John said that he saw the King
of kings and the Lord of lords leading the church victorious
to the supper of the great God. That was in verse 17. The bride of Christ is going to feast upon the glorious
victory that is wrought by the Lord Himself over all evil. There is going to be a day in
which the redeemed out of this world, when they see and know
as they are known, and they are going to say, When Almighty God
puts all things that are in opposition to Him and to His people in hell,
the people of God are going to say, Hallelujah, you did right. You're just. Now, in the great and final day
of triumph, the day of judgment, The day of Armageddon, the day
of final victory. Everything that opposes and stands
against Almighty God is going to be crushed. It's going to
be put down. Now, John saw, in verse 19, the
beast. That's what he says, I saw the
beast. and the kings of the earth and
their armies gathered together to make war against him that
sat on the horse and against his army." Now, this beast. Who is this beast? What is this
beast? Obviously, it's symbolic. This book is a book of the truth
of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you
another thing, too. It's the truth of the revelation
of who we are, who man is. If you want to know what a man
is apart from Christ, look in this book. The Beast. I looked this up. I wanted to know what does that
mean? Get a good concordance. I don't speak Greek and I don't
speak Hebrew, but I have to look it up and ask the Lord for some
understanding on what does this mean? Everybody has got an interpretation. It amazes me how Man by nature has taken this
book of Revelation and they've drawn all these little cute pictures
and they make all these little cute cartoon drawings of what
these things are and they draw literally what you know is symbolic. And it amazes me how little or
how nothing Man by nature knows. Get a good concordance. Look it up. The Beast. Strong's concordance says it's
a dangerous animal. The Beast, dangerous animal.
And Thayer's concordance, that's another good one. It says it's
a wild animal. But it gives also this, it's
a brutal and savage man, the beast. Now, John had said, turn over
back to Revelation 13-1. John said, 13-1 in Revelation,
I stood upon the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rise up
out of the sea. Now, for the sake of time, You'll
remember in the book of Matthew, the Lord gave an illustration
and he said that the kingdom of heaven was like, he said,
a great net that was thrown into the sea and it was gathered in
and that which was good was kept, that which was not good was thrown
back. is symbolic of this world. So this beast, I know this, is
of the world. Turn over to 1 John, just back
from Revelation. 1 John 2, 15 and 16. 1 John 2,
verse 15 and 16. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. All this in the world. Now,
you know, it is the easiest thing in the world to look and read
something. Love not the world. And so what
we're doing is we're sitting in this building and immediately
our mind goes out somewhere to out there, you know, the world
out there. John says in verse 16, all that's
in the world. Here's where it is. It's the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life
is not of the Father, but is of the world. If you want to
know what the world is, it has something to do with the lust
of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and pride of life. Well,
I'll be honest with you, it's got something to do with me.
It's got something to do with what I am by nature, the world. Do you really think that there's
something wrong with the trees out there or the dirt or those
mountains? There's something that's in this
earth that is referred to as the world. It's a nature. It's an attitude. The world. All that's in the world. I looked up that word world.
It means the opposition and alienation to God. The world. Revelation 11, 7 speaks of the
beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit that shall make
war against them. This world. this beast. John said, I saw a beast. And this beast in Revelation
19, 19, it was gathered together with the kings of the earth and
their armies to make war against him that sat on the horse and
against his army. Let me just bring this down.
to where we're at so we can all understand what this beast is,
this savage man, this vicious animal. What is this beast? I'll tell you what he is. It's
the nature that is in every man born in Adam, fallen That's what
this beast is. That's this world. That's the
attitude of this world. That's the lust of this world.
That's the lust of this flesh, the lust of this eye, and it's
the pride of life. It is that which is in opposition
to all that which is holy and just and good. This beast! Boy, how easy it is! We look
at this, oh, those people! Let me tell you something. Those
people that we talk about, those bad people, those evil people,
that's right here. Oh, wretched man that who? Paul said, that I am. This beast is the body of sin
that resists all that is holy and just and good. Turn over
to Ecclesiastes 3. That's right after Psalm, then
Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 3. Ecclesiastes
3.16. This book was written by Solomon,
the preacher. Ecclesiastes 3.16. And moreover,
I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness
was there in the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said
in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men. Now, let me ask you something.
How many of us are going to find ourselves in that lot right there?
Everybody. Everybody. I said in mine heart
concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest
them, that they might see that they themselves are beast. For that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beast. Every one, no, even one thing
befalleth them as the one dieth, so that dieth the other. Yea,
they have all one breast, so that a man hath no preeminence. Above a beast, all is vanity. Man by nature is nothing more."
That's what Solomon said. He's nothing more than a beast. Now, let me tell you what man
is. Apart from the regenerating grace
of God, apart according to the Scriptures, Jeff, this is what
the Scripture says a man is. You're nothing but a savage.
You're nothing but a savage beast. You're nothing but an animal
that resists God Almighty. As I've said before, man will
say, I'm just as good as the next guy. I agree with you. But
a maggot compared to a maggot is still a maggot. It's just
a beast. That's all a man is. by nature. That's all He is. Turn over to
Romans 7. We read these scriptures and
we're so quick to pass over them. Paul was talking about this nature
of the world, this beast, and he saw it. Romans 7.22. Now Paul
says, now, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Now, what's he What does he delight in? There's a new man, there's
a new nature that God has given. Ezekiel talks about it as being
a new heart, a new will, a new nature, born again, born from
above, that which is born of God. That does not sin. That which is born of God sinneth
not. But that which is born of Adam doesn't do anything but
sin. And this beast that John's talking
about that's going to rise up in opposition to God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that follow Him, this beast that
we so easily look at and think of that's out there, you know,
those bad people, you know, Hitler and, you know, all those other
bad people in opposition to us good people. There ain't no good people born
in Adam. There's none good. Not one. Yeah, I'm telling you, man by
nature, somebody stands up and tells you there's a little good
in all men, they're lying to you. Ain't no good in all men. Ain't no good in any men. Ain't not worth shooting. Paul
said, verse 22, I delight in the law of God after the inward
man. But I see another law, another
nature in my members, in my flesh, warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that's in my
members. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me? Who is
going to rescue me, is what he's saying, from the body of this
death? The beast that John sees in opposition
to the Lord Jesus Christ over in Revelation 19, 19, the beast,
the world, the beast that came out of the sea, out of this world,
the beast that came out of the bottomless pit, the beast, that's
the nature of sin that is in every man, every believer. That's that wretched man that
Paul said, I see in me, warring against the nature of my mind. Paul said in Romans 7.21, I find
a law that when I would do good, evil, evil, present with me. That beast, that dangerous animal,
the brutal savage that is in every man, wars and
fights and resists that which is holy and just and good that
has been imparted, placed in, born from above. There is in
a believer, there's two natures in a believer. There is a nature
that Almighty God has imparted that's put within. And that happens
in time as a new nature because a believer was not born with
a new nature. Anytime somebody tells you, I've
always been a Christian, I'll say, well, that's just a little
bit too long because no man's always been a Christian. Man
may have always been a sheep. He may have always been loved
of God if he's one of God's elect. But he's not always been regenerated
because regeneration takes place in time. Almighty God's love
is eternal for His elect. But in time, a man beloved of
God before the foundation of the world chosen in Christ is
regenerated. And he's got two natures. One
of them is holy, just, and good, and it does not sin. does not sin based on the authority
of the Word of God. That which is born of God sinneth
not. Why? Because his seed remaineth in
him. And then on the other hand, there's a nature that's nothing
more than a savage beast, a foaming maniac, just like the demoniac
of the Gadarenes that would run out there and he'd break the
chains and cut himself and run people off. I mean, just he's
a maniac. That's all he was. He was a crazy
man, just crazy stuff, just cussing, spitting and stuff like that. Until the Lord met him, calmed
him down, gave him a new nature. That beast, that's the nature
that strives against that new heart. And it has one love. It
loves itself. And it absolutely hates what
I'm preaching. It hates the gospel of God's
grace. It can't wait for me to hurry
up and shut up, Neil. That's what it wants. And I didn't
think it was going to be here, but just a few minutes. I thought
this first message was supposed to be short. To hurry up. That's what that old man says.
This beast. the world. The Lord told the
Pharisees in John 8, 23, I am from above. You're of the world. He said, I'm not of the world.
You are. And this beast has one end. Destruction. One. And here we see the victory that
shall be wrought over that which plagues us right now. Listen to me. This beast, I'm
telling you, this beast is the presence of sin. It's the presence of the old
nature that's there. Listen to me, believer. I want
to give you some comfort here because I need it. I need to
hear what I'm about to say. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross. Do you know what He did there? He absolutely put away the guilt
of my rebellion against God. He was made what I am by nature. He made sin. As I've said before, with all
the respect I know, there upon that cross as the substitute
of all that God had everlastingly loved, there the Lamb of God
was made sin. And God dealt with the guilt
of my sin. But you listen to me. The presence
of that nature is still with me. And that's the beast. The guilt of it's gone. The guilt
of it, the penalty of it is gone. But the presence of it's not.
Don't you tell me that the presence of Paul would never have said,
I see in me, I see in me another nature. I see a nature that wars
against the nature of my mind. Oh, wretched man that I am. Paul knew that that was him. That old man that is there. I
saw the beast, John said. What is going to happen in the
day of judgment? I will tell you what God is going
to do with this beast. He is going to judge the very
presence of sin. This old nature that does so
easily beset us. That old nature of unbelief.
The guilt of it is gone. Thanks be to God. of my own nature
is gone. God has put away the guilt, the
eternal guilt of it. But Paul said, oh, who is going
to rescue me from the presence of it? The beast. This world. I'm telling you, this evil beast stands right now in opposition
against God's people this evil beast right now because
in the garden, Adam, when he fell in the garden, that beast
that absolutely opposed God Almighty threw a man, and that man died. Adam died and all in him spiritually
died, and this beast thinks that it's going to drag me down
with it. And it wars against me, Paul says, wars against the
spirit of my mind, this flesh, this beast, the nature of this
world, this vicious animal that is a raving maniac within me. We're just worse than we thought
we were. You know, we thought we were doing pretty good this
morning until we got here. This raving maniac that man by nature
tries to pamper and put powder on, spray some stuff on. He's a raving animal. And this animal that lives within
me, this beast, Wars against, Paul says, the nature of my mind. But you know what this beast
is warring against? It hates God and hates all that
Almighty God loves. And he's warring against me right
now. And in the day of judgment, this
beast is going to stand up thinking, I'll take on God Himself. And Almighty God is going to
put this beast, I'm going to tell you something, in his place.
Paul says, I looked forward to that day. Who shall rescue me? Separate me from the body of
this death? This foaming animal that hates
that which God has created in me. John says, Who's going to
rescue me? Who's going to deliver me? Let
me tell you who it is. 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful
saying. This is a faithful saying from
Him who's faithful. He who John saw on that white
horse who was faithful and true. John said, here's a dependable
saying. This is a faithful saying. And
it's worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Paul said, I'm the worst of them. John, back in Revelation 19,
he said, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their
armies gathered together to make war against who? Against him. Paul said, You want to know why
this war is going on with me right now? Because there is a
man that lives inside of me that hates God. Can that be? Yeah. Yeah, it does. Hates God and
hates God's gospel and hates God's people. You want to know why a man by
nature hears the gospel of God's free grace and hates it and despises
it? Can't wait for it to be over. You want to know why you want
this to be over so fast? Because you hate God. You hate God. You hate God's
message. You hate God's Christ. You say,
man, why? Don't you ever back off? No. No, because this same nature
I see in me And I hate it. I hate it when I don't trust
God. And I've got a nature that don't. I hate it when I don't
trust His Word. I hate it when I doubt Him. I hate it. I hate it. John said, I saw the kings of
the earth. I'm going to hurry and finish this up. In all Scriptures,
in all Scriptures except for one, In the book of Revelation,
the kings of this earth is spoken of as rebellion against God. All of them except one. All right. First time the kings of the earth
is mentioned is in Revelation 1, 5 and 6. Let me just read
this for you and I'll wrap this up. Revelation 1. Verse five
and six from Jesus Christ, who's the faithful witness and the
first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the
earth. Go back and read every other
time when you find the kings of the earth. Except one other
time, it's in a derogatory way, the kings of the earth, the kings
of this earth. Let me tell you what it is. The
seat of power is false religion. Everything that this world tries
to offer as being honorable has to do
with religion. It tries to make itself look
good because a man by nature thinks he's going to reconcile
himself back to God. We've looked at that many, many
times. So I know this. that Revelation
1, 5, and 6 says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head. He's the king of the kings of
the earth. Now, the kings of the earth is
all men, that beast that manifests itself in false religion. That's what it's going to come
right down to. It's going to come down to a
false religion. A man's going to create a god.
In his mind, he's going to think that his God is satisfied with
him. All right? He's the King of the
earth. He's the King of the kings. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of all kings. John 17, 2, "...as thou hast
given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him." So when it comes to all
men, all flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ is all-powerful. But I will tell you this, of
these kings of the earth, these kings that raised them, these
seats of false thought, false religion, that's all it is. Call
it what you want to. I mean, you know, somebody says,
well, I'm an atheist. I have no religion at all. That
is your religion. I don't believe in God. That's
your religion then. That's your seat of thought.
Man is religious. I don't care what you say. Man
has it in his mind if every man knew what awaited him on the
Day of Judgment. Without a substitute, without
Christ, you'd go stark raving mad. If you really knew what
it meant when the Lord says there will be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth on the Day of Judgment, If you knew what
that meant and you sat here without a substitute, you'd go crazy. You couldn't stand it. Man has false religion no matter
what you call it. Label it. Put whatever shingle
you want on it. That's the way it is. The Lord
is the King of all the kings of the earth. He's the King of
all the kings. What does that mean? That means
that whatever God Almighty decides to do with every man, that's
what He's going to do with him. If the Lord is pleased to leave
you in rebellion, now listen to me, all that sit in this world, all
that sit in this building right here, let me tell you what the
Lord's going to do with you. He's going to do whatever He
wants to do with you. If you sit here this morning without
a love for Christ, and Almighty God has purposed to leave you
alone, you're going to perish. You're going to die. And God's
going to put you in hell. And He's got the right to do
it. And all of the redeemed are going to say in that day, Hallelujah. But if He's shown you mercy,
He's done it because He's pleased to do it. He's the King. But of all of the kings of the
earth, there's one thing that I've noticed about this. The
kings of this earth, all the seats of religion, thoughts,
there was one who was all-powerful, and it was the Lord. There was
one blessed thought concerning the kings of the earth. Last
scripture, Revelation 21. I want you to turn over Revelation
21, verse 24. Revelation 21, verse 24. There was kings of the earth,
the scripture says, over in Revelation 19 that stood up against God.
Revelation 1 says the Lord's the king of the kings of the
earth. Every place I found in between
there was spoken of. The kings of this earth was opposition
to God. But this one place right here,
Revelation 21, verse 24, And the nations of them which are
saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth
to bring their glory and honor into it. All places except this one right
here. speaks of the kings of the earth
in a rebellious way. But here, kings of the earth
are spoken of in an honorable way. What's the difference? They were all dug out of the
same pit. All men referred to as the kings of the earth that
possessed that beast, that nature, they were all out of the same
pit. What was the difference? The grace of God. The electing grace of God. The
redeeming grace of God. The quickening grace of God.
The preserving grace of God. John said, I saw. Here was the beast. And it raised itself up. Been fighting all of these years. living in the absolute flesh
of every man, never was absent even in the believers. He was
still there. John said, I saw it. And here
was he who was faithful and true, being followed by all of the
redeemed. And there was that beast raising
itself up. That nature that is found in
every son of Adam, the nature of sin, the nature of rebellion,
that wretched man, that vicious animal. And those that followed
him who is faithful and true saw that nature that has fought
against them all of their lives. They saw themselves. They saw
what they were as being born in Adam, they saw the beast.
They saw the presence of sin that had resisted them and hated
them and stood against them and hated God. There was the beast. They saw themselves. And thanks be to God, God's going
to deal with it. Who shall separate me from the
body of this death? The Lord's going to. In that
gracious day of victory, the saints of God will say, thanks
be to God, it's gone. It's gone. God's dealt with it. I couldn't deal with it. But
He did. And He put it away. Let's just take about a five
minute break and we'll come right back.