blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross." Turn with me again to Revelation
18. This has been a wonderful study
as we have beheld the wonder of the
grace of Almighty God would teach us, that which is. This morning we ended up in Revelation
chapter 18 and verse 7. with the reason that Almighty
God is judging. Mystery Babylon the Great, the
mother of harlots. Verse 7 said, How much she hath
glorified herself, and lived deliciously. So much torment
and sorrow give her. For she saith in her heart, I
sit a queen. Now, this is where we will begin
this evening. Here is the arrogance of this
great harlot. She says, I remain. I sit. I have the right, for
she says, to sit down, that position that has remained only for the
Lord Jesus Christ. She said, I dwell, I reside as
royalty. That is what she is saying. I
sit a queen. I am worthy to be worshipped. I am worthy to be honored. I'm worthy to be glorified. I'm worthy." And this she says
in her heart. Now this thinking, this understanding
is in the heart of every man, every woman outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I remain. I see it. I am royalty. Romans 6.12 says,
ìLet not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in the lust thereof.î She said, ìI reign.î Let not
sin reign. Let not rebellion reign in your
mortal body. The presence of sin is there. But sin doesn't reign in a believer. I'll tell you who reigns. He
reigns. He reigns. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. He has spoiled principality. What did Brother Scott just read?
He spoiled it. He took the ordinances that were
against us. that reigned in all the sons
of Adam, nailing them to His cross. She said, I sit a queen. And she said, I am no widow. Not only am I royalty, but she
says, I'm not in a spirit or a state of mourning. I'm not
a widow. I've not lost a husband. She
says, I've got a husband. I'm not a widow. I have no deficiency. For the God of her imagination
is her husband. The God of her thinking. The God of the image of her mind. But this is what else she's saying
when she says, I am no widow. I'm not barren. I'm not lacking
the ability to produce children. I'm not a widow. And then she
says, I shall see no sorrow. I shall see no grief. I shall
see no suffering. Now here is the manifestation
of no fear, no reverence, no respect before Almighty God. This is the state of the fool
that has said, not outwardly, has said, where? In his heart. No God. No fear. Turn over to Isaiah 47. Isaiah
47. Let's read the first nine verses. This is what she said her state
is. I'm a queen. I'm not a widow. And I'm not going to see sorrow.
I am not going to see grief. Isaiah 47, verse 1, "...Come
down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon." Sit on
the ground. There's no throne. She said,
I sit a queen. He says, no. If you sit on the
ground, ìNo throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt
no more be called tender and delicate.î Take the millstones
and grind meal. She says, ìI am royalty.î This
is what God says, ìUncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover
the thigh, pass over the rivers, Thy nakedness shall be uncovered,
yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I
will not meet thee as a man. For as for our Redeemer, the
Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel, sit thou
silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans.
For thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms." I was
wroth with my people. I have polluted mine inheritance
and given them into thine hand. Thou didst show them no mercy. Upon the ancient hast thou very
heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidest, I shall be
a lady for ever, so that thou didst not lay these things to
thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore,
hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest
carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none
else beside me, I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know
the loss of children, but these two things shall come to thee
in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in
their perfection, for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the
great abundance of thine enchantment." She says, I will sit, I will
reign, I will have, and I will never be sorrowful. And the Lord
said, yes, you will. Oh, yes, you will. Back in Revelation
18 verse 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 judgeth her." Right
now, it appears to the great harlot of false religion that
all is well. Everybody is doing fine. We're
all working, she says, for the same thing. But therefore, shall
her plagues come. They shall arrive and be present. Right now, she says, peace, peace. Right now, everything's fine. They'll come while she's living
in ease, living in luxury, deliciously, the Scripture says. Living in
false security. Turn over to Matthew 24. It amazes
me how false religion, how blind man by nature really is. I listen to folks and they are
talking about the return of the Lord. They are reading Scripture. They are reading words. out of
this book that the believer is reading also. And they're reading
these words and applying them to themselves, which I can understand
them doing. The only problem is, this letter,
this is a covenant. This is the written covenant
of Almighty God. This is the written Word of God. You cannot lie. And God Almighty
sets forth in the person of the Lord Jesus, that Brother Scott
just told us about, sets forth our Lord and our Savior, Jesus
the Christ. Now, this book sets forth God's
covenant or contract and the stipulations of it, what He demands
and what Christ has supplied. This book sets forth peace only
to those that God has given a heart to bow to this Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. All who will not bow to Him,
they don't know Him. They're speaking of a Jesus,
but it is not the Christ of this book. It's the sovereign Lord
and Savior, God Almighty, the Savior. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus. Savior. Why? For He shall save
who? His people. His people. Now, there is a general consensus. Everybody is talking about the
second return, the coming of the Lord. And they're saying
that they're watching for it. They say it's imminent. It's
right here. It just can't be too much longer. Now, let me tell you what the
Scripture says about these people that are saying that they're
watching for the imminent return of the Lord. Matthew 24, starting
in verse 36, the Scripture says, But of that day and hour knoweth
no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking
and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." The world
of false religion, hold your finger right there in Matthew
24, is speaking as if everyone is watching for the return of
Jesus the Christ. But look at verse 42, "...watch therefore, for ye know
not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if
the good man of the house had known him, what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his
south to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh, who then
is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them in due season. Blessed is that
servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all
his goods. And if that evil servant, which
say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming, and shall begin to
smite his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunk
in the day, I mean the Lord of that servant shall come in the
day, when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion
with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Her plagues, the Scripture says back in Revelation chapter 18,
her plagues shall come in one day when she's not looking. She says she is. She's like those
foolish virgins, five wise and five foolish. The plagues shall
arrive and be present in one day in a sudden stroke of judgment
while the whore mocks the Lord's coming." She's not looking. She says she is looking. But
she's not in 2 Peter 3. It says, "...knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water, and in the water, whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the
heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men." Now this whore is saying, I'm not
going to suffer, I'm going to reign, I'm not going to be barren,
I'm set, I'm here, I'm there. The Lord said, your plagues will
come in one day. What are her plagues? What is
her calamity? What is her smiting? Well, the
Scripture says that in verse 8, her plagues come in one day,
and here's the first one, death. That's the first of her plagues,
death. Now, we speak of this great whore. Now, this is an amazing thing.
She's personified. False religion. It's actually
personified as being a great harlot. It's false religion. And this great whore, spoken
of as being a harlot, false religion, is actually a collective body
of all the wicked that have willingly drank the wine of rebellion against
God. the first of her plagues that
will come in one day, death. Now this word death here
actually has two meanings. It actually means, first of all,
it means separation of the soul from the body. And we can understand
that. It's death. It's when the soul
leaves the body and the body Men and women apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ will die just like everyone else will. We are all going to die. This
body is dying and it is going down and we are getting closer
and closer to a time when we are going to return to the death.
The dust of this earth from which we are made, that is where we
are going to return. All men will readily admit that
they're going to die. Someone says, well, do you think
that death is an imminent part of life? Absolutely. Death is
part of life. We're going to die. But death
here also means something else. It means separation of man from
God. Two things. It means a separation
from the soul, from the body. Death. It has to do with separation. soul from the body and man from
God. Now, when the man Adam rebelled
against God in the garden, the Lord had told him, He said, in
the day you eat, you are going to die. There is going to be
a separation. He died spiritually and eventually
he died physically. And all mankind died with him. Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says,
Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death,
separation, by sin, and so death passed upon, pierced through,
passed upon all men, for all have sinned. By one man, death
entered this world. Manifestation of the whore's
plagues is the realization that she's separated from God. You
see, she said in her heart, I sit as a queen. I'm not a widow. I'm not going
to be barren. I'm not going to have any sorrow
whatsoever. And the Lord said over in Jeremiah,
He said, You are. Yes, you are. Her plagues are
going to come in one day, and she's going to realize, I'm separated
from God. Right now, in her heart, she
doesn't think she is. This is why men and women apart
from Christ, they're blinded to the fact that they're separated
from God. They don't know it. They falsely
and proudly in their heart say, I am. And there's none else beside
me. I'm worthy. I'm somebody. We're going to get over here
in the next page here, Lord willing, and we're going to find out these
merchants are going to start selling some merchandise. And
it lists about 12, 15 things that they're selling, gold and
silver and precious stone and linens and this, that and the
other and on and on and on and on and on. And I'm telling you,
All of those things that the merchants are selling mean something. That false religion is selling
people today. But this great whore, in one
day, she's going to realize, I'm separated. Death is going
to be her plague. Here, her plague will come in
one day. And now in her heart, she says,
I am. And the Lord says, you're not.
You know, the reason that men and women are not in an absolute
state of fear and dismay, you know why it is right now? Because
they don't think they're separated from God. They think that they
have made a covenant with death. With hell, we're in agreement.
That's what they're saying is, I've settled all that. I'm okay. I'm alright. I don't have a problem. But in one day, when she realizes
I am separated from God, there's her calamity. Right there. One
day. Second thing concerning her plague is mourning. She said, I'm not going to mourn. I'm not going to be in sorrow.
The harlot who thought that she was no widow and shall see no
sorrow, suddenly is made to feel or to suffer the reality of that
death. The sorrow that she said in her
heart would escape her is now her realized state. She now is
in a state of grief rather than a state of feasting upon the
blood of the saints and the martyrs of the Lord Jesus Christ. She
grieves not because of her rebellion against God when it says that
in that day her plagues death and mourning. It's not grieving
over her rebellion against God. She grieves because she's exposed.
That's why. A person that is caught in their
rebellion and then their insensitivity to society, as long as they can
get away with it, they're not sorrowful. They're doing fine. As long as everybody else will
take care of them, they're okay. It's when they're caught. And
when they're brought on the carpet, that's when they mourn. That's
when they're sorry. Not because they've rebelled
against the law or broken the law. That's not the problem.
They're not sorry for that, Gary. They're sorry because they got
caught. That's why. And the third part of her plagues
that will come in one day, death and mourning, is famine. She
lived, the Scripture says, deliciously, luxuriously, but she shall see
the scarcity of any food that will sustain her. The bread of
heaven Himself, of whom she has never eaten, never desired, never
longed for. John 6.53, Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, Except
ye eat, except ye live by the flesh of the Son of Man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life, in you. None. He's the bread
of heaven. He's the only food that sustains. In 627, labor not for the meat,
the eating, that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For Him hath God the Father sealed
this whore In one day, all of her plagues shall come on her. One day, death and mourning and
famine. And the Scripture says she shall
be utterly burned with fire. Now, the Scripture is so distinct. It says in verse 2 of this chapter,
it says that she is fallen. Babylon the Great is fallen. is fallen, fallen as we looked
at under the judgment of Almighty God. Babylon is under the judgment
of God. It says in verse 3 that all nations
have drunk her wine and committed fornication with her. Verse 5
says that her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered
her iniquities. I want you to know the point
I'm making here is all these words are in the present tense.
They're present. Verse 7 says that she hath glorified
herself, and lived deliciously, and said in her heart, I see
it, a queen. I am not, right now, I'm not
a widow, and I shall see no sorrow. But verse 8 says, therefore shall
her plagues. In her mind, everything in the
present is okay. But therefore shall her plagues
come in one day, and she shall be utterly burned with fire. The flames of God's wrath and
justice shall never be quenched. In Revelation 14, verse 11, that's
what the Scripture says, "...the smoke of their torment ascendeth
up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark
of his name." Why is that? Why is it that the judgment of
Almighty God is never quenched? Because God doesn't change. If a man has ever been under
the judgment of God, he shall forever be under the judgment
of God. I change not. Why? Shall her plagues come in
one day, the realization of them, death and mourning and famine,
and she shall be utterly burned with fire For strong is the Lord
God who judgeth her." For, that word for, it means because, it
means how, and it means why. Strong is the Lord, the Lord
God who judgeth, That word right there is a continual
active. I don't know. As I told you before,
I don't read Hebrew. I don't understand Greek outside
of what someone who is much wiser than I am in that language, Bob,
tells me. But that word right there is
a continual active. Strong is the Lord God who judgeth
her. Strong. Mightier. Mightier. Turn over to Matthew
12.29. Now, I understand that there
is some delegated strength to this great whore. She is, we
looked at a while back, this great harlot, Mystery Babylon,
is a golden cup in the Lord's hand. She's the golden cup. in God's hand. God Almighty uses
her as the means to accomplish His purpose. Strong is the Lord
who judges her. Look at Matthew 12 and verse
29. Let's read verse 28. But if I
cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God
is come unto you. Look at verse 29. or else how
can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except
he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house? Why shall God Almighty judge
the great harlot who said in her heart, I am, I sit a queen,
I shall not see sorrow, I am no widow? Why? Strong is the
Lord who judges her, who is mightier, the Scripture says, than her. The mighty God. He is mighty
to condemn. He is mighty to judge. He is
mighty to destroy. But let me tell you this, He
is mighty to save. The mighty God. Zephaniah 3.17
says, The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee. He is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He
will joy over thee with singing. The mighty God. He shall judge
her because He is the strong Lord. But listen to Jude 24. Now unto him that is able. Boy, what a word. Unto him that's
able. You know, there may be a willingness
on my part to do something for you. And if I'm willing to do
it, my willingness is only as good is my ability, you know. I'd like to just say that all
the problems that you've got and this, that and the other,
I can just take care of them and I'll just handle it and this,
that, but I'm just not able. I may be willing to be a consolation
to you and just say, I understand how you feel. I've been there. I know what you're going through
somewhat. But really, I just don't have
any ability. Now unto Him that's able. Able to what? Able to keep you
from falling. Number one. Keep me from falling. And to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Now there's
an ability. What ability! What strength! For her, that
Almighty God said that her plagues are going to come in one day
and death and mourning and famine, she's going to be utterly destroyed
with fire, burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who
judges her. But for Almighty God, that in
His infinite mercy and compassion and grace has chosen Brother Scott said, apart from
anything that he saw in us, chosen to set his affection upon
you. Chosen. No difference whatsoever. You can mull over this statement,
this question, from now until you can mull over it no more
and you'd never come up with any other answer but this, it
pleased Him to do so. It pleased Him. But why would
He set His affection on me? Why? Why would Almighty God? I was just a kid born in the backwoods nowhere of central
Louisiana. My mom and dad came up in religion. My mother and all of her family
was Roman Catholic. I came up my first few years
Roman Catholic. And I was taken out of that situation
and went into another. works religion. And was told that I had the ability
to give my heart to Jesus Christ and make my lot right with God
by my free will. And I believed that. I believed
that was so. And one day after I was out of
college. A man by God's good providence
crossed my path, and the Lord was pleased to take the message
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God Almighty by His Spirit
revealed to me what God had done eternally and told me about it. and revealed unto me that He
had loved me everlastingly, and chose me in His Son, and gave
me a heart to believe it, to rejoice in it, and kept me in
spite of anything that I am or ever would be or could be, and
revealed that salvation was not a man walking down an aisle and
shaking a preacher's hand and repeating a sinner's prayer and
being baptized and therefore became saved. But salvation is
of the Lord that Almighty God purposed. to show mercy to this sinner
and set his affection on me in a substitute and took what I am by nature. And his son died as my substitute,
Marvin Stoniker. He died under the judgment of
Almighty God and charged me, imputed to me
in time, revealed to me that He charged me with His righteousness."
Salvation is of the Lord. God Almighty saves His people. He saves them. He is able to
keep you from falling and to present you Faultless! Faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. Now you think there is a time,
there comes a time when all of God's people shall stand before
Him who is holy. Brother Scott said, my little fickle mind, I am lost
in the thought of the holiness of Almighty God. But to know
that in Christ, that He can present me thoughtless, thoughtless,
thoughtless, not one thought in His Son, shall be found. Faultless before the presence
of His glory, with exceeding joy to the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and
forever. Amen.