Let's prepare our hearts and minds to receive God's word. Would you please turn in your Bibles to the 66th book, the last book of the Bible, the last book of the New Testament, the book that deals with the last things, the ultimate things. The Apostle John is often called the Apostle of the Ultimate because he really gives us the clear picture of who Jesus is. He's the one who wrote the last of the New Testament. The Gospel of John was the last gospel that was written, and his epistles were the last epistles, and so we have the Book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible. And this is the last chapter before the triumphant return of Christ. which we will read about in chapter 19. We're going to be in chapter 18 today. And remember this, there can be no kingdom of God without a king and the king is coming. And when Jesus came the first time fulfilling all the prophecies of the Messiah, remember his message was repent for the kingdom of God is here because the kingdom of God has come in the person of the Messiah. The kingdom of God is near you. the kingdom of God approaches us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you come to Christ and you give your life to him, you surrender to his righteous rule. You can be born again, born of the Holy Spirit and experience his kingdom within. His kingdom of God is not a religion, it's not meat or drink, but it's righteousness. Righteousness, because he's the one who can make you right with God. Nothing you do or say, no good works, no religious involvement can make you right with God. Being an American doesn't make you right with God, obviously. Being a Baptist or being a Catholic, being a Pentecostal doesn't make you right with God. It's Christ who makes us right with God. So we look away from ourselves unto him. He's the king and he's coming and he will reign in righteousness. He's not going to reign in religion. He's not going to reign just on Sunday mornings. He is going to reign forever, 24 seven, here, there, and everywhere because he is king of kings and Lord of all. And you know, the first time he came in meekness, when he comes again, he'll come in majesty. He was crowned with mockery, but he will be crowned with many crowns. He reigned from the tree the first time, he'll reign from the throne the second time. The first time he came, he ruled with a reed. Next time he'll come, he'll rule with a rod and make no mistake about it. This world will recognize Jesus when he comes And we know that every knee will bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father. Even those in the demonic realm, those on earth, above the earth, and beneath the earth, we'll see Jesus recognized for who he is. But in order for Jesus to return and reign in righteousness, there must first come righteousness. a series of judgments. And we have been reading in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible that deals with the last things about these last judgments. And they are revealed to us in the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. But it is not just the book of Revelation that deals with this. And this is why it's so important for us to read the whole Bible and get the whole counsel of God. I think there's so many different interpretations of the Book of Revelation today. People are trying to figure it out, and they treat the book as if it's a book in itself, instead of understanding that it is a bringing together of all the threads that are in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. And so the best commentary on the Book of Revelation is the rest of the Bible. It's not the Daily News. It's not Fox News or CNN. It is the Bible. And we see that many of the prophecies explain what the images are. There are lots of visions in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's a picture book in that sense, but the pictures are interpreted by the scriptures. So we want to remember that. When we get to something that we don't understand, we'll just say, well, how does this appear in the Bible? What does Babylon speak of in the Bible? What does Jerusalem speak of in the Bible? What does God say about judgment in the Bible? And so it's not just that we're in this heavy-duty section of the book of Revelation that deals with judgment. God bless you for enduring with me for these past months as we've gone through the seven bowls, seven trumpets, and the seven seals. But it's all through the Bible. The oldest book that we have in the Bible, the book of Job, chapter 21, verse 30 says, for the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity. They will be led forth at the day of fury. It's speaking about what we read in the book of Revelation. Psalm 9, verse 7, but the Lord abides forever. He has established his throne for judgment. and he will judge the world in righteousness. He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. This is written a thousand years before Jesus Christ comes the first time. Psalm 96, 13, before the Lord, for he is coming, he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Isaiah 59, 18, According to their deeds, so he will repay. Wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, to the coastlands he will make recompense. This is what we'll read about in Revelation chapter 18. Jesus himself talked about this day of judgment that is coming at the end of human history as we know it. The day of man is coming to an end and then will come the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is first going to enter with the judgment. Jesus says, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. and there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." So if anyone accuses you of being narrow-minded because you're choosing the one door that leads to life, let it go. I can live with that. You have any other plan of salvation for this universe? I don't see any other. than the one that is provided for us. Is there any other savior? That's the difference between the faith of Islam and the faith of Hinduism. You see, we have saving faith, faith in a savior. There is no savior in Islam. There's a system of works, the five pillars of Islam. There is no savior in Buddhism. There's just the sevenfold path, eightfold path of enlightenment. There is no savior in these other religions. They're just systems of how to sort of brush up our Adamic nature to make it look pretty in God's sight. Well, pretty isn't enough. It's got to be absolute righteousness. Be ye perfect. How perfect? As perfect as your father is in heaven. That kind of settles it, doesn't it? All of us have sinned and fall short of the glorious ideal for living. Jesus said this, he said, many will say to me on that day, that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Lawlessness, what does that mean? That we're living as a law unto ourselves. We're not submitting to him as he is king of kings, Lord of lords. We want the kingdom without the king. We want the power, we want the authority, we want the miracles, we want the prophecies, but we don't want the king. That's lawlessness. Depart from me, you who live in lawlessness. And Jesus gives the parable of the sower and the seed. You remember that? He talks about how the seed represents the word of God. And then he gives the parable of how there are different people who receive the word for what it really is. Some people just let it go with indifference. That's the seed that falls on the wayside. Some people receive the word with joy, and they're very enthusiastic because they like to be where it's happening. And so they get very excited, but when the trials come, And when someone says, confess Allah as God or be shot, they'll just say, Allah. They'll give in because they just received a very convenient gospel. That's why I say, I don't want to preach a gospel that just, I couldn't preach in Tehran. I couldn't preach in Romania. This is the real gospel where people actually die for what they believe. This is not just a self-help program. This is not just a way to be prosperous and healthy and wealthy. This is the truth. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And so he speaks about those that, you know, they receive the word, but then they're distracted and they're choked and they get, it's by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world. And it shows that they never were born again of the true seed, because the true seed, as we've said, will give you the desire to persevere to the end. True saving faith will cause you to persevere to the end. Remember, we talked about how we persevere, but we only persevere because God preserves. He preserves his own. So it's all of grace. Then he gives the parable of the wheat and the tares. And he said, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man. That's the Messiah. And the field is the world. And as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the tares are the sons of the evil one. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age. and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age." That's a severe warning. The son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out his kingdom, all the stumbling blocks, all those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire. And in that place, there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Gnashing of teeth is like the ultimate regret. You know, we've kind of experienced that when we strike out or something happens, we miss that one. But this is the ultimate regret, is to have missed out on eternal life. And of course, this is not just Jesus who teaches this. We've seen how it's in throughout the Old Testament, the prophecy of a day of judgment. Jesus speaks about the day of judgment, particularly in the Olivet Discourse before he goes to the cross on the Mount of Olives. He talks about things that will happen in the end days. That's why I don't really believe in the preterist view of interpreting the book of Revelation, that it all took place in the first century because there's so much that Jesus said that has not taken place. I believe the word of God is true. And I believe that everything is promised will come to pass. And I don't think that the Holy Spirit will just put something in the word of God that's slightly hinting at something that might happen. I believe that what Jesus says is true and will come to pass. And the things that he said in the Mount of Olives will come to pass. And we can't just sort of doctor it up and say the Antichrist is Nero when we read about what the Antichrist is really like in the Bible. We can't just say that the false prophet represents, you know, sort of the corruption that's in the world back in the first century. No, the Holy Spirit has given us this word for us today. Yes, it was relevant to the first century church, but do you think it's any less relevant to us today in the 21st century? I think not. All scripture is inspired of God, and it is profitable for teaching, for correction, for reproof, and training in righteousness. All scripture. So the book of Revelation isn't just something we're studying because it'd be slightly interesting to study what's going to happen in the future. I've got a real interest in prophecy. I think I'll come to hear Pastor David speak about Revelation. No, it's not just a little for Christians to talk about things that are gonna happen in the end times. Because what you know about the future will affect how you live in the present. We are studying what's gonna happen in the future so we won't be deceived and disappointed and be gnashing our teeth with regret on the day of judgment. Because we have the solid rock of Christ's teaching, his word, his word is true. Do you believe it? If you believe it, you will live it. and you will adjust your life according to this. This is not just something for us to be entertaining ourselves and tickling our ears with and just say, and we got a lot of people on the prophecy bus for that, you know? People are just sort of like interested in prophecy and that becomes their little hobby, but their lives are not changed. Something is wrong. Well, the apostles preached this too, and I just wanna say this, in Acts chapter 17, when, remember, in a multicultural world and the Roman government was over everything, Paul goes to Athens in Greece and he preaches at Mars Hill. And he says this in Acts chapter 17, verse 30, he says, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, before you have the word of God, you're living in ignorance, you don't know. But now you have the word of God and you are accountable, you are responsible. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all men all people, say it that way, all people everywhere that they should repent. because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, just as predicted by Job, just as predicted by the psalmist, just as predicted by the prophets, just as predicted by Jesus, just as predicted by all the apostles. He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. The resurrection is the seal of certainty upon the truth that the book of Revelation is declaring. He's raised Jesus from the dead to show that he is the lamb who sits on the throne that we've been singing about. He is the one who purchased us with his blood, making the ultimate sacrifice that we remember on Memorial Day. So let's turn now to Revelation chapter 18, verse one. And if we could just go through the scriptures here. Read the entire 22 verses, but I'll tell you, every verse is important. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her. And the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues. For her sins have piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid and give back to her double according to her deeds in the cup which she has mixed. mixed twice as much for her, for the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensually, to the same degree give her torment and mourning, for she says in her heart, I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and will never see mourning. For this reason, in one day, her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for the Lord God who judges her is strong. And the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, woe, woe, woe. the great city Babylon, the strong city. For in one hour, your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargos anymore. Cargos of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen. and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood, and every article of ivory, and every article made from very costly wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and perfume, and frankincense, and wine, and olive oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and cargos of horses, and chariots, and slaves, and human lives. The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them. The merchants of these things who became rich from her will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, whoa, whoa, the great city. She who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. And in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste. And every ship master and every passenger and sailor and as many as make their living by the sea stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning saying, what city is like the great city? and they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, whoa, whoa, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying, so will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer. And no craftsmen of any craft will be found in you any longer. And the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer. And the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer. And the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will not be heard in you any longer. For your merchants were the great men of the earth because all your nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints. and all who have been slain on earth. Let's pray. Father, we come before your word with humility, understanding that apart from you, we cannot understand these things, that we need your Holy Spirit to teach us. We thank you, Lord, that you give us sufficiency in everything. You said that if we seek you, we will find you. We thank you that your spirit leads us into all truth. We pray, Lord, that not only would we be enlightened by this passage, but we would be instructed and corrected, fortified, strengthened. And we pray, too, that even as the word is preached today, Lord, that there would be people here in our gathering who would recognize that they are lost and they need to be saved, recognize that they need to have Jesus reigning on the throne of their hearts as King, as Lord. that they need your Holy Spirit. They need the life that they were created to live. They need your gift of forgiveness of sins. May they see that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty, to take the judgment that their sins deserved, that they might step out of bondage into liberty, out of darkness and into light. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. So we're talking about Babylon. In chapter 17, we talked about the mystery, Babylon the Great. It's a mystery because not everybody understands it. There are people who are living with Babylon's doctrines and they don't understand that they're part of something that's going to be judged once and for all. It's a mystery. Babylon the Great. And we have the word in our culture all the time. Very popular phrase. There's a band called Destroy Babylon. There's music. Rastafarian reggae music uses Babylon as a term to describe the capitalist materialist world. Freemasonry classically considers Babylon as its birthplace and a haven for science and knowledge. Some people believe that Babylon is simply a code word for Rome. We know that the Babylonian system and the Babylonian religion certainly affected the Roman Catholic Church. But I believe that Babylon in the Book of Revelation refers to what it is, Babylon. Babylon, a city. Babylon, the great. But as we said last week, there's the Antichrist, and there's the system of Antichrist. There's the ruler, there's the empire. There's the beast, and there is the whole system that goes with the beast. There is Babylon, the city, and then there is Babylon, the world system. So we're talking about the influence of Babylon. And in Christianity, Babylon is used as a symbolic link to the world system of evil. But it's also a real city. The word city is used repeatedly in the scriptures. And it's interesting that when Babylon is actually judged, there are people who are standing at a distance, and they're watching it. So it must be outside of themselves, right? They must stand at a distance. And maybe they're seeing the destruction of Babylon on the television. Because today, we're living at a time where you can just see what's happening. How many of you remember 9-11? Some of you are old enough to remember these kind of events. And you're just sort of sitting there, and you're watching an unbelief that in one hour, you can see. And it affected me very deeply because, as some of you know, I worked just across the street at 140 West Street at my father's office when I was growing up. And so in my lunch hour, I would watch them build the World Trade Center and go down, down, down. And they had all these elevator cranes and up, up, up. And little would ever cross my mind that this structure would be destroyed in just an hour. and that we would see people in New York City, a city that I love, running down the streets in terror with clouds of dust chasing them and firefighters going in to rescue people desperately lost in the falling towers that represented the trade of this world. It's just a little foretaste of what we read about here and on television at a distance. No, you didn't want to tour New York City on that day, 9-11. You wanted to stand at a distance. And the same thing happens. Even the people who make money from the city of Babylon and the world system, they're going to stand at a distance. Another reason I say, and I don't have time to go into all this, but there's so many prophecies in the Old Testament that have to deal with the destruction of Babylon once and for all and no one ever building on it again. But I've been studying the history of Babylon. studying it right from its first days, and how it became the great city that it is, and how there was the first Babylonian empire, and how there was the invasion that took place with the Assyrians, and then how you had Hammurabi, the legal code about the time of, Babylon was a city at the time of Abraham, and it was a city of idolatry. Remember, we learned about that last week. It was the first idolatrous city. And we see how the Neo-Babylonian Empire was under Nebuchadnezzar and how there's been some research on the towers of Babylon and the hanging gardens of Babylon because these were architectural wonders. And there are some researchers who believe that the name Babylon was actually ascribed to different cities, particularly the latest research is that the hanging gardens of Babylon might have been in Nineveh. But that was a description of a big, great city because it was the first great city. And so what we see in the Old Testament, however, is Isaiah chapter 13, verses 19 to 20, Isaiah 14, verses 22 to 23, Jeremiah 50, verse 13, Jeremiah 50, verse 39, All say that when Babylon is destroyed, it will not be built again. But we have seen, even recently, remember Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein said he was going to rebuild Babylon. And he actually offered $1.5 million just for an architect to come up with some plans. And you know, he built his palace there that was trashed during the Iraqi war, and it was right there in Babylon. So he had all these plans for rebuilding Babylon. So I was researching this week and seeing how the plans still are in Iraq to revitalize Babylon. It's just an interesting thought. But the scriptures say it will be destroyed and not built again. So that has not yet happened. It's something that will happen in the future. Do you believe the word of God is true? I don't believe that prophecy is some kind of sort of. I don't think we just turn a little, you know, a blind eye to the fact that some of these prophecies haven't been fulfilled exactly the way they said. You know, when the prophets preached and they taught before the time of Christ, and they would say things, oh, Bethlehem of Judea, though you are small among the tribes, they didn't know what they were talking about, did they? When John is seeing on the island of Patmos the world of today, He's describing things like carts, but they're actually, the word for carts is like four-wheeled vehicles. So you see, he's describing in his language what he is seeing about the future, but he's probably not even understanding it himself. It's the mystery Babylon the Great. So we see Babylon as a people, an actual city, and a system. Now, Babylon in the history of the Jews, was a place of captivity. Do you remember this story? The Babylonian captivity. Why were they brought to Babylon as captives? Does anyone recall? They were being judged because they were not faithful to their God. And how were they not faithful? They worshiped idols. And if you're reading through the Bible in the one year and you're getting Now to the reign of David, and you're seeing how David is beginning to compromise. And then, of course, Solomon compromises by disobeying Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 17, and he takes on foreign wives. And he not only takes on the foreign wives, he takes on the foreign gods. And so he becomes an idolater, and he builds altars, even makes sacrifices to Chemosh, requiring child sacrifice. And so he becomes an idol worshiper and we see the whole history of Israel from that point onward. We see the divided kingdom between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And we see there's nonstop evil coming from the northern kingdom and that's why they are judged first with the conquest of the Assyrians. And then we have a cycle of evil and then a little reformation, evil, little bit of reformation in the kingdom of Judah. But ultimately, The people of Israel and Judah do not heed the prophets. Jeremiah and Isaiah are saying, Jerusalem is going to fall to Babylon because of your idolatry. So where do they go for their captivity? The center of idolatry. And this is what we see often in the Bible is that one form of judgment is God gives you over to what you're craving for. OK, you know, this is what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. You know, they were sick of manna. So what do they want? Quail meat. And so God gives them over to what they want and they eat it to their fill till they're vomiting it and they're sick of it. In Romans chapter one, we read that human beings, we repress the truth in unrighteousness and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. For even though they know God or knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks and they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man. What do we see in Babylon? They are being asked to what? Worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Verse 24 of Romans 1 says, therefore God gave them over. He gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. So it's interesting that in the beginning, the people of God were mindful of the fact that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had made a covenant to bless them, and they were in turn to worship him. And they were a shepherdly people. But because they turned to idolatry, God gave them over to the idolatrous nation of Babylon. And it's interesting that when they were in Babylon for 70 years, and that was also meted out for all the times that they neglected to keep the sabbatical year. So at the end of 70 years, they have divested themselves of foreign gods. And Israel, since that time, has never turned to pagan idolatry. Prior to that, it was always, they had lots of pagan idolatry. But since that time, they no longer in their history have they turned to pagan idolatry. However, what happened in Babylon is they adopted a materialistic worldview. And that became a huge problem. As they came out of the Babylonian captivity, they just wanted to live for these worldly treasures and earthly values. And they adopted that mindset. So what we see happening is the influence of Babylon. You can get a person out of Babylon, but you can't get Babylon out of the person, sometimes they say. This is what happens. They're out of Babylon. But even when Cyrus in 539 conquers the Babylonian empire, and they actually take the palace and they destroy it brick by brick, thinking that it would never be built on again. Of course, it was built on again because Cyrus and the Persians made it another educational center. When they did that, the Jews wanted to stay. And as we are presenting the book of Esther, it's about people who just were very comfortable with the materialism of Babylon. And so when they were given the charge to go back to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple, they just said, why bother? I'm happy here, I'm comfortable. And doesn't that often get in the way of us being obedient? You know, living in our comfort zone, living with convenience as our dictator. Well, let's now look at the scriptures. The judgment announced. We'll start with this, verse one. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority and the earth was illumined with his glory. So this is another angel. The word for another here in the Greek is allos, meaning another of the same kind. This is not, as some commentators would say, Jesus. And they would say that it's Jesus because he's got great authority and the earth is illumined with his glory. No, it's another angel of the same kind. And we see that one reason why His appearance would illuminate is because in the series of judgments, a great darkness has come upon the earth. And you read about that in Isaiah, darkness shall cover the earth. Revelation 1610, remember the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became darkened and they gnawed their tongues because of pain. Secondly, we see that the angel exposes demonic activity, that what's happening in Babylon is not the result of mere flesh and blood, but it's the influence of demons, verse two. And he cried out with a mighty voice saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison for every unclean spirit and a prison for every unclean and hateful bird. Birds of prey are often symbols of demonic spirits, unclean spirits in the scriptures. And we have already seen how in the middle of the tribulation, remember the Antichrist is saying, he who was and is not and is coming from the abyss. So when the Antichrist goes into the second half of the tribulation, his agenda is reinforced with satanic influence from the abyss, demon possession. Thirdly, in verse three, we see that the angel is announcing judgment because there has been the commercialized fueling of lust. And isn't that a description of our culture today? For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality." Passion. Now, the word epithumio for lust means a strong desire. You can have the Holy Spirit lust to have us. The Holy Spirit has a strong desire for us. So it's not always a bad word. in the context that we have most often in scripture, it's to have a strong desire for that which is illicit, that which is a lie, that which is not true. And that's what we see here, that there is a passion of immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality. These are speaking the rulers, the rulers have basically bought the lie and they are basically going for lust for power, lust for sexuality and sensuality. And the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. We've heard it and seen it as sex sells and all the other marketing techniques to try to get people to buy their products. And it's through advertising, this will make you happy. This will satisfy your lust. This will satisfy your desire. There's a whole system that fuels the lust of mankind. and it's been commercialized. And this is what we see judgment coming upon in Revelation chapter 18. So that's the announcement. Secondly, there is an urgent call for separation. Notice in verse four, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins. and receive of her plagues. He's speaking to his people, the people of God. He's saying, come out of her. Don't participate in her sins. This shows that there will be believers at that time during the tribulation period, but it's also a warning for us today. Because as I've said before, Babylon has been around since the lie given to Eve in the Garden of Eden. System of idolatry has been there, but we are called to come out of her. How do we come out of her? We come out of her when we hear the call of salvation. The call of the gospel gets us out of the kingdom of darkness. But we need to get the darkness out of us too. Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, verse one, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice to God. And do not be conformed to this world. The Phillips paraphrase says, do not be pressed into this world's mold. Do not be conformed to this world. Do not believe everything that the world teaches, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is. that which is good and acceptable and perfect. You know, the world has a lot to say about marriage today, but it's not true. It's not true. Have your mind renewed. What does God say about marriage? The world has a lot to say about how you should raise your kids, but what does God say about raising your children? The world has a lot to say about education, but what truly educates, what leads people from darkness to light. Remember adutere, that's a Latin word for education. It means to lead out, draw out. What draws people out? Truth. You shall know the truth and the truth will what? Make you free. It will make you free. So be renewed in the spirit of your mind in Ephesians chapter four. Be renewed in your thinking. in Romans chapter 12, verse two, that you will prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect. You see, we are proving and we're gonna be assigned to people. If we follow the Lord and we want to do the will of God, we're gonna prove that the will of God is right and the counsel of the world is wrong. What God says about family is right. What the world says about family is wrong. We're not gonna redefine family, redefine marriage, make it what our lusts want it to be. It is as God says it is. And let me just say this, the prophets tell us this is as it is. The book of Revelation tells it like it is. I'm telling you what the Bible says, this is how it is. It is. The world is constantly informing us how to do church. The Bible tells us that the church is not something you do. It's a people called out. And the Bible tells us how to function as a church. That's why we're not just gonna put the ark on any Philistine cart that comes along. We're gonna do it the way God says. We're gonna carry the ark the way the Lord says we should carry the ark. We're gonna emphasize the word of God in this church, you know? It's not gonna be light shows and hazers on Sunday. It's going to be the word of God, and it's going to be our walking in obedience in the light of that truth. James chapter four, the half-brother of Jesus says it this way, you adulteresses. He's speaking to believers now. You adulteresses. He's saying you're being unfaithful. You're drinking the Kool-Aid. You are participating in the sins of Babylon. You are compromising the truth. You are being worldly. You are committing spiritual fornication here. Listen up. The half-brother of Jesus says, listen, I know what it's like to live with Jesus. I was his brother. And remember, James was not a believer at the time. He became a believer when he saw Jesus raised from the dead. And then he became a leader in the church. But he said, if you call yourself a Christian, you've got to live like a Christian. That's what he's saying here. And he says, what I see you saying, you're saying I'm a Christian, that's nothing like the Jesus I know. And I live with him. You adulteresses, do you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Tell it like it is, James. Or what about the Apostle John? So we've heard from the Apostle Paul, we've heard from Apostle James, now the Apostle John. He says, do not love the world in 1 John 2.15, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, and now he's speaking of it. Remember, the world is speaking of this satanic system, the cosmos diabolicus, the world order, the worldview, the morals, the perspective on our origins and our destiny and our meaning. All of that is summed up in this. of the world. If anyone loves the world and buys into its belief system, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world." We've got the lust of the eyes, attraction. How many times the enemy deceives us by attracting us, holding this all out. This is sort of like a little bauble saying, follow me, follow me. This is going to give you peace. This is going to give you happiness. This is going to make you rich. You have another opportunity to win the lotto, you know, the lottery. It's all a lie and it doesn't bring peace. Have you seen what happens to the lives of these people who win the lottery and the mega bucks and what ruin their lives come to? They believe it. They believe in the God of chance and they submit to it. That's worldliness. Not only do we hear about it from the Apostle John, but we also hear about it from Paul. He says, come out from among them, be separate. It doesn't mean that we are not engaging with the world, but it means that when we engage with people who are lost, we don't think like them. But we live to prove that which is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now we get into the call, 2 Corinthians 6, 17. Therefore come out from the midst and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. And the Apostle Paul is referring to Old Testament promises that he is a covenant-keeping God. He welcomes into his family all people who will repent and believe the gospel. And this is what he's saying here. When you come out from darkness into light, you walk in the light as Christ is in the light. And the blood of Christ will cleanse you from all sin. Do not touch what is unclean. So let's look at the specifics of this judgment. We learn in verse five that her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. And so God is going to judge the unbelieving world accordingly, according to their deeds. The wages of sin is death in Romans 6.23. The free gift of God is eternal life. Throughout history, the world system has persecuted believers. Right from Abel. Remember, Abel was killed by his brother Cain. This was the first religious war. What inspired Cain to murder his brother? Well, we know it was Satan. But it was jealousy. It was the fact that Abel offered God on the altar what he required, an innocent animal sacrifice, which was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God. He gave God what God required, and he had the witness that he was righteous before God. What did Cain bring? Cain brought a very impressive offering, he brought the best vegetable garden gift possible. I mean, prize winning, county fair award, first prize kind of tributes that would really get the attention of God. But no, God did not accept his because it represented his own works. No, the only thing that can satisfy or propitiate the heart of God is the righteousness of Christ, the perfect sacrifice of Christ. And so what happens is that when Cain kills Abel, the blood of Abel cries out for vengeance. In the book of Hebrews, we learn that the blood of Christ cries out something better than the blood of Abel. The blood of Abel says justice, but the blood of Christ says mercy. Jesus paid, the blood of Christ says sins can be paid for. Well, throughout history, God is giving the message that mercy, mercy, mercy. Be merciful to me, a sinner. That's what the publican said. And he went away justified because he trusted in God's mercy. But here at the end of history, people have heard over and over again about God's mercy, but they don't want mercy. And those who are being martyred, and they're going to be far more martyrs in the future than we have ever seen. And we're seeing it already, the acceleration of persecuted Christians. I was watching a documentary on the Persian Christians, those in Iran, how many of them are being beaten and tortured for their faith because they're converting from Islam. But these martyrs, those that are killed, we see them in the book of Revelation saying, how long? When are you going to bring judgment? When are you going to bring judgment? And the Lord says, not yet, not yet. He's being patient. The Lord is patient. He's willing that people should repent. He wants to see people turn. So what we see here is that those who do not receive mercy are going to get perfect justice. But perfect justice means hell. I will pay her back even as she has paid and give back to her double according to the deeds. The double is like an imprint. You double over, maybe in the printing world, you've got an image of what you want to have print and it goes somehow. That was the old way anyway, the old way with the printing blankets, you know. But double means that you're getting equal back, your equal payment back. You double according to her deeds in the cup which she has mixed, mixed twice as much for her in order to give the just recompense for her sins. Secondly, we see how the world system and the people of Babylon are going to be judged for self-glorification to the degree that she glorified herself. I will make a name for myself. That's the spirit of Babylon. Judged for self-gratification, and she lived She lives sensually to the same degree, give her torment and mourning. We see how this Babylon city and the Babylon culture will be one of luxurious living. It is not going to be a communist government. It's definitely going to be a capitalist government, but it's capitalist corruption government. And it's going to be one that just feeds the lusts of the flesh. People will be living for themselves. And even though the earth is going to be pounded with, remember the word for plague means pounding, pounded with judgments and warnings, people will not repent. We see the same spirit today. People live to glorify themselves and to gratify themselves. They don't see their need for Christ. And I'll just ask you this question today. If Jesus is not at the center of your life, who is? Let me repeat that again. If Jesus is not the center of your life, who or what is? Something is at the center. You need to answer today before God, who or what is at the center of your life? You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve your job and God. preeminence over all. If you want to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, just as Jesus said to the rich young ruler, you have to forsake everything else. That doesn't mean that you have to sell everything that you have, but it means that you cannot have two gods. You can't be living for yourself and for God. You have to live for God. And if you live for God, then you're going to have his love for you, and you'll be able to love one another as he has loved you. Right? So she's judged for her self-gratification, self-glorification, and we see here, judged for her pride. And she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I'm not a widow, and I will never see mourning. Just you wait. What's gonna happen? Fifthly, it's going to come swiftly, and irresistibly. Verse eight, for this reason, in one day, her plagues will come. Those are the poundings, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for the Lord God who judges her is strong. So we actually are going to see the city on fire. Now, when I say we're going to see it is I believe as Christians, we will be with the Lord at this time. There are people who have different views on the timing of the rapture of the church, but we know that this time of wrath and punishment is coming upon the earth, and there are going to be people there who will see the judgment of this city and will want to back away. then we see misplaced mourning. And very quickly, we'll go through these verses because this just shows you that they're mourning for the city. They're mourning for their loss. We can't get the cable stations that we used to have. We can't, oh man, we can't go shopping on Sundays at the mall in Babylon. Oh man, and they weep, they weep because their self-gratification is being frustrated with the destruction of Babylon. rather than weeping for their sins, they weep for Babylon. This is the sad story. And the kings of the earth, in verse nine, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensually with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, whoa, whoa, the great city, Babylon, the strong city, for in one hour your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore. And now we have a list of cargoes. And when I say, why do we have all these particular things described? That's because if you read through the prophets, if you read through Ezekiel chapter 27, chapter 28, you'll see the same thing. as describing sort of the satanic influence. Remember, we have the fall of Satan recorded at that particular time. You do your own study on it, but you'll see how the word of God is so perfect. He's matching up Old Testament prophecies with what happens with the destruction of Babylon. Gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood, and every article of ivory, and every article made from very costly wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and that's a word in the in the Greek language here that means all kinds of spices. It's not just the cinnamon spice that we're used to on the kitchen shelf. And spice, and incense, and perfume, and frankincense, and wine, and olive oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and cargos of horses, and chariots. The word chariots there is referring to those four-wheeled vehicles. And slaves and human lives. And we say, what about slaves and human lives? What's that all about? Well, in order for the Antichrist to do what he wants to do and to succeed when we see all these judgments coming upon the earth, most likely there's going to be reinstatement of slavery in the future. It's possible. but it also could refer to employees and employers, but it's most likely referring to slavery. And there is slavery in the world today. And there's human trafficking. It's a big issue today. And so this is being spoken about as John is perceiving it and trying to imagine what's happening in the future. This is what he's being showed by the Holy Spirit. Verse 14, the fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you. and men will no longer find them. The merchants of these things who become rich from her will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, whoa, whoa, the great city, she who is clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet. Remember, we spoke about those things as that. as being sort of a counterfeit of what is truly offered through Christ, of fine linen righteousness, purple royalty, scarlet atonement for sin, and adorned with gold, and we're going to see real gold in the New Jerusalem, and precious stones and pearls. And in one hour, such great wealth has been laid waste, and every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor And as many as make their living by the sea stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning. Remember, they're at a distance. And they say, what city is like the great city? I don't know about you, but I've had some experience with cities. In New York City, I remember just going to the different sections where they unload things from the ships. And there's one section in Manhattan, you get all the plants that are arriving. And some places in New York City where You know, all the different sections, Peter. We've got the technology streets, and we have where all the shipments are coming in. It's a place of commerce. And early morning, I would go down in London, where all the meats are being unpacked in the marketplace. And you just see such busyness in trade. Can you imagine if now, if the city of Babylon goes, all the people are saying, what are we going to do about our ship business? We've got nothing to ship. And they're all frustrated because what happens in this city affects the whole thing. And this is the city of the Antichrist, but it's also speaking of the system. In one hour, it all happens. In verse 18, and they were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like the great city? Do you remember in 9-11 how everybody was just shocked as they watched what was happening in New York City, and they were at a distance, and they were just saying, I can't believe this is happening. And then all of a sudden, people become God conscious, and they say, God bless America, and for about a week and a half, people are God conscious. But then they go back to their business. Churches were full on the Sunday after that. But then they emptied out again. Oh, business as normal. Verse 19, and they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning. You would think they'd be, weeping and mourning for their sins, but no, they say, whoa, whoa, the great city in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, oh heaven. Now, this is where it changes. We go from misplaced mourning to verse 20 to the true assessment. It may grate you, it may say, how could there possibly be rejoicing over this? But the martyrs have been praying for just recompense. And God has been patient, and he has been not withholding mercy, he has been showing mercy, but now the time has come. Remember, fear God and give him glory, for the hour of judgment has come. And so they rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets. And the martyrs, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. In other words, he's vindicating the preaching of the apostles and the prophets with the judgment that was promised coming upon Babylon. Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, so will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. This is a prophetic action. And very often we see the prophets do something like shaking out their robes, meaning to get rid of sin, or they'll do something. This is a prophetic action from the angel. The angel throws this big millstone into the sea and saying, this is what's going to happen, verse 21. And here, you know, the symphony hall of Babylon is no more. And so there's weeping over the music that's no longer heard. They can't hear the praises and the music of heaven. They don't have ears for that. They dwell on the earth. The sound of the harpists and the musicians, the flute players and the trumpeters will not be heard of you any longer. And no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer. And the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer. And there'll be no more Oscars, and there'll be no more Tonys, and there'll be no more Grammys. And all these people who basically were celebrating the songs of this world, we're gonna find out that their songs really had no meaning at all. And they were awarding that which is fluff. If you're gonna get anything out of this message, I pray that you get this, that this emperor of Babylon has no clothes on. You need to see the truth. This is the true assessment. The true assessment is that it's not going to last. These songs are not gonna be hits a thousand years from now. Listening to some of the anthems today and listening to some of the lyrics today, first of all, some of them explicit are horrific, but then there's some lyrics that just are celebrating self, it's all about self. You being God, that's what it's about. And the light of their lamp will not shine in them in Babylon any longer and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will not be heard in you any longer for your merchants were the great men of the earth because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery and in her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of all who have been slain on the earth and the blood now is crying out for vengeance and the vengeance has come and so for the sake of the martyrs now the judgment has finally come upon the earth. So here's the conclusion. Here's the take home value of this message. Do you believe God's word? Do you believe all of it? Do you believe that what God has said about the past is true? Do you believe what God says about the present is true? Well, then do we believe about what God says about the future is true? What you believe about the future will affect how you live today. I am not a pessimist. I am an optimist. I believe in the kingdom of God. I believe in his coming again. and in righteousness, but I believe that in order for him to do that, there will be a judgment, and therefore, I am responsible to warn, to warn not just my neighbors, but to warn also the church I'm a part of, that there's an opportunity for us to repent. The Bible tells it like it is. Are you separating yourself from the world system? Is your mind being renewed by the word of God, or are you listening to the latest dogmas? You think that Christianity must change and adapt with the times, that we need to reassess our morality, that now homosexuality is an approvable lifestyle? That is not what the Bible says. I say that with great compassion and understanding and believing the value of every human being, being that they should be treated with respect and sensitivity, but to treat somebody with respect And when they are doing something that's destroying them and actually destroying their relationships, and it's not going to give them the happiness that they want, that they think is going to happen, we need to separate ourselves from the dogmas of this world. Are you understanding me? Are you hearing my heart on this? This is not a judgmental statement. This is just reality therapy. Do you leave vengeance to the Lord? Now, this is very important. You know, Jesus taught us that if somebody says, confess Christ or die, we don't pull up our revolver and shoot them. Some Christians believe that's what you do. No. That we are to be people, it doesn't mean that we are going to be sitting ducks for our tormentors, but it does mean that we are to love our enemies, we are to pray for them, we are to offer them mercy, we're to speak the truth. Vengeance. is mine, says the Lord. Romans 12, nine. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Hebrews 10, 30. For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. Do you pray for those people who do not treat you well? You return good for evil. Next, do you see the vanity of this world's kingdoms? Do you really believe in the gold and the purple and the fine linen that the harlot is wearing? And then, have you ever wept for your sin? Or would you really weep if Babylon was destroyed? What if all of a sudden you know you couldn't get internet connection for the rest of your life? and you couldn't get cell phone coverage, would you fall apart? Or would you weep like you've never wept for your sin? Have you seen God's provision to deal with your sin? This is what we want to celebrate today, that there is one who knows us with all of our wretchedness and all of our blindness and of all of our foolishness and offers us forgiveness. And he says that all your sin deserving, your hell deserving behavior I see, I recognize, and I took the hell your sins deserve on the cross. I paid the price in full. Perfect sacrifice. That's what we think about on Memorial Day. The ultimate sacrifice. But with the sacrifice of Jesus, it's a little different than the sacrifice of the soldier on the battlefield because there are many sacrifices on the battlefield, but there's only one sacrifice. that could ever take away the penalty of your sin. The Bible tells us, and this is a word for Christians as well as the non-Christians, that if we willfully sin, in other words, if we continue in our sin and we do not repent, there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful looking for judgment. What does that mean? That means we need to make our calling and election sure. If we are in love with our sin more than we are in love with our Savior, it shows that we don't know Jesus and we need to know him. So I'm gonna ask that we all bow our heads right now and we pray. I know this may have been a hard message for some, but it's a true message spoken in love. The Bible tells it like it really is. We need a Savior. So if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ, I beg you, turn to him, trust him. What he did on the cross is for you. Sin separates you from God. Have you seen that God has made a way for your sin to be forgiven? Look away from yourself and any imagined righteousness of your own and look to Christ and just say, Lord, I believe that you died for my sins. and that you were raised from the dead. And if that's your heart understanding, would you trust him now and call out to him and say, Lord, come into my life. I surrender to you. Reign as king in the kingdom of my heart. And if that's your heart prayer, he hears you. And today is your birthday in Christ, a memorial day indeed. Let's stand and worship.