There are, in reality, just two
religions in the world, the religion of Christ and the religion of
Antichrist. All religious groups fit into
one of those two. There are, in reality, just two
bodies of religious doctrine in the world, the doctrine of
free will and the doctrine of free grace. There are just two
opinions about how salvation is obtained. Salvation by grace
alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, and salvation by
the will, works, and worth of man. Every church, every preacher,
every religious organization in this town and around the world
fits into one of those two categories. There is no in-between ground. There is no in-between ground. In the Bible, there are just
two churches, the false and the true. The false church, the church
of Antichrist, is Babylon, the great whore. Babylon represents
all freewill works religion of every name and of every nation,
Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Buddhism, pseudo-Christianity
of every kind, Protestant and Catholic are included. Babylon,
you'll find its beginnings back in Genesis chapter 11, when men
attempted to build a tower to heaven. And men and women still
to this day, workers of Babylon are attempting to build a tower
for themselves to heaven. Babylon is the religion of works,
the religion of man, the religion of confusion. The religion of
works, the religion of man, the religion of confusion. Many women
are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine in our society. because men and women are constantly
confused, groping about in darkness in free will works religion. If you believe in salvation by
man's free will, your religion is Babylon. If you believe that
salvation is to be obtained by your works, your religion is
Babylon. If you believe that salvation
somehow is conditioned upon and determined by man, Your religion
is Babylon. The true church is the church
of Christ, the church of God, the bride of Christ, the Lamb's
wife. She is made up of men and women
in every age and in every part of the world, those who are in
heaven today and those who are upon the earth who trust Christ
alone for salvation. God's church. It's made up of
men and women of every nation, of every kindred, of every tribe,
of every tongue, who trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation with
God. In this world, Babylon is always
opposed to and always at war with God's church. Antichrist
is always at war with Christ. It was so in the days of the
apostles and it is so now. Antichrist time is not some future
age to come. John said, even now there are
many antichrists going out into the world and that was in the
first century. Before time is finished, free
will works religion. The religion of Babylon will
so thoroughly engulf the world that men and women will not be
able to conduct ordinary affairs of life, buy and sell and trade. They will not be able to conduct
themselves in the ordinary affairs of life, except they receive
the mark of the beast in their forehead. That is, except they
embrace the religion of Babylon. God's people wear not the mark
of the beast, but rather the mark of the lamb. They are marked
by the blood of Christ, not by the religion of the world. The
affairs of life for men in this world greatly depend, even today,
upon the religion you espouse. You see, the world accepts and
defends any religion that approves of and accepts and does nothing
to offend the world. The world denounces as radical,
divisive, bigoted, and hard the gospel of God's free grace in
Christ that denounces all men as sinners and declares salvation
by grace alone. That's the way it has been, that's
the way it is, and that's the way it will be tomorrow. The
Church of Christ is always at odds with the world, especially
the religious world. But in the end, God will destroy
Babylon. Antichrist will be destroyed.
Free willism will be annihilated. Works religion will be cast into
hell from which it sprang. our text this evening, Isaiah
chapter 24 and verse 5. God's prophet Isaiah tells us
why God will destroy Babylon. This chapter is all about judgment,
God's judgment upon the earth. Turning the earth, using the
very language that's used in the first, or rather the second
verse of Genesis chapter 1. form and void, making the earth
utterly chaos because of these crimes ascribed to Babylon. Isaiah 24 verse 5, the earth
also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof. The earth is defiled
by the inhabitants of Babylon, by the religious people in her
midst. And here's the reason. because
they had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken
the everlasting covenant. This is the conclusion of Isaiah's
sermon that began in chapter 13 called The Burden of Babylon. It's the same message that God
gave to his servant John in Revelation chapter 17 and 18. I want you
to turn there with me and read a portion of this passage in
Revelation 17 and part of 18. Revelation chapter 17. I want you to see that what I'm
talking about here, what Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah 24
is precisely what John has revealed to him in Revelation 17. Isaiah
is looking beyond the earthly kingdoms and the earthly rulers
of the world, looking beyond Babylon just as a nation and
looking to Babylon as it encompasses the whole world with false religion. Revelation 17 verse one. And
there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto
thee the judgment of the great whore, that setteth 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. Now, I recognize that our forefathers
and many to this day insist that the great whore is talking about
the Church of Rome. Now, don't misunderstand me. It certainly
includes the Church of Rome, but it's much more than that.
It's the whole influence of idolatrous freewill works religion. Verse
three, so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness,
and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and 10 horns, lots of power. And the woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full
of abominations and filthiness of her fornications. And upon
her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great. the mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the
angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell
thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth
her, which hath seven heads and 10 horns. The beast that thou
sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world, the reprobate. Those whose names
were not written in the book of God's election before the
world began, they shall wonder at the woman. when they behold
the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind
which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains
on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings, five
are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And when
he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was,
and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth
into perdition. And the 10 horns which thou sawest
are 10 kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive
power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind,
all these kings, all these merchants, all engage with the religion
of this great whore and give their power and strength unto
the beast. These shall make war with the
lamb and the lamb shall overcome them. For he is Lord of lords
and King of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen
and faithful. Verse 50, and he saith unto me,
the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
the peoples, they are peoples and multitudes and nations and
tongues. And the ten horns which thou
sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall
make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn
her with fire. For God hath put it in their
hearts, the hearts of these mighty men of the world, these who hate
God, who once were aligned with the great beast, God's put it
in their hearts, now watch this, to fulfill His will. He put it in their hearts to
fulfill His will, just as He put it in the hearts of Israel's
enemies to assault Israel in days of old, so He's put it in
their hearts to fulfill His will. and to agree and to give their
kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman thou sawest is
that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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 and is become the habitation of devils and
the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean
and hateful bird for all nations. have drunk of the wine of the
wrath of her fornication. And the kings of the earth have
committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth
are all wax rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
In other words, everybody in the world embraces Babylon's
delusion. Everybody in the world agrees
with Babylon's doctrine. And I heard another voice from
heaven say, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers
of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. Now, let's go back to our text
in Isaiah 24. Here, I repeat, the prophet of
God tells us precisely what the sins of the great whore Babylon
are. and why the judgment of God falls
upon this great whore. The earth also is defiled under
the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. The
earth is defiled by Babylon's religion. What a statement. The inhabitants of the earth
are defiled, corrupted by the influence of man worshiping himself
as though he were God. The title of my message is The
Crimes of Babylon. Isaiah tells us the earth is
defiled under the inhabitants of Babylon. This harlot, this
great whore, she has caused the people of the earth to become
drunk with the wine of her fornication. Here, God speaks by his prophet
Isaiah and brings these three indictments against Babylon.
These three crimes, I lay at the door of every church, at
the foot of every pulpit and the charge of every preacher
of free will works religion. It matters not who the man is
or what the church is. It matters not at all how highly
venerated by others. I lay these charges, God lays
these charges at the foot of every pulpit. to the charge of
every preacher and at the door of every church where man is
worshiped as though he were God, where men bow down and adore
the will of man as though man had the power of God for salvation. Let's look at them just briefly,
but I pray God will make you to see them clearly. Number one,
they had transgressed the laws of God. Isaiah is not here addressing
the transgressions of God's law by profligate, immoral, profane
people in the world. Drunks, thieves, murderers, adulterers,
perverse, wicked men and women are commonly and properly seen
as transgressors of God's law. Make no bones about it. Such
people are transgressors of God's law. But here, Isaiah is talking
about the transgressions of the law committed by moralistic,
upstanding religious people. Transgressions of the law committed
by the creeds and practices of religion. How on earth Do churches
and preachers and religious people transgress God's law? Let me
show you at least three ways in which the world, free will
works religion, Babylon transgresses the law of God. Some transgress
God's laws by changing them to accommodate the opinions, the
desires, and the customs of men. You've seen the law of God a
number of times in the studies here on Sunday morning. Brother
Lynch has been in Exodus, the chapters 20 up to 24 now, where
God reveals his law. And men take God's law, what's
commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments, and adjust it.
They adjust it to the opinions they want to express by the law.
They adjust it to the customs accepted by men so that the law
becomes pleasant to men. The law becomes comfortable to
men. They make the worship of idols
to be limited to folks in New Guinea and in Africa, in the
dark remote jungles among tribesmen where they bow down and worship
stumps. They make idolatry just to be
the worship of a physical idol. The scriptures make idolatry
the placing of anything in God's place. the setting of anything above
God, His will, His purpose, and His glory. The world makes the
use of images acceptable, God forbids it, so that throughout
the religious world, have you taken notice in recent years
how many people from just almost every walk of life on television
wear religious symbols? and angels and pictures of things
that make you feel good about religion. They think that the
use of icons and images is perfectly acceptable. After all, we don't
worship these things. Try taking them away and you'll
find out. They make the use of God's name in vain. to be only
the use of God's name to swear with profane words, whereas any
use of God's name. Now hear me, my friends, you
children of God, lest you be engulfed ignorantly in actions
that you would regret. The use of God's name ever. without the intent of honoring
God is to take his name in vain. You hear your children and they
have heard you. Use terms like, oh my God, oh
Lord, Lord, gee, geez, Lordy. That's nothing but minced O's. Children of God, reverence God's
name. Don't take it in vain. Religious
folks make Sabbath keeping nothing but going to church on Sunday
and avoiding some profane things on Sunday. They make polite words
concerning your parents to be equivalent to honoring your father
and your mother. They make thou shalt not kill
to mean nothing more than you shouldn't murder a man. They
take fornication and adultery and say that's just talking about
men who are unfaithful and have a one-night stand. Women are
unfaithful, have a one-night stand with somebody else, and
that's fornication and adultery. Failing to recognize fornication
and adultery are as much a part of the heart as of the body. They make the law of God to accommodate
themselves, making robbery to be nothing but actually stealing
from a man, not just coveting what he has. They make only open
lies to be bearing false witness. Whereas the scriptures make it
clear that slander, the intent to harm another with falsehood
is bearing false witness. They make only passionate envy
of another's possession covetousness. They transgress the law by limiting
God's law to claims of a letter obedience, altering the letter
of the law to suit man's idea of righteousness. But the demands
of God's law are infinite. They're spiritual. They're unbending. They reach to the heart. They
reach to the mind. They reach to the soul. The 10
laws of God given in Exodus 20 require the recognition of God's
supremacy with a willing heart. They require loving God with
all your heart, soul, mind, and being. They require spiritual
worship, reverence for God, resting in God's purpose of grace, redemption,
and providence. They require loving your neighbor
as yourself. submitting to divine authority,
seeking to help the lives of men and never to injure, honesty,
integrity, protecting your neighbor's name and his goods and his life. The law of God requires contentment
with God, contentment with God's purpose, contentment with God's
providence, contentment with God's work. Some transgress the
laws of God by changing them to accommodate the opinions and
desires and customs of men. Others transgress the laws of
God by altering the purpose and the use of God's law. Paul tells
us plainly that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. The
law is good if you use it for the reason for which God intended
it. If we use the law for purposes
for which God never intended it, then we transgress the law
and make the law itself a tool of evil. I am not speaking off
the cuff. I prepared these statements with
great prayer and determined clarity. In the word of God, we're told
that the law of God was given for four distinct purposes, only
these four distinct purposes. And the only useful use of the
law is for these four things. The law was given to identify
and expose sin, so that men by the law would know what sin is. The law was given to condemn
men and women for the guilt of sin, that all the world may become
guilty, that every mouth may be stopped, and no man have an
excuse for his sin. Third, the law was given Paul
tells us in 1 Timothy 1, to restrain wicked men and women from acts
of evil. By the terror of the law, by
the fear of punishment, men are restrained from evil that's in
them. I know that psychologists and
psychiatrists and politicians will tell you that punishment
doesn't deter crime. If it's swift and it's hard,
it does. If it's swift and it's hard,
it does. The death penalty is not a matter
of revenge. The death penalty is a matter
of law for reason. When men are quickly seized and
quickly executed in a public manner with no comfort given
them, then men will think twice before they take another life
or rape somebody's child. The law is given for the purpose
of keeping men from acting like they are. And then we're told
in Galatians 3 that the law was given specifically to turn sinners
away from the law. The law was given specifically
to turn sinners away from Sinai to Calvary, away from Moses to
Christ. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. When religious men and women
use the law for other purposes, they transgress the law and make
it a tool of wickedness. To make the law a means of justification
is to transgress the law. Most everybody acknowledges that.
To make the law a rule of life for believers is to transgress
the law. Few people understand that. To
make the law a rule of life, something to motivate and guide
and discipline believers is to misuse the law and make it an
evil thing. The apostle tells us plainly
and repeatedly that we must beware of such efforts, for we're not
under the law, but under grace. To make obedience to the law
a means of sanctification, a basis of assurance, A test of spirituality
is to transgress the law. In Galatians chapter two, the
apostle Paul deals plainly with justification by works and said,
you know that no man is justified by the works of the law. And
then he gets to chapter three and he says, oh foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you? Who came along and cast a spell
on you? They kind of sneaked up on your
backside and cast a spell on you. So that you, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, now think that having
begun in the Spirit, you're made perfect by the flesh. Having
begun this life in Christ, trusting Christ for everything, now you're
made perfect by your obedience to the law. Men take the law and say, now
we wouldn't put you under the yoke of the law, but you can't
really know whether or not you really hold that. You can't really
know whether or not you're progressing in sanctification. You can't
really know that you have assurance with God unless you have the
measure of the law. And now you measure yourself
by the law. But Mark, they never do. They
measure themselves, as you just read back in the office from
2 Corinthians 10, by themselves. Well, I don't keep the law so
good, but I do a better mark than this. And I know I'm not much, but
I ain't like him. And they make the law an evil
thing rather than good. Men transgress the law when they
make Sabbath keeping to be nothing but the observance of a day. That's what it was in the Old
Testament, the observance of a day. But God said to the children
of Israel, who required this at your hand? Isaiah chapter
one. Well, God, you required it. No, he didn't. He required
that they observe the day as an act of faith symbolized in
that day. The believer in grace keeps the
Sabbath, not by setting aside Sunday or Saturday as a holy
day, but rather setting aside his life as a holy day to God,
worshiping him in spirit and in truth, resting in Christ Jesus. The world of works religion transgresses
the law in a third way. They do so by lowering the standard
to accommodate man. You see, in reality, no one,
no one. Now, I've been around a while.
I know a lot of folks. I've known a lot of folks in
various forms of religion, fundamentalist, liberal, conservative, reformed
and otherwise. I've been around a while. I know
a lot of people who pretend to live by the law. I've never met
anybody who did, have you? I've met a lot of people who
live by the law as they kind of whittle it down and bend it
and mold it and shape it the way they want it. And now, if
you get it down here, If you get it down here in this muck
and mire where I am, and the law looks a whole lot like the
muck and mire that I am, then I live by the law. They make
the law, teaching that men don't keep the law perfectly, but they
do the best they can. They do the best they can, and
thereby they're justified. They bend the law. hold it out
as a rule of life for God's saints to live by and tell you you gotta
keep a Sabbath day. I'll work on that one because
that's most common. You gotta keep the Sabbath day,
gotta keep the Sabbath day. These are things I personally
know folks have done. I know of a congregation in the
north who many years ago were real strict on Sabbath observance.
And some of the folks drove a long ways to church. I'm talking a
couple of hours. Go a long ways, and they'd stay
for the evening service. And rather than driving back
home, they would go to the park and have a picnic and relax.
And somebody got wind that the children were swinging on the Sabbath. So they had an
elders meeting. I'm telling you a true story.
They had an elders meeting and they decided to send the elders
out to investigate to see if they were putting forth an effort
to swing or just swinging by the force of the wind. What stupidity, what meanness,
what vileness, what corruption, what evil. The law will not bend. was fulfilled for us by a substitute
in His obedience unto death, and the only person in this world
who honors God's Law. The only person in this world
who honors God's law, the only person in this world who honors
God's law is the sinner who has no plea but Christ, no righteousness
but Christ, who trusts nothing but Christ for the fulfillment
of the law. By faith, we establish the law. The law is fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, trusting Jesus
Christ, our Lord, as our Redeemer. And then Isaiah says they have
changed the ordinance. The word translated ordinance
means enactment, decree, law, or ordinance. Our text refers
to this book, God's Word, the Ordinance of God. This is God's
authoritative decree, the enactment of the Almighty. In this charge,
God lays against Babylon. the whole religious world, they've
changed, they've altered, they perverted the word of God. We won't turn there tonight and
read Jeremiah 23, but I encourage you to do so. They do so while
pretending to honor and defend the word. We stand on the book,
the blood and the blessed hope. Common phraseology in religion. But they despise the book, despise
the blood, and have no hope with God. They pervert the word of
God, changing it to suit themselves. They have a dream and they tell
their dream. One man by the name of Elymas
the sorcerer in Acts 13 attempted to pervert the scriptures and
turn men away from the faith. And Paul said, oh, full of all
subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy
of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right
ways of the Lord? How is it that men pervert the
ordinance of God? How is it they pervert the Word
of God? They alter the character of God,
denying His absolute sovereignty. All men everywhere talk about
God being sovereign, but when they talk about God being sovereign,
they mean God somehow or another has something to do with things
going on in the world, but His will His purpose, His determination,
those things are altered by the events of time and by the works
of men. The scriptures declare, of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things. God declares, I make
light and I create darkness. I make peace and I make evil. God rules everywhere all the
time according to his word. They pervert the character of
God in regard to his attributes of justice and truth, holiness
and righteousness, declaring that God bends his justice. He bows his holiness. He lowers his righteousness,
giving men grace in salvation, whereas the gospel declares that
the gospel of God's free grace is the declaration of the righteousness
of God, the justice of God, the truth of God. They make a mockery
of the person and work of our Redeemer. The things that are
ascribed to men, or by men to the Lord Jesus Christ, essentially deny his eternal
deity. And equally deny his real humanity. They make him less than God and
something less than man. They deny the efficacy of His
work, the efficacy of righteousness and redemption, the work He came
here to accomplish. They deny that Jesus the Christ
actually accomplished the redemption of His people. And they make
a mockery of the office and work of God the Holy Ghost. They speak
of the calling of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit as
a gentle persuasion. maybe even a powerful urging,
whereas God describes the work of the Spirit as the wind blowing
where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. God, the Holy
Spirit, comes and convinces chosen, redeemed sinners. He doesn't
try to, he convinces. He doesn't try to convict, he
convicts of sin. your sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, Christ's righteousness,
because he fulfilled the will and law of God. And of judgment,
because by his death he judged the prince of this world. Men
are convinced by the Spirit, and when He comes convincing,
He converts those chosen, redeemed sinners by the power of omnipotent
mercy. Men pervert the ordinance of
God by altering what God says about salvation. They make salvation to be something that God offers
to man, something that God works in man, but when all is said
and done, when all is said and done, salvation, finally, in
the end, depends on you. Your choice, your decision, your
will. God wants to say, but you have
to let him. God has come to say, but you've
got to give him permission. They set man up in the house
of God and worship man as though he were God. It's called will
worship. Men come and pervert the word
of God. Look at the third thing. They have broken the everlasting
covenant. Now that takes a little thought
to understand. If you read Jeremiah 31, 32,
Hebrews 8, Hebrews 12, read the 10th chapter of Hebrews, the
36th chapter of Ezekiel, you recognize that the everlasting
covenant was a covenant made between the persons of the triune
Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, with Jesus Christ, the
sinner's surety, the God-man, our mediator, before the world
was. It is a covenant in which the
salvation of God's elect was done. The works were finished
from the foundation of the world. A covenant the fulfilling of
which done from eternity made us the recipients of every blessing
of grace according to God's election before ever the world began.
And if it's covenant made by God from eternity, it is a covenant
altogether unalterable. It doesn't in any way have anything
to do with man's obedience or disobedience. How then do men
break the everlasting covenant? By despising it, by trampling
it underfoot, by looking upon it as a useless thing. The covenant
can't be nullified or broken by man. but the whole lost religious
world despises covenant grace, cast it aside, tramples it underfoot,
tramples it underfoot of their own free will. They trample it under the foot
of their own filthy, vile, God hating, God denying free will. That will which took the Lord
of glory and nailed him to the cursed tree. That will which
is the object of man's greatest veneration and adoration, his
imaginary free will. and for the sake of his free
will being exalted to the place of God, they trample underfoot
the blood of the everlasting covenant and do despite to the
Spirit of grace and trample on the Son of God. And thus Babylon
transgresses God's law. Babylon perverts God's ordinance. And Babylon breaks God's covenant. And for this, Babylon shall fall
under the wrath of God. Now, children of God, hear what
God says to you and me with regard to Babylon. Come out of her,
my people. Give no credibility, no honor,
No distinction except a distinction of vileness to any form of free
will works religion. That you be not partaker of her
sins or of her judgment. Amen.