One of the things that is essential
if we're going to understand the Bible is that you have to
make a distinction between what people naturally call the will
of God. The will of God. What is God's
will? You know, people say, well, I
just want to find what God's will is for my life. And the
reason you have to do that, there's so many things in the Bible that
we as simple human beings, and especially sinful human beings,
we can't grasp. I often go to the psalmist who
said, such knowledge is too high for me. How God, for example,
the scripture teaches, and this is, most people want to avoid
this because you know most people, when they think of God, and you've
heard me use this term before, they think of God as some kind
of cosmic chess player up there. And he makes his move, and then
we make our counter move, and then God makes his counter move,
and we'll find out who wins in the end. And most people would
say, well, God's going to win in the end, but that's the way
they think of it. And that is not a biblical view
of God at all. I mean, you can't find anything
like that from Genesis to Revelation. You'll find places in the Bible
where God sort of talks down to us. You know, somebody says,
well, we don't like anybody to talk down to us. Well, we don't
like any human being to talk down to us, but certainly it's
not a stretch for God Almighty, the sovereign of the universe,
to talk down to me and to you. He has to. He's got no choice
because he's God and we're below him. And so what I'm saying,
I have to say this. Whenever you come to the will
of God, you have to make this distinction. And the Bible says
this, now it says that God, this is Ephesians 1.11 for example,
it says God works all things after the counsel of his own
will. That's what it says. And I could go to other scriptures
too, but I want to get into this lesson, but I'm introducing it
this way. That's what the Bible says. And
there are things that we look around that happen in our lives,
in the lives of other people, in this world. We wonder, how
in the world can God let that happen? We just can't figure
it out. We know the Bible tells us God
is not the author of sin. He's holy. God is perfect. God never makes a mistake. God
never does anything wrong. God never does anything unjust. That would be against His nature.
And yet we see so many things in this world that seem unjust
to us. They're really not if you read
the Bible and look at them in the context. But the thing about
it is, God's secret will, I guess that's one way to put it, His
purpose, His sovereign will, that's God's will in all things. God is the governor, the controller
of this universe. You know, some of the Some of
the framers of the Constitution were deist. You might have heard
that term, deist. And what that is is they believed
in a supreme being, but they believed that that supreme being
just created the world and then kind of wound it up like a clock
and then walked off and just let it wind down. And he doesn't
involve himself in the affairs of this world, and he doesn't
certainly intervene. They call that the Watchmaker
God theory. And that's what a lot of the
framers of the Constitution, they admired the Bible, they
loved the moral principles of the Bible, and they would admire Jesus of Nazareth
and his teachings, but they didn't believe him to be God in human
flesh. They didn't believe in redemption
by the blood. But you see, God, the God of
the Bible, is in control. And yet he's not the author of
sin. And I can show you that from so many scriptures. But
then, here's the realm we live in. I wrote this, I think it
was last week, the world in which we live. God has revealed certain things
in his book that we call his revealed will by way of commandment.
And that's what we're accountable for. The things that goes on
in the secret councils of the Almighty, we're not responsible
for them. Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret
things belong to God. And somebody says, well, if that's
the case, you know, I don't have to do this. I don't have to seek
the Lord. I don't have to read the Bible. You're not in that
realm. So you don't live in that world. That's God's world. And
anybody who tries to operate like that is in essence trying
to be like God. You don't have that kind of wisdom.
I don't either. All I know is what God says. And here's what
God says. He says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He says this. He says, we're all sinners and
we, the best of us to the worst of us. And here's what man by
nature does now. We usually try to pick out somebody
we think is worse than us and we say, well now, you know, they
deserve God's wrath. But what about me? You know,
I mean, I'm, you know. No, I deserve God's wrath, too. Now, that's
what the Bible says. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death.
And people quote those verses, but it's just like, I'll never
forget this one time, asking a person, said, well, do you
believe that if God were to judge you right now, based on your
best efforts to obey Him, that you would be damned forever.
And he said, oh no. And I said, so you don't believe
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and the wages
of sin is death? He said, oh yeah, I believe that.
Well, that's what that means. Now, yeah, the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But here's what the
Bible says. We all, if God were to judge
us, Based on our best efforts to keep the law, to obey Him.
Based on our sincerity. Based on our best efforts, we
would deserve His wrath. So here's the question. How can
I, a sinner, escape that wrath? How can I? Well, there's not
but one way. And that's what God's revealed.
Look back up at verse 14. of Revelation 17. Now, he's talking
about the sinful world, the beast, the harlot, false religion, false
governments, in opposition to Christ, in opposition to God's
way of salvation. We're going to talk about it
this morning in the message. Marvel not if the world hates you. Well,
here's the world. It says, these shall make war
with the Lamb. That's Christ. the Lamb of God,
who died for the sins of His people, charged to Him, and suffered
the entire, full, complete measure of God's wrath for His people. And the Lamb shall overcome them."
Christ is not going to be defeated by this world in opposition.
Somebody said, the world today is going to hell in a handbasket.
My friend, listen to me. The world has been going to hell
in a handbasket since the fall of man. Hasn't it? What was the first revelation
of God to fallen man concerning how to escape his wrath? It was
the seed of woman and the blood sacrifice of a lamb. That's always been the only way
to escape God's wrath. There's never been any other
way. It's Christ and Him crucified. It's His blood. It's His righteousness. That's what this Lamb means.
The Passover Lamb. What did God say? When I see
the what? The blood I'll pass over you. Why is that? Is God a bloodthirsty
being? Does He just enjoy pain and suffering? No. It's about justice. And I want to tell you something
now. Our world and our modern world has really no sense of
justice. Do you know that's what the death
penalty is all about in the Bible? It's, listen, somebody said,
well, the death penalty doesn't deter crime. Well, it'll deter
one or two of them. But that's not what it's about,
really. Do you think the death penalty is going to make people
better? No. Absolutely not. If it did, that
would be fine. If it would keep other people
from committing crimes, that would be fine. But that's not
what it's about. You know what it's about? Justice. The punishment fits the crime. That's what an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. You know that eye for an eye,
tooth for a tooth in the Old Covenant? That's what that was
about. That didn't give individuals
permission to go out and commit vigilante justice. That was a
principle that was set forth that the punishment would fit
the crime. But you see what happened? You
remember when God told Adam, he said, you can eat of every
tree of the garden except one. And in the day that you eat thereof,
you shall surely what? Die. Why does the Bible in Hebrews
chapter 10 say without the shedding of blood there's no remission,
no forgiveness? Because justice has to be satisfied. God makes himself known in judgment. Why did Christ have to go to
the cross? Because God felt sorry for us?
No. It's because justice had to be
satisfied in order for God to be merciful and gracious to his
people. Isaiah 45. A just God and a what? A Savior. And he says, look unto
me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. Who? A just God
and a Savior. How can he be both just and justifier? You know, that's the question
of questions in the Bible. Most people haven't even considered
it today, even who call themselves Christian. How can a holy God
act towards me a sinner who deserves nothing but wrath, how can he
act towards me in mercy and still be just in doing so? That's the
question of questions. There's only one way, and here
it is, the Lamb, the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm writing a book on it even
now, as we go. And the Lamb will overcome all
of his enemies. He's a sovereign lamb. He says
in verse 14, for he is Lord of lords and king of kings. There's no human lord, nobleman,
and no human king who can overcome the Lord of lords and the king
of kings. And here's what it says. Now look at verse 14. And
they that are with him, are you with him? See, that's our hope,
isn't it? Our call. Now that's the calling
of the gospel. Do you believe the gospel? And
if you're called, what are you? You're chosen. How do I? You
know, God's elect. The scripture teaches that. But
who are God's elect? Those who are called by the gospel
to Christ and they're faithful. What's that mean? That means
they cling to Christ. They won't let go of Christ.
Now look at verse 15, he says, he saith unto me, the waters
which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, that's Babylon,
the mother of harlots, over in verse five, she's sitting on
these waters, she's over these waters. What is that, what is
that waters, those waters represent? They're the peoples and multitudes
and nations and tongues, it means languages. In other words, this
is a worldwide judgment of God upon the earth for their rejection
of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
And it says in verse 16, and the ten horns, remember the ten
horns that thou sawest upon the bees. These shall hate the whore. That is, they're going to turn
against the one they were following. Now this is all coming as we
approach the end. When Christ comes back, all this
is going to happen. And what it is, is people are
going to turn against false religion. And I think we see that more
and more today. False religion is popular. Don't get me wrong. I mean, not only, you know, we
think about like the Muslim religion and how, you know, they say that's
the fastest growing religion today. But then there's the false
Christianity that we see that's growing. But what he's saying
here is that in the end, those who are of the world, whether
it's false Christianity or just false religion in general, or
people in general, all of these, they're going to hate the whore
and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh
and burn her with fire. Boy, I tell you, that's graphic
language, isn't it? And what it's talking about,
her followers are going to turn against her, they're going to
destroy her because of their disappointment. You see, what's
going to happen here is the hope that she offered is going to
be exposed as a false refuse. Turn over to Isaiah. Look at
Isaiah chapter 28. We see like a preview of this
in Israel's history. Look at Isaiah chapter 28. And look at verse 16. Well, let's
go back up to verse 14. Now, you know, the nation Israel,
and of course, at this time, it was really the nation Judah.
You remember after Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided
into two kingdoms. You had the northern kingdom,
which was called Israel. That consisted of 10 tribes of
Israel. And then you had the southern
kingdom, which was called Judah because it consisted mainly of
the tribe of Judah, along with the tribe of Benjamin. And so
Isaiah, that's where Jerusalem was its capital, and in the northern
kingdom, Samaria was its capital. And in the southern kingdom,
that's where Isaiah prophesied. Isaiah was about 700 years before
Christ. And what he's showing here is
that the leaders of the country, of Judah had led the people astray
into a false refuge of religion, false religion. He had not taught
them in the ways of the law which would expose their sinfulness
and drive them to the promise of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to come in the future. You see? And so you have this
false notions of false religion. And look at verse 14 of Isaiah
28. He says, wherefore, hear the
word of the Lord, you scornful men. Now, you know what it is
to scorn something? If something's valuable, if an
object is valuable, and you put no value on it, that's what scorn
is. And here's what's happening.
The truth of God's Word in the Gospel of how God saves sinners
by His grace, that's valuable. I mean, that's a precious commodity.
And when a person turns their nose up at that, turns away from
it, and doesn't believe it, and doesn't love it, and doesn't
embrace it, that person is scorning something that God has said,
this is it, this is the way. So he says, hear the word of
the Lord you scornful men that rule this people which is in
Jerusalem because you have said we've made a covenant with death
and with hell are we at agreement. Now their covenant with death
and hell was simply saying this, well I know that when I die I'm
not going to be damned. I'm okay, I've made a covenant.
I know I'm okay. All right? If you claim to be okay, you
say, well, I know I'm saved. Well, let me tell you something.
If your claim and your assurance is not based upon God's way of
salvation, God's word, you're just in the same category of
those who say, well, I've made a covenant with death and with
hell. And here's what they say, look at verse 15. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, that's God's wrath. It shall not come
unto us. We're fine. For we've made lies
our refuge. Now, they don't state it that
way. They're deceived. But that's what's happening.
Isaiah, the prophet, is exposing the reality. Is your refuge,
is my refuge, is it a lie? Is it possible? I had a man tell
me, he said, well, that even offends me for you to even ask
me that. I said, well, it shouldn't. It wouldn't offend me if you
asked me that. And I'll tell you why. Because
it gives me just one more opportunity to climb into God's word and
examine myself according to God's word. Somebody says, well, is
refuge your lives? Well, go ask mama. Well, listen,
love your mamas, but mama's not the standard. Well, my grandmother
taught me. Well, that's okay if she taught
you the truth, but check grandma out with the Word of God because
that's the standard. And this is what they're saying,
we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Now look at verse 16, Isaiah 28. Therefore thus saith the
Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion. Now Zion is a picture of the
church. It was actually a mountain outside of Jerusalem, a hill,
but it's a picture of the church. He said, I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a stone, a tried or a tested stone. A precious
cornerstone. A sure foundation. Do you know
what that is? Right there? That's a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what he's saying
here is Christ is the test. Christ is the standard. Isaiah
17, or Acts 17 31, God has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
in that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. In other words, Christ is the
standard. Am I with him? That's what Revelation
17 is asking. Are you with him? Am I washed
in his blood? Am I clothed in His righteousness
imputed? Because that's the issue. Well,
look on, it says, He that believeth shall not make haste, believeth
in Christ. Not just believeth now. People today think it's
faith that saves them. It's not faith that saves you,
it's Christ that saves His people and we believe in Him. See, faith
has a foundation. Faith has an object. Somebody
says, well, I believe. Well, what do you believe? Well,
I believe the moon's made of green cheese. Well, you may believe
it, but it's not true. Go ask Cain. Remember Cain and
Abel, we talked about them? Cain, do you believe? Cain says,
yes, I believe. Well, what do you believe? I
believe God will save me based on my works. That's a lie. Ask these fellows who made a
covenant with death and hell. Do you believe? Yes, we believe.
What do you believe? Well, I believe that God's gonna
smile on us because we're just trying to do the best we can.
Well, that's a lie, that's a refuge of lies. To believe is to believe
that Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, is my only way of righteousness
before God. We'll look at verse 17 of Isaiah
28, then we'll go back to Revelation 17. He says, judgment also will
I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet. See, that's what
I have to have to be saved. I have to have righteousness.
Where am I going to find righteousness? Well, I'll join the church. Well,
will that make you righteous? No. I'll get baptized. Will that do it? No. Well, I'll
start trying tomorrow. Tomorrow's Monday. I'll start
trying tomorrow, trying to keep the law, do the best I can. Well,
first of all, you're going to fail. But secondly, that won't
make you righteous. He says, the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies and the water shall overflow the hiding
place. In other words, that refuge of lies. Now over here in Revelation
17, that's what's happening. The refuge of lies is being swept
away. And what happens is the world
that followed this false religious harlot, false religion symbolized
by the harlot, they'll turn against her. and they'll make her desolate,
verse 16. Naked, they'll expose her shame,
that's what that means. Eat her flesh, they'll kill her,
consume her, burn her with fire. Now look at verse 17. Now here's
the one that's mind-boggling. This is why I mentioned this
in the first of the lesson about God's secret will, God's sovereign
will. It says, for God hath put in
their hearts to fulfill his will." Now who's he talking about here?
He's talking about those who in their wickedness turn against
this harlot. This is the evil wicked world.
He says it's God's will to fulfill his will and to agree, listen
to it, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast
That's the beast, that's the false, that which stands against
Christ, stands against the church, until the words of God shall
be fulfilled. Now you say, well how can God
do that? Well it's justice. Remember we talked about justice.
This is God's judgment upon an unbelieving world. He says in verse 18, he says,
and the woman which thou sawest, that great harlot now over in
Babylon, verse 5, remember, which thou sawest is that great city,
great in the eyes of men, Babylon the great, and again, that's
symbolizing false religion, which reigneth over the kings of the
earth. reigns over ungodly kings, nations, empires. In other words,
that's what's moving the world. So what's the answer? You see,
this is awful bleak stuff, isn't it? Doesn't offer much hope, does
it? Well, not in the earth. Not in the kings of the earth.
There's no hope there. There's no hope in false religion.
You say, well, I go to church. Well, that's okay if they preach
the truth. You say, well, you all think you're saved and everybody
else is lost. I don't think that, but I know this, everyone who
doesn't preach salvation by the grace of God based on the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed and received by faith
is lost. Why do I believe that? Because I'm a bigot? No, because
that's what the Bible teaches. You see, we're disciples of Jesus
Christ. That means we follow his teachings.
Somebody says, well, I believe there are other ways to heaven.
Well, I'm a disciple of Christ. I follow his teaching. And he
said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life, and no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Now, if you don't believe that,
that's up to you. And you have the freedom and
the liberty in this country to believe what you want to believe.
But if you don't believe that, don't call yourself a disciple
of Christ. There's none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What can wash away my sin? You
know, I've had people say, well, I believe there are other ways.
And they'll step up there and say, what can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Well, those two things don't
mix. If you believe there are other
ways, don't sing, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the
blood of Jesus. I believe that. I believe nothing
but the blood of Jesus will pay for my sins. I believe his righteousness
alone is my only way to have a right standing with Almighty
God. Now why do I believe that? That's
because that's what the Bible teaches. Now the point of revelation
The words of God fulfilled is His judgment against everything
else. You say, well, that just sounds
too narrow and too mean for me. Well, no, it's justice. That's
who God is. There is a way of salvation.
That's what Isaiah was telling the people back in his day. That's
why everybody talks about Isaiah 53. What is that? That's a way of prophesying the
gospel that comes in one person, by one righteousness, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And there is no other way, but
there is a way. And it's the one way of God's
grace through Christ.