Turn with me to Revelation 13. Revelation chapter
13. As you remember, the scripture we had looked at
last time, and I'll just bring us back up In the 15th verse
of the 12th chapter, the bride was protected. She had fled into the wilderness
place in this world where the Lord had prepared her. That was in verse 6. The Lord
had prepared a place for the woman. The woman is a picture
here of the bride. the church. And Satan we find
in the 15th verse after his desire to destroy her. The 15th verse
it says that the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood
after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away
of the flood, this flood, this water that is being spoken of,
is the opposite of the living water that flows from the belly,
from the heart of God's people, the regenerated saints of this
world. This flood is the false delusion. It's the lie. of Satan and he
did this out of his mouth for this desire that the woman might
be carried away. The 16th verse of the 12th chapter
says, The earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And you remember we looked at
that and realized as hard as it is to understand how the earth
could help the woman, only by the inspired Word of God would
we know exactly what is happening when Satan spews out his false
delusion. And he does because the Scripture
in verse 15 says he does. When He speaks, the Scripture
says, He speaks a lie, for He speaks of Himself, for He is
the liar. And the Scripture says that the
earth, in that word earth, there is the world. The world helped
the woman. How does the world help the woman? Well, the Scripture says she
opens her mouth and she receives that which Satan spewed out. for the purpose of destroying
the woman. The world opens her mouth and
swallows it up, hook, line, and sinker. If you want to know exactly
what happens, the Scripture says, God Almighty, who is all-powerful,
shall send strong delusion to those that will not receive the
love of the truth, left to himself a man will believe a lie because
Almighty God gives him exactly what he wants. He wants to believe
a lie and God will send it. The Scripture says that the means
of God sending strong delusion to give men exactly what they
want is Satan opens his mouth and spews out a flood and God
Almighty causes the world, the earth, to help the woman. And they opened their mouth.
And the Scripture then says that the dragon in verse 17 was wroth
with the woman. He went to make war with the
remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ and that totally by the grace
of God that they are faithful to Him. And so the war that we
see that is raging in this world right now, in the 13th chapter,
manifest itself by two beasts. We looked at the first beast
last week, and I won't go over, obviously, everything that we
looked at, but just to remind you, and then we'll come up to
verse 6. But to remind you what it was, it says the first beast
in verse 1 rose out of the sea. The sea, you remember, is the
picture is the type of the nations, the governments of this world. Now, whether you realize it or
not, we know that there is a war that is going on. This is the
only way that we know that a war is going on. It's because the
scripture tells us that in the 17th verse that war was because
of the wrath of the devil, he went to make
war with her." Now, this war manifests itself, first of all,
by and through the governments or the economy of this world. You remember we left off by talking
about how this battle rages with God's people by the devil through
the governments, the nations, the economy of this world. The
Scriptures clearly set forth that the Lord Jesus Christ told
His people, take no thought for tomorrow. Don't let your mind
be set on worrying about tomorrow, the things of this world and
the cares of this world. This battle that rages against
God's people, and you think for just one second and ask yourself
this. Do you ever battle with the cares
of this world, the governments? What if Iraq does so-and-so?
What if Saudi Arabia cuts off the oil? What if oil does go? What if this? What if the stock
market? There's a battle that God's people are engaged in. And the reason that they're engaged
in this battle is because Satan uses the nations of this world
to war against God's people and cause them. He opened His mouth
in verse 6, and this is where we'll pick up. He opened His
mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His
tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. This is the language
of the first beast. You cannot trust God in this
world. That's the first beast that we
see that came out of the sea, out of the nations, out of the
kingdom. You cannot trust God whenever Satan came to eat. What
did he say to her? Have God said, you're not going
to die? Did God tell you that if you
ate of the fruit of the tree that you would die? Surely, you
don't believe. No. You can't trust God. It's not
the temptation of Satan. through the beast of this world's
government and economy, to say to you that believe, you cannot
believe God." We looked at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24 to 34,
but let me just read this one verse, Matthew 6, 24. No man
can serve two masters. For either he'll hate the one
and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Now, I looked up the
word mammon there. I've always known, and I've heard
it means money. That's not what the word means.
The word mammon means confidence. Confidence. Now, money or clothes
or cars or something, it may manifest itself in something
like that, but the word mammon means confidence. You cannot
serve God and serve confidence in other things. The battle is
realized when I find myself tempted to worry. and to not believe
God. And it is a battle, don't you
think, for one second. Now, let me ask you this. Does
it mean that a man or woman who is a believer is to be irresponsible
in the things of this world? Absolutely not. But I will tell
you this, Psalm 62 says this, if riches increase, what? Set not your heart on them. Be
careful. There is a battle that Satan
wages against God's people through the economy of this world to
worry and to fret. In verse 7, it says, And it was
given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.
And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
nations. Now, this verse, I believe, is
tied in or corresponds with Revelation 11, 7. where we find that the
two witnesses, they appeared as though that they were killed. And without a doubt, I am convinced
that any power to overcome or conquer or prevail, the Scripture
says with the saints, is by the direct permission, providence,
and purpose of Him who also has said, the gates of hell shall
not prevail against God's church. It shall not. It was given, verse
7 says, unto him to make war with the saints. So here we're
reminded again that though God's people seem to be overcome, seem
to succumb, and you're like me, there's been times, and don't
tell me that you haven't, worried and fretted over the things of
this world, the cares of this world. I'm specifically thinking
right now as I'm making and preaching this, I think about my children
because that seems like to me that that's, man, it just, oh,
there's times that I will just come to that point and I just
think, oh, this is tough, you know, you're raising kids. And
then I think about grandkids coming up. And can I trust God? Though the cares of this world
seem as though that they have put me in the dust and I lie
in the streets dead and I fail, His Word has promised, the gates
of hell shall not prevail against them. The power of this world's
governments and this world's economy and this world's desire
for temporal power may endure or seem to endure for a while,
but God's people endure. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. Let me read you this. You've
heard this Scripture. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, philosophers is what
that word is. I mean, just really wise people
in this world as far as this world is concerned. Not many
mighty. That word means capable. That
word means powerful. It means people that have, I'm
talking about, a lot of money. Big money. Not many. Not many. Not many capable. Not many noble. Well-born is
what that means. I heard of a queen one time that
said, she said, I am so thankful, I can't think, maybe in Elizabeth,
I don't know. She said, I'm so thankful for the letter M because
it said not many. Why? She could have said any.
But she said, I'm thankful for the word many. Not many. Noble. You're going to find that
this is so. The Scriptures clearly set forth
the care that should be taken, must be taken concerning the
possession of this world's goods. I'm talking about big time, big
time money. By and large, you'll find that
when you find someone that has a lot of money, I mean a lot
of money, give it time and you're going to find that more times
than not, it proves to be a great deterrent to them. Very, very
dangerous. I'm not saying it's impossible
because the Scripture says that not many mighty. There's a lot of men and women
that have a lot of stuff in this world. But more times than not,
give it time and it's going to manifest itself to be a great
deterrent and a great hurt to them. And this is a great battle
with God's people. It may seem to overcome them,
but trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to your
own understanding. I'm telling you, the things of
this world can dwindle quickly. How many of you folks out there? Now, there are some of you that
have gone through and seen some things. And you know, in this
economy right here, the last four or five years, Let me ask
you this, what happened to your portfolio? You know? Why don't you go back and look
five years ago and see what it looked like compared to now?
As a general rule, you're going to find the things of this world
are very, very fleeting. It's a battle. Well, maybe I
can change it over and I can change it to this or I can change
it to that. I can put it in this right here. I can put it in that.
And it struggles. You struggle with it. Don't tell
me you don't. No doubt. The power to war and
to overcome or to attempt to overcome the saints is there,
but the ability to finally and eternally accomplish that desire
for Satan against God's people is not. And let me ask you this
now. Who in this world worships the
beast, this world's thinking, that God can't be trusted? Who
will end up believing that? Well, look at verse 8. and all
that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world." It is not possible for God's elect, for God's people
to be finally totally deceived. Their names personally individually
are known of Almighty God. He said, I know My sheep. And their names are written,
graven, graven, the Scripture says, upon the palms of His hands.
Isaiah 49, 15 says, A mother may forget her second child,
but I will not forget you. All the Scripture says that dwell
on the earth, every one of them, without exception. Everyone will
worship this beast right here, the beast of the cares of this
world. There's another one that we're
getting ready to look at in just a minute, and it's false religion. I'll go ahead and tell you what
it is right now, and it just works hand in glove with this
first beast. But everyone, everyone without
exception will end up worshiping the beast except those whose
names are written in the Book of Life. And I'll tell you this,
they'll struggle with it. Satan wars against them. Where
are their names written? The Scripture says in the Book
of Life of the Lamb, the Lamb's Book of Life. I'll tell you something
that will give you some comfort. There's no erasing with God.
None whatsoever. God never changes. I told Brother Scott, he made
that statement. I told you this. He made the
statement to me. I told everybody and their brother. And all these
things come up and men start to talk about how God views His
people. You remember this. If God views
His people a certain way right now, He's always viewed them
that way and He will forever View them that way. God never
changes. If God has ever loved a man,
He'll always love that man. If God has ever chosen a man,
that man is forever in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are
registered and they have been since the foundation of the world.
Even in the darkest time of oppression, He ever remembereth His saints. He ever knows them. They've always
been chosen. They have always been looked
upon Him in favor, ever. And the security of that promise? Our Savior is here described
as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God has always
viewed them. Their guilt has always been looked
upon as being paid for in the person of their blessed surety. In the mind, in the purpose of
God Almighty, God's people have always been justified, always. And here's the reason that mankind
wasn't obliterated. When Adam fell, why did God Almighty
not just wipe them out right then? When they rebelled against
God, why? Because Christ was slain for
His people from the foundation of the wine. There's no protection. There is no preservation. There
is no security. But in Christ, in God's Christ,
God's surety, God's salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said
in Romans 8.35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword, who? Look at verse 9. If any man have
an ear, Let Him hear. Let Him understand. Let Him perceive. Has the Lord given you an ear
to hear that your eternal safety, your salvation, salvation from
His judgment, His wrath, is found totally in this fact, that He
looked upon you in mercy. He looked upon you in compassion.
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. If you have an ear to hear, it's
because God gave you an ear to hear. The Lord looked upon you. And if so, rejoice that your
name is written in heaven, that God Almighty will look upon one
such as me and show mercy to me. What have I done? What have I done to merit salvation? Nothing. Why did He look upon
me in mercy? I'll tell you why. Because He
chose to, Jeff. That's why. He chose to. Why did He not look upon another
in mercy? Because He chose not to. Who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? God Almighty is the Sovereign
God of this universe does as He will. And all the kingdoms
of this world that are used as a tool to war against God's people,
they shall not prevail. They'll struggle. God's people
are going to struggle, and it's a battle. The Scripture says
in verse 10, He that leadeth into captivity, Satan, shall
go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword
must be killed with the sword." Here's the patience and the faith
of the saints. This is how God's people endure.
How do they get up every day with confidence, knowing? That's
Scripture that goes through their mind. I will never leave you.
I've said before, oh, that God might give me an understanding
of Romans 8, 28. All things. All things. Now you stop right
now and you think about where is the greatest in your mind?
What's the greatest struggle that you're struggling with right
now? Whatever it is, whatever it is, money, your family, your
job, whatever, whatever, whatever. I mean, you're sitting here,
you that believe, and you are convinced This message that I'm
preaching right here, I'm going to get into the next part right
here, that next beast in just a minute. But before I leave
this beast right here, the cares of this world, before I leave
it, let me ask you this. Where is the greatest point of
struggle that Satan is using in this world by the express
permission of Almighty God for you? Can you enter in? to all things
work together for good. How can this work for my good? I don't know. But I can tell
you this based on the authority of His Word. I'm telling you
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to His purpose. Almighty God,
shall take that which you are enduring right now. And it is
a battle that you are raging in right now. And you are fighting
right now. And God is going to turn it for
your good and for His glory. Now how do I know that? Because
God told me so in His Scriptures. Not as though someone like someone
says, well, the Lord came to me last night. He spoke to me
right here. And you that believe, He speaks
to you too and tells you that. Everything and everybody is going
to be dealt with in absolute justice. That which you're warring
with right now, Almighty God is going to deal with that battle
in justice. But He's going to turn it for
your good. Whatever. Knowing that our God reigns,
this world shall be dealt with in sovereign justice. Here is
the patience, verse 10 says. Here's the patience. Here's the
cheerful endurance of God's people. And the faith, the persuasion,
is what that word means, of the saints. God's people are convinced
and they're kept. And they know that they shall
endure in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, John says
in verse 11, And I beheld another beast. Now, that was the first
beast we looked at, the beast of this world and the economy
and the cares and the worries and the sufferings. That's a
war. That's a battle. And it's tough.
I know that. But now we're going to view another
beast. He says, I beheld another beast, in verse 11, coming up
out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb,
and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power
of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them
that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed." Now, this second beast right here, the
Scripture says he comes up out of the earth. It says he had
two horns like a lamb. It says he spake like a dragon. It says he exercises all the
power as the first beast. And then it says he causes the
earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast. This first beast, as we looked
at, was a picture, a type of these governments and the economy
and the cares of this world that are empowered by Satan to war
against the saints and comes to you by his lies of deception
and tells you, you can't trust God. You cannot believe God. You cannot rest in God. Now,
this beast, that we're getting ready to look at. The Scripture
says it has the same power as the first one. He exercises the
mind of Satan. Now, if we could look at the
first beast as being Satan's hand, the second beast is his
mind. All right, let's notice this.
First thing we notice is he comes up out of the earth. The question should arise, what
does the Scripture say that is of this earth? This one came
out of the earth. Turn back to James 3. James chapter
3. James 3 verse 13. Who is a wise man? James 3 verses
13 to 16. Who is a wise man? "...and endued
with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness, or that word meekness there is submission
of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Wisdom,
James says, that manifests a bitter envying and strife in the heart
against God, against His sovereignty, against His glory, against His
goodness? You remember when Moses said,
Show me Your glory. Show me Your glory. We've looked
at that word before. The root word for glory is attitude. Your mind. Your attitude. Show me Your glory. Your attitude. attitude toward
whatever. Show me your glory. Show me your
attitude, Moses said. And the Lord said, I will cause
all of my goodness to pass before. And he said, this is my glory. This is my goodness. I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion." That's God's glory. To show mercy and
compassion to whomsoever He will. So James says, "...wisdom that
manifests a bitter envying and strife in the heart against God,
against His sovereignty and glory, His goodness, and against his
people is not from above, but is earthly, worldly, sensual. It's natural. And it belongs
to man as he is in Adam. It's devilish, James said, demon-like. So this beast possesses a wisdom
about him. He's out of the earth, comes
up out of the earth. So he possesses a wisdom that is anti-Christ. As I heard Brother Mahan say,
religion is not anti-morality. It's not anti-works, but is anti-Christ. It is anti-God's Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this beast here, Now this
other beast in verse 11, he came up out of the earth and he had
two horns like a lamb. That was his description. Now
this beast had two horns where the first beast had ten horns. Now what I believe is being set
forth here is that it seems to be less harmful than the first
beast because of his appearance. He has two horns. The first one
had ten horns. And for that reason, because
he appears to be less harmful, he's more dangerous than the
first. He has two horns. He seems, this beast does, to
be mild and gentle and really a less offensive beast than the
first. The first one is bad. Oh, that
old money. That old government. You know,
they're this and they're that, and they're trying to get us.
This one right here doesn't seem to be as bad. He only has two
horns, Bob. This beast possesses somewhat
of an appearance that attempts to emulate the Lord Jesus Christ
because it says he has two horns, but he's like a lamb. It has
that appearance to emulate or to look like the meekness and
submissiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you remember, He's
got two horns. Well, while Christ speaks those
things, according to John 8, 28, that were taught Him of His
Father that the Lord said, that which my Father says, that's
what I speak. Look at this one right here,
the last part. It says in verse 11, He had two
horns like a lamb, He's fake as a dragon. He doesn't have the appearance.
He doesn't look like. He's only got two horns. He's
like a lamb. And there's that emulation where
he's trying to emulate the lamb of God Himself. But he speaks
like a dragon. He speaks like the devil himself. He utters these great swelling
words and he speaks evil. says, of dignities, and he speaks
evil of those things which he doesn't know anything about.
He hears the gospel of God's free grace and those that preach
it, and he lashes out against them. He speaks evil of them. He foams out of his mouth, his
shame, and speaks as Satan speaks, haughty and proud and arrogant. Well, he looks harmless, but
he speaks like the devil. All false preaching. Now, this
one we're going to find, and just quickly, this is the false
prophet. This is him. The most dangerous
attribute of this beast is that he appears to be harmless. He's got two horns. He doesn't have ten. He's like
a lamb. He's like a – well, the Scripture
says he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. He appears as all false preachers
that make him up, and all false religion makes up this beast
right here. He appears to have a concern. He wants to have that appearance
of being a lamb. But the Scripture reveals that
he speaks with the mind and the mouth of Satan himself. He appears to have a concern
for souls and a love for God and a heart for peace, but you
remember who grants him his power. He speaks of Satan himself. And he exercises, verse 12 says,
all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth
and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast who deadly
wound was healed." This is the false prophet that is spoken
of. Turn over to Revelation 19. Just
look at this scripture right here. Now, you remember the scripture
says we're dealing with two beasts. We're dealing with the world's
governments, and then we're talking about this false prophet right
here. Look in Revelation 19. He said, ìI saw the beast and
the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make
war against him that sat upon the horse and against his army.
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that
wrought miracles before him in which he deceived them that received
the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. These
both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So the scripture reveals, and
we're going to find, that God's going to deal with these two
beasts. God's going to deal with the temptation and the warring
against God's people, the cares and the governments of this world,
and false religion. They go hand in glove. We're
going to see that. But being of the same mind as
the beast, the first beast that we saw, both these beasts received
their power from Satan himself. And we see how this false prophet,
which is actually, as I said, all false religion, He exercises
or He executes all the authority of the first beast. He's got
the same interest. He's got the same purpose. He's
got the same pursuits, the same goals of that first beast, to
draw men away from worshiping God. That's the bottom line. Here's the way that Satan works
most deceptively, the way that men are most easily fooled, the
way that they're most cunningly deceived. Surely, Marvin, you're
not insinuating that Satan uses false religion to draw men away
from God. I mean, aren't we all working
for the same thing? No. No. I mean, you're saying
then that men that stand up and appear as though, you know, whenever
they're setting forth how much they care for souls and how concerned
they are that that you prosper in this world and, you know,
send your seed faith or faith seed or whatever it is, or, you
know, surely you're not saying that these men are lying on God
and that they're being deceptive. That's exactly what I'm saying.
So that you won't misunderstand what I'm saying, I'm telling
you this, any man that's standing in a pulpit that is not setting
forth the sovereign, saving, free grace apart from any works
of self-righteousness, I'm saying any man that stands in a pulpit
and does not preach that He's a false prophet. He's the mouthpiece
of Satan. He's a liar. He's lying on God. And he's lying to you. And unless
Almighty God opens your heart and delivers you from that thinking,
God Almighty will deal with you in absolute justice. That's exactly
what I'm saying. Any man, Paul says, that preach
not the gospel that we preach to you, sovereign, saving, grace,
that message that says that Almighty God saves His people totally
by grace apart from any works of righteousness, no free will,
nothing merits you before God except the Lord Jesus Christ,
Him. Any man that doesn't preach that
is a false prophet. He's a liar on God. uses the
tool of this second beast that just has two little horns. Just two. And he appears as though
he's a lamb, but I'm telling you, he's speaking. And he causes
the earth and them that dwell therein to worship, to kiss the
hand of the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. I'm going to just tell you this,
and then I'm going to stop. We're just right there. I don't
want to wait before I get into the 13th verse, but I'll tell
you this. I was thinking this morning as
I was going over my notes, how deceptively this second beast,
when it says that he exercises all the power of the first beast
and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship
the first beast. to false preachers. And let me ask you this. I told
you that the first beast was the governments and money and
power and wealth and glory and stuff like that. Flip any channel
that you want to. And let me ask you this. You
know what I'm going to say, don't you, Neil? Let me ask you this. What is the heart? of the message
that false preachers are setting forth. This is what they say. This is what they're saying.
Gain is godliness. That's what they're saying. That's
what they're saying. They're saying if you're truly going
to be blessed by God, you're going to know it in the things
that you have. God wants you to have these things.
God's got a wonderful plan for your life if you'll send Me your
money. And if you'll send Me your money, I'm telling you,
and I've got testimonials they'll say here. Here's a woman that
said that she sold $100 and four people last week showed up at
her door and brought her $1,000 each. That's what they're saying.
This false religion, it works hand in glove with the cares
of this world and tells you, join up with us and you'll be
healthy. We'll heal you. You'll be wealthy. And you'll be wise. This beast
here has two horns like a lamb, a false impression of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But he speaks like a dragon and
he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and
causes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the
first beast whose deadly wound was healed. save those whose
names were written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world. God's kept them. And then verse
13, we'll go in this, Lord willing, He does great wonders in this
world. We'll start dealing. I'm going
to stop right now or I'm going to get into it. Oh, listen. God's people. You know this. You that believe. You know. You
can see the battle that God's people struggle with in this
world, and none of us are exempt from the battle, but thanks be
to God, we're kept. If God had not sealed His people
and kept them from the devices of Satan through this world's
glory, you remember when Satan came to the Lord Jesus Christ
and told Him, he said, I took Him up on the pinnacle and looked
out He showed him all the kingdoms of this world. He said, you'll
bow down and worship me. I'll give you all this stuff.
I'll give you the only reason that God's people have a heart
and remain faithful to God and set not their heart on the cares
of this world eternally is because the Lord has kept them and kept
them from it. This evening, Lord willing, we'll
go into this second beast and how he manifests himself and
the mark of the beast and how those that were found that had
that mark in their forehead or in their hand. There was a scripture
that we may deal with tonight, Gary, if I get there. But it
says that those that had the mark of the beast, that no one
could buy or sell except those that had that mark, the mark
of the beef. What does that mean? Buy or sell? Lord willing, may God be pleased
to teach us of the battle that we're waging in or raging in
at this very moment and how the Lord is keeping us. The book
of Revelation sets forth time and time and time again God says
in this world, you're going to have tribulation. You're going
to have a battle. You're going to have a struggle. But I've
overcome the world. Be of good cheer. Okay, Gary.