The Great City

Revolves with veteran with me if you would to the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation were gonna start today versus verses 9 to 10 will be going through the entire chapter in in the passage but will start with verses nine and 10 the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning, they will stand far off in fear of her torment and say alas, alas, you great city you mighty city, Babylon were in a single hour your judgment has come spray heavenly father we have a difficult passage of Scripture before us today we pray father that you give us insight into how it spoke to John in his time, how it speaks to the future and how it speaks to us in our generation would ask father that you guide and direct us through this that we might understand who is behind the world system and the culture that we see today and father that we might understand that this is spiritual warfare that Lord you have called us to move in great power against our enemy heavenly father we thank you for the insight that you given to us in this passage about what's going to happen that we don't have to leave this place today in fear and trepidation. For we know that Jesus wins Lord help that she just do something to our heart that would just change us and mold us in your image that we know Lord that we belong to you and and because we belong to you. We will win with you, guide and direct us more through this passage today. May Jesus be uplifted in it. May this congregation beatified by this in your holy and precious name we pray.

Amen. You may be seated on the morning of June 3, 1942, two squadrons of American bomber spotted Japanese aircraft carriers. About 700 miles west of Midway Island the bombers immediately began to attack and when that happen. The Japanese set up 50 zero fighters and completely destroyed all the American bombers.

There was only one survivor's name was pilot George J. And he parachuted out of his plane. He drop down into the ocean and he stayed there floating on a rubber raft for a number of hours and when he stayed there watching, he what he saw was the great battle of Midway and he cheered as he watched three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers as they just burst into flame and sought to the bottom of the ocean pilot George gaze experience reminds much of Revelation chapter 18, for here, it starts by showing us the strength, the power, the wickedness and the deception of Babylon that represents the world system or the culture in which we live and we see that and then would it just seems like all hope is vanished out of nowhere. Judgment comes and the people that love Babel and are devastated and the people that love the Lord are rejoicing. John's account Revelation 18 is patterned after Ezekiel chapter 28 Ezekiel chapter 28 is a prophecy about the destruction of the city of Tyre and is you get ended. Ezekiel 28. You will find this a description. First of all, of the king of Tyre within he goes beyond that.

And it goes to the source of the king of Tyre who is none other than Satan himself. We share with you that passage from Ezekiel 28 starting at verse 12. Thus says the Lord God, you are the Signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering your an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire.

You Walt. You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you and the abundance of your trade you are filled with violence in your midst, and you send. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you a guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Ezekiel and John are saying exactly the same thing that the source behind Tyre. The source behind Babylon. The source behind behind Tyre and all these different these different cultures that have risen through the years and the culture that we face today have one source and that source is the same and that source is Satan. He is in his purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. And, and that's what he wanted to do.

That's what he's determined to do.

How often do we look at that and we look at what he's doing and we get discouraged. What we look at the appearance of victory, and we think well there's just no way in the world that things can change. Ezekiel 28 Revelation chapter 18, tell us that's not true. Though the world success is going to be destroyed. The world will mourn.

Christians will rejoice in Jesus Christ is going to be glorified in the three things I want to share with you this morning from this passage. Number one the mourners lament the mourners lament within verses nine through 19 and the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and with over her when they see the smoke of her burning, they will stand far off in fear of her torment and say alas, the last great city, you mighty city, Babylon for the single hour. You commit is calm and merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore cargo of gold, silver, Jules pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds ascended wood under the articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood bronze, iron, and marble cinnamon spice incense murder. Frankincense wine all fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves as human souls, the fruit Voyager so long has gone from you and all your delicacies and your splinters are lost to you, never to be found again. The merchants of these wires again. Well from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning allowed. Alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet adorned with gold with goals with pearls for the single hour. This will has been laid waste and all ship esters and seafaring men sailors and all these traders on the sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning what city was like the great city and they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, alas, alas for the great city city grew rich by her wealth for a single hour she has been laid waste while he John use babbling as a symbol of this world, anti-God system because babbling is the perfect picture of the political, cultural, and economic layout of us mechanically inspired Empire babbling was known worldwide for its idolatry for its occultism, rich materialism for its bondage to alcohol for its outward appearance of success for its blatant immorality, and it seemed absolutely impenetrable when King Belshazzar was raining over babbling babbling was a country that mocked God and was just field with this prideful egotism. You probably remember the desert a broad in all of his dignitaries all the hot marketing mucks brought to me and to try to impress them and what it was just a drunken orgy and he went and got out the drinking vessels that had been used in the temple of Jehovah that had been stolen and taken from that temple and brought into babbling and he took them he gave them out. They fill them with liquor. They drank out of them just getting drunk and making a mockery of a Jehovah. And all of a sudden, in the middle of his party out of nowhere a huge hand appears on the wall and I and begins to write out a message many, many youth arts and now after she has a read that message. The Scripture gives us a description of what was going on in his heart in his life and in his body. At that time. It says this, then the king's color changed in his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way in his knees together. Is there a greater description of fear that we have in the entire Bible of a my goodness is man's knees or knocking his hands are shaking these turning colors. He is absolutely scared to death.

Why because he's lived a life of absolute debauchery and defiance against God, and all of a sudden he's been called to give an account. All of a sudden, he is standing before a holy God. He is standing before a holy God, and he knows that there's nowhere to run. There's no excuses to give.

There's nothing that he can do to get out of it and he is absolutely shaking with fear brothers and sisters. What we have here is a picture of every single lost person who on that last day will stand before a holy God. So they called annually and to interpret the message and Daniel comes the end, he gives the interpretation and he says Mimi God is numbered. The days of your kingdom and brought it to an end tackle you been waiting in the balances and failed warning and then you Farson your kingdom is divided and it will be split up between the means and the Persians that very night the Persian army marched into the city of of babbling and they did it by going under the wall, through a dried up waterbed and they totally caught everyone by surprise. They took the city just like that in a matter of moments. It became the city that belonged to Persia this this is a crazy situation. It's amazing to me just how fast this happened on that morning they got up and babbling was the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. By that evening babbling was no more and that whole city. The whole country belonged to the Persians. That's what happened, babbling in history and brothers and sisters. That's what's going to happen to the world system in the future but who are the mourners that lament and cry over babbling's destruction. There are three of them. The first ones were the kings of the earth. The kings of the earth who is that physicians that we all be expecting. There should, you know, not long ago, just a few months ago in New York.

Their legislator's lecture, a brought up a bill, a bill that would make abortion illegal abortion to make it legal all the way up to the ninth month and then if the baby happened to be born at the abortion didn't work, they could just take the baby led to the side and let the baby die as they paid no attention to it gave the baby no hail books. That's an amazing thing to me. And when that past that whole legislature stood up and they clapped and they cheered. This is the same group of people that the legal tooth to break an eagle egg and if you broken a leg. You can go to jail for that but yet they clap and they cheer over boarding a baby up to nine months and then if the baby lives. Set it to the side and just let it die. But that's what Isaiah was talking about when he said whoa and of those who call good evil and evil good, the politicians will not rejoice and they will repent. As God brings this world system down verse 10 says they will stand often fear and they will cry out this song. Alas, alas, you great city babbling for a single hour your judgment has come.

The second group of mourners is the merchants and asked the businessman they see their whole livelihood and their whole purpose for living, disappearing right before their eyes. All that they have counted valuable is gone just like that they stand often fear. I don't care about pablum. I don't really care about that the people I care about your stuff, that's what. What matters to them. Middle politicians were scared because they were morning because they were to lose power, but the merchants were morning because they were gonna lose stuff.

So what stuff are they lamenting normal material things, gold, silver jewelry, silk, all these kind of precious fabrics. All of this, horses and chariots.

We might say trucks and in cars or and in the the last thing I think that is says the most to me, that is, human souls, slaves.

While reminds me of the horror of sex trafficking in our day young teenage boys and girls are lured away or just kidnapped and taken off and used to fulfill the the wicked fantasies of evil, wicked, no conscience man when I read that this week I can help to think of the Jeffrey Epstein situation where politicians and movie stars and wealthy businessmen would go to an island where it little children had been taken, kidnapped, lured away and they would perform all kinds of sexual depravity on these little children and yet as I look at the situation today. It seems like nothing is being done about it. Why not because people are afraid to come forward afraid to anything because they know their life might be taken Michael Brown to the following. It is estimated that worldwide roughly 1 million children are sold in the sex slavery or forced labor every year, including 40,000 per year in America, which amounts to hundred nine children per day as one website points out, the average class in the US is 21.2 children for public elementary schools. This means that each day in the United States, the equivalent of five classes of elementary school students just disappears. What makes this even worse is that these estimates may be low.

The sexual exploitation of children is surely one of the vilest sands on the planet. The national Center for missing and exploited children has reviewed more than 267 million images of children and now averages over 25 million images annually. That equates to 480,769 images per week.

Yes, every single week. This monitoring organization reviews almost 1/2 a million pictures of children being exploited in some manner.

In this overwhelming number just represents the pictures they are able to find how much more is hidden.

The day will come when all this will be exposed and yet the merchants will not regret their sin. They will not repent they will cry because it's over in their sin has been exposed.

The third group of mourners as the seafarers look at verses 17 through 19 again for a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste and all ship matters in seafaring men sailors and all these traders on the ski stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning what city was like this great city and lick the dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, alas, alas for the great city were all who had ships at sea drew rich by her wealth for a single hour she has been laid waste. The politicians were morning over their loss power. The merchants were lot morning over their loss stuff with the seafarers were morning over there but lost money.

Verse 19 says they grew rich by her wealth. There there will now be no more chance to make quick, easy money will be no more chance to make quick lavish profits. Jesus told us to be careful here is a lay not up for yourselves treasures, where moth and rust will destroy and and will be no more but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven that can never be lost.

I point to is rejoicing in heaven. Verse 23, 21, rejoice over her in heaven and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God is given judgment for you will get her then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying so will babbling the great be thrown down with violence, and will be failed no more than over 500 different Old Testament references that we have the 22 check book of Revelation. Here we have not a direct reference, but a parallel reference goes all the way back to Jeremiah chapter 51 Jeremiah wrote an entire book filled with coming prophecies concerning the the judgments that were coming on babbling and then Jeremiah gave it to a man whose names was Soraya and he gave it to him and this man was a very well respected Jew who is going be taken into captivity and in the man took the book and he went to babbling with it when he got the babbling. He read this to the Babylonian people and he read it to the Jewish people were there and captivity in Babylon, and the only thing reading it. He took a rock and he tied it to that book and he tied it up tight. Went to the Euphrates River threw it into the Euphrates River in the book sought down to the bottom of the river symbolizing that babbling would sink and rise no more.

I have to believe that John had this in mind when he wrote verse 21 is is then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea. Saying so will babbling the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will be failed no more notice in verse 20 who gets involved in the rejoicing heaven rejoices. Who is that wealthy angels the Angels rejoicing over this judgment that's coming on on this world's mom the culture that that now we serve and so the Angels are they are but there's also the believers, the believers who have died and are with the Lord and who are waiting for their new glorified resurrected body, for they will go back to the earth with Christ and they will conquer people of often asked me this question Doug when we get to heaven will we know what's going on down here on earth. The Bible didn't have much to say about this.

There are some who conjectured that there is a possible reference to that in Hebrews chapter 12 verse one Hebrews Chapter 11 is a great chapter on the subject of faith and in that chapter on faith we read about Noah and Abraham enable Lynn and Moses and all these great men of faith and how they walk with the Lord in faith and get immediately in the chapter 12 verse one and and the Scripture speaks of a great cloud of witnesses that are encouraging us in the race of the Christian life that is before us.

We read you that read Hebrews 12 one therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings to, and wrote letters fun with her. It's the race that is set for us at what the Scriptures actually say in here at the saints in heaven see what's going on and that are encouraging us in the race. I'm not sure that is exactly what Hebrews 12 one is saying, but I know that is what Revelation 1820 is saying it is saying that judgment is going to come and those in heaven are going to rejoice over it. We will see it. We will acknowledge it and we will praise God for what he is doing member back in Revelation 6 when the verses nine through 11 we were studying the breaking of the. The fifth seal lightly read that to you again because I think it has some good reference here. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who been slain for the word of God and for the witnesses they had born they cried out with a loud voice of sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been Revelation 18 answers the question. By the time we get the Revelation 18, the answer is no longer no longer judgment is about to fall and then Christ will return with his saints. Every wrong will be righted every injustice will be judged and all heaven will rejoice .3 babblings eulogy. Look at verse 22 through 24 in the second of harvested musicians afflict players and trumpeters will be hurting you know more in a crescent of any craft will be found in you know more and the sound of the meal will be hurting you know more in the light of the lamp will shine in you know more and the voice of Brian Freeman bride will be hurting you know more for your merchants were the great ones of the earth and all nations were deceived by your sorcery and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth in Revelation chapter 18 that turn. No more is used six different times. Things that seem so permanent. Things that seem so unchangeable things that seem so entrenched will be no more they'll be gone totally totally gone.

No more music and singing. No more creating and building no more bright lights, no more Marion the things that seem so common in a secular society will be completely and totally done. Everything comes to a stop.

We should also notice in verse 23 says all nations will be deceived by their sorceries.

Think about our culture in America a culture that is becoming more and more anti-God. Everything we consider ourselves to be so well-educated and so technologically advanced that that we just don't need God anymore were gorgeous, but beyond that, God thing. Now we don't really need that will what happens when there's a rejection of God's truth and rejection of God himself. There's a vacuum that is created and demonic billions will will rush to fill that vacuum in the word sorceries here refers to witchcraft. But it's interesting if you read the word in the Greek it is the Greek word Pharma Kia which we get our word pharmacy from this has to do with drugs have a drug problem here in America. More do we ever asked how many of friends and loved ones and neighbors do you have that are addicted to some drug and they absolutely can't get get off of it with Dr. today there given at any residence like they were candy and I heard not long ago. What about a doctor who gave heavy antidepressants to a 13-year-old girl who was upset about climate change. I realize that people have chemical imbalances and sometimes there is a need for the right medicine, but drug abuse and addiction is way, way out of control and mindnumbing numbing drugs will open the heart up and open the mind up for the occult heavy dealt with them. Don't you listen to Joel Blakey synopsis on this chapter. He said it well. He said things are always there as they appear in this world. People living it up, apparently happy as can be.

But if you you soon discover they are's as miserable as sin to 19 nine and following almost to the end of the show us what is really going on in people who cohabitate with the world.

In a word soon become disillusioned kings, merchants, imp exporters, businesspeople, politicians are also powerless as babbling collapses.

They weep and they mourn over her. Their terrified during the collapse of Wall Street several decades ago, people suddenly and effectively went bankrupt fortunes were lost.

Families were ruined.

Some people committed suicide.

That is the picture presented in this kings and merchants, businessmen, freight haulers it's been jetsetters in the whole busy world are suddenly horrified is in just one hour. It all collapses and bank their lives own everything they worked for their souls for his only gone the message. Here's the us, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul.

I was struck by what Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said some months before he died, he said, our greatest dangers to live upon our activity rather than grieving over the fact that he could no longer preach he spoke to Ian Murray of how our joy must be in the Lord and so we can face death without fear even preaching to become a worldly enterprise if it's what we live for the church to become worldly if we live for our church. The same is true of our families, our grandchildren are spouses. They can be idols if they are more important than your relationship with God.

The Bible clearly says that whatever you are leaving for if it is not for Christ you're a loser because the world and everything in it will pass away to focus on humanity as the center of everything, and to forget God is the greatest sin so what's the message in Revelation 19 for us for the true church for genuine born-again believers in 2012 to learn how to relate to the work books God is not called us to a monastery to be monks and hermits. God is called us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world salt and do any good till he gets out of the salt shaker light then do any good if it's put under a bushel, where no one can see it, brothers and sisters. We've been called to be different we are and have been called out to show the world that Christ makes a difference.

We ought to stick out we have a stick out like a gardenia in a garbage can, like a diamond in a coal mine people to look at us and say there's something about them. That's not like the world is nothing wrong making money. If you use your money to to to help your family and provide for your family and use your money to extend the kingdom. Nothing wrong with that. In other words, you control your money. Don't let your money control you. Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart be also posit I've learned how to be happy with much and have be happy with little equity say that because his joy was in the Lord, not in his stuff, PE was in the world, but he was not of the world finally true Christians must realize that is this world is moving toward judgment. Our calls is not lost. Christ is building his church and the gates of hail will not prevail against it, folks. God is sovereign God is powerful and the message of Revelation is this Jesus wins, Jesus wins.

And if you belong to Jesus, you win with him. A man is pray.

Heavenly father, we come before your throne to thank you and praise you for these great promises that we have here helpless heavenly father that we might get from this world that Lord, our attachment might might might be to Christ and Christ alone. Heavenly father, help us, that we might love Jesus more that we might love the world, much, much less the Lord help us and we might be a witness to the people in a lost world if they might see Christ in us that they might hunger after what we have heavenly father we ask now that you got a director pass that this church might be a a lot past the that Lord in this community might know that Jesus Christ is Lord Grace Church. We look Jesus, thank you for loving us. Thank you for dying force on the cross. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that changed the wicked hearts that we had an helpless Lord, that we might live now in obedience to you with the calling that you gave us to take the gospel to a lost world. We love you we praise you and thank you and it's in Jesus precious and holy name we pray. A man