Today’s message summary of June 28, 2015 from Pastor Gus Brown:
Often today, we are being challenged in many different ways. We are to stand on God’s Word and His Word alone, and trust in the results. You have to know what you stand for–what your principles are. Don’t allow others to dissuade you from your view of Jesus Christ.
God has a plan, and it will be fulfilled. Satan cannot prevent it from happening. God changes not.
Babylon represents rebellion against God. Every type of teaching that is false or heinous in nature had its origin in Babylon. It was constantly in opposition to God.
Revelation 18:1-10
After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. He cried in a mighty voice:
It has fallen,
Babylon the Great has fallen!
She has become a dwelling for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
and a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast.
For all the nations have drunk
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury.
Then I heard another voice from heaven:
Come out of her, My people,
so that you will not share in her sins
or receive any of her plagues.
For her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
Pay her back the way she also paid,
and double it according to her works.
In the cup in which she mixed,
mix a double portion for her.
As much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
give her that much torment and grief,
for she says in her heart,
“I sit as a queen;
I am not a widow,
and I will never see grief.”
For this reason her plagues will come in one day—
death and grief and famine.
She will be burned up with fire,
because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.
The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and lived luxuriously with her will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying:
Woe, woe, the great city,
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour
your judgment has come.
God calls His people out of darkness (v. 4) in order to prevent them from being swept away in His judgment.
Revelation 18:20
Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,
because God has executed your judgment on her!
God will declare His final judgment on Babylon a final time.
Revelation 18:21
Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying:
In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently
and never be found again.
Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
Jeremiah 51:9
We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches as far as the clouds.
Jeremiah 51:61-64
Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. You must say, ‘Lord, You have threatened to cut off this place so that no one will live in it—man or beast. Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.’ When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
In Romans 5:20-21, note whether or not is this true…
The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If this is true, then Christ will use the tribulation as a place to bring many more to seek Jesus.
John 16:8
When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Man does not want to acknowledge his sinfulness. Only the Spirit can prompt a person to recognize that he is lost and needs a Savior.
Even Adam did not acknowledge his own sin and tried to blame Eve. He tried to hide from the Lord. He did not want to deal directly with the sin.
Genesis 3:7-11
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Do you see God’s grace in dealing with Adam and Eve?
Rather than trying to hide from the Lord, we are to bring our transgressions to Him.
Jesus will come and judge Babylon. The process is to begin in Revelation, Chapter 6 with the opening of the seals. In Chapter 7, God wants us to hold onto the message that is given to those who are faithful to the Lord.
Revelation 7:1-17
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel, who had the seal of the living God rise up from the east. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to harm the earth and the sea: “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
Salvation belongs to our God,
who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb!
All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people robed in white, and where did they come from?”
I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
Then he told me:
These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
They washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb.
For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary.
The One seated on the throne will shelter them:
They will no longer hunger;
they will no longer thirst;
the sun will no longer strike them,
nor will any heat.
For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will shepherd them;
He will guide them to springs of living waters,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Jeremiah 50:4-5
In those days and at that time—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.
They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
Revelation 14:1-5
Then I looked, and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him were 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of cascading waters and like the rumbling of loud thunder. The sound I heard was also like harpists playing on their harps. They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, but no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the ones not defiled with women, for they have kept their virginity. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed from the human race as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
This group was distinguishable from the other multitude because of their purity. They desired to stay pure before God.
During the tribulation period, God was able to keep the people with Him through the worst of circumstances. In your time of need, He will keep you, as well.
You can be in the midst of all sorts of false teaching, but you can choose what to believe. You can separate yourself from this teaching and discern what is right and good to hold onto.
Don’t buy into the lies that are being proclaimed today as truth.
God desires to use each one of us who takes a stand for Jesus Christ. If you value yourself as a child of God, then you will do what is necessary to remain pure before Him. Each one of us has a choice to practice holiness and remain pure before Him.
The group that is a vast multitude from all nations (Revelation 7:9) is people who are being saved because they proclaim the power of Jesus Christ. On earth, it was the Antichrist who declared his own power. The people noted “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10b)
God’s will, in the worst of times, remains firm. He desires for those who choose to believe in Him to be saved.
Are you determined to follow the Lord?
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