Well, let's turn to Revelation and chapter 17. We didn't quite finish chapter 17. We're looking at this greatest ally. There are three allies that Satan has in his opposition to God and to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three allies that he uses to control the world. Three allies that he encourages the world in rebellion against God and against God's kingdom. And they are kings and those in power over us, whatever power that they have, they may be rulers of nations, but they also maybe empower those people over great institutions and great bodies in this world. They are the nations themselves, the peoples who join with the kings. That's the first ally that he has. But there's also forced religions that he tries to swamp the church with or to eradicate the church with. Forced religions, errors, untruths that he spews out of his mouth, out of the beast, his second ally. And then there is this greatest ally. This ally in which he incites the world. This ally in which he seduces the world. This ally in which he deceives the world. Mystery Babylon, the great harlot. And she represents all that is sinful, and all that is seductive, and all that is wicked, all that is pleasurable, but that is against God, all that we pursue in life. They may be good things. They even may be good things. But our pursuit in them, in giving ourselves over to them, lusting after them, desiring them, is a bad thing. After all, money is not wrong, is it? And to have money is not wrong. But the Bible clearly teaches that the love of money, is the root of all evil. So even good things, by our sin, and by our lust, and by our greed, and by our gluttony, and by the desire to have more, and more, and more of it, and by our desire to put that in the place of God, wanting those things more than God, are Mystery Babylon. are the seductions that draw us away from our God and keep us away from salvation. Like the rich young ruler, that man who came to God, a very religious man, he desired salvation. So much so, that he was willing to put himself in a very precarious position in coming to the Lord Jesus Christ in a time when the Lord Jesus Christ was meeting great opposition from the rich young rulers' friends and colleagues on the Sanhedrin's council. But he was willing to come to Jesus and say, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Because he knew he didn't have it. And Jesus Christ in the end says to him this, go and sell all that you have, and give it to the poor, and come and follow me, and you will have eternal life. Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, was guaranteeing him, guaranteeing him eternal life, if he would just turn his back on the sinful pleasures of this world, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and come and sit at his feet and hear his teaching and understand the gospel and turn to him for salvation. He would have eternal life. But that rich man went away sorrowful because he had Great riches. And he couldn't give them up. And he wouldn't give them up. Even for the guarantee of salvation from his God. Even for that. You see, the deceitfulness of the riches, of the wealth, of the sinful pleasures, and even of the pleasures of this world, if we lust after them and desire them more than the things of God. Well, we've seen the characteristics of this great harlot, which I've just reiterated before you. We've seen the influence that she has upon the world, how the great, how the mighty of this world give themselves over to it and the pursuit of it. And they will kill and they will destroy and they will do anything for more and more and more of it, land, power, fame, fortune. And they persecute the church because the church highlights the sin and the wickedness that they love so much and they promote so much and they go after so much. We've seen the influence that she has and now we see the relationship that the world has with her. Look at chapter 17 and verse 15 it says, Then he said to me, the waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. There she is in the midst of them. There she is. She has her influence all over them. She sits with them and she spreads her defilement throughout all the people and all the nations. Everybody is defiled by her. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. What is God saying? What is the relationship that the world has with this great harlot? Well, it's a love-hate relationship, friends. It's a love-hate relationship. It's like the relationship that a drug addict has with his drugs. A drug addict loves his drugs. A drug addict will seek after his drugs and give everything to have his drugs. He will sell his body or she will sell her body. She will steal from her loved ones and the most precious people to her. She will even sell them, or he will, for the drug that they crave so much, and they desire so much. And when they get it, they will devour it, won't they? They will devour it. They can't get enough of it. But afterwards, as the effects wear off, they hate themselves for what they've done, and they hate the drugs, that has caused them to do such wickedness and such sin. It's a love-hate relationship, friends, that we have with the things of this world. We want more of them, but when we get them and we find them unfulfilling, we cast them aside, don't we? How many gadgets that we've got at home in our Western society? How many gadgets have we filled our house with? The must-have gadgets of yesterday litter our homes, don't they? Don't they? All those designer clothes, those must-have designer clothes that we thought, if we had that designer clothes, we would be it. Everybody would look at us. Everybody would admire us. Where are they now? They're in the charity shops, aren't they? It's a love-hate relationship, isn't it, with it? That's how it goes, friends. It's not fulfilling, is it? We think it is, because then we say, we've got to have more of it! Even though we didn't find it fulfilling, even though it wasn't the answer to the problem, we've got to have more, and more, and more, and more, haven't we? How many lottery winners? said to themselves, oh, I would be satisfied with just a million. Oh, just let me win a million, they said. They'd win a million, and what are they doing? The lottery. Because they're not satisfied, friends, and never will be satisfied. And that's the way that God would have it. Look at verse 17. For God has put it in their hearts to fulfill his purpose to be of one mind and to give their kingdoms to the beast and to the word of God is fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw in that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth, God has put it in our minds. God will not allow us to be satisfied with these things. God himself. God has designed it so that the things of this world will never be satisfying, never be fulfilling, never answer our questions. of life and the meaning of life. Never, friends. They cannot, friends. Because only God can do that. Only God. And the absence of God in our lives is our real problem. The fact that we are dead in trespasses and sins The fact that our spirits, which is that part of us that communes with God, knows God, has a relationship with God, is dead because of our sins, smothered by our sins, kept inoperative because of our sins, creates a great void in our lives, a great emptiness in our lives. But what do we do? Rather than turn to God and seek God to fill up that void and give us life, spiritual life, we turn to the world and the things of the world. And we try and fill up that void with the things of the world. But because they're not spiritual, because they're not of God, because they're not Him, because they're not Jesus Christ, It's unfulfilling and we can't do it. And the more we try, the more empty we feel, don't we friends? Isn't it true? They will never satisfy us because we can only satisfy that longing with God, with knowing him and having forgiveness for our sins. a new life in Him. God has designed it so. We would seek Him. We would seek Him until we find Him and know Him as our Saviour and our Lord through this life and evermore. That's what we need to do. We need to come to Jesus Christ and repent of our sins. Turn our back on the things of this world. Turn our back on the lust and all those things that we are addicted to. What is your addiction, friends? What is it today? What have you sold your soul for? What is keeping you away from Jesus Christ? Well, turn your back on it. Because it will be your death. And it will be your destruction. And come to Jesus Christ. Who will give you life. And life more abundant. Who will breathe into your spirits and bring them alive. So that you can know your God and walk with your God and love your God. And He can love you. And cherish you through this life. And through all eternity. That's what you need to do, friends. And then you will be a complete person, a satisfied person in Jesus Christ, your Lord. That's what's being told us here. That's what God is crying out to the world to do. Come to him. Come and be saved. Well, we've seen her character. We've seen her influence. We've seen the relationship with us. Now we see her doom. Chapter 18. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. So what is the Lord telling us here? What is the picture he's drawing us here? Well, towards the end of the world, before the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, even the great things that we set our souls for, the materialistic things of this world, the things that we lust after, whatever they may be, money, sex, fame, power, whatever they may be, Even those will become a curse to us. And even those will become a torment to our souls. As we find them so unsatisfying, and as we experience more and more of them, we will only find more and more hurt and destruction. Destroying the fabric of our souls and our being. As we sell ourselves out for more sin and for more wickedness. That's what happens, friends, isn't it? When people give themselves over to sin, they begin to hate themselves because of the sin. Like those drug addicts. That's what's happening here. Babylon, all that seduced us, all that was so pleasurable to us, has become a curse to us. Look, it's become a dwelling place for demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. What a foul, stinking, vile place Babylon has become. What a wicked place. What an evil place. A place that you wouldn't even want to be. In your wildest dreams. That's what it's going to become. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of the luxury. You see? They've had it all. and found it wanting. They've had it all, and found it foul and unclean. They've had it all, but they still want more. They still want more, just like that drug addict. Hates himself, but wants more of his drugs. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquity, rendered to her justice she rendered to you, and repaid her double according to her works in the cup which she has mixed. Mixed double for her. in the measure that she glorified herself, and live luxuriously in the same measure give her torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow, Therefore her plagues will come in one day, death, mourning, and famine, and she will be utterly burnt with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judges her. For on that day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, listen to this friends, on that day all the luxuries and pleasures of this world will be targeted by God. They will be targeted and they will fall first. In that great earthquake that is to come, that we read of in chapter 16, that great earthquake, like no other earthquake this earth has experienced, because it will be a worldwide earthquake, All the pleasures and all the pleasure domes and all the traders in the pleasures of the things of this world are going to fall first. And the world, the people of the world are going to see it and they are going to mourn for it. What does God tell us to do? Come out from her and be separated from her. That's what he tells us to do. And friends, if you want to be a child of the living God, if you want to know God as your savior and your friend, if you want to walk with God through this life and know peace with him and contentment in him, if you want a living relationship with your God and know that you have an inheritance with him in heaven as a guarantee And he calls you, he calls you, friends, to come out and be separate. To turn your back on the things of this world that keep you from your God, that pollute your life, that break his laws. to turn your back on all your rebellion and your lusting after these things, all the wickedness and all the sin of this world that tempts us and seduces us so very much. Turn your back on it and turn to Jesus Christ for life. Turn to him. Come out, he says. Separate yourself from her, he says. so that you don't perish with her and you don't go down to hell as a consequence of her seductions and her deceitfulness and her sinfulness. Come out and be separate. Will you do that? Just like the Jucheung ruler, he's calling to you, isn't he? He's saying to you that very thing. Give it up. give it up and come and follow me and you will have eternal life. Turn your back on it and come to him and repent and trust in him and then he will give you life and he will give you freedom He will give you power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the temptations that draw you. He will break the power of the addiction in your heart and in your life. And He will give you life more abundant with Him. A life of meaning and purpose. A life of real joy and blessing in the things that are really good and purposeful. the things of God and eternal life, a life that will last forever and ever in Him. Will you come? Will you come, friends? Will you turn to Him, turning your back on all that is sin and casting yourself on His mercy and upon His love? If you will, you will find mercy and forgiveness and new life in him. Well, we've seen that she's coming to an end. Now we see her complete and utter destruction. And this, if you can just draw, think in your minds of those terrible earthquakes that have happened in Italy, terrible destruction that you saw there in Italy, and the terrible pictures that we saw of people standing there in the middle of all the rubble, standing there looking at what was their homes, what they had worked for, where they had brought up their children and their loved ones, and project that upon the image that you see now before you, you will have some idea of what God is telling us. Because on that day, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, When that great earthquake hits the world and all the pleasure domes of this world are destroyed, the destruction is going to be so complete, so utterly devastating, that the world will know that there is no coming back from this, that there is no hope, that there is no building this again. And that all that they have lived for, and all that they have sold their souls for, and all that they have persecuted God and his church for, is gone. It's gone. It's just dust and rubble. And it will be no more. Look at this picture. The kings of the earth, those nine who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning. Who do they represent? They represent everybody who has sold themselves and given themselves to enjoy the pleasures of this world. All those people who have enjoyed the luxuries and the pleasures and the sinful pleasures of this world. I say sinful because there are pleasures that are good and rightfully used. They are good, aren't they, friends? But the sinful pleasures or the sinful pursuit after pleasures, all of them will stand and they will cry. They will cry and they will weep and they will mourn because they have invested everything, their whole lives in the pursuit of these things. And it's gone. It's gone. It's just that rubble. It's that destruction. It's complete. It's through the whole world. And it's going to be no more. No more. It's finished. And then there are the merchants, verse 11, of the earth who weep and mourn over her. For no one buys their merchandise anymore. Merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple, silk, scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory. And it goes through, doesn't it? It goes through everything that people trade in. everything that people desire and want, even food. Look at the gluttony in this world today. Look at the food programs we have where people worship food. People's souls, people's bodies even. These traders have traded in it. These traders have become rich in it. These traders have provided it. And they've lost it. It's all gone. It's all gone, friends. It's all rubble and dust. And they cry and they mourn. Verse 16, alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour, such great riches came to nothing. And then there's the shipmasters and those who trade on the seas. Those who are the ones who have dispersed it throughout the world. They're the merchants in the sea. They have taken it from one place to another. They dispersed her filth and her defilement throughout the world and made themselves rich by doing it. They will mourn, they will cry, they will weep. Alas, alas, verse 19, that great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth. For in one hour she is made desolate. Have you noticed one thing, friends? In all their weeping and mourning, and in all their sorrows, They never cried over their sins, did they? They never wept for their sins and for their wickedness. They never turned to God. On that day, people will see the desolation. They will see the utter destruction. It will be before their eyes and all they can do is cry for their loss. and weep for their loss, even though judgment is upon them. And in the next moment, they will be standing at the judgment seat of Christ, and they will have to answer for their sins and for their wickedness, and why they gave up their souls' salvation for the pleasures and the luxuries and the pursuit of the sinful things of this world. Even though judgment is upon them and Christ is coming, that's why the earthquake has come. That's why the stars of the heavens are falling and raining down all around them. That's why the sun is not giving its light anymore. All they can do is weep and cry and moan that they don't have their addiction any longer, their drug anymore. It's gone. And it's gone forever. Then the mighty angel took me up a stone like a great millstone and threw it in the sea saying, thus with violence that great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, trumpeters shall not be heard in it anymore. Verse 23, the light of the lamp shall not shine in her anymore. Why? For by her sorcery, All the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints of all who were slain on the earth. God is just. God will judge. God will have his day. And all men shall see and mourn for their sins. And then all men shall stand in the judgment and give an account for their sins before their God. all of them, and then there will only be two types of men, those who are still weeping and those who are rejoicing. Where will you stand, friends? Will you stand with those who are weeping? Or will you stand with those who are rejoicing because their savior has come and their savior has claimed them? And the judge that sits on that throne, judging the world for all their sins, is none other than the one who gave himself for them on the cross of Calvary and suffered and died there for them to have them for his own. None other than the one that took all their sin and their punishment and all the condemnation against them. And now they stand before Him as if they had never sinned. Stand before Him, no condemnation. Stand before Him, those who are His precious people, whom He has come for. and claimed and taken to their inheritance. Where will you stand, friends? Here it is, friends, this morning before you. This could be the last day. Supposing this was the last day. Supposing that Jesus Christ is on his way, which he is, and we don't know when he will be here. I ask you, friends, ask yourself, Where are you standing right now? Will you stand with the weepers? Will you stand with those who have lost everything? Will you stand with those who now only have judgment and the prospects of the torment of hell for all eternity? Will you stand with them? Are you going to continue to stand with them? Are you going to continue to sell your soul for the things of this world and lose your soul in hell for all eternity? Or are you going to stand with Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Judge of all men? Are you going to stand with Him and be safe in Him now and forever? Are you going to stand with him who has gone to prepare a place for his people? Are you going to stand with him who said, I will never leave you nor forsake you? Are you going to stand with him who loves his sheep and laid down his life for his sheep? Are you? Where do you stand this morning, friends? If you don't stand with Jesus Christ, let me urge you to come to Him. Forsake all for Him. Come to Him for that great salvation that only He can give. For He is the only Savior, the only one who has died, the only one who has given His life, The only one who has paid the debt for sin, the only one who can redeem a soul from hell, the only one who can give life, life more abundant, eternal life, found only in Him. Let me urge you, friends, to come to Jesus Christ and be saved. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord and our loving Heavenly Father, we come into your presence and we do praise and thank you that you are such a gracious and such a merciful God, full of compassion. You look upon our suffering even though it's self-induced. You look upon the misery, O Lord, of our addiction. You look upon it, O Lord, and you are not willing that any should perish, so much so that you gave your life so that we could have life. Oh Lord, Lord we do pray, by your great and mighty power, would you, oh Lord, draw people to yourself this day. Oh Lord, may you draw them that they may come to you and be saved in you. And may, oh Lord, those here that do not know you be in that number. that you will draw to yourself and save and redeem this very day. Lord, help them, Lord, for they perish just as we once were. Help them, Lord, save their souls as you once did that great work for us. Do it for them, we pray. We ask this of Thou merciful, our wonderful, our gracious Saviour. Amen. Let's sing our last hymn then, which is hymn number 280. 280. Lo, he comes with clouds descending, once for favoured sinners slain. Thousand, thousand saints attending swell the triumph of his train. Hallelujah, hallelujah, God appears on earth to reign. 280.