God has no plan of salvation for the Christ-rejecting soul. That's so complicated. That's sarcasm. How can you believe? Jesus said.
Who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? This should be high up. In our thinking, a burden for lost souls is not a feeling of guilt for not saving souls. A burden for lost souls means I want to be used by God. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston.
Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 18 as he begins his message: Sorrow of the World. Revelation chapter 18.
Verse 14 and then 20. The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you. And all the things which are rich. and splendid have gone from you? And you should find them no more at all.
Verse 20. Rejoice over her, O heaven, And you holy apostles, And profits For God has avenged you On her, let's take 24 also. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints, And of all who were slain on the earth.
Well, some serious stuff happening here. The title of the message this morning is.
Sorrow of the world. And the first part, before I begin to with the exposition of this 18th chapter. Uh this part is Uh what the world needs to hear from us, this first section. Uh Those who don't believe other parts of the Bible will not believe this part of the Bible. Until it's too late.
It doesn't have to be too late, it's up to the individual. To respond to the so many invitations given. by different Christians in different ways. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church Godly sorrow produces repentance. leading to salvation.
not to be regretted, but The sorrow of the world produces death. And this This 18th chapter has the fall of Apocalyptic Babylon. And the sorrow of the world. Over the collapse of that world Political system. The world does not Condemn sin.
As God does. As an offense against God. The world may treat sin as an imperfection. But not as the sole killer that it is. God is trying to tell man.
What's happening with sin, where it leads, if it's not dealt with properly. How much of a problem it's going to be. And so, Romans 5: just as through one man sin entered the world. And death through sin. And thus death spread to all men because all sinned.
It's such a simple word. But you can't say it without the hiss of the serpent. Sin. Because the serpents Participation back in Eden is very much a part of it. His objective is to ruin man, not only in this life, but forever, because that's how he is.
The world's confession is about admitting something, but the Christian confession is about submitting to someone. These are differences that they can't figure out on their own. The world is not going to stumble into salvation. You're not going to meet somebody and say, you know, just one day it just came to me.
Well, not without a messenger, not without some influence from the Lord. Isaiah 66. But on this one will I look On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit. Who trembles at my word? It is the word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. I don't know again, especially you teens, I worry about you. How much of this is going over your head? How much of you not appreciating a church? where the scriptures not only preached, but upheld As best we can, And so, if nothing else, listen to the verses that are being read.
It's the voice of God to you also. God is not saying to you, well, when you become an adult, then they will apply. It's for everyone. God has no plan of salvation. For the unsurrendered life.
Jesus said, You are not willing to come to me that you may have life. The world scoffs at that. And we are to take them to task. by at least giving them an opportunity To make a decision based on truth. In fact, And not hearsay.
An observation because the world can observe false Christianity, shallow Christianity. and be turned off to God. And that's hopefully where Sobriety on the part of the believer, the matured believer, will come in. But how can God Send matured, useful servants. If you can't find any...
He talks about that in Scripture. I couldn't find anybody, so I did it myself. God has no plan of salvation for the Christ-rejecting soul. That's so complicated. That's sarcasm.
How can you believe? Jesus said. Who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? This should be high up In our thinking, a burden for lost souls is not a feeling of guilt for not saving souls. A burden for lost souls means I want to be used by God.
I want to be ready. I want to be part of the process in some form. to snatch souls away from The work of Satan. In this world system. It will end.
It ends when Christ returns. And this chapter is describing some of it. He's going to go on into chapter 19 and describe more of it. Planet will not End for some thousand years after Christ's return, but the world system ends when he returns.
So we are looking at events that take place after the Antichrist regime. Is broken, it is destroyed. Christ does come back. Armageddon is taking place. And John is saying, and let me show you what else is happening.
As Christ is wiping out the armies that are trying to wipe out Israel. Who can make war against the beast? And the Lord says, me. And he does, and he prevails. This encourages us because The sovereignty of God assures us That nothing's gonna break his love for those Who are in Christ.
If you just told me God is sovereign, that's terrifying. Is he a bully? You're telling me he's so strong and in control of everything? But when you tell me that he's loving His grace He's put it in blood.
Now I can reason through that enough. to not only be interested but to be devoted, In verse 9 now of Revelation 18. On the heels of the of the fall of Babylon, which is again that world system. We covered that, the four different elements of Babylon. Just a brief review of that.
You have the original place of Babel that became the kingdom of Babylon. and the characteristics of that kingdom of Babylon show up again. In the end times, in the Great Tribulation, in the form of the regime of Antichrist. But there's another part to apocalyptic Babylon. There's the political side of Antichrist, then there's the spiritual element of the apostate church that doesn't get raptured, goes into the Great Tribulation period, does well for a while, and then the Antichrist turns on that element and destroys it.
And that's chapter 17. And so, here in verse 9, here's what happens after Christ destroys the apocalyptic Babylon of Antichrist. The kings of the earth. Who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her. When they see the smoke of her burning.
Now, this is imagery now. It's not, you know, it's not standing offshore in the bow of a ship or something. I mean, some of that might be taking place also, but this is the global observation. Political Babylon and religious Babylon having fallen, there's a collapse of the global economy, global trade, global commerce, such as never been before. The whole world will feel it.
Unfortunately, even Those who are innocent. relative to human experience. But they should have saw it coming the world. There are two comings. There are two second comings.
There are actually three, and I'll hit on all three of them briefly. There is the second coming of Christ. to deal with these things. There's also the second coming of us. To come with him.
Which we get next chapter. Then there's the second coming of Satan. which is less than a coming and more of a permission. That comes towards the End of the millennial reign of Christ. Why should I believe any of this stuff?
Well, it goes back to if you have a problem with other parts of the Bible, you're going to have a problem with this. But fact is against you. History is against you. Prophecy is totally against you. You have the prophecy of Israel.
Being put back in her land, and one of the greatest proofs that the New Testament and Old Testament is a trustworthy word of God is the existence of Israel as a nation in the promised land. God called it century millennium before it happened, and it's now here. These are the world leaders. That are Here, shown in verse 9, the kings of the earth who committed fornication live luxuriously with her, will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning. The world leaders and the oliarchs that profited from their dirty deeds.
Their commerce. their abuse of their corporate powers. They're the ones that are instantly shown to recognize This is the end of their ride. They don't weep for the ruined souls. They do not weep.
for the disdain that has been shown to Christ They mourn over their loss. It hit them in their pocketbooks, their bank accounts. They bewail their loss of hope and wealth, power and gain. Things are going to change now. And John is just, this has flashed before him, he's written it down for us.
And from verse 21, we see that these people benefited from the violence. We read about their persecution and the blood of the saints on them. We have to remember before you want to advocate for them. These are not nice people. These are mean people doing horrible things, committing atrocities.
against any Christian they can find. And against Israel at this late stage in the tribulation period, Israel is almost wiped out. violently through war. They are civilized. But savage against the people of God in any form.
In Israel, all Israel Paul tells us we'll be saved. at this time. Impenitent man has little use for spiritual truth and the giver of life. Remember this when you're out doing your life, whether it's your job, your work, your romantic quest, if you're dating or something like that. Remember that God is still God.
These things are going to happen, and you still have a role as a Christian to serve Him. It's not all about you having a good time. And this is not something that is always easy. Gotta work into it. Set the life course in that direction.
When they see the smoke of her burning, unprecedented cataclysmic global collapse. Leaving nowhere to run. And this smoke is a combination of metaphor and reality. Fact. Literal smoke.
From Armageddon. Standing at a distance, probably watching on their cell phones, if they still can get a signal. I saw an illustration, I guess, comic illustration, of the Titanic sinking and the people in the water. holding up their cell phones. Recording its sync.
That's pretty good stuff there. Anyway, standing at a distance for fear of torment, verse 10, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon. That mighty city, for in one hour your judgment has come. This happened so fast, we don't know what happened. It went so we loved this, right where we wanted to be, the opulent life.
John captures the global sentiment of those who are benefiting from their world power. Which is already happening on a small scale, but it's going to all become radically. Changed. in favor of Satan's will to destroy souls. And there's nothing they can do but remain at a distance themselves.
Oblivious to the personal judgment that's on their doorstep. It will be personal. The headlines will leave them in shock as they assess how much wealth they've lost. how they can't get a flight now. How they can't get a signal or anything else.
And yet They've not gotten The understanding of the authoritative power of Jesus Christ and his armies still. It will roll out. The the loss will be instant, but There's going to be this cleanup operation of Christ. Throughout Yeah. It's not sci-fi.
It's every bit reliable prophecy. Saying, alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, still in verse 10, that mighty city. This is Rome. By now, Antichrist, I believe, has centered his government there in literal Rome. I'll tell you why in a little bit, why I think it's even the Vatican City that he's going to center.
his Western headquarters, his author his Western civilization's headquarters. For in one hour your judgment has come. One hour connotes an immediate collapse at the coming of Christ, and every eye will see him. Sudden judgment, instantaneous, you know, you get it in small pockets, like with Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar was Babylon's greatest king.
And he boasted that not the great Babylon that I have built.
Well, He was told by a man of God, you need to tone that down a lot. And God's going to show you some mercy here, but if you cross that line again, He's gonna punish you. You've been warned.
Well, the time came. He crossed the line. This is Babylon, and I'm the one that's done it. And we read Daniel 4 that very hour the word Was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men.
And he ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair. Had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird claws. Little poetic language there for saying he's out of his mind, his hygiene has collapsed. Nobody wants anything to do with him.
And they don't know what to do with him. Of course, he recovers. Because of the mercy of God. But the point is that it was sudden. It was instant that very hour.
It's also the case when the handwriting was on the wall. King Belshazzar drinking out of the cups that belonged to the temple of the Jews. Just having a good old time. And all of a sudden a hand appears on rights and war mene mene Teckle, you farson, and they didn't know what it meant.
Someone said, There is a prophet here, he's retired. It is very beneficial to the kingdom in days past.
So they summons him, and it's Daniel. And they offer Daniel trinkets and stuff. And Daniel said, keep your trinkets. I'll tell you what it means: numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. Tonight is the end.
And that night Belshazzar, of course, was killed, and the Medes and the Persian says then took over. The Babylonian kingdom. The point is, it was that very hour. It was swift, it was instant. There's biblical precedence for this.
The defeat of the world's armies and Armageddon will collapse all the world markets. No recovery, no rescue, because it is absolute. Verse 11: And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her. For no one buys their merchandise any more Again, the global trade stops. Interstate highways are not moving the goods that they're moving now, devastating their wealth.
Much of the world outside of Western civilization. are consumers. They produce little. And the big producers, they will be cut off also. The political world and the business world themselves destroyed Along with Babylon's destruction today, Europe, Asia, the Middle East.
These countries In those regions, they are investing billions in trade routes unlike ever before. I mean Iraq. Iraq is building a highway. from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. complete with hotels and trains and just this whole experience To move Trade goods, Pakistan, India, China.
There are multiple countries considering alternate routes. Through, instead of taking the Suez Canal, Israel wants to cut one through Gaza. There's a couple more down in South America. They're also in Malaysia, they're in that region.
So the world is very busy about trade because According to JP Morgan, Some eighty five to ninety percent of the world's trade is through shipping on the sea. And that's going to come up here. It's all collapsing now. Ancient Tyre thought themselves invincible. They were the trade masters of the ancient world.
Nobody could conquer them. Nebuchadnezzar could not reach them. They had an island offshore, and they did business from there. Alexander the Great came along. He built a causeway out to it, among other things, but that was a big part of it.
And he did conquer the city of Tyre, just as Ezekiel the prophet said. And to this day, The remains of that causeway are still there as proof that God said it and it happened, and whatever else he said that hasn't happened is going to happen. Ezekiel twenty-seven, the merchants among the peoples will hiss at you, speaking to Tyre, personifying Tyre. You will become a horror and be no more forever.
Well, that's going to happen. To apocalyptic Babylon, just as it happened to ancient Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah said, You're going to be wiped out as a city, and you're never going to be rebuilt, and that's true to this day. They are ruins. We know where the GPS is of ancient Babylon, but there's no city there, and there will not be.
It means the end of evil is going to happen at some point. But not yet. In verse 18, merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind. of object of ivory. Every kind of object Of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble, verse 13, and cinnamon, and incense, fragrant oil, frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour, and wheat, cattle, and sheep, horses.
and chariots. And bodies and souls of men as slavery. I'm leaving out some things about the revelation that other commentators just habitually cover. That's not bad, but I try to give new insights. And one of them that I disagree with most of them on is that I don't believe John was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos in a jail.
I believe he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, and had freedom to move around the island, but not to leave the island. I think there's enough evidence for that. If that is true, which if I said it it must be if that is true, then perhaps there was a day that uh he was down at the docks at the pier and he saw the ships come in and the merchandise being moved from one ship to another, a stage, whatever was going on. It doesn't have to be that way. It just makes it for exciting imagery.
Either way, God sees what's going to happen. And he put it in a language that not only John would understand, but everybody who would read the Revelation and the ancient world would understand. This is the cargo list. It's not meant to be exhaustive, but informative. Trade is going to stop.
And when trade stops, look, we fall apart. when the the electricity goes off. We don't want to do it ourselves.
Well, I guess I'll go moe. The point is, man is unable to protect his material wealth against God's judgment. It all belongs to him anyway. These are all created items. from the merchandise to the slaves.
the bodies and souls of men. It was a big fuss today, and it should be. About Slave trading. about enslaving people. and kidnapping them and Selling them is still going on.
and the bodies of the souls of men. People treat it as commodities, not as created beings of God. These are the people that are running the world at this time. the Great Tribulation period. This is how the world ends.
and its culture with it, verse 14. The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you. And all the things which are rich and splendid, have gone from you. And you shall find them no more.
Now, this was one of the verses we stood and read just a moment. It is one of the. Kingpin verses of this section. If you are without Christ, let this Word echo in your head. Gone from you, gone from you.
Your judgment will be personal. Mark chapter 4, the cares of this world. the deceitfulness of riches. and the desires for other things. entering in, choked the word.
and it becomes unfruitful. That is to people who have heard the gospel and have allowed the world to cancel it. in your own hearts. How much worse will it be for those who are hating God's people and committing atrocities against them?
Now I should add, Paul, late in his writing, said, God has given us things for our joy. If you have wealth, it's for our joy, but under the authority of Christ. Not in a malicious way, on an extravagant way, and that is relative, of course. Yeah. And This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston.
This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
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