Turn with me, if you would, in
your Bibles to Revelation 13. Revelation 13. I would like to begin this evening
by reading this thirteenth chapter. There are some things contained
within the chapter that overlap that I'm convinced I won't be
able to deal with all tonight. But I would like to read the
Scripture in its entirety, and then we'll begin back at verse
1. John said, I stood upon the sand
of the sea and saw a beast rise out of the sea, having seven
heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon
his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was
likened to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear,
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him
power and his seat and great authority. And I saw one of his
heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed,
and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped
the dragon. which gave power unto the beast,
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the
beast, and who is able to make war with him? And there was given
unto him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies. And power
was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his
name and his tabernacle. and them that dwell in heaven.
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. 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.
If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword
must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he
spake as a dragon, and he exercised 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. And
he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that
dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had
power to do in the sight of the saying to them that dwell on
the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had
the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give
life unto the image of the beast. And the image of the beast should
both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark
in their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is
the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three score
and six. In the last verse of the twelfth
chapter, we looked at this morning, we are told, And the dragon was
wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ. Now this war that is spoken of
in chapter 12 is described in this 13th chapter. And it is in this chapter that
the church is told of the adversity that she is going to have to
endure the adversity, the war that opposes her, and she's told
of the tools of her adversary. Now, in the passage that we just
read, we saw where there were actually two beasts. One of them came out of the sea. One of them came out of the earth.
Obviously, we will try to deal with the first one that came
out of the sea. We are to begin our study by
looking at that first beast that made war with the church. John said in verse 1, I saw upon
the sand of the sea. I saw a beast rise up out of
the sea with seven horns, having seven heads and ten horns, and
upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
Now, realizing that this book is obviously greatly symbolic,
we realize that the sea is a symbol, and we know this, and we're going
to look at some scriptures to back this up. The sea is symbolic
of all of the nations of this world. I've read this passage
before, but I think that it's appropriate to read it again,
that we might have it settled in our mind. Because one thing
I'm certain of, I've mentioned to many of you, as we walk through
by faith and consider this book This great book that a blessing
has been promised to all those that hear it, see it, that the
Lord reveals to them. There is a great blessing in
this book, how the Lord has kept and is keeping His people. But
what is this sea? There was a beast that came out
of the sea. Listen to these Scriptures. If
you want to turn to Matthew 13, 47 to 49, What is said here again, the
Lord said the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net. Now the reason
I wanted to read that again, let me turn to, I've got it written
down. I want to, let me just do the same thing. Revelation,
I'm sorry, Matthew 13, Matthew 13, 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven,
that kingdom as we looked at this morning, heaven itself,
where God's throne has been set up in the hearts of His people
residing. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a net that was cast into the sea. Now there's that word,
the sea. Now what is the sea? It's cast
into the sea and gathered of every kind. And when it was full,
that is, that net, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered
the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be
at the end of the world. The angels have come forth and
severed the wicked from among the just." So we realize when
we look at this world, I mean, this word, the sea. You understand
that you're talking about all of the kingdoms of this world
and the people that dwell therein. Turn back to Revelation 8, verse
8 and 9. Revelation 8, 8 and 9, and the
second angel sounded as it were a great mountain burning with
fire and was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea
became blood, and the third part of the creatures that were in
the sea and had life died, and the third part of the ships were
destroyed. Now, the symbol, the symbolic
nature of this, the sea is the kingdom. There were great death
that was found, creatures that were in the sea. It's those places
of refuge. That's where they, you know,
their churches, where they were having their refuge within the
sea was destroyed. The sea itself. Turn over to
Isaiah 17. Isaiah 17, verse 12. Isaiah 17, verse 12. Woe to the multitude of many
people which make a noise like the noise of the seas, and to
the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of
mighty waters. The nations shall rush like the
rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them, and they shall
flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains
before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Daniel, in Daniel 7.3, spake,
the Scripture said, and said, I saw in my vision by night,
and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great
sea. Now, these four winds, we looked
at it. They are symbolic of God's judgment. God would send strong delusion
whoever would not receive the love of the truth. So John saw
in his vision, in Revelation 13-1, this beast, a great beast
that rose up out of the sea. This beast represents the persecuting
power of Satan working in and through the nation of this world
and their governments. Turn over to Revelation 17.7.
Here again, when you make a statement, especially in this book, as I've
said before, whenever you hear someone preaching, especially
out of the book of the Revelation or Ezekiel or these prophetic
books, if a statement is made, back it up. Revelation 17, verse
7, And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery
of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which hath
the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was,
and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, go
into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder
whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation
of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not
and yet is. Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains
on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings, five
are fallen, one is, and when the other is not yet come, when
he cometh he must continue a short space. And the beast that was
and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth
into perdition. And the ten horns which thou
sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast. And these have
one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast."
So these are kings. These are nations. This is the
world. This sea is this world. And it's the governments of this
world that are empowered by Satan himself who is actually given
reign by God Himself to accomplish the purpose of Almighty God. These nations that are raised
up, that oppose the people of God, and I'm going to build a
foundation, hopefully, to show you how this beast wars against
the church. And remember, there were two
beasts. One came out of the sea. One came out of the earth. Whenever
the people of God were in bondage to Egypt, that was a nation. I understand that it was a picture.
It was a type of the people of God in bondage to sin, but they
were actually in bondage to a nation whenever the Philistines had
raised themselves up against the nation of Israel. Remember
David came in and took the sling and killed Goliath? That was
a nation. Babylon and Daniel and all of
Daniel's friends that were in prison, that was a nation. Rome
during the time of Christ was a nation that was raised up,
empowered by Satan himself. And Rome has never relinquished
that battle, I am telling you. Rome, here again, I want to be
careful, I don't want to go, you know, but I'm telling you,
Rome and the Roman Catholic Church, the great whore, are definitely
part of her, all part of it, is in constant battle with the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So David, I mean, John sees,
he says, I saw upon the sand of the sea, I saw a beast rise
up out of the sea, seven heads, ten horns, We know that they're
nations. So this beast is not one beast,
but it's a culmination of nations that have all been raised up. And they're not powerless by
any means. It says the beast in verse 2,
which I saw, was like a leopard. His feet were as the feet of
a bear. His mouth is the mouth of a lion
and the dragon gave him power and his seat and great authority. The scripture sets forth that
this beast raised up out of the world itself, worldly nations
according to Revelation 17, kings, nations. They've retained their
power and their position and their authority from Satan himself. In fact, verse 1 says, on that
last part, upon his heads, upon the names of those kings, upon
those nations, this is what was written upon his heads, the name
of blasphemy. Well, because Satan, by the express
permission of Almighty God, is their head, their governments
or the governments of this world have won ultimate goal, the destruction
of the church. Now, I said to someone this morning,
maybe more than one, I don't know, one of the amazing things
as I've gone through and studied this blessed book, there are
some things that we're told in this book that give great insight
into what is actually going on in this world. I understand that
it's very easy for us to look and we see, well, these are just
nations. That's, you know, that's England
and, you know, there's France and there's this and the other.
And that's not really the problem, we think. That's not really the
problem. Really, these nations are all,
you know, there's the United Nations and we're all trying
to work together. And I understand false religion,
you know, is in opposition. to us, but just the world in
general I'm talking about. Surely there can't be a battle
there too. Well, this book reveals that
there is. That this beast, it comes up out of the world. This
beast, according to this Scripture right here, manifests itself
this way. World domination. This is what
this be. So no matter what the nation's
policy is, as far as another nation is concerned, Satan plans
to rule and to execute, according to God's sovereign will, the
governments of this world for the church's harm and her destruction. No matter how I look at it or
how you look at it, No matter the way we see it, we can say,
well, now, that government right there, now, that's a good government. They're for us. But I'll tell
you this. You look at the history of this
world and how many governments have been raised up and brought
down and how many governments have been in opposition to the
people of God, whether we realize it or not. The Scripture says
there's a beast that's raped the nations of this world, and
Satan Through them hath one ultimate goal, whether it was Egypt, whether
it was Assyria, whether it was Russia, no matter what it was,
Satan attempts to get to the people of God because he hates
them, because he's wrath wither, and he went to make war with
them against the remnant, verse 17 of chapter 12, those that
keep the commandments of God. Well, in verse 3 of chapter 13,
it says, And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death,
and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after
the beast. Since the seven heads and the
ten horns represent the governments of this world, and I want to
just say this, so that I won't, because I don't think that I'm
going to get to the second beast. But I'm going to tell you right
now, and Lord willing, when we get to that second beast that
came out of the earth, we're going to find out that these
two beasts really are one beast. And they're working together.
But the second beast, along with the first beast, the one that
came up out of the earth, That one we're going to find, as we
read, is actually the false prophet, the false religion. And we're
going to find how the governments of this world, by Satan himself
empowering them, work together for one goal, the destruction
of God's people. That's their purpose. But since
these seven heads and these ten horns represent the governments,
of this world that opposed the church. We see here in this verse,
according to this scripture, that one of the heads was wounded
to death. And the scripture says, but that
deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the
beast. I've been very tempted to do
what I say I don't want to do. which is speculate, and I don't
want to get into it right now in speculation because I can't
prove this. I'm just going to tell you right
now, I cannot prove it. So, I'll just tell you, this
is a thought. This is a thought that has gone
through my mind concerning this Scripture. One of these heads,
it says, was wounded. It seemed to be given a death
blow and for a while to cease in its satanic influence and
its opposition to the church. And later the deadly wound was
healed and all the world wondered after the beast. I'm going to
give you my speculation and just remember what I'm saying right
now. I'm speculating. I truthfully believe that this
could be, I'm being real careful on this from Carl, very cautious. I believe that the church in
Rome, one of these nations that is opposed, raised up these ten
horns out of these seven heads, I know this, that there was a
time when supposedly the Roman Catholic Church was under the
reign of, I think it was Constantine, was supposedly all Christian. No more opposition to the church,
they said, supposedly. And for a while, now you remember
this, that as long as these horns on that beast that came out of
the sea, as long as those horns are strong, here's the way you
know them. They are in opposition to the
church. They oppose the church. But here was one that says that
it looked like it was kind of, you know, beaten down. And it says it looked like it
was wounded to death. And what happened right there
is the horn that was raised up in opposition to the church appeared
as though that it didn't have the power to do what it did at
one time. But in time, that so-called non-opposition
to the church removed. And again, that horn came back
and was raised up again to its former power. And it's there
today in opposition to the church. Now, here again, I'm telling
you that I think that that was a speculation. I think I'm probably
right. But the Roman Catholic Church
opposes the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. and hates her and
despises her. That horn now has been healed. That deadly wound was healed
and all the world wondered after the beast. But let me say this,
whoever this nation is, at one time it possessed a vital hatred
toward God's people and for a while its deadly influence was abated. toward the church, but God's
providence was such that He came back into power and again to
persecute the church, and the world wondered." That word, wondered,
there is admired and marveled after the beast. And the Scripture
says in verse 4, they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto
the beast. And they worshipped the beast
saying, Who is like unto the beast? And who is able to make
war with him? The world that wondered after
the beast did exactly what Satan had always desired. This is Satan's desire right
here, verse 4, ìAnd they worshipped the dragon, which gave power
unto the beast.î They worshipped That word worship right there,
I've told you this before, but here's what it means. Kissed
the hand. They kissed the hand of Satan
that had given power unto the beast. That combination, all
the nations of this world. It was the devil, the Scripture
says, the dragon that gave power to the beast, and the world worshiped
the beast. But the beast out of the sea. you remember, is but the tool
of Satan to accomplish his purpose, to persecute the church and have
worship be given to himself. That's what verse 4, they worship
the dragon. Some would say, well, now, you
know what? Now, nobody is worshiping the
devil. They're not worshiping the devil.
I'll tell you this, if they look to and worship the beast, that
the devil has empowered, they worship Satan himself. What did
Satan ultimately attempt? What was his purpose? What is
the bottom line? Turn with me to Luke 4. What
was Satan's true goal in the temptation of our blessed Savior? Luke chapter 4 verse 5. Luke
4 verse 5. And the devil, taking him up
into a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,
All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them. For that is delivered unto me,
and to whomsoever I will give it. You talk about arrogance. You talk about high and mighty. Satan is saying here to the blessed
Lord Jesus Christ, all this belongs to me. Now, I do understand that
he's called the prince of this world. And I do understand that
he, according to Revelation 13, is caused and has empowered the
nations When he told the Lord, he said, look at all these nations.
See all this? I'll give you all that if you'll
worship me. That's what he wants. If you'll
worship me. By raising up these kingdoms and giving these kingdoms
power to fight against the church, that's what he desires. The worship
of God's people. But don't ever forget, any power
that Satan has in this world has been given him He's God's
devil. I realize that he is a roaring
lion. Oh wait, Scripture says he's
as a roaring lion. He's as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. The devil, as the Lord's opponent,
opposition, he has one goal. Worship. And let me ask you this. As he tempted the Lord and said,
I'll give you all these kingdoms, I'll give all this to you, I'll
give this to you if you'll worship me. How does Satan, now here
we're starting to get down to the nitty gritty of this beast
that came up out of this sea. This beast that opposes God's
people, the governments, the glory of this world. How does the governments and
the kingdoms and the glory of this world, how is that in opposition? How is that fighting God's people?
That's what I want to ask you. Turn with me to Luke 12. Luke
chapter 12. How is there a battle that is
being raged right now? As the Lord was tempted by the
devil, how does the devil tempt God's people today? Luke 12,
look at verse 15. The Lord is speaking here. He
said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. He spake
a parable unto them, said the ground of a certain rich man
brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he says, This will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul,
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease. Eat and drink and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall these things be which thou hast provided? So is he that
layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he saith unto his disciples,
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, Neither for the body what ye shall put on. The
life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider
the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have
storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are
ye better than the fowls?" Here was Satan. And the Scripture
back here said those ten heads and horns back in verse 1 of
chapter 13. Here was the name that was written
on those heads, the name of blasphemy. The name that is written upon
every head of the beast that came out of the sea. Blasphemy. Turn with me to Exodus 15. Here
are the words of the prophet. Listen to these. Exodus 15. Verse 11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord
among the gods? Who is like unto thee? Glorious
in holiness, fearful in praising, doing wonders. Now who are they
speaking to? The Lord God Himself. Who is
like unto you? But I want you to turn back to
Revelation 13 and listen to the words here of these that worship
the dragon. They worshipped the dragon which
gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast saying,
Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with
him? Whoever this beast is, and we
know that it is the nations, the glory of this world, the
kingdoms of this nation, the riches, the glory, the praise,
the honor of this world. Blasphemy is written upon it. This blasphemy that is in the
heart of every man, every woman left to themselves. Look at verse
5. There was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things in blasphemies, and power was given unto him
to continue forty and two months. Unto him there was given unto
him the beast, the economic and political beast of this world's
good that is empowered by Satan, that Satan uses to war against
the people of God. You see, his mouth, the Scripture
says, is speaking great things in blasphemies. is the war. And I bet you when
I tell you, you can get right down, I've tried to build this
and build this and now I'm going to tell you where this battle,
this great battle is being fought. This second beast that came out
of the earth, I'm going to tell you right now, there's the false
prophet, there's false religion. But you know what? This scripture
right here reveals that there's another battle that's going on
that we may not be so aware of. This beast that came out of the
sea. The kingdoms. The economy. Here
is the bait by which Satan uses men of so-called influence and
power and titles and wealth to impress men. Turn over to 1 Corinthians. We're in a war. And this war,
I'm guaranteeing you, You're going to be able to understand
this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Where is this battle? What is
Satan using? What is Satan using trying to
get to the people of God? Look at 1 Corinthians 1 verse
26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, Many
noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things that are mighty and the
base things of the world. The things that are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence,
but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Now
listen, how does this beast, the beast of government and fame
and power, manifest itself as being at war with God's people? Turn back to 1 Timothy. 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 1. Let as many servants as are under
the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the
name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that
have believing masters, let them not despise them because they're
brethren, but rather do them service because they're faithful
and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and
exhort. If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he's
proud, knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of
words, whether whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil
surmisings, perverse disputings of men, of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the truth, supposing..." Now you listen to this. "...supposing
that gain is godliness, and from such withdraw thyself. But godliness
with contentment is great gain. For we have brought nothing into
this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out,
and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after they have erred
from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But
thou, O man of God, flee these things. Follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight
of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called and has professed a good profession before
many witnesses." What is the tool of Satan? in this world's
governments and this world's pleasures and this world's goodness
and all of the things that this world and the governments thereof
possess. What is it? It's the attempt
of Satan to tell God, I can't trust you. The love of money,
the love of this world, and don't tell me that we don't all struggle
with it. Don't tell me that it's not a
fight. Now, I'll tell you this. In this world, a man that won't
work, what does Scripture say? He don't eat. But one that don't
work, he don't eat. If a man won't provide for his
family, that man is worse than an infidel. I've spoken with some men before.
I've talked to, in fact, one of them, Brother Fortner, was
talking to me about it. A man told him, he said this, he said,
you know, he said, I'm just too busy to worship God. Don told him, he said, then you're
just too busy. He's too busy. Esau sold his soul for a bowl
of pottage. The Scripture says in Matthew
13, 22, He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that
heareth the word and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches choke the word and becometh unfruitful. Now, I'm not talking of Biden. I know some of you men that work.
I know there's some men that have jobs, and it demands that
you have to work often. whenever the people of God assemble. That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about men or women that never have time and use
the excuse. And Satan uses the temptation
of this world and the kingdoms and the glory and the money and
everything. I'm just too busy. I've got to
make a living. I've got to provide for my family.
I understand that. I understand. But you remember
this. There is a great temptation to
look to this world's goods and to have the pleasures of this
world that is but for a moment. A man said this, I'm going to
have to tear my barn down. I've just got too much stuff.
I've got too many things. I'm going to have to build some
bedrooms because I'm going to be here forever. Well, you're
not. I think it was you, Brother Scott,
who said we'd better turn it loose with some things. Hold
them loosely. Hold them loosely. I thought
to myself recently, if I were to be told, well, I'm sorry,
you've got approximately six months to live, how would I handle
things? What would be my priority then?
This life is but a vapor. The scripture says that out of
the sea came this beast, and of a beast I know where the nations
and the kingdoms and the worlds, this world's goods. And Satan
takes whatever he has to and comes to the people of God. And
he has one purpose. I'm going to destroy you. I'll
take you. If I can't get you in your doctrine,
I'll get you in your time. I'll get you in trying to make
money and have more stuff. The Scripture says, he opened,
verse 6, his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his
name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. Here is
the language of the beast. You cannot trust God. You cannot. I was talking to
my mother, and I know she's going to listen to this tape because
we send them to her. But she was telling me, because she'll
ask me, you know, well, what are you going to preach on? And
I get to preach to her first, and I'll preach to Glenda, and
I'll preach to others, and I'll preach it here. She told me, she said, you don't
have any idea, she said, the struggles that I have. She said, that now that I've
gone, your dad's in the nursing home. And she said, I've had
to spend down, spend down, spend down, so that the government
will pay for my dad's nursing home. And she said, how many
times I have thought to myself, what if I don't have enough?
What if I can't make my bills? What if I can't, you know? And
Satan, because of the kingdoms and the economy and all this
kind of stuff, will tell and try to threaten God's people
and say, you can't trust God. You're not going to make it.
You're not. And people of God struggle with this, don't we?
Don't we think? Don't we worry? Are we not just
saying, I don't believe him? He opened his mouth and he spoke
great blasphemy against God. What did Satan tell Eve? Has God said that you're not
going to do that? Is not the temptation of Satan
through the beast of this world's government and economy, is it
not? that you cannot trust God. Let
me just read this one Scripture and I've got to stop. Matthew
6. One of the most comforting of
all Scriptures to me when we begin to look and I understand. There's a battle. I know there's
a battle. There's a religious battle that's
going on. There's an economic battle that's
going on. Satan, it doesn't matter to him.
It does not matter. Whatever it takes to get God's
people to not trust God. That's all that cares. Matthew
6, verse 24. Matthew 6, 24. No man can serve
two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he'll hold to one and despise the others. Ye cannot
serve God and money. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall
drink, nor yet for your body. What you shall put on is not
the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment. Behold
the fowls of the air. They sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking
thought, by worrying about can add one cubit to his stature.
Or why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into
the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things did
the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and His righteousness. All these things shall be added
unto you. Therefore, no thought for tomorrow, for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the
day, is the evil thereof." I realize we're in this world. I know we
are. I realize that we're in a wilderness
and we're struggling. I know we are as far as this
earth is concerned. We war with principalities, powers,
spiritual wickedness in high places. This scripture reveals
that Satan empowers two great beasts in this world. One of them is the nations, the
kingdoms. But what if Iraq? What if this
country over here? What if the Saudi Arabians? What
if they cut off the oil? What if Iraq? What if an oil
and that hurricane comes through and destroys us? What if it's
not enough gas? All of these things Satan will
use as a beast to come to God's people and say this, you can't
trust God. You cannot. I just want to remind
you of that Scripture that said this, do you know that all in
this world worshipped that beast and fell prey to him? Those whose names were written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world. That's
a pleasant thought. Realize that though we're in
this world, we're not of it. And I know Satan comes and tries
to use whatever he has to to try to defeat us. But rest assured,
he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I struggle
just like you do. I have times, and I hate to have
to admit it, but there's times that I'll sit there and worry.
I worry about my kids. I struggle, you know. I've got
a daughter right now that's going through some tough times right
now. I mean while she's going through it. I want to just be
honest with you. I struggle with that. Let me
ask you this. You know, she's got her job and
she's trying and she's holding on there, and I hope she has
enough money. Let me ask you this. Is Satan
pleased to do whatever it takes to defeat the people of God?
To cause them worry and heartache? He sure is. He'll do whatever
it takes. Whatever. It's a great beast
that comes out of the sea, out of these nations right here.
Look to Him. Trust Him. Rest in Him. May the
Lord give me a heart to trust Him for His honor and for my
good. OK, Gary.