Revelation chapter 18. Revelation chapter 18. And the title of the message
is, this morning, The Fall of Babylon and the Call to the Saints. The Fall of Babylon and the Call
to the Saints. In verse one, it says, and after
these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven having
great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a
strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. and is become the habitation
of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk
the wine of her wrath, of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, come out of her, my people. that you be not partakers
of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues. Now, the whole of this chapter
details the destruction the destruction of babylon now
babylon is not a a physical city in this revelation we have studied
this many times and in the previous chapter it declares who this
babylon is this babylon inverse five of the previous chapter
it says mystery of babylon the great The mother of harlots,
an abomination of the earth. This Babylon here that is declared
fallen is false religion. False religion. The whole chapter then details
the fall and destruction of all false religion and those who
follow after her. That when it says committed fornication
with her, these are all of the followers of false religion,
all who believe and trust in the gospel that is of devils,
that is of men. Babylon here is the same as I
told you in the previous chapter, the mother of harlots. This is
a picture of false religion is a great whore. Now in scripture,
the church is always pictured as a bride, a chaste virgin. The bride of Christ is a virgin
bride, clothed with fine linen, clean and white, which is the
righteousness of the saints. And I tell you, the bride is
made white. The bride is made clean. The bride is robed, not in righteousness
of herself, but rather the righteousness of Christ. The bride of Christ
is robed in His righteousness. We are washed by His blood. We're saved by His grace. And
you know what, in the Song of Solomon, that is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, the bride and the bridegroom,
her husband. And you know what He says about
His bride? He says, you are altogether beautiful. Beautiful. That's what Christ
says about His church. You are beautiful to Him. We are beautiful because he's
made us beautiful. Not that we were beautiful in
ourselves. In ourselves, we were sinners,
defiled. In ourselves, we had no righteousness
of our own. But God, in great mercy to us,
clothed us in the righteousness of Christ and made us beautiful
before him. We are betrothed to him. We are
betrothed to him. And we are without blemish. Now, you ladies, when you put
on makeup, what are you doing? You're covering blemishes. We
cover blemishes by the things we put on. But in this thing,
in this spiritual application of this, you see, we need not
put anything on, because Christ has made us beautiful. But notice
the contrast then of the bride, who is altogether lovely, made
lovely by Christ, and this harlot. This harlot who paints herself
to make herself attractive. That is a picture of the false
church. False religion always has to
put on works, put on deeds in order to cover the blemishes
of their nature. They are not robed in the righteousness
of Christ, they are robed in the delicacies of earth and carnal
works to make themselves beautiful. The whore here in these pictures
are robed in jewels and of royalty, earthly royal robes of purple
and scarlet. And they offer sacrifices. False religion always offers
sacrifice, but it is the sacrifice not of Christ, but of their own
works, of their own will, of their own religious activities. And so this harlot, she adorns
her face and paints it up with her works. She stands on every
corner alluring the simple and ignorant of Adam's race. This shows us that false religion
is seductive. The whole purpose and work of
a harlot is to seduce, to trick. And this is what false religion
does, tricks men. They allure them in with all
the delicacies of the world. And all who follow after this
harlot of false religion, believe her lie, who commit spiritual adultery
with her, they are not of Christ, but rather they are children
of fornication. All of you that have come to
God, have you come to God? Have you been accepted of God?
That's a very important question, isn't it? How are you accepted
with God? Are you accepted with God? Then
tell me how you are accepted with God. Are you accepted with
God based on something you have done? Are you accepted with God based
on the free grace of God through Christ alone? Is it by grace or by works? It
cannot be of both. You see, false religion desires
to mix the two in an unholy mixture. They say, yes, salvation is of
grace, but you must do this also. You must be baptized. You must eat the Lord's Supper.
You must come by way of priests. You must come by way of altars.
You must come by some ceremony. That is the whore speaking. That is the lie of false religion
is that you come to God by Christ plus something you've done. See, Paul makes it very clear,
you cannot mix works and grace. It is either of grace, in Romans
chapter 11 and verse 5 and 6, Paul says this, it is either
of grace or it is of works. It cannot be of both. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace and work is no more work. You've ruined
the meaning of the two words if you try to mix them. Be not
deceived by the whore of false religion. If you mix works and
grace, and I'm talking one work. This is how important it is.
Paul, in the church to Galatia, they were mixing one work of
circumcision, one thing, one thing. They said, oh yes, salvations
of Christ, but you must be circumcised. And what did Paul tell them?
Paul said, Christ shall profit you nothing, nothing. Therefore, in this text, this
revelation is given to us for this purpose. So all the world,
all those who continually follow after the great whore of freewill
works religion, here is the word of God to you. Babylon, the great,
is fallen. Is fallen. all false religion is falling
is falling and will be utterly destroyed as look at this text
together and after these things i saw another angel come down
from heaven having a come down from heaven having
great power and the earth was lightened with his glory now
all of the angels we have seen thus far in the book of revelation
we have seen them uh... for the most part to be preachers
of the gospel Preachers of the gospel if you look at the seven
angels that were with the seven seals the seven angels with the
seven trumpets the seven angels with the seven vials all of those
are our pictures of ministers God's ministers that preach the
gospel look at that in the chapter 14 Chapter 14, just as one example,
in verse 6, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
upon the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue
and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to him. Now, you see, only the preachers
of the gospel, not angelic beings, are sent to preach. Angelic beings
have no no understanding of grace in salvation They have no experience
of being redeemed therefore they cannot declare to you Redemption
they have no understanding the the Apostle says that the angels
desire to look into the things and that God has given us. And so these angels here are
not angelic beings, but preachers of the gospel. See, I'm doing
that this morning. As an angel of God, as a messenger of God,
I am sent to preach to you the everlasting gospel of Christ.
and so that's what most of these angels here but this angel this
angel in our text is somewhat greatly is greatly different
than the others it says another angel Separate from those seven
angels that poured out the plagues it says this another angel came
down from heaven Having great power and the earth was lightened
listen with his glory This cannot be any other one than Jesus Christ
This is Jesus Christ coming for his power is great and when he
came in the first time in his humility his power and glory
were veiled but when he comes again he will not be veiled he
will be fully on display all of his great power and wisdom
and glory when he comes again in salvation he said this when
he was risen from the dead all power is given unto me You want to know who has power?
Jesus Christ has power. That's who has power. Christ
has great power. And notice this, and the earth
was lightened with his glory. Lightened with his glory. Isn't
this true even now? As the gospel goes forth in power,
when Christ comes and reveals himself, isn't that the power
of God? It is the power of God. Salvation
is not an act of will. It's not an act of the imagination
or the work of man. It is of the power of God that
you believe. Our Lord said that in John chapter
6 and verse 29. He said, this is the work of
God, that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. You see, God displays His power
in regenerating grace and gives us faith in Christ. And only Christ can condescend
to give light, to lighten the earth with His glory. Preachers
are men, and we declare this gospel. We are the light of the world.
But who is our light? Who is our light? We are the
light of the world, but who is our light? Our light is Christ. He has lightened us. If you have any life in you,
it is because of Him that has lightened you, because He has
given you life and light. And so what is the word then
of Christ? And this is the main part. He has lightened the earth with
His glory. And I tell you this, preachers,
we do not glory in ourselves. God's men do not glory in themselves. But we rather glory in Christ.
And yet this angel lightens men with His glory. His glory. You see, he is the glory of God. The scripture says that God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in
our hearts to give us the light of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. Only in him is the glory of God
revealed. Now then, secondly, look at his
message. This is the Lord speaking, Lord Jesus Christ, and this is
his message. He cried mightily with a strong
voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. This is his message, that the
city of Babylon is fallen. and become the habitation of
devils and the hold of every foul spirit in the cage of every
unclean and hateful this city of babylon is no carnal city
nor does it rep it only represents false religion and not just one
if you were to read commentaries on this book you will find that
some men focus only on one false religion They say, well, this
is just one false religion. No, the whore speaks of every
false religion in every age. This is a picture of every false
religion, not just one. You'd make a mistake to try to
pin this on one false religion. And the first mention of Babylon,
you know, in scripture is in Genesis. It was by that man Nimrod,
the grandson of Noah, Ham being his son, were exiled away because
of his sin, and he was not to have contact with any of his
brethren. He was an outcast. and yet here
it is nimrod this man he he rose up in defiance against god's
uh... order against god's decree that
he'd be separated and he and violence brought men together
to build that power that re rate reach to heaven reach to the
throne of god and i tell you this was a picture of all false
religion that building of the tower of babel is the picture
of all false religion. Because the heart of false religion
is to, first of all, set themselves against God. God says you're
cursed. And what is false religion? No,
you're not. I'm not cursed. God said, you're
depraved, you're wicked, you're vile, you're a sinner. There
are no good men, none to be found, none righteous, no, not one.
And what does man say? I'm not bad, I'm good. They stand in defiance against
God's word. That's the premise of all their
religion, is defiance. And like Nimrod, then they begin
to build a tower to reach heaven. They try by the works of their
hands to reach the throne of God. They try to reach it by their
works and the determination of their will. Don't you suppose
those people were determined to build that tower? Don't you
suppose that they worked really hard I'm going to build this
tower, reach to heaven. Well, you know what? That sounds a lot like their
father. Isn't that what Satan said? Satan, the father of false
religion, says, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will set also upon the mountain
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. That is the same lie he fed to
our mother. In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt be as gods, knowing good and evil. free will, works religion, was
born of Satan and passed down to all of Adam's fallen race. Thus they pray and preach like
the self-righteous Pharisee. Lord, I thank you that I'm not
like other men. I'm so thankful, Lord, that I
have a free will, that I chose you, that I made you my Redeemer,
that I set you on the throne of my heart. I will ascend to
the throne of God. I will make it myself. by the
works of my hands in the termination of my will thank you that i'm
not like those others who did not i have set myself in the grace
of god i have made myself to differ
that is the prayer of all false I tell you, they may not say
it in their outward prayers, but that's exactly what their
doctrine says. This is the prayer of the whore
and her lovers. This is the word of Babylon,
but here is the word of Christ. You are fallen. You're fallen. Babylon is fallen behold the
message of Jesus is the same as his preachers now go I told
you the preachers were those angels remember go back to Chapter
14 and look at the message of his of his ministers. It's the
same. It's the same message in verse
8 And there followed another angel, saying, what? Babylon
is fallen, is fallen, the great city, because she made all nations
to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Is that not
the same message of our Lord as the same message of his preachers?
I'm telling you, false religion is fallen. It's empty. It doesn't
save. It cannot save. Why? Because it is the habitation
of devils. That's what it is. False religion
is the habitation of devils. is a stronghold of unclean spirits. You son of Adam, whosoever you
are, no matter your station, your rank, your standing, it
doesn't matter. Hear me very clearly, because
I would be free of your blood this morning. All false freewill works religion
is fallen. It's empty. It is an adulterous, as an adulterous
woman, it is an abomination. Babylon is fallen. Just as God destroyed the Tower
of Babel by confusion even so all false religion is only and
always Confusion in that what the Lord did a Tower of Babel.
He he changed the languages He separated the languages and somebody
was talking and they couldn't understand this person. They
couldn't and they couldn't build a toothpick house They didn't
understand anything. Anybody was saying it's confusion
Now I'll tell you one thing that that false religion is it is
a mass of confusion smoking mirrors, tricks, they use big fancy words,
they use all of these things to deceive and allure the simple-minded
man. You ask the common churchgoer
today what he or his church believes and he cannot give you a definitive
answer. Tell me the gospel. And they
cannot do it. They speak much of doing good
and self-improvement. I even heard one fellow say this
lady put up a thing in her classroom, judge-free zone here. I asked, well, is she not making
a judgment by putting up a judge-free zone? You obviously have to make
a judgment to put up a judge-free zone because you wouldn't know
what judge-free is if you didn't judge. Be foolish. These kind
of foolish things. They talk of tolerance of sin. They say, well, there's nothing
wrong with abortion or is not murder. Homosexuality is not
abomination. Fornication, adultery are just
carnal Christians, people that practice such things. Confusion. Confusion. They will not call sin, sin. They know nothing of the grace
of God, the sovereign mercy of Christ, the full atonement of
the blood of Christ, the robe of his righteousness, the glory
of his person. They know nothing of. They know
all about themselves and nothing about Christ. It's all about
themselves. They will not speak of his blood
and righteousness nor of his grace because they do not know
them. They do not know the gospel of God's grace. I can tell you
plainly the gospel of God's grace. Here it is. Man by nature is
completely ruined and dead. There is none good, none righteous.
No, not one. There is none that can merit
God's favor. There is none that can raise
himself spiritually from the dead. There is none. Man is dead
and ruined, but God, in free, sovereign mercy, chose a people
of that dead, fallen race that He would save. He gave those
people to His Son, and His Son said, I will be surety for them.
I will guarantee their safety. I will take responsibility for
them. And He came in the flesh, and
He died for their sins. He was raised for their justification.
And He now lives in heaven, interceding for them forever, and sent His
Holy Spirit into the world to call them, quicken them, redeem
them, and keep them, and not one of them shall be lost. And
He will come again and receive all that He has chosen, all that
He has redeemed, all that He has called to Himself, forever
and ever and ever and ever. The end. The Gospel! The Gospel! No confusion here. there's no
confusion in the gospel but i know this sometimes believers
because we still have this old man about our necks we stand
sometimes and marvel The things that men believe. We just stand and marvel. How could anyone believe in such
a damnable lie as free will works religion? How can you believe?
You don't really believe that, do you? That's a good question
to ask them when they start spitting out that. You don't really believe
that, do you? We marvel at how massive they
are, how they're commonly accepted. Their gospel is confounding,
confusing, and yet people think it's intellectual. You think
it's intellectual to be confused? It's not intellectual to be confused.
The gospel is not confusing. It's very plain, very simple. We marvel that anyone could believe
these lies, anyone could be deceived by her. for her ways are the
ways of death, and yet men blindly follow her into the grave." And
in this chapter, at the end of this chapter, he's talking about
those who make merchandise of her. These are speaking of the
followers of her. Those who have invested themselves,
like merchants, invest themselves into a commodity. Men invest
themselves, their money, their time, their energy, everything
into false religion. These merchants are her followers. They make merchandise of self-righteousness,
good works, and religious ritual salvation. but jesus said it
is falling it's falling even though now in our day it seems
to stand firm can you not see false religion how how large
and how extravagant they are how many there are it seems to stand pretty far It makes war with the Lamb and
His saints. It is drunk on the blood of martyrs.
And so are the followers, drunk with idolatry and will-worship.
But I tell you plainly, without question, you listen to me, I
don't care how it looks, Jesus said they are fallen. So guess
what? They're fallen. Is there any
confusion? Is there any confusion about
this? They're fallen. They're empty. They're fallen because they cannot
save. They're fallen because they cannot
heal. They cannot save you by your
works, your religion, your deeds, your ceremonies, your obedience
cannot save you. And all who will not repent and
turn from her and believe on Christ alone will fall with her
in eternal damnation. Some will say, well, free will
churches, they're filled with nice people. How can you say
that? They're filled with nice people.
They do good things. How can you be so cruel? Christ
said it. Christ said it. Matter of fact,
they say, well, they get people off drugs, they feed the hungry,
they have youth programs, and they keep the kids off the street.
They have counseling classes. They do many good things. And
I don't doubt, and I'm not saying that those things aren't good,
good things. They're good things. Nobody denies
that. But what good are they if they're
lost? What good is it to get a person
off of drugs and yet he's still lost? What good is it to get
the kids off the street if they cannot hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ and be saved? What good is it? It's no good
at all. What good is it if you feed a
man but you leave his soul starving for righteousness? What good
is it? It's fallen. Now I want you to hear what these
churches are full of. Our Lord said, they are the habitation
of devils. Well, my grandma's in there.
You listen, it is a habitation of devils. My mother's in there. It is a habitation of devils. Now you defy the words of Christ,
because that's what you'll do. Habitation of devils. It is the
stronghold, the fortified and guarded hold of unclean spirits. They are the cage of foul, ravenous
birds. Birds of prey, that's what they
are, seeking whom they may devour. Spurgeon called free will works
religion the murderer of souls. Free will churches are dwelling
places not of good people but of devils. Strongholds and fortified
cities of unclean spirits. You know this word habitation
is only used twice. It's in use in the Ephesians
to speak of the habitation of God's saints. You know where
the habitation of God's saints is? In Christ. That's where we
are. That's my habitation. That's
my foundation. That's the foundation upon which
my soul is built. But you know what the foundation
upon which false free will works religion is built? It is built
upon the foundation of devils. The gospel of devils. So what will happen to those
who believe her gospel? Look at this in verse three.
For all nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed
rich through the abundance of her delicacies. What are they? They're made drunk. You ever
seen a drunk man have good sense? There they are wallowing in their
own vomit, thinking they're having the best time. That's what a
drunk man does. Throws up and he lays down in
it and wallows in it and thinks he's having a good time. This
is exactly what happens to false free will work religion. Men
are laying in the vomit of their own works, thinking all the while
heaven is their destination. But now in verses 9 through 19,
I'm not going to take the time to read it, but you can read
it later. These who make merchandise of her, they are ones invested
in false religion. And you know what they, when
they see the destruction of this whore, you know what they do?
They don't repent. They weep because she burns. She is cast into hell and the
smoke of her rises up. And you know what the lost men
do? They weep because she's burning. They weep because they've lost
all their merchandise. These poor souls of these men
who made rich in the vain religion and false religion of the church,
they weep because their religion is exposed. And when men are burning in hell
and the flames of God's justice burn eternally and the smoke
of their religion rises forever, even then they will not lament
their sin, they will not lament the very fact that they did not
believe, but rather because their religion failed. They're weeping
because the harlot is gone. They would rather have the harlot
than heaven. The greatness then and completeness
of man's depravity is revealed that even in hell they will not
repent, but only weep and lament that the whore is eternally destroyed. And I'm sure if they were given
another chance upon the earth to leave her, they would not
do it. You know why? Because hers is a fortified city. Fortified see you who will not
come listen here then is the call. I'm Described that very
vividly now that I'm going to give you the call and look at
this in the next in verse 4 and I heard another voice Saying
come out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sin
that you receive not her plagues here then is a call of God to
come out from among her you see all men by nature follow false religion we all
did we all had a god of our own imagination but it was by the
gospel of christ that god called us And so that's what I'm doing
this morning. I say you that are in false religion,
you that are chained to it, you that recognize and are made sensible
of your sin and the inability of false religion to save you,
here is the message of God. Come out from among her. Repent
and believe on Christ now. Come out without delay so that
you be not partakers of her wrath. of her plagues. I'm telling you
that all is made ready. Christ has provided a perfect
sacrifice. Christ has provided perfect salvation. And He says to sinners, you that
are even among the whore, come out, come out, come to Christ
and find rest. You cannot find rest in false
religion. They're always telling you, do,
do, do. Christ says, it's done. Come
and find rest. Believe on Me and I will save
your soul That's the message of the gospel. Why would you
not come come to Christ come now without delay? Don't wait
Why because this is the message I'm out from among her. I remember
preaching the hospital one time and a man After I got done. He said well pastor if I believe
what you just said about Christ and that means all of my family
and All of my family is in hell. And I remember seeing this man.
Why would you go to? Why would you go? Come out and believe on Christ. And that man turned away sad.
He would not let go of his religion. cling to Christ But praise God this is true that
there are some who will come out Notice this he says come
out my people God has a people God has a people. It's the only
reason we preach because God has a people Christ has come
and died for them and and now he calls them are you one of
them i don't know will you come out from under because all his
people will all these people will they do they come to christ
and this in another sense god is calling out his people who
are believers who are believers even because we are still in
this body of flesh many of god's people are often allured and
seduced by the attraction of religion. Think of Lot. Lot was
seduced, wasn't he, by the things of the world. He was seduced
to go away from the Word of God. And sometimes God's people are
seduced and drawn away. They're drawn away from God and
His Word. Believer, you who know the truth,
Have you left the gospel for the attractions of the whore?
Then come out from her. Come out from her. Well, some say, is this not a
good mission field? You know what? I'm gonna go to
that false church because I'm gonna be a missionary for God
in that false church. No. God says Come out from her. See, God has never intended to
change the whore. He never desires you to pray
for her. He never desires for you to even witness to her. I'm witnessing to God's people,
and you know what who hears? God's people. That's who hears.
God's people. I say to God's people, come out
from her. Don't try to turn her. She will only turn you. second corinthians six said paul
said this communion have christ with the law what communion does god have
our christ people have with devils don't be unevenly yoke together
with them have no fellowship with the fruits of darkness god never calls you to do that i'll tell you this you can preach
the word but you preach it outside of those don't go in there trying
to preach it thinking you'll be on unscathed matter of fact
i want you know this believer if you consent to going you are
doing nothing but giving credit You are putting the gospel of
Christ on par with their gospel when you attend. Our Lord says, come out. And
you know what God's people, they come out. God's people will always come
out and the saints will never come short. They will hear the
gospel and believe on Christ. And all who come, let us ever be warned never to
return. You remember in Pilgrim's Progress,
Lord saved Christian and he was headed out of the city of destruction
and everybody was trying to get him back. And what did he do?
He put his hands on his ears and he ran screaming, life, life,
eternal life. You see, we don't return when
our mothers, our fathers, our sisters, our brothers are calling
to us to return. We put our hands on our ears
and say, Christ is all, Christ is all, Christ is all, and we
leave. But you got that man, Palatable,
who went with Christian, and he loved to hear of all the good
things of Christ, but as soon as he fell into trouble, what
did he do? He turned back. A true believer understands this,
we've got no place else to go but Christ. And we will have no other savior
but Christ. We will have no other gospel
but the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. God's perfect
redemption in Christ. We'll have no other gospel. May God give us grace to be separate
from them. I pray God give you grace to
see this and believe it.