of salvation. Turn with me again to the book
of Revelation, chapter 18. Lord willing, I'd like to conclude
the message that we began this morning and pick right up where
we left off, where the merchants of this earth, false preachers
that sell men a bill of goods. We looked this morning at these merchants selling first
of all gold and silver and precious stones and pearls, saying, We've
got something that will make you somebody, make you rich before
God. You know, humanly speaking, just
physically speaking, isn't that the focus of these false preachers? That's what, you know, money,
money, that's the bottom line. You just listen to what they're
saying, money. But really the spiritual significance of that
is that they're saying, We can make you rich before God. Now,
also saying in verse 12, we've got fine linen, purple silk,
scarlet. We've got to offer to you a robe
that will just absolutely cover your sins. Adam and Eve did exactly
the same thing. Then they said, we've got thine
wood. In all manner of vessels of ivory,
in all manner of vessels of precious wood and brass and iron, marbles,
we've got you building materials. We can let you build you a house. The Lord said that there'd be
some that would build a house, but they'll build it on the sand. No foundation. The only foundation
is the Lord Jesus Christ. foundation built on Him who is
the cornerstone Himself. And then we ended this morning
with verse 13, and they said we've got cinnamon and odors
and ointments and frankincense. And as we said this morning,
these are the materials that men say you will smell good before
God. You know, when a person dies, just give it a few days, and
they'll begin to stink. That's what Martha said when
the Lord came. You remember Martha? Mary and
Martha. The Lord came to Lazarus' house. And Lazarus had been dead. And the Lord told him, said,
Roll back the stone. Martha said, Not so, Lord. By
now he stinks. And the Scripture says that he
groaned. And they rolled the stone back. You know. The point
that I'm making here is death stinks. When you listen to, you that
believe, when you listen, to someone religiously speaking. When they begin to speak and
you listen to what they're saying and you get the hint of self,
you know, me and I and what I've done, and you don't hear the
Savior of Christ. You don't hear of Him. You don't
hear of grace. You hear of works. What man does
and this, that stinks. It stinks to a believer. You
think, you know, that just doesn't smell good to me. It has no savor
of life. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is a sweet savor unto God, only Christ, has the savor of life. Anything outside of Christ. Turn
with me to Isaiah 65. Isaiah chapter 65. Here is the
Lord speaking through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 65 verse 1. He says, I am sought of them
that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. And I said, Behold me, behold
me unto a nation that was not called by my name. He said, I
have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people
which walketh, now look at this, in a way that was not good. Now who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I am the way. I am the
way, the truth and the life No man cometh to the Father but
by me, but the Lord says these people walk in a way that is
not good after their own thoughts, a people that provoketh me to
anger continually to my face, that sacrifices in gardens, and
burneth incense upon altars of brick which remain among the
graves, and lodge in the monuments, eat swine's flesh, and broth
of abominable things, is in their vessels, which say, Stand by
thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. These
are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day." That
which is not of Christ stinks. It doesn't matter how sanctimonious
or how religious or how religiously speaking, how right it sounds. If it is not the savor of Christ,
grace alone, it stinks in the nostrils of God and in God's
people because He has given them a heart that spiritually smells
death. They smell it. The bride said
of the bridegroom in Song of Solomon 5.13 says, His cheeks
are as a bed of spices and sweet flowers His lips are like lilies
dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Christ alone is a savor of life. You that believe, you know what
I'm talking about. You smell Him and you smell,
that's life to me. Grace has a sweet smell to it. The grace of Almighty God. Well, back in Revelation 18,
They've had verse 13, it says, cinnamon and odors and ointments
and frankincense. And also then they've got wine
and oil. Now this wine and oil, these
are elements that are accepted in the Scripture and speaks of
the symbols or the tools of healing. Wine and oil. Turn to Luke 10.
Our Lord gave this Luke chapter 10. gave us this story. Luke 10, and in verse 30, it
says, 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, and when he saw him,
he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he
was at the place, came and looked on him, passed by on the other
side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion
on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and took him
to an inn, and took care of him." Now, you know the story. This
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Samaritan,
the One who has come to His people and found them where they were,
wounded, dead, helpless. And the Scripture says that he
took this one, had compassion on him, and poured in oil and
wine. Now James said in James 5.14,
If any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord. Now, oil, as according to Hebrews
1.9, it says it speaks of joy. the joy of oil. In fact, Isaiah
61, verse 3, it says, appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
He might be glorified." So here we see this oil. It's a symbol. The healing. The joy. Now that's
healing to a believer. They realize, God Almighty has
healed me. He's given me a new heart. He's
given me a new mind, a new creation. And wine is a is a symbol of
the Spirit of God. Ephesians 5.18, Be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. So oil and wine. It's a symbol. It's a picture here symbolizing
healing. But while symbolizing the true
healing of a sinner by the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
We behold the true joy of the Lord. But now these merchants
are telling men, just like the false preachers today, that you
can heal yourself. We've got that which will heal
you. We've got that which you can,
as I said this morning, by your own free will, take and appropriate
the faith that God, they say, has given All men, we can sell
you what you need. We've got the medicine you need. But how can a spiritually dead
man do that? How can someone dead in trespasses
and sins do something to become alive? Listen, it's not a healing
of the old nature that we need, it's a new Creation. A new man
created in Christ Jesus in Ezekiel chapter 11. You've read this
Scripture so many times. Let me read this to you. Ezekiel
chapter 11. This is what the Lord says that
I will do. You can't do anything. He said,
without Me, you can do what? Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Men says you can, God
says you can't. Ezekiel 11 verse 19. He says, I will give them one
heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of
flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances,
and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God." You know, we dealt with that last Wednesday on what is
it when God says, I'll be your God. All of His attributes, all
that God Almighty is, His holiness, His sovereignty, His unchangingness,
His immutability, He said, I'll be your God. and all that I am
shall be yours for your good." God Almighty. I'll be your God. You'll be my people. So these
hucksters are saying, we've got what you can buy from us. We'll tell you how to heal yourself. We don't need to try to heal
ourselves. We can't. We need a new creation. We need a new man. And then the
Scripture says they've got something else to sell. They said, we've
got fine flour and wheat. Now this is the merchandise that
was being sold that they said was good for food. We've got
you some fine flour and wheat. Fine flour was really first mentioned
in the book of Leviticus chapter 2 and verse 1. Now, that fine
flour was pertaining to the meat offering. You know, the five
offerings that were found in the book of Leviticus. The meat
offering. Now, the meat offering was the
bloodless offering, and what it did was it represented and
set forth the perfection of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. When it said, fine flour, what
that was, it was finely sifted. There were no lumps in it whatsoever. That's how they made it. That's
what they used to make the meat offering. Fine flour, finely
ground, finely, perfectly, completely, almost like powder. It was just
fine. No lumps. No unevenness. whatsoever. These hucksters that
are selling what they say is fine flour is to tell people,
you can walk in obedience to Almighty God. The fine flour
represented the perfection of the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When the Father said, this is
My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." You know what
he was talking about? He walks in obedience to me. There is the God-man. The Lord
said of Himself, I do always only those things that please
Him. Fine flour that represented His
perfection. God-man Holy! The God-Man! The Beloved Son! You have somebody
tell you, you can walk in obedience before Almighty God, they're
lying to you. Paul said of himself, Paul the
Apostle, and he didn't say, I used to be, he says, there is in me,
that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. There's two natures
that isn't a believer. And I'm telling you, one of them
is flesh, and it was born flesh, and it will always be flesh,
and there's no good thing in it. And the Spirit of God that
has given a man, imparted to that man a new heart that God
said, I'll give you that. I'll give you a new heart. That's
all of grace. and you have nothing to boast
in save Jesus Christ alone. Fine flour? Oh, no. No, you don't
have any fine flour. They say, we've got fine flour
that we can sell you. That's a lie. And wheat, they
say, we've got wheat for you. That's the grain of bread. It
also truly speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven
that men must eat if they're going to have life. But wheat
also represents why. And it says here, wheat, that
we've got to sell the wheat of Christ. We must have the Lord
Jesus Christ. In John 12, 24, it says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. The merchants of this earth They
say, we are selling Jesus Christ. Have you ever noticed how many
times, listen to what men say, and they use His name. Now He
is truly the bread of heaven. He is truly the wheat. He is
truly our manna. Truly. But these men that are
selling this false gospel, this false Christ that is being offered
to them, offered to men, and say, now this is Jesus, if you'll
take Him. That's not the Christ of this
Bible. It's a false Christ. But they're using a name that
says, they're saying wheat. They're saying, we're selling
you wheat. Let me show you what they're selling. They are selling.
They're absolutely, without a doubt, they're selling something for
the self-righteous religionists to eat. They truly are. Let me
show you where it is. Let me show you what they're
selling. Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs 4, verse 14 to 19. Proverbs 4, verse 14. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. And go not in the way of evil
men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it. Pass away. For they sleep not except they've
done mischief, and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause
some to fall. For they eat..." Look, they're
saying we're selling Christ. They're using His name, but Christ
they're talking about is not the Christ of this Bible. Brother
Todd Nyberg told me one time that when he was sick, he said,
I was laying in the bed, and he said, I'm telling you Marvin,
I couldn't hardly I couldn't hardly just lay still. He said,
I was hurting. He said, I thought I was going
to die. And he said, someone came in. He said, it was just
one of these religious hucksters. And they came in and they said,
listen, I'd like to lay hands on you and pray for you. Todd
says, oh, no. No, no. He said, you and I don't
serve the same God. He said, who you say you worship
and who I know I worship is two different gods. No, I'd rather
you not pray for me. but I appreciate it. They said, they eat the bread
of what? Wickedness, and drink the wine
of violence, but the path of the just is as the shining light
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the
wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. Blind, ignorant, deaf. They said, we've got some stuff
for you to eat. We've got fine flour. We've got
wheat. All mankind fell into sin by
eating that which God forbid. They ate of that which Almighty
God said, don't do it. In the day you eat thereof, the
way of wickedness, in the day you eat of wickedness, you're
going to die. And I'm telling you, no man is
going to see life except he eat that which God accepts, the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. And then it says, and we've got
beasts and sheep and horses and chariots. Now here appears to
me to be merchandise of power. Power. Power. And those that trust in power. The word beast there, it means
like beasts of burden, sheep or followers or horses, chariots,
not only symbols of power but especially pictures of God's
enemies. Deuteronomy 20 verse 1 says,
ìWhen thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest
horses and chariots and a people more than thou. Be not afraid
of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt." These people are saying, you've
got power. You are absolutely to just name
it and claim it. It's yours. It's at your disposal. All you've got to do is take
what God has appropriated for you. It says lastly, they've got slaves
and souls of men. Now this, I believe, is the Spirit
of God telling us what these folks are truly doing. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, verse 1
to 6. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Paul speaking to 2 Timothy 3.1,
this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn
away. For of this sort are they which
creep in to houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins,
led away with divers' lusts." Paul says there are going to
come times, and I am convinced that we are in it, perilous,
difficult, dangerous times. He says there will be those that
will come in incontinent, that is, without self-control, high-minded,
lifted up with conceit, having a form of godliness, having an
appearance of holiness, but absolutely despising the gospel of God's
free grace, denying the power Let me tell you what they're
denying. Look at Romans 1.16. You know, you've read this many,
many times. Romans 1.16. Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. stands up and says that men can
when Almighty God says you cannot. Are they not denying the power
that Almighty God has set forth is the only way? There is nothing else that needs
to be said, needs to be preached out of this Hasn't been changed
50 years. Faithful, faithful preaching
of the gospel. I know this, that if Almighty
God is going to save you or your kids, or my kids, or me, you
know how He's going to do it? He's going to do it under the
preaching of the gospel. That's the only way. Paul said, I'm determined. to
preach Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's it. We don't
have anything else to offer. Somebody says, what else you
got there besides, well, by the grace of God, nothing. That's
it. Denying the power thereof. Leading silly women. I look that up. I'm going to
tell you, I am thankful, and I mean this from the bottom of
my heart, I thank the Lord. For all of you men and you women
that Almighty God has called out of darkness, given a heart
for the gospel, settled you. That God would settle a man or
settle a woman is by the grace of Almighty God. But this leading
silly women captive, it means foolish women by flattery, just
like Satan charmed eased by anything that has an appearance of religion. If you watch, and you know what
I'm about to say, if you watch television by and large, and
you watch in these false churches, who by and large is the ones
that have exalted themselves into positions of leadership,
thinking themselves that they're the ones that have exalted themselves
to be leaders in a church body, by and large, it's women. And
their husbands are just little whimpering if they're there at
all. Now, that's the truth. Now, you
know I'm telling you the truth. I said I'm not talking about
you women that God settled down at all. I'm thankful for you.
But if you watch and see, in these false churches, That is
what you are going to find, is that the women have exalted themselves
into positions of leadership, right up into the pulpits. Well,
verse 14 in Revelation 18, it says, And the fruits that thy
soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all good things
which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou
shalt find them no more at all." Here, the Spirit of God is telling
us and the merchants of what's going to become of them by what
they tried to produce. These merchants tried to produce
something. Fruits. The fruits that thy soul
lusted after. The fruit of men's souls that
they thought They converted. How many souls did you win last
year, brother? I'm serious. Just soul winners. They're talking
about how many people they got to make decisions for Christ. How many decisions did you get?
How many did you lead? And I'm telling you, it's feathers
in their hat. That's merchandise of men's souls.
Exactly what it is. Look over in Jude. Turn back
to Jude just before the book of Revelation. Jude chapter,
well, there's only one chapter. Jude verse 11 and 12. Woe unto them! They've gone in
the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corrie. These are spots in
your feast of charity. when they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water,
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withered without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots." These hucksters,
these merchants of this earth who see themselves, and they're
sincere. I don't want you to think that
these people are not sincere. They're sincere. I'm telling
you, they are dead set that they're right. They're not going around
here knowing in their mind that they're wrong. They're blind. They're leaders of the blind.
But the thing is, the believer knows them. You know them by
their fruits. By their fruit. Their sparks
in your feast. I thought about that and looked
that up. There are spots in your feasts. It means hidden rocks
like just under the water, like a reef that's just under the
water line that would trip you up. Rocks. There are spots in
your feasts, in your love feasts. When the gospel is preached,
that's a love feast. These are twice dead. Fruitless. and dead, worthy of only being
plucked up. Turn to Matthew 7. Matthew 7,
verse 18. Matthew 7, 18. It says, "...a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. I thought about that. What is he talking about when
he talks about it? Let me read this out of Galatians 5. You
just hold your finger right there in Matthew 7. The Scripture says
the fruit. It says a corrupt tree cannot,
it cannot bring forth good fruit. And a good tree cannot Bring
forth evil fruit. You just can't do it. What is
the fruit? Well, the fruit of the Spirit.
Love. Love for Almighty God. Love of
His Gospel. Joy. The joy in the Lord for
having done for His people what they know He couldn't have done.
They couldn't have done. Peace. Peace with Almighty God. Longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance against such. There's no law. That is
to say, there's nothing for you to do for obedience before Almighty
God. Back in Matthew where you had
your finger there. Verse 19, "...that bringeth not
forth good fruit." And remember, that's not fruit that you produce.
You can't produce good fruit. It's the fruit of the Spirit
of God. Faithful is He who called you
who will also do it. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say to me, In that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils in thy name,
done many wonderful works, and then I will profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." These fellows there, they're selling a bill of goods. And the Scripture says, "...the
fruits that thy soul lusted after, the souls of men that you thought
you were converting by your false gospel, they are departed from
thee." things which were dainty and goodly are departed from
thee, and I shall find them no more." The fruits, the fat, the
rich, the comfortable, those goodly things, those magnificent
things to these hucksters. Departed. No more. Brought to the merchant place
for sale. The Scripture says that these
are going to fall. These are going to fall. Proverbs
24, 16 says, For a just man falleth, that is, cast down with chastisement
of the Lord seven times the number of God's wisdom, and riseth up
again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. He is going to
fall. The justified, though chastened. They're going to be put down
in God's chastisement only. But they'll be lifted up. But
the wicked are going to lie where he falls. He's not going to be
lifted up. Then verse 15, "...the merchants
of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar
off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing." It says, Woe unto you that are
rich. Now, that's not talking about
monetarily. It's talking about those that
think, I have been made rich by my religious obedience before
Almighty God and what I myself have done for the Lord. I've
served the Lord all these many years. Look at all these marvelous
things. That's what they told the Lord.
Haven't we done all these marvelous things in Your name? We've cast
out devils in Your name. We've done this, we've done that.
Woe to you which are rich, for you have received your consolation. Those would have the things of
this world materially and spiritually. And I'm telling you, they go
hand in hand when a man sets his affection on Him. That's
His God. That's what He wants. They're
going to stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping
and wailing. You know Peter in Matthew 26,
verse 58. I thought about that. Scripture says it followed him
when the Lord was taken. Peter followed Him afar off into
the high priest's palace. went in and sat with the servants
to see the end is what the Scripture says. Peter, he was attached
to his love. That was his Lord. And Peter,
later, the Lord revealed to him what he was by nature. Peter
had said, I'll never forsake you. I'll never do that. The Lord says, before the cock
crows twice, you'll deny me three times. And he did. Peter followed
him afar off. These merchants, they followed
that great whore afar off. And the Scripture says, Alas,
verse 16, Alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen
and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones
and pearls. Now this is very interesting
that I'm going to quit for the night. It says, Alas, alas, that
great city that was clothed in fine linen." You remember this
morning when we talked about speaking of two different instances
of fine linen. Every time we find that which
is applied to the saints, it always speaks of being clean,
white, precious. That word that they were selling,
back here, when it says we've got fine linen back in verse
12, that word in verse 12 was mentioned, I told you, only one
other time, back in Luke, which says there was a rich man, he
fared sumptuously. You remember that. Well, here
is this word. Now, this word right here is
actually the same word that is actually applied to the Now,
when the Scripture applies it to the saints, it always uses
those words, clean and white, describing what they truly are
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness of
the saints. But here, this word that is used
by these merchants, these merchants are looking and watching this
great whore being judged, and they're saying, Alas, that great
city that was clothed in fine linen." Here's the ironic thing
of that word. That word is actually the word
that's used without the words clean and white. That's the same
word that's used to describe the saints. But what we realize
is that these merchants thought that this great horse, false
religion, they thought that she was truly right, and actually,
they never recognized the difference. They're looking at her and saying,
look, the great religionist one, the
great one that we hail to and worship that was robed in fine
linen, they were truly blind. They didn't know. that the righteousness
of that great whore would not stand before Almighty God. For in one hour, they said, so
great riches is come to naught. In that day, this is what had
been told in verse 8 of this chapter, back in verse 18, it
says, Revelation 18, 8, Therefore shall her plagues come in one
day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly
burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who
judges her." God said this is what was going to happen. And
unless Almighty God opens a man or a woman's heart, I am telling
you, sad to say, but this is the truth, Carl, those in false
religion They are absolutely convinced. That's right. That's righteousness. That's
purity. They believe with all of their
heart. And even the judgment of God
didn't cause these false preachers to see the difference. Judgment
doesn't bring spiritual life. God's got to give a new heart.
God's got to give a new mind, a new spirit to see everything
that the wicked has thought would give him wealth, covering, smell,
housing, worth before Almighty God is going to be burned up,
but for the believer, for those that the Lord Jesus Christ has
been revealed to. Christ Himself has shown Himself. Christ is there all in all. He is the precious One. worthy
of all glory and honor and praise. I'm telling you, you watch men
today, and they stand in pulpits, and they've got a bill of goods
for sale. And I'm telling you, they're well prepared, and they
sound good. And but for the grace of God,
but for God's grace, they would deceive the very Unless Almighty
God gave them a heart, we'd all swallow it. Hook, line, and sinker. Outside of Christ, there's no
sweet savor. There's no habitation of safety. There's no worth. There's no
bread. There's nothing. He's all and
all. All and in all.