All right. Vengeance belongs
to God. What is vengeance? I remember
when I was in high school, we were required to read a book
called The Oxbow Incident. Have you ever heard of that,
The Oxbow Incident? It's a Western. And it was about
a lynching where a group of men, a friend of theirs they thought
was murdered, And they went out and they found some guys who
had some cattle from this guy and they lynched three men. And
then they found out after they lynched him that the man wasn't
murdered at all, that he'd sold the people the cattle. And then
it shows how they grieved and sorrowed over what they did.
Vigilante justice, that's what it's called. That's why, that's
one of the reasons why vengeance belongs to God because God never
makes any mistakes. God always knows the truth of
the matter. God looks upon the heart and
when we consider that if God were to ever at any time give
any of us what we deserve it would be his just wrath which
is his vengeance. Now God does exercise vengeance
in sometimes, in some ways, through men, through the state, through
the courts for example. That's why civil magistrates
in the book of Romans chapter 12 are called the agents of God. But for individuals, We always
say this, that's what Romans 12 says, vengeance belongs to
God. Well that's what's happening
here. Look at verse 17. He continues, he's talking about
the destruction of false religion, which is symbolized under Babylon,
and all that Babylon has done since the fall of man. Now think
about this. Since the fall of man, You see the false religion of
Adam and Eve, symbolized in the fig leaf aprons, trying to go
to God and be saved, be accepted, based on our works or our efforts
to cover our sins, which we cannot do. And then the religion of
Cain, all of Babylon's efforts to imitate to pervert the truth
of God revealed in his way of salvation by his grace through
the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of
Babylon's efforts throughout the ages, look here in verse
17 of Revelation 18, for in one hour, so great riches is come
to naught, which means what? Nothing. Think about that. Man's efforts all through the
ages in one hour because of the vengeance of God, the wrath of
God, the justice of God comes to nothing. Now what does that
say about our works and efforts aimed at saving ourselves? What does that say about all
of our monuments, all of our religion, all of our self-viewed
value and worth? Is it any wonder that the Bible
says that man at his best state is altogether what? Vanity. That's what not means. Nothing. Worthless. And I'll tell you something.
I've had this on my mind for several weeks now because of
the messages that I'm preparing out of 2 Corinthians. Chapter
5. The only way that you and I can
view things that way is by the Spirit of God. Because we'll
refuse. Robert and I were talking about
it. We talk about people who are good people, honorable people,
alright? And in our view, and as I say
on this horizontal plane, what I mean is as we look at each
other, We can say those things. We can say that. But here's the
issue. This is the issue here with Babylon
and false religion and man's efforts to make himself righteous. How does it look to God on the
vertical plane? How does God view things? And
the only way we know how God views these things is in his
word. Isn't that right? And here's
what God says. Here's Babylon. Now don't get
an image in your mind of Babylon as somebody who wears horns and
has a tail and carries a pitchfork. Babylon represents the false
religious moral efforts of man to work his way into God's favor. That's what Babylon represents.
Lifetimes of religion, ages And he says in one hour. That's not
literal. All it's simply saying is that
in a very short period of time that would just overwhelm us
comes to nothing. That's an amazing thing. Man's
righteousness is nothing in the sight of God. You know why? Because
man by nature It is as we're naturally born, and man, by his
best efforts, cannot make himself so. That's why we need Christ. That's why salvation's by grace.
That's why we need His righteousness imputed. Do we understand the
value of what Christ accomplished in His obedience unto death?
It's more than just simply a preacher standing up saying, God loves
you and Christ died for you, now you do your part. That doesn't
tell the story. That's not scriptural. Christ saves his people from
their sins. And look at it, verse 17, he
says that every ship master, now each one of these things
has a meaning. The word ship master means governor,
steerman, or pilot. This is the guide, all right? And what he's talking about here
is people who are connected with false religion who are in positions
of authority. They are men and women of high
esteem in the world. They're showing you where to
go, what to do, how to do it. But it's a lie. You see? False preachers, false prophets,
false advisors, And they're highly esteemed among men. Oh, you say,
well, what about this fella? He's been preaching for 50 years. If he's not preaching Christ,
it means nothing. And all the company in ships,
that's all the... the word for that is coasters.
They're just coasting along. I've got in your lesson here
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 1. I want you to look at that. What
he's talking about is this, and listen to this very carefully,
because it is so important. People in religion, in false
religion, and even some under the preaching of the gospel we're
going to see in Hebrews chapter 2, we have a tendency, if left
to ourselves, to just coast along. not read the scripture, not attend
the worship, not study the word, not examine ourselves, just coast
on along. Oh, I'm saved. Boom. You know,
that's it. I don't need to hear anything
else. So that kind of thing. And that's what he's talking
about here. These people in false religion, they're just coasting
along and they get offended. They get offended. It's like
you were talking about, Sue, somebody you talk to and they
get mad. And they don't want to hear anymore, do they? They
don't want to think about these things. You know, somebody said
one time that a fellow told him, as they were talking about the
gospel, said, well, you're rocking my boat. And he said, well, it's
good to have it rock now instead of later. I'd hate to be standing
at judgment and have my boat rock then. Remember Matthew 7? Many will say unto me, Lord,
Lord, haven't we prophesied it? Only to hear, could you imagine
the horror of those false religious professors who claim to be Christian
hearing the Lord say a judgment, depart from me? You that work
iniquity, I never knew you. And don't sit around and speculate
about what their problem was. It's obvious there what their
problem was. Read the context of Matthew 7. They were on the
broad road that leads to destruction. They weren't preaching Christ.
They were preaching their works. Haven't we done this? Haven't
we done that? What are you going to plead when
you stand before God at judgment? Well, there's only one thing
to plead. That means anything that has any value and that's
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Nothing else will
do. But look at Hebrews chapter 2
and verse 1. He says, therefore we ought to
give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard.
We've heard the truth now. That's what he's talking about.
We're not under false gospels right now. We've heard the truth. We've heard how God can be just
and justify. And he says, we ought to give
them more earnest heed. We ought to really listen to
what we're hearing. Less than any time we should
let them slip. Let them slip here is literally
drift on by or coast on by. Without laying hold of it. Go
back to Revelation 18 now. Those coasters, company and ships,
sailors, he says here. Sailors means boatmen, seamen.
They symbolize those who diligently work for the shipmaster. And
as many as trade by sea, he says. evil workers of false religion
making merchandise of men's toast. It says, they stood afar off,
verse 18, they cried when they saw the smoke of her burning,
that's Babylon's burning, God's wrath being poured down upon
them, saying, what city is like unto this great city? In other
words, they're standing there in horror watching all of their
hopes go up in smoke. And they're, what city? It's almost like, I think about
the disciples. You remember when the rich young
man came to Christ and he asked the question, what good thing
must I do to inherit eternal life? He didn't look at Christ
as being God in human flesh. And so Christ met him where he
was at and he said, well, why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. Do you realize the import of
that statement? There's none good but God. We say, well, I
know all kinds of good people. Christ said to this man, there's
none good but God. Why would he say something like
it? Because this man was thinking that he could get to God, that
he could be accepted with God, that he could be saved before
God by his goodness. And let me tell you something
about men and women, including this man. When it comes to goodness that
will attain or maintain salvation among all of us, the best of
us, there's none good but God. And you know what that tells
you? That tells you you need Christ, who is the only good,
the only righteousness. That's why we need Him. That's
why salvation's by grace through faith, And that not of yourselves
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ecclesiastes
7.20, there's not a just man on earth who doeth good and sinneth
not. What's he talking about there?
Is he saying that everybody's like raving lunatics, anarchy? No, he's saying that there's
no one who is good enough to be saved by their works. No flesh will be justified in
God's sight by their works. What does it take to save me?
It takes the sovereign grace of God based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And nothing else will do. Nothing
less. And no matter how good a person
thinks they are, they're still not as good as Christ. God's
going to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised him from the dead. That's it. And what you're seeing here is
God judging the world in righteousness. That's what Revelation 18's about.
That's why God's vengeance is falling on Babylon. Look at it.
Verse 19, they cast dust on their heads. That's a sign. You remember
when they used to tear their clothes and throw dirt on their
head? That was a sign of sorrow. They're
sorrowing. They're weeping, he says. They're
wailing. Saying, alas, alas, that great city wherein were
made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness. See, this is something that men
by nature held in value. Richness, you see. For in one
hour she's made what? Desolate. It all comes to naught. It all comes to nothing. What
a sad, sad thing, isn't it? that which took them a lifetime
to build is destroyed in a very short period of time. Look at
verse 20. Now, this is for the people of
God and this may seem strange but it's not if you think about
it. Rejoice over her thou heaven
and ye holy apostles and prophets for God hath avenged you on her. The rejoicing here is not some
kind of a sadistic rejoicing over the death and the destruction
of people. That's not what he's talking
about. The rejoicing here comes over the glory of God revealed
in his vengeance, in his justice. And I'll tell you what, it's
tough for us to enter into that. But this is talking about the
end time. This is talking about when the
people of God who have been so illy treated in the world, that
God's vengeance comes forth and vindicates them. I didn't put
this in your lesson, but look over at Hebrews chapter 11. You might mark this down. You
know, in Hebrews chapter 11, It's called the Hall of Faith. And it goes back and shows all
the way back to Abel. How was Abel treated by the world
as seen in his brother Cain? Cain killed Abel. And he goes through several of
the Old Testament saints And it says, look at verse 13 of
Hebrews 11. It says, these all died in faith. They died believing in Christ.
That's what he's talking about. They were looking to Christ for
their whole salvation, for their forgiveness, for their righteousness.
Not having received the promises. Now what he's talking about there
is the promise of the coming Messiah. You see Abel, go back
to Abel. Abel believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. How did Abel know about Christ?
Well, God revealed it to him as the promised Messiah who would
come in time and take and put away Abel's sins by his death. That's why Abel brought a lamb,
shed blood. That's a picture of Christ. And
Abel looked to this Messiah, this promised Messiah, for righteousness,
to be justified before God. That's what this faith is all
about. Now, there's a lot of things that Abel did not know
about Jesus Christ. He didn't know that Jesus Christ
would be born, for example, of the lineage of Abraham. That
comes later. He didn't know that Jesus Christ
would be born in Bethlehem. All of that. There's a lot of
details. But he knew the gospel. He knew how God could be just
to justify the ungodly based on the righteousness of the promised
Messiah. But Abel died before the Messiah
actually came in time. And that's what that means, having
not received the promises. These Old Testament saints, they
died before Christ actually came in time to do for them what he
did for all of his people. But it says these all died in
the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off In other words, and were persuaded of them, they
believed them because of the power of God, and embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. This world's not my home. Verse
14. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to return. In other words, they
were totally removed from the world as far as the world's religion
is concerned. Now jump over to verse 36. As he closes out the hall of
faith, He talks about others had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings. Now this is how the world treated
the people of God. We don't know a whole lot about
this in our day because we have been so blessed to live in this
country where we have a constitution, laws that protect us, protect
our right to worship God as he commands us. And that's a lot
of times when I pray for our nation, that's what I pray for.
Whoever, you know, I'm not very optimistic about our country,
to be honest with you. And I'm not just up here to be
a downer. But here's what I pray. Lord, whoever gets in power,
please preserve our freedom to worship without hindrance from
the government. There may become a time when
we'll be like these. where they'll be able to march
in and close the doors and put you in jail. That scourge, that
means to whip you. Old Testament saints, many of
them, went through this. Think about the New Testament
church in its beginning. How the Lord, in His wisdom,
scattered the church because of persecution in Jerusalem.
So it says, moreover, verse 36, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment.
Verse 37 of Hebrews 11. They were stoned. They were sawn
asunder. You know what that means? They
were sawed in two. They were tempted, means tested.
They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins. They lost their homes. They lost
their jobs. Being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Why? because of their testimony
of the gospel. But look at verse 38. Of whom
the world was not worthy. And they wandered in deserts
and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect. Now go back to
Revelation 18. What he's talking about in verse
20, when he says to the people of God, as symbolized through
the apostles and prophets, and the apostles and prophets, what
that is, that's a way of signifying the truth of the gospel. of God's
grace in Christ. The church is built upon the
foundation of the apostles and the prophets, meaning the gospel
of Christ. The foundation of the church
is Christ, and that's what the apostles testified of, that's
what the prophets testified of. So in other words, he's saying
that God is avenging you. God's doing it now, you're not
doing it, but God is avenging you for the way the world treated
you over your testimony of the gospel. And look at verse 21. He says that a mighty angel took
up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea saying
thus with violence shall the great city Babylon be thrown
down and she shall be found no more at all. Back in the book
of Jeremiah, and I've got this referenced, Jeremiah 51. Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem,
Judah, right up at the time that the actual Babylonian Empire
came in and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and took the people
of God into captivity. And what he was telling them,
he was telling the Jewish people then, don't put your hopes in
earthly things, but look to the promise of God in Christ who
is to come. and Jeremiah prophesied what? 500 to 600 years before Christ.
And one of the things that he prophesied of is that this empire,
this evil empire that's coming down upon you and destroying
you and taking you into captivity, God's going to destroy them and
as a symbol of them he took up a stone, he threw it in the river
and it sunk. And that's the same symbolism
here. Babylon is gone She'll never
rise again at this time. Verse 22, the voice of harpers
and musicians and pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no
more at all in thee. There'll be no more celebrations
in Babylon. Even their religious ceremonies
will be gone. He says, no craftsman whatsoever
craft he be, They're not gonna be building and making things
in Babylon anymore. Shall be found any more in thee.
The sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. There won't be any more bread.
A millstone grinds the wheat for the bread. There'll be no
more food. No more to feed them in Babylon, verse 23. And the
light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee. What
light Babylon has will be gone. Well, what light did Babylon
have? Well, they had the light of creation. Psalm 19 had a light
of conscience. And many Babylonian preachers,
you know what they do? They stand up and they open this
book and they read from it. But what do they do? They twist
it. They corrupt it. Peter talked about that in 2
Peter 3. Those who rest, W-R-E-S-T, twist the Word of God to their
own destruction. How many false preachers you
think on TV open Bibles and read them? Quote Scripture, write
books, commentaries. False preachers have written
whole commentaries on the Bible. But that's the light that'll
be gone in those days, whatever light they have. And then look
at verse 23, it says, And the voice of the bridegroom, that's
Christ, and the bride, that's his church, shall be heard no
more at all in thee. There'll be no more, they won't
hear any more. He says, For thy merchants were the great men
of the earth, highly esteemed, for by thy sorceries were all
nations deceived. The sorceries there is false
religion. Salvation by the works and wills of men. And then verse
24, and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints
and of all that were slain upon the earth. What he's saying there
is that this vengeance of God is a just punishment. It's not
God being unfair. It's not God being, it's not
God throwing a temper tantrum. It's the justice of God. for
the sins of those who are found in the end without Christ. What's our only hope in the end? It's to be found in Him. I'm
gonna talk about that this morning in the message. Paul said, oh, that I may know
Him and be found in Him, in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, my works, But that which is through the
faith or the faithfulness of Christ. His faithfulness to do
what God requires in my place. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. All right.