The Scarlet Harlot - Part 1

Welcome to God First, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's episode. Welcome to the program.

My name is Brian Thomas. I greet you in the name of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And as always, it is a joy and honor and a privilege to join you each week.

I want to thank you for tuning in. Well, we are continuing our teaching series on revelation looking today at the scarlet woman of chapter 17. And we're going to find that this woman represents false religions. Now, some present day, quote, churches, unquote, embrace and promote ideas that are antithetical to the Word of God, the Black Lives Matter movement, the social justice gospel, the killing of the unborn and sexual immorality that God calls an abomination. And these doctrines of demons have infiltrated the church today. And this endorsing of immorality will reach its climax during the seven year tribulation. So this week, I want to share with you a sermon that so accurately defines this as spiritual fornication.

It's Colorado. So now let us hear from this dynamic, all right, ready to go on one less hour of sleep. Amen.

Here we go. Praise the Lord. I've entitled this message to the scarlet harlot. In chapter 17, we find the demise of the great harlot. The great harlot is depicted here as the false church during the tribulation period.

She is called a harlot due to the fact that she is unfaithful to her husband, that is Jesus Christ. The false church of the tribulation would be the full manifestation of the apostate church. As one commentator writes, and I quote, estranged from God and become thoroughly secularized and degenerated, close quote.

The warning here in chapter 17 is very clear for us today. Because the church today is in danger of playing the harlot. God considers the rejection of his authority in our lives as an act of spiritual adultery, an act of spiritual harlotry. I was reading recently here that the United Methodist Church experienced a split within their denomination. During a vote they took at their conference, I think the conference was in February, February 26, 2019, this year. And as this one article stated, and I quote, America's second largest Protestant denomination, a United Methodist Church is set to split. As the church's top policymaking body voted Tuesday to maintain prohibitions on homosexuality to expel gay pastors. Today's vote at the United Methodist Church's general conference in St. Louis delayed by filibusters, amendments, and other tactics by progressives comes after two compromise options were rejected by narrow margins, close quote. The margin was 53 to 46%.

And my question was, how did the margin become so narrow? Because the church even today is embracing a spirit of fornication with the world. Just as the great harlot is depicted here, the false church is embracing a spirit of spiritual fornication during the tribulation period. As the church, the Bible tells us that we are betrothed to Christ. In other words, we are his.

The Bible says they shall be mine, saith the Lord. We are betrothed to Jesus Christ. We are the bride.

He is the groom. But far too often in the church, the church members, I should say, many times we are found in the arms of our lovers. There are three basic lovers that we wrestle with that we contend with that we need to resist. The lust of the flesh, lover number two, the lust of the eyes, and lover number three, the pride of life. It's not of the Father, but it's of the world.

And the world is passing away in the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. You see, our only real true remedy against the harlotry, the spirit of harlotry, entering into the church, entering into our lives, is repentance. It is returning to our first love, who is Jesus Christ, by doing the will of our Father according to his word. Paul warned the young preacher Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, oh Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed according to the faith. Grace be with you.

Amen. In verses one and two, so with that, we dive into Revelation chapter 17. Beginning here at verse one, John says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot, who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth, were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

The harlot sits on many waters. Many waters is actually described for us and it tells us in the scripture what many waters are in verse 15 of this chapter. If you turn over there, you'll see verse 15, an angel says to John, the waters which you saw were where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. It's the inhabitants of the earth that she has complete or influence over them. Her harlotry is worldwide and those who follow her, the Bible says in verse two, the latter part, are made drunk.

They are made drunk. Let me just tell you that the people in this article I read about the United Methodist Church who were mourning the decision of the church to expel gay pastors or LGBT pastors. That those people who were mourning that decision, who call themselves Christians, are actually in fact drunk under the spirit of this world rather than the spirit of God's word. And there's a lot of drunk people in the church.

Now listen, you're LGBTQ XYZ, I don't care. This church is open to all sinners. In fact, we're just recovering sinners, amen. There's no perfect people here, amen.

So you are welcome here regardless. But the reality is we're going to declare the word of God and speak the word of God in truth. But there's a lot of drunk people in the church today who call themselves followers of Jesus, who are under the influence of the world rather than under the influence of the word. We're in danger of spiritual harlotry today in the church. As far as the world was concerned regarding the great harlot, she was one of them. Verse two says, the first part, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. The rulers of the earth are in relationship, having intercourse, spiritually speaking, with this great harlot and they are one together. Verse three and four, as we continue on, verse three says, so he carried me, because the angel said, I'm going to show you the judgment against the great harlot.

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 blasphemies having seven heads and 10 horns. She was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand, a golden cup of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. This woman, this great harlot was arrayed in purple and scarlet. Purple being a color of Rome. Scarlet was also a popular color in Rome, or as purple being a color of royalty and scarlet was a color that was popular in Rome. And scarlet was associated that color with rank and with riches.

Rich people wore scarlet. And here she is adorned in that which the world considers to be beautiful, but in the eyes of God, she is nothing but a royal sinner. God sees her as she really is, this great harlot.

She's adorned in that which the world considers valuable and precious, the gold and the precious stones and the pearls and the clothing and all of that. Far too often, many times, we are guilty of trying, even as believers, of defining ourselves according to the world's standards. Guys, if you don't have six-pack abs, you might as well just jump in a lake somewhere or whatever, right? You've got to have six-pack abs to really be somebody. You've got to look a certain way, a certain image.

You've got to drive a certain car. The world, this is what it tells us, that you're not, unless you're doing this or unless you're doing that, you're not really living at all. And we try to measure up to the world's standards. We're depressed sometimes because we don't look a certain way or have six-pack abs or whatever. But I think young women, young girls and women are really, bear the brunt of that particular lie in our society. Ladies, you have to look a certain way.

You have to be a certain way. And all of this and so many girls that have bulimia and things and struggling with different things, especially teenage girls, trying to look beautiful and think that beauty is from the outside, but no, beauty is from the inside out. And the neat thing is that in Christ, in order for us to be beauty, we don't have to have the things of the world that says those things that make us beautiful. In Christ, we're beautiful without those things in the Lord. I think of the words of the Lord through the Apostle Peter, in particular, speaking to women within the church. In 1 Peter 3, there we read, Peter writes, do not let your adornment be merely outward.

Now, let me just stop right there. He says merely outward. He didn't say don't take care of yourself. Amen. Don't let it be merely outward.

Listen, the old saying goes that if the barn needs a coat of paint, paint the barn. Amen. Amen.

Fix yourself up. Amen. You don't have to let yourself go, whatever, you know, but don't let merely the outward things be the sole source of your adornment. If you are just now joining us, we are listening today to a message from Pastor Al Pittman of Calvary Worship Center in Colorado Springs. The sermon is titled The Scarlet Harlot of Revelation Chapter 17. We're going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away. On the other side of the break, we'll be back with more again from Pastor Al Pittman in the sermon, The Scarlet Harlot of Revelation Chapter 17.

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Box 266, Knightdale, North Carolina, 27545 for more information. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's program. But he goes on to say the arranging of the chair, the hair rather, and the wearing of gold or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a genuine and quiet or gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. What's beautiful to God is that which is on the inside out, not the outside in God's looking inwardly. Amen. And God says to you ladies right now, to you young girls, if you're in Christ, to Him you are beautiful. Amen.

Hold on to that truth. Amen. You don't have to be adorn what the world considers beauty.

Amen. And Jesus also warned us about this looking to the standard of the world and looking at the value of our life according to the standard of the world. He warned us in Luke chapter 16, where he said, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

What's important to us in our lives? The very thing that we highly esteem, God says, is an abomination. It's an abomination if we're in putting all of our trust in that thing. There's nothing wrong in having riches and pearls and different things like that. But if that's our hope for beauty, it's an abomination in the sight of God.

What God values is what really matters. So here we have this great harlot looking like she's successful and rich, prosperous in the eyes of the world. And God says she's an abomination. In verse three, she is seated on a scarlet beast.

I have a picture for you, an artist rendition or a portrait of a picture of what that may look like. She's sitting on the beast. Remember the beast looked like a leopard, had the heads of lions, had 10 horns.

She's sitting there dressed in scarlet with that cup, a golden cup in her hand. Well, who is the beast that she's sitting on? Well, the beast is the Antichrist.

The Antichrist. The scarlet color of the beast is similar to the color of the devil. Remember Revelation chapter 12, verse three says the devil was that fiery red dragon. But scarlet is also the color for sin.

Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, the Lord God appealing to the nation of Israel because they had sinned and turned away from God. He said, come now, let us reason together. And maybe God is saying that to someone here today or at Creekside or watching online. Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they mad. They shall be as white as snow. That's what God is saying.

Come, let us reason together. Scarlet or crimson is a dye which the Egyptians made from shellfish and the Hebrews made from an insect, a parasite called caucus illicit. Sin is like a parasite. Sin is like a parasite which hopelessly stains or and or dies the soul of mankind. It's a stain you can't get out with good works and and trying to do good deeds and all of these things, trying to win God's approval. The Bible says our righteousness is but a filthy rag in the sight of God through our own righteousness.

We cannot get rid of this stain, this dye that is on our soul. But the Bible says the good news is this. Jesus died.

Amen. He died for our sins. So that through faith in him, our sins can be washed away and we can be made as white as snow. That is the good news of the gospel.

It's a free gift of God, not of works, lest anybody should boast. The scarlet harlot, however, refuses to reason with God. She doesn't want to reason with God. Her color scarlet. Once a symbol of shame. Remember, though your sin be a scarlet. I'm not advocating that if you got a scarlet color at home, you need to burn it.

Not saying that at all. Amen. But scarlet in the context of scripture being like sin, her scarlet, that scarlet color was a symbol of shame. But now she is wearing it as a symbol of honor, a badge of honor. Much like in our society, many sins that were once shameful are now celebrated today.

The people are celebrating the sins. Oh, that's not wrong. Pastor Al, you're just too old fashioned. That's OK now.

You know, really? God changes not. He's the same yesterday, today and forever.

And though we may change, he changes not. And what was sin back then is still sin today. In Isaiah Chapter five, the Lord warns us, he says, woe to those who call evil good. And then good evil. Who put darkness for light. And light for darkness. Who put bitterness for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to you. Who say now that which was darkness yesterday, sin is now light today. The Lord says, woe unto you. In verse five.

This. Scarlet Harlot has a name written on her forehead, actually several names. The Bible says, and on her forehead, a name was written.

Mystery. Babylon, the great, the mother of harlot. And of the abominations of the earth. That's a pretty long name. But she's all these things.

She's the mystery. Babylon, the great. What does that mean? Well, Babylon is not just a place, but it's also considered a spirit of rebellion with God. It's derived from the word babel. Many of you know the Tower of Babel there in Genesis Chapter 10. God confined, confounded the languages. He confused the languages. The people couldn't communicate with each other whereby he kept them from building a temple or a tower rather.

To God, to the heavens, so that they could be like God. God confounded the languages and confused the languages to stop that construction project because they were trying to be like God. And there is only one God. The religious system, therefore, of the great harlot would be one of confusion. And guess who is the author of confusion?

It's the devil. It will be one of confusion. It will be one of a religion, I should say, of no absolutes.

A religion by which people will fashion God in their own image, much like people are doing today. If you don't like this one religion, you can go to another religion. This religion doesn't allow that or whatever. You can find your own religion or make your own up.

People are doing that a lot today. What are we doing? We're doing God in our image rather than being fashioned in his image. Also on her head, we read on her head that she is the mother of harlots, of abominations of the earth. Her illicit spiritual intercourse with the world system is contrary to the true church. Thus, we find her in verse 6, drunk on the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus. Verse 6, we read, John said, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Why is John marveling here with a great amazement? I don't think he's marveling here with great amazement because of the very fact that he's thinking, how can someone who names the name of Jesus, who names the name of Christ murder fellow saints and drink the blood of those who have been martyred for Jesus? How can those who say they're Christians devour each other? He's marveling over that, but you know, that happens in the church even today. John would marvel that how we devour one another in the name of Jesus, calling ourselves Christians and gossiping about each other and devouring each other and wounding each other and plotting against each other. John marvels, how can she be called a Christian and do these things? Well, the fact is that you can be a Christian in name only and deny Jesus by your works.

Well, we have to press the pause button for this week. Please forgive me for cutting in as I know you are enjoying this sermon just as much as I am, but we will be back next week with the conclusion of the scarlet harlot of Revelation chapter 17 with Pastor Al Pittman. Before we go, I want to echo the words of Pastor Al in that as the body of Christ, we should be more concerned about God's word than the ways of the world. What I see today from so many who are professing Christians is more of a concern about the world.

I see from so many professing Christians a reluctance, a fear to stand for the truth. And that is because of a fear of man, the fear of what will be the backlash from man. But the Bible tells us that we should not be concerned about the one who can destroy only the body, which is man.

But instead, we should be concerned about the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell, which is our Lord God Almighty. Jesus said in his word that there would be persecution. He said that the world hated him first and therefore they would hate us also. He said there would be suffering for being a follower of him. But he said, take up the cross and follow him. So we have to constantly remind ourselves that as believers in Christ, we are going to suffer.

But he said, remain faithful. Don't grow weary and that they are great rewards waiting in eternity for those who remain faithful and true to the truth of God's almighty word. Let us stay true to our Lord God. Well, before we go, I want to give a big thanks to Pastor Al Pittman and his wonderful staff for allowing us to share this sermon today with our audience. Please come back again next week as we will have part two in the conclusion of this wonderful message.

The Scarlet Harlot of Revelation Chapter 17. As we close, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our Web site, God first dot org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.