¤ ¤ 00:00:01.96\00:00:20.82 Welcome back. Thank you for joining us for this series 00:00:20.85\00:00:23.85 titled Eternal Truths Matter. We are looking at some of the 00:00:23.89\00:00:27.36 fundamental principles of the Bible, fundamental teachings 00:00:27.39\00:00:31.96 that will prepare us to stand firm when all of the world 00:00:31.99\00:00:36.87 collapses and accepts the deceptions of Satan. Except 00:00:36.90\00:00:41.40 those whose minds are anchored in the word of God and fortified 00:00:41.44\00:00:46.07 with his truth. Now let's suppose that Satan was having a 00:00:46.11\00:00:53.38 council meeting with his evil angels in the far reaches of the 00:00:53.42\00:00:57.75 universe some dark spot. Now suppose Satan went to 00:00:57.79\00:01:01.59 these angels and 00:01:01.62\00:01:02.96 he said I have a master plan that will take the world by 00:01:02.99\00:01:06.96 storm. It's the master plan of deception. The evil angels say 00:01:07.00\00:01:11.73 what is it? He said first we will bring calamity, we'll bring 00:01:11.77\00:01:15.84 famine, fire, strife. conflict, war on the world. That will stir 00:01:15.87\00:01:21.84 everybody up. Then I'll begin to work miracles through false 00:01:21.88\00:01:25.81 apostate religions. Then I will initiate a common day of worship 00:01:25.85\00:01:31.32 But what they don't realize is they will be worshipping me. 00:01:31.35\00:01:36.16 You say impossible. But yet that's what scripture, 00:01:36.19\00:01:39.13 particularly the book of Revelation teaches and that's 00:01:39.16\00:01:42.06 what we're going to study today. 00:01:42.10\00:01:43.43 Let's open our hearts and open our minds and the word of God 00:01:43.47\00:01:46.94 because eternal truths matter. Let us pray. 00:01:46.97\00:01:50.07 Father in heaven, as we launch into this important topic today, 00:01:50.11\00:01:54.24 it's a very serious topic. I pray that you'd open our hearts 00:01:54.28\00:01:58.25 and open our minds. Help us to see and discern the deceptions 00:01:58.28\00:02:01.78 of Satan so we can be prepared for the overwhelming crisis 00:02:01.82\00:02:05.92 that's coming upon this world. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 00:02:05.95\00:02:10.03 Now Satan has an overall strategy to take this world 00:02:10.06\00:02:15.96 captive. In the conflict between good and evil, in the conflict 00:02:16.00\00:02:20.37 between Christ and Satan, this conflict revolves around the 00:02:20.40\00:02:26.27 subject of worship. and so the question that Satan has to ask 00:02:26.31\00:02:30.68 and that we have to ask too is How can the world ever be 00:02:30.71\00:02:37.32 brought together to worship at the shrine of the evil one 00:02:37.35\00:02:43.16 rather than to worship Jesus Christ? Now we've studied in 00:02:43.19\00:02:48.13 this series that Christ has left an eternal sign of his creative 00:02:48.16\00:02:50.13 authority and namely that's the Bible Sabbath. So if you 00:02:50.17\00:02:55.00 undermine creation you can attack the Sabbath. And if you 00:02:55.04\00:02:59.47 attack the Sabbath you attack the very basis for worshipping 00:02:59.51\00:03:03.31 God. We found also that in Revelation chapter 14, and 00:03:03.35\00:03:07.95 let's go back there for today. In Revelation chapter 14 God has 00:03:07.98\00:03:12.35 an eternal message for all humanity. And that message is a 00:03:12.39\00:03:16.32 call, so we'll start with Revelation 14. We'll look at 00:03:16.36\00:03:20.93 verse 6 and 7: And I saw another angel fly in the middle of 00:03:20.96\00:03:25.57 heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that 00:03:25.60\00:03:28.47 dwell on the earth, to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 00:03:28.50\00:03:32.54 and people. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory 00:03:32.57\00:03:36.51 to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship 00:03:36.54\00:03:39.91 him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and fountains of 00:03:39.95\00:03:42.05 waters. Now we pause there as we go over those verses, phrase by 00:03:42.08\00:03:48.12 phrase. Notice in verse 6 he sees another angel flying in the 00:03:48.16\00:03:52.09 middle of heaven. The angel doesn't float, he flies. So here 00:03:52.13\00:03:57.67 is a message that goes quickly, rapidly, swiftly to the ends of 00:03:57.70\00:04:01.30 the earth. It says he has the everlasting gospel. What's that? 00:04:01.34\00:04:04.44 It's the incredible good news that through Jesus Christ our 00:04:04.47\00:04:07.54 sins can be forgiven. That through Jesus, there is no 00:04:07.58\00:04:10.78 condemnation. That through Jesus we can have power to live a new 00:04:10.81\00:04:14.92 life and through Jesus we can resist the temptations of Satan. 00:04:14.95\00:04:19.42 So this angel brings the gospel. Who does it go to? It leaps 00:04:19.45\00:04:25.83 across geographical boundaries. It spans language groups. It 00:04:25.86\00:04:28.73 penetrates the deepest recesses of every continent. It goes to 00:04:28.76\00:04:32.70 every nation, kindred, tongue and people. But there's a 00:04:32.73\00:04:36.20 special message in the context of the gospel. It says, saying 00:04:36.24\00:04:40.78 with a loud voice. What kind of voice? A loud voice. Why a loud 00:04:40.81\00:04:44.45 voice? So people hear. Fear God. That means respect God. It's an 00:04:44.48\00:04:49.05 attitude of obedience and respect to God. Give glory to 00:04:49.08\00:04:53.25 him. See fear God has to do with our mind, what we think. Giving 00:04:53.29\00:04:56.96 glory to God has to do with how we live. In the light of what? 00:04:56.99\00:05:01.30 The judgment hour. So we are living in the judgment hour. 00:05:01.33\00:05:04.03 Before Christ comes there'll be a judgment to determine who 00:05:04.07\00:05:07.67 receives what reward when he comes. And it says worship him 00:05:07.70\00:05:11.91 that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water. 00:05:11.94\00:05:13.74 Who's that? It's the creator. So Revelation chapter 14 verse 00:05:13.78\00:05:18.61 7. At the very heart of that verse is the essence of the 00:05:18.65\00:05:23.65 controversy between good and evil. The controversy between 00:05:23.69\00:05:26.96 good and evil is over worship. And this verse calls us to 00:05:26.99\00:05:32.43 worship the creator and we've already studied that the sign of 00:05:32.46\00:05:35.36 God's creative authority that he gave in Genesis when he set the 00:05:35.40\00:05:39.63 Sabbath aside is that he blessed it, he sanctified it, and he 00:05:39.67\00:05:44.11 rested upon it. Now right after verse 6 you have the consequence 00:05:44.14\00:05:49.54 of not accepting this message found in verse 8. This is 00:05:49.58\00:05:55.12 Revelation 14 verse 8. And there followed another angel...so 00:05:55.15\00:06:00.22 here's a second angel's message...saying, Babylon is 00:06:00.26\00:06:01.89 fallen, is fallen, that great city because she made all 00:06:01.92\00:06:05.86 nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. So in 00:06:05.89\00:06:11.90 the Bible wine is a symbol of false doctrine. So Babylon has 00:06:11.93\00:06:18.84 fallen. Babylon represents confusion. At the Tower of Babel 00:06:18.87\00:06:23.35 Babylon was the place where the languages were confused and so 00:06:23.38\00:06:28.35 Babylon represents confusion, false religion, defiance to God. 00:06:28.38\00:06:31.95 At the tower of Babel, they were going to build a tower that went 00:06:31.99\00:06:36.12 to heaven in defiance of God's specific instruction that he'd 00:06:36.16\00:06:40.83 never destroy the world with a flood again. And so the city of 00:06:40.86\00:06:45.73 Babylon was built there at the site of the tower of Babel, 00:06:45.77\00:06:49.47 Babylon, B-A-B-Y, why do you call baby a baby, because it has 00:06:49.50\00:06:53.58 confused speech. So here you have confused religion. Here you 00:06:53.61\00:06:58.41 have apostasy, here you have a counterfeit for truth. It says 00:06:58.45\00:07:01.78 that Babylon is fallen, why? Because she made who? She made 00:07:01.82\00:07:06.49 who? All nations do what? Drink of the wine of the wrath of her 00:07:06.52\00:07:10.49 fornication. Wine affects the forebrain, it affects the 00:07:10.53\00:07:14.56 conscience, it affects reason and judgment. You can't think 00:07:14.60\00:07:16.97 clear. I tell you a funny story. I was preaching once outside of 00:07:17.00\00:07:21.04 Chicago in an auditorium. I was preaching that Babylon is fallen 00:07:21.07\00:07:24.37 is fallen. You know I was young in those days and so 00:07:24.41\00:07:27.31 enthusiastic and I'm preaching Babylon is fallen, is fallen and 00:07:27.34\00:07:30.51 she's made all nations drink of the wine. I said you know when 00:07:30.55\00:07:33.68 you drink wine you don't think clearly. When you drink wine it 00:07:33.72\00:07:36.32 affects your brain, when you drink wine you get all confused. 00:07:36.35\00:07:39.15 And a drunk man had walked into the meetings. And this drunk man 00:07:39.19\00:07:43.53 was sitting in the back and he was sleeping and snoring but 00:07:43.56\00:07:45.39 when I'd start talking about wine and it affects your brain 00:07:45.43\00:07:47.40 and the fact that you get all confused, he yells that's enough 00:07:47.43\00:07:53.07 young man, that's enough young man. Good thing we had a few 00:07:53.10\00:07:56.64 ushers that could usher him out the back door and help him get 00:07:56.67\00:08:00.08 a little bit more sane and deal with his inebriation. But that's 00:08:00.11\00:08:06.01 the point. Why does the Bible call false doctrine wine? 00:08:06.05\00:08:12.22 Because false doctrine affects your thinking and you become so 00:08:12.25\00:08:15.99 confused you think error is truth and truth is error. Now in 00:08:16.02\00:08:20.13 the book of Revelation chapter 18 we have God's call out of 00:08:20.16\00:08:25.23 Babylon. And now remember verse 7 was a call to obedience, it 00:08:25.27\00:08:29.94 was a call the fear God, respect him, obey him in light of the 00:08:29.97\00:08:33.88 judgment. Revelation 14:7 was a call to worship the creator. Now 00:08:33.91\00:08:37.85 we go to Revelation 18 verse 4 and here John hears a voice. He 00:08:37.88\00:08:44.65 has seen that Babylon is fallen in verse 2. He has seen in verse 00:08:44.69\00:08:49.22 3 that all nations committed fornication with her. Now verse 00:08:49.26\00:08:52.03 And I heard another voice heaven, saying, Come out of her, 00:08:52.06\00:08:55.66 my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and 00:08:55.70\00:09:00.37 receive not of her plagues. So here scripture goes on to say 00:09:00.40\00:09:05.37 her sins have reached to heaven God's remembered her iniquities. 00:09:05.41\00:09:07.58 Come out of her my people. What does that imply? It implies that 00:09:07.61\00:09:11.78 in the last days of earth's history many of God's people 00:09:11.81\00:09:15.58 are in churches that scripture would call Babylon. They are 00:09:15.62\00:09:18.95 worshipping at the shrine of false gods. They don't recognize 00:09:18.99\00:09:22.62 that. In the last days of earth's history there's a call 00:09:22.66\00:09:26.49 come out of her my people that you partake not of her sins. 00:09:26.53\00:09:28.30 Well then we need to know what sin is. What is sin. 1 John 3 00:09:28.33\00:09:32.00 verse 4 says sin is the transgression of the law. So if 00:09:32.03\00:09:36.24 this is a call to come out of Babylon so we don't partake of 00:09:36.27\00:09:39.51 her sins, it's a call to come out of every law breaking church 00:09:39.54\00:09:43.01 It's an appeal to worship the creator. So Revelation 14 verse 00:09:43.04\00:09:48.18 8 that says Babylon is fallen. Why did Babylon fall? Because 00:09:48.22\00:09:51.45 she is so incredibly confused over the issue of truth that she 00:09:51.49\00:09:57.29 does not comprehend eternal truths. Her religious experience 00:09:57.33\00:10:01.00 has become fallen or apostate. Now are there good people in 00:10:01.03\00:10:05.07 Babylon? Yes. Are there good people that are going to be 00:10:05.10\00:10:08.24 saved who don't currently know all the truth in God's word. 00:10:08.27\00:10:14.34 Certainly. But before Jesus comes the final call will go out 00:10:14.38\00:10:18.05 Babylon is fallen, is fallen. The final world will come out, 00:10:18.08\00:10:21.72 come out of her my people, Christ's people that are in 00:10:21.75\00:10:27.06 Jesus. Christ's people, evangelical Christians who are 00:10:27.09\00:10:29.72 studying the word of God. They will see the truth of God. 00:10:29.76\00:10:32.96 They'll recognize the issues in the great controversy is a lot 00:10:32.99\00:10:36.23 more than simply keeping the law, but it's worshipping the 00:10:36.26\00:10:39.87 creator. And they will see that the Sabbath is a symbol of 00:10:39.90\00:10:42.74 worshipping God as creator and they will hear the call of God. 00:10:42.77\00:10:47.04 They will leave Babylon so they do not partake of her plagues. 00:10:47.08\00:10:52.11 Now here in Revelation chapter 14, when we go back to study it 00:10:52.15\00:10:57.39 and we notice the contrast between Revelation 14 verse 7 and Revelation 14:9. 00:10:57.42\00:11:01.52 Revelation 14:7 talks about true worship. Revelation 14:9 talks 00:11:01.56\00:11:07.46 about false worship. So in verse 7 it tells us to worship the 00:11:07.50\00:11:10.87 creator. What does it tell us in verse 9: And the third angel 00:11:10.90\00:11:14.60 followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships 00:11:14.64\00:11:17.37 the beast and his image, and receives his mark in his 00:11:17.41\00:11:20.38 forehead and in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of 00:11:20.41\00:11:22.71 the wrath of God. So in Revelation 14:7 is the call to worship the creator. 00:11:22.74\00:11:30.09 In Revelation 14:9 is the call not to worship the beast. So can 00:11:30.12\00:11:37.43 you see that clearly? There are two worships; worship the 00:11:37.46\00:11:40.73 creator or worship the beast. How do you define the beast? 00:11:40.76\00:11:44.10 Revelation 13 does that. The beast would rise up out of Rome 00:11:44.13\00:11:49.10 and there the beast power rising out of Rome would be a false 00:11:49.14\00:11:54.18 religious power that according to Daniel 7 verse 25 would 00:11:54.21\00:11:59.28 attempt to change the very law of God. If you look back at 00:11:59.31\00:12:01.18 history in the early centuries church and state united. The 00:12:01.22\00:12:06.02 Roman society was falling apart. Roman society was crumbling. 00:12:06.05\00:12:11.16 In an attempt to unite his empire Constantine eventually 00:12:11.19\00:12:16.13 under the auspices of the church leaders passed a decree in 00:12:16.16\00:12:22.70 A.D. 321 that the workshops be closed on what he called the 00:12:22.74\00:12:27.01 venerable day of the sun. He was trying to unite paganism and 00:12:27.04\00:12:30.55 Christianity to save his empire. Now why was the church 00:12:30.58\00:12:34.62 interested in that? Because the church wanted to disassociate 00:12:34.65\00:12:38.05 themselves from Judaism and they assumed that the early 00:12:38.09\00:12:43.93 Christians were simply a Jewish cult worshipping on Sabbath. 00:12:43.96\00:12:46.39 And so you have many factors here. You have this anti-Jewish 00:12:46.43\00:12:51.03 feeling, this antisemitism that took place back then. You 00:12:51.07\00:12:54.90 have Christians who were different than the rest of 00:12:54.94\00:12:57.17 society. You have Constantine's desire to unite the empire. You 00:12:57.21\00:13:02.68 had some Christians who already as early as the second century 00:13:02.71\00:13:05.91 had begun worshipping one day a week, rather one day a year on 00:13:05.95\00:13:11.19 the worship of the sun. It gradually became a weekly 00:13:11.22\00:13:15.86 festival and they equated that with the resurrection of Christ. 00:13:15.89\00:13:18.63 So you have many, many factors You have social factors, 00:13:18.66\00:13:22.23 religious factors, political factors. But here's what you do 00:13:22.26\00:13:25.60 not have. You do not have instruction in the Bible to 00:13:25.63\00:13:28.20 change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. You do not 00:13:28.24\00:13:32.27 have instructions in scripture that the law of God would be 00:13:32.31\00:13:35.81 changed. Here's what you do not have. You do not have any 00:13:35.84\00:13:39.95 authority from Christ. The Bible says Hebrews 13:8, Jesus is the 00:13:39.98\00:13:44.35 same yesterday today and forever You don't have any authority 00:13:44.39\00:13:46.72 from the apostles. The apostles say in the book of Acts, we 00:13:46.76\00:13:50.23 ought obey God rather than man. We don't have any authority from 00:13:50.26\00:13:53.70 God. God says I am the Lord, Malachi 3, I change not. So here 00:13:53.73\00:13:58.63 in scripture, you have worshipping the creator or 00:13:58.67\00:14:03.81 worshipping the beast. The first day of the week eventually, not 00:14:03.84\00:14:08.21 now, but eventually, when decrees are passed by law, will 00:14:08.24\00:14:14.02 be a sign of worship to an earthly power that has changed that law. So what is 00:14:14.05\00:14:19.39 the devil's strategy here. It is to get men and women to violate 00:14:19.42\00:14:24.53 the law of God. It is to undermine the Sabbath. It is to 00:14:24.56\00:14:28.73 degrade the concept of worshipping the creator so the 00:14:28.76\00:14:34.20 devil masquerading as Christ, working miracles at a time of 00:14:34.24\00:14:38.74 great conflict in the world can have the worship that only comes 00:14:38.77\00:14:44.75 that should only come to Jesus. Revelation 14 verse 12 makes it 00:14:44.78\00:14:49.45 very simple. It says: Here is the patience of the saints...in 00:14:49.48\00:14:52.85 other words patience is endurance...here are they that 00:14:52.89\00:14:55.12 keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We looked at 00:14:55.16\00:15:01.10 that last time but I want to reemphasize it. In the sequence, 00:15:01.13\00:15:05.53 Revelation 14:7 says worship who? You got it. Worship the 00:15:05.57\00:15:08.54 creator. Revelation 14:9 says Don't worship who? The beast. 00:15:08.57\00:15:12.27 And how do we worship the creator and not worship the 00:15:12.31\00:15:16.61 beast? Revelation 14:12 tells us It says here that they that do 00:15:16.64\00:15:21.72 what? Keep the commandments of God. In the book of Revelation 00:15:21.75\00:15:25.65 you have two women. You have the woman of Revelation chapter 12 00:15:25.69\00:15:30.79 verse 17 that the dragon is angry about. Remember it says 00:15:30.83\00:15:36.06 the dragon is wroth or angry with who? The woman and goes to 00:15:36.10\00:15:40.34 make war with the remnant of her seed that do what? Keep the 00:15:40.37\00:15:42.54 commandments of God. So here's the pure woman accepting the 00:15:42.57\00:15:47.14 gospel of Christ, accepting the truths of God's word. But then 00:15:47.18\00:15:51.21 you have a counterfeit system another woman in Revelation 00:15:51.25\00:15:56.89 chapter 17. So now let's go to Revelation chapter 17, 00:15:56.92\00:16:03.19 Revelation 17 and see how all this fits together. Revelation 00:16:03.22\00:16:09.10 the 17th chapter. We're going to look there at Revelation 17 00:16:09.13\00:16:11.83 verses 1-5. We start with verse one. There came one of the seven 00:16:11.87\00:16:15.44 angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto 00:16:15.47\00:16:19.21 me, Come hither; I will show you the judgment of the great whore 00:16:19.24\00:16:22.58 that sits on many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have 00:16:22.61\00:16:27.05 committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have 00:16:27.08\00:16:30.12 been made drunk with the wine 00:16:30.15\00:16:31.52 of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit 00:16:31.55\00:16:35.02 in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman 00:16:35.06\00:16:37.19 sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy, 00:16:37.23\00:16:40.23 having seven heads and ten horns And the woman was arrayed in 00:16:40.26\00:16:43.83 purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, precious 00:16:43.87\00:16:48.87 stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of 00:16:48.90\00:16:51.91 abominations and filthiness of her fornication. So let's pause 00:16:51.94\00:16:55.54 there and take a look at these verses phrase by phrase. He says 00:16:55.58\00:17:01.18 come, verse 1, and I'll show you the judgment of the great whore. 00:17:01.22\00:17:04.72 Now in Revelation chapter 12 you have the pure bride of Christ. 00:17:04.75\00:17:08.92 In Revelation chapter 12 you have a woman that's loyal to 00:17:08.96\00:17:13.40 Jesus. She keeps his commandments and is 00:17:13.43\00:17:15.76 faithful to him. Here you have the opposite of that. A great 00:17:15.80\00:17:21.24 whore. She is a harlot woman who's left her true lover Jesus 00:17:21.27\00:17:24.31 but where does she get here strength from? Where does she 00:17:24.34\00:17:27.61 get her authority from? The next verse tells you. Verse 2: With 00:17:27.64\00:17:31.45 whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. So the 00:17:31.48\00:17:34.98 kings of the earth the political leaders commit fornication with 00:17:35.02\00:17:39.65 this woman and the woman commits fornication with these leaders. 00:17:39.69\00:17:42.22 What is fornication? It's an illicit union. So where the true 00:17:42.26\00:17:45.96 church is clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. She's 00:17:45.99\00:17:49.53 iridescent with the glory of God. Where the true church is 00:17:49.56\00:17:54.14 united to Christ as her true lover and gets her authority and 00:17:54.17\00:17:57.57 power and strength from him. The fallen churches get their 00:17:57.61\00:18:02.21 authority from the kings of the earth and there's a union of 00:18:02.24\00:18:05.65 church and state. Now notice. And the inhabitants of the earth 00:18:05.68\00:18:08.52 verse 2, have been made drunk through the wine of her 00:18:08.55\00:18:11.22 fornication. So the inhabitants of the earth, the peoples of the 00:18:11.25\00:18:14.96 earth accept the false doctrines This woman is arrayed in purple 00:18:14.99\00:18:21.06 and scarlet color and she has a golden cup in her hand full of 00:18:21.10\00:18:24.03 abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Then it says 00:18:24.07\00:18:29.14 something very fascinating in verse 5. Here it is. And upon 00:18:29.17\00:18:33.48 her forehead was a name written Mystery, Babylon the Great, the 00:18:33.51\00:18:36.18 Mother of Harlots and the abominations of the earth. What 00:18:36.21\00:18:39.31 does it mean Mystery, Babylon the Great? If you solve the 00:18:39.35\00:18:43.89 mystery of Babylon the Great you're able to understand 00:18:43.92\00:18:46.99 Satan's strategy of the end times. Now when he talks about 00:18:47.02\00:18:51.66 Babylon, when John writes about Babylon, the city of Babylon, 00:18:51.69\00:18:56.30 the ancient city of Babylon is long since fallen. For example: 00:18:56.33\00:18:59.47 Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon 605 B.C. Subsequent rulers ruled 00:18:59.50\00:19:06.07 after him. But in 539 B.C., that's before Christ, Cyrus 00:19:06.11\00:19:11.11 attacked Babylon of Persia and overthrew it. So Babylon had 00:19:11.15\00:19:16.35 long fallen, it was in ruins, the Bible says it would never be 00:19:16.38\00:19:20.52 rebuilt again. So when John is talking about Babylon in 00:19:20.56\00:19:24.59 Revelation chapter 17 and Revelation chapter 18 and 00:19:24.63\00:19:29.23 Revelation chapter 14 is not literal Babylon it's what? 00:19:29.26\00:19:33.84 Spiritual Babylon. What does it mean Mystery, Babylon the Great? 00:19:33.87\00:19:36.24 It means if you can understand the teachings of ancient Babylon 00:19:36.27\00:19:41.48 they will be brought over into spiritual Babylon. What were the 00:19:41.51\00:19:46.68 teachings of ancient Babylon. Well number one ancient Babylon 00:19:46.72\00:19:50.25 was a foremost proponent of idolatry. There were multiple 00:19:50.29\00:19:57.83 images that were the objects of worship all through ancient 00:19:57.86\00:20:02.23 Babylon. So Babylon would be a system of the error of image 00:20:02.26\00:20:06.10 worship. Secondly, Babylon had their system of gods and 00:20:06.13\00:20:10.14 goddesses. There was the worship of the dead. The idea that the 00:20:10.17\00:20:14.34 gods and goddesses could bless humanity. The immortality of the 00:20:14.38\00:20:19.11 soul. Thirdly the Babylonian god was Bel Marduk. Babylonians were 00:20:19.15\00:20:25.25 sun worshippers. You see many images of ancient Babylon in the 00:20:25.29\00:20:30.59 archeological discoveries in their reliefs and art of 00:20:30.63\00:20:34.96 worshipping the sun. And Babylon also had no concept of health. 00:20:35.00\00:20:38.73 It was wine and pork and unclean foods. So what is mystery of 00:20:38.77\00:20:43.41 Babylon the great all about? It's that false doctrines would 00:20:43.44\00:20:46.17 slip into the Christian church. It is as these doctrines slip in 00:20:46.21\00:20:51.98 that there would be a large mother church with a leader who 00:20:52.01\00:20:57.85 like Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian leaders who would 00:20:57.89\00:21:01.76 claim that his word was law. 00:21:01.79\00:21:06.19 There would be idols that would come in through the papal system 00:21:06.23\00:21:10.97 The idea of worship of saints, the immortality of the soul and 00:21:11.00\00:21:16.91 Sunday worship so that the basic concepts of ancient Babylon 00:21:16.94\00:21:22.98 would slip into the Christian church. Now this tone is being 00:21:23.01\00:21:27.45 set by the devil to conflict, strife, war, famine, natural 00:21:27.48\00:21:31.55 disasters. And then through the working of spiritualism to lead 00:21:31.59\00:21:38.53 to the mark of the beast which is the undermining of creation 00:21:38.56\00:21:43.43 doing away with the Sabbath with another day. You say, Pastor 00:21:43.47\00:21:48.60 Mark is that clear in the Bible? It is. Take your Bible and turn 00:21:48.64\00:21:52.34 to Revelation chapter 18, Revelation chapter 18 and I 00:21:52.37\00:21:59.45 want to take a look at verse, in Revelation 18, verse 23. 00:21:59.48\00:22:03.32 Revelation 18 verse 23: How is it that the world's going to be 00:22:03.35\00:22:08.19 deceived so much? Revelation The light of a candle shall 00:22:08.22\00:22:11.59 shine no more at all in thee; That's the light of God's word. 00:22:11.63\00:22:14.60 and the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of Christ and the 00:22:14.63\00:22:16.80 voice of the bride, his church, shall no longer be heard in thee 00:22:16.83\00:22:20.77 for thy merchants were great men of the earth; for by sorceries 00:22:20.80\00:22:25.51 were all nations deceived. So what does the devil do by what? 00:22:25.54\00:22:30.25 Sorceries. So through spiritualism the devil will try 00:22:30.28\00:22:35.45 to deceive the whole world. And through spiritualism and the 00:22:35.48\00:22:40.22 working of evil spirits the devil will bring this world into 00:22:40.26\00:22:45.29 his hand and into captivity. There will be a union of church 00:22:45.33\00:22:50.90 and state. There will be deception through false 00:22:50.93\00:22:55.97 doctrines, the wine of Babylon. Spiritualism will lead to the 00:22:56.00\00:23:01.88 final conflict over this issue of the mark of the beast. That's 00:23:01.91\00:23:07.38 why God is appealing to men and women today to know his word. 00:23:07.42\00:23:11.05 That's why God is appealing to men and women today to be 00:23:11.09\00:23:16.42 faithful to scripture. Let's go back. Back to that passage that 00:23:16.46\00:23:20.10 we read earlier in Revelation 18 and listen to the call of God to 00:23:20.13\00:23:25.60 our hearts. Jesus longs for us not to be deceived. Eternal 00:23:25.63\00:23:34.74 truths matter. Revelation 18 verse 1: After these things I 00:23:34.78\00:23:40.42 saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power... 00:23:40.45\00:23:44.55 Having what? Great Power! So God has more power than Satan. God's 00:23:44.59\00:23:50.59 not going to allow Satan to win this final battle. Every honest 00:23:50.63\00:23:57.43 hearted person will hear the truth of God's word. Every 00:23:57.47\00:23:58.93 genuine person who wants to follow Christ will hear God's 00:23:58.97\00:24:04.07 word speaking to their hearts. After these things I saw another 00:24:04.11\00:24:06.88 angel come down from heaven, having great power; the earth 00:24:06.91\00:24:10.25 was lightened with his glory. And he cried...what's the word? 00:24:10.28\00:24:14.68 Mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is 00:24:14.72\00:24:17.75 fallen, is fallen...Come out of her my people...She's become the 00:24:17.79\00:24:21.42 habitation of devils...see here is spiritualism...the hold of 00:24:21.46\00:24:25.09 every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 00:24:25.13\00:24:27.76 The nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath...have 00:24:27.80\00:24:30.40 accepted the false doctrines... the kings of the earth commit 00:24:30.43\00:24:33.64 fornication with her...they unite with her...the merchants 00:24:33.67\00:24:37.94 of the earth...the financial power will pass a decree that... 00:24:37.97\00:24:40.21 no man can buy or sell. Revelation 13. But God says... 00:24:40.24\00:24:43.18 Come out of her, my people, you need not be partakers of her 00:24:43.21\00:24:46.01 sins. This is the appeal of God to your heart. This is the 00:24:46.05\00:24:51.29 appeal of God to my heart that we step out from any Babylonian 00:24:51.32\00:24:57.83 system. Spiritualism. Immortality of the soul. 00:24:57.86\00:25:03.26 What if angels say come to a great stadium. Miracles are 00:25:03.30\00:25:14.18 being worked. The sick are being healed. Don't worry about these 00:25:14.21\00:25:18.01 Biblical truths. They won't put it that bluntly. But what they 00:25:18.05\00:25:21.95 will say is come and watch these miracles being worked. What if 00:25:21.98\00:25:28.52 Satan could masquerade as Christ He can never pull off a second 00:25:28.56\00:25:33.13 coming like Jesus will because only Christ can come in the 00:25:33.16\00:25:36.36 clouds of heaven. Only Christ can come with the earth 00:25:36.40\00:25:38.63 illuminated with his 00:25:38.67\00:25:40.04 glory. Only Christ can come and raise the dead. Only Christ can 00:25:40.07\00:25:44.74 come and transform our bodies to immortality. But what if, 00:25:44.77\00:25:49.14 what if, what if Satan palmed off a second coming. Not 00:25:49.18\00:25:55.35 spectacular in heaven but what if he appeared in Los Angeles? 00:25:55.38\00:25:57.75 What if he appeared in Paris? What if he appeared in Tokyo? 00:25:57.79\00:26:00.62 What if he appeared in the great cities of Africa Inter or South 00:26:00.66\00:26:04.36 America and he pretended to be the great miracle worker? 00:26:04.39\00:26:07.16 Doesn't Revelation say that the Devil is come down to you 00:26:07.20\00:26:10.23 because in Revelation 12 because he knows he has a short time? 00:26:10.27\00:26:15.20 But yet our minds are anchored in the eternal truths of God's 00:26:15.24\00:26:22.11 word. We recognize the great controversy that began in heaven 00:26:22.14\00:26:26.65 and will never end until Christ comes again. That this great 00:26:26.68\00:26:35.66 controversy is over worship. We recognize the Sabbath is God's 00:26:35.69\00:26:40.63 eternal sign of worship in the last days. And to counteract 00:26:40.66\00:26:45.10 that the devil is going to use all kinds of miracles, signs, 00:26:45.13\00:26:52.47 lying wonders. And through these twin errors, the immortality of 00:26:52.51\00:26:59.08 the soul and Sunday worship, the devil is going to try to take 00:26:59.11\00:27:03.92 the world captive as he passes around his wine cup of ancient 00:27:03.95\00:27:11.43 Babylon's false doctrines. Both you and I are anchored in the 00:27:11.46\00:27:16.36 word of God. You and I have our faith solidly based in scripture 00:27:16.40\00:27:22.97 You and I have our feet on the solid rock, not on the shifting 00:27:23.00\00:27:29.94 sands. Would you like to commit yourself today to following 00:27:29.98\00:27:34.62 the word of God and placing your feet on something that's solid 00:27:34.65\00:27:38.69 that will not be shaken when all the world follows after the 00:27:38.72\00:27:42.72 beast power. Let's pray. 00:27:42.76\00:27:44.09 Father in heaven. Thank you with all of our hearts that Jesus is 00:27:44.13\00:27:48.46 Savior, he is our Redeemer. Thank you for the Eternal Truths 00:27:48.50\00:27:51.53 of the Bible that we can be protected in these last days. 00:27:51.57\00:27:55.47 In Christ's name, Amen. 00:27:55.50\00:27:59.31 ¤ ¤ 00:27:59.34\00:28:25.40