Turn with me to Proverbs 20 verse
1. Proverbs 20 verse 1. I'd like to look at just one
verse of scripture and I want to talk about that report that
Brother Neal just read about. Who hath believed the gospel
that we've preached. To whom has the Lord revealed
the gospel? Unless Almighty God reveals the
gospel, the glorious declaration of the will and purpose of Almighty
God, to magnify His Son in the salvation of God's people. That's the gospel, the good news,
that God saves sinners according to His will and His purpose.
Unless God reveals that to somebody, man's going to perish. I pray
that the Lord bless this word today to the salvation of His
elect. I pray God saves somebody today. May God's sheep be encouraged,
magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 1. Scripture says, wine is a mocker,
strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I've said this many times, the
book of Proverbs is written in a way that, naturally speaking, anybody can understand it. I
mean, there's a sense when the Proverbs is set forth. What does that verse of scripture
right there say? It says this, wine is a mocker. Now what that means is, humanly
speaking, naturally speaking, a mocker. It makes a mouth at. It scoffs at the one that's drinking
it. I was down in Mexico a few years
ago, and Brother Cody and Glenda and I had gone to this little
church there in Cancun, in the old Cancun. It wasn't a pretty
place, you know, Glenda. I was preaching and of course
Brother Cody was translating for me. And as I was preaching
I was, you know, I was talking like this. And there was a little
fella right in the back, he was a little bitty fella, he was
standing on a chair and every time I'd do something he'd go,
you know. He did just exactly what, he
was mocking me. I don't think he was trying to
be, you know, mean or anything, but that's what he was doing.
He just, he was imitating, you know. But when it's with an intent
to do harm to, that's what this is talking about. Wine is a mocker. It makes fun of the one that's
drinking it. It ridicules him. It attempts
to make him look foolish. That's what the natural meaning
of that is. Strong drink is raging. That is, it's loud and clamorous. It's in great commotion. It's
just out of control. And whosoever is deceived thereby
is not wise. Whoever gives himself to it,
whoever doesn't guard against it, He's not wise, he just, you
know. The scripture sets forth, woe
unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may
follow strong drink that continue until night, till wine inflame
them. Scripture's setting forth that
we're warned against. the abuse of wine. Ephesians
5.18, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, that is, wherein
you give yourself over to it. That's what excess means, you
know. But be filled with the Spirit. Brother Henry Mahan made this
comment. He said, Drunkenness is the excessive drinking of
any strong drink and is strongly condemned in the Scriptures.
Excessive drinking deprives a person of reason, hurts the mind, brings
disease to the body, opens the door to every sin, wastes possession
and sets a man below the beast. Be not drunk with wine, but be
filled with the Spirit. Be controlled by, be guided by,
dominated by God's Spirit. Now, humanly speaking, That's
what that scripture sets forth. And I would say that there's
probably no one in this congregation this morning that would doubt
that. I mean, you know, I mean, if you ask any rational person
today, do you think it's right to abuse alcohol and get behind
the wheel and drive and break the law and take a chance killing
somebody, hurting yourself, hurting somebody? You think that's right?
Any rational person is going to say, no, that's not right.
I say, okay. I agree with you. Now, now that
I've gotten the natural, you know, somebody says, I understand
that. Well, unless we see the gospel in it, we haven't seen
it. Why do you preach, Lord, in parables, proverbs? Because it's given unto you to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them it's not
given. A man, a woman can read that
right there and say, I understand that and understand it in its
natural terms perfectly and go to hell. Now, where in do we
find the gospel in this? There is a wine, a drink which
is spoken of in the scriptures that is more dangerous, more
deceptive, more mocking than any liquid that comes in a bottle. I want you to hold your place
right there and turn with me to Revelation 17. I'm going to
talk about a wine that truly mocks a man. Revelation 17, verses 1 to 5.
And there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show
unto thee the judgment of the great whore that 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. So he carried me away in the
spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting upon a
scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven
head and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother
of harlots and abominations of the earth. Now, I want you to
notice the first thing that was written on the forehead of this
woman. Here's the first thing, first
word that was on the forehead of this woman. Mystery. Mystery. Here is the harlot,
the great harlot, the great whore. Now that mystery, mystery written
on her head, what are you talking about? Mystery what? Well, 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 7 to 10, I think gives
us a good indication of a great mystery. Now we're talking about
the wine. This woman made the kings of
this earth drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication. We'll talk about this. And written
on her head was a word, mystery. Mystery Babylon the great Second
Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 7 to 10. It says for the mystery
of iniquity Doth already work Only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power, and signs, and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved." The Apostle Paul began
that passage right there in verse 7 talking about the mystery of
iniquity. Now we've heard that phrase before.
The mystery of iniquity. What the mystery, the secret,
or something concealed about sin. A man's depravity. There's something written on
that woman's head, mystery. Paul talks about the mystery
of iniquity, the secret thing, that which is hidden concerning
depravity. That mystery of iniquity, it
truly is something that man by nature does not know. There's something about false
religion. Now that, you know, you read
what was, here's this woman, she's a whore. a picture of false
religion and on her head is written mystery. That ought to be a key
when Paul talks about the mystery of iniquity. I want us to consider
something about this wine that she had that made all the kings
of the earth drunk, spiritually drunk. And on that head of hers,
that mystery, that deception, that hidden thing. What about
that mystery of iniquity? I'll go back and I'll read. Just listen. I'll tell you what's
being said. If you want to turn back there.
In verse 3 of 2 Thessalonians. Let me get my Bible back there.
2 Thessalonians. 2, 3. Alright, there's something
that is set forth here in verse 3 of 2 Thessalonians 2. It says, Let no man deceive you
by any means. For that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. Now there's something that's
being spoken of here that is a great mystery. That mystery
that man by nature has no idea is going on. This mystery is
spoken of as having a personality. He's talking about a man of sin,
the son of perdition. This great mystery, it acts and
its deeds are revealed to be that which stands against and
exalts itself above all divine authority, all against God. Look
at verse 4, 2 Thessalonians 2. Who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God. or that is worshipped, so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God." Where is the origin of this great mystery of iniquity? Look at verse 9, "...even him
whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and
signs and lying wonders." and concerning those who are absolutely
fooled and die fooled by this mystery. Look at verse 9, I'm
sorry, verse 8. The Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Those that die With this great mystery never being
revealed to them, there's this one awful consequence, verse
11 and 12. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they
all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. Now, knowing what the scripture
has to say about this mystery, this mystery of iniquity, the
mystery of this whore that holds that cup of wine in her hand
and makes this world left to themselves spiritually drunk
on that wine, that deceptive wine. What is it? What is the great deception? You know, we talk about false
religion. Okay, okay. I agree with you. It is, she is a picture of false
religion. But when it's referring to that
great deception, that deception that was all, it was giving up
like a personality. It was talking about a man of
sin, son of perdition. If that were one person, and
I know how, you know, everybody's waiting for that one person to
show up. This, you know, I'm telling you,
the spirit of iniquity does already work. It's already here. What
is it? It's spoken of as being a personality. But let me ask you this. If it
were one person, he's talking about that son of perdition,
man of sin, son of perdition. If it were one person, why would
it not have been Judas? The Lord referred to Judas in
John 17, 12 as being those that he had kept. He said, I've kept
those that thou gavest me, none of them is lost, but the son
of perdition that the scripture might be filled. Was it just
one man? Obviously not. It's not a person. Listen, it's a body of rebellion. It's that body of rebellion. When Paul said, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Was it a body in Paul or was
it that old man with which every person born in Adam possesses?
and even a believer who has a new nature given him, he still got
that old man in him, and he wars against him. What is it? What is this great mystery? What is the key to understanding
what that woman had on her head that made everybody drunk with
the wine of her rebellion, that wrath of fornication? What is the bottom line? to false religion that is so
deceiving. What is it? What is it? I can walk out of this building
right here and I can start driving whichever way you want to go.
And let's just start picking. All right, there's one right
there. Now they believe that you got
to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this one over here
says you got to do this, that, and the other. Now that one right
down the road says you got to do this in order to be saved. And they're all saying something
different, but there's something that they all have in common.
There's something about every one of them, even though they're
saying a few different things, this, that, and the other, we
believe this, we believe this, we believe this. There's something
about every one of them that is the same. And that I'm about
to tell you and you know it already. That is the great deception. That's the great mystery of iniquity. That's the hidden thing concerning
a man's depravity. Here it is. Every person apart
from a regenerated sinner believes that a man has a will that is
free. That's the great deception. He
believes that he's born with the ability to be able to exercise
faith. He believes that every man has
that possibility within him to be able to accept or reject what
God offers. and they're deceived. That's
the mystery of iniquity. That's the hidden thing of a
man's depravity. Man thinks he can when God Almighty
says, you can not. No man can come except it were
given unto him of my Father. Without me, the Lord said, you
can do nothing. And man in his drunken, spiritually
drunken stupor says, I can. I can go get in some water and
water is going to wash away my sins. You're deceived. You are
deceived. That mystery of iniquity does
already work. I believe that I can pray through. I believe that I can speak in
tongues. I believe that I can walk down
here and get down on this altar. This is not an altar. That's
a piece of wood. That's carpet. I believe that
I can exercise my free will. What free will? That is the mystery
of iniquity. And the Lord thanked the Father.
He said, O Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hidden these things
from the wise and prudent, and You've revealed them unto babes.
Wine, the wine of deception, the wine of false religion, the
wine of thinking that I have the ability to please God. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. You know what that means? Don,
that means he's not pleased in us outside of Christ. That's
what that means. This is my beloved son. You hear him. You hear what he has to say.
Listen to me. The mystery of iniquity finds
its source after the workings of Satan. What does Satan say? I will ascend into heaven. You know
what, that's a man, that's what a man says, Neil. I will ascend
into heaven. Oh, really? I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I have within my ability, my
will, my power, my choice. I'm telling you, this is the
way it is. I know I've told you this before. I came up in false
free will, man honoring, causing God to be a beggar religion. And I'm telling you, based on
these scriptures, Every place where God Almighty is not set
forth as sovereign, every man that stands up in a pulpit and
tells men that they have a free will to be able to do what they
want to do is the mouthpiece of the great whore. You're just
a whore honoring false preacher. That's what God has to say. They're
the ministers of Satan, messengers of the devil. I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High God. That's what Satan told Eve. You're
not going to die. You'll be like God. You'll be
like God. You'll earn your right by exercising
your free will. Here's what Revelation 18.3 says,
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. When it says the wrath of her
fornication, you remember we were talking about before man,
a woman is converted. We're all children of wrath,
even as others. That means wrathful toward God.
We were wrathful toward Him. We hated him. All nations have
drunk of the wine of the wrath against the Lord of her fornication,
of her spiritual adultery. And the kings of the earth have
committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth
were waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies, her luxuries,
her eager desire to resist God. Wine is a mocker. The wine of false religion whose
point of epitome, here you take a triangle. If you want to know
what the, here's rebellion against God. You want to know right up
here at the top is man thinking that he's got a free will. That's
where it starts. Everything else flows from that. Wine is a mocker,
the mystery of iniquity. Now, I got some good news. I got some good news. There is a precious drink. A drink of life for thirsty sinners. A drink that God's people are
made by the grace of God to desire. Leave a man to himself, and let
me tell you what he wants to drink. He wants to drink the
wine of rebellion against God. That's what he wants. Scripture
says, all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. But what is God Almighty going to have to do
for me? to give me a desire to not want to have that wine of
rebellion. He's going to have to give me
a new desire. He's going to have to give me a new heart. He's
going to have to do something for me that I cannot do for myself. Listen to Revelation 21 6, and
He said unto me, it is done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, and I will give unto him that is a thirst. of
the fountain of the water of life freely. No cause in me. That's what he said. I will give
to no cause in you. I'm going to give to him that
is a thirst. Lord, you're going to have to
make me thirsty for you. Because if I'm left to myself,
I know what the scripture says. Concerning me, I'm born with
a nature that wants to drink the wine of rebellion. He says
in Revelation 21 6, he says, it is done. The vessels of God's mercy are
not left to themselves. Desiring the wine of deception,
the wine of this world's false religion that says your works
will satisfy God. God doesn't leave His people
with that, not with that desire. God's people know that the whole
of redemption, now you that know Him, you that have been regenerated
by God's grace, you know that it is done, meaning the Lord
has accomplished all things. He alone has pleased the Father. He alone has honored the law. He alone has put away sin and
all praise and honor and glory is due unto Him. He finished
the work. All that the Lord God of heaven
purposed for those that He's everlastingly loved is brought
to fruition in Christ. The everlasting God, the Lord
Jesus Christ declares here, I am Alpha, I'm the beginning, I'm
the omega, I'm the end of salvation. Almighty God has declared unto
his people, I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whomsoever
I will. Paul the Apostle, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, says in Romans 9, So then, it's not of him that
willeth. Well, that ought to end it right
there. That ought to end it right there. It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. All that the Lord has made thirsty
for righteousness. And you that sit here and you
hear Him that know Him and you're thinking, I know this. I know that I have in myself.
I don't have any righteousness that will stand before God. I'm
convinced that all of my righteousnesses are His filthy rags. I know that.
I've never thought a pure thought. I've never preached. an absolute,
totally, in myself, God-honoring message, if it wasn't that God
Almighty blessed His own Word, if it was left up to me, there's
enough waywardness and movement in my mind to get off what I'm
talking about. I can say the right word, but
if I was judged on my perfection in delivering this message, I
wouldn't have a chance. Almighty God knows my heart.
He knows. He knows all of my righteousness. Filthy rags. God's people thirst. They thirst for communion with
the Lord. They thirst for conformity to
Him. They thirst for a greater knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you this, God's going
to satisfy it. God Almighty is going to absolutely make sure
that that thirst is quenched. God makes His people thirsty. And He will absolutely gratify
that slaking thirst. Not for anything He sees in them.
He's not going to be because He looked down and saw that they
were completely obedient, but Almighty God has mercy. The whine
of false religion, that is telling a man that his will is free,
that mocks a man. It mocks him. That's what it's
doing. This whine, this whine of deception.
This whine of deception is telling a man, you have a free will. And you know what it's doing?
It's mocking you. It's mocking you. It's making
fun of you. It's laughing at you. You can
do whatever you can for God. It's mocking you. It appeals
only to the carnal heart which is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. It never allows a sinner to rest
in Christ who has finished the work And the scripture says here
in Proverbs, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. But here's a miracle of God's
grace. Almighty God would have a people that he has everlastingly
purposed to save. And they are vessels of his mercy. They are the ones that he's going
to make known, the riches. of His glory in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a day when the Lord
came to a woman at a well there in Samaria. And the Lord asked
her for a glass of water. And she says, how is it that
you being a Jew ask of me, a Samaritan? Because Jews and Samaritans,
they don't have anything to do with each other. How is it that
you ask of me water? And the Lord said, He said, if
you knew, if you knew who you're talking to and would
ask of me water, he said, I would give you water that you would
never thirst again. Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I give him shall never thirst. What water is that, Lord? It
is the water from the fountain of mercy and grace in Christ
Jesus. The water of life. The water
in Him. Water that I give, you'll never
thirst, but the water that I shall give Him shall be in Him a well
of water springing up to everlasting life. I'm going to close with
this verse of Scripture. If Almighty God has revealed
to you, I have been deceived. I have been
deceived. I have been made to think because
of the mocking, that mystery of iniquity, that hidden secret
of depravity that has been lying to me and telling me God wants
to do something for you if you'll let Him. My heart has lied to
me. If Almighty God has given you
insight, He's already done something for you. If God Almighty has
made you spiritually thirsty for righteousness and communion,
I want you to hear what the Lord Himself said, If any man thirst,
Let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. There's only two drinks, spiritual
drinks in this world. One of them is the wine of deception. And it mocks, it mocks. But there's
a drink that'll never mock a man. It's the spiritual life, it's
the water of Christ himself, living water. It's that water
of which a man drinks that declares Christ is my all. May the Lord
bless these words to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.