We are here this morning, as Brother Scott just said, to praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. What does it mean to praise the
Lord? Well, some would say, you praise
the Lord. And this is where the mind starts
going, you know, as quickly as it can, trying to figure out,
what does that mean? Praise the Lord. Well, it's not as some men would
suppose it to be, to try to raise the hands and close the eyes
put the head back 15 degrees and move slowly back and forth
and try to appear to be religious. What does it mean to praise the
Lord? The word praise means to narrate, to narrate, to speak, to tell. to tell what God has said concerning
His Son. That's what it means to praise
the Lord. We praise Him by preaching the
gospel. That's what we're doing here
today. We're here to praise the Lord. And you can sit right now
in your seat and praise Almighty God in agreement with what God
has said concerning his blessed Son." That is what Brother Scott
just read, that which was from the beginning, which we have
seen. John has seen Him by sight and
by faith. We see Him today. Praise the
Lord. Well, in the book of Revelation,
Revelation 18, I would like to pick up where we left off last
time, beginning in And go through the end of the
chapter and you know what has happened up until this point.
Babylon the Great, referred to in the Scripture as the great
harlot, the great whore of false religion that has prostituted
this world religiously speaking. And judgment has come now to
this great harlot. And there were three groups of
people. You remember we talked about
that the last time we looked at it. The first one was the
nations of the earth, dealt with that. It's these great nations
that God Almighty has providentially raised up for a moment to accomplish
His purpose. As I said, Egypt was raised up. That's what God told Pharaoh.
He said, I raised you up for this purpose that I might manifest
My glory, My opinion, My thinking in you. I did that. You didn't
do it. I did it. God has raised up a
Rome during the time of the Lord Jesus Christ and His earthly
ministry. God raised up a Rome to accomplish
exactly what He purposed to do in the crucifixion. I know the
Jews were the ones that said, crucify Him, crucify Him, and
the Romans took Him and nailed Him to a cross. And in so doing,
The Romans that were the instrument, the cup, the golden cup in God's
hands to accomplish exactly what God Almighty had purposed to
do, He used them to His honor, His glory, His purpose, and they
will answer. They did just exactly what they
wanted to do. All men, all women do exactly
what they want to do. If God leaves them to themselves,
they do exactly what they want to do. If God Almighty gives
them a new heart, they do exactly what they want to do. Don't they,
Carl? Yes, they do. Nations of this earth. The second
group was the merchants of this earth, the ones that sold merchandise. And we looked at These merchants,
and we realized as we began to look, and we know that according
to many, many Scriptures, it talks about there will be false
preachers, false ministers. Well, if there wasn't, if there's
not false ministers, then the Scriptures wouldn't have said
there were. We need to be looking at, well, who are they? Well,
it's these that as we looked at last time, and we looked at
all of the If you look back in Revelation 18, starting in verse
12 and 13 and 14 and 15, that area right there, they were selling
gold and silver and precious stones and pearls. And we looked
at that to mean spiritually. Just because if you've got a
ring on your finger that's made out of gold, if you've got a
diamond or something like that, there's nothing inherently wrong
with that. I mean, if you've got one, I'm
glad for you. My wife, you know, when we got
married, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that diamond. But spiritually, what they were
saying is they're saying, we've got something to sell you that
will make you worth something. You'll be rich before God. And
they were selling fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet.
And in that, spiritually, we looked at in the last message,
it says, we've got an adequate covering. that God Almighty will
be pleased and impressed with. And you know, I got to thinking
about that, even though the Scriptures clearly reveal that Adam and
Eve's fig leaves didn't cover them before God. But men say
today, we've got something that will excel you. It will cover
you before God. Thyene wood and all manner of
ivory and manner of vessels of most precious wood and brass
and iron and marble And what men say is, we can tell you how
to build yourself an adequate home, a covering, a house that
will house you. Now, if there wasn't a false
house out there, a false haven, then the scriptures would never
have said the foolish man builds his house on the sand, Neil.
It says that. Well, I'm going to be honest
with you. If there's a false house out there and a false covering,
and false merchandise, I want to know what it is. I want to
be aware of it. Cinnamon they have, and odors,
and ointments, and frankincense, and all that will make you smell
good before God. Scripture reveals that a man
outside of Christ, he's smoke. We looked at that in the nostrils
of God Almighty. You're a stench. You stink. Outside
of Christ, I'm like this and you're like this too, outside
of Him. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." You know
what those are. You know what that's talking
about. Menstruous rags. That's what it's talking about.
Filthy, you know, rags. And then they say, we've got
wine and oil that will heal you before God and will produce joy
in the Lord. And we've got fine flour and
wheat and we sell that in abundance for you to eat and be assured
that you'll never be hungry. If someone is standing up and
telling me, this is what will satisfy you spiritually, to eat,
it better be consistent with the Scriptures, because if it's
not, it's the merchants of this world. They've got beasts and
sheep and horses and chariots, and they said, that'll make you
powerful. Prove your power. And then they
said that they had slaves and souls of men, which actually
the case is found in 2 Peter 2, verse 3. It says, "...through
covetousness shall they with vain words make merchandise of
you." That is, the many that shall follow their pernicious
ways or their filthy ways. Well, when these merchants made
rich with the fleeting earthly riches, and if you If you didn't
hear, I've just kind of touched the highlights of what we preached
last time. You can get that CD and see. But when these merchants made
rich with the fleeting riches of this world and the fruits
that they lusted after, when they find that departing, they're
going to stand off, the Scripture says, and they'll try to separate
themselves from the great horror for the fear, Scripture reveals,
because of her torment. And even though these merchants
behold the judgment of God, they continue to reveal their spiritual
darkness. They are watching this great
harlot being judged, and they are saying, That great city that
was clothed in fine linen. And you remember, we looked. These merchants are using a word
when it says, she was clothed in fine linen. And they're using
the word because that's what they're thinking. They're thinking
this great harlot, this false religious teaching, false religion,
this great harlot was robed in fine linen. Well, fine linen
is what the Scripture says The saints are clothed in. But false religion looks and
thinks every religious organization is of God. That's what it's saying. We're all working for the same
thing. No, we're not. No, we're not. No. They said, for in one hour, so
great riches that she really thought was riches, they thought,
has come to naught. What they thought was spiritual
wealth, what they truly believed with a blind and dead heart to
be worth selling. What they thought. And don't
think that men are not sincere. I'm telling you they're sincere.
Everybody that's standing up in a pulpit today, I'm telling
you, they're sincere. But if they're sincerely wrong,
as I've said before, Hitler was sincere. He was sincere, but
he was wrong. Don't you want to know, really,
if you're wrong? Would you rather leave this world
just bent? If Almighty God ever opens a
man's heart, a woman's heart, and reveals Christ to them, you
know what they'll say? I'm wrong. You're right. Let
God be true. And every man, what? A liar.
A liar. Well, this morning, there's three
groups, and I want to look for just a few minutes this morning
at the third group, that shall find themselves in the judgment
of the great whore. Starting in verse 17, we looked
at the first line of verse 17, for in one hour so great riches
has come to naught. Here's what we want to pick up.
And every shipmaster, and all the company in ship, and sailors,
and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off." Now, let me
ask you this. Does that mean that if you happen
to be in the Navy or if you make your living by going to sea or
merchant marines or something, does that mean that if you happen
to make your living in the sea, that that's going to be under
the judgment of God? Well, you know it doesn't mean
that any more than the merchants of this earth mean that those
that have shops and sell jewelry or sell building material or
something like that are under the judgment of God because of
what they sell, spiritually speaking. Now, you know that it's got to
have some significance spiritually. This third group we considered,
you know, previously, the kings of the earth, the merchants of
the earth, and now this last group, every shipmaster, company,
sailor, and as many as trade by sea." Without going back,
and how thankful I am, glad we don't have to go back every time,
but you know when you see in the Scriptures here, more times
than not, I'm not going to say it's every time, but more times
than not, when you see the sea being referred to, you know it's
the earth, you know it's the world, the kingdom of heaven,
It's like a net cast into the sea and all manner of fish were
drawn in and the good and the evil were separated. The evil
was thrown back. The good was kept and put in
vessels. So when it says the sea, it's talking about this
world as we know it. Well, these three groups, the
kings of the earth, the kings of the nations, the nations of
the earth, the merchants of the earth, and now every shipmaster
Three groups, they represent every category that the wicked
will be found in. Every one of them. So there's
going to be no man or no woman without Christ that's going to
say, I'll not be found among the wicked. Some might say, we
can sit here and say, well, I'll tell you what, I'm not Egypt.
I wasn't that nation. You know, I'm not that. And I'm
not a false preacher. You know? I'm not standing in
the pulpit myself preaching. There are nations and there are
men standing in pulpits. Well, this last group we're going
to look at this morning is going to sum it up. While the merchants
of the earth represent the false preachers that sell their spiritual
bill of goods, this last group represents, I believe, the buyers
of these false groups. Every shipmaster, now I had to
look these words up because I I'm just not that smart, so I have
to look them up and find out what do they mean. Every shipmaster,
that word shipmaster means governor, steerman, or pilot. I'll tell
you what I think it means. People that are in positions
of authority. Everybody in this, you know,
everybody in this world, you know, usually, if they're responsible,
they work for somebody. Well, somebody's in positions
of authority. But it says also, all the company
in the ship. That word company there, it means
the coasters are those who sail from coast to coast, keeping
within sight of land, never venturing out to sea. Now I had to think
on that, Mike, for a while. The coasters. I'll tell you who
I believe that it could represent because I think any man that
stands up and says, I've got an absolute handle on everything
in the book of Revelation is speaking just a little bit too
far out of hand. I'll tell you who I think it
means. Spiritually speaking, the coasters. It means those that stay within
sight of land and they never venture out too far into the
sea. That's what it means, the company
in the ship. I believe that it could be, just
a thought, possibly those who frequent some type of church
services every once in a while. There's just folks that just,
you know, about twice a year, you know, Easter, you know, we
got Easter coming up here pretty soon, you know, and you know,
about Easter and Christmas, they all show up, you know, just the
coasters just never get out too far. But then it says the sailors. The boatman is what it means.
The seaman. Possibly those who row hard in
false religion. Those who go out to visitation
every week, you know, and put tracks in bathrooms and on top
of gas pumps and stuff like this. I mean, the go-getters. You've
got those in positions of leadership. You've got the preachers. You've
got the shipmasters. You've got those that are well
ingrained. The bosses. the coasters, and you've got
those, the sailors. But the Scripture says, the last
thing, kind of sums them up. It says, as many as trade by
sea. No matter what the category is,
the great or the small, all of them, somebody says, well, you
know, I'm not a false preacher. I'm not a nation. I'm not a false
preacher. Oh, I come every once in a while,
Dan, you know. I'll just, you know, I'll be
there, the coasters, you know. Or but some says, I'm going to
go get her. Man, I'm well ingrained. I'm there every service. I don't
care, you know. But if what they're hearing and
what they're believing is not so, it just doesn't matter. It
doesn't matter. As many as trade by the sea stood
afar off. Now, I'm building up to something
to show you why I believe that this is the group. Now, you think
about that. If that doesn't include everybody, nations of this earth,
false preachers, and everybody that sits under them, or just
decides, well, I'll do church every once in a while. I'm just
not into that religious stuff, you know. You're in the group. I believe this last group includes
all the people of this world deceived by the beast which has
the ten horns, just the things of this world, the beast of this
world's goods, that deceive men with the lust thereof. I have a brother, and if he hears
this tape, well, I'm glad. I've got a brother in Louisiana. I've told you about this. The
nicest guy I've ever met in my life. And every once in a while,
He'll come if my mother will ask him, say, Howard, won't you
come? Won't you come? Marvin's going to be here preaching
this weekend or something. You know, when I go to Louisiana
a couple of times a year, Marvin will be here. Won't you come?
Well, alright. Before it's all over, my brother
will say, Mama, I'm okay. I'm alright with God. I'm alright
with the Lord. A coaster. Just, you know, I'm
fine. The Lord and I, you know, we're
tight. I'm fine." In his heart, he believes
that. He believes, I'm fine, I've been
to church, I understand what they're saying, and I believe
that. But it's just okay. It's no big
deal. And then you'll have some that
will just come, and I mean just always, always. This last group. Those that have been brought
into that deceptive spiritual spirit of buying these goods
from these false preachers, the merchants of this earth, bet
this, if there are false preachers selling something, if God leaves
a man or a woman to themselves, there are some out there that
are buying it. They are buying. I want you to turn now to the
book of Ezekiel. The reason that this last group
is described as the seamen, the shipmasters, the coasters, the
company in the ships, just kind of all groups, so it leaves no
man whatsoever to themselves. The reason it states it like
that is, I believe, found in Ezekiel 27. Ezekiel 27, and we're going to
read a few Scriptures. And if I'm able to get through
this, that's good. If not, we'll stop. But I want
to go slowly so that we understand what is this last group doing? What is actually happening in
this world? In Ezekiel 27, before we read,
it talks about a city called Tyre, or Tyree, T-Y-R-E. It's a city that housed. I looked up that city, and it
was a city that housed the world's commerce. It was a huge city,
Freddie, that was just positioned just so that, I mean, the world's
commerce really dealt big in that city. It's also called Tyrus. But this city is a picture, I
believe, of the accumulation of this world's stuff, goods,
whether it be spiritual or otherwise. It's just the stuff that is always
under the judgment of God. In Ezekiel 27, this city, Tyre
or Tyree, is pictured as a ship. It talks about this ship that
is built. And what it is, it is a ship
that is representative of what men and women build spiritually
and think that they're sailing through this world, you know,
they'll speak of and they use this term, you know, well, my
ship comes in You're talking about when you go through this
world. I want to show you something. While we're reading, I want you
to notice what this ship is built out of. Now, you remember what
the merchants of this earth were selling. They were selling gold
and silver and ivory and brass and wood. I want you to notice
what this good ship, you know, as men, the good ship lollipop. That's what men are sailing through
this world thinking. My ship, my gospel ship, you
know, I'm sailing over when I reach the other shore. Now, that's
the thought that is right here. Now, I want you to look at this.
Ezekiel 27, starting in verse 1, it says, Now the word of the
Lord came again unto me, saying, Now thou son of man, Take up
a lamentation for Tyrus, and say unto Tyrus, O thou that art
situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people
from many isles, thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast
said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst
of the seas. Thy builders have perfected thy
beauty. They have made all thy shipboards
of fir trees, of cedar. They have taken cedars from Lebanon,
and made masts for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they
made thee oars. The company of the Asherites
have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Shittim. Fine linen with broidered work
from Egypt was that which spreadeth forth to be thy sail, blue and
purple from the isles of Elisha. That was which covered thee.
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners, thy
wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee were thy pilots. The
ancients of Jebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy
caulkers. All the ships of the sea with
their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They
of Persia and Lod and of Phut were in thine army, thine men
of war. They hanged the shield and helmet
in thee. They set forth thy comeliness.
The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about,
and the Gamaldims were in thy towers. They hanged their shields
upon thy walls round about thee. They have made thy beauty perfect."
Now so far, I want you to notice, here's a ship. It's talking about
what this ship is all made out of Beautiful, how lovely all
of this is. Look in verse 14. They of the
house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen
and mules. The men of Dedan were thy merchants. Many isles were the merchandise
of thy hand. They brought thee for a present
horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason
of the multitude of the wares of thy making. They occupied
in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, fine linen,
coral, and agate. Judah and the land of Israel,
they were thy merchants. They traded in thy market wheat
of minif, and pennag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was
thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for
the multitude of all riches in the wine of Helbonn and white
wood. Do you see? What is this ship
made out of? And it's under the judgment of
God. It started off when the Lord says, the Word of the Lord
came and said, Son of man, you tell Tyrus. You're under My judgment. Why? Here's a ship that's sailing
through. Verse 19, Dan also and Javon
going to and fro, occupied in thy fares, bright iron, cassia,
calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious
cloths for chariots. Arabia and all the princes of
Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs and rams and goats.
In these were thy merchants, the merchants of Sheba and Rehama. They were thy merchants. They
occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, with all precious
stones and golds. Eden, the merchants of Sheba,
Asher, Chilmah, were thy merchants. These were the merchants in all
sorts of things, in blue cloths, in cloths embroidered work, and
in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar
among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing
of thee in thy market, and thou hast replenished and made very
glorious in the midst of the seas, the rowers." He's talking
about the seamen, the hard, you know, the workers that have brought
thee in great waters. The east wind has broken thee
in the midst of the seas. Thy riches and thy fares, thy
merchandise, thy mariners, thy pilots, thy caulkers, the occupiers
of thy merchandise and all the men of war that are in thee And
in all thy company which is in the midst of thee shall fall
into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. The suburbs
shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots, and all that
handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea
shall come down from their ships. They shall stand upon the land,
they shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and
shall cry bitterly, and they shall cast up dust upon their
heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. They shall make
themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth. And they shall weep for thee
with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. And in their
wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee,
saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed, in the midst
of the sea, when thy waves went forth out of the seas, thou fillest
many people, and didst enrich the kings of the earth with the
multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. And in the time
when thou shalt be broken by the seas and the depths of the
waters, thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of the
sea shall fall. All the inhabitants of the isles
shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be so afraid
they shall be troubled in their countenance. The merchants among
the people shall hiss at thee, Thou shalt be a terror, and never
shalt be any more." The glory of this world's stuff that men
are buying, thinking, I have constructed myself by my own
free will and choice. I have made myself a ship that
surely will sail in the sea all the way to the glory of God. And this Scripture reveals. And
if you didn't understand why, you put this with Revelation
18 and you see why. It's not going to sail. Let me
tell you the only thing that will stand. Here is the Gospel. Let me tell you once again what
is the Gospel. is the declaration, it is the
preaching forth of what Almighty God has done according to His
own will and His own purpose and His own goodness and mercy
and compassion. This is the gospel. Almighty
God chose before the foundation of the world a people that He
set His affection on. that He purposed to save. He chose them in His Son. The blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
the surety of the sheep, the One who could pay the note. So
we understand what we're talking about. He chose them in Christ. And from that time, which was
eternally, there has never been a time when the sheep ever were
answerable. to Almighty God. He chose them
in a substitute, in a surety. And from the time that He chose
them, Almighty God only looked to the surety to answer for them. He chose them. In time, His people
shall be born into this world. And in time, Almighty God shall
reveal to them what the Lord Jesus Christ did for them coming
into this world and living perfectly before Almighty God's law, obeying
every jot and every tittle of the law and satisfied Almighty
God as a man, the God-man. He went to the cross and was
made sin. His soul, He Himself, was an
offering for that which His people are as being born in Adam. He bore their guilt in His body. He died for them. A perfect substitute. Almighty
God Himself satisfied His own justice under the law. The soul that sinneth is going
to die. And He died as the substitute
for all of His people. In the providence of God Almighty,
when it pleases God, Paul says, God Himself will call all that
He's everlastingly loved, all that He chose in His Son, He'll
call them to Himself and He'll do it under the preaching of
the gospel, the declaration of what God has done. And God will
reveal to His people what He's done for them in spite of anything
that they can ever do. There's nothing that I can do.
There's nothing that I can buy to construct me a ship. Almighty
God saves His people by grace and grants them faith to believe
it and tells them, this is what I've done for you. And His people
are saved totally by the grace of God. And if that's not salvation
by grace, then I'm not saved. And I don't know Him. And I've
never known Him. I'm telling you there is nothing
that I can do. Almighty God is revealing in
Revelation and Ezekiel and every other book. This is what I did. Salvation is by grace, it's by
grace, it's by grace, not of works. There's nothing that I
can do. And these mariners, these people
back in Revelation, I'm going to quit. These people, the Scripture
says, in that day when they see That which is being burnt up,
everything that they bought that Ezekiel revealed, they built
them a ship. What did you do? Well, I took
me a board of my free will. And I took that board of my free
will and I had a piece of ivory of my church attendance. And
then I took me a piece of gold and silver of my being baptized. And because I took that and I
put this and I did this, And I've been faithful, and I've
never missed, and I gave $12 last week. And so there's another
piece of silver, brother Stockton. I put that all together, and
I've added all these things up. Look at this mighty Babylon that
I've built. And I'm going to sail across
the sea, and Almighty God is going to look at me, and I'm
going to stand before Him, and He's going to be so proud of
me. And He's going to say, they think well done, and they will
in that day. Everyone that has constructed
himself A ship of false hope is going to hear Him say, I never
knew you. I never. All of these nations
of this earth and all of these preachers, these false preachers
that are telling people, you can make salvation possible by
accepting what God Almighty has said. That is a lie. Let me tell
you the truth. God Almighty has satisfied Himself
in the person of His blessed Son, and He tells His people,
this is what I did for you. And His people, by a new heart,
believe it. They believe it. And they say
this, I've not done anything. What have you done to merit your
salvation? A believer says, nothing. What
do you do to keep your salvation? Nothing. He keeps me by His power. You're kept by the power of God. And faith is the evidence. You
believe God, you believe God, you believe God. And you know
what they'll do in this day? They'll die in the faith, brothers
and sisters. They'll die in the faith. Believe in God.