Look at Revelation 17. Our Father, we are indeed thankful
for another day. And it's good to be able to be
in the midst of Your people and to be in Your midst. We ask You,
Lord, to bless this word to our heart. Lord, would You ignite
That which you have created, that new heart, may it burn with
a love and an affection and thankfulness to you for your goodness and
compassion to your people. And these things we ask for Christ's
sake. Amen. Turn with me to the book
of Revelation chapter 17. I'd like to finish this chapter
as we study for a few minutes, Revelation
chapter 17. And John has, he's on the Isle
of Patmos, and the Lord is teaching him some things that we'd never
know if God wasn't pleased to reveal them. John has been shown,
and so have we, the wonder of God's mercy. This is what the
book of Revelation is all about. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. That's right. But what does that
mean to me and you? It means that the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's Messiah, God's Servant, He in whom we were chosen, God's
elect, before the foundation of the world is keeping His people
in the midst of this world, that we have some comfort. We're going
through this world. What's happening to us? What's
happening to God's people in this world? I'll tell you what's
happening. God's bringing honor to Himself and doing it for the
good of His people, and He's keeping them. He's kept His people.
Up until this point, God's elect. have been kept by the power of
God, and they shall be till the day of redemption." Till He takes
them out of this world and reveals them to have been His own everlastingly. Well, John's been looking at
a woman and a beast, and the Lord is revealed to him who this
beast and this woman He is. And He says in verse 15, He saith
unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Now,
the Scripture says, look in verse 1 of this chapter, Revelation
17. There came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vows,
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." Now this great whore, this disrespectful, unfaithful
woman is actually false religion. John saw her, in verse 15, sitting
upon the waters. Now, these waters is actually
all of the people of this world. It's this world, the waters.
We've looked at, in the book of Matthew, it talks about this
great sea, the great waters of this world. And remember the
net cast into the waters Fish were pulled in. Some of them
were kept. But some of them were thrown
back and not kept. God keeps His own. But this great
whore, this illegitimate, disrespectful, false religion of this world
is referred to what she really is. She's unfaithful. She says
she's faithful. She speaks of God. speaks of and uses the Lord Jesus'
name. But really, she doesn't love
him. She's disrespectful to him. She's not faithful to him. And
he doesn't love her. He loves his own. He loves his
people. So John saw these waters where
this great whore was sitting. They were peoples and multitudes
Nations and tongues, but you know the amazing thing about
where John saw this whore sitting. She was sitting. In the midst
of this world. But by the grace of Almighty
God. Some of them out of this world. Almighty God is eternally loved.
He chose some out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue. And there were some. that the
Lord had set His affection on. And do you know the difference
between those that were chosen and those that were left to themselves?
What was the difference? The grace of God. That was the
only difference. What difference is there found
in any one person, as opposed to another one, having the love
of God shed abroad in their heart? What's the difference? God's
choice. God's love, God's grace, that's
all. And John said in verse 16, And
the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate
the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Now, we've looked at this. I don't want to labor this because
we've looked at it too many times. But these ten horns. This beast of this world, it
had ten horns, and I've told you this before. You get these
little pictures drawn, these men are going to preach on the
book of Revelation, and they're going to draw this dragon-looking
thing, and it's going to have this long big tail, but it's
going to have ten necks sticking out of it, and it's going to
have ten heads sitting on top of this dragon-looking thing. It says head. It has horns and
heads and so forth. But these horns are actually
these emblems of power. It's things that this world loves. Ten is a symbolic number. It
doesn't mean there's just ten. Some things that one person in
this world might love and hold to and affectionately desire
after. It does not mean that that's
all that there is. Ten is a number, but it's these
horns, these emblems of power, that which grips and holds and
captivates the world. I'll tell you what it is. It's
anything that crowds the Word. You say, where'd you get that
statement? From the parable of the sower?
A sower went to sow and he sowed some seed and the seed that is
being sown, every seed that is sown in that parable is the gospel
of free grace. It's the gospel of Christ. Some
of it fell by the wayside. Birds came and picked it up.
The Lord revealed those birds to actually be Satan. Some people hear the word and
they Didn't mean anything to them. No big deal. As far as
they're concerned, I've heard the wind blow before. That's
what they're saying. Some of them, though, some of
the seed fell on stony ground. A lot of stones, fell on a little
piece of dirt right there, and it sprung up quickly. And it
says it looked good. It looked good. Not very long. It sprung up quickly. And it
just stayed there. But when the sun of affliction,
for the Word's sake. Whenever someone, for the Word's
sake. Not just affliction. We think
of affliction. You know, believers get sick and believers have money
problems. Just like everybody else. But
affliction for the Word's sake. When the issue is the gospel
and somebody leaves over the gospel, that's what it's talking
about. Sprung up quickly, but it withered, you know. As I've
said before, I always, and this is probably just my old, you
know, mean self. You know, by nature, I'm just
like everybody else. I'm just mean and I doubt and
I, you know. But whenever someone hears the
gospel for the first time or so, they come and they sit. And
I mean, all of a sudden, man, they are just apparently, they're
just on fire. I mean, you know, they love it.
This is the greatest thing ever. I always have a doubt, brother
Scott, when somebody hears it first time. That's just me. You know, I think, well, time
tells all things. Let's just wait. Let's just wait
and see, you know. They want a position or they
want a service. They want to start doing something.
Why don't you just sit for a while? Why don't you just wait? I know, I know. That's just my
doubt. But I'm just honest with you. Man, I'd a whole lot rather see
somebody that sat there and sat there and sat there and then
years of sitting there. And it appears as though that
there's some consistency. I just feel more comfortable,
you know. Well, some of it fell on thorny
ground and it appeared as though for years and years and years
before they were just solid and consistent. But in time, the
thorns of this world, the care, Scripture reveals those thorns
to be the care, the care of this world, things horns, heads, emblems
of power, they choke the word out. That word choke there means
a crowded out. Things of this world that are
just apparently more important. Stuff that takes the place of. Things that are easier to be
catered to. than the worship of Almighty
God, the cares of this world. But John says that those ten
horns, those cares, those emblems of power which thou sawest upon
the beast, the world, these shall hate the whore. You say, well
now, what do you mean? These things that These cares of the world that
the world seems to love. Stuff that is more important
now than the worship of Almighty God. They're going to hate the
whore. Turn with me to 1 John 4. Let
me show you something. 1 John 4. 1 John chapter 4. Verse 7 and 8, 1 John 4, 7, Beloved, let us love
one another. For love is of God, and every
one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Look at verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So I know this, whatever is truly
love, true love born from above, whatever is truly love, I know
this, that it is of God. If it's true love, men, the Scriptures say, love
this world. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If the love of the world is in
you, the love of God is not. Love. He's talking about love.
True love. True love that is born from above. What's going to happen to it?
Turn to 1 Corinthians 13, 8. I want to show you something.
If it's true love, it's true love. 1 Corinthians 13, 8. 1 Corinthians 13, 8. Charity. Love. True love. Love that is born
from above never fails. It never, if it's true love,
if it's truly something, Mitch, that you truly love, it'll never
fail. And if it never fails, then it
was born of God. If you love something, let me
say it like this. This true love that will never
fail, is born of God if it never fails. I'm not talking about in this
life. I'm talking about never. If it's true love, you say, well,
what are you saying? Well, back in Revelation 17,
the Scripture says these ten horns that you saw on the beast,
these ten emblems of power, things that men think that they've got
to have right now, I've got to have them. I want this. I'm going to have this. And I'm
going to have this at any cost. Things that they think they love
right now above God. Things that draw men away from
the worship of God. Anything, any reason to show
more honor to something else than God, anything that men think
they love. Remember this, love is of God,
true love. If you possess something called
love, it never fails, it never stops, it never deviates. But the Scripture says that those
ten horns on that beast. These things that men have to
have, they think, now they're going to hate the whore. They're
going to hate her. True love, knowing it never ceases. How do I know if what I say I
love now is real love? How do I know? Well, I can tell
you this. Number one, if it is true love,
I'm not saying that there's things in this world that we don't do
other than come and worship. I'm not saying that. I mean,
we all go to work and we all have stuff and we do and things
like this. But let me ask you this. In asking
myself, do I truly love those things. Do I truly love anything
that is dealing with activity or whatever that is not associated
with worship? Here is what I ask myself. Do
I truly love those things? Is God Almighty the object of
my affection? Meaning this, is He first? when it comes to anything else. That's what I'm going to ask
you. Who's first? Who's first? Who's first? Who is first? If He is first,
if He is above all things, then that's love. That's love. Love
is of God. His worship is a priority. And His glory, His opinion of
His Son is my opinion, and nothing else takes a precedent over it. Nothing. Nothing. Men say that
they love, I love this, I love this, I love this, I love these
things. If it is not the love of God,
love for God, the worship of God, You don't love those things. You may lust after them. But
I'm going to tell you something. Love is of God. Love is of God. And love never fails. How am
I going to know if I truly loved it? Well, I'll tell you what
will expose true love. The judgment of God. When one
is brought before the judge, all of his so-called affections
for other things, things that were not honorable, are going
to be brought to light. And I'm going to tell you something.
You'll find out how much he truly loved them then. Love never fails. Turn to Matthew 26. I'm just
talking about love. We say we love. I tell you what
I love. I love. I love this. I love. Really? Well, if it's true love,
it's never going to fail. Look at Matthew 26, verse 14,
Matthew 26, 14, then one of the 12. Called Judas Iscariot, went
unto the chief priest and said unto them, what will you give
me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with
him for 30 pieces of silver. What did Jesus say? You give
me 30 pieces of silver because I love it. That's what I want. That's what I've got to have.
I want that. I'm going to have that. I'm going
to have that money. I'm going to have what I desire.
You give me 30 pieces of silver. He's yours. How much did he really
love Him? Turn over to Matthew 27, verse
3. Matthew 27, verse 3. Then Judas,
which had betrayed Him when he saw that he was condemned. Then Judas, when he had betrayed
Him when he saw that he was condemned. When he saw that it was brought
to light. He wanted those 30 pieces of
silver, Neal, until he was condemned. He repented himself and brought
again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, what's that to us? See thou to it. And he cast down the 30 pieces
of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. What good were those 30 pieces
of silver in that day? I don't want it. I don't want
it. I don't want it. I hate those
30 pieces of silver. No, they're yours. I don't want
them. I don't want them anymore. They're yours. That's what you
wanted. That's what you got. That's what
you desire. Turn over to Mark 8. Mark chapter
8. Mark 8, 36. Mark 8, 36. What shall it profit a man if
he gained a whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when
he cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Everything that a man or woman loves or lusts after now, save
Christ. Remember, if it's not the glory
of God, if it's not God Almighty, if it's not God's worship, God's
people, God's glory, God's honor, God's opinion, it's not love. Why? Because it's going to fail.
It will fail. It will. It will fail. It's not
going to endure. The Scripture says back in Revelation
17 that the ten horns, the ten emblems of power that had gripped
that world, this world, those horns that you saw on the beast,
they shall hate the whore. They're going to hate her. And
she'll make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh
and burn her with fire." Not actually, because that judgment,
final judgment, is of the Son. The Lord is the Son, and He is
the Judge, and He is the One before whom all men shall stand
and give account. It means, though, that it says,
when these that hate the horse, And shall make her desolate,
and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn it with fire. It means
that those things will be the revealed instruments of deception
that justifies God in His judgment. Bottom line is this. There are some things according
to the Scriptures. Skeletons in the closet. I started
to name this message that. And I thought, nah, I named it
love that is of God. But things in the closet. You
know, if there's some things in the closet, some skeletons
in the closet, I'd really rather those things
not be brought out. You know, I mean, let's be honest. I got them and you got them and
everybody's got them. You know, just don't. I'd rather
you not bring it up. Why? Because they condemned me.
There are some things, you know, about me and about my past and
about my present. I just shamed of them. Rather
you not know. You've got them. You've got them,
you know. We're all in this world together. Skeletons in the closet. And you know what's going to
happen? Whenever I think that nobody knows about it, kind of enjoy it. It's like it's
a secret. You know, it's kind of something
that I know or just somebody else knows, and it's just between
us, you know, and it's kind of alluring until it's brought out
in the open. And when it's brought out in
the open, no, I don't like that. No, I'm not. That's not what
I meant. That's not what I meant. I know
I said that. I know. But that's not what I
meant. I'm a liar and you are too. Yeah,
we meant that. Sure we did. But you know what? You know why I don't want any
skeletons brought out in the open? It's because I'm scared. I'm scared to be exposed. I don't
want to be exposed. Turn with me. Last Scripture
for this message this morning to 1 John 4. I don't want anything
brought out. John said, these ten horns, these
heads, these powers, these emblems that grip and hold captive this
world, things that men hold on to and say, I'm not going to
let that go. I'm not going to let that go. That's what I love. Really? Do you really love it?
Really? No skeletons in the closet. What are they? The fear. 1 John
4, 18 and 19. Listen to this. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him. because He first
loved us. Here's the bottom line. You're
looking by nature at a sinner. One that knows something because
of the flesh that I see in me. The presence of sin. I know something
about skeletons in the closet and love of this world and things
that allure. I know stuff like that just like
you do. There's no difference in me and you. We're all cut
out of the same lump. I have things that tempt me just
like you do. But the bottom line is this. If I'm not afraid of skeletons
before God, the reason is, is because Almighty God has convinced
me by His Spirit He dealt with those things in the person of
His Son. And His Son was made sin that
I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Perfect love. Perfect love. Cast out fear. What about the day of judgment?
This is all my hope right here. That Almighty God loved me and
dealt with me in substitute. and put away the guilt of what
I am by nature. Now, the presence of it is still
there. And I hate that. They say, do
you hate it? Yes, I do. I'm in a great strait. I'm in a great struggle right
here. I find things of this world that
to this day I love. Don't you? Are you not tempted
to disobey Almighty God by that old nature? Aren't you? Sure
you are. Paul says, I see in me that is
my flesh. No good thing. He said, in my
flesh I serve the law of sin. I bow to it. And you do too. I do too. But there's a new man
that's there that loves God. That which is born of God loves
God. God's people, God's elect, God's
regenerated saints, they love Him. And they're not afraid. They hate what they see in themselves,
in that old flesh. They hate it. But are they afraid
of the skeletons in the closet? Oh, I don't want you to know.
Oh, there's some things I still don't want you to know. And there's
some things that you don't want me to know. But I'm not your
judge. And you're not mine. I may hide
some things from you that I don't like. I wish I wouldn't said
that. I wish I wouldn't. I said things
that I said. Why did I say that? I think that
was so unnecessary. I don't want that to be broadcast. I know that's skeletal. But before
God, is there any fear of God Almighty bringing up something
in the day of judgment that I'm going to hate? and say, because
of that, what I thought I loved, I hate that, just like Jews hated
those 30 pieces of silver. Everything that a man, everything
that a woman says they love right now, and it has nothing to do
with God, it has nothing to do with God's honor, God's glory,
God's opinion, everything that men say they love right now in
the day of judgment, They're going to hate it. They're going
to hate it. I thought you loved that. And
that's the means by which God is justified in putting me in
hell. That exposed my heart. That's all it did. It exposed
what I really wanted or thought I wanted. I don't want that.
I don't. Last two verses and we'll just
stop. Verse 17 and 18. hath put it in their hearts, those that hate what they thought
they loved. God hath put it in their hearts
to fulfill His will and to agree and to give their kingdom unto
the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the
woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over
the kings of the earth." God Almighty hath put it in their
hearts. What do you mean? Well, God has
given Those that He has left to themselves, He has given them
over to their wicked hearts. Romans 1.28 says, And even as
they did not like to retain, to acknowledge God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, that is a mind void of
judgment, to do those things which are not convenient, which
are not becoming, which are not fitting. He just left them. And the woman that thou sawest,
is that great city, mystical Babylon. Babylon, that symbolic
city of pride and arrogance and oppression against God's people. The Lord God is going to judge
this world. And all of these things that
men say right now, I love that. I've got to have that. I need
that. I need that for myself. Those things that men hold on
to right now in opposition to God Almighty,
the worship of God. What does a man love? Well, if
it's true love, it's of God and it's never going to fail. It's
going to endure. It will always endure because
love is of God and God never changes. But those things that
men say they love now, if it's not according to God's honor
and word and glory, they don't love that. They lust after it. But before it's all said and
done, they're going to hate it because they're going to be exposed
by it. And Almighty God is going to judge Everything that's not
of Him. Let's just stop for a few minutes
and we'll look in the book of Romans.