It's good to see you this morning. Before we begin, let's have a
word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
the day you've given us, a day that has been ordained and set
aside for the worship of Almighty God. We pray this morning that
you would bless our time together, help us, help us that we might
hear, perceive, understand and learn and grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior. For it's in his name we pray,
Amen. Revelation 18. The Apostle John has been seeing by divine revelation
the judgment of the great harlot. This great harlot, you know,
is actually false religion. But what is revealed by Scripture
That tells us what false religion is. Anybody can just say, well,
you're wrong. No, no, you're wrong. No, that's
what you say. No, that's what you say. And
like a couple of kids just get into an argument over something
because everybody's got an opinion. But opinions mean absolutely
nothing. The Word of God stands sure. All the opinions of men are going
to be done away with. The only thing that matters is
what God Almighty has to say. My Word will not return unto
me void. It shall accomplish the purpose
for which it was sent. We learned Starting from a few
weeks ago and coming right on into right now, we're in verse
13 of Revelation 18. And what the Scripture sets forth
as being the judgment of God upon false religion. This is
where we stand. What does God have to say about
what is being judged? Let God be true. Man's a liar. He's born a liar. And left to
himself, he's always going to be a liar. What does God say
is under his judgment? Well, we know that the kings
of the earth, the kingdoms, the different divisions, denominations,
that's how we understand it. You just say what you will, but
I'm telling you, everything in this world is broken down by
different denominations. I mean, you know, we may be here
in the United States and we say, well, these are the denominations.
No, they're all over the world. I mean, just whatever they are,
divisions. But the merchants. Verse 11 of
the earth, these are the proclaimers of each kingdom or denomination
that's selling their denominations bill of goods. And you listen,
listen to the false prophets and whatever they're selling
is going to reflect what they believe as far as their false
religion. Whatever it is, you just write
it down. And if you'll notice, every one
of them is made up. Of what I have to do, what you
have to do in order to be Saved. They give you a set of rules.
They're selling you something, or trying to. They're trying
to make merchandise of your soul. Now, we started off, and for
sake of time, I won't go over the last things we're going to
pick up right now. In verse 13, what these men are
selling, the Scripture reveals, first of all, wine and oil, about
halfway down in verse 13. They're selling wine and oil. Now, these merchants. Are selling
something. For a reason. They've got enough. Since let me say it like that,
enough sense to know something's wrong, it doesn't matter what
religion, what denomination. Obviously, something is wrong.
I want you to turn to Isaiah one Isaiah chapter one. Here's
the problem. Here's the true problem. I told
you, I go back many times to having visited with Walter Cody,
Betty Gruber down in the Yucatan, and we would go to the Mayan
ruins. Amazing to watch and to listen
to the stories about this Mayan temple you've seen, it's that
pyramid-looking thing down in Mexico in the Yucatan. And what
it was, it's a temple where they sacrificed. They had sacrifices. And what they were doing is they
knew they had enough sense. There's a conscience in every
man that says something's wrong. Something is not right. What
is the real problem? What's the true problem? Isaiah
1. Five and six. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even
into the head, there's no soundness in it but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Here is the problem. I'm sick. I need to be healed. I need to be cleansed. The lie of false religion, back
in Revelation chapter 18, verse 13, they're selling, it says,
wine and oil. What does that symbolize? Well, turn to Luke 10. Luke chapter
10, the Lord gave us A story, a parable, Luke 10, verse 30. Luke 10, 30, Jesus answering
said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came
down a certain priest that way. When he saw him, he passed by
on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he was
at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other
side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, one that was despised by the Jews. They hated the Samaritans. They didn't, they wouldn't have
anything. And these fine upstanding, you know, this priest, this Levite,
they kind of looked the other way. But this certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he
had compassion on him, he went to him, he bound up his wounds,
pouring in oil and wine, brought him to an end, took care of him.
On the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, gave them
to the host and said to him, take care of him. Whatsoever
thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay. He said,
Which now of these three think ye was a neighbor unto him that
fell among the thieves? The answer was, He that showed
mercy. Now, here's the issue. This Samaritan, a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who found His own wounded, bruised, stripped,
beaten by sin, had compassion on Him, came and poured in the
healing, the wine, the oil, a picture of the blessedness of His mercy
and grace. Not to go into the depth of that
parable, but the healing that was necessary. The wine and oil. But I want you to notice something.
In that parable, the man that was wounded did not pour in or
heal or administer aid to himself. False religion is telling people,
we've got the wine and the oil. We've got whatever it takes. It goes back to the same free
will religion. You can administer to yourself
whatever it takes. Exercise your free will and you've
got it. What else they're selling? Well,
they're selling fine flour back in Revelation 18, 13, and wheat. Now, you think, what has that
got to do with my salvation? Well, the first thing we have
to understand is what do these things symbolize? What is the
fine flour? Turn to Leviticus 6. Leviticus
chapter 6. Verse 14, 15, Leviticus 6, this
is the law. Now here is the word of God given
to Moses to be given to Aaron the priest. Leviticus 6, 14,
this is the law of the meat offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord, before the altar. He shall take of it of
his handful and of the flower of the meat offering, of the
oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering,
and she'll burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor, even the memorial
of it unto the Lord." Now, let me tell you what the meat offering
was in the book of Leviticus. The meat offering was a picture. It was a bloodless offering.
I'll tell you that. There was five offerings. The meat offering was a bloodless
offering. It was a picture of the blessedness
of the character and the walk of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fine
flour, an offering unto the Lord that set forth His character. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. You hear him. The obedient servant
was set forth as the meat offering. Fine flour is what he washed.
No blood. It was a picture of his walk.
Of course, there were offerings that set forth his blood offering,
the burnt offering, meat offering, the sin offering, the substitute,
trespass offering. These offerings set forth the
character, the scope, but the meat offering, the fine flour
set forth His walk. There was no lumps in it. It
was thoroughly ground. The Lord Jesus Christ walked
before Almighty God perfectly. And only the Lord Jesus Christ
walked before God perfectly. The fine flower in the book of
Leviticus was a picture of our obedient Lord and Savior, our
representative before the law of God. These hucksters are selling what
they say is fine flower and you can walk before God perfectly,
they say. You can become more and more
holy and perfect by your obedience to the law. No, you cannot. Without Him, you can do and you
are nothing. Without Him, there is no obedience
before Almighty God. We've got fine flour for you. Our denomination is the right
walk. You walk our way. You do what
we say. You obey in our way. And God's
pleased with you. We'll guarantee it. Fine flour
and wheat. We've got some wheat for you.
What does wheat Turn with me to Psalm 147. Psalm 147. You know, I was thinking as I'm
turning right now, I'm thinking that is so true with men on that
fine flower. You get in our group, you get
in our denomination, God's only pleased with the walk of our
group. That's what they're saying. God's only pleased with your
walk if you're one of us. You try to walk any other way,
and God's not pleased with that. But wait. Psalm 147, verse 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy. The Lord takes
pleasure in those that reverence Him. He takes pleasure in those
that are in Christ, that respect Him, that fear Him, and that
hope in His mercy, whose hope is in His mercy, not in themselves. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise thy God, O Zion! For He
hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy
children with thee. He maketh peace. in thy borders,
and filleth thee with the finest of wheat." The bread. The bread. The bread. These fellows back here saying,
we can tell you how to eat of Christ. Now that's what they're
saying. Men will stand in pulpits, and
they will speak and say and use the name the Lord Jesus Christ. They will speak of the Messiah. They will speak of the Substitute. They will speak of the One that
came down from heaven. It's not like men are not saying
or not using the Word, the Name. They do say the Name, Mitch.
There's no doubt about it. They'll tell you we're telling
you of the wheat that you can eat. But when you listen to their
description of Him, they may use His name. They may mention
Him. But when I listen and when you
listen to one that is setting forth the Christ As one who's
trying, or one who attempted, or one who wants to do, you think,
you know what? That's not the wheat that the
Spirit of God has fed me with. That's not the bread that I eat
of. That's not the bread that came
down from heaven. That's not the bread that was
set forth by that holy manna that God fed the nation of Israel. They said, we've got the wheat
for you. Fine flour. You can walk. Let me tell you
who we'll feed you with. No. The believer eats of Christ. He that eats my flesh, drinks
my blood. It is by the grace of God that
I can eat of Him. Men speak. They use His name. but they use it disrespectfully.
Any time that the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as one that
died to make salvation possible, that's not the Christ of this
Bible. That's a false Christ. That's a lie. That's a lie. And the Scripture says, the last one we'll look at this morning,
and the beast and the sheep and the horses and the chariots and
the slaves of the bodies and the souls of men. The key to that last part right
there, to me, was summed up by that last part, the souls of
men. The Lord told the Pharisees,
you know, you compass land and sea. Make a proselyte. Do you know why men are trying
to grasp hold? And actually, what they're actually
doing right here is possessions. But the greatest possession that
a man thinks he has before God, the greatest possession that
a man thinks that he can attain before God is a proselyte. The Lord clearly set forth to
the Pharisees. He said, you hypocrites, you
liars, you scoundrels. He said, you're going about trying
to make and you're making merchandise of men's souls. I do want men to come here. I do want women to come here.
I do. I really do. It does grief me that men don't
care. I'd asked Pat. I had found a Bible on the internet. It was a little Bible, and I
was wanting him to help me get it. It was an old Bible. In fact, it was It's extremely
old. It was printed in 1849. It's got a little inscription
in it. It says, from your sister to
her brother, New Year's Day, 1850. It's a beautiful little
Bible. It's very nice leather and very
nice clasp on it. I think it's a treasure. It's a Bible. Printed and given. It's outstanding condition. Meant
condition, virtually. I mean, it's just unbelievable
how good. But you want to know the saddest
part of it? Is how did it come to 2008 and be in such good condition? It wasn't used. It's a wonderful
book. It's the Word of God. But how
did it get to here and be in such good shape? And when I saw
it, I told Pat, it made me sad. How many times have we failed
to think of every moment that passes and we fail to listen,
to hear what God's got to say? These hucksters are telling the
possessions that you could have and the souls of men. I'll tell
you this one last story and I'm going to stop. I was talking to my
mother. I talked to her a lot, you know
that. She was telling me about someone
that we both know. They're getting up in age and
they're in a false church. And every time that she talks
to this person, this is the crust of their conversation. How many
visits He made? How many contacts He made? How
many things? He made 20 visits today. I did this and I did that. She
said not one word concerning the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what I did. This is what
I did. This is what I did. Men, major. on things that matter not, and
find great comfort in their possessions. When a man stands before Almighty
God, let me tell you, you know the answer to this, the one thing
that's going to matter, what think ye of Christ? Not, what
did you think about this, that, or the other, or how many visits
did you make? What do you think about Christ?
Well, don't you think we ought to? I'll tell you what we ought
to do. You let me hear of Him. You let
me see Him. Let me find all my hope in Him.
In that day, what is it going to matter if a man gained the
whole world and lost his soul? Man by nature, needs Christ. May Almighty God bless our hearts
to the understanding. Don't let me be sold a bill of
goods. Let me buy of Him without price,
without money, without gold, without silver, without cinnamon,
without wood, without ivory, without... Let me buy Him by
faith. Let me eat of Him the bread of
life. Let me drink of Him whose blood
has covered me and washed away my sin. For Christ's sake, Amen.