All right, let's look at Revelation
18. Back in verse 12, this lesson
and last week's lesson, the last lesson that I did, had to do
with this subject, the merchandise of damnation. Look at verse 12,
the merchandise it says. Now this has to do with the merchants
that serve Babylon, false religion, false Christianity. And he lists
the Holy Spirit inspired John as he was receiving this revelation
from Christ to list in detail the merchandise that these false
preachers, false prophets, false religionists give out to their
followers. And it lists it in detail. And
a lot of people would accuse me of spiritualizing too much
to spend this much time on this. But here's the thing you've got
to understand about the Word of God. Nothing is in this book
by accident. Nothing, whatever God put you,
this is the Word of God. And it has meaning. And I know
sometimes people try to jam meaning into things when it's not there
or they defile or confuse or just plain old deny the meaning.
But all of these things that's listed here in the merchandise
of damnation, they are symbolic of things that we could go back.
We don't have time to take each one and go back to the Old Testament
and show how these symbols and types and pictures go all the
way through, but they are. And what he's dealing with here
is the things that false religion, especially false Christianity,
that which is opposed to the gospel, the true gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, what false Christianity deals
out, what they promise. And what's happening here, we're
seeing the fall of Babylon, And we're seeing that all of Babylon's
followers are falling with her. And all that the merchandise
that she dealt out, for example, look at verse 12 again. It says,
the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls. And that's symbolic of what the
natural man sees as valuable. And I thought about this, Luke
16, 15, you might want to mark that on your lesson. That which
is highly esteemed among men is what? An abomination unto
God. Now you think about the difference
between false Christianity and true Christianity. When we preach
That which is highly esteemed to God, what do we preach or
who do we preach? We preach Christ, crucified,
risen from the dead, His blood, His righteousness imputed. That's
what's highly esteemed with God. What does false Christianity
preach? The works, the will of men. What you do for God. And that's
what these precious stones, the silver, precious metals, the
stones, the pearls, that's what they represent. These are things
that are valuable to men. Things they believe recommend
them unto God, but in reality are an abomination to God. Things
they believe glorify God, but don't glorify Him at all, they
defile Him. Any sinner who comes before God
pleading anything, But the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and
received by faith, he's presenting something that he sees as naturally
valuable, and it's gonna last forever, and it's gonna recommend
him unto God, but it's an abomination to God. And that's what this
is. And then you remember verse 12
here, he says, fine linen, purple and silk and scarlet, they use
that to make clothing. Now they also used it to make
like, for example, the curtains in the tabernacle and all that. But now that was a type of truth
in the tabernacle. That was a type of Christ. But
for the clothing of men, these are things that men by nature
think cover them and make them look beautiful. It's like the
Pharisees when Christ said, outwardly you appear righteous unto men,
but inwardly you're full of dead men's bones. In other words,
that represents the righteousness that men try to work themselves
in denial of the righteousness of Christ. And so that's an abomination
unto God. And then he goes on, the next
one he talks about thine wood, which was a wood that was precious
and expensive and used for building. All manner of vessels of ivory
and all manner of vessels of most precious wood and of brass
and iron and marble, those are things that they used for building.
And I thought, maybe two applications of that. People look at religion
as sort of like building a house, and Christ himself, you know,
he spoke of that in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. He
that builds his house upon a rock, and the rock is Christ, the foundation.
and those who build their houses upon sand, and that's the ones
that'll fall. No matter how beautiful or how
much time they put in building their houses, if it's not built
upon Christ as the foundation and His blood and righteousness,
it will fall. The grace of God is all. But
I think the main application of that is to the church. And all through the Bible, the
church is represented as a building. And we're going to see some more
of that today as we go through this, but it's a building that
God builds. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, unto, not because of, but unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Well,
the building, the religious building, the false churches of false religion,
are going to fall. It's a building that's destined
to be destroyed because it's built upon the works and the
wills of men and not the imputed righteousness of Christ. And
then in verse 13 he goes to the cinnamon, the odors, the ointments,
and the frankincense. Those are all things that were
used, what he's talking about spices and how they smell. And
those are things that, like for example, all of these things
were used in the incense, the altar of incense in the tabernacle,
and they were a sweet-smelling savor unto God because He accepted
them. They represent the merits of
Christ, our mediator through whom we pray. The prayers of
the saints are accepted. Why? Because our prayers are
sincere? No. Should they be sincere? Yes. But they're not accepted
with God because they're sincere. They're accepted with God because
we have a great high priest who's passed through into the heavens.
We're accepted in the beloved. They're washed in the blood of
Christ. We're clothed in his righteousness. But now these
odors and prayers of false religion are a stench in the nostrils
of God. And what he's doing, he's exposing
every aspect of false Christianity here that's associated with Babylon.
And look at verse 13, he goes on. Verse 13, the cinnamon, the
odors, the ointments, the frankincense. Now he goes to the wine and the
oil. What does wine and oil represent
in the Bible? Back in the Old Testament, wine
is symbolic of joy. Oil is symbolic of healing. And really what you have there
is an emblem of the work of the Holy Spirit who brings joy and
peace and healing that only comes through Christ. But as it applies
to false Christianity, what is it? It's a false spirit. It's a false joy. It's a false
peace. It's a false healing. People
think they're healed, but they're not healed at all. And so These
are symbols of joy and of healing and life, but false preachers,
they promise men these things, but it's fake. You see, joy,
you can see this when people gather to worship, and you have
an emotionalism, an emotional church service, for example,
that is not founded in the truth. And they'll talk about, oh, didn't
we feel the presence of the Spirit? Well, how do you know if the
Holy Spirit is present in a worship service? There's only one way,
and that's if Christ is exalted in the glory and beauty of his
person and his finished work. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That's what he does in worship. That's what he does in inspiring
conviction. That's what he does in inspiring
obedience, praise, whatever we do, prayer. If it doesn't exalt
Christ in the truth and glory of his person, who he is, and
in the effectual work that he accomplished on Calvary to save
his people, the blood that he shed, the righteousness that
he worked at, it's a false spirit. It's an evil spirit. Look at
the next one. He talks about in verse 13, he
says, he says, find flower. and wheat. Well, you know what
they use flour and wheat for? The bread. The bread. And that symbolizes what false
preachers claim is good for food and nourishment spiritually.
We know that Christ is the bread of life. Remember the manna that
fell from heaven? We don't know exactly what that
manna was, but it's equated in John chapter 6 to bread from
heaven. Well, the bread of false religion
is poison. It has no nourishment at all.
The wheat of life that we partake of is Christ crucified and risen
from the dead. And he's the bread of life, John
6. Go on, he says in verse 13, talks about beast, animals here,
sheep, horses, chariots, Now, what does that represent? I'll
tell you, it represents possessions and power. That's what it is. And these symbolize the power
as false preachers attempt to show people how they can have
power with God, how they can have authority. But without Christ,
there's no power. Without Christ, there's no possession.
In Christ, what do we possess? Ephesians 1.3. We're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible and fadeth not away. We have everything that
God... Listen, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have everything that God requires and everything that we need.
That's what we have. Every requirement, every stipulation,
every condition that would bring us to be accepted with God to
be justified before God, to be set apart by God, to be saved
eternally, kept, and glorified, we find totally in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and based on His righteousness
alone. And all those things that false Christianity promises as
with power, and you hear a lot about that. There's a lot of
books on these religious bookstores about that. Power in prayer,
power in worship, how to have power with God, power with men,
power over the devil. They have no power at all. In
fact, they're under the power of the devil. They're under the
power of false religion. They're under the power of depravity. Because without Christ, Without
His righteousness, there's no power. What's the power of God
unto salvation? The gospel. In the power of the
Holy Spirit. What is the power as indicated
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1? Christ is both the power and
the wisdom of God. And none other. And that's what
this represents. Look on at verse 13. He mentions
slaves and souls of men. I've got in your lesson here,
the word for slaves here is literally bodies. That's what the word
is in the original. Bodies. When I saw that and studied
it, I thought about one of the main things that false Christianity
will raise as to their success and as to their being truly blessed
of God is their numbers, how many bodies they have. And that's
what they're doing. Remember we talked about it a
couple weeks ago about those who would make merchandise of
men's souls, proselytizing. And I've said this a lot. I mean,
wouldn't you all love to see this building fall to the brim?
The walls bursting out and we have to go somewhere else or
rebuild or do something because we've just got so many people.
And that would be a joy if it's all based on truth and true worship. But our goal, now listen, our
goal in preaching the gospel is to do what? It's to glorify
God in the salvation of his chosen people, to exalt Christ, We want
to see centers saved, there's no doubt about it, as many as
we can. But our goal is not just to fill
the building. Our goal is not just to have
numbers. But you know, false Christianity,
that's a big thing with them, you know. Well, look at how many
we've got, so it must be right. That kind of thing. And what
they do, it's like the Pharisees in Matthew 23, I think it's verse
15. I think it is. Yeah, 23, 15. When Christ told
him, he says, you encompass sea and land to gain converts. And
when you gain them, you make them twofold more the child of
hell than you are. These souls, you know, there's
a lot of debate about the makeup of man. Are we a trichotomy,
body, soul, and spirit, or are we just a dichotomy, you know,
all that? Sometimes in the Bible, look
back here at verse 13, it says, slaves, bodies, and souls. Some people say, well, the soul
is the part of, that's our life, the part that lives on, and I
agree with that. Sometimes, though, especially
in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew, When it talks about the
soul, it's talking about the whole person. You just have to
look at the context. But the point is this. False
religion tells men and women that if they buy into their doctrine,
their way of thinking, their way of living, they'll live forever
with Christ. But it's a lie. It's a lie and
has nothing to do with truth. And all they do is just like
the Pharisees. They make merchandise of men's
souls, and they promise men things that they cannot deliver on,
and that's what you're seeing right here in Revelation 18.
Babylon cannot deliver, and look at verse 14. Here's what happens.
and the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from
thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed
from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. That's it. The Babylon lust, false Christianity,
false religion, lust after the souls of men. They bring these
people in, they believe they're truly converted based on false
evidences, not based upon what the scripture says. That's why
I constantly on the TV program tell people, look, if you claim
to be a Christian, if you claim to be saved, put it to the test. Examine yourself from the Bible. That's why we write these books,
you know. What is salvation? If I claim
to be saved, what is salvation? What does the Bible say it is?
You know, I hear people talking about, well, you know, I got
saved, or they got saved. Is that biblical language? Or
is that just the language of Babylon? What is a, do I claim
to be a, well, what is a Christian, if I claim to be one? What does
the Bible say? That's the key, isn't it? And
so, when you, and I think about these, when it talks about the
fruits that thy soul lusted after, salvation, eternal life, all
of these things that people lust after in false religion, it's
all gonna be taken away, it's what it says. The things that
are dainty and goodly, those are things that appear to be
right. things that appeared to be sumptuous
and good. He says, they departed from thee,
and thou shalt find them no more. And here's the point. Look over
at Matthew chapter 7. I want to show you something
here. Now, the fruit, the fruits, plural,
that we see in Revelation 18-14, That refers to what men and women
naturally desire in religion. False religion. Just like, I
mean, we all desire salvation. But do we desire it God's way?
Or are we like Cain? Cain desired salvation. Cain
desired acceptance with God. Cain desired all, but he didn't
desire it God's way. He had the natural desires of
the natural man. But now Abel desired all these
things to the glory of God in Christ. Alright? But over in
Matthew 7, I thought about this, you know, all those converts
of Babylon, I believe are represented here. You know here in Matthew
7, Christ In the Sermon on the Mount, he says in verse 13, Enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat. The straight gate is the gospel. The narrow way is
the way of Christ, the grace of God, the unearned mercy of
God, Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness. None other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's the straight gate. The broad way is the way
of men. It's the way of false religion.
It's the way of Babylon. And it leads to destruction.
And it comes in many different colors and many different forms,
all kinds. And then he says in verse 14
of Matthew 7, because straight is the gate and narrow is the
way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it." How
few or how many, I don't know, but I know it's God's chosen
people, those whom God chose before the foundation of the
world. Those who are justified based on the blood and righteousness
of Christ, redeemed by the blood of Christ. Those whom the Holy
Spirit calls under the preaching of the gospel, by which he makes
it the power of God unto their salvation. And then he says in
verse 15, beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing. These are agents of Babylon. These are the merchants,
you say. These are the sellers of the
merchandise of damnation. And they come to you in sheep's
clothing. What does that mean? They claim to be Christian. They
claim to be preaching Christ. You know, the New Testament is
very clear on that issue. There are counterfeit Christ,
counterfeit preachers, preaching a false Christ. We could go to
all kinds of scriptures on that. He says, emerly, they're ravening
wolves. Seeking to devour. And he says
in verse 16, you shall know them by their fruits. And people go
crazy with that one, don't they? What are those fruits? Well,
I'll tell you what it is, it's their converts. That's exactly
what it is, let me show you. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit. Can't do it. Neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by their fruit you shall know them. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about their converts. First of all, when you go to
the good tree, who's the first one we think of the good tree?
Christ. is the good tree. It's kind of
like when he said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. There's none good but God. And
we preach Christ. And those who are truly converted
under the preaching of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit,
that's the fruit. That's the good fruit. There's
not going to... Listen. There's not gonna be
any false converts under the power of the Holy Spirit in the
preaching of Christ. Now that doesn't mean that under
the preaching of Christ there can be sitting people who don't
believe, yeah. But not when the power of the
Holy Spirit comes to convince men of, women of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment, that's the good fruit. That's the product of
God's grace and power, isn't it? But now, under the preaching
of a false gospel, there will be no true conversions. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth
good fruit. And I hear people all the time
saying, well, you know, I was converted under this, and I found
out it was a lie, and now I've grown into, that's not the way
the scripture, now, that may be your reasoning, that's human
reasoning, but it is not the way the scripture relays it. Oh, you're saying you gotta be
an intellectual theologian, or you gotta know every doctrine.
That's straw men. You're climbing out on a limb
that will not hold your weight, to reason that way. The gospel's
a simple message of the person and work of Christ. Go back to
Revelation 18. And listen, here's another thing
too. When we talk about this fruit, The only thing that can
be produced under a false gospel is dead fruit. Fruit unto death. And that which is produced by
the Holy Spirit under the true gospel is fruit unto God. But
look at verse 15. He says, the merchants of these
things which were made rich by her, rich by Babylon, shall stand
afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing."
Weeping in sorrow. Verse 16, and saying, alas, alas,
that great city, it was great in their eyes, that was clothed
with fine linen that looked so good to us. And purple. We thought this was royal. We
thought this was the authority of the throne of God. And scarlet. Even the scarlet preaching of
the blood. What does the blood mean? What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood. What does
the blood mean to most people today who claim to be Christian?
It just makes you savable. That's what the majority thinks.
It didn't really save anybody. It just makes salvation possible
if you'll do your part. And then he says, and scarlet
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. See, all of
that which looks so beautiful to the natural man, all of that
which was so valuable and highly esteemed is vanishing away. Vanishing away unto damnation.
because it's the merchandise of damnation. Okay.