We'll stay right there where
Brother Mike read in Revelation 17. I've often said that the Gospel
is a simple message, easily understood, but impossible to receive with
the understanding of faith unless God, in His power and His goodness,
breaks our sinful natural wills and brings us to believe and
to love that truth, follow it, live by it. And the gospel is
a simple message, but I've often added this, the Bible is not
a simple book. When you consider passages like
Revelation 17 and all the symbolism that is here, and you might wonder
how in the world can anybody understand all that? So I'm going to take it a little
bit at a time. I'm only going to try to deal
with the first six verses today. The title of the message is A
Great Mystery Uncovered. Now most of the symbols that
you see in Revelation find their origin in the Old Testament.
And we'll look at some of that, but we're going to stay right
here. Chapter 17 of the book of Revelation
begins the sixth vision that covers this book. You know, when
we began, I told you there's seven visions. The whole book
of Revelation, from the first chapter to the last, is made
up of seven visions that Christ gave to the Apostle John on the
Isle of Patmos. Now, each vision shows the totality
of the New Covenant era, the New Covenant age, from beginning,
the cross of Christ, His death, His burial, His resurrection,
His ascension, to his second coming. Each vision encompasses
that whole time. But it shows us this from a different
view and shows us what's happening through symbolism. And one of
the symbols here, especially here in this Revelation 17, is
this woman called Babylon, the great whore. Verse five says,
mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots. That's one
of the symbols. And what does that mean? Well,
this sixth vision, which begins at chapter 17, ends at chapter
19, and then you have the last vision. This sixth vision shows
Christ conquering Babylon. Now, whatever Babylon is, it's
not good. You can at least see that. That's
very simple. She's called the mother of harlots, and that's
sinful. That's not a good thing. Christ
is the Savior of sinners, the King of kings, the Lord of lords,
God manifest in the flesh, the Lord our righteousness. And so
this sixth vision shows Christ, the King of kings, the Savior
of sinners, conquering actually not only Babylon, but one who
is called the beast. We've read about these beasts
before. and the false prophet who is the other beast. There's
the beast that comes out of the sea covering the whole world.
That's false ungodly governments and the beast that comes out
of the land which is called the false prophet here who is false
religion. Babylon is the mother of them
all. But look at verse one. Let's just take it through and
I'll do my best to keep this in order and simple as I can.
You know, that's one thing about Babylon. Look, it says, there
came one of the seven angels. These are the seven ministers
who poured out the seven vials, who blew the seven trumpets.
Seven meaning the complete revelation and work and power of God throughout
the age. There's nothing going to be left
undone here. That's what that seven means. Seven is always
in the Bible, Old Testament and New, the symbol of a complete,
finished work. That's why Christ is my and your
seven. He is our Sabbath, Sabbath being
the seventh day. He finished the work and we rest
in our Sabbath, which is Christ, it's not Sunday. Now, Sunday's
a good day. It's a day of the Lord, but so
is Monday and Tuesday. Now, Sunday's the day we're to
meet together. We call it the Lord's Day in
that sense. And that's when the apostles,
after the resurrection, met together with the church to worship and
all of that. But our Sabbath is Christ. He
finished the work, and we enter into His finished work. We rest
from our labors. which means he rested from his
labor, which means he completed all righteousness. We rest from
our labors, which means we repent of our dead works. We rest in
him. So here's these seven angels
which had the seven vials, bowls of God's judgment, manifestations
of God's judgment throughout the New Testament age. We've
seen them, we'll see them again until he comes. Wars, rumors
of wars, disasters, tornadoes, earthquakes, pestilence, COVID-19,
whatever you want to, all of that. Why are these things coming? People always want to find somebody
to blame, and usually you can find somebody who started this.
But it's the work of God. God's in control, folks. Do you
think that if it weren't God's will that COVID-19 would have
never come into this world? You say, could God stop it? Well,
sure He could. He's the Lord of the Earth. And
this earth is a sinful place. And we're feeling the effects
of our own sin. That's why we need salvation
from sin. And the only way of salvation
from sin is the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate. So here they come with the seven
vows. He said, they talked with me, saying unto me, come hither,
come here. Telling John, come here. I will
show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters." Now this great whore we're going to see is Babylon.
We'll talk about that in just a minute. Sitting on many waters
means that she has sway over all the world, all nations of
the world. She was judged in chapter 16. What we're going to be told in
chapter 17 is why she's judged. It's gonna be spelled out. The
scriptures, the scriptures often in the Old Testament, and I'll
give you an example is Proverbs 7. You read that, that whole
chapter. Often describes false religion by the symbol of a harlot. And you know why? Because it
looks good on the outside, but it's deadly on the inside. That's
right. False religion is impressive.
I'll never forget when I made a trip to Mexico with Brother
Mayhem to see a missionary down there. And we'd go out into these
little towns. The people were poor. They lived
in huts with dirt floors, but there was always a big, impressive
Catholic cathedral right in the middle of town, full of gold. And it was impressive. And somebody
said, well, how do they keep people up from how they're stealing?
They threaten them with hell. You steal from the church, you're
going to hell, and there's no hope for you. Well, that's the
great whore. That's part of the great whore.
Her sin is spiritual whoredom, enticing sinners by her deceptive
appearance and empty love. Now, don't get me wrong. The
Bible says a lot about physical harlotry and physical fornication. and they're bad and we're to
avoid them. But there's nothing as deadly as spiritual whoredom,
spiritual fornication. This whore sits upon many waters
because her influence is worldwide as she deceives all nations.
She's an agent of the red dragon who is Satan. She's empowered
by Satan. Her goal is to seduce sinners
into false professions of religion, false refuges of salvation, and
draw them away from Christ and the gospel of grace. You see,
this is a very confused thing. Think about religion today. Think
about what people call Christianity today. It's a massive confusion. How many churches we have in
Albany, Georgia? Everybody believes something
different. It's confusion. And I'll tell you why in just
a moment. But the gospel of Christ is single
simplicity. Remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians
11, I fear less Satan as he deceived Eve with his subtlety. Deceive
your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Who Christ
is, what he accomplished, how he saved sinners. It's so simple.
But man by nature doesn't want it. Why? Because it doesn't allow
him to boast in himself. And he'll boast either in his
works, or he'll boast in his decision, or he'll boast in a
combination. And it gets complicated, because
what's good enough for one isn't good enough for another. Oh,
you're saved by grace, but you've got to be baptized. You're saved
by grace, but you gotta do this, you gotta do that. That's Babylon. Many who profess to believe in
Christ but have not been born again by the Spirit will be seduced
by this great horror. But now take heart now, true
believers, Those who are sealed by God in their minds and hearts
with the glory of God in Christ, they won't fall prey to her deadly
doctrines. Look over at verse 14, we'll
just jump ahead for this message. These shall make war with the
Lamb. Babylon the whore, the great harlot, the false prophet, they'll make
war with the Lamb. Until Christ comes again, they'll
be at war with us. War with Christ. The Lamb shall
overcome them. He's really already overcome
them, but he's talking about the second coming here. For he
is Lord of lords and King of kings. Now look, and they that
are with him. They're called. Now how were
you called? By the preaching of the gospel
and the power of the Spirit. And chosen, that's election. And faithful, that's preservation. Huh? We'll be fine. As long as
you focus your attention on Christ, the Lord of glory, and the righteousness
that He accomplished on Calvary to save you from your sins, and
don't look away. I was talking to Brother Gary
Shepard and talking about a man who started going to his church
and kind of rose up fast and seemed so encouraging as a believer. And then all of a sudden he left.
And I asked Gary, I said, why did he leave? And Gary said,
well, I wasn't preaching enough law for him. He wanted some legalism. He wanted to complicate. He wanted
to be, he was enamored with things that would take him away from
the simplicity, the singularity that believers find in Christ. The glory of his person, the
power of his finished work. There's an important contrast
made between this harlot here, and later on we'll see in Revelation,
the bride of Christ. While very seductive because
of her wealth, her glamour, her celebrity, because of her natural
appeal to the religious pride and self-righteousness of unbelieving
sinners, the beauty of the harlot is temporary, it's fleeting,
lasting, as John says in another place, in just one hour. That's what it really, that's
symbolic of just a very short period of time. Her days are
numbered. But the beauty of the bride of
Christ is eternal. Eternal. You know, that's why
in the marriage vows, of earthly marriage, we say, till death
do us part. Doesn't always work out that
way, I know. But it's a symbol of how the bride of Christ is
married to Christ, and there'll never be any divorce there. The
church is clothed in the perfect righteousness of her bridegroom. Think about that. That's what
you have if you're his. An imputed righteousness. I'm
not afraid of that word. I love it. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputes righteousness with that word. And yes, from
that comes life, but we stand in the radiant and spotless beauty
of Christ adorned. for him. Look at verse 2. He says, This great whore, she
sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have
been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. That speaks
of spiritual fornication that evil governments, evil rulers,
and nations of the world have committed. And they all have
committed it, even America. even America. Instead of seeking and believing
and loving and worshiping, serving and leading the people to the
one true and living God, they align themselves with the great
whore. You can see it in the spirit
of ecumenism. Did I pronounce that right? Ecumenicalism,
maybe. Everybody's right, nobody's wrong. And if you say I'm wrong, oh,
you've just, that's hate speech. We ought to outlaw that. This wine, drunk with the wine
of her fornication, symbolizes her doctrine, her false doctrine, and her influence
saturating and controlling the minds, the affections, the will
of all who follow her false religion. And remember, I said this in
the 10 o'clock message, and I'm sure we could probably add things
to this, but when you think about the things that are common to
all false religion, there's two things that I mainly think of.
Number one is salvation conditioned somewhere at some stage to some
degree in some way on people, on sinners. You make the difference. That's what false religion teaches.
See, the true religion of Christ tells us God makes the difference. Some people say, I don't like
that. Well, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. But God says he makes the difference. Now he says that,
doesn't he? And then the second thing is
they always measure righteousness and holiness and goodness on
a sliding scale as they compare with one another. But true religion,
the true gospel, tells us that we can only measure righteousness
by the perfection of the law that is found in Christ. His obedience unto death. And
what does that tell us? We need a righteousness that
we cannot produce. We need the righteousness of
God. But the wine, the doctrine of her fornication points you
elsewhere. Look at verse three. So he carried
me away in the spirit into the wilderness. The wilderness is
the ungodly world. What we're dealing with in our
time is the church in the wilderness. We're in the wilderness. Albany,
Georgia is part of the wilderness. It's not the holy city that some
people think it is. The holy city is the heavenly
Jerusalem. And so we are carried into the
wilderness. John was carried into that wilderness.
And he says, I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns. Now
this scarlet colored beast, which is the same one that arose out
of the sea back in Revelation 13, Sin is often symbolized under
the color of scarlet. You remember in Isaiah 1, come
let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they'll
be as white as snow. They'll be red like crimson,
they'll be as wool. We who've been convicted of sin
by the Holy Spirit thank God that he's put away our sins by
the blood of Jesus Christ. But this harlot rides in rest
upon that sin. That's her hope. In pride. Self-righteousness. This is one
reason she and her followers hate the light of the truth of
Christ. It exposes their hope as being a curse. Being no hope at all. That's
why men and women hate the light. It exposes their deeds as evil.
What they're riding on. What they rest upon. is a sham
religion. Full of the names of blasphemy,
the beast upon which she sits is full of pride, self-righteousness,
unbelief, all titles and doctrines that dishonor and deny the true
and living God and His way of salvation. That's what blasphemy
is. Having seven heads and ten horns. That symbolizes just what
it symbolized back in Revelation 13, the completeness of her rebellion,
seven heads and 10 horns, evil power and her attempts to overthrow
Christ and the church. It's a complete rebellion, that's
what that means. It's a judgment, 10 horns, a
judgment that is false. She judges herself to be saved.
She judges her followers to be saved. But they're not. They
don't look to Christ. Verse four, the woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet color. She was decked, the word is gilded,
you ever heard of the gilded lily? She was gilded, she was
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. You see, idolatry, false religion,
sin may appear to be beautiful, appear appealing to the eye,
but it's deadly to the souls of men and women. Remember what
Christ told the Pharisees? Outwardly, you appear righteous
unto men. You're like whited sepulchers. You go to a graveyard and you
see a beautiful monument, but dig up the body there and look
at it. You're not going to see a beautiful sight, are you? You're
going to see a rotten corpse. And that's what false religion
is. Decked with gold and precious stones, it may appear to be valuable. False religion can appear valuable.
I've heard people say, I know they don't believe the gospel,
but I'm glad they have religion because that keeps them out of
jail and stuff like that. Well, that's okay, but as far
as eternal life, that has absolutely no value at all. Worthless. The cup in her hand, golden cup,
full of abominations. Sin may be contained in a golden
vessel. but it's still intoxicating with
the poison and brings sinners to judgment of wrath from a holy
and just God. Abominations, filthiness, evil
and deadly. Look at verse five. And upon
her forehead, now the forehead symbolizes the mind. This is
what's in her mind. And this is what's in her heart,
a name written. Mystery Babylon. The mother of
harlots and abominations of the earth. The first thing you need to understand
about this is what is a mystery in the Bible? And I've often
told you this, you know this. A mystery in the Bible is not
like a mystery novel that you read. where it kind of makes
you a Sherlock Holmes and you've got to figure out the clues and
come to a conclusion who the murderer is or anything like
that. That's not what a mystery in the Bible is. A mystery in
the Bible is something that is hidden to the natural man and
is only made known as God reveals it or uncovers it. Over in Matthew
chapter 11, or Matthew chapter 13 rather, The disciples asked
the Lord, why do you speak in parables? And here's what he
said to them in verse 11. He answered and said unto them,
because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given. If you understand
the mysteries of God's word, it's because God has given you
an understanding of this. We read that in Matthew chapter
11, where the Lord said, in verse 27, all things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. It's a gift. Do you realize that? If you know
the Gospel, if you know Christ, it's a gift. It's a mystery that
has been uncovered to your mind and your heart. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, the Greek also,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. It's
been uncovered. And who's the one who reveals
it? God is. The preacher preaches it. The reader reads it, but
it's God who uncovers the mystery. And how do you know that it's
God that uncovered it or revealed it to you? Because if God has
done it, it will be a, not only has God given you eyes to see
and ears to hear it, he also gives you faith to believe it.
I read the Bible and I preach the gospel and anybody can understand
physically in the air, what the hell I'm saying, but do you believe
it? It'll be accompanied with God-given faith and God-given
repentance. Well, here's Mystery Babylon.
Do you know where Babylon comes from, where the name comes from?
It comes back in the Tower of Babel or Babel, however you want
to pronounce it. Exactly. You know, where they
were trying to reach God by building a city or a tower, as some people
say. And God struck them with confusion
of languages. And we get the word Babel. You're
a babbler. A vain babbler. And that's where
the name Babylon comes from. And Babylon was the great enemy
of Jerusalem. Remember how the river Euphrates
flowed through Babylon? And the way God conquered it
back then to get the children of Judah out of Babylon was to
dry up or dam up the river Euphrates? We read that in the last one.
Well, that's what Babylon is. It's confusion. And that's what
false religion is. It's confusion out there. As
I said, how many churches are in Albany? And there's probably
one starting up this morning. Uncle Joe got a vision or a dream
and he's gonna preach. That's the way it is. That's
Babylon. Verse 10. I'm not in verse 10,
verse 5. Upon her forehead, a name written,
Mystery Babylon, the great mother of harlots, abominations there,
verse 6. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints. Babylon hates the truth. and
hates God's people. And all throughout the New Age,
people of God have been martyred, killed for their testimony of
the truth, and killed by Babylon. More have been killed by false
religion than any other entity. Drunk with the blood of... That
is, she's satiated. She's satisfied when she kills
one of God's people. and with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus." That's something. And when I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration. Well, let me close with this.
When John says he wondered with great admiration, that certainly
does not mean that John admired this evil harlot. He didn't. The word admiration here means
astonishment. That's what it means, literally.
John was astonished and amazed that any who claimed and professed
to be followers of Christ could be instrumental in killing men
and women who truly bore testimony of Christ and his gospel. And
John states this in his first letter. Remember 1 John 2? Those who went out from us, but
they never were of us. John had seen open enemies of
Christ and his church commit horrible and cruel crimes against
true believers, but here he sees the apostate church, and he's
gonna be calling it the false prophet. That's antichrist of
what you were talking about, Mike. People who name the name
of Christ, but they despise and stand against the truth of Christ
as revealed in God's word. Think about that. That's an astonishing
thing, isn't it? But it's true. And thank God
Almighty that He's delivered us from that false, false religion
that we naturally would be in and remain in and willingly be
in and remain in were it not for His grace. And one thing
we can say now, we always keep this in mind, but for the grace
of God. There go I. Thank God for His
mercy and His grace. Let's sing as our closing hymn,
hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him.