The Road to Perdition

The road to perdition from Revelation 17. I have never spent more time in all of my life in a book of the Bible looking at the different commentaries on this revelation is interesting and I want to remind you there are different views out there. People don't believe like maybe some of your famous teachers teach or maybe like what you believe are the conclusions you've come to and I'm not going to get into all the different details but there are different views on who is this harlot and what type of beast is she riding on and what is Babylon.

So much here and it's well I'm not going to get into it this week. I think next week I really wish I could preach next week's message today because we're going to get into Revelation 8 where it says come out of her my people. 18, come out of her my people unless you are going to share in her sins and receive of her plagues.

So how do we avoid the influence of the world? How do we come out from that world system? But I can't skip Revelation 17. It is important and so what we read prior is the book of Revelation written by John who is in exile on an island and he was given the glimpses of the future. The Holy Spirit began to move him and show him visions and things of what was to happen.

If you read Revelation 1 it actually says things that are going to happen pretty soon. So here we are 2,000 years later and that's why there's different views and that's why I've spent a lot of time talking about what happened in AD 70. AD 70 was when Jerusalem was actually conquered by a Roman official called Titus and Josephus and another Roman historian Flavinus I think F-L-A-V-I-N-O-U-S or something like that.

All these historians right about this time were and there weren't even Christians and you can see there are definitely some parallels with what happened in AD 70 with Titus and some of Revelation. There's just there's just no way around it. Some of it definitely can fit.

Some of it can't fit. Then you have if you look back at commentaries in the 1800s. I read some from Puritans.

They came over you know the Puritans came over about the same time the pilgrims did in 1620. They brought the Geneva Bible before the King James Bible and what the Puritans thought and we're going to see this this harlot is clothed in purple and gold and all this thing and a lot of those commentaries tie it into the Roman Catholic Church. Like well this is interesting I can and they have some pretty good pretty good points but then new commentaries kind of tied into something different and so the bottom line is and I can say this without any hesitation whatsoever.

We do not know exactly how the end times are going to unfold. We don't know exactly what has already occurred and what what Revelation is talking about and what is going to come. We can speculate.

There's dual prophecy. We can look back and and I think his name was Antipochus something along those lines. Forgive my speech.

My dyslexia makes it tough sometimes to think of names especially when they're hard. But he actually actually sacrificed a pig on the altar and so we see some of that fulfillment the abomination of desolation and when it says reader beware and and tying in Daniel and then you go to Ezekiel and you go to Matthew it's like you have this big piece of the puzzle that you're trying to put together. So my encouragement is always hold on to your your end times theology kind of loosely.

You know you can have strong opinions it's good but but understand that not everyone is on the same page. In this building we've got pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, pre-wrath, dispensational or some of preterism, partial preterism. Different views here because what happens usually is we read revelation and we're like boy that's tough and then whatever commentator or teacher we gravitate towards we're probably going to take on that that belief system.

Whatever seminary we go to Dallas Theological Seminary is going to have a different view. Pre-trib dispensationalism you go to Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and they're going to have more of a reformed view and that's what they're going to teach. So that's why there's lots of different views out there and that's why it's I'm not going to come up here and say this is exactly how it's going to happen because we truly do not know.

I do know that we know a lot more than they knew a couple hundred years ago before Israel became a nation. That to me is pretty big. That really was a you know a turning point when Israel actually God rebuilt the nation of Israel.

What other nation has been completely destroyed and rebuilt and so that's where we find ourselves. Revelation has already declared Babylon's fall but in chapter 17 it happens. I should say 17 sorry my fault.

So it's going to spend it talked about Babylon's fall. Revelation 17, 18, 19. I'm like there's a lot of stuff he wants us to know about Babylon and I had 30 minutes of notes on you know Babylon from Genesis, what the name means.

I know it's mentioned some you know 287 times in the Bible. Is a literal place is it because it is a literal place and how many of you know where the current Babylon would be at today? Any hands? What was it? Baghdad exactly. Good old Saddam Hussein when he was living.

So Baghdad the area the middle east is the current would be the current Babylon and so for me one of the hard parts has been if Babylon is the center of trade it's the center of commerce it's this big influence well not really not right now if it's that actual location. Now could it be revived in the years to come? The Saudi area the middle east I mean there's a lot of wealth there and so we just don't know what Babylon is in that sense but we do know a lot about it so let's talk about it. Revelation 17 then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and talked with me saying to me come and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters and actually some commentators think that this is pertaining to Jerusalem and that they tied in pretty well.

I don't fully agree but I see where they they come up with these things because God has always called Jerusalem His people. Why have you committed spiritual adultery that the harlotry of Jerusalem or it could be talking about something different but he's anyway they're going to show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters great influence there with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So I mentioned partial preterism they would say that this had to do with the fall of Jerusalem and how Jerusalem had became corrupted by all the pagan nations around her and they committed fornication.

However, I don't necessarily see that this could be something obviously we're going to see in the future. Some identify the harlot of Babylon as apostate Jerusalem which I just said others say it is a pagan Roman empire or the world's system. It could be the world's system that always opposes God.

Now personally as I'm pouring over all this that was probably where I would lean to lean toward is Babylon is talking about this this world system that's going to fall apart not just this one central area. So here's the takeaway either the Bible or Babylon is influencing you. I want to be I want you want to be crystal clear here because we don't realize this you can't have a neutral approach to things.

Can you? No I'm going to stay kind of neutral. Well if you're going to stay neutral you're not following God's Word. God's Word is not neutral.

It's clear. It's decisive. The Word of God is living and powerful.

It's sharp. It doesn't flex. It doesn't bend.

It doesn't yield. So I've got God's Word even though there's there's sin and mess and and the wrong motives and right things come temptation. Anybody anybody been tempted a lot lately? No not the first service? Okay.

I just posted something on social media a friend of mine posted. It's so true. It's one of the I think one of the Puritans is saying it or one of the early early church fathers about actually we think the holier we get the less temptation we'll have.

Often the closer you draw to God the more temptation you have to fight. And that was kind of an eye-opener for me to realize that because sometimes you're like well what's going on here? But you if you're doing more things for God you're probably going to be on the top of the enemy's hit list no doubt. So either the Bible or Babylon is influencing you.

Think about this morning. I don't know about that. I'm kind of you know kind of neutral.

I do I came today and I was a I was an Easter Christmas person. Easter Christmas come to church. You know those people we love those people.

But it's it church is a tradition. And I know with kids and things we had a thousand people on Easter weekend. Can you believe that? With all the kids there it's like wow.

So that's why I have to preach our hearts out because we don't know how many we'll ever see again. And so if I say you know what I'm kind of in with God but I'm kind of in with the world too. You are in with the world.

You cannot serve two masters. You'll either love one and hate the other despise one or be loyal to the the other. You cannot serve both God in this world.

A decision has to be made. A decision to surrender and say God I'm going to I'm going to follow you and I'm going wholeheartedly after you. But be encouraged.

You might you might be pulled back or stumble back from time to time or or turn but you turn back to God and you fight. Isn't that what it is? It's a it's a fight against the current. It's a fight against the current.

See here's where I want to station myself. The influence of the world but Babylon sure sounds good sometimes. Anybody remember those good old days? I wish I was like you where the good old days never sounded good.

And they don't really to a believer but the pull of the flesh. Right? The flesh. What we used to run to to relax.

You can't run to to relax. You have to run to this. And it's a pull.

It's a struggle. And the reason I talk about this a lot is this is probably one of the top things we hear from. We've got you know people that watch all over the United States but just this area of temptation and being encouraged again.

They were so deflated. They were so discouraged until they heard that you can get back up and fight again. Fight again.

How many of you heard of the name Riley Gaines? The swimmer who was beat by a big six foot five guy. She said the Biden administration has just officially abolished Title IX as we knew it. Now it's sex equal gender identity.

Whatever you say you are you are. In a nutshell then this rewrite this rewriting of the rules says men can take academic and athletic scholarships from women. Men will have full access to bathrooms and locker rooms.

Men can be housed in dorm rooms with women because of this ruling. This is demonic. It is wrong.

It is perverted. There I said it. I got my political rant out of the way for today so now I feel better.

But doesn't it tie in? Babylon. And you start to read God's judgment on Babylon and say they deserved it. You start going after the kids.

You've crossed the line. You have absolutely crossed the line. And if you dare challenge them you can be charged with harassment.

And then he goes on to say let me remind you. So committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness.

And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy. So we've seen pictures. I don't think it's an actual beast that she's sitting on.

It's this picture of that she's probably influencing this area of power in our system. Or she has this control and it's full of names of blasphemy. And that's what blasphemy is.

Did you know, and I do say this and not to be political and not to be pick out different groups, but when you put up a rainbow flag on your church you are blasphemous. It's blasphemy. There's no other way.

Why don't you go after other groups? I will. If you're in fornication and you come in and you worship holy hands to God, but you're sleeping with your girlfriend, you don't care. You are blaspheming the name of God.

Let me come after your porn addicted adultery people too. It is blasphemy in God's sight. We come and take communion, but we're not going to end our sin.

Blasphemy. Rejecting, saying girls can become men and men can become girls. It's incredible.

It's all blasphemy before God. That term is really, means desecrating what God has called holy. You're desecrating.

That's why when they slaughtered the pig on the altar, not good. But that's what we do. We lay our lives down sometimes on the altar of sexual sin or other areas.

And they had seven heads and 10 horns. That's an interesting looking beast. And of course those could be, you know, heads could represent like head of the home, head of the government, you know, but it has these positions of authority, but also the horns are positions of power and authority as well.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and they adorned her with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Wow. And this is where a lot of the old commentaries tied into the Roman Catholic church.

And if the case they made was very strong for what I believe they could see that the purple and the, and I hope you know that the system, not the people, not good people who love the Lord, but they're caught in the system. The Roman Catholic church is apostate. Oh, I didn't get too many amens on that one.

It is the papacy, the Pope, what they preach, what they teach. It is apostate. They are completely out of God's will.

They're not even on the same page. Many Popes were not even Christians. A lot of perversion.

Why so much perversion there? Because people are drawn towards that. Perverted spirit is drawn towards another perverted spirit. Why are you going out? I'm just telling you a commentary say, and many have done that.

They see that. I don't necessarily see that, but it is interesting. And so in her hand was this golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

Now the cup can be what they take in, right? It's a cup, what you take in, what you drink, what you swallow in this cup, you take in the fornication, the debauchery. Clark's commentary said this, this strikingly represents the most pompous and costly manner in which the Latin church has held forth to the nations and rites and ceremonies of its idolatrous and corrupt worship. And they will go through and show all these corrupt ceremonies that line up with this.

Fornication, what does that word mean? This is so important. That word means pornea. Pornea.

So this is going to be important for many of you. When people say, well, Jesus didn't say anything about homosexuality in the Bible, Shane. How many of you heard that? He didn't say anything about that.

Well, of course, we can go through the whole, we can start in Genesis and find a lot of support there. But the word means any type of sexual relationship outside the covenant of marriage. Nowadays, I have to say between a man and a woman.

That's why he didn't talk about necrophilia, bestiality. He didn't talk about any of these. He said pornea.

Any type of sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage is referred to as fornication. And then when a spouse commits sexual sin in the marriage covenant, that's called adultery. So that's why all of these things, Paul said neither idolatrous, idolatry, adultery, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, all these, none of those will enter the kingdom of heaven if it's a practice.

If it's a practice. A person can struggle with fornication most, hello, most singles. I mean, it's because it's a pull.

It can be a good thing in a God way, waiting for the right timing. A good thing can become a very bad thing. And so all of these things, if it's a practice, if we raise our fist and say, I don't care what God's word says, I don't care.

I'm going to practice such things. It's the practice and unrepentant spirit that gets you in a bad spot. And this is also why I believe Jesus said many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name.

But he says, depart from me. Those who practice lawlessness. He didn't say those who struggle with sin, or we all be in trouble.

If you don't struggle with sin, meet me in the prayer room. I want to interview you and get you on my podcast. This isn't remarkable.

Absolutely remarkable. By you just saying I don't, you did. It's called pride.

Oh man, I'm in trouble this morning. I can tell. We're going to have a great shrinking church.

Oh, it's fine. Okay. But thank God I don't plan on saying these things.

Like usually I plan on saying nice, pleasant trees, but then it's just, yeah, there's that. Do you know the Holy Spirit gives us boldness? Have you thought about that? Because we often think love and we thank God for love, but true love is actually bold. If what's going on in the school districts and the libraries with transgenders reading, if I just, you know what? You know what? Teacher, I'm not going to say anything.

I'm not going to say anything. Is that okay? We're just going to open up. Get old.

First Corinthians 12 and see if I can stay safe. Because man, I just, pastor, I just love people. I don't want, man, I don't want to ruffle feathers.

I love them. No, you're a coward. You are a coward because the Word of God comes alive and it says it's sharper than a double-edged sword.

It's not a feather. It's not a my pillow guy. The Word of God is like a gentle breeze coming in and convicting gently, lightly.

Think about it. It is a sword. Not only a sword.

What kind of sword? Do you know the point of a double-edged sword? To do more damage. Cuts both ways. It's a double-edged sword that divides the heart.

It discerns the true thoughts and intents of the human heart. So how can you be politically correct and soft when you have the sword of God's Word in your mouth? You can't. It's impossible.

And I just sort of think, George, you said too, my word is like a hammer. Okay, what does it, does it, it breaks the rock in pieces. My goodness, I'm just, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about the Word of God is a double-edged sword and a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.

You want to know why? Because it's not anger and frustration out of those things. It is a, it is a call to holiness. It's a call back to God.

It's a call back to men to get your families in order and come to repentance and let that double-edged sword. If I convict you good, it's the sword of God's spirit. If you don't want to come in, come back again.

That tells me you need to hear what I'm saying. You need to hear what I'm saying. God forbid those who tickle the ears to come into the pulpits of the churches and begin to tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear.

So pornea is a selling off. It's a surrendering of our sexual purity. It's promiscuity of any type.

But thank God for that last sentence. For those who are convicted right now, you can't do, undo what is done. You're past.

But with God, He can renew anyone. Because anytime we talk about a lot of different topics, we get convicted. We feel, man, I can't measure up.

I can't measure up. Neither can I. Who can measure up? So here's the takeaway. Shore up those areas.

Shore up those areas of sin today. If there's that fornication or the sexual impurity, take it to the Lord. Get accountability if you need to.

Accountability is not the answer. It's one of many things that can help, but the answer is getting the heart right before God. Because what happens a lot of times is we put band-aids and we don't cure the disease.

Many times people fall when they have accountability. Why? Because the accountability, it's not the job of an accountability person to keep a person accountable. They can bring in an extra layer of security and help.

I don't have anything against it. It's really good. But also it has to do with the heart.

And then here we go, verse 5, and on her forehead a name was written, Mystery. Mystery what? Babylon. And so many think it is kind of a mystery.

We don't exactly know. It comes from a Greek word, Mysterion, that means something that has not yet been revealed. So it's not like we're thinking, you know, the secret on Oprah, some weird stuff.

When God's Word says it, it's a mystery. It's something that God just hasn't revealed yet. And so here is what it is.

Babylon the great, the mother of all harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. So unless that's going to be centered in modern-day Iraq, it could be the world's system. Again, Clark's commentary, and I try to use different commentaries, you'll notice, Barnes, Clark, just to show different views out there.

This inscription is intended to show that she is not ashamed of her doctrines, but publicly professes and glories in them before the nations. Babylon is not ashamed of her doctrines. Doesn't that alarm you sometimes? It is so in your face right now.

They don't even care. They're dancing with men dressed as women in bathing suits. It looks disgusting.

And a five-year-old is there. Or a group of... Why is it always to the kids? Story time hour. Let's go after this.

Let's go after the schools. Let's get in the library. It's a perverted demonic attack against the next generation.

That's why I'm so glad John prayed that for us this morning. We have to pray for that generation. That's the only thing that's going to guard them right now.

The takeaway, if you're not ashamed of the darkness, we shouldn't be ashamed of the light. If they're not ashamed of the darkness, you should not be ashamed of the light. It is blazing.

It is in your face. It is just... Man, I need a dictionary here to make it. It's just so bombastic and in your face, isn't it? They're not hiding anymore.

And they're not ashamed of the darkness. Then we should not be ashamed of the light. And I will tell you right now that anytime I'm kind of hesitant, or like I don't want to say much, or I don't want to say... Fear has come in.

Fear has come in in the opinions of others. We should be able to say unapologetically, no, that's not right. I am not ashamed of the Gospel, Romans 1. I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to those who believe.

And the reason we become ashamed is when we're out of God's Word and the influence of Babylon is taking us down the river. Correct? Have you ever been in the Babylonian River? I have. You don't want to talk about Jesus too much.

You don't want to put really... You'll put Christian on social media, but you don't want to get too carried away. You want people to know. It's kind of like, you know, that's... Yeah, but I'm ashamed of it.

If the Holy Spirit is bubbling inside of you, you're ashamed of being ashamed. And you want to take a stance. You want to call certain things out.

Maybe not the way I do. That's why God has directed us in other ways. When we started, we had a great opening night with 200 people.

And do you know most churches in the United States, 80% of all churches are under 80 people in attendance. And so like, yeah, man, 200, this is great. And then within six months, I preach it down to 52.

Whoa, Lord, what happened? Man, I was so depressed. I'm like, I must have missed my calling. This is... Lord, what happened? And it was a hard push, a hard run at it.

But God looks at the faithfulness, faithfulness. And you begin to realize who is really with you and who's not also. You know, when you talk about the truth of the Bible and you don't deviate from that, you start to draw people who are hungry for the church.

So this church looks nothing like the first year. Nothing like the first year at all. The first year, we had a lot of those truth guys.

He writes truth in the paper. Yeah, but there's no love in your heart. The emotional worship, it's like, oh, I don't know if this is for me.

I just want the truth. I'll never forget this happened. So many new people, so it's okay to tell these stories a couple times.

But it was back in Lancaster, and when you have the incredible service, worship is just, I believe there are seasons where you can feel just the tangible presence of God in a more meaningful, impactful way. You can tell that God's in the house. I mean, it's like people are crying, and the altar's full, and you can tell there's something different going on here.

Right there, there's something different. And we began to grow at that time. So we had a 4 p.m. service and a 5.30. And at the 4, I came up and I said, I can't even preach right now.

We just need to continue worshiping. And a guy left all upset. And the usher stopped him and he said, I came here to hear the Word.

I'm like, the very thing he needs is the very thing he's running from. This is unbelievable. And so we had to go through a process of God kind of developing us, but also drawing the right type of people.

I learned a lesson the hard way. You can't just get tons of people together and hopefully you're going in the right direction. You can create more problems.

So you have to get like-minded people that are going in that direction. So just be encouraged. Small things.

When God wants you to do the small things, you could be raising the next Charles Spurgeon. Moms? Dads, you could be leading the next Jonathan Edwards. Or John Wesley.

Or those who've come before. Adonai Judson, Hudson Taylor. What about Amy Carmichael? Tremendous women on the mission field too.

Women that are so gifted. You could be leading that next one or interceding. Never discount those small things.

And why do we not do those? Because we focus on what Babylon focuses on. Don't we? The world, God's Word, or Babylon. And we begin to allow this to influence us and then demotivate us.

And it can get demotivating, can't it? This is kind of funny now. At first, it stung a little bit, but now it's funny. People come, they'll travel, you know, and they'll come and they'll visit and they'll go, oh, I listened to you on the radio.

I thought this would be like a mega, huge, large church. Like no, not everybody sticks around. It's not for everyone.

Let's put it that way. But we rate it on right. Would you take, and I have no problem, you know what, oh well, I'm just going to say it.

I am absolutely... This might offend people. This might upset people. It's okay.

And I'm not saying this arrogantly, because it's not me, it's not Pastor Abrams, it's not our worship team, but I would bet my life savings on this. That God is moving here more than many of those large mega churches you see on YouTube. I know people that go, I've talked to them, and I'm just saying it to say there's nothing wrong with mega churches.

Some of my friends are mega church pastors and they're great. They're great churches. It's up to God.

Sometimes He calls a pastor to 80. Sometimes He calls them to 800 like here. Sometimes He calls them to 8,000.

You have to just be, it's about faithfulness. But if we start to think I'm not successful, I'm not worthy much, why is God keeping me back? Why aren't we doing this? And you begin to focus on numbers, not faithfulness. And that can happen in your own life.

Oh, I'm only seeing 1,000 likes on Facebook a month. And you see how we start to rate it like Babylon rates it? And if we're not careful, ministry can turn into how you conduct a business. Numbers and marketing.

And that's why you'll see a lot of these guys are doing silly things on stage. You know, they're getting haircuts on stage. They're bouncing on trampolines on stage.

And you know, the men's conference in Missouri I just wrote about where they got some guy who takes off his shirt, climbs a pole, and swallows a sword to draw guys in. I'm like, oh my Lord, have mercy. We want the presence of God.

We don't want to play church. And so that is not going to draw as many people. Whenever you tickle the ears, whenever you tickle the ears, you've got to be very careful.

Are you truly speaking for God if you're trying to tickle the ears? For example, do you know how Joel Osteen became a pastor? His dad passed away. He was behind the cameras and they put him on stage. And he felt he was just going to motivate people.

Okay, is that truly called of God? That's a motivational speaker? I don't know, I'm just saying. If you're never going to challenge people, if you're never going to say things that are... and I know people watching me, some of you like them, that's fine. I don't have a thing.

I'm just saying be very careful because if we're running the church like the world, like Babylon, and we're not offending, we don't want to offend, we don't want to upset, are you sure you're on the right page there? The right team? And that's just the truth. I will tell you this, there's no way many of these guys who preach, I can say this with the authority of God's Word without a shadow of a doubt, they are not preaching the totality of God's Word. They are sugarcoating it to draw in more people.

And when you do that, you lose the presence and power of the Holy Spirit operating in your message and in the lives of your hearers. That's just straight truth. I have no problem saying that whatsoever.

It's biblical truth as well. And then, I saw the woman, she was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

So John sees this and drunk, obviously there's no alcohol in the blood, but it shows the inhibitions are down. She's gloating. She's happy over the saints that have been killed.

And it shows us that there will be people, Christians in the tribulation period that will be killed. They're called tribulation saints. Believers in the tribulation period.

Will we be there? I don't know. I hope we're gone, but I have to prepare us if we're not. I hope we're gone, don't you? People get mad at me for not taking a stronger view on the rapture before the tribulation.

I'm like, I love it. I love it. I love it.

Please, but I can't tell you that's what's going to happen if the Bible's not clear. Because what about in five years if we're all sitting here and we see the world leader? We see a one world leader. We're sitting here in five years.

Well, I might be in jail, but some of you will still be here maybe. So, we see this person rise on the scene. He's over the whole world.

And you're going to have to get a mark before you can buy. But our pastor told us we're out of here. So you see, I can't do that.

I can't live that way. I pray for that. I hope it's that.

The Bible, there's some good reasons behind it. But there's also tribulation saints. And there's people dying during the tribulation.

And I think why I have one of the... Let me vent a minute. When I came to know the Lord, and I would listen to all the favorite teachers that teach a rapture for certain without a shadow of a doubt, is they would often, I'd say a lot, they would say we're not appointed unto God's wrath, so we have to be out of here before that happens. And I would say, but there's Christians still there dying.

What's wrong with these guys? Well, why are we out of here, but they're not? Well, we're out of here, but then they weren't believers during the rapture, so they became believers later. Okay, I can believe that, but don't use the verse that we're not appointed unto God's wrath if they're there. Number one.

Number two, appointed unto God's wrath has nothing to do with the tribulation. The whole verse, you read in context, read commentaries, the whole verse has to do with believers are not appointed to the final judgment, whereas God's wrath is poured out and they're sent to hell. That's what the verse has to do about.

Now, do I have a hard time understanding how believers could be here when God is pouring out the bull judgments and the trumpet judgments? Yeah, that seems... I don't want to be here. But can He also protect? Can He secure? And there's different views on it, and the reason there's different views, anytime great men of God who are divided, who have forgotten more theology than I even know, when they're divided, I tend to take the lower road and want to be teachable and say, Lord, You know, I've got to prepare either way. So I hope that makes sense, because anytime I talk about this, people get upset.

Why don't you be more certain? Why don't you read more? I've read commentaries until I'm blue in the face. But they're divided. And so I'm going to come up here and say, this is exactly how it's going to happen.

This exactly won't be out of here, the mid-tribulations, three and a half years, when this starts, when the peace treaty at Jerusalem, the red heifers and when the temple's rebuilt, and this is exactly how it's all going to pan out. I don't know enough to say one way or the other. All I know is we are called to be prepared.

But on this point that she was drunk with the blood of the saints, the commentary says this, false religions through the ages have been guilty of the sin of persecuting and even killing God's people. Even Jesus was put to death because of an apostate religious leaders clamoring for His crucifixion. Think about that for a minute.

The religious leaders. An apostate just means away from God on the road to hell and destruction. They are apostate.

A religious system. Isn't that amazing? You can be religious and still be on the broad road to destruction. Boy, I hope this is okay because I get so many thoughts come to my mind on this.

And God knows my heart. But even on this point, the reason a lot of the commentaries would bring up, and I would bring up, with Roman Catholicism, did you know they killed Christians? Do you know that? The Anabaptists? Study the Anabaptist movement. Why were Christians, translating the Bible, burned at the stake as heretics? Think about that.

Be very careful. And I do hope people hear it. If they're caught in a dangerous system, that they would repent and get out of it.

Why do you think you're right? What about Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, and Islam is rising up now? Again, if it was my opinion, if it was my belief, we would not be believing this. We would probably be believing fairy tales and pixie dust if it was up to me. Have you ever noticed that every man doing what is right in his own eyes? Well, I think God is this.

And I think God is that. And we have all these different views. All I'm doing is lining up with God's revealed truth.

That's it. So it's not my opinion. Why do you think you're right? Jesus actually said it.

Jesus said it. Nobody comes to the Father except where? Not in a confessional. Oh, Father, I was this week... No, but I had to do this.

Guys, I'm trying to wake people up. You don't go to a man and keep confessing every single week and hoping he will intercede for you, hoping he will take your request to God. The Bible says go boldly to the throne room of grace.

Go straight to the cross. Straight to God. Straight to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

And it's time to shake up the demon realm. I'm tired of being politically correct. I'm tired of not calling people out.

Again, everything I just said, is it not the truth? So, this is the question then. If it is the truth, they would say, but you're not supposed to say anything because you're going to hurt feelings. Tell that to Jesus.

Don't call these people out. You're going to hurt their feelings. Tell that to John the Baptist.

Tell that to Jude. Have you ever read the book of Jude? Why? Because there's a righteous indignation for the truth. There's a zeal for that.

There's a passion for those things. I guarantee it. You take a Joel Osteen and a Leonard Ravenhill, one is filled with the Spirit of God, the other is not.

That's just the truth. That's why one is a motivational speaker, one is a powerful proclaimer of God's truth. You have to proclaim God's truth in the power of the Spirit.

And if you're resting on religious tradition, they killed Christians. At the stake. Burn them at the stake.

John House, William Tyndale, John Wycliffe, do some research on it. The church is who persecuted Christians more than anyone else. So here's the takeaway.

Persecution follows genuine faith. Persecution follows genuine faith. And then it goes on to tell us the meaning of the woman and the beast.

The meaning of the woman and the beast. You know, I should maybe throw this out there because some of you might be thinking, but often we do get emails in or people comment on Facebook and say, you know, I used to be a Mormon until I heard you really say some things that made me think. Now I have a relationship with the Lord.

Thank you. I used to be a Jehovah Witness and it was works, works, works. We had to go to a certain amount of houses.

We have to do this. I'm not going to be part of the 144,000. But you said this and that got me mad.

And I started to research it. And I've been following this lie. How many? We can even show hands.

How many have came out of Roman Catholicism? Hello? I was an altar boy. How many say when I finally came out? Because you can't be both. You can't be a practicing Roman Catholic with all the tradition, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are they among women. Blessed is the fruit of the Word. And I'm going to pray to Mary 13 times? See, I have a problem with that.

This is an awful little bit. This isn't, can women be pastors? Right? Is the gift of the Holy Spirit today? This is blasphemy. You're going to pray to saints? And you're going to go to confessional? When the Bible clearly warns against it.

Like this isn't gray area stuff. This is demonic. This is, we put down the new age movement, this is close to that.

You can't find Jesus? Look to His mother. It's a bumper sticker. I'm going to go rip it off of there.

That's blasphemy. Look what Mary would be weeping. Can you imagine? Take the pulpit, Mary.

Tears. Please, no. Please, no.

Don't look to Me. Don't have little candles with the little baby Jesus. Don't look to Me.

It's abomination. It's blasphemy in the sight of God. Repent every one of you and know who Jesus truly is.

I guarantee that is what she would say. Highly favored does not mean a Savior. I don't like to tick people off.

I'm telling you. Ask my wife. I'm just low-key.

I don't want to upset people. But the truth upsets. We're talking about the most important decision of a person's life.

Heaven or hell. And you want me to be a coward? You want me to not offend? When eternity is on the line? And people judge your heart. They don't know my heart.

How do you know what God isn't leading me to do? This morning at 6 a.m., I came and I had my Bible, an older Bible, and I opened the back, and it was the insert to memorial I did for a friend of mine, a young kid. I think it was actually too many energy drinks, if you want to know the truth. And the only thing I remember is I regret that I didn't speak the truth.

Seven years later. See, that's what I have to live with. You can leave a pastor's name.

I was pretty mean today. Well, I have to go home and deal with God. Because I was a coward.

I didn't want to say this or that. I had his wife on the phone. Just don't talk about any of that heaven and hell stuff and things like that, please.

Now did I kind of weave it in? Oh, of course. It wasn't politically correct. But I had that in the back of my mind.

I don't want to go there. I want to go there. See, I have to live with that for the rest of my life.

So when you start, oh, he's harsh. He's got a mean heart. He's arrogant.

How do you know? How do you know what God isn't wanting me to say? As long as it lines up with the Word. As long as the heart is right and hope it's right. Persecution follows genuine faith.

So here's the meaning of the woman and the beast if we have time. But the angel said to me, why do you marvel? So I would marvel too. Here's this woman on this beast drunk with the blood of the saints.

And what happens is the Bible shows John a glimpse of what's going on and then he writes it down. Why are you marveling? I will tell you the mystery, don't worry. And the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and the ten horns, the beast that you saw was, in other words, it was in the past and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit that we read in Revelation and then it will be sent to perdition.

Hmm, confused? So was I. Are you okay if a pastor says I'm confused sometimes on some Scriptures? I hope so. Because all of you that got the Bible mastered from Genesis to Revelation, again, I'd love to talk to you too. And I'm glad some things are a mystery.

I'm not concerned with the things I don't quite understand. I'm concerned with the things I do understand. That is what really tilts the scale.

But the angel said to me, why did you marvel? I'll tell you the mystery right now. The road to perdition they brought up and that's a tithe of message. They said they are going to go to perdition.

Judgment is certain. Perdition is a Latin word that means loss. It's a state of final spiritual ruin.

Loss of the soul. Damnation. The future state of the wicked and utter destruction or ruin.

I better avoid this topic if we're trying to build a big church. But that's what it is. He will be sent to perdition.

Final judgment will come. And the bottom line is, the takeaway, don't be on the road to perdition. Don't be on that road.

There's a final spiritual ruin. It's a loss of soul. It's damnation.

It's a future state of the wicked. It's utter destruction. Remember, God doesn't send a person to hell.

They reject Him. They reject Him and they choose. I don't want to be with God.

I hate God. I reject God. Where do you go if you reject God? You have to go somewhere.

If we live eternally, a Christian, no doubt, but you've been quenching and grieving the Spirit. You haven't been really full of the fullness of God. Full of the Spirit of God.

There's that song, I've Got a River of Life Flowing Out of Me. You have a river of deadness and barrenness. No passion.

No desire. Bible, I don't feel like reading it. Worship's kind of boring.

Where are we going to eat? If that message and worship is boring, you need... Get out! Get out! Spiritual resuscitation. Oh, there you are. There's a heartbeat.

Okay, there we go. Let's go. Come on, come on.

Do you know what the word for that is? Revival. You need to be revived. And the reason I preach about that passionately is I lived all of my 20's like this dead guy.

Are you a Christian? Yeah, if you ask me. Okay, that's about it. That's about the extent of it.

Living for myself. Bling, bling. Making a name for myself.

It's all about shame. But I'm a Christian. I've got my get out of hell free card.

But when God revived you, that revival, oh God, will You not revive us again so that we can rejoice in You? The reason many of you can't rejoice, you don't have the joy of the Lord, it's because you need spiritual resuscitation. You've grieved and quenched your spirit to such a degree that you are literally feeling dead inside, spiritually speaking. You need to fully surrender.

Whatever that is that's holding you back. I don't know. God knows.

We can go down a long list right now. But the core of all that is an ugly word called pride. Pride.

Pride. Even people that know the Bible well. Pride.

I'll never forget the day I stumbled upon that verse. Knowledge puffs up. Wait a minute.

I thought knowledge made me humble. Right? God's Word makes you humble. No, it only makes you humble if you apply it.

Knowledge puffs up. Right? Knowledge. You should be obeying this Sabbath.

You should be doing this. You should be wearing this. No makeup.

You should be doing this. You should be doing that. You shouldn't go to the movies.

I can give you an eschological breakdown of the hermeneutics approach of that revelation. And let me tell you, I don't care. Get off your high horse and humble yourself.

Or carnality. We so feed the carnal nature. We so feed the carnal nature that we know nothing of the things of God.

Do we not? That Reacher guy's in the news again. You know Reacher? And now he says a lot of policemen are murderers. This guy's lost his mind.

If you vote for a certain guy, you're this. But they call themselves Christian. Carnal, carnal, carnal.

Needs to be repented of. God, help my carnal nature. I call this person the Hollywood Christian.

Or the Las Vegas Christian. One of all the fun in the world, but still come to church on Sunday. Actually now, they don't come to church on Sunday.

It's maybe once a month. It's too convicting for every Sunday. Why is it convicting? Because I don't want to change.

Do you know, it's very obvious, not many people come every single Sunday. Often, it's because of conviction. Correct? If we thought we were going to a movie, we'd be there.

And the only reason I'm telling you this is you've got to repent of that and say, God, I want the fullness of the Spirit. I want the fullness of the Spirit. You have all of me.

My finances, my marriage, my relationship, my agenda. What I want. My name, my recognition, what I'm trying to accomplish.

I'm trying to save face online or at work. I don't want the guys at work to know I'm a Christian. All that stuff must die.

Because it hinders. Can you imagine going to work? And I did this. I didn't want anybody to know I was a Christian at work because it's weird.

Right? You've got this tough guy mentality. How is God going to work in that heart? Hey God, on Sunday, I'm great, but come Monday, so don't be on that road to perdition. The Bible is crystal clear.

We are on the road to perdition. The road to destruction. Romans talks about the wrath of God and we are born into this.

David talks about it in Psalm. And the condemnation is upon us. We get off that road by repenting and believing in what Jesus did on the cross.

That's why the cross is so significant. That gets me off the road to perdition. It's like the bridge.

Or I'd say the fork in the road. Right, we're walking down the road to perdition. Oh, there's the cross.

There's the cross. Thank You, Lord. Watch out though, this road is narrow.

Well, that's your opinion. No, it's not my opinion. Jesus' opinion.

Don't you love when you look at what He said? Then you don't have to worry about all this stuff. A big fish swallowed Jonah. Ah, Jesus said it.

Jesus said it. You know Him? He said it. Just like Jonah, the Son of Man, will be three days in the body of the earth.

Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. I hate to ruin somebody's day-to-day, but this picture we have of Jesus, nice, manicured, looking, turning the other cheek. Fabio.

Remember that guy? Remember Fabio? Is he still around? But that's the image. Flowing robe. Walking.

Miracles. Loving. Gentle.

Caring. Kind. All of that.

But also, eyes of the flame of fire. And on His head were many crowns, and no one knew His name except Himself. In His name was the Word of God, and the armies followed after Him on white horses.

Out of His mouth goes a sword where He will strike the nations. He will rule the nations with the rod of iron. He will tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

That's why I have to bow to that Jesus. I have to love and worship that Jesus. That's the Jesus we love and worship.

The great I Am. The great I Am. The great... Now you know why I wanted to wait on that song.

He is the great I Am. The great I Am. Jesus, lift us up.

Strengthen us this morning. Come and take us to the rock that never will waver. Come and take us to the living water.

You know what? I'll finish your rest next week. We need to go into that song. So I'm going to have the worship team come up.

I don't know. I don't remember what the rest of the slides are. We're going to save those.

But guys, we got to get back to that. We got to get back to that. On fire for God.

On fire for God. People have been sending me. I went, are you worried too? Like that guy in somewhere got stabbed in Australia, that pastor he's preaching.

I'm like, no, I'm not surprised. That's a genuine person filled with the Spirit of God in the demonic realm. Hates it.

Hates it. They hate it. Now I might be a little more prepared, but that's a different story.

We've got to be prepared for persecution. We've got to be ready. We've got to look to the great I Am.

As we lift Christ up, and the Bible says, and we're going to get to that in a few chapters, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess because He comes back with His eyes like flames of fire. That's not a gentle dove. How often do we say here, He came as a lamb, but how is He coming back? As a lion of the tribe of Judah, the great I Am.

We lift you up this morning. We look to you and you alone.