All right, taking our Bibles
and turning to Revelation 18. We're here today to hear the
truth. That's why we've come. I want
to hear the truth. John 18.37, the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Let me just read this to you. He said, To this end was I born. Now here's the Lord of Glory
saying this is the reason. For this cause came I into the
world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that
is of the truth heareth my voice. In time, they're going to hear,
and they're going to continue to hear, continually hearing
His voice. And the voice of the Master is
heard through the preached Word, the gospel of God's grace, and
the Spirit of God bearing witness to the people that the Lord has
called out of darkness. This is so. Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth? Now, you know, that's a good
question. What is truth? The Lord had answered that question
in John 14, 6, and He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, knowing that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the truth, John 1.5 says that truth is Christ. Here's truth. Here's the manifestation
of truth. Truth is Almighty God by His
power. What is truth to you? That's the question. What is
truth? It's the Lord Jesus Christ by the power and grace of God
shining in your heart. Truth, though it is truth, is
not truth to you unless God makes it to be truth. The gospel is
truth. There's no doubt about that.
Christ is truth, but truth to you. I want to take God, 2 Corinthians
4 and 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face, in the presence, in the appearance
of Jesus Christ. Well, this morning we want to
look for just a few minutes at the truth. And whenever we hear
truth, we're going to hear, well, we're going to hear first of
all, man's state without God. And we're going to hear God's
mercy to those that need Him. That's truth. A man that hears
the truth about himself realizes that he needs Christ. We're going to continue with
Part 2 of where we started last week on false religion for sale. We're going through the book
of Revelation on a summary. False religion. Now, obviously,
the Scripture bears this out that it is for sale. But you know we talk about false
religion. Turn to 1 John 4. 1 John, Chapter
4. We talk about false religion. And, you know, it's so easy for
somebody to just say, well, they're wrong, they're wrong, this one's
wrong. Listen to this. How do you know when somebody
is trying to sell you, spiritually speaking, a bill of goods? How do you know? 1 John 4. Let's read verses 1 to 6. 1 John
4, 1 to 6. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Now, let me tell you, the word
spirit right there, it's talking about those that are preaching.
Don't believe every spirit. Don't believe every one. But
try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby, Know ye the Spirit
of God? Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already
is in the world. You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error." Now, you'd ask yourself this. Now, I know that the Lord, by
the Spirit of God, spoke through the Apostle John and said, You
will know them that are lying to you. You know he just said
that. Now, the question that's in our
minds is this. How did we know? I know he said
we'd know. How? Verse 2, Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." Men will
say, Oh, I'm covered on that. I'm covered because I believe
that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Well, what does Jesus Christ
coming in the flesh mean? Does it mean that Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin? on a certain day in Bethlehem
and that He came into this world and He lived in this world and
people observed Him and they saw Him and knew that He was
Jesus of Nazareth and He went to the cross at around 33 years
old and He died on the cross. And by dying on the cross, He
actually made salvation possible. for everybody that would believe
and therefore because He was in the flesh and died at the
cross and was buried and raised again the third day and He's
in heaven right now and people are preaching that He came into
this world as a man and tried to save the world. Is that what
Jesus Christ coming in the flesh means? No. No. Jesus Christ coming in the flesh,
and this statement being borne out, and for the sake of time,
to not go back and take every Scripture, but knowing that Scripture
bears witness to Scripture. You know this, that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, He was sent of God Being God,
Jesus Christ is God, co-equal with the Father, co-eternal. All things were made by Him and
for Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. The Lord
Jesus Christ, by putting on flesh, came into this world, number
one, To live for all that the Father had given Him in eternal
election before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4. You have been chosen. Having
chosen you in Christ that you exist. That you should be. The word is exist. Holy and without
blame before Him in love. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. bound to
give thanks, brethren, beloved of God, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth." The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this world to live before God's law in perfect obedience because
His people who could not, fallen in sin, already dead, hopelessly
unable to live before Almighty God, born dead, born sinners. He lived for them because God
demanded absolute holiness before His law. He lived for them. He died for them. He died for
the sheep. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ
says. I lay down my life, John 10,
15, for the sheep. Everyone is not a sheep. The
Lord Jesus Christ told some Pharisees, he says, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. You're
not of them. Well, you can say without question
that he distinguished two groups of people there. Are all people
sheep of God? No. I know some Pharisees that
weren't. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Therefore, if someone doesn't
come and they die in unbelief of the gospel of God's free grace,
what's the conclusion? They weren't given to the Son.
They weren't sheep. I'm telling you, the Lord Jesus
Christ coming in the flesh, He that preaches that Jesus Christ
is coming to flesh. as the eternal surety, the representative,
the substitute. He that preaches that Jesus Christ
is coming to flesh in accordance with God's purpose to accomplish
God's will and the redemption of God's people, they are of
God. And he that does not confess
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh according to that standard,
that gospel, that truth, is not of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world and lived and died for His people and thereby
redeemed them, paid the debt. What's owed? Death. What's it going to cost? His blood. What's He going to
pay? Everything. What's owed? His sheep. are going to hear
that truth. His sheep are going to hear the
truth of God's salvation. Sovereign saving grace. Listen to Galatians 4, 6. Because
ye are sons. Now you know what has already
been said? God has already set forth right there. Before the
sheep of God are called out of darkness, before they're called
out of darkness, they're sons. How long have they been sons?
Always been sons. Always been chosen. Always been
loved. How long have they been under
the judgment of God? Never, never, never, never. Because He are sons, God hath
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Why does
God send the truth to a man? Because he's already a son. And
he's going to call him out of darkness. He will come. And what are they going to do?
They're going to cry, Abba, Father. All right. Well, the truth. Revelation 18. Now, here's the
truth. Here is the truth. False religion
is preserved. We've established in verse 9
and 10 last week that the kings of the earth, the kingdoms of
the earth, different countries, as I said, you could say, you
could break it down and just say, well, kingdoms, Egyptian,
Assyrian, Roman, Babylon, what? Kingdoms. It comes down. to different
manifestations of the same thought that man can reconcile himself
back to God. The Egyptians, they thought their
God was, you know, the Roman, Romish, they thought God is,
you know, everybody has got a God, but their God is always with
one thought. Our God has to be pleased by
ourselves. Our God is angry. Therefore,
our God. So the kings of the earth are
actually the kingdoms of this earth, or as we said last week,
different denominations. Call it whatever you want to
call it. It does not matter. Lump all denominations into this
one lump, and it comes down to this one thing. It goes all the
way back to the Tower of Babel. They were going to build themselves
a tower to heaven. And Almighty God caused confusion,
caused them to be able to speak different languages. Nobody could
understand anything else, so the tower never made it to heaven,
obviously. But everything was based on man's
attempt to reconcile himself back to God. Now, different languages. Now, men may say, you know, well,
I speak this language and my religion says this. This is what
my religion says this and my religion says this. But when
you lump them all together, they still come from the same source.
They're trying by their own ability to reconcile themselves back
to God. So every denomination, if you take any denomination
and ask them, what's the basis of salvation? What has to be
done in order for you to be saved? And it'll have this little thought
and this little thought, but when you lump them all in and
listen to what they're saying, it's something that you've got
to do in order to be saved. Only the gospel of free grace
declares salvation to be of the Lord without any input, any work
of man. Salvation is by grace. And it's
understand, it's through or perceived by faith. God gives a man faith
to believe that God saves man by himself. God saves men by
himself. So the kings or kingdoms of this
world are actually different denominations, different ways
of thinking. Verse 11 now. And the merchants
of the earth. Now, remember, This is false
religion for sale. You've got different denominations,
kingdoms, branches. They're all the same thing. OK,
salvation has got to be either by works, man's ability, no matter
how religious it looks or how pious it looks. Man's work is
nothing but filthy rags. Either salvation is by works
or it's by grace. Ask yourself this. If you believe
that you're saved before Almighty God, why? Why? What was done to merit your
salvation? And if any works that you have
done enters your mind. I walked down the aisle. I prayed
through. I was baptized. All of our righteousness is filthy. The merchants of the earth, who
are they? Well, if there is a denomination, then I am going to tell you something,
and those denominations have got some false prophets, false
religion, false salvation for sale. It says, And the merchants
of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their
merchandise anymore. You know, the merchants of this
earth, these preachers, they are actually, and I look this
word merchants up, the merchants of this earth. They are tradesmen
on a mission. That's what it means. Tradesmen
on a mission. They've got a mission to accomplish. They're called merchants because,
according to 2 Peter 2, 3, through covetousness shall they with
feigned words, molded and fictitious. They're very careful how they
say. They're cunning, very sly. Privily have they entered in.
These merchants of the earth, spoken of in Jude 1 as the false
prophets, every false denomination has got a false prophet that
sells a bill of goods. They're hucksters. They're salesmen. They're salesmen is what they
are. And they make merchandise of men's souls. But in the day
of God's wrath, I want you to look at the wording of verse
11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over
her. Now, remember. The denominations
and the false tradesmen, the merchants, they're actually watching
themselves being judged. They're under the judgment of
God. And in this vision, John sees them under the judgment
of God. Now, listen what happens. They
weep and mourn over her. Why? Because no man buys their merchandise
anymore. You listen to me. I'm telling
you that anybody that is standing in a pulpit or sitting behind
a television camera and is proclaiming to people, the masses, that they
have salvation to offer. If you will do something, then
God will do something. I'm telling you that these guys
are nothing more than tradesmen that are trading in men's souls. They're liars. How do you know
they're liars if they don't preach the gospel of free grace? Sovereign,
saving grace. No compromise, no gray area,
no middle of the road. Either they're liars or they're
truth. You will know them. You'll know
them by the message that they preach. It doesn't matter how
good they look. It doesn't matter how clean they
look. It doesn't matter how sweet the message or how sensitive
the message is. The gospel of free grace is the
distinguishing character of whether a man's a liar or whether he's
of the truth. These men, they're going to weep
because nobody is buying their merchandise anymore. They weep not because men perish,
not because they are sorry for their rebellion. They are weeping
because they are not in business anymore. False religion is big
business. silver, precious stones, pearls,
fine linen. Well, let's just stop there.
That's as far as we'll plan to go. What are these guys selling? Well, it starts off and it starts
naming some. Well, it's like money, money,
I mean, stuff that's worth some money. What are they selling? They're selling. Gold, silver,
precious stones and pearls. What these men are selling. Now,
let me just try to make it to where we can understand. Just in my mind right here. You
know what? You get ready to go on a trip. Whenever you get ready to go
on a trip, you're going to have either a mental or a physical checklist
that you're going to go over. Well, I've got my shoes and I've
got my clothes. I've got, you know, you got one of the things
that's going to go through your mind is that you're going to
want to know if you got any money. You got any money? Either you're going to have to
have some cash, you're going to have to have a credit card, or you're going to have
something because nobody's going to let you, you know, there's
no free rides, you know, ain't no free ride. I got to have a
little mad money. What's going to happen if we
need some gas? There's a shop right over there.
Let me stop. Have you got any money? These fellows are telling
you. I'm telling you how you can get
you some money. Some gold and silver and precious
stones. But you know what's amazing to
me? That the Lord says, Oh, everyone that thirsts comes to the waters
and buys without money. Do you know how a man realizes
that he has any interest in the worth of eternal life? It is that God gave it to him. What are you going to buy? What
are you going to purchase when the Scripture sets forth that
salvation is without price to you, without money? These men tell you, I can tell
you something. I can tell you how you can have
on the day of judgment. What's it going to cost? I got
it. No money. No value to you. No worth on your part. Gold and silver and precious
to all false religion tells you that you can have what it's going
to take. In closing, turn to 1 Timothy
6. 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. Verse 3, these men that are telling you,
I can tell you how you can have what it's going to take on the
day of judgment when you need to pass. When it comes time,
you walk up to a picture show and I'm ready to walk in. What's
it going to cost? Ten bucks? Ten bucks for a show? Well, I got it. on the day of
God's judgment. Man's got that same mentality. Whatever it costs on the day
of God's judgment, I'm going to have it. These men will tell
you. I'll tell you how to get it. 1 Timothy 6, 3, If any man teach
otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according
to godliness, he is proud knowing nothing, doting about questions
and stripes of words, whereof come envy, strife, railings and
surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute
of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself, but
godliness with contentment is great gain." These men are proud,
inflated with deceit. Knowing nothing. Comprehending
nothing. Doting about questions. Doting
about questions. This was very interesting to
me. Diseased in darkness. Diseased in darkness. Strifes
about words. Wranglings of empty, vain matters. on Friday expect to get paid
in dollars or some form of currency. A man that has worked all week
expects that his boss is going to pay him because he is deserving
to get paid. Men in false religion expect
His gold and his silver and his precious stones and pearls is
going to be what he's earned. And in that day, he'll pay. And I'll get in based on my merit. Now you listen. The merchants
of this world are tradesmen telling you that just like a man who's
worked all week at his job is worthy to be paid. He's worthy. to be paid. And he's earned his pay by his
own merit, by his own work, by his own efforts. The Apostle
said, when we've done all that we've done, we're unprofitable
servants, bond slaves, willingly to the Lord Jesus Christ, thankful
by the grace of God that we're even able to hear and to realize
that salvation is of the Lord. False salvation is a business. Men are trying to sell you something.
Salvation is of grace, and you'll know it by faith. Let's stop
for just a few minutes and we'll come back and we'll look in the
book of Romans.