Now the Christians are under the blood of Christ. Our sins are forgiven. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? But the worldling. is naked before God.
has no covering. has no exit. And that's why we put such energy into saving souls. Unfortunately, many Christians think we get so desperate to saving souls, we begin to appease them in their error. Lower our standards, thinking that this will get them in.
It doesn't get them in, it gets Levin in. 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.
Now, here's Pastor Rick on Cross-Reference Radio in the book of Revelation, chapter 18. How many nations and kingdoms that have hated the Jews have become has-bins. But just cape a few of them. Of course, the ancient Egypt, when under the Pharaoh's persecution, Egypt was not always hostile to the Jews, but it did eventually get to that. Unfortunately, the Philistines, which are no longer in existence, Those that live in Gaza, those are not Philistines, those are Jordanian Arabs and other Arabs mixed in, they have nothing to do.
With the Canaanites that were in the land before the Jews got there. They're all gone. The Assyrian Empire, gone. Babylonian Empire, gone. The Edomite kingdoms no longer here.
The Seleucid Empire really persecuted the Jews. In fact, the Seleucid Antiochus was a type of the Antichrist to come. is such hatred for the Jewish people and the God of the Jews. Romanism's crusaders, they persecuted the Jews. They're gone.
The Ottoman Empire, Nazi Germany, The Soviet Union. Just a short list. of has become. has bins Because they mess with the wrong people. and the God of those people going back to its origins, has dealt with them.
And so it will be with secular Babylon. A dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. I like that it's going to be caged. prisoned as Peter talked about. The imprisoned and Jude also talked about this.
This is poetic language. That describes the spiritual filth and uncleanness that belong to the lifestyle, and the thinking, and the heart, and the ways. of apocalyptic Babylon. ancient world talk.
Well they're going to become a wasteland. Physically, you could look at Chernobyl. But spiritually, That's what they're doomed. their end will have nothing attractive about it. People.
will no longer inhabit the world with this kind of behavior, they'll be locked away. Incidentally, much of what John sees and is Given in the prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah. For example, the language he has here about the doom of. Apocalyptic Babylon. Was applied by Isaiah.
to the kingdom of Babylon. Historical Babylon in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. That's Isaiah 13. Jeremiah 50 and 51. Then Zephaniah talked about, with the same language, The destruction of the Assyrian Empire.
They were the ones that took the northern kingdom of the Jews. When the Jewish kingdom split because of a civil war to north and south, the Assyrians eventually came along and took the the northern kingdom away. And Zephaniah the prophet says, Well, Assyria, you're going to go away too. And they did. And again, back circling back to Isaiah when he talks about The judgment upon Edom for their treatment of the Jews.
And they're not the only prophets, they're just the outstanding ones on this subject that I'm dealing with.
So Babylon and all its parts stands for what Christ called the world. But this is in its final, most satanically. Yeah. form and in the end It is cursed.
So now, verse 3: For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have been I've committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth. have become rich through the abundance of of her luxury.
Now, this entire chapter, we won't get at all, we'll just get to verse 8. That's the plan. Uh it was going to deal with this. with this apocalyptic Babylon. being dissolved.
and we'll be able to identify. It's in the city of Rome.
Okay, this is I shouldn't say this, but I'm gonna say it. No, it's not bad. You're gonna love it. Uh-huh. I think Antichrist is going to purposely take on the number 666.
I also believe that when he gets rid of. the apostate Babylon led by the Vatican, he's going to take the city and set up his headquarters there. Just to taunt the scripture, just to taunt God, he is known to be the one of pompous words, the great blasphemer. And I think he's going to know these things and do it anyway, because that's how obnoxious people do things. And he is going to be the epitome.
arrogance and evil And human success and satanic influence all wrapped in To one.
So, and I may come back to that. I will when we get to the next session, hopefully, but there's in case I forget.
Well, for all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her, fornication.
Well, harmful and unlawful self-satisfaction. That's the application of the fornication. They're indulging themselves in illicit things, and they're illicit because they're harmful to other people. The government of the beast Very lucrative. Culture was very refined.
That's going to get destroyed. We'll get to that next session. And of course, the corporate success.
Well, there's nothing wrong with corporations in and of themselves, it's what they do with. their extreme wealth. We'll name some of them. These will suffer judgment of God because of immorality. And immorality ends up harming others.
About Jesus, Paul said in Romans 2:16, God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said every idle word. of men. will be dealt with.
Now, the Christians are under the blood of Christ. Our sins are forgiven. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? But the worldling. is naked before God.
has no covering. has no exit. And that's why we put such energy into saving souls. Unfortunately, many Christians think we get so desperate to saving souls, we begin to appease them in their error. Lower our standards, thinking that this will get them in.
It doesn't get them in, it gets Levin in. And the next thing you know, you've got a crippled church. But everybody was so emotional and sincere about it. Beware, watch out for that, it's a trap. What part of stand strong means stand in appeasement?
The armor of God is to protect us from these things. If God is moving in their hearts, they won't want appeasement, they'll want truth. They want the Spirit of God. And that's what we are to give them. Anyway, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, luring in.
the unbelieving world. Putting them in a materialistic stupor, which we already get glimpses of since cities have been. We have been seeing this take place, but it's going to be unlike ever before. freely participating in the debauchery Of Antichrist, and they will perish along with Antichrist. Governments swept away.
In this globalized system, and the commerce, the wealth that the commerce gives. We're seeing this today again. You know, we talk about tariffs. I think it's like ninety percent of the world's trade was moved on the oceans and the waterways of the world. as a very big deal.
And these same ones are hateful of Jesus Christ, his people, and his scripture. And so when Jesus said in John 15 and verse 18: if the world hates you, You know that it hated me before it hated you. got a running start. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, yet Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. I'd like to add to that a little bit with the Lord's permission.
Waiting for the okay. They hate your guts. It should bury you, what's inside. I'm not adding to anything, that's just the reality of it. the depth of global depravity and violence against the lovers of God.
Which now, if you have your Bibles open, look down at verse 24 of Revelation 18. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints of all who were slain on the earth. This is on good people. This is not like, boy God, you sure are harsh. No, he's not.
He's holy, he's patient, he's long-suffering, he's merciful, he stresses these things, but if you opt out, they won't apply to you. And Again, we're living at a time where people don't understand Law actually means law. not a philosophy. It's a fact. I think Europe leads Western civilizations direction against God.
They've been out there for decades. but they just haven't had the money and the power. That the United States has. The Antichrist is going to deal with all that and wrap it up.
So that the people of the world become drunk with the pleasure of false religion, his religion.
So in this 18th chapter about the fall of Babylon, We have commercial and financial Babylon falling here in verse three. The merchants of the world, they're going to weep over this. the political side, the kings of the earth. The wine indicates there's going to be agricultural breakdown. Maybe you have all the wine you, I mean the grapes and wine you can, but you can't ship it anywhere.
And finally, in verse 23, among other things Sorcery. Always a spiritual. Everything about man is spiritual. Every problem of man is spiritual. It shows up in the physical at some point, but it's always spiritual.
And the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.
Well prospering economically.
Well, that's what corporations are supposed to do. Corporations are there to make money and provide a service. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself.
However, When you come under Satan's Guidance. control. the benefits of serving Satan, which is what's going to happen. then it all changes very quickly.
So we go back to the temptation of Jesus Christ, Satan, who wants to be worshipped and adored. He craves it so much, but he's not worthy of it. And he hates those who recognize that. Again, the devil took him, that is Christ, up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these things I will give you if you will fall and worship me.
Well Apocalyptic Babylon. has made this deal. Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and him only you shall serve. Christ also said in another part of Scripture about Satan that he is not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. And we're seeing that played out.
Coming to its The zenith. of its woeful behaviour.
So let's look at Some of the merchants in 2025, the Nephilim and the Gibors of our world right now. Leading in industry and global influence. Nestle, beloved Nestle. N-E-L-E-S-D-S. Nestle is the very best.
Their chocolate milk's the best. I know you might like Hershey's, but you know, that's Red Sock Yankee kind of thing going on there. Nestle has cornered the market.
Well, they really dominate the market of ground water, bottled water, Perrier, all these different bottles that Nestle's. buying up all these wells and pumping out the water and then putting it in plastic bottles and going, here you go. Cargill, Cargill, they dominate the food world. Johnton and Johnton, the pharmaceuticals. Walmart retail, of course, but look at you know, one of the heirs of Walmart is a complete woke kook.
Satanically so. Comcast, well they own MSNBC. Disney? Universal Studios. You see the wealth, the power, the influence, they're adding up because all of them are in cahoots in the way they think and Antichrist is putting all of this together to his benefit and Christ sees every bit of it.
State Street, Vanguard, Black Rock Asset Management. Trunk of trillions of dollars. In Saudi Arabia, the Saudis have armco, that's oil. Then there's Nvidia. Chips.
for computers. They've come from a nobody to ruling in that industry.
So let's look at the top 10 corporate earners. What we're doing is saying this is the scenario is already here. The groundwork is here. Antichrist is going to slip into a world. that is tailor made for him.
Apple market capital over $3 trillion. You can't even count that high. You fall asleep before you got to it. Microsoft, and I hope somebody challenges me on that. Yeah.
Yeah. Microsoft. Market capital, almost three trillion dollars. NVIDIA, as I mentioned, chips. Market capital, roughly $2 trillion.
Amazon market capital two trillion dollars. Alphabet, that's Google. Market capital, about 1.9 trillion. Trillion dollars.
So these are the gibors and the Nephilim of our age. They existed back in Genesis 6. They had total control, they took whatever they wanted. Nothing changes under the sun, nothing new. It's all under the curse.
And Antichrist is going to He's going to garner all this under his sway. And he's going to benefit. And the world will be an ugly place for a true believer of Christ. And it will not be just business, it will be the occult. It will be satanic, thus the beast that came from the earth in chapter 13, which is his prophet.
Verse 4, and I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive her plagues. By the way, the world's not going to end by ice melt. That'd just be a cheap way to go out, wouldn't it? God promised the world is not going to end by water. And uh these are the part of the things we Want to share with people who are having pumped into their head this idea that.
God is not in control. that somehow global snoring is going to wipe us all out.
Okay, they mock us. Why can't I mock them just a little bit? Verse 4: I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, lest you share in her sins, lest you receive her plagues. Yeah. Well, remnants, God is always calling remnants out.
He's going to be calling them out during the Babylonian. of the the end times Great Babylon, all these things, calling them out of that culture of. Disbelief of rejecting God.
So here is more news about people being saved in the Great Tribulation period.
So remember, we have these great civilizations right now, these great cities, skyscrapers, galore like never before.
Well, there are also parts of the world still very undeveloped and very ignorant about these things. And people in those areas are going to be saved. They won't. They may have the mark, but they're not worshiping the beast. There's going to be a lot of hope in the midst of this darkness.
And God is saying, depart not from a place, but from a Christless lifestyle, which He's saying now. Lot's wife. physically departed Sodom. But with longing eyes she cast her heart back towards Sodom, once taken out, that culture and she perished. Jesus, in teaching about the end times, makes this one statement that should shake all of us a little bit.
One of the shortest verses in the Bible. Remember Lot's wife? That gets you right back to the whole story, Luke 17, verse 32. spiritual contaminants are spiritually lethal. proximity to evil, even for the righteous.
Makes us susceptible to the fallout from God's judgment. Uh Lot got out of there and two of his daughters And maybe two other daughters didn't make it out because of unbelief. It's not. explicit, but it is implied. Anyway, this is a repeated Call in Scripture to get the remnant out of where God is going to judge.
And Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Corinthians, for example. Verse five. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. And that's the Bible's language for saying, well, now is the time for judgment. It's not like God lost sight of or forgot.
It means the time is now here. Evil stacked atop of evil like a skyscraper. And that's where the language her sins have reached to heaven. One translation says, which is an option, not a contradiction, sins are piled up as high as heaven. Jeremiah.
talking about Babylon. In his day, the kingdom of Babylon. Thus The corallel between the ancient and the end time. He said, speaking sort of indirectly about Babylon, we would have. healed Babylon, but she is not healed.
Forsake her. And let us Go everyone to his own country, for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies, literally, touching the skies.
So, what point I'm making is in Jeremiah's day, he talked about Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon eventually being judged. For her iniquity. And the prophets have said, Yeah, well, there's another Babylon coming that's going to have many of the similar characteristics. but a lot worse. And thus Babylon survives as The Uh the call sign For the kingdom of Antichrist and the apostate church.
Humanity's sins among the nations are immeasurable. That's the point here. They are piled up before God. Into the sky. And as far as original Babylon, before Nebuchadnezzar comes along, when they built the tower.
You say you catch the connection. the reaching to the skies without God. their own way. A global spirit. of one nation under man.
And God wouldn't stand for it at Babel originally. Genesis 11. And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth, which is the very thing God said to Noah. Go throughout all the earth, but they stayed.
They wouldn't move. And God got them out of there. Man's attempt to live and prosper through their own religion. Again, one nation under man. Still being attempted to this day.
University professors are going out of their way. To tell you there's no God. I mean, you think about the Venus flytrap. It just secretes a little bit of goodies on the side just to get the insect nibbling. And then it increases a little bit until the insect's just like, you know what, I'm going in.
Not knowing what's waiting, the fate. And then, once the bug, it could be a black widow spider, it could be a fly, it could be a lot of little creatures, once they go in. Of course the trap closes and the plant eats them. How humiliating.
Well All of the Venus flytraps died until they figured it out. See the stupidity of that?
Well, they couldn't figure it out. They're all dead.
Well, why are they all dead? Because they didn't have enough time to evolve. It's so crazy. And people gobble this stuff up. not considering the source.
The heart. of the people That are pushing these things. There's no way to get away from the fact that there's a creator. Every flower, every tropical fish insists that somebody designed this thing. just popped out like that.
Well, anyway, I got that off my chest, but it will be back. Not now. Yeah. So can we not see? Wrong in the behavior of humanity without God, the world's crusade against Jesus, it is wretched, it is smug.
Their rejoicing is premature. And yet, their life span is predetermined. God has already determined. Verse 18. Yes, his utopian quest is a dead end.
The only paradise that exists is the one in Jesus Christ. All the rest are dead ends. And when they die, Satan will say, This is as far as I can take you. Verse 6: Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works in the cup which she has mixed. Double for her.
Well, Hosea said this, sow for yourselves righteousness, reap mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek Yahweh. He said that to the northern kingdom who was not cultivating an environment for God's word to exist. To pay back of double, Exodus 22, for a trespass sin, you pay double. Hosea 8, again, they sow the wind, they reap the whirlwind. Whatever you sow grows bigger than what you put in the ground, of course, and they're sowing to the wind, they're getting tornadoes back.
Verse 7. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously in the same measure. Gave her torment and sorrow, for she says in her heart, I sit as queen and am no widow and will not see sorrow.
Well, self-glorification is self-delusion. She's pictured as an obnoxious woman, especially in that culture. That was not the way a woman, a widow, was to behave. Widows were greatly disadvantaged in that ancient world, thus, God, the emphasis on those who take advantage of widows and orphans.
Well, she is having no husband. She feels that she can live without accountability. This is personifying, of course, this regime of Antichrist, strutting around as though it's invincible, self-impressed, feeling independent. When that arrogance is going to bring them, as it says here, torment and sorrow. That's what awaits her.
Verse 8. Therefore her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning, famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. She won't know what hit her. And That's been the case of original Babylon in Genesis 11, ancient Babylon. of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 5.
Verse 30, when he tells Belshazzar, the handwriting on the wall means it's over for you, and it happened that night. Mystical Babylon. Course, covered last chapter, destroyed right away, and secular Babylon.
So we close with this verse. Galatians 6.7. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that He will also read. Yeah. Uh 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.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
