Thank you, ladies. Appreciate that very, very much. Well, if you have a copy of God's Word tonight, invite your attention to the book of Revelation, chapter 18, please. Revelation, chapter 18. And we're going to go ahead and jump in the message here in just a moment. Wanted to mention, some of you weren't in the auditorium this morning, we mentioned that this is, I'm holding my hand, really what I call a little bit of piece of history. This is a copy of the Mongolian New Testament that has just been completed. and been done by First Bible down in Milford and it's been done by the Mongolian people translated by independent Baptists from the Texas Receptus which is really obviously the manuscripts that we get our King James Bible from and so this is just been printed and they're now working on the Old Testament. We've had a part in that through our giving here at Cleveland Baptist Church and supporting First Bible and specifically this particular project. So I wanted to share that with you because to me that's exciting. People are getting the Bible in their own language and we take it for granted that we have it because we've always had it, seemingly most of us here in the United States of America. We grow up and they put a King James Bible in your hand and an independent Baptist Church and we just take that for granted. But not everybody is so blessed And so we're grateful that there are churches and ministries that are making that a priority. Then I wanted to say tonight to our church, I often sit on this platform on Sunday night and just think about many people who've labored today in the ministry. And some that are even laboring tonight as we're in this auditorium. And we don't want to take that for granted. You know, I think about folks who work the bus route today. Many who taught Sunday school classes, we have folks who work security, we have folks in nurseries, we have folks that work on the parking lots, and just folks that just take care of things. Folks have to come early for orchestra practice and choir practice, and then folks will be laboring all this week. I'm thinking even while we're here tonight, we have a myriad of folks that help us with the media aspect of the ministry. Folks that do the in-house sound, and there are folks that are dealing with the live stream broadcast in a room, and we got folks who operate these screens, and so it just takes a ton of folks And if you're sitting here tonight and you don't have something that you're engaged in, in other words, your hands aren't dirty from the ministry today, come and see me. We'll put you to work, all right? There's a job for folks. There's a ministry for everyone. And I don't care what your gifts or talents are, I guarantee you there's something here that you can do. And we need you. I tell you that. We need you. Folks, look at a church like this. Say, well, it's a large church. They don't need me. We do. We sure do. We need more ushers. We need more folks to be involved. The choir, I love the fact that the SMITE team was in here at 5 o'clock, and I love that full choir. And I know it's summer, so a lot of folks are gone. Boy, wouldn't it be great every Sunday night to have that choir just absolutely bursting at the seams and just belting out those anthems of our faith. And so, I just want to encourage you, thank you so much for laboring. It's a joy to serve the Lord, isn't it? And, you know, you go home tired on Sunday night, you'll go home really exhausted next Sunday night after Smite, but it'll be a good tired for the Lord. And Lord willing, we'll at the end of next week be rejoicing in all that God did this week in the SMITE program. Well, Revelation chapter 18, we will not take the time to read the text tonight. We'll work our way through the text. And so for those folks that are here tonight, who maybe are the first timer, have maybe been perhaps a little sporadic, we have been working our way, at least periodically, through the book of Revelation. We're in the 18th chapter. This is my 30th message in this particular series on Revelation. And tonight, the message tonight is really kind of a flyover of this 18th chapter. If you were here two weeks ago, we dealt with the 17th chapter. And rather than just really get into the nitty-gritty of every verse, it's more of just kind of giving you the idea of what is really captured in this particular chapter. And tonight we're talking about God's judgment on New Babylon. New Babylon. And we'll talk about that and how that develops here in just a moment. Would you bow your heads in prayer with me and ask the Lord to bless us tonight in this service. Father, thank you for this day. And thank you, Lord, for laborers in the ministry. Lord, there are folks sitting here tonight who dearly love you. And Lord, we love you. And Lord, tonight as a congregation, we just want to say we love you. We thank you for loving us. And Father, it is our prayer tonight as we have this service and then, Lord, we launch off tonight into this very, very intense week of ministry and outreach. Lord, we're just asking for your power and your blessing upon our lives and upon this ministry. Father, help tonight in this message. May there be something tonight in this message that will help us this week. Help us, Lord, to see what's happening in our world. And Lord, help us to see that because we know Christ, we are on the other side of many of these things. So we're grateful. Bless us now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So I wanna start tonight by just kinda doing a little bit of a comparison, if I may, this evening And I want to do the comparison between the real Christ, Jesus Christ, and the Antichrist. Because it's a fascinating study when you really start to think about, if you work your way through the pages of Scripture, what you're going to find is the devil's always wanted what is God's. In other words, if you think about that, he really wants that which is God's. He works hard to steal that which belongs to the Lord. And I call him the world's greatest imposter or imitator. And certainly as we get into the final days, into the tribulation period of this man known as the Antichrist steps forward, you're going to see that in greater ways. So again, we see this ramping up specifically as we're getting into the tribulation period. So as we're here in chapter 18, we have been through these series of judgments, and we get into chapter 16, and they're the final set of seven judgments. And then we told you last week, chapter 17, chapter 18, and part of chapter 19 is kind of the parenthetical aspect. In other words, it's kind of the parentheses, and God says, now wait a minute. Before we move on, before I wrap this thing up, I want to just show you behind the scenes of why I'm doing what I'm doing. And so that's what we have here in these particular chapters. And so you have this ramping up, so to speak, of the one who plans to imitate the real Christ trying to steal his identity. You've heard of identity theft? Well the Antichrist wants to steal the identity of the real Christ. And so he's going to step forward proclaiming himself as Christ. And this action primarily takes place at the midpoint of the Tribulation. So I want you to think, and again we have shared with you that this Tribulation period is two, three and a half year segments. The first half, of course, will begin with the removing of the church, as we are taken out of here before this wrath of God begins to fall. And at some point, this man, known as the Antichrist, will begin to step forward and begin... And again, I think the parts and the pieces, as we shared with you two weeks ago, are already moving, from my perspective, in putting this whole thing together. And so I don't know that we need anything else to happen before God pulls the plug and says, I'm finished with this, and we move into this tribulation period. But we understand that there's this moving that's going on. And so at the midpoint of the tribulation, that's when the Antichrist is going to step forward. And he's going to say, all right, you have seen me. Now I proclaim myself to be the Christ. I am him. I'm the Messiah, the one that you've come to worship. And it really is the turning point for Israel, the nation of Israel, because they will reject this man who has made this peace treaty with them. And he's going to walk into the temple that is going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. And he's going to proclaim himself there as the Messiah. And at that point, Israel is going to reject him and say, you're not our Messiah. And that's going to be the thing that really brings the wrath, if you would, of the devil upon the nation of Israel. So while the Lord Jesus is totally and completely, think about this, holy, When I use that word H-O-L-Y, we understand that means he's holy, he has no sin, he's God. And so he's completely holy, he's God in the flesh. The Antichrist will be totally and completely evil and the devil incarnate. Now the Bible is clear that Jesus was born in a supernatural way. Now I don't know how the Antichrist is going to do this, but I'm sure at some point in the tribulation period, he's going to at least perhaps suggest that his birth was not a normal birth. Perhaps, and because we are living in this technological age, maybe it's going to be, he's going to say, I was cloned. I don't know. But you know, again, these are some things that are up for debate. We can discuss them. But I'm just simply saying, he's going to step forward. And Jesus began his public ministry at the age of 30. So the Antichrist, no doubt, will be somewhat of a younger man who will be highly acclaimed by this world. Highly educated. Very, very great ability with his words to hold the masses. As Jesus was killed at the hands of those who hate him, so the Antichrist will suffer what looks like a fatal blow. We see that in Revelation chapter 13. He'll have a wound in his head, the Bible says there. And that takes place right at the midpoint of the tribulation. And just as Jesus rose from the dead, so the Bible tells us that this Antichrist, three days later, will come back to life. He'll come, his life will enter into him again. I told you two weeks ago that I believe that's when the devil completely engulfs this man and from that point on he is just the devil incarnate during the tribulation period. So what we see in Revelation chapter 17 and 18 is what we call God's judgment on the Babylon's. And I say that because there really are two. The first one is a religious system. We looked at that in chapter 17. That's the religious Babylon. And that obviously, it's those who give allegiance to the Antichrist religiously. It's the ungodly system of spiritual wickedness and deception that will be in place. And by the way, as I said, I'm telling you that, as Pastor Pete even alluded this morning, there are There are denominations that at one time, what we call mainline denominations, that have broken away from what we call fundamentals and have now moved into this modernism, denying the Scriptures and denying all that the Bible says. So you already see this spiritual wickedness and this ecumenical aspect already stirring in our society. But obviously we looked at that and the Scripture states that Just as that there's a Babylon and a Babel, those are little places, Satan's angels have planted themselves spiritually. So, if you go back to that original Babylon, where in Genesis chapter 11, where we find this uprising after the flood. What instituted that? What stirred that up? Well, it was demonic activity. And there seems to be some places in this world that have what I call strongholds. And they're strongholds where the devil's kind of put his talons in and dug his heels in, so to speak, and saying, I'm claiming this property for myself. And I think as we look at it, Babylon or Babel would be one of those places. And of course, they plant themselves to sow seeds of spiritual wickedness. So when God scattered humanity back in Genesis chapter 11, because of their rebellion against God, a lot of those seeds traveled and trickled across the face of the globe. And so as we think of all this false religion, it's not just in one place. It literally is across the face of our world tonight. And so we understand that's part of the reason for this destruction. So in the end, the spiritual deception comes together. Again, there's this drawing together of the masses, and so whatever differences would be between the religions and denominations. They're going to put those aside. They're going to be drawn together as one mass movement that spiritually is worshiping. They think they're worshiping God, but they're literally worshiping the devil and this Antichrist. And of course, the Antichrist, as we shared with you at the end of chapter number 17, that system that is in place will destroy that religious system. And it's God's doing. And so we saw that as we looked at that last passage. In Revelation 18, we see the destruction of what we call physical Babylon. This is the second Babylon, or the new Babylon. And this will be a destruction of the physical headquarters or the political or economic system of the Antichrist. Now the indication is that we're probably talking specifically about a specific city. So again, as you read what's stated here, there's a good possibility he's talking about a particular city. And there are some that believe that this physical Babylon could be a rebuilt city. We mentioned John Phillips a couple of weeks ago, and I just want to read just a paragraph that he writes about this particular event. He says, in the coming day, the last of the Gentile world rulers will boast over rebuilt Babylon. The fact that many Bible prophecies concerning Babylon have not been fulfilled, and others have been only partly fulfilled, make it imperative that Babylon should rise again from the dust in order to meet its final doom." Now, again, I don't know if you are familiar with history, but if you look at modern-day Iraq, most people believe that's where Babylon was located. And of course, again, we see some things happening in Iraq today. And so we don't know. We don't know if this is going to be that or perhaps some other city. Just as there was a physical city known as Babylon in the Old Testament, that in the coming days the city could be rebuilt or at least a city designated or be known as New Babylon. Because again, that's been the stronghold of the devil. There are some that indicate Babylon will be the ancient city of Rome, but during the Tribulation becomes the headquarters for the Antichrist. And he'll perhaps rename it rather than Rome, perhaps be known as Babylon. And Warren Wiersbe, another commentator, says this, he said, quote, Babylon represents the world system of the beast, particularly its economic and political aspects. At the same time, John calls Babylon a city at least eight times. Some equate Babylon with Rome, particularly since the harlot and the beast cooperate during the first half of the Tribulation. Certainly John's readers would think of the Roman Empire as they read these words about Babylon. End quote. So whatever city we're talking about, it is the seat, so to speak, of the economic political headquarters of the world during the days of Earth's rebellion. So with that vast, think about this today, there's a lot of wealth today in the Middle East. I mean a tremendous amount of wealth with oil and minerals and other things. Of course we would think about our country right now probably the, at least we think of ourselves as being the most politically or most economically stable country and folks perhaps living in the United States of America at the highest standard of living of any country in the world. Well, I gotta tell you that that all could change in a heartbeat and the emphasis would move from the United States over to the Middle East and perhaps to that Roman, revived Roman Empire that we've been talked about in this particular series. By way of comparison, just as Jesus, think about, had a bride and it's his church made up of the saints of God he also has a city called New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven and he'll rule and he'll rule from so the Antichrist will have those who follow him he'll have his so to speak bride who will commit fornication with him by giving worship to him and he will have a city that he's gonna rule from so we can't miss the parallels that are here so let's jump into this chapter tonight let me show you some things from this 18th chapter as we look very quickly about five or six main points I think they'll be up on the screen tonight, so hopefully you'll be able to follow along. Notice, first of all, the declaration of the angel. We find that in verses 1 through 3. The Bible says, And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having a great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the greatest fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils. the hold of every foul spirit, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And so we find this declaration. Notice, first of all, we have this arrival of the angel. We find that in verse number one. Now, remember I shared with you in this series that whenever you see this phrase, and after these things, it's always a shift of focus. In other words, there's a kind of a change of venue, so to speak. And so here we see that in the beginning of verse number one. And the indication is, again, this new vision is coming. Now notice, please, verse number one, and after these things, I saw another angel. So we have an angel in chapter 17, but now we have another angel. The angel in chapter 17 is one of the angels that had the vials of judgment. This is another angel. And of course we think about this different angel than that one, but this is a mighty angel having great power, an angel given a position of greatness in heaven. So I want you to think that in heaven, like sometimes here on earth there are obviously ranks and there are people that have authority and who have been given authority to carry out certain things. And so in heaven it doesn't do us any injustice to say in heaven God has ranks of angels and he's got some that are more powerful than others who have had more authority from him to carry out his bidding. And certainly this is one of those angels that has mentioned here there are some who say well this is Christ and I disagree with that because this is an angel it's very clear here and I know that Jesus is perhaps referred to at a time as an angel but I'm telling you this is not from my perspective Jesus Christ is a powerful angel that is speaking here. And of course, remember, we're still on the inside track, as we're still dealing with some of these judgments that are falling out. So this angel now is kind of helping us understand why these judgments are coming down from God here in this 16th chapter, these final judgments. Now, notice, if you would, the announcement of the angel. So you find the arrival. Here's the announcement. Well, the indication is that he's making this statement. And I don't find any reason not to think that maybe the world is listening. In other words, as he's speaking with this great mighty voice, there's a question. Do the inhabitants of the earth hear this angel speak as he steps out and makes this proclamation? And very well could that it is. And he gives two reasons for the destruction. So what are the reasons for the destruction that he's talking about here? First of all, this city was, speaking of Babylon, was the stronghold of evil and wicked spirits, devils and demons. I mean that's the emphasis, isn't it, as we read here about this Babylon. And this book reveals the end times. And we understand that the end times there are spiritual powers that are at play. Now I want you to know that I still believe, and nobody could convince me differently than even in a service like this, that there are spiritual powers that are at play. We believe that the Holy Spirit is here when the Word of God is preached, and it's preached with authority and power, and there's spirit, that God's Spirit is here doing something in the hearts and lives of others. But I'm not foolish enough to not believe that, hey, in this service tonight are some demons who are trying to disrupt people from listening. And I want you to know something, that you can be a tool in the life of someone not to listen. Just go ahead and talk through service. Go ahead, send your text. Go ahead and disrupt some things and see what happens. And I'm just simply saying we can be a tool. I'm not saying you're the devil. I wouldn't say that. But we can all be a tool, can't we, if we're not careful to disrupt what God is doing. And so there's a spiritual dimension. And so during the last time there's, on this earth, I want to just tell you, there's a lot of physical things playing out. But man, I'm telling you, there's a lot of spiritual things playing out here on this earth. And so these devils are here. And just remember that as the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments fall out, in Revelation chapter 9, it speaks of evil spirits being loosed upon the earth. I truly believe that in the days of Jesus, there was a lot of... Don't get me wrong, there's demonic activity today. But I believe there's a lot of demonic activity in the days of Jesus. Remember the casting out of the devils from the man into the swine. And there are times when Jesus would cast out devils. And I'm just telling you, he had that power. He had that ability to exercise and to dismiss these devils. But I'm telling you, in these end times, there's going to be this massive movement as these devils are loosed on this earth. Chapter 12 of Revelation, we see the devil and the fallen angels being expelled out of heaven. Now again, if you read your Bible, the Bible says that in the air, that there are these ranks and spiritual warfare takes place in the heavens. And we know that the Bible is clear that in the book of Job that the devil and the sons of God are referred to as called the sons of God, are called to give an account of themselves. But in chapter 12, the Bible says that he's removed from heaven. He no longer has access to heaven. And they're kicked here to the earth. And so evidently God is saying, all right, you're not going to inhabit the heavens. You're going to be subject to this earth. And so you're going to have these devils and demons obviously unleashed here on this earth. In Revelation chapter 16, we see the foul spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the Antichrist and the false prophet to draw people. to the battle of Armageddon. So again, I remind you as we study Babylon, you'll find it's almost always associated with spiritual, not good spiritual activity, but negative spiritual activity. So that's one of the reasons. The second reason is found in verse number three. Notice what it says there. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed their fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are wax rich through the abundance of her delicacies. The second reason, of course, is here in verse number three. Think about this. Not a nation, not a people that have not been sucked into this wicked and evil empire. So we've got this mass movement of humanity all banded together following this wicked leader. And again, I remind you that there's going to be this mark that's given, and nobody's going to be able to buy and sell except they receive the mark, and that's going to be the sign of allegiance to this dictatorship, so to speak. And the Bible likens the relationship of this city and its wicked leaders as immorality. So again, I would tell you that whenever there is demonic activity, whenever there's a moving away from God, there are things that are parallel, and one of those things is immorality. That's why when you see our nation moving away from God, I'm telling you there's just a lot of demonic activity that's bringing on this, say what you want to, this gender dysphoria. I'm just telling you. That's just not natural. And I understand people have feelings and things, but I'm just telling you that when we start to see this kind of moving in a society, it's because we've stepped away from God, we've stepped away from fixed points of reference, and you're having a moving, so to speak, of demonic spirits moving things along. And so when we see the idea that's kind of emphasized here of immorality, And by the way, it's not just homosexual activity that's immoral, it's same-sex relationships outside of marriage that is immoral. We still preach that and still believe it. I don't care what the world says, that God gives one place for people to be able to exercise that particular relationship, and it's within the bounds of marriage. And you take it outside of that, and it's wicked, and it's sinful, and it's ungodly, and it is not of God, and no Christian ought to be involved in that. And so we see that, that he's dealing with them. And so there's no doubt there's this immorality. And of course, we understand that they're going to respond to this devil as he, in this antichrist, as he puts forward this. Now notice number two, very quickly. Notice the degradation of Babylon. We find that in verses four through seven. Notice what happens in verse number four. There's voice from this angel And he said, So notice we have a call for separation, a call for separation in verse number four. Again, here we have another voice to separate from this system and its coming destruction. Now, there are two thoughts that I give to you here very quickly. We know that there'll be people saved during the tribulation period. We know that. The Bible's clear that people will be saved. So do we not think that maybe even during this, as we get into the second half of this tribulation period, do we not think that perhaps that some of them could be living in this new Babylon, obviously in this system, and God is just simply saying, now look, be careful. You need to separate from this system. Make sure that you don't get caught up in this system. Don't take the mark of the beast. Don't get caught up here because obviously it's going to lead to destruction. So again, we may ask ourselves, well how would those people, if they're alive, and we know that many of them will be martyrs, the Bible tells us that, but how would those people who are alive, if they don't take this mark, how will they exist if they can't buy or sell? Well, I have to believe that there's got to be some sort of black market. There's got to be some sort of working together, networking of these folks who are still believers, who have received Christ and who are here living during this tribulation period, that maybe they're networking together to be able to survive. And God says, now be careful. Be careful that you don't get caught up in this system and become part of it. So, God has always wanted his people to be separate from the world and from its devilish and hedonistic system and philosophy that's out there. And so, listen, we must live in this world. Listen to me, we must live in this world. We cannot put up walls here on Tiedemann Road and big gates and say, okay, you can come in if you've got a membership card at Cleveland Baptist Church and we're just going to live here together in our little commune. We can't do that. It's not what God's called us to do. God has said, be in the world, but not of the world. We're to be the light of the world. And so I'm saying to you tonight, many of you go to work tomorrow, and you're gonna be in some bad situations, and you're gonna hear all kinds of stuff, and I hear from our people and say, Preacher, you just don't know what we have to put up with, the stuff that we have to listen to, and the things that people say, and we try our best to stay away from it, but it just seems like it surrounds us, and it's so hard. Well, don't give up. Don't give up. Keep living for Jesus Christ. Keep understanding that it's worth the cost. And that's why the church is here, to encourage you and strengthen you, to help you. So please don't forget about that. So we must live in this world, but we must not be of the world. To love what they love, to do what they do, offends God. Most people in this world live what I call a godless and hedonistic type of lifestyle and that's an offense to a holy God. The other thought is that this call is to those who will respond and to repent. Now again I remind you that Israel is still here. And God is still calling to the nation of Israel, even in these final days, to be careful about what they do. And so I get the picture that it's like Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember in Genesis chapter 19, before God judged Sodom and Gomorrah, what did He do? He had to drag Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He had to remove them from there before He could judge it. And so He's simply saying, hey, make sure you keep your distance here. Notice, please, the consequences of our sin. We find that in verses 5 through 7. How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I set a queen, and I'm no widow, and I shall see no sorrow. And so the consequences. So basically these three verses just speak of the fact that God says, I'm done. My cup is filled. I'm done, I've extended mercy and grace long enough, and now judgment is coming. And so this city has been a seat of anger and hatred towards God and persecution of the people of God. Now the time of judgment has come. Number three, notice please, the destruction of Babylon. Verse number eight. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Now remember, we're talking about the judgments. We're talking about the vile judgments. And so this is the parentheses. And so the idea that, hey, as these judgments fall out, one of the judgments or part of the judgment will fall on Babylon herself. So notice the plague strike. The picture here is that one day the city is hit with these plagues that really just annihilated or devastated. painful disease sent as a judgment from God, perhaps from the realm of nature, much like Egypt experienced the plagues of God. And notice, please, the painful instant destruction. God deals with total destruction in this city in a moment, like Sodom again of old. I mean, bang, it was done. And I think we see that same picture here, this destruction of Babylon. Notice then, number four, the dirge of Babylon, verses 9 through 19. Notice the rulers lament the destruction. Look at verse number nine. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her, for when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come. So, notice about this. There's no word of lamentation because we brought this on ourselves. In other words, it's not like, okay, we have to repent because we're dealing with this judgment because of who we are, because of our sin. No, it's all about this city and its destruction. And they're mourning the destruction of the city and their inability to do in the future what they had been doing. Think about this. Nothing shows the depravity of man like an unwillingness to take responsibility. We're living in this world today where nobody's responsible for anything, because there are no absolutes. And so, I can't be guilty of anything, because what have I done? I've just done what I wanted to do. And I'm just simply saying, the depravity of man says, I'm not responsible. And no one's taking responsibility here. What they're mourning is the destruction of a city. Not because they brought it on, but because they see this destruction. There may be some close enough to watch with their own eyes the destruction, and others will see it perhaps by means of modern communication techniques. Isn't it amazing what we're able to do today with technology? I mean, you can be on the other side of the world in a heartbeat and see somebody and communicate with somebody. And of course, with television today, I mean, there's nothing that's not hid from us. Notice the merchants then mourn the destruction. We find that in verses 11 through 16. They mourn because they lose their ability to do global markets. The mourning of the merchants is because of their source and headquarters of trade is destroyed. We're living again in a world when, you know, we're talking about today in the United States of America, trade wars and tariffs and all those kind of things. Well, evidently there's going to come a day when all the barriers are gonna be taken down and everybody's in free trade. And these people are doing these global markets. And so the merchants of the world perhaps will have, in this lead city, this key city, will have their headquarters, or at least will have an office there where they do business. And so these merchants are mourning this whole thing. Probably every global company will have a small-time, and even small-time operations will have headquarters in New Babylon. And again, no repentance of sin or wickedness, just the lamenting of a loss of revenue. God warns us about the love of riches. Let me give you a couple of passages that just help us as God's people tonight, just to keep our focus right. 1 Timothy chapter 16, or chapter 6 verses 17 through 19. The Bible says, "...charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, and that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may hold on eternal life." Now you say, preacher, what's that all about? Well, the whole passage there in 1 Timothy is about getting too wrapped up in the physical things, the material things of this earth. And basically, he's simply saying, hey, if you're rich in this world, don't trust in it. In other words, let that not be your confidence. Okay, I can do whatever I want to because I have riches. No, the idea here is that God gives certain people riches to do good with them. to make investments, to give, to be a blessing. And I just have to tell you as I think about our congregation, I think about how often folks here dig into their pockets and give to be a blessing and try to help folks. And I'm here to tell you that's not lost. What we give away to God is not lost. It's laid up towards a future in heaven. And I'm just simply saying, He gives us that warning. And then James says in James chapter 5, verses 1 to 6, Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver is cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You've heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers who hath reaped down your fields, which to you is kept back by fraud, crieth. And the cries of them that have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You've nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You've condemned the killer and killed the just, and he does not resist you. And so again, here's the warning of people who are misusing riches And He just simply says to us, we need to be careful. And certainly these merchants here are crying out because of the loss of their revenue. Notice then, verses 17 through 19, you have what we call the shippers who are crying. Look at verse 19, 17. Think about this. Instantly, it's all lost. Come to naught. And every shipmaster and all the company of ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city wherein we were made rich, all that had ships in the sea by reason of their costliness, for in one hour she is made desolate. So again, this idea of just losing everything in a heartbeat. The world mourns the sudden destruction of this city like, remember when we stood and we mourned when New York City came under attack? I mean, the world watched, and they're gonna do the same thing. as this city comes under attack. Notice then finally the desolation of Babylon. We find that in verses 20 through 24. Notice what happens in verse number 20. The Bible there says, So here we, while there's weeping on the earth, The Bible says there's rejoicing in heaven. The desire of divine retribution. You remember we find throughout the book of Revelation, we find the martyred saints crying and saying, God, how long? How long before you avenge our blood on the face of the earth? And so we find that here there's rejoicing because again, God is righteous. Not that people glory in people's destruction, but they've had their opportunity. See, we oftentimes, we become bleeding hearts for wrong things. And I'm telling you that there's a time when we can rejoice in God's righteous retribution as God has given grace and mercy. And when people reject it long enough, God is right in what He does. And certainly here the Bible says heaven will rejoice. Every martyred saint, every tribulation saint whose faith was challenged and they obviously shed their blood because they would not give ground will have an opportunity to rejoice. Then notice the angels demonstrate or an angel demonstrates this fall. Look at verse 21. This mighty angel takes this millstone and plunges it into the sea saying with violence that the great city Babylon is thrown down and shall be found no more. So like you take this big millstone and you hurl it into the sea and fling it down and of course its weight would fall right to the bottom and he's saying that's what's going to happen here as this city is judged. And so we see it will be violent It'll be total, this destruction. Then notice, please, this total and complete destruction is emphasized in verses 22 to 24. We find a picture of complete and total destruction is emphasized there in verse 22 and beginning of verse number 23. It says in verse 23, in the voice of harpers and musicians and pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee. And no craftsman or whatsoever crafty bee shall be found any more in thee. And the sound of the millstone shall not be heard no more at all in thee. And the light of the candle shall not shine no more in thee. And the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride shall be heard no more in thee, at all in thee. So the idea here is that, again, this is just total and complete destruction. And then we're given the reason for the destruction that's emphasized at the end of verse 23. Because the merchants and the great men, the sorcerers of the nations were deceived, verse number 24, and in her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. So again, we have this emphasis. So with the completion of chapter 18, here's what we find. We find the final chapters of this great book in which God will complete His work. And so, again, we're moving out of this parentheses and we're gonna be moving into these final moments in which God completes His work. Now I often think about this because I think about the fact of where we are tonight. And sometimes as Christian people we find ourselves in this world. And sometimes it's easy to find ourselves maybe being sucked a little bit into the world because it's got a great pull. Does anybody here deny the pull of the world tonight? It's out there. And we feel it every day as you go to work and you're out in this world and the things of this world, they're pulling on us. But I remind you that when we take these stands and when we say, okay, I'm going to do what I do because it's right, because this is what God says. You have to look at the big picture. You can't just look at the moment. Sometimes we just look at the moment and say, well, you know, what good are we really doing? Are we really making a difference? And what we need to see is that God, we're working out the plan of God. And as we yield our life to God, even though it may not seem like, you know, we're setting the world on fire, we're winning a great host of people the world. Hey, look, this week some boy or some little girl gets saved on a bus route, you don't know that they may not be the next Hudson Taylor, or the next Ananias Judson, or the next Billy Sunday, or the great evangelist. We don't know what God's gonna do. And sometimes we don't emphasize what God emphasizes, and God just says to us, hey, be faithful. Serve, do right. It'll be worth it in the end. Be worth it in the end. I remember years and years ago, I think it was 1995, Dr. Curtis Hudson had pastored the Forest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia, and at a point resigned that ministry there and became the editor of The Sword of the Lord, and God used him greatly traveling across the country for the cause of revival and church growth and just encouraging people to do right. I believe it was maybe 1994, maybe 1993, 94 when he contracted cancer. and obviously took some treatments, but it wasn't long before they realized, we're losing this battle. He's got inoperable cancer, he's dying of cancer, and one of the final meetings that Dr. Hudson preached, he was just a frail man, just a shadow of what he'd once been. Stood behind a pulpit much like this pulpit that night, a bunch of preachers there, preachers meeting, and he preached his heart out. And he ended by singing a song that he had made so well known, I'm on the winning side. I don't know if you're familiar with that song or not, but it's a great song. If I had a voice, I'd sing it for you tonight, but I don't sing very well. But let me, if I can, just give you the words, just to remind you as you're leaving here tonight, you're not losing, you're winning. Once I wandered out in sin, had no peace or joy within, and my soul was burdened down with pride. But the Savior came along and told me I was wrong, and He placed me on the winning side. The second verse says, I will never, never fear, for my Lord is ever near. And in Him so often I confide. He is the keeper of my soul since I gave to Him control, and He placed me on the winning side. And then the chorus says, well, I'm on the winning side, I'm on the winning side. No more in sin will I abide. I've enlisted in the fight for the cause of truth and right. Praise the Lord, I'm on the winning side. Can I remind you tonight, you're on the winning side. You're on the right side of things. Just make sure you, you know, just make sure that you keep separate from the world. Just make sure you love Jesus this week. Just make sure you serve him from your heart and just give your life to him. Hey, teenager, it's worth giving your life to Christ. Hey, young adult, it's worth paying the price to be just a little bit different than the rest of the world and to just mark your life off as belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it, because you're on the winning side. One day this world will be just a distant memory. All that will be left is the saints of God living with the Lord in a palatial paradise called heaven on earth. I'm glad I'm on the winning side. Hope you are too tonight. If you're not saved, you can be. You can get on the winning side. And just remind yourself this week as you go about your business, hey, it's worth whatever it costs me this week to live for Jesus because He's the King and He's worth serving. Let's bow our heads together in prayer.