back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 21
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Father we come before you asking for your guidance, asking for your Holy Spirit to continue 00:00:40.360 |
I pray that you would soften our hearts, that your word would mold our thoughts, our affections, 00:00:49.660 |
that you would stir in us a hungering and thirsting for righteousness that can only 00:00:58.880 |
Lord, you know how we wrestle, you know how we are easily distracted, you know the longings 00:01:08.840 |
We pray Father God that you would direct us to you, that even as we continue to study 00:01:14.560 |
the book of Revelation, some of it Lord remains a mystery to us, but it is clear Lord God 00:01:23.080 |
that you are sovereign and you are completely in control. 00:01:26.640 |
And I pray Father that through the study that you would move us more than just to satisfy 00:01:32.800 |
our curiosity, but that a glimpse of Christ and his glory Lord would constantly point 00:01:42.440 |
So we pray for your blessing over this time, in Jesus name we pray, amen. 00:01:49.120 |
So if you've, hopefully you've had some time to look at the text, chapter 17 and maybe 00:01:56.240 |
even 18 before you came, but chapter 17 and 18 is probably one of the more difficult passages 00:02:05.480 |
And not that the other parts have been easy, but if you've taken any time to look at it, 00:02:10.320 |
you know about the seven horns and then the ten, you know, seven kings, seven hills, the 00:02:15.600 |
ten horns and then you have the beast and then you have the riding of the beast and 00:02:19.680 |
then you have the waters and you have all this stuff. 00:02:21.680 |
And so it requires a little bit more time to dig into. 00:02:27.420 |
And again, everything that we studied up to this point, remember we talked about there's 00:02:30.960 |
four different ways to approach the interpretation of book of Revelation. 00:02:34.360 |
So depending on which commentary you read, you'll have a completely different application, 00:02:41.760 |
And I already kind of shared with you, you know, our approach to this. 00:02:46.000 |
But again, so there are some things that we want to take some time to look and chapter 00:02:55.560 |
So I'm going to jump into it and it may cause us to ask some questions. 00:03:00.080 |
Again, we're not going to go in too deep, but hopefully you'll have a better understanding 00:03:07.840 |
So if you look at the picture, it's a lady riding on a beast with seven heads, but it's 00:03:12.600 |
a dark picture so you might not be able to see it. 00:03:22.440 |
So the beginning, chapter 17 and 18, it is not a description of God's judgment as the 00:03:30.760 |
So the three different judgments that we've seen, we had the seal judgments, the trumpet 00:03:35.960 |
judgments, and then we had the final bowl judgments. 00:03:38.800 |
All three of them were descriptions of how judgment was going to come upon the world 00:03:45.600 |
Chapter 17 and 18 is not a description of his judgment, but why? 00:03:52.200 |
So it's a description of the rebellion of mankind, the work of the beast, specific descriptions 00:03:58.480 |
of how at the end, how they're going to be united and to go against the lamb. 00:04:03.920 |
And as a result of that, how they're going to be conquered. 00:04:06.560 |
So it's more of a description, chapter 17 and 18, of why the judgment is coming than 00:04:11.560 |
the specifics of what we've been looking at up to this point. 00:04:19.160 |
And these chapters describe satanic kingdom in the last days. 00:04:23.560 |
So we talked about it before, how the application of this is not necessarily all chronological. 00:04:28.680 |
There are certain parts of what is mentioned here is not talking just about the end times. 00:04:34.200 |
It's talking about the satanic kingdom in totality, the world in rebellion in totality. 00:04:39.960 |
So there are parts of it where we're talking about just the very end, when Christ comes, 00:04:47.280 |
It's a description of that, but all the events that lead up to that is not necessarily just 00:04:53.600 |
So just keep that in mind, that what we're reading here is not just talking about the 00:04:57.840 |
very end, but the totality of satanic kingdom. 00:05:05.440 |
One is the identity of the great prostitute that is introduced to us in the very beginning. 00:05:10.960 |
And then the second part of it is the explanation of that that we see in verse six and on. 00:05:22.760 |
Now, where else do we see a woman and the relationship with the beast? 00:05:36.760 |
Chapter 13, we saw again a woman and the woman has a child and the beast goes after the woman 00:05:54.760 |
I'm just trying to see if you read it or not. 00:05:57.000 |
It's clearly not the same because the woman of chapter 13, who do we say, who do we think 00:06:02.720 |
Most likely Israel and her child is obviously Jesus. 00:06:12.640 |
So even though it's a woman and she has an intimate relationship with the beast, but 00:06:17.680 |
it is not the same woman of Revelation chapter 13. 00:06:23.620 |
In verse 18, she's described as, or she's called the Babylon the great, mother of the 00:06:34.880 |
In verse 5, we've already studied in chapter 14, the meaning of Babylon. 00:06:44.400 |
The Babylon is used to symbolize a fallen world in rebellion against God. 00:06:50.640 |
And then again, if there was any doubt in verse 18, it describes again, the city of 00:06:57.640 |
So obviously we know that the specific city of Babylon existed in history, but oftentimes 00:07:03.800 |
when the Bible uses the term Babylon, it is referring to the whole world in rebellion 00:07:16.360 |
But if you remember when we were studying chapter 14, remember the different distinction 00:07:20.960 |
between the Assyrians attack and the Babylonians, right? 00:07:27.320 |
Remember when we were studying the book of Isaiah, Assyria was going to conquer by how? 00:07:36.480 |
They were known to be violent and very cruel. 00:07:38.680 |
So if you remember the book of Isaiah, it describes the Assyrians and how they're going 00:07:43.280 |
to violently overthrow them and they're going to again, cause a great harm, physical 00:07:50.480 |
And then the Babylonians come in and then the Babylonians conquering of Israel, perversion 00:08:02.120 |
And that's exactly what the Babylonians were known for, right? 00:08:05.280 |
The Babylonians were not known for brutality. 00:08:08.240 |
They were also a mighty nation that conquered many other nations. 00:08:11.800 |
But after they conquer them, they wanted to be Babylonians, right? 00:08:16.200 |
It's kind of like, kind of like, again, they're exact opposite. 00:08:20.760 |
You have one coming by intimidation and fear. 00:08:23.600 |
The other one's coming and conquering by assimilation, by temptation. 00:08:27.740 |
And that's exactly how this woman is described. 00:08:31.480 |
Her primary corruption and immorality isn't through intimidation. 00:08:41.580 |
And that term, sexual immorality, is mentioned three or four separate times. 00:08:46.720 |
And then when we get to chapter 18, if you've read ahead, the whole theme of Babylon repeatedly 00:08:54.840 |
And we'll see that more clearly in chapter 18, right? 00:08:58.000 |
So the reason why she is called a harlot or a whore is because her sin is not of intimidation 00:09:04.760 |
and fear, but is of sexual immorality, right? 00:09:08.400 |
So the temptation or the people who are going to go after and basically side with her are 00:09:19.000 |
They're voluntarily coming and surrendering themselves in allegiance to this prostitute, 00:09:26.560 |
Again, that's why the term Babylon, she is the queen of Babylon. 00:09:39.360 |
The significance of that is that in the ancient cities, most ancient cities of any significance, 00:09:46.360 |
they were usually near sources of water, either ocean, river, or lake, or spring. 00:10:01.560 |
If it's agricultural, if their primary source of income and sustenance and wealth is agricultural, 00:10:08.040 |
you would need to be near a body of water, or you have to somehow be able to access the 00:10:13.000 |
So most ancient cities, usually the more significant ones who had wealth typically were near a 00:10:22.700 |
They were located near the river Euphrates, which was known to be in that area the greatest 00:10:30.840 |
And the Babylon is located right near it, right? 00:10:33.760 |
So she's described, when she sits on top of many waters, what do you think that signifies? 00:10:45.360 |
So if a city is located near a body of water, you assume that they naturally had wealth, 00:10:51.680 |
The agriculture, their livestock, basically they had food, sustenance that was able to 00:10:58.680 |
So if she is sitting on top of many waters, what does that signify about her? 00:11:08.080 |
So it's to signify the greatness of who she is, right? 00:11:13.280 |
Greatness and then when it says she's sitting above many waters, what does that mean? 00:11:17.760 |
Possibly over not just one, but many other cities, right? 00:11:22.320 |
Hence, we talk about how she has seven kings, ten horns, right? 00:11:33.840 |
Referring to many other nations, many other authorities. 00:11:37.720 |
So again, to refer to the significance of who she is. 00:11:41.480 |
I put the passage in the wrong place here, but I'll get back to this later. 00:11:48.240 |
And so just to summarize, to sit upon many waters signifies the power and wealth of her 00:11:56.880 |
So all of this is a description of this Queen of Babylon, right? 00:12:02.000 |
Queen of Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and earth abomination. 00:12:10.000 |
She's going to have worldwide influence and her primary influence isn't by force, isn't 00:12:15.840 |
by power, but it's through temptation, sexual immorality. 00:12:21.120 |
Sexual immorality isn't necessarily just in reference to sex though, even though that's 00:12:27.640 |
But sexual immorality is in reference to corruption of what's good, right? 00:12:33.080 |
So again, oftentimes the temptation of the world is generally described as sexual immorality. 00:12:40.120 |
Things that tempt us and lure us away from God. 00:12:42.760 |
Whatever lusts that is not God-ordained, oftentimes it's just simply described as sexual immorality. 00:13:00.680 |
This signifies that her power and influence is helped by the beast. 00:13:09.740 |
She is also described as being arrayed in purple and scarlet as well. 00:13:13.560 |
So what is the significance of the color purple? 00:13:27.480 |
Why was the color purple equated with royalty? 00:13:33.880 |
There's a significant figure in the New Testament in the book of Acts that there was this lady 00:13:39.560 |
who was known to be a seller of purple garments. 00:13:48.640 |
Lydia was known for selling purple, specific purple garments, not just garments. 00:13:53.000 |
So purple garments were in particular, it's kind of like saying she was known for selling 00:13:58.680 |
Gucci bags or something really expensive, right? 00:14:02.560 |
That's about the most expensive thing I know. 00:14:07.560 |
All right, let's stick with Gucci, all right? 00:14:10.680 |
So basically she's known for selling like very expensive stuff because that purple dye 00:14:24.880 |
So the fact that she was known to be a seller of purple material meant that she probably 00:14:31.880 |
was a very wealthy lady, that she was somehow able to get that. 00:14:34.720 |
So anytime you see in the Bible where the color purple comes out, it's in reference 00:14:42.160 |
So she's described as having, the beast is described as a scarlet, right? 00:14:50.760 |
And she's also described as having scarlet, right? 00:14:58.920 |
So purple is associated with royalty and the color scarlet is often associated with immorality 00:15:07.600 |
So when you put those two things combined, what does that signify? 00:15:24.680 |
So up to this point, a description of her is very powerful, right? 00:15:39.500 |
So these two colors combined signifies immoral and sinful rule of the beast and the harlot. 00:15:45.000 |
So again, remember we talked about how her rebellion and the beast are two separate. 00:15:56.180 |
Even though the beast is helping her because she's riding the beast and somehow the beast 00:16:01.480 |
is in control of her, using her, or helping her, but later on we're going to see, clearly 00:16:12.920 |
So Satan himself in Revelation chapter 12, 3 is described as having seven heads and ten 00:16:18.720 |
So here when it's talking about the beast, this is probably in reference to Satan. 00:16:23.680 |
So Satan himself is assisting her to do what she's doing. 00:16:33.860 |
So even up to this point, we're not exactly sure who she is, right? 00:16:39.000 |
And in fact, to be honest, it is, ultimately it is a mystery, but we'll get to that in 00:16:48.360 |
She's also described as being drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of martyrs 00:16:55.080 |
So as she is tempting the world toward her, at the same time she's going after the saints. 00:17:03.680 |
And she's going to be responsible for great persecution against the Christians. 00:17:13.720 |
Now her identity, again, this is a guess, but some believe that her rule will be through 00:17:20.900 |
false religion, that this is all a description of false religion because of the use of the 00:17:32.480 |
Where else is the word mystery used in the Bible? 00:17:37.940 |
So if you remember that we've been studying satanic activity and Satan has been trying 00:17:47.720 |
So remember some of the things that Satan was doing to mimic God and his activity? 00:18:01.360 |
You had Satan, the Antichrist, and then the false prophet. 00:18:04.880 |
And if you look at the description of the false prophet, it kind of mimics the Holy 00:18:09.620 |
If you look at the description of the Antichrist, and he's exactly what that is, he's this Antichrist. 00:18:16.780 |
So what does the Antichrist do that is mimicking Christ? 00:18:29.620 |
Okay, glorifies the beast, I mean, Satan, right? 00:18:36.180 |
So he draws people to himself and then points to Satan. 00:18:48.780 |
Remember he said he seemed to have a mortal womb. 00:19:10.100 |
So the Antichrist is mimicking Christ and his activity. 00:19:17.820 |
When he gets the glory, he points to Satan and empowers Satan. 00:19:22.220 |
So we've seen Satanic activity as mimicking the things of God to draw people away. 00:19:27.980 |
So the very things that we worship God for, Satan is mimicking to draw people away from 00:19:37.680 |
So some people believe that this is maybe in reference to false religion, partially 00:19:46.260 |
And we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ clearly is referred to as the mystery of God 00:19:54.080 |
And we also see that her kingdom is very distinct with Satan. 00:20:02.780 |
So even though they're holding hands, they work together for a short period it says. 00:20:09.580 |
The beast and the harlot and whatever she has authority over, they hold hands for a 00:20:16.720 |
Or why is the beast helping her and her helping the beast? 00:20:23.920 |
To have basically to have a confrontation with the Lamb of God. 00:20:28.680 |
So clearly, even though Satan's activity is clear, what they're doing seems to be against 00:20:41.000 |
even though they're working together, they're separate. 00:20:46.280 |
And then the angel comes in chapter 6 through 18 to explain what it is that John was seeing. 00:20:57.320 |
The beast is described as was and is not and is about to rise. 00:21:22.520 |
We're actually going to study that this Sunday, Romans 11, 36. 00:21:28.680 |
All things are from him, through him, and to him. 00:21:40.300 |
So Satan is described as was and is not and is about to rise. 00:21:46.440 |
And so again, you kind of see how Satan's title and what he's doing, he's all trying 00:22:06.440 |
So if you really think about a rebellion against God, and all that we have, it's what God has 00:22:32.240 |
It's imitation of what God has ordained outside of God's boundaries, right? 00:22:47.720 |
But in its core, the problem is not the item itself. 00:22:58.120 |
So Satanic work, and again, I've heard this since when I was young, I said the greatest 00:23:03.080 |
temptation of mankind is not between good and bad. 00:23:08.560 |
When we identify something to be bad, it's still temptation, but the greatest battle 00:23:19.440 |
And that's the distinction between the world and pursuit of God, right? 00:23:26.760 |
How much of our affections for Christ is squashed, not because of perversion, even though that 00:23:33.400 |
is also the case, but usually good things, right? 00:23:39.080 |
Remember when Jesus calls his disciples to come, the ones that say, "Oh, I can't go because 00:23:43.520 |
I've got to bury my parents," or, "I've got to do this and that." 00:23:46.920 |
And so the temptation typically is not between good and bad. 00:23:50.760 |
It's between what we perceive to be good versus what's best, right? 00:24:05.680 |
So what seemed good in their eyes was perversion of what God intended, right? 00:24:13.520 |
So it wasn't like if you just put it on paper and looked at it, it's like, "Well, what was 00:24:30.720 |
So we don't get deceived if Satan comes in his, you know, like what we see on television, 00:24:36.440 |
like, "I'm Satan," with fangs and pitchfork and with red garment, and you can clearly 00:24:45.200 |
So no one would be tempted to go there, right? 00:24:48.340 |
Usually it's by scheming, by mimicking, by pretending, right, to draw you away from what 00:24:57.900 |
So that's how Satan's activity is described for us. 00:25:00.480 |
So even his very title, "He was and is not and is about to rise," sounds like the death 00:25:07.040 |
So everything he's doing is to deceive the world to think that, "Could that be Christ? 00:25:14.720 |
Again, so this is most likely a reference to the false death and resurrection of the 00:25:23.720 |
And those whose names was not written in the book of life will marvel at the beast because 00:25:29.400 |
of this false resurrection, as also stated in Revelation 13. 00:25:32.740 |
So again, we see the same thing being mimicked in chapter 13, right? 00:25:37.160 |
So this may be in reference to what he is doing, pretending to perform this spectacular 00:25:43.200 |
miracle and, as I mentioned earlier, that they're not coming to him by force, right? 00:25:50.280 |
They're naturally drawn to him because of what he is doing. 00:25:58.560 |
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. 00:26:03.480 |
These are the nations that the woman rules through which will eventually be usurped by 00:26:10.520 |
So that's the part that I mentioned earlier in verse 11. 00:26:13.880 |
It says, "As a beast that was and is not and it is, an eighth, but it belongs to the 00:26:21.920 |
So again, that's a very confusing verse, but one of the commentators said that that 00:26:28.360 |
may be in reference to his death and resurrection, right? 00:26:31.680 |
That possibly he pretends to die and everybody marvels and then he comes back and that's 00:26:41.520 |
He gained so much attention and love and awe and marvel of the world that he's able to 00:26:48.520 |
And he becomes, he basically, the power is concentrated in him, okay? 00:26:55.660 |
And then as a result of that, he uses that power to usurp, okay? 00:27:11.280 |
Verse 10, starting from verse 9, "This calls for a mind with wisdom. 00:27:15.640 |
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. 00:27:18.980 |
There are also seven kings, five of whom had fallen. 00:27:23.760 |
And when he does come, he must remain only a little while." 00:27:26.320 |
So this is a part where it may be a description of what has already happened, okay? 00:27:31.440 |
So of the seven kings, five of them have fallen. 00:27:38.480 |
Again, this is just an educated guess what that may be in reference to. 00:27:45.620 |
So think about the time that John may be writing this, which kingdoms have already fallen? 00:27:56.660 |
You had the Egypt, Assyria, the Babylonians, Persians, and Greek, right? 00:28:17.800 |
During the time that this is being written, the Romans existed. 00:28:21.660 |
And then he says the final kingdom that's going to challenge God has not come yet, okay? 00:28:28.380 |
So some may say, well, maybe the United States, maybe England. 00:28:41.440 |
Some have, maybe you've read, I actually have a whole book in my office that argues that 00:28:51.080 |
the final kingdom is the Roman Catholic Church and the woman is in description of Catholic 00:28:57.880 |
And why do you think it's the Catholic Church? 00:29:05.280 |
I mean, I don't necessarily believe that, but I have the book if you are interested 00:29:13.640 |
But whatever it is, the last kingdom has not come yet and it's still to be future. 00:29:27.460 |
The other one that has not yet come is Antichrist and final world empire. 00:29:51.200 |
I think chapter 18 will be a little bit easier than chapter 17, a little bit, right? 00:29:55.760 |
But chapter 17, I think of all the chapters, I think chapter 17 may be a little bit more 00:30:08.040 |
The 10 horns are kings who will receive temporary power. 00:30:11.240 |
It says one hour, but I don't think it's literally one hour. 00:30:14.980 |
It's just a describing how it's going to be very short. 00:30:18.820 |
And what was the whole purpose of them giving that authority? 00:30:28.200 |
For a short period, they're giving that authority and that authority was for the purpose of 00:30:36.920 |
And he's going to basically consolidate the power. 00:30:51.720 |
Remember, I think I talked about that before. 00:30:54.400 |
I think the world unification, if we follow that interpretation, the world unification 00:31:01.360 |
is not going to be united because of economy or politics, but because of religion. 00:31:07.360 |
And so Satan is behind that, allowing that to happen, and he's going to consolidate this 00:31:13.920 |
And so when Antichrist first comes, he hides himself as a political figure. 00:31:21.120 |
And then he performs this fake miracle where he seems to die and then comes back to life 00:31:26.560 |
And people begin to come to him and give him the authority. 00:31:30.040 |
And then all of a sudden he becomes this religious figure. 00:31:32.600 |
And then he gathers all of that authority to himself. 00:31:41.980 |
Which I believe that's where the persecution is going to be the most intense for Christians. 00:31:47.160 |
So up to this point, it seems like that's what it's describing. 00:31:49.880 |
And just in practical application, if you think about the world events today, and again, 00:31:54.800 |
I don't like saying like, "Look at this, look at chapter this, and look at what's going 00:32:00.160 |
But for the longest time, ever since I've started studying the book of Revelation, it 00:32:04.720 |
just makes sense to me that, again, the Antichrist is described as coming as an angel of light. 00:32:11.920 |
Angel of light meaning that he's going to sell himself as a God figure. 00:32:17.400 |
And because he's challenging the church, he's challenging Christ, that I don't think he's 00:32:26.880 |
I don't think he's going to come as a different religion. 00:32:29.960 |
Because angel of light is going to be something that's going to mimic the truth, which is 00:32:37.040 |
So this is my guess, and I've mentioned this before, that if you consider all the things 00:32:43.880 |
that are happening today, that there is this natural hatred toward anything extreme because 00:32:52.280 |
of the Islamic state and because of the beheading. 00:32:55.520 |
And so there's this distaste and hatred toward anything extreme. 00:32:59.260 |
So if you've been watching the news and the current affairs for the last maybe 10 years, 00:33:04.760 |
there's a subtle linking between the extreme Islamic, what they're doing, with Christian 00:33:15.360 |
And because they've been making that link, they can say harsh things about Christians, 00:33:21.640 |
saying that Christians shouldn't be in the government, Christians shouldn't have a bakery, 00:33:25.640 |
Christians shouldn't do this, and there's been threats about shutting down churches, 00:33:29.800 |
and this extreme language that would have been unheard of 15, 20 years ago. 00:33:34.060 |
But because of the Islamic extremism and because of this subtle linking of Muslim extremism 00:33:40.960 |
and Christian extremism, that you can almost get away with specific persecution toward 00:33:49.040 |
So what's happening is, right now, there's a movement toward everything coming toward 00:33:53.680 |
So again, if you've been following current affairs, there's a mass movement for liberal 00:33:58.920 |
Christians, liberal Muslims, liberal Catholics to come together and hold hands. 00:34:05.480 |
So I don't know if you guys remember when the previous Pope, Pope John, when he passed 00:34:08.880 |
away, they had this mass worldwide celebration or burial for him, and they had Muslim clerics, 00:34:18.480 |
they had Buddhist monks, and all these different people. 00:34:21.880 |
And then Billy Graham happened to run the service, and there was a heavy criticism toward 00:34:25.760 |
Billy Graham because he participated in this. 00:34:28.320 |
But there's been a mass movement, even prior to what's been going on, there's been a mass 00:34:32.760 |
movement toward everybody coming to the middle, because they don't want to see this extremism, 00:34:40.760 |
So now, you know, more and more, there's always been a movement toward that, but especially 00:34:47.300 |
And the stronger that movement becomes, anybody who's against it, anybody who won't join it, 00:34:52.520 |
well, remember what he's talking about, the mark of the beast? 00:34:55.820 |
If you don't get the mark, what's the consequence, immediately? 00:35:07.320 |
Anyone who does not get the mark of the beast is going to have economic problems, right? 00:35:12.200 |
And so if there, it seems like to me that at the end, there's going to be a religious 00:35:18.760 |
unification and maybe the people who are going to move against this are the, are you going 00:35:26.760 |
to lead this movement, are the liberal Christians, which is exactly what's happening right now, 00:35:32.800 |
The liberal Christians, the Unitarians are coming together and gathering everybody together, 00:35:37.520 |
and then if you listen to people of influence, at least on television, they're all part of 00:35:48.320 |
Listen to anybody on television who says they're Christian and is widely accepted on television. 00:35:55.040 |
Hear their views carefully, whether they're news anchors, whether they're TV hosts. 00:35:59.420 |
If you are an evangelical Christian, you get shunned, right? 00:36:03.600 |
You're a homophobe, you know, whatever you say, your core doctrines are considered hate 00:36:09.040 |
speech, so, but they love liberal Christians who reject the inerrancy, who accept all faith, 00:36:19.160 |
And so that's the movement that we see, and it seems like to me the Antichrist is going 00:36:25.120 |
to basically move these things in so that it will happen, and eventually he's going 00:36:32.020 |
to come out of this as the head of this, and then when he is revealed, finally, when he 00:36:37.760 |
is revealed as the Antichrist, that's when he's going to like directly challenge, right? 00:36:43.680 |
Instead of just bringing people to himself, once he gains the power, he's going to use 00:36:51.280 |
And it says, "The ten horns and the beast will eventually despise the prostitute, and 00:36:57.040 |
they will devour and destroy her as God had put into their heart to do," because ultimately, 00:37:09.160 |
Satan is only using the false religion to gain notoriety for himself. 00:37:13.920 |
Ultimately his desire is not just to have a lesser portion. 00:37:22.480 |
But all of this, at the end of it, it says it's God-ordained. 00:37:28.160 |
Satan and his minions are going to challenge her and overthrow her, and he's going to step 00:37:34.120 |
into power, and he says, "God has allowed all of this. 00:37:36.440 |
He put it in their heart to do this," because in the end, God's going to use all of that. 00:37:40.600 |
Remember, I said a such strong delusion is going to come at the end that even the elect, 00:37:46.620 |
if it was possible, that they would be deceived. 00:37:49.600 |
That's how strong the delusion is going to be. 00:37:51.720 |
He's going to allow Satan to have that kind of power at the very end. 00:37:55.880 |
And so anyone who's nominal, anyone who doesn't have genuine faith, anyone who's been kind 00:38:00.060 |
of putting one foot in and one foot out, he said, "The illusion is going to be so strong 00:38:04.800 |
that today our biggest problem is it's hard for us to identify who is and is not of genuine 00:38:13.260 |
In fact, we have to be very careful that we don't judge. 00:38:16.940 |
But at the end, he says we don't have to judge because the delusion is going to divide the 00:38:23.940 |
And so that's how chapter 17 ends, and then chapter 18 is going to take us into the fall 00:38:28.700 |
of Babylon and the specifics of how Babylon is going to fall, okay? 00:38:40.180 |
Why do you think false religion, both outside of Christianity and inside Christianity, is 00:38:45.840 |
Now we know, you know, if you're sitting here, obviously, 99% of you, if not all of you, 00:38:53.600 |
we know how to identify false religion, right? 00:39:01.560 |
And we know how to identify false religion in Christianity if they're liberal. 00:39:06.600 |
They don't believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:39:10.280 |
And so we know that there's liberalism there. 00:39:13.040 |
But false religion isn't simply identified by wrong doctrine, right? 00:39:21.660 |
Bible talks about that, that you can have the right doctrine and still have demonic 00:39:26.620 |
So false religion isn't just not having right doctrine. 00:39:30.040 |
You can have the right doctrine and have false religion, correct? 00:39:40.040 |
You can go to the right church and be committed to false religion if the God that you worship 00:39:45.840 |
is a God that you created in your own mind, right? 00:39:49.360 |
Again, maybe not doctrinally, but you've never fully surrendered your life to Christ, right? 00:39:56.800 |
You call me Lord, Lord, but your heart is far from me. 00:39:59.160 |
So we have the right confession, but wrong heart and wrong life. 00:40:03.520 |
So false religion is not just an issue of wrong doctrine. 00:40:07.080 |
False religion can also be very much part of the church that has right doctrine, right? 00:40:12.700 |
So why do you think that false religion is so powerful and so deceiving? 00:40:20.880 |
Number two, Satan's rule and sexual morality seem to go hand in hand. 00:40:24.520 |
Why do you think sexual sin is such a powerful force against the things of Christ? 00:40:30.400 |
What role does God-ordained sex have in God's sovereign plan in creation? 00:40:35.360 |
Now I can tell you as a pastor, if I sit down and talk to most pastors that have been in 00:40:42.000 |
ministry for a while, especially the ones working with a younger group, but it's not 00:40:47.760 |
This is a problem no matter how old you are, that we say, "What is the biggest struggle 00:40:53.240 |
in the church that distracts people from really giving their life to Christ?" 00:40:59.800 |
Pornography right now is such a big problem, right? 00:41:04.040 |
In fact, just today I was reading an article where in Canada they were trying to do a survey 00:41:13.280 |
of the mindset and the heart condition and the thinking of somebody in their late teens 00:41:19.560 |
and early 20s who was exposed to pornography, who are on a regular exposure to pornography 00:41:26.080 |
versus somebody who has not been at all, right? 00:41:29.640 |
And they were trying to do a study in comparison and at the end they ended up giving up. 00:41:37.120 |
Because they couldn't find any subject who wasn't exposed. 00:41:43.080 |
You would think that maybe they went to church and asked some Christians, born-again Christians, 00:41:50.320 |
Maybe they could have been the subject, but they ended up not being able to do the studies 00:41:58.660 |
And so if it's that rampant, what kind of effect does that have in the spiritual condition 00:42:05.720 |
We can talk about discipleship, discipline, prayer, having right doctrine, but if the 00:42:09.920 |
undercurrent of the church, there is sexual sin being practiced regularly and we're constantly 00:42:16.520 |
giving ourselves to that, how does that affect the way we listen to the Word of God? 00:42:28.820 |
And so sexual sin, in the end, is a perversion of what God had created, and it is one of 00:42:36.900 |
the strongholds, not one of the, it is the stronghold that is mentioned over and over 00:42:41.940 |
So again, what role does God-ordained sex have in God's sovereign plan in creation, 00:42:52.020 |
So my prayer is that tonight, and I know this is a sensitive subject and it is intense, 00:42:58.140 |
and this is both for men and women, that you're able to be honest with one another and to, 00:43:05.800 |
you know, I think it's important for us to recognize that we all struggle with this, 00:43:10.300 |
because you can't confess and be forgiven for a sin that you're unwilling to confess, 00:43:16.120 |
But if we recognize that this is, we don't want to normalize the sin, and then it's like, 00:43:22.280 |
"Oh, we all struggle with it," you know what I mean? 00:43:26.000 |
And we don't want to create that kind of environment either. 00:43:28.640 |
But neither do we want to create an environment where we just pretend that that's not what 00:43:36.040 |
So if we're going to wrestle with it together, if we're going to keep each other accountable, 00:43:39.320 |
the first thing that we need to do is to be honest, right? 00:43:45.760 |
This has been hindering my desire to evangelize. 00:43:55.120 |
And be honest with it and be open with one another, right? 00:44:00.600 |
Third, what is the one temptation that Satan can put forth in your life that you would 00:44:09.420 |
What is one thing in your life you have a difficult time giving lordship over to God 00:44:14.680 |
So one is hypothetical, the other is reality. 00:44:17.760 |
So if we can take some time to, again, to confess and take some time to pray over these 00:44:23.320 |
If Satanic work primarily is not forcing us but tempting us and drawing us away, right? 00:44:30.280 |
Then we're just naturally drawn to these things. 00:44:36.040 |
He was angel of light before he fell, meaning he's beautiful. 00:44:46.560 |
So his temptation, he knows exactly what's going to tempt us. 00:44:50.720 |
And it's part of the reason why the church is so important for us, right? 00:44:55.340 |
As a community that we're able to share and openly share with one another so that we can 00:45:01.400 |
So again, all of these things are things that I'm hoping that you guys would take some time 00:45:07.400 |
And it's not just to say, "Oh, I'm open," right? 00:45:15.160 |
So I don't feel as bad because I thought I was the only one, but we all struggle with 00:45:19.840 |
And then all of a sudden, you just normalize sin. 00:45:26.960 |
Hopefully that will lead to the second part of it is learn to hate that sin because of 00:45:31.600 |
the effects of it and then to fight together. 00:45:35.480 |
So let me pray for us and then I'll give you guys time to discuss with your group. 00:45:49.920 |
We confess, Father God, that we don't think enough about the spiritual battle that you've 00:45:56.360 |
warned us about, Father, that it is not against flesh and blood, that it's not simply by our 00:46:02.080 |
hard work or being smart or being organized or even simply accountability. 00:46:10.200 |
We know, Father, that this is a spiritual battle and Satan is constantly working to 00:46:20.600 |
I pray that you would strengthen this church, Lord God, and that we would not allow Satan 00:46:26.120 |
to have a grip on our lives, Lord, because of our sins. 00:46:29.540 |
Help us to confess it, to be forgiven, to be washed by the blood of Christ, that Satan 00:46:35.120 |
would not be able to scheme, Lord God, to shame us in front of you. 00:46:39.960 |
And so we pray, Father, that all of these things that we are studying, that even though 00:46:44.480 |
we may not fully understand the details, we know, Father God, how Satan works and you 00:46:55.920 |
I pray that in our weakness that Christ may be shown to be powerful. 00:47:06.180 |
We ask, Lord God, for community, true community, Lord God, and just asking, Father, for you 00:47:13.520 |
to empower your church through your forgiveness.