Human Wisdom VS Wisdom of God

Pretty much, I think they're going to total the thing. This week also, we took Zach down to the boys' camp. If you, when you're praying, can remember just mentioning to the Lord, Zakai.

He's been down there now since Wednesday, and we haven't heard anything really back. We had a text about, he seems to be happy there and doing well. So I'd appreciate if you could just keep him in prayer this week.

So he, you know, he may be there for a while. So he'll be there until he can come to the place where he reaches his goals and can function well. So it's been a busy week.

My wife was at the conference this week, and a lot of good things seemed like happened there. There was a young couple, correct me if I'm wrong, she was sharing about a young couple that was baptized there, converted there, and went down to the Holiday Inn Express swimming pool and just baptized them there. And they even had a wedding for them.

They were living together. They got right with God, got converted, and they had a wedding right there in the conference. I like that idea.

Got them married and baptized on the same day, and I think they even took up a little good gifts and offerings for them to get them a good start. So, but yeah, so God is still working. I'd like to bring a message, a little different one here.

I guess it's not different, it's in the Bible, but a prophetic one. And I don't know, sometimes I sit and think that this may be the most important thought and message that anyone hears. And outside of the gospel, most of you have responded to the gospel, but how things are moving was mentioned already this morning as we approach the end.

And something that you need to keep in mind as we move towards the end. And I'd like to share some thoughts on that here this morning. I'm gonna give a long introduction.

Maybe half of the message will be introduction, just to lay a foundation. And so let's acknowledge the Lord first. Heavenly Father, we acknowledge you in all of our ways that you might direct our paths.

We thank you for the revealed word of God and, Lord, how it gives us direction. As the song says, my faith looks up to thee. And Lord, may that be impressed upon our heart here this morning.

And so we submit ourselves to you and your authority, in Jesus' name, amen. I wanna start off with two women in the book of Revelation. This is, we're gonna be largely in the book of Revelation here this morning.

But there are two women, probably have noticed this. Two women in the book of Revelation. I preached on one of them at Loyal's wedding with Naomi last week.

And that one is the bride of Christ. In Revelation 18, and I'll read these, I'll ask you to turn here in just a little bit. In Revelation chapter 18, or 19, verse 7 says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And so as you look at these last couple of chapters, the close of the Bible, you see this woman who is dressed in white, in fine linen. And you also see that this bride is a picture of this city, this great city, this holy city coming down from God out of heaven.

Let me read to you in Revelation 21. I'm gonna read a number of verses here. In verse 1, it says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.

And I, John, saw the holy city. This is a holy city. New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

A city, think of a city. What is a city? A city is where people dwell. You know, I don't wanna discourage some of you who love the country, but you're gonna be living in a city throughout all eternity.

A place where God will be and a place where people will dwell. And the Bible ends with this holy city as the bride coming down out of heaven, a place where we're going to live with the Lord Jesus eternally, a holy city. And so there's this bride, this woman in the last part of Revelation.

But there's another lady, another woman in Revelation 17, and she is a harlot. Let me read about her in Revelation 17.3. It says, so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. So here is another woman, this harlot.

Her name is Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth. Babylon, Babylon the Great. Well, who is she? You know, there's been a lot of books written and a lot of things spoken about.

Who is this woman? This woman who's called Babylon. But, you know, the Bible interprets it for us. And I think we ought to just let the Bible interpret what each of these means.

And so let's look here at Revelation 17 and verse 18, if you haven't opened your Bible yet. The Bible interprets this for us after giving us a vision of this beast and this woman that sat on the beast. In verse 18, it says, And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Now, some people are saying, well, that woman is the Catholic Church or that woman is this, that woman is that. But the Bible says that that woman is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. So I'm going to allow the Lord's interpretation to be the interpretation.

This woman is a city and this city reigns over the kings of the earth. It's referring to before here and earlier in the chapter, it refers to this final international city. This final kingdom of the Antichrist will have its own city.

And as you read here in Revelation, we won't go through all that. But this city is a colossal place. It's a colossal city.

It's all that man can do. This Babylon. Now, where is this city located? Well, again, the Bible has our answer.

Let's look back to Revelation chapter 11. And again, I'm just laying a foundation here. Revelation chapter 11.

There's a couple of indications what this city is. Verse 8, it says, and they're speaking of these two witnesses and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. I'm not going to talk about that, but the prophets in the Old Testament mentioned Sodom, fullness of bread, idleness.

Where also our Lord was crucified, this great city was where our Lord was crucified. Who can tell me where our Lord was crucified? As in Jerusalem, it was where our Lord was crucified. And so this great city, this great city is the city of Jerusalem.

And there's another other things that we could share here this morning to show you that. But the city of Jerusalem, this Babylon is Jerusalem. And I have no doubt, I believe that in the end, this final world empire led by the Antichrist will have a great city.

And that great city, its headquarters will be in Jerusalem. We read in the Bible how the Antichrist sits in the temple and he claims to be God there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And so this is all going to happen in this great city. If you're going to buy real estate, you're an investor, you want to make money.

I think Jerusalem is a great place for real estate because, not that I want you to do that, but because there's going to be a movement towards, and the thing in Gaza may be a stepping stone in that direction. You know, they're already talking about rebuilding and that whole region over there. And they can rebuild cities in a night.

And Dubai and some of these places that they have built. But this great city where the Antichrist is going to sit in the temple. By the way, the word Antichrist does not mean against Christ, although certainly he is.

But anti means in the place of Christ. There shall arise false Christ, false Christ who will come in the place of Christ. Now, if someone comes in the place of Christ, where do you think he'd like to sit as king? Well, he'd like to sit where the Lord sits.

He'd like to sit in Jerusalem, the city of the great king. And Mount Zion, Mount Zion is in the heart of the enemy, in the heart of the devil, to sit in that great city and to have the world worship him. And so Babylon, that great city, then the bride coming down from heaven, another city, two cities, two women here in these last days.

Well, the origin of Babylon, let's talk about that just a minute. The origin of Babylon goes back to Genesis chapter 11. You remember that story? I'm not going to read it.

Babel, how that the people came together. Let me read a verse to you. And they said, go to let us build us a city.

Let us build us a city and a tower, a skyscraper whose top may reach unto heaven. Let us build a city. That's the origin of Babel, Babylon.

And let us build us a tower in that city. That's why you go to these cities and those towers in these cities to reach unto heaven. And that's a prophecy here, or that's the origin of what Babel, Babylon is, this great city here in Revelation chapter 17 and 18.

Now, Abraham said in Hebrews 11, I'm looking for a city, isn't he? Whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Abraham sojourned in tents with Abraham and Isaac. And he said he was looking for something not of this world.

He was looking for a city. Here's a nomad, here's a country guy, here's a sheep herder. He's looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.

I'm looking for that city coming down from heaven. I'm looking for that city that Jesus said, I go and prepare a place for you. That's the city that he was looking for.

And I trust that's the city that you are looking for also. Well, you read in Revelation, and I'm just laying a foundation here about that city and how it's judged. And let's turn over to Revelation 18 here real quick.

Revelation 18, in the end, God is going to judge that city. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but in Revelation 18, verse 8, speaking of this city, Babylon, 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 judges her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgments come.

Jump down to verse 15 and talking about all the riches here. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour, so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning.

You can imagine, remember the Twin Towers, the smoke of that and the collapse of that, and people just standing afar off and wailing and weeping. But this whole city is going to come tumbling down. And they cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this city? And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city wherein were made rich all the headships in the sea by reason of her costliness, for in one hour is she made desolate.

And so God brings down this city. And you need to understand that he's telling us this ahead of time. And we'll get to that here at the end of the message.

But if you notice Babel, remember back in Genesis 11, when men wanted to build a city and a tower that reached unto heaven, they wanted to exalt themselves. What did God do? Tore it down. And he scattered them and sent them all over the world and the city was left.

And then you have another picture of Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar is standing there and looking over the city and his kingdom. He says, this is great Babylon, which I have made with the power of my own hand for my own majesty and might. And in just a matter of seconds, he loses his mind and he's driven into the fields to eat grass for a number of years.

God brought him down and he was humble. When man exalts himself, he'll be abased. Do you believe that? It's for us, too.

When man exalts himself, he will be abased. And when man humbles himself, he will be exalted. And so Jesus, when he comes into the world, he came into the world, he came in and he humbled himself.

He was made in the likeness of man. He made himself of no reputation and he was obedient unto death. He showed the example to us of humility.

He is the true Christ. He came into this world and he humbled himself. But the Antichrist will come into this world and will exalt himself.

Revelation 13, you don't have to turn to all these verses. It says, there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, boastful things, and blasphemies. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

So you have a different spirit there. You have the true Christ who came in humility, humbled himself. And then the Antichrist who will try to come in place of Christ, being very boastful, very proud, and lifting himself up in arrogance.

Now, I'd like you to turn to Revelation 13, because we're going to draw our message here. In the midst of all this, we're in the end of this world. We're heading there quickly.

But in this world's end, there will be a final world empire led by the Antichrist. And there will be a city, a great city. And I believe it's going to be there in Jerusalem.

It's going to be rebuilt. And much of the things are going to happen there. But the enemy, the Antichrist, will sit in the temple, a rebuilt temple.

And he will claim, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, be God and exalt himself as God. And in the midst of all this, we're going to pick up here in Revelation 13. And we'll draw our message out of this here in Revelation 13, verse 11.

By the way, the first half of Revelation 13 is dealing with the Antichrist. And here in verse 11, it says, And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

So here is another beast. We're told later on he's a false prophet. He has two horns like a lamb.

He looks in appearance like a lamb. But he speaks like a dragon. He speaks from the heart.

He's evil. But he has an appearance like he is a lamb. And of course, that's what the Bible says.

We learned that in 2 Corinthians, that the devil oftentimes appears as an angel of light. He appears outwardly as someone that is good. But inwardly is where the issue is with the enemy.

And so here's a false prophet. Now, keep in mind that Jesus had a prophet that came before him and appointed people to him. His name was John the Baptist.

And John came six months earlier preaching and saying, He's coming. The Messiah is coming. I remember the day when John the Baptist there in John chapter 1 saw Jesus.

And he said to the people, Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. He was pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I must decrease and he must increase.

And so the devil is going to copy that also. And the devil is going to have a prophet that will go before him. And that prophet will point people to him.

This is the Christ. This is the Messiah. This is God.

This is who you should be looking to. And that's what he's doing here in verse 11. Verse 12.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast. He's inspired by the devil before him and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He is causing, he is promoting worship of the Antichrist or pointing people to the Antichrist.

Now, some people like the idea of the Pope being the Antichrist. If the Pope is anything, I would say he's this person, the false prophet. It could be the Pope.

It could be an imam. It could be even a Christian professing who's a false prophet. It's some religious individual who then takes up with the Antichrist and begins to point people in that direction.

Look back here to verse number 8 of chapter 13. It says, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. You know, we're getting closer and closer to these things.

More and more things are being manifested as we move toward the end of time. But there is coming a time in this world where every human being who is not a child of God is going to worship the Antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2 says, He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped.

Notice this. Anything called God or anything that is worshipped, any other gods, all religions, he promotes himself above all so that he is God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And so we're heading in this direction.

And I believe Satan, if you look in the Bible from the very beginning, he has an infatuation with being God. He has something in him that he wants to be God. You know, in Isaiah, he was cast down from heaven because in his heart he exalted himself up.

I will be like the Most High. I will sit up there in the sides of the North. I'll be like him.

And that's in his fallen heart. And here's an interesting statement. I didn't never thought about this way, but he couldn't accomplish this as an angel in the angelic world.

But so now he seeks to accomplish it as a man amongst humans in this world that we live in. And so there is an attempt. He's making an attempt and will make an attempt.

To to be exalted and to appear to be God himself. Let's keep reading verse 13. And he doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

This is the false prophet and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live. So there's some wisdom for all of us. He he does miracles.

He has miracles. Now, it's interesting that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the Bible says he did no miracles. And yet here this false prophet is one who does miracles.

And notice here in verse 14 and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles. Many people are going to be deceived because they see the miracles. Let me just say something to you this morning.

Miracles never authenticate anything. Amen. Miracles do not authenticate anything.

The devil is a supernatural being. Demons are supernatural beings. And supernatural beings are able to do supernatural things.

Supernatural means super means above natural law. Super natural. It doesn't make sense naturally.

It's super natural. And so he's able to do miracles. And by those miracles, he deceives.

Now, and this is throughout the Bible. I'm going to read one Old Testament passage. But miracles are not what you're to look for to authenticate someone as real.

Deuteronomy 13, verse 1. You don't have to turn there. If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, a miracle, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

For the Lord your God proves you. I'm trying to prove you. To know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and cleave unto him. So God says, I'm going to test you. I'm going to send you false prophets.

And they're going to do amazing things. They're going to have dreams and visions. And yet, they're going to lead you astray from my commandments, astray from the truth.

And so, certainly then, and also in the book of Revelation here, as we approach the end, miracles do not authenticate. It's important to remember. Oh, wow.

Bible says fire comes down from heaven. Wow, it's amazing. And yet, it does not authenticate.

What authenticates? Whether or not they promote this here. And follow the word of the Lord. Well, let's look here at my main thrust here this morning.

I want to look at verse 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which ye had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. Make an image.

Now, right there's red flags ought to go up. One of the commandments. Thou shalt what? Not make any images of anything in heaven or on earth.

And so, to make an image. You know, some people wonder, when do we get off this train? I'm going to talk about that in a minute. Like this technological train that's moving us down this direction.

Well, there's going to be some jump-off points. There's going to be some jump-off points. You can jump off now or you can jump off later.

But there will be some jump-off points. And certainly, a situation like this is a good place to jump off an image. No way.

I'm not going to bow down and worship an image. Well, it says here, and I'm not going to go into this. But this beast, this Antichrist had a wound by a sword.

And he seems to be resurrected. Of course, he wants to copy the Lord in every way he can. And so, he copies here the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 15, and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. Now, this is important.

I think we should stop here a little bit. The image, this image, the image of the beast. Back in Nebuchadnezzar's day, and Nebuchadnezzar was a type of this.

Nebuchadnezzar calls an image to be made. And he forced people to bow. When the music played, remember the story, he said, you bow to that image and you worship the image of the beast.

And that was a type or a foreshadow of this event here. And if you did not worship the image of the beast, you were to be killed. Three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were cast into the furnace of fire.

Worship me. Nebuchadnezzar, a picture of the Antichrist, boasting, make an image and worship me. You can read about that in Daniel, I believe it is chapter number five.

But this image is a different one. I don't know when you read the Bible, you read about that image that Nebuchadnezzar made, you probably didn't think of that image as being, having life, life. You know, I picture that image being maybe 100 feet tall and just being of wood or metal or gold or silver or something.

It's just an image. And yet here, interestingly enough, it says that he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause or force, that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. This is an amazing thing that's happening here.

This image is a very special one, because it does have power. It seems to have life. It seems to speak.

And it also can command people to death, it says, who will not bow to them. Now, you know, we're heading in this direction. It's, I did a little research.

Some of you know a lot more about this, but obviously we're getting to a place where you can make an image and AI and artificial intelligence. And can you imagine a, I just think about it, a 100 foot image, a human image, an image of the beast. This is an image of the Antichrist, a spittin' image of him, a AI generated image.

Flesh, you know, the silicone that they use make this image 100 feet tall. Can you imagine seeing that? A human, looks as much as human as any human, 100 feet tall. And this image speaks.

Boy, they make them nowadays to just speak. And they do all kinds of things. And this one is one that can speak.

And there's something very important about this image, which is the heart of my message here. And I'm gonna let this one be here, this beast, the image of the beast. And over here, we're gonna have the Lord Jesus.

And this to me is kind of a life and death situation. And for especially you young people, I don't know if I'm ever gonna see this day. I used to think when I was young, I'd see it.

But I'm getting older, but it's getting close. It's moving rather rapidly to this direction. But anyway, this beast, this image is going to have all of the human wisdom possible connected to it.

Let's just take it as a large AI, human, 50 feet tall, 100 feet tall. That is connected to all the information, all the wisdom that man can generate. And they're doing a lot of it now.

They're storing up information. They're using the technology to build information, to try things at rapid speeds. And I don't know all those things.

Brother Chad can probably talk to it better. But this thing is gonna be connected to all of that. It's called in the Bible, the wisdom of this world, human wisdom.

That image will be connected to it. By the way, the devil's the first statement to humanity. Way back in Genesis chapter 3 was, you know what it was? You shall be as gods.

You should be wise, knowing good and evil. Don't you want to be this? Don't you want to elevate humanity to be like God? The same thing he did. He exalted himself to be like God.

And he is moving this generation into that position where all the wisdom and all the technology and all the abilities that man is able to produce, man is starting to be puffed up. And he's heading down a direction where he is thinking that maybe he can be like God. And so we're heading in that direction.

This image is probably not a stone or metal, a lifeless one, but this image has life and speaks and commands those who do not obey or worship him to be killed. So we understand, I think, that certainly we're moving in the direction with the AI situation. And we'll come back to that image here in a minute.

But let's go on and finish the chapter here. It says, and he causes, verse 16, all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. Now, I don't mean to step outside the lines here.

I don't like to do that. But it's just been kind of ironic to me that I don't have my phone here with me, but these phones, where do we carry them? Carry them in our hands, right? Carry them in our hands. A lot of people are looking this direction, but you know, they do have them now and they're coming.

I just saw recently, they're coming out with these things right here. And glasses that you wear that can do the very same thing and all the information on screens that you can see with your eyes right up here and you can function without having to do this. You can see it with the glasses.

They're special glasses that they've been around for a little bit, but they're making them very specialized. But just think about that for a minute. The hand and the forehead.

The hand, if I had my phone up here, most of us are looking this way. Probably in the next two or three years, some of us will have these and it'll be right up here by the forehead. Hand and the forehead.

And that's where people are looking. Hand and the forehead. And so you're gonna have, you're gonna move to a mark in the hand, an option, hand or the forehead.

It says, verse 17, that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here's wisdom, let him that had understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 603 score and six. 603 score and six.

You know what that number is? Six is man's number. Man was created on the sixth day. Six is the number of man.

Three is the number of God, the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three sixes, three sixes. God making himself out to be a man.

Oh, excuse me. Man making himself out to be God. Didn't know what they accused Jesus of? Thou being a man, make us thyself God.

And they went to stone him. And he was God. Jesus said, I come unto my own.

My own receive me not. If another will come, then they will receive him. So a man, three sixes, making himself to be God.

That's what the serpent said to Eve. You shall be as God's knowing good and evil. Now, let's get to the message here.

Because this is important. And this is where the strong current is pushing everybody. And I want to encourage us to really be mindful of the currents in our world today, pushing us in a certain direction.

Here is this image. And this image is hooked up to the, all the wisdom in this world. The intelligence, the abilities of computers.

You know, when you ask that, what is it, Siri or whatever that name is? And they have an answer for everything. Or they try to have an answer for everything. And it's getting more and more sophisticated.

And so the beast is, represents human wisdom. You talk to that image, that image will talk to you. And that image has every answer you ever wanted.

About everything. As a matter of fact, those computers and that phone is, you're generating information. They're getting to know who you are.

Through everything you select, all the things that you do. It's all going into an information base. And this image is gonna put out human wisdom.

And the incredible accomplishments. By the way, young people, it's gonna be incredible. It's amazing.

I mean, I'm amazed at how these phones work and all this. But it's gonna be a lot more amazing. In the next probably 10 years, incredible things are gonna come out.

And they're gonna do things that you never imagined they were able to do. And you're gonna begin to have a lot of maybe confidence in us humans. I mean, we humans, we're pretty smart.

There's a lot of wisdom in us humans. And we're gonna build us a city. And we have this individual who claims to be the Christ.

And everything's looking good. Bible says in the Book of Daniel that in the last days, knowledge shall be increased. Men shall run to and fro.

Knowledge shall be increased. But now I'm gonna just share a little bit with you all. If any man lack wisdom, let him do what? Ask of God.

Now this here is the wisdom of God. Now, there's gonna be the challenge. We're challenged with it right now.

If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. And throughout the Bible, if you're sick, call for the elders. The elders of the church.

If you're financially in need, pray. All these things are pointing you to him. And that's what faith is.

Living by faith. Living by faith is going to this book right here. Seeking your answers for everything in life right here in this book.

The broad road, as we get down to the end, there's gonna be a separation. The broad road is looking to that human wisdom. That which is connected to this computer system.

That which is all that humans can generate. Impersonated in this image to the beast. And the narrow road is to look to the word of God.

And I feel it right now, and you probably feel it too. But we're getting trained. We're getting trained.

To look here. Getting trained. What's the answer to this? Everything is let's go to the internet.

Let's go to human wisdom. Let's seek out answers. And by the way, it will be impressive.

I think of a good example of this is when Goliath came out to fight David. And this is a beautiful picture of the end. Goliath has everything impressive.

He's got, he's dressed, he's armor, spear, he's big. Everything is impressive. And here comes little David.

Little David has nothing. And they laugh and they ridicule him. And yet David's trust is in the Lord.

And he takes, obviously takes the giant down. There's something else about this way here. And what is appealing about it is it's the easy way.

It's easy. Just a few buttons and you got answers. Everything this way is going to be made so easy.

Here it's seek the Lord with all your heart. Seek the Lord with all your heart. Now there's one thing that's essential.

I think we need to understand and we'll get back to this here in just a minute. I want to read to you here something that Jesus said to John in John chapter six. You don't have to turn there.

In verse 66, if you're taking notes, it says from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus under the 12, will you also go away? By the way, the Lord wasn't trying to keep people in. Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him saying, Lord, to whom shall we go? And here's the important thing.

Thou has the words of eternal life. Now there is there is something that's vitally important, you know, right here. These are the words of eternal life.

Over here, there is no eternal life. The Bible says that God is the only one who has immortality. Dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto.

Over here, they're going to represent just like Babylon. We can make it beautiful in this world. We can we can make riches.

We can prosper. We we have intelligence. We have everything you want in this life.

And I thought it was interesting. I know I noticed on the news a few weeks ago that it was Mr. Putin and and Mr. Xi, what's the man in China's name? The president. What is it? Xi and then the guy in North Korea.

What's his name? Rocket man. Kim Jong-un. They're walking together.

And the news said someone overheard them having a conversation. You know what their conversation was about? Immortality. These three huge figures are talking about immortality.

And they're talking about amongst themselves how that they think that they're going to be able to some of their scientists to get people to live for 150 years. Immortality. And so Peter says, you know, where do we go? Where do we go? There's no place to go.

You're the only one who has immortality. By the way, isn't that what we want? Immortality. We want something outside of this life.

And there's no life eternal in the wisdom of this world. The only hope that that offers is in this life. And that's one of the reasons why I don't think it's wise to get involved in politics.

Because it has to do with this life. And as far as I see the scriptures, God has already condemned this world just like it was in Noah's day. I'm going to bring a flood.

You prepare for the flood. And this world has already been condemned. It's judged.

It's heading for destruction. There's no reason to try to put a bow on it or to make it look pretty. It's doomed.

And so our responsibility is to prepare people for the judgment and get people ready. And that's why Abraham says he was looking for something outside this world. Something that has a builder and maker who is God.

He was looking for that new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. He was not looking for Babylon, riches, comfort, and ease. Now turn with me to 1 Corinthians.

Paul addresses this here in 1 Corinthians chapter one. And I'm going to start reading in verse number 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. That's what happens to Babylon there. That's what happened to Nebuchadnezzar.

That's what happened to Babel. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Oh, these people know so much.

Oh, these computers are so amazing. I'm going to bring it to nothing. Verse 20, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Well, what happened to Babel? He confounded them.

What happened to Nebuchadnezzar? He lost his mind. What happens to Babylon, that great city? They weep and wail when they watch this thing collapse. Jump down to verse 25.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. The Goliaths of the world, he chose a weak David. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things which are.

And so you have a little David who is laughed at, mocked and ridiculed. And God took him to bring down that whole Philistine system with its giant. So verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

And verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. Now you see this everywhere, but man is increasing in wisdom and knowledge and more and more amazing things. And man's heart is being puffed up and very wise.

And some of you young people, you might say, wow, there's a lot of good things happening here. And there's a lot of amazing things happening. Yeah, that's true.

But it's all going to be brought to nothing. It's all going to be brought down. And God is looking for these adjectives here in verse 27 and 28.

He's looking for those who are willing to be foolish. Can you imagine? Can you imagine standing before that beast, this amazing image that's able to speak? And this intelligence, it's loaded with all the human wisdom from all the computer knowledge. And you're there with a Bible.

Are you kidding me? You're there with a Bible. You're there with that book. And you have faith in the word of God.

That's like David stepping out against a giant with a few small stones and a slingshot. And we need the courage to say, yes, I am. Amen.

I'm standing here with this. And I'm not going to get swallowed up with the wisdom of this world. The foolish, the weak, I am so pathetic.

Look how strong we are. Look at this city. Look at this image.

And you, so weak. Well, that's a good place to be. Base, you know, base, this low and despised, the are nots.

And so one of the questions I'd like to ask this morning, are we willing to be in that list there from the world's perspective? Foolish, weak, base, despised and are nots. That's something you young folks are going to have to make a decision on. Am I willing to stand with the word of God? Amidst what's coming.

Verse 29 says that no flesh should glory in his presence. And so God is going to bring all that down. May look good.

May prosper. Maybe amazing miracles with it. And all the things we read in the book of Revelation.

But it's rooted over here in human wisdom, which is elevating man. And I'll tell you what, anything that elevates man is going to come down crashing. It's going to come down.

Verse 31 says that according as it is written, he that glorious, let him glory in the Lord. And you see that with Babylon. Babylon is a city that's just amazing.

The wealth, the merchants and all those things that are that are happening there. And. But that city comes comes down.

And then there's another city that shows up in the next chapter, and that city. It comes down from heaven. That city abides forever.

That's immortality. That's eternal life. And one thing we all need to make choices on because we're being challenged more and more.

I mean, I'm thinking about I just thinking about this week. OK, if I put away this, this thing, this phone, this connection to this connection to this. Basically, it's going to a central computer.

It takes a ton of energy to drive it. I understand it's going and they're continuing to build this thing. This central intelligence.

And I thought, you know, if I would just lay this thing down and go back to just living a simple life and reading my Bible and having faith and living by faith. So many things I wouldn't be able to do. I wouldn't be able to go to the airport, you know, to go to the airport.

I fly some. It's nice to go to the airport and you got that thing and it's connected there and you can, you know, go. Go through the line.

I don't know how long these kiosks are going to be around anymore. I like them because I get a piece of paper. You take that paper, but I'm noticing the more and more I go that there's nobody got any paper.

Everybody's taking that phone and do it, do it. And here I come kind of. Oh, you, you're holding the paper.

OK, we got to do the paper thing. Money is the same way, you know, you go to Walmart, watch how many people go through there with money anymore. Everybody's connected.

And all the information running back and forth. We need to be connected up here. Amen.

We need to, you know, how do you get connected up here? You, you, you go through life and as you go through life, you say, you know, Lord, maybe you run into something that's difficult. You know, Lord, you did say I could do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. I'm going to connect with that and I'm going to walk through this thing.

And maybe you commit a sin. You say, Lord, I know you said confess our sins and you'll forgive us. I'm going to connect with you on that.

And and you just keep connecting with the Lord. And you live by faith and you walk by faith. And you bring glory to him.

In the last chapter here of Revelation, I want to read to you. Revelation 22, verse six, it says, and he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show unto you, you servants, the things which must shortly be done.

Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Right there is the blessing.

Blessed are they that keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things.

Then said he unto me, see thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. That's the last chapter.

It's about this book. And I know, I mean, you know how it is, even before we get even to that place, people, oh, that book, you know, that mocking the Bible, that's old fashioned. We're in a new age now.

We're in a new generation. We have all these amazing things and we're connected. We have real intelligentsia.

We have real wisdom. Knowledge is increasing. And you're sticking to that old book and believing by faith.

And as we go further and further down the road, there's going to be more opportunities to go or to put on these glasses and to see and to function that way and have it always before you. Remember what the Bible was told? It told us to put the word of God as frontlets before that eyes. Like this, you know? Well, you're going to have, if you're not careful, you're going to have that phone before your eyes.

And it's connected to this. It's going to lead you, GPS and you everywhere. And it's going to tell you financially what to do.

It's going to tell you philosophically what to do. It's going to tell you practically what to do. And, and life is going to be taken up by the wisdom of this world.

And that beast is going to stand there connected to it all. And he'll have all the answers and it'll be amazing. And there'll be miracles and this amazing beast that can speak.

And your life will be on the line. It says, you're going to say, I'm going to, I'm going to stick with the Bible. Kill him, right? Kill him.

And you, you, you'll lose your life over it. Well, that day is coming and it's maybe nearer than what we believe, but it's, it's moving rather rapidly with this artificial intelligence and this gathering of information, this pooling of information to, to humanly be as wise as it possibly can to have all the answers. I think it was Brother David, a few weeks ago, he's telling me, you know, we were talking about this and saying, you know, it ought to be this.

Brother John, I lost my Bible. Instead of, hey, where's my phone? I lost my phone. You know, I lost my Bible.

Remember that what they asked Ezra, Ezra that I named my oldest son, Ezra, because I love this quality about Ezra. They asked Ezra, what's in my hand? And what he had, he had this. What's in your hand? And so the hand and the forehead are the two places where this quote mark will be.

So let's be mindful of what we're using our hand for and our foreheads. And let's in simple faith, trust God. Love his word.

And let's be on the right side when Babylon comes down, that we're not a part of those that weep and wail, that our hope for a world of peace and prosperity and all the good things that we want in this life is shattered. And we end up having not eternal life. So, so when the Lord asked him, asked Peter, Peter, you want to go with these who are departed? He says, there's no place to go.

You're the only one who has the words of eternal life. That's why I'm sticking right here. And I'm also thinking, you know, when do I get off this train? This train is like, like they said in the very beginning, a worldwide web.

And it keeps closing in on all of us. So let's be mindful of that. Keep yourself in the word.

Keep walking with God, living by faith. And don't get swallowed up with the wisdom of this world.