Revelation 18, Revelation chapter
18. I'd like to speak this morning
on the subject of the God who remembers. This chapter, Revelation 18, continues as the other seventeen
have the remaining chapters shall, continues setting forth the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the preservation of His people and
the full and final destruction of Babylon the Great. If you'd
ask and look at the book of Revelation, you'd say, what is that? What's
that book all about? I've read that. I've heard about
it. I've seen people put charts up
on it. There's stuff that I just don't
understand. And I've seen these pictures
of these beasts and these horns and these vials and these trumpets. And I've heard and read. What
is it all about? Well, this is the whole book
of Revelation right here. It is the message of how the
Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty, has set forth and told his people
this, I'm going to keep you. Through everything that happens
in this world, I'm going to preserve you. And I'm going to surely
judge the wicked. Now, if you summed up the whole
book, but let me ask you this, is really the book of Revelation
any different than any other book? in all of Scripture. That's the message. This is the
message, the Apostle says, that in him you might have life. This is the message. Babylon that we've been looking
at, mystery Babylon, is not an individual city. Though there
is a Babylon today, I know an individual city and there is
individual city of ancient Babylon, but Babylon in the book of Revelation
is all false religion, the false religious system of this world
that is empowered and led and inspired by Satan himself. Mystery Babylon. in the book of Revelation, no
matter what the name of any particular denomination. It doesn't matter
what they call themselves. It represents all so-called free-willed
works religion. The Scripture says, and we looked
at it a week or so ago, that Mystery Babylon is the mother
of Harlot. Now, if you know that Mystery
Babylon is the mother of harlots, how do we, number one, as believers,
how are we to receive or treat those that do not believe what
we preach? Turn over with me. Scriptures
read back to 2 John. Turn back a few pages to 2 John. 2 John. 2 John has one chapter only. Let's look at verses 7 to 11. 2 John 7. The Scripture says,
for many deceivers, are entered into the world." Now, these are
talking about false preachers who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. Now, someone will say, now, wait
a minute. Everyone says that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh. What is John talking about when
he says that? What they're saying is they confess
not that Jesus Christ came into the flesh, knowing everything
that we know concerning the Scriptures, what it says concerning the Lord,
that He came into this world, came into the flesh as the surety,
as the representative of all that the Father had given Him
from the foundation of the world. He came into this world as the
representative to live before the law of God, to die as the
substitute for the sheep, The Scripture says that we were chosen,
all of God's elect in Ephesians 1, were chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. 2 Thessalonians says, God hath
not appointed us to wrath. So whenever we say that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, this is what a believer says.
He came into this world with the sheep, for the sheep, and
He lived for them. He died for them. He put away
their guilt. He died only for God's elect. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. You remember over in the book
of John, He told some of the Pharisees. When they told Him,
He said, why don't you tell us plainly? He said, I told you.
But he said, you believe not because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. So therefore, whenever
John says there's many deceivers who entered into the world who
confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that's
what he's talking about. They say that Jesus Christ, and
they use the name, came into this world to make Salvation
Mitch possible, is what they say. He came into this world
and died on a cross and died for everyone's sins, paid the
debt for everyone's sins. And my question has always been,
and I know Brother Scott said this too, this is not original
with me, nothing is, as someone said, except sin. But they said
if Jesus Christ died for everyone's sins and put away all of the
guilt, if God sends one man to hell, God is not just because
He's already paid all the debt. There's no debt there if that's
the case. So therefore, John says, many
deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus
Christ has come into the flesh. This is a deceiver, an antichrist. Look to yourselves. that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ." Now, someone must know, what
do you mean transgresseth? They abide not in the doctrine
of Christ. Hath not God? Someone must say, well, are you
saying then that someone that professes not the gospel of free
grace, sovereign, saving grace. Are you saying that they hath
not God? Yes. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. Don't even misunderstand what
I'm saying. If they're not preaching this
message, the message of free, sovereign grace, electing, preserving
grace, they're not preaching Christ, not of God. He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ. I'm sorry, I misread that. He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. If there come any unto you and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him God's
speed is partaker of his evil deeds." Now, let me ask you this.
Does this mean that we are to be unkind or unsympathetic or
anything like that in a cordial manner? No. You can be kind and friendly. I meet a lot of people, and you
do too, that, you know, I don't believe what you say. And as
long as we're not talking about the gospel, I can be cordial. Hi, how are you doing? You know?
Yes, I am. Okay. That's fine. But if this
person comes as a preacher, preaching, setting forth, except not, John
says, those under the guise as preachers, don't encourage them.
Don't agree with them. Do not hear what they've got
to say. Turn over to Proverbs 19, 27.
Proverbs 19, 27. Someone says, you know, it doesn't
really matter. I can go over here and visit
their church and, you know, kind of encourage them, you know,
come to ours and stuff like that, you know, kind of, you know,
Well, what you're saying is, I'm going to work a deal with
you. You don't have to work a deal, Neil, with anybody. No. Proverbs 19, 27. Next time someone
says, well, why don't you go over and hear what they have
to say and then invite them, well, then go back and read Proverbs
19, 27. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth
to err from the words of knowledge. Don't even hear it. Don't listen
to it. you sit under the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't hear what they've got to
say. Free-willed, self-righteous,
man-centered religion and preaching is the brainchild of Satan himself,
designed specifically for the damning of men's souls. That's
the purpose of it. Selves left to the belief of
such heresy shall surely suffer the wrath of God Almighty." What
do you think that the Lord has been setting forth in these chapters
dealing with this mother of harlots? This is what John the Apostle
has been seeing in the vision. This is why false religion shall
be judged. Thanks be unto God. that causes
His people to approach unto Him who He has not left to themselves. He has not left His people. Well,
in Revelation 18, chapter 1, here we see through the eyes
of John's vision one that has a great declaration. John says
in verse 1, and after these things, I saw another angel come down
from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with
his glory." After these things, John said. After what things? Well, after the revelation of
the seven heads that we looked at in chapter 17, of the ten
horns, the seven heads, I mean, the five heads. No, I'm right. Seven heads. The seven heads
that we saw were the seven kingdoms. Five of them had already fallen.
One of them was when John wrote, and one was left to come. The
ten horns are the emblems of power that this world exhibits. The things of this world that
causes men left to themselves to grasp hold of, to take hold
of, And finally, as the parable of the sower sets forth, the
cares of this world that choke out the Word. When I was visiting
with Brother Henry the other day, we were talking about this
very thing, talking about these ten horns that we dealt with
over the last couple of Sundays. And Henry made this statement
to me, and I thought, Boy, that makes so much sense. He said,
you know, I've been preaching a long time. And he said, over
the years, let me tell you the thing that I've noticed more
than anything else. He said, it's not being found
in a state of leanness or lack. most people that after a while
start to slip away. I bet you'll, folks of God, agree
with me. He said, I'll tell you where
you find more times than not someone starting to slip away. He said, in prosperity. He said,
when things, he said, people, he said, more stuff, better job. More prosperity. He said, that's
where you see it. He said, had a dear friend one
time, he said, made a statement. He said, we need to pray for
Brother So-and-so. He said, someone said, really,
what's the matter? What's the matter? He said, some
family members had passed away. He said, he got a great inheritance. He said, we need to pray for
him. Pray. God keep him. He said, I'm telling
you. He said, I've seen it more times
than not. He says, the more stuff that
we start getting, he said, if you're not careful, he said,
the stuff starts becoming more important than worshiping God. He said, I've seen it time and
time and time again. I thought, you know. After these
things, John said, after the ten horns, the war with the Lamb,
Hatred of the ten horns toward the whore. John says, after these
things, I saw another angel, another. Remember, we looked
at that word, another. It means of the same sort. Another. Another messenger. And he came
down from heaven. He descended from the abode of
God. Now, whether or not, as I read
that, as I told you before, More times than not, almost without
exception, you can almost bet that whenever you see the name
heaven in the book of Revelation, it speaks of the church, the
abode of God. Ye are the temple of God. That's what he's talking about.
Came down from heaven. But whether or not it refers
to the original abode of God as we would think of as heaven,
is a mysterious thought. Think about it. Heaven. Where
is that? The abode of God. Then what it says is He came
down from heaven. He condescended to make Himself
known unto us. He has to reveal Himself unto
us. And the Scripture says that this
angel came down from heaven having great power. He was possessing
or holding mighty freedom or control. He had great power. Turn over to Matthew 28. Matthew
28. You know, it is so comforting
to the people of God when they read and consider the power of
Almighty God. This is our confidence right
here, the confidence of a believer that He is God Almighty. Matthew 28, 18 and 20, and Jesus
came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto Me in
heaven and earth. All power. All ability is what
He is saying. All ability. If all ability is
given unto Him, then who has any other ability? If all ability
belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, how much does a man or a woman
have outside of Him? None. If all ability, if I have
all power, then there's none for anybody else. The only power
that anyone would have was what I would delegate to them. That's
the way it is with Him. All power is given unto Me in
heaven and earth. And He says to His apostles,
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You go preach
the gospel. All power is given unto Me."
You preach the Gospel in Romans 1 16, we realize there that the
Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So therefore, if all
power belongs to Him, then whoever He is pleased to make that message
effectual to, it will be to His honor and His glory. Turn over
to Acts 1 8. Acts chapter 1. All power, the
Scripture says. Give it unto Him. Acts 1.8. The Scripture says in Acts 1.8,
but ye shall receive power. Now listen to this. Now this
is what man, ignorantly, and we're all like this until the
Lord teaches us something. We all think that we have the
ability within ourselves to somehow do something to reconcile ourselves
back to God. And if we're taught falsely,
that if we will exercise our ability, and my question would
be, what ability? If all ability is in His hands,
then how are we going to do something that we are told we cannot do. The Scripture says, ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
You see that? God's people, the Scripture says,
are willing when in the day of His power His people are willing. They're willing to come. They're
willing to believe. They're willing to trust. But
before that, what can they do? They can't do anything. Turn
over to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9, verse 15. Romans 9, 15. For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion." And he clarifies that by this
statement in verse 16, "...so then it is not of him that willeth..."
Now, you know, if somebody would read that and they would say, Man is the deciding factor. I'd say, well, read Romans 9,
16 again and tell me what it says. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. If someone says, the reason I
came to Christ is because I willed to do so. And therefore, God
accepted me because I exercised my free will. I would say, no,
you didn't. They say, yes, I did. And I'll
say, well, I'll believe God rather than man. The Scripture says
in verse 17, For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My
power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout
all the earth." John saw, coming down from heaven, back in Revelation
18, another angel, and he had great power. This is who John
saw. I'll tell you who he saw. He saw Him who is in control. I heard Brother Scott say one
time, ìWhoís running this show anyway? Whoís running this show? Is it man or is it God?î And
the Scripture says, ìAnd the earth was lightened with His
glory.î The earth, all that is weak, the earth was lightened,
spiritually illuminated with His glory, with His honor. From that root word, glory, means
from that root word, to think, or the opinion, or the pleasure
of. I've used that illustration.
We just read it back. One of the best Scriptures for
me to understand what the word glory means, what it means to
think or the opinion of. The word glory, that's what it
means. When Moses asked the Lord, show
me your glory. And the Lord said, I will cause
all of my goodness. He was answering. He was answering. The Lord didn't skirt the question.
He didn't eliminate it, just bypass it like Moses asked something
And the Lord just didn't answer him. He did answer him. I will
cause all my goodness to pass before you. I will have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Show me your glory. What Moses
said was, show me what you think. Show me your opinion. And the
Lord told him, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. That's
His glory. That is His glory. His glory
is to do what He wants to do. That's His glory. That's His
honor. The glory of a man. The glory of a woman. What is
it? Their opinion. How they think. This angel also could be none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ because of the ability that He
possessed to lighten the earth with His glory. In Ezekiel 43,
let me read this to you. It says, "...and behold, the
glory of the Lord of Israel..." The glory. The opinion. The honor of. "...came from the
way of the east, and His voice was like a noise of many waters,
and the earth shined." was illuminated with His glory, with His opinion,
with His thinking. Now this illumination, spiritual
illumination, I know, of course, is not seen and it is not perceived
by everyone. I know that. I know that. I understand
that. But that does not mean it's not
there. It doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. But it is perceived
by all that the Lord gives eyes to see. Is that not true? Someone could say, well, the
illumination or the glory of the Lord, does it shine in West
Virginia? Some places it does. The Lord
has been pleased to give some ears to some folks and to eyes. I've seen it. I've heard. I've listened. I
perceive that God has been pleased to open some hearts here. I know
He has. I'm thankful for that. But I
know this, that not all see. I know they don't. John 1, 10-12
said He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and
the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But as many as received Him. This was the thing that was made
evident. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. So John saw another angel come
down from heaven having great power, and the earth was lightened
with His glory." You know, coming on the heels of what John had
seen and perceived of the judgment of the great harlot, the mother
of harlots. You know, what a comfort it is. What a comfort it is for us this
morning to be able to know this, that He reigns, that He's in
control. that nothing is going to happen
outside of the will and the power of Almighty God. All of these
things, no matter what. When that car stopped on the
side of the road the other day, I'm honest with you, that was
the first thing that I thought about. I've got to get back to
Fairmont. This is the reason. that I'm
leaving Friday morning, coming back to Fairmont. I've got to
get back to Fairmont because Saturday, I've got to have Saturday
to get ready to make sure that I feel that I'm squared away
and I'm here. That's what I've got to do. I
can't stay there. I can't stay at Henry's. I can't do that. I've got to
get here. And I'm sitting on the side of
the road and I'm wondering, He's in control. And that's a
comfort. That's a joy. And this angel
made a declaration, the one that John saw, made a declaration
of something that though as yet is not completely and openly
seen or perceived, it's not as far as us being able to see it
fulfilled, but it's so certain that it was declared to be so.
John said he heard this angel, saw that angel that came down,
and this angel, in verse 2, cried mightily with a strong voice,
saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become
the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit
and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. He exclaimed, this angel, the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, with a strong disclosure, sure and
certain, so certain, He said, it's so right now. Some of us,
we look around and we say, well, I don't see that. I don't see
it. The Lord says it is. Babylon
the Great is fallen, is fallen. And this is what he said when
he said, is fallen, is fallen. And I'm going to make, I'll make
this statement and we're just, we're getting so close to our
time running out. I'll just stop for this morning
after I want to make this statement, though, and the Lord willing,
we'll pick it up tonight. He said, Babylon the great is fallen,
is fallen. A double statement, assuring,
setting forth, establishing. This is so. Here is the exclamation of the
angel himself, and this is what the angel meant. Though we look
around and see openly, you say, I don't see that. He says it
is fallen. But you say, but I see places
where the gospel is not being preached. And they're still there,
and they still seem to be flourishing. I mean, flourishing in a sense
that, I mean, it's just, you know, I was thinking about you
telling about that huge cathedral. This guy's got thousands and
thousands and thousands, and all he's doing is he's a motivational
preacher, you know, Joel Osteen. I mean, really, he's just a motivational
speaker is all he is. He doesn't say anything. It doesn't
say anything. And I mean, just people, just
thousands of them. You think Babylon is fallen? It's fallen? But when you understand
what the Lord was saying when He's saying fallen, what He's
saying is this, the great whore is fallen truly and shall be
fallen completely from her pedestal But the words fallen, fallen
here, means under God's wrath. Turn back to James 5.12, James
chapter 5 and verse 12, and this will give us a good understanding
of what the word fallen means here. It doesn't mean openly
right now to be nonexistent. That's not what the word means.
It means unto the wrath of God. James 5.12, James says, But above
all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither
by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea
be yea, and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation. That's what the word fallen means.
What the angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty God, the One
of all power, the One that lightened or enlightened or illuminated
the earth with His glory said was this, this false religious
system is under God's judgment. It's fallen under the wrath of
Almighty God. And it is at this time. as we
looked at before. That which has fallen under God's
wrath and judgment is under the judgment of God right now. It
is evident of God's judgment if a man or a woman goes through
this world and leaves this world not believing the gospel of free
grace. That's the evidence of the judgment
of God in that God left a man to himself. Just left Him alone. Just let Him do whatever He wanted
to do. And God will be just. He is the
mighty God. Well, Lord willing, tonight we'll
continue with this message on the God who remembers. Because
later in that passage it says, and God remembered Babylon. And we'll look at that. Okay,
Gary, you come.