Now, this morning, let's take our
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 18. I'd like to deal with verses
9 to 11 and speak on the subject this morning of weeping in the
midst of wrath. In our last study and the studies
prior, we have been looking at and beholding the certainty of
Almighty God's judgment upon Mystery Babylon the Great, the
mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. The Scripture clearly
sets forth that Almighty God, being a just God, is going to
deal with sin, and He is going to deal with sin in absolute
Justice. God is fair. He's fair in all
things. If Almighty God shows mercy to
any man or any woman, He does it fairly. He does it because
He has dealt with that person's sin in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the substitute of sinners. Mystery Babylon the
Great is going to be dealt with. And verse 2 of Revelation 18
says that this Babylon, the great, is fallen and has become the
habitation, that is, the dwelling of devils and the hold or the
prison of every foul spirit, the cage of every unclean and
hateful bird. having declared the certainty
of the great whore's judgment and the wrath from Almighty God,
the Lord declares, as He has effectually done so in all ages,
He says unto His people in verse 4, Come out of her, My people. We realize when the Lord says
this, first of all, that all of his people are in her by nature. Being born in Adam, born in the
first Adam, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But notice that he says, come
out of her my people. These are God's people, everlastingly
loved, everlastingly chosen, everlastingly considered, in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, everlastingly
loved. He says in Jeremiah, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. So therefore, having loved her,
He calls her. He says, because I've loved you,
therefore, I've drawn you. So come out of her, My people. Why? that ye be not partakers
of her sins, left in the whore, Almighty God's going to have
to deal with them. So He calls them out. Come out
of her that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive
not of her plagues. These are going to be her plagues. God's going to deal with her
sins that have followed her. And Almighty God will surely
and call out His people. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 6, verse 37, "...all that the Father hath given Me..."
What? "...shall come to Me." They will
come by faith. They will come in love. They
will come surely. "...And He that cometh to Me,
I will in no wise..." No wise. What a wonderful thought. That
God Almighty will in no wise cast her out. Well, with this
command, the people of God come out. They obey. Why? Because His people are willing. Don't we all do what we truly
want to do? Don't we do that? When God gives
a man a heart to come to Christ, why does he come to Christ? Because
he wants to. That's why he comes. This morning,
if any man or any woman comes to Christ, they do so Willingly. And they do so in the day of
God's power. Not their power. Not their ability. Not their will. God's power.
God's will. And the reason for the great
harlot being under the judgment of Almighty God. It says in verse
5 of Revelation 18, her sins have reached unto heaven. They followed her. The Scripture
says that for God's people, their works do follow them. Their work of faith, that's a
great work. Why? Because it is a good work. A good work. Well, what makes
it good? Well, it's God's work. There's
none good but God. God looked to see. There's none
good. considering man. God looked to
see if there was any that did seek Him. And there were any
that were good. And there was none. No, not one. So if a man or a woman believes
God, that is a good work because it is God's work. So her sins
have reached into heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Why? Because God Almighty has
not remembered them in mercy in the person of His Son. What
did the thief on the cross say to the Lord Jesus Christ as he
hung there moments before, having railed on Him as the other thief
did? And in a moment, in a miracle
of God's grace, Almighty God gave this man a new heart. How
do I know that? The Scripture says he looked
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and he said unto Him, Lord. The Scriptures reveal that no
man can say and call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. Oh, they
can mouth it. I understand that. But the believing
heart to call Him Lord, Master, Sovereign, God Almighty. He looked at him and he said,
Lord, remember me. when you enter into your kingdom.
Is that not the comfort of God's people? To think that they look
by faith upon the one that they themselves pierced. Their sins. All our sins. And to say, Lord,
remember me in mercy. So first of all, God Almighty
is going to deal with her in judgment because her sins have
reached into heaven. God hath remembered. her iniquities. And secondly, in verse 7, it
says, And how much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
luxuriously, so much torment and sorrow give her. For she
saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see
no sorrow. She is saying, I am royalty. I am deserving of honor, I'm
deserving of majesty being bestowed upon me, I'm a queen, I'm no
widow, meaning I have a husband, she says. The God of her imagination
therefore says I can produce children. I have the ability. My children, she says in her
heart, actually come to the God of their imagination by exercising
their free will, and I shall see no sorrow whatsoever." There
is no fear of God in her heart. Well, verse 8 declares that her
plagues shall come in one day, in the day of God's wrath, the
day of His judgment, the day of His condemnation, in one day. You see, this great whore of
false religion personifies It's false religion. But the Scripture
sets forth here that this great whore is actually like a woman. It speaks of the body of sin. Here is something that we cannot
look and see, the body of sin. The great whore. But it's personified. But this great whore thinks now
that she is safe. I'm not going to see sorrow.
She's doing fine. She's saying, peace, peace, and
there's no peace, but she doesn't know that. Men and women by nature
that sit under false religion, a false gospel, they hear of
a false Christ, they are absolutely convinced. I can remember when
I sat in False religion. And we're basically, by and large,
we're all religious people. This is the way that you will
find more times than not, God saves men and women out of religion. They're religious by nature.
As I came up, I was until the age of eight years old, I sat
in the Roman Catholic church And I can distinctly remember
being told that my salvation was based totally on the fact
that I was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I had gone and
I had spoken to confessing my sins, all that I could think
of, which at the time was one. I could think of one sin that
I had committed. And I went to confession. And
I sat and I told this man that called himself a priest, I told
him the only sin that I could think of at the time, and he
told me at that time to be absolved from that sin. I had to say ten
Hail Marys and one Our Father. I think back now on the importance
of where men placed the great emphasis not on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It does not matter whether this
false religion be the Roman Catholic Church, whether it be Southern
Baptist Church, whether it be the Church of Christ, whether
it be Pentecostalism, whatever men say that men have to do in
order to be saved It is salvation by works. It does not matter
what you call it. If you say you walk down an aisle
and shake a man's hand and repeat a sinner's prayer and you give
your heart to Jesus, therefore, He saved you because you did
something. Think on it. If there's anything
that you do, if you think that baptism merits your salvation,
That's salvation by works. No way around it. It's works. And if it's works, then it's
not of grace. And we're saved by grace through
faith, the evidence of regeneration. Well, the passage this morning
that we're going to deal with tells us of three distinct groups. that are going to witness the
destruction of the great harlot, false religion, Mystery Babylon,
the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. The thing I notice about the
Scripture is that the Scripture, and I mean this respectfully
when I say so, the Scripture pulls no punches. The Scripture
sets forth the truth. the truth concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord told some people. He told some people. He said,
you shall know the truth. He's the truth. And the truth
shall set you free. These Scriptures are concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning Him. But we're going
to look at three groups this morning which have fallen prey
to the great whore. that sits upon many waters, the
great whore that sits upon this earth. And all that she sits
upon have been seduced by her, and they've been made drunk."
That is, they're completely engulfed in pleasure, in the pleasurable
drink of her fornication. But of the three groups that
we look at, never fail to realize that these three groups set forth
as beasts. We see that the most cunning
of these beasts is really the beast that possesses ten horns,
the emblems of power Actually, the things of this world, the
cares of this world, that finally the Scripture reveals through
the parable that the Lord Himself gave concerning the sower that
went forth to sow. Actually, we find finally that
that which exposes unbelief more times than not is actually the
cares of this world. You remember how the Lord said
that a sower went forth to sow. The seed fell. Some of them fell
by the wayside. Some birds came and picked it
up. A picture of Satan coming and snatching the Word away. Some that sit here today may
have very possibly heard the Word of God. It made no impression
upon them whatsoever That doesn't matter to me. I don't care about
that. I don't care if I never come
back." And they never come back. Some, after having heard the
Word, the Scripture says it fell upon stony ground and sprung
up quickly. Oh, that's a novelty. That's
a difference. I don't think I've ever heard
that before. I was talking to a friend of
mine last week, I believe, that was telling me of a gentleman
that he met down in Florida that had preached for 35 years. And in the good providence of
God, he crossed paths with a preacher of the gospel of free grace.
And the Lord, in His mercy and grace, taught that preacher of
35 years. something of the fallacy of what
he had heard and preached and called him out of darkness. And
this man, this shows you the humility of that which Almighty
God does. He said, I had never heard that
message before. I had never heard of free grace. I had never heard anything like
that. And he says, that's the greatest
message I've ever heard in my life. He sprung up. Very quickly,
by God's grace, God will keep him. But some spring up very
quickly, and it appears as though that there's life there. But
the first time that real tribulation comes, the Scripture says when
the sun came out, it withered. There was no root there. The
Scripture says that the third type, of ground that the seed
falls on, it fell among thorny ground. This is the one that
I truly believe is representative of the ten horns. Here is the
beast of the ten horns manifest. The Scripture says that the seed
fell on thorny ground, ground that looks good, ground that
is clean. I used to work when I was coming
up on a farm. My dad would have me go out and
I'd have to clean out the field. He had a ten-acre garden. And he made me, after I'd gotten
out of college for the summer, he had made me go through and
pull cuckoo burrs. Now, I don't know if any of you
have ever seen cuckoo burrs. We had them in Louisiana. They
come out. When they first come up, it's
a little bitty plant. At best, when you really get
to know what it is, it's about an inch tall. One little stem
and two little leaves sticking out. You know? Straight out from
each other. What I had to do is not go in
there with a hoe. But I had to go in there on my
hands and knees and crawl down rows that were, I know they had
to be 50 or 60 yards long, pulling cuckoo birds up. And I had to
make sure that I pulled them up by the roots. He told me,
he said, you may pull them up right now and it looks like they're
gone. But he said, after we go in here
and plant the corn or the beans or whatever else we plant, he
said, in time, those cuckoo birds will manifest themselves. And
sure enough, they did. And I'll tell you this, I can
tell you this, if cuckoo birds are left to themselves, they
will grow almost as tall as I am. And they are tough to get out. The beast of the ten horns. If
Almighty God does not keep a man, the beast of ten horns will manifest
themselves as the cares of this world that choke out the Word. And then, of course, you know
that the last ground that it fell upon was the seed that fell
on good ground. That good ground is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. The seed of the Word fertilized,
taught by, energized Christ Himself. So this evening, or this morning,
we are going to look at these three distinct groups. These three groups that are set
forth as in verse 9 it says, first of all, the kings of the
earth. Verse 11 says, the merchants
of the earth. And then in verse 17, the last
group, it says, and every ship master. and all the company and
ships and sailors, and as many as trade by the sea." All three
of these groups are said to weep and wail. Look at verse 9, "...the
kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously
with her shall bewail her and lament her when they shall see
the smoke of their burning." Look at verse 11, "...the merchants
of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their
merchandise anymore. Look at verse 17. It says, For
in one hour so great riches has come to Norton, every shipmaster
and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade
by the sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke
of her burning, saying, What city is likened to this great
city? But why is there three groups? That's the question. Why would
there be three groups named that actually associate themselves
with the great whore. Well, I believe that these three
groups are set forth and they are so divided as to give no
man any ground whatsoever to look at others and say, as the
Pharisee did, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. As he looked at this publican
who would not so much as lift his eyes toward heaven, but he'd
beat upon his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. In these three groups, I do not
dare that one might look upon one group and say, I'm not like
that one. But we'll remember that there's
three groups. And but for the grace of God,
every man, every woman, but for God's grace, that would call
them out of the great harlot when God says, come out of her,
that you be not partakers of her sins and her plagues and
her judgment, but for God's grace, every man, every woman is found
in one of these groups right now. But who are these that according
to Revelation 17 and 16, who are these that shall eventually
hate the whore and shall make her destitute and naked, and
shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire." Well, obviously,
these three groups encompass all that shall be found in God's
final judgment for sin. I know that. But let's look at,
first of all, and I know that we're not going to be able to
deal with all three of them this morning, But let's look at at
least the first one and at least get into who the second one is. The first group is the kings
of the earth. Now, these kings that were referred
to in verse 3, the kings of the earth, the Scripture says in
verse 3, they are all nations that have drunk of the wine of
the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth. have
committed fornication with her." Now, these kings are actually
kingdoms, are the vehicle of God's providence in the exposing
of God's people. They are the vehicles. 1 Corinthians 11, 19 says, "...for
there must be heresies among you that they which are approved
may be made manifest among you." How does Almighty God expose
His people? Well, I can tell you this for
a fact, that He does so, at least I know, in part by exposing the
heresies that are in this world. All the nations, whoever they
were, whatever they taught, whatever they set forth, whatever they
believed in the time of Noah, must, had needs be destroyed,
that it might be shown that Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord." You think about this. How many millions? I've read
some writers that speculate I don't know how, and that's not really
the issue, but there are men that have speculated that there
were more people on earth in the time of Noah than there are
now. That there were billions of people that were on the earth
when the Scripture says, one man found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Billions. Billions. Noah preached, the Scripture
said, for 120 years while he built an ark to float when he
said that God had said that it was going to rain and it had
never rained before. He said God was going to send
judgment on this earth and men had never seen that before. They
thought, that's ridiculous. They mocked him. 120 years and
one man found grace in the eyes of the Lord. There must needs
be the nations on this earth in the time of Noah that Noah
might be manifest that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
There must needs be in Egypt the battle axe, the weapon of
war in the hand of God Almighty to oppress God's people that
His hand, the Lord's hand of deliverance might be made manifest. If there would not have been
an Egypt, the glorious deliverance of God's people would never have
been made manifest. There must be a Rome, the means
of execution It was actually the Jews that said unto Pilate,
when Pilate said, what do you want me to do with him? Pilate
was the Roman governor. What do you want me to do with
him? He looked at the Lord and he said, don't you know I have power?
I can do this, that, and the other, and the Lord said, you
don't have any power, except it were given you from my Father. You don't have any power. I think
about Saddam Hussein sitting over there. so arrogant and so
hardy, and he thinks he's something. And I'm telling you, in a vapor,
he's going to face Almighty God. And then where will he be? There
must needs be a Rome, the means of execution, that the Lamb of
God be nailed to a Roman cross, thereby redeeming His people. All the kings, all the authority,
all the nations of this world who have been left to themselves
and left to their own gods and have committed fornication, they've
practiced idolatry just like those that worshiped all of these
gods at Mars Hill. Paul went through there and he
said, I behold that you're superstitious. You're religious. Don't think
that this world is not religious. This world is a religious world. But Paul said, I've noticed,
he said, a monument that you have here. He says, to the unknown
God. He said, that's the God that
I want to preach to you. The God that you don't know.
Because this world by nature knows Him not. So all the kings,
verse 9, of the earth who have committed fornication and live
luxuriously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they
shall see the smoke of her burning." Why will they do that? Well,
I'll tell you, they shall weep when they realize that their
false religion won't stand for a righteousness before God Almighty. It's not going to stand. The
nations, all nations who are in bondage to false religion
think that this great whore, their religion... Have you ever
noticed how everybody thinks that they're right? Now, if everybody
is absolutely convinced, now I'll tell you this, I'm absolutely
convinced that I'm right. I'm convinced that I'm right.
Paul says, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that
He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against
that day. I'm convinced of it. But don't
you think for one second that all false religion is not convinced.
They're convinced. They're right. They absolutely
are convinced that the great whore, the god of their imagination,
the false gospel, that they think that they are impregnable, they're
invincible, that they'll never fail, that they'll never fall. But you remember, all of these
nations, even this great nation that I love dearly, I love this
nation. I am thankful for the United
States of America. I'm thankful for the blessing
of Almighty God to have raised up this nation and allowed this
nation to have the place in this world in which we live in a free
country. But I'm going to tell you, this
nation is not a Christian nation. I know that we see on our coins,
in God we trust. But the problem with that is
that man by nature doesn't believe that. In this great nation that
makes the great issue placing and keeping the Ten Commandments
in all of these public buildings, in all of these places. I saw
on the television the other day that men were making such an
issue. They said that if you look on
the top of the Capitol or one of the great buildings there
in Washington, it shows a picture of Moses holding the Ten Commandments. You say, you see there? There
it is right there. That's what this nation stands
for. It's not. Many, many, many are called,
but few are chosen. Many men hear the gospel of free
grace. I am thankful for those places
in this world, and there are some blessed cities in this nation
that we live in where God has allowed the gospel to be preached.
I'm thankful. But I'm telling you, this country
by and large is not a Christian nation, this nation and all within
it, left to themselves and to their so-called free will works
religion. And I wish, if men, and I know
by nature they'll never do it, unless God gives a man or a woman
a new heart, they won't do it. But if a man or a woman stops
and says, what do I base my hope on? Is it something that I've
done? Or is it that which Almighty
God has done totally by grace and told me about it, apart from
anything that I could or would do? These, the Scripture says
concerning these kings of the earth, committed fornication,
lived deliciously, shall bewail her, lament for her when they
shall see the smoke of her burning. Verse 10, 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. They shall," the Scripture says,
watch in terror as they think momentarily that they are going
to escape. In that day, the kings or the
kingdoms or the nations that have trusted in themselves and
given their allegiance to this great whore, they desire to separate
themselves from her because now they hate her. This standing
afar off to distance oneself because of exposure of sin, where
did that really take place? Where was the first time that
we ever saw that recorded in Scripture? where someone wanted
to back off because of exposed sin. Well, turn with me to Genesis
chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6.
Genesis 3, 6. In the garden, Satan had come
to even, because he was more subtle than the beast. He questioned
God's Word, questioned God's authority, questioned God's sovereignty. And told Eve, he said, God knows,
in verse 5, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes will
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And that's what man thinks by
nature now. He thinks that he's a god. He's
a god to himself, having his own free will. If you think that
man, by nature, having an own free will, doesn't set himself
above God, then ask yourself or ask someone this. when it
comes right down to it, who has the last word in salvation? Who has the last and final word? If God, they say, is desiring
salvation for all men, and Satan is desiring damnation for all
men, and they say that it's up to you to make the last and final
decision, then what are you really saying? Who has the last word
in salvation, man or God? Well, when the woman saw in verse
6 of Genesis 3 that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also to her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes
of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked,
and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons, tried
to cover themselves, tried to make their own righteousness,
their own covering for sin before God. And they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called
unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said,
I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked,
and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree thereof? I commanded thee that thou shouldest
not eat. And the man said, The woman." Boy, notice how he's
going to separate himself real fast now. Yeah, whose fault is
this? The woman that thou gavest to
be with me. Now who's he blaming? First Eve,
now God. She gave me of the tree, and
I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Really, if it comes
right down to it, Eve would have said this. It's your fault, God. You made him. The Scripture says back in Revelation
18, It says that these nations standing
afar off, verse 10, for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas,
alas, great city, Babylon, mighty city, one hour is thy judgment
come. So first the kings shall fall. The kings. But you remember this,
that He is the King of kings. In that day, These kings that
stood and thought that will never fall were with the great whore
or invincible. They are going to have to deal
with the king himself. Well, secondly, the second group,
someone might say, you know, I know this, I am not part of
that because all of those kingdoms in all of those nations out there,
whether it be Mohammedism or Shintoism or Buddhism or this-ism
or that-ism or Pentecostalism or Roman Catholicism or whatever
it is. Call it whatever it is. Whatever
you say you have to do in order to be saved, false religion,
nations, kingdoms, But secondly, the second group, it says in
verse 11, "...and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn
over her." Now why are they weeping and mourning? Here it is, "...for
no man buys their merchandise any more." Now surely, these
merchants that are spoken of here, have got to be more than
just what we would think of, though the word does mean merchant,
a seller. It's got to mean more, though,
than just hard-working tradesmen that are attempting to make a
living to provide for their family. That's an honorable thing, a
good work ethic. But these merchants of this earth,
the Scripture says that these merchants are going to weep and
mourn over her. So whoever these merchants are,
all of them are included. It says, the merchants of the
earth. So whoever these merchants of
the earth are, it's all of them. They're going to weep and mourn
over her. Now, these merchants, I truly
believe, are actually the mouthpieces of the great whore. They're false
prophets, false preachers, and they're among the sheep.
That's the ones that we watch. Turn with me to 2 Peter 2. 2
Peter 2. These merchants, why are they
called merchants? 2 Peter 2, verse 1, "...but there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers..." Now look here, among you. False teachers among you. Someone says, well, I'm looking
at all of the kingdoms out there and I'm not ashamed to. I'm not
a Buddhist. I'm not that. That's not me. Well, be careful. The Scripture
says there were false prophets among the people. Even there
shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring
in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words..." That is, words that are twisted. They'll twist. They'll use words
that sound right to you. They'll use words like sovereignty
and predestination And they'll use words like election and called. They'll use words, but they will,
with feigned words, twisted words, they'll make merchandise of you,
whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not. I want you to look at 2 Peter,
same chapter. Look in verse 13. Peter is still telling about
these who were among you. Verse 13, "...and shall receive
the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure
to riot in the daytime spots. They are, and blemishes, sporting
themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you." Now,
let me tell you, we're sitting today in a love feast. We're feasting. We're feasting
upon the Word of God. We're feasting upon the bread
Himself. We're drinking of Him. And the
Scripture says, be advised, beware, let it be known that there were
false prophets among the people and there's going to be false
teachers among you. their spots that are blemishes,
sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast
with you. Be careful. What are these men
doing? Well, the Scripture says back
in 2 Peter 2, 3, "...through covetousness shall they with
vain words make merchandise of you." That's what they desire
to do. They try to make merchandise
of men's souls. That's what the ultimate goal. These merchants are actually
peddlers, religious peddlers, whose purpose it is to make merchandise
of men's souls to their own good, for their own purpose. This is the root. of their weeping
when the great whore is judged. No one buys their merchandise
anymore. Why? Because she's under the
judgment of Almighty God. No one buys that word, merchandise,
right there. No one buys their burden. Their
burden. The Scriptures turn to Matthew
23, and I'll try to finish up this morning. Matthew 23. No
one buys their burden anymore, their merchandise. Matthew 23,
verse 1, Then spake Jesus to the multitude, to His disciples,
saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Oh, therefore,
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not
ye after their works, for they say and do not, for they bind
heavy burdens and grieve us to be born. Lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers."
What does the Lord Jesus Christ say? Look in Matthew 11, verse
28. What does He say to His people? And only by God's grace will
they do this. They lay heavy burdens on you
with faint words, twisted words. They use words. You see, you
remember when we read a few weeks ago concerning Daniel, when he
looked at these three beasts, and there were four beasts actually,
but three of them didn't bother him. They didn't bother him.
But the fourth one that bothered him was the one with the ten
horns. The ten horns are actually the
cares of this world. That's how it manifests itself.
But don't be fooled. These ten horns, by religious
means, there are men that the Scripture says are spots in your
feast. And do you know what they're
after? It's the love of money. It's the root of all evil. It's
the love of money. And these religious... I'm not
fooled by Jimmy Swagger. I'm not fooled by Oral Roberts,
and I'm not from some of these men, but I'll tell you this.
When a man is in the midst of the brethren, and the Scripture
truly reveals that they will be, where do you think the tares
among the wheat are? Do you think the tares are outside
of the wheat? The tares among the wheat. What
did the Lord say? Leave them alone. Leave them
alone. He said, if you go in and start
trying to tear out the tares, you may be tearing out wheat.
Who knows? God may call one of them out of darkness. But don't
be fooled. I'll tell you who these merchants
of this earth are. They're spots in the feast, tares
among the wheat. They're the ones that Daniel
so watched and feared because the tares of this world are actually
the desires of these merchants. That's what they are. When we
look, if you'll look over in Revelation chapter 18, I want
you to look at what these guys are selling. Now, Lord willing,
we'll start looking at this next time. But look at what they're
selling. Merchandise. Gold and silver and precious
stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet
and thyme wood and all manner of... About three verses there. Now, in these things that they're
selling, there's a spiritual significance, I can tell you
this. It's not just the actual things that we think of. And
Lord willing, we'll look and see what these men are selling.
But these men that are spots in our love feast, they're among
you. In Jude, look at Jude 12. Jude has one chapter. Jude 12. The Scripture says concerning
these that we should be really aware of. These are spots in
your feast of charity, in your feast of love. When they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth
without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Notice how many
times. The Scripture speaks of these
merchants among you, among you. Someone can say of the first
group, I'm not of them. I'm not of those other religions
out there, though God's going to deal with them. But the Lord
says, I'm going to deal with these too. Men among you, be
careful. But in Matthew 11, verse 28 to
30, come unto Me. Now, these that lay heavy burdens
on you, You come unto Me, all ye that labor heavy laden. I'll
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Learn
of Me. I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy.
My burden is light." This group, the merchants of false religion,
the preachers that preach truly everything but, the glorious
gospel of Christ, these peddlers whose business it is to treat
men and women as articles of merchandise. And I think upon
this, and I think, my, but for the grace of God, I or any other man would do the
same thing. They'd do it for money. They'd do it for fame. They'd do it for self-glory.
Paul said, Some men preach Christ of envy." What does that mean? Well, a
man sees someone preaching the Gospel. When he preached Christ
of envy, he wasn't talking about them preaching this freewill
Jesus. He was talking about them preaching Christ. Some men preach
Christ of envy. What he meant when he said that
was this. Some men hear the gospel that
men do honorably preach, and they behold the respect that's
given those men that preach the gospel. And they desire that
respect. They preach Christ out of envy
because they want the respect But truly, what they're doing
is they're merchants. Because only if they've got a
heart will they maintain that gospel, that truth there. They preach Christ of envy. These men endeavor to do nothing
but promote themselves at the expense of men's souls. But in our next study, Lord willing,
we are going to see the goods, actually the damnable heresies
that these men are selling or trying to sell. And we shall
behold not only what they're selling, but the miracle of God's
grace and God's mercy to keep His people with one desire, that
is, to buy of Him Gold tried in the fire, that is, the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gold Himself tried in the fire
of God's justice for His people that we buy of Him without money
and without price. That Almighty God has been pleased
to show a people mercy and grace is nothing short of God's sovereign
compassion according to the good pleasure of His will. May the
Lord be pleased to add His blessing to our hearts concerning this
study.