Oh, let's take our Bibles and
turn to the book of Revelation chapter 18. Revelation 18. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
morning for another time to be able to come together. And Lord,
we are again reminded of a miracle of your grace that would grant
us the privilege to be able to come and to hear your gospel
and to worship, to have a heart that would worship, to have a
heart that would hear with obedience and a hearing ear. Lord, we pray
for these that have been mentioned. We thank You for Your mercy and
grace for ordering their lot, their situation, according to
Your purpose. We pray that You would heal them
in accordance with Your good pleasure. And we ask these things
for Christ's sake. Amen. Revelation 18. We had looked
last week at this great harlot of false religion. The Scripture says that her sins,
in verse 5 of Revelation 18, had reached to heaven. The Lord
had said to His people, And that's the only way that
any man, any woman will ever come out of false religion, is
by the power of Almighty God quickening one of God's own by
grace, giving them a new heart. The Lord has revealed that she's
going, in verse 6, to receive her reward, the wages of sin,
is death. And she's going to get exactly
what God Almighty has said she's going to get. The reason that
she's going to get exactly what she deserves is because the Lord
has said in verse 6, She I mean, verse seven, she glorified herself. Well, today. I would like to
start and I realize that this is a this this first. Study that we have every Sunday
morning is a review of the book of Revelation. But I'd like to
start, and it's probably going to take me two or three times
to say what I want to say about Chapter 18. And we'll try to
cover the majority of Chapter 18 and finishing this chapter
as we go through this review over two or three times. But
I want to bring a little study out of this 18th chapter And
I've entitled it False Salvation for Sale. We're going to find over the
next few weeks there's three groups of people that actually
is being spoken of that are under the judgment of God. Now, these
three groups actually make up the great harlot. These three
different groups make up the great rebel against God. These three groups are spoken
of, number one, as the kings of the earth. Secondly, the second
part of the great harlot is spoken of as the merchants of the earth.
And the last part is the shipmasters and the sailors, and they are
all found in that in the 18th chapter. From this point where
we're going to start, they're all there. Now, the thing that
makes this so serious is that we look at the book of Revelation
and somehow it's like we're looking at something that's either future
or it's something that, you know, What I'm about to study, what
we're about to look at, is actually in our midst. It's here. This is the way it is. So therefore,
when we look at these three groups, of which the first one starts
in verse 9, the kings of the earth, when we look at these
three groups, understand that this is going on in our midst
right now. The kings are the kingdoms of
this earth. When we look at the kingdoms
of this earth, you can go back and you can start looking at,
oh, look in the Old Testament. Look at the Assyrians and the
Egyptians and the Babylonians, and you can look at all of these
different kingdoms And somehow we look at those kingdoms and
I really don't know what we try to think about them. They were
different areas. They were here and there at this
time, but really what is actually being spoken of when it talks
about the kingdoms of this earth, of this world, that which actually
makes them diversity. A different something. Is there
a religion? Is there a false religion? There's
myriads of kinds of religions. Have you ever wondered what is
it about all of these false religions? What is it that causes these
false religions, the difference in these false religions, What
is it about them that makes them different from the one true gospel
of free grace? Here's what it is. All of them
are based on man's free will. Now, there's only two teachings. It's either free grace or man's
free will. One of the two. You can look
at them and lump them all into two groups. I mean, it's either
the truth or it's a lie. So we look at the kingdoms of
this earth. Every denomination in the earth
today is what's spoken of right here. The kingdoms. Call them
whatever you want to. Hang whatever shingles you want
to. The Egyptians worshipped a false
god. The Assyrians had another god. The Babylonians had their god. And every one of those gods bowed
to their thinking. They created one in their mind.
So when you see the great harlot, understand something, the great
harlot is made up of the kings or the kingdoms or the denominations. Now, how many denominations can
you think of? Think of any of them you want to think of. Now,
what's the basis for their salvation? Man's ability, man's will, man's
thoughts, man's choice. It comes down to that. Call it
whatever you want to call it. It's going to be either you bow
to a Pope. I'll just say that you
bow to a pope. Or you have to be. Our God says
you've got to be baptized in order to be saved. Our God says
you've got to handle a snake. Our God says you don't go to
a picture show. Our God says you walk down an
aisle and you have to. Their kingdoms, their diversities,
their different denominations, and they're all made up with
one thought. man's ability, man's work, the
king, the kingdoms, the kings of this earth, the merchants
of this earth, which actually will be over starting, I would
say, probably in verse 11. Let me see. Yep. The merchants
of the earth. That's what we will look at that.
I'm just kind of giving you right now a an overview of what's being
talked about. So you'll understand. I'd rather
just understand up front. What are we talking about concerning
the makeup of this great harlot that's under the judgment of
God? The merchants or the kingdoms are the denominations of this
earth. Secondly, the merchants are actually the false prophets
of each denomination. Every denomination has got those
false preachers. We could start going through
the book of Jude and we could go through 1 Peter and 1 John
and see how the Scriptures sets forth that there's false teachers. Now, you know there's false teachers.
If there's a false denomination, then there's a false teacher
that goes, these are the merchants of this earth. They're the ones
that's actually going out and standing in pulpits and selling
this stuff. They got something to sell. And
we'll look when we get into the merchants of the earth starting
to look over in verse 12 and 13 and 14. You see what they're
selling merchandise of gold, silver, precious stone, pearls,
on and on and on. They're selling something. They
got something for sale. And Lord willing, we'll look
at see how does what these guys have to sell. How does that relate
to what's going on right now? So you've got The kings of this
earth, the denominations. You've got the merchants of this
earth, false prophets. And then thirdly, you've got
down in verse 17 of this chapter, you've got the shipmasters and
the sailors. They're actually those that are
buying into this stuff. They're buying it. You've got
a denomination. You've got somebody standing
in their pulpit selling the stuff. And you've got somebody sitting
out there buying it. Now this makes up the great harlot, the
great whore, mystery Babylon, false religion of this world.
Well, let's start with just that overview right there. Let's start
in verse 9. It says, And the kings of the
earth who have committed fornication and live deliciously with her,
shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the burning
of see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear
of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon,
that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come. Now, knowing that the kings or
the kingdoms or the denominations, you know, lump them all together,
lump Everything that is not setting forth the gospel of God's free
grace, God's going to judge. God's going to curse. Turn with
me to Galatians 1. Galatians chapter 1. Galatians 1, starting in verse
6. Paul is writing a letter to a
church at Galatia. Now, let me tell you. What we're about to read does
not set forth that man can lose true salvation. Now, you know
better than that. Almighty God calls a man out
of darkness. They're kept by the power of
God. It is an inheritance that is
incorruptible, undefiled, and it fades not away. If Almighty
God calls a man or a woman out of darkness, God's going to keep
them. There were some, obviously, based
on what Paul is writing here, that had made a profession of
their faith in Christ. They heard the gospel and they
said, we believe it. We rest in it. But then Paul
got wind that some that had made that profession left it. Now, what's the conclusion of
that? They were never there. What does
the Scripture say? They went out from us. Why? They were not of us. For had
they been of us, surely, Mark, they would have remained. They
would have stayed. No one leaves the Gospel if Almighty God has
given them a new heart. Paul is writing this letter to
the church at Galatia, and he says in verse 6, I'm amazed that
you're so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. How is the gospel of Christ perverted? It's when men say that you can
mix works and grace. Oh, we're saved by grace. We're
saved by grace. But we're sanctified or set apart
by works. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're saved by grace and you're
set apart by the grace of God. You're kept by the grace of God.
Almighty God saves His people. Paul says, I'm amazed someone
tells you I believe the gospel of grace. I believe the gospel.
I believe the truth. I believe that Almighty God chose
me before the foundation of the world. I believe that Christ
redeemed me by His blood. And I believe that the Spirit
of God quickened me. I believe that I'm one of God's
sheep. And then you leave that and you walk away? This is the only conclusion.
You never believed it. You didn't believe it. understand some doctrine in his
head. But I'm telling you, no one leaves
the gospel if God Almighty has given them a heart. I marvel,
marvel. It's not another. But though
we, verse 8, Paul says, if I or any of these apostles that have
preached to you, if we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel unto you, And that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
which you receive, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men or God?" Paul is asking, who am I pleasing? Who am I striving
to please? Paul was honest with them. He
was straightforward with them. I would never unnecessarily try
to hurt or offend anyone. I wouldn't try to hurt anybody's
feelings. But let me ask you this. Who
are the preachers of God's sovereign, saving grace in Christ? Who are
you trying to please? Who are you catering to? Are
you going to pat somebody on the back and say, well, you know
what? Doesn't matter what you believe, really, if you're sincere.
I know we're not all teaching the same thing. And I had someone
tell my mother, my mother's considering moving here. And someone asked
her the other day, they said, well, Granny, If you come there
and things don't work out and you have to go back to Louisiana
and you're not able to find a place close to where in Ball, Louisiana,
where Brother Milton Howard pastors, what are you going to do? She
said, I'll find a place. He said, well, you know, there
could be other places in that area. Maybe they don't teach
exactly like they teach at Kitchens Creek. And Granny said, I just
thought, oh, no, no, no. I'm telling you, a believer knows
the gospel of free grace and they don't. They will not forsake
it. They will not go somewhere else
where the gospel of God's grace is not preached. What will they
do? They'll be there. They'll go.
What do they have to do? Whatever they have to do, they'll
be there. Paul says, do I persuade men
or God? Do I seek to please men? If I
yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. These denominations that make
up the great harlot, the kingdoms of this earth, the Scripture
says that have committed fornication and lived luxuriously. Here's the amazing thing. It
is like these kingdoms and these merchants and the shipmasters
are watching their own judgment. They see it. They see what's
going on. It's like here they are beholding. I mean, even in my little fickle
mind, I can read of the day of God's judgment. And all men will
stand before God Almighty. You believe that's going to be
so? The scripture says it is. And He'll separate the sheep
from the goats. Now, I realize that in actual
time, or concerning my actual body, that hasn't happened yet.
But do you know, Mitch, in my mind, by faith, I can see it.
I behold it. I see. Somehow, Somehow I see
the sheep and the goats, the sheep on his right hand, and
as much as I can understand that, I see it. This great harlot is
watching her own judgment. That's what John is setting forth. The kings of the earth who have
committed fornication and live deliciously shall bewail her
and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Three groups. It actually make
up the great harlot. Rebels seeing themselves judged
by Almighty God. What do we know about this judgment?
Well, we know that number one, God is just. He's a just God
and the wages of sin is death. And I'm telling you, all that
stands before Almighty God. If a man or a woman stands before
God and they stand not before Him holy and without blame, justified
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to judge
them. What does God demand? Absolute perfection. What does
God demand? God demands what God does. That's
what God demands. But you stand before Him in the
person of Christ and to hear him say, well done, good and
faithful servant. God is just. And secondly, we
know that God is merciful to deliver his people. Verse 10
says, and we'll just we'll look at this one verse and then we'll
stop. Standing afar off for the fear
of her torment saying, alas, alas, That great city Babylon,
that mighty city, in one hour is thy judgment come. These kingdoms,
these denominations. Boy, you talk about a man, a
woman trying to distance themselves in the day of God's judgment.
Right now, I understand. I really do. I can understand
how. A man, a woman can think left
to themselves. I understand how they think all
as well with me. Freddie, I understand that. I
can speak from experience. I remember growing up, I grew
up in false religion, false free will, Southern Baptist religion. And in my mind, I was right. I was in agreement. You know,
I've made my agreement with hell. Now, what that means out of Ezekiel
is, as far as whatever was required to not go there, I've done everything
that the merchants of the earth told me to do. What do I have
to do? Give my heart to Jesus. How do
you do that? Well, just simply pray a sinner's
prayer, Brother Scott. That's all in the world it takes
for a man to miss hell. Just a few little simple words. I believed in my heart these
fellas had sold me a bill of goods. And you know what? As
one of the sailors, as one of the shipmasters that wanted to
build myself an old gospel ship, these guys were selling the stuff.
They had the stuff for sale. And all I had to do to build
me a haven of rest was just to exercise my free will. All it
took in my mind to escape hell was just to pray a simple set
of words. And with those simple set of
words, somehow in my mind, my sin was just obliterated. You think men believe that? Let
me tell you something. I came up in false religion,
first false religion I came in, I actually believed that if I
went down and knelt down at this little box, it had some little
rickrack on it like that, and some fellow sitting on the inside,
if I would just express to him my sins, I thought I gave him
all of them. I thought, you know, I couldn't
think of but one that day I was there. But I actually believed. By Him telling me all I had to
do was just say ten Hail Marys and one Our Father, I was absolved. Now you talk about a bill of
goods. Now I'm telling you that these kingdoms, these denominations,
these diversities, the Scripture says they're going to stand afar
off. on the day of God's judgment,
and they're going to try to alienate themselves. And every man, every
woman that has bought this bill of goods that says, I can make
myself right before God, they're going to realize in that moment,
you lied to me. You told me that I would be okay. You told me that I had nothing
to fear. But in that day, the Lord will
say to those that say, haven't we preached in your name? We were actually able to cast
out this old lost condition, these demons, out of people.
And He will say, I never knew you. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all of grace. God Almighty purposes to save
a man, to save a woman. Almighty God in time teaches
that person under the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Salvation
by grace. God teaches them the truth. God
grants them faith and they believe Not in order to be saved, but
they believe because God Almighty has saved them and gave them
a new heart. And they believe and they cry
out for mercy to Him that has already had mercy on them. All
of the reactions that a believer does, they trust, they love,
they believe. Those are evidences of life.
The kingdoms of this world. False salvation for sale. Men's got something to sell.
And I'm telling you, they've got a bill of goods. That's the
first thing. Anytime you see any place that's
not preaching the gospel of God's sovereign, saving grace, it's
a lie. Paul said that. Under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, if we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel than that which we preach, anathema, accursed,
cast out. If you believe this gospel, if
God's given you a heart to believe the gospel of Christ, the gospel
of free grace, you're a blessed man. You're a blessed woman.
The Lord's had mercy on you. And I know that many will say,
You think you're the only ones that are saved? You think that
you're the only ones that are right? Well, here's the bottom
line. If God's given me a heart to
believe Christ, then I'm right. That I'm the only one that's
right? No, I may not be the only one that's right, but I'll tell
you what, the other ones that are with me, that I believe the
same thing I do. Yeah, men will say, that's arrogance. No, it's grace. It's grace. God Almighty has given me a heart
to believe Him, and I'm going to believe Him. Paul says, after
the way that men call hypocrisy, arrogance, that's the way I worship God. I believe God. Trust Him. Let's take just a break for about
five minutes. We'll come back.