Revelation 17-18
-Greetings from the Grand Strand Church in Myrtle Beach, SC
-I grew up in Babylon!
Never thought it a bad idea :-)
“Woke” is a common term
17:6 - When I saw her, I was greatly astonished
-John is astonished
-He has this moment where it all hits him
Who is Babylon???
Babel - Genesis 11:3-4
“They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
-Pursuing life independent of God, focused on self, image and indulgence and pursuing security
Woman Babylon is riding on the Beast
-Revelation 13 - Beast of the Sea = Political Power
-When the “Babel” mentality is applied in politics you wind up with the woman riding the Beast
Aside:
7 kings
-7 Hills - Septimontanus Festival
Lots of ways to count Caesars
-Foundation of Rome
-Foundation of Constitution
-Jesus’ birth
-Jesus’ resurrection
10 Horns
-10 = Human completeness
-Human kings that are a part of the Beast
Three Marks of Babylon:
1. Independence
2. Indulgence
3. Violence
So what is the Harlot of Babylon?
Who is lamenting? Kings, Merchants & Ship Captains
-The prostitute is power, consumerism and luxury
When we suffer money looks good!
Harlot is riding the Beast
-Money and politics go hand-in-hand
Always money involved in political decisions
What team are you on?
-Girls shows always have a love triangle
What team are you on? Team Max!
Call to one of two women…
-The Harlot or The Bride
18:4 - Come out of her, my people,’
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
-We have to choose our team!
-Both are based in an animal - Beast of the Sea & Slain Lamb
Beastly Babylon:
-Independence from God
-Indulgence
-Violence
Slain Lamb
-Dependence on God
-Generosity & Serving
-Forgiveness and Gentleness
Babylon always threatens the church!
-Persecution
Babylon HATES God’s teachings to death
-Permeation
Jesus speaking to the churches
How do we come out???
1. Dependence on God
-Bride is based on a loving relationship with God…how is your love for Jesus?
-Dependence on God
Relying on His power
Relying on His wisdom
Cultural Challenge:
Sexual Ethics:
-Sexual Freedom
-LGBTQ+
Pride Month
I Timothy 1:9-11
We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels…for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
-Gender Identity
Statement of Faith
-People are leaving the faith and compromising Scripture because they struggle with God’s thoughts and values versus Babylon’s thoughts and values on this topic
Marriage is about loyalty
-It is challenging to be loyal to Jesus in a culture that is running the other way
Elizabeth Rundle Charles’s well-known statement:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are, at that time, attacking, then I am not professing Christ, however boldly I am professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there, the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that point. (The Chronicles of the Schoenberg-Cotta Family, 1865)
We cannot give way to sexual ethics of Babylon
2. Generosity & Serving
-Slain Lamb is all about sacrificial love and serving
-Early Christians ran to the ways that Babylon was destroying people
Adopted babies
Served sick and impoverished - started hospitals for poor
-We must devote ourselves to loving people being affected by sin
LGBTQ+ community
Fatherless
-What stops us??? Full lives? Too full?
Cultural Challenge:
Materialism:
18:7 - Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself
18:9 - When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury
18:14 - They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished
-Would our finances reflect that the Slain Lamb is running your Cash App?
Commend church for Devin’s Party
-John is astonished by this
It is as if he didn’t realize how serious materialism
Materialism tugs on our American hearts constantly!
-Jesus says a LOT about money!
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