mind, but for the grace of God. There go I. Thank God for His mercy and His grace. Let's sing as our closing hymn, hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know Him.