{"id":19000,"date":"2019-09-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-051-a-tale-of-two-cities\/"},"modified":"2019-09-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-051-a-tale-of-two-cities","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-051-a-tale-of-two-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 051 – A Tale of Two Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19000","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 051 - A Tale of Two Cities","sermon_date":"20190908","sermon_month":"9","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":7032,"sermon_slides":7033,"sermon_mp3":7035,"sermon_id":"9819133567756","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"16:17-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nA Tale of Two Cities\n\nRevelation 16:17-21\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 51\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 16, and looking this morning at verses 17-21.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is A Tale of Two Cities.\u00a0 We continue to move through chronologically through the Book of Revelation; we\u2019re sort of in that second part of the chart, the second half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 And we recently have been studying how the various bowl judgments will be poured out upon the earth. Every time an angel empties the contents of his bowl from heaven another judgment comes to the earth.\u00a0 And this morning we are taking a look at the final bowl judgment, which you\u2019ll find described in verses 17-21 of\u00a0 the Book of Revelation.\n\nHere is sort of our outline that we can follow this morning as we take a look at what God might say to us today through this Revelation concerning this judgment that is\u00a0 yet to come to the earth.\u00a0 Notice if you will verse 17 as the seventh angel pours out his bowl.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:16, \u201cAnd they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.\u201d\u00a0 [17] Then the seventh angel<\/em> poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, \u201cIt is done.\u201d\u00a0 We notice the chronology that\u2019s being given here, first angel, second angel, third angel, right down to the seventh angel.\u00a0 The attention to numbering in my mind very clearly communicates a chronology and that\u2019s how we have been teaching the Book of Revelation, essentially affecting the fact that it\u2019s chronologically sequential, for the most part.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that it draws our attention there in verse 17 to \u201cthe temple from the throne,\u201d in heaven.\u00a0 Why the focus there?\u00a0 Because that, as we saw back in chapter 15 and into chapter 16 is the location from which these judgments will come to the earth.\u00a0 They originate from God in His heavenly temple.\u00a0 And then you\u2019ll notice also there in verse 17 where it says, as the angel is about to pour forth his bowl, you\u2019ll notice the expression \u201cIt is done.\u201d\u00a0 And you\u2019re probably saying praise the Lord for that, this series in Revelation is about all I can take.\u00a0 But we are at the last judgment of the last judgment.\u00a0 This is the last of the last; this is the final judgment of the final set of judgments that we\u2019re reading about here this morning in verses 17-21.\n\nAnd as this angel pours out his bowl it\u2019s interesting that suddenly you have an expression of thunder and lightning from heaven.\u00a0 Look at verse 18, the first part of the book.\u00a0 \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder;\u201d now this is not really the first time where we have thunder and lightning in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 You might recall Revelation 11:19 as these judgments are transpiring.\u00a0 There it says, \u201cAnd there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So thunder and lightning is not new but you\u2019ll notice how it continues on as we move through the Book of Revelation.\n\nAnd then\u00a0 you get to the second part of verse 18 which is really where our focus is this morning and you have described here not just an earthquake but the greatest earthquake that has ever hit the world.\u00a0 The second part of verse 18 says, \u201cand there was a great earthquake,\u201d the word \u201cgreat\u201d there is mega<\/em>, and the word \u201cearthquake\u201d there is Greek is (listen to this) seismos<\/em>.\u00a0 So you can see where we get a lot of our concepts related to seismic proportions, these kinds of things from that word \u201cearthquake.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cand there was a great earthquake\u201d watch this, \u201csuch as there had never been since man came upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so<\/em> mighty.\u201d\n\nOf course, there have always been earthquakes in human history.\u00a0 There was a man named Pliny the elder, all the way back in A.D. 77 who wrote a book called Natural History<\/em>. And in that book Natural History<\/em> he talks about how the greatest earthquake in human memory had happened in A.D. 17.\u00a0 So it\u2019s interesting to me how the human race has already sort of categorized earthquakes.\u00a0 When earth\u00ad-quakes happen humans have a tendency to recognize they happened, they\u2019re sort of looked at as historical markers, sort of looked at as ways to read the calendar and figure out what era or time we\u2019re living in.\u00a0 And so earthquakes have always had a tremendous effect on the psyche of humanity.\n\nAnd of course as we have traveled through the Book of Revelation there have been other earthquakes, haven\u2019t there?\u00a0 Revelation 11:13 says, \u201cIn that hour there was a great earthquake.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 11:13 says, \u201cAnd in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified a<\/strong>nd gave glory to the God of heaven.\u201d] Revelation 11:19 says, \u201cand an earthquake \u2026 and a great hailstorm.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 11:19, \u201cAnd the \u00a0temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.\u201d]\n\nSo we have had earthquakes in human history, we have had earthquakes even thus far in our study of the Book of Revelation but nothing like this earthquake that\u2019s mentioned here.\u00a0 People use the name \u201cthe BIG one,\u201d this is \u201cthe BIB one.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Once this seventh bowl is poured out upon the earth the human race will experience the greatest shaking of the earth that has ever happened since humanity existed.\u00a0 And this sort of makes us aware of the fact that the things that we\u2019re living for many times in the world are very temporary.\u00a0 I mean, if the greatest earthquake is destined to hit this planet then maybe all of the effort I\u2019ve been putting into my retirement home (let\u2019s just pretend like I have one set up, hypothetically) maybe all that sweat and energy and concern really shouldn\u2019t be quite what it is.\u00a0 Is it wrong to have a retirement home?\u00a0 NO, but let\u2019s just keep things in perspective here.\u00a0 What the Bible teaches is that everything that can be shaken will be shaken.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true how important it is to live one\u2019s life for the things that are eternal, which cannot be shaken.\n\nThe Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 26-28 puts it this way.\u00a0 \u201cAnd His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, \u201cYet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.\u201d [27] \u00a0<\/sup>This expression<\/em>, \u201cYet once more,\u201d denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. [28] \u00a0<\/sup>Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; [29] for our God is a consuming fire.\u201d\n\nIsn\u2019t it wonderful as a Christian to know that just as everything on this earth that can be shaken will be shaken.\u00a0 We are in inheritors of something that cannot be shaken.\u00a0 In fact, the Book of Hebrews, Hebrews 12:28 in the Scripture that I just read, tells us that we should \u201cshow gratitude\u201d because of this.\u00a0 This should be one of the things that we praise the Lord for, that we are inheritors of something which cannot be shaken.\u00a0 Think of living one\u2019s life without that perspective, going through life sort of clinging to the things of this earth, status, career, prestige, property, pleasure, just sort of clinging to those things as if those are the only things to live for, only to discover in many instances those things can be taken away, those things can be shaken.\u00a0 In fact, if I\u2019m reading my Bible correctly they can be shaken and they will be shaken and they will be taken away.\n\nYou think back in history, 1929, the dropping of the stock market, the terrible crash that happened and the people that began to throw themselves off of buildings and so forth because of that.\u00a0 And you can sort of see why they would do it if they weren\u2019t living for a kingdom that cannot be shaken. But if my whole hope and perspective on life relates to the things of the earth you can see how despond\u00adent people can become, even to the point of suicide when finances or health or relationships or other things are shaken.\n\nYou know, as a Christian you can lose everything and be disappointed but at the same time hope it doesn\u2019t disappear from the Christian because the Christian is an inheritor of something that cannot be shaken.\u00a0 And how important it is to live for those eternal things and to look at the things in life which are taken away so easily, taken away so easily vanish as sort of well, you know, oh well, God told me that would happen and it\u2019s happened and I\u2019ve sort of kept a loose grip on it so yes, I\u2019m disappointed but my identity is not at stake, my future is not at stake, my hope is snot at stake because I\u2019m living for something which cannot be shaken.\n\n1 John 2:15-17 tells the believer, \u201c<\/strong>\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] \u00a0<\/sup>For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] \u00a0<\/sup>The world is passing away, and also<\/em> its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.\u201d\n\nThe Book of Revelation reminding us of this, reminding us of an earthquake that\u2019s coming where literally everything that can be shaken will be shaken.\u00a0 The defamation as we\u2019ll see in subsequent verses.\u00a0 Verse 19 we\u2019ll get to in just a moment is the collapse of two cities, two famous cities. Verse 20 is the moving away as a result of this massive earthquake of every mountain and island.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that earthquakes have a way of humbling us.\u00a0 We have sort of an illusion that we\u2019re in control of things, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 We think we\u2019re in control; we think we\u2019re in charge.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s somehow related to our sin nature where we seek to live independently from God.\u00a0 God, I\u2019ll check in with you when I need\u00a0 you kind of attitude; I\u2019ve got things taken care of for the time being.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting how the ground moving beneath one\u2019s feet is such a reminder that we don\u2019t control anything.\u00a0 In fact, the control that we think we have is largely an illusion.\u00a0 I had the opportunity to make two return trips last summer, the summer that we\u2019re coming out of, I guess that would be the last summer, the recent summer, how\u2019s that, to California and in our gym trip there were two tremors that took place.\u00a0 I grew up in California, I grew up with tremors, but having those tremors happen, having the ground shake, to move beneath my feet, it never sort of\u2026 you never lose the sort of the fear you\u2019re gripped with when that happens.\u00a0 But how bad is this going to get?\u00a0 When is the ground going to stop moving?\u00a0 And so these tremors have a way of humbling us, reminding us that we really aren\u2019t in control of anything.\n\nAnd I think God many times helps us with this illusion of control that we\u2019re in by sending into our lives certain tremors.\u00a0 Maybe not physical earthquakes, maybe not literal earthquakes, the kind we\u2019re reading about here, but there are emotional earthquakes, relational earthquakes, financial earthquakes, career type earthquakes.\u00a0 And we have a\u00a0 tendency to look at those things as the enemy when in fact I\u2019m convinced that many times God allows them or God sends them as a plan, as sort of a reminder to help us with the fact that our mindset of control is just an illusion.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is your very next breath wouldn\u2019t exist if God had not allowed it.\u00a0 And it\u2019s easy to forget that and so God says let me just send you a little reminder, let me send you a little wake up call.\n\nAnd earthquakes are interesting because they have a tendency to humble us, to get us away from a mentality which says well God, I\u2019ve got it under control, I\u2019ll check in when I need you.\u00a0 When an earthquake goes off in your life and whether you like it or not God has your attention.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 In fact, He\u2019s got your attention in a way He could probably never have your attention if that tremor had not just gone off.\u00a0 And so no doubt many of you are experiencing this week, this month, this year, a tremor of some kind.\u00a0 I would just invite you turn that into an opportunity instead of an enemy and say okay Lord, You\u2019ve got my attention.\u00a0 Speak, your servant is listening.\u00a0 I know I don\u2019t typically have that mindset during times of prosperity but I sure have that mindset during times of adversity.\n\nSo humanity here with the seventh bowl judgment begins to experience the greatest earthquake in human history\u00a0 resulting in the destruction of two cities.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message A Tale of Two Cities<\/em>.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see both of those cities described there in verse 19.\u00a0 Notice what the first part says, \u201cThe great city\u201d as a result of this earthquake, \u201cThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.\u201d And you say well what \u201cgreat city\u201d is that talking about?\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m convinced that that first city mentioned is the city of Jerusalem.\n\nWhy would I say that?\u00a0 I say that at least for three reasons.\u00a0 First of all the city is split into thirds and one of the things that you\u2019ll discover in the Book of Revelation as you\u2019re studying it and reading it you\u2019re going to say to yourself that reminds me of something in the Old Testament.\u00a0 No doubt the Book of Revelation expects us to approach it with a knowledge of the Old Testament in view.\u00a0 In fact, the Book of Revelation, you might be shocked to discover, has 404 verses in it; I believe 278 of those verses of 404 allude in some way to the Old Testament.\u00a0 When you think about a city being divided into thirds\u00a0 you ought to think about Ezekiel 5 because the prophet Ezekiel was told by God to get a haircut.\u00a0 Cut your hair and cut your beard and let the hair sit there in a pile on the floor.\n\nAnd this was something that God told Ezekiel to do just prior to the Babylonian captivity six centuries before the time of Christ.\u00a0 He\u2019s told to take a third of that hair and burn it, indicating the famine and the plague that would overtake Jerusalem when the captivity started.\u00a0 The second part of the third he is told to chop it with the sword indicating Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s sword that was to come against a third of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; a third would be destroyed in famine and a plague, a third would be destroyed by sword.\u00a0 And then the third part of the hair he\u2019s told to just sort of scatter it into the air, speaking of how Nebuchadnezzar would come and he would scatter the nation of Israel from their land.\n\nYou\u2019ll see all this in the Bible; you\u2019ll see it in Ezekiel 5:1-2.\u00a0 God says to Ezekiel, \u201cAs for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take it and use it as a barber\u2019s razor on your head and your beard. Then make scales for weighing and divide the hair. [2] \u00a0One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed.\u00a0 Then you shall take one third and strike it<\/em> with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.\u201d The division into thirds reminds us of the city of Jerusalem in the days of Ezekiel.\u00a0 The division of thirds here, no doubt, reminds\u00a0 us of the city of Jerusalem.\n\nIt\u2019s also interesting as you get into this, not only is the city split into three parts but you\u2019ll notice number two, that the city is distinguished from the nations.\u00a0 Did you catch that.\u00a0 The city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell.\u00a0 The word translated \u201cnations\u201d there is ethnos<\/em>, meaning Gentiles, ethnicity meaning Gentiles.\u00a0 So this city, a Jewish city, is distinguished from the Gentiles.\u00a0 That\u2019s another reason, I think, this is talking here about the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s a third reason I think this is referring to the city of Jerusalem is it calls this particular city \u201cthe great city.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been tracking with us through the book of Revelation that nomenclature should ring a bell because the city of Jerusalem, earlier in Revelation 11, was called \u201cthe great city.\u201d\n\nSpeaking of the two witnesses, killed in the city streets of Jerusalem, it says in Revelation 11 verse 8 \u201cAnd their dead bodies will lie<\/em> in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.\u201d\u00a0 Where was Christ crucified?\u00a0 Jerusalem.\u00a0 The \u201cgreat city\u201d here is a reference to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Looking back, chapter 16, verse 19, back to chapter 11, verse 8, I think the great city there is also the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 What is happening here with this seventh bowl judgment and the greatest earthquake in human history?\u00a0 Jerusalem is destroyed.\u00a0 Jerusalem in all of our travel brochures when we\u2019re convincing people to come with us to Israel and tour Israel; we have these wonderful pictures of the city of Jerusalem and if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly that whole thing is destroyed with the seventh bowl judgment.\n\nWhy would God destroy the city of Jerusalem?\u00a0 Because of the spiritual state of the city of Jerusalem at this time.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice Revelation 11:8 calls that city \u201cmystically.\u201d [Revelation 11:8, And their dead bodies will lie<\/em> in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.\u201d]\u00a0 In other words, here is a spiritual application, \u201cmystically Sodom and Egypt.\u201d\u00a0 Sodom symbolizing depravity; Egypt symbolizing bondage and legalism.\n\nAnd I\u2019m here to tell you that that\u2019s what Jerusalem is today.\u00a0\u00a0 Wait a minute pastor, you sound like one of those replacement theologians. Not at all!\u00a0 I love the Jewish people, I love God\u2019s work in regathering the Jewish people, but here\u2019s the thing to understand is the Jewish people today in the nation of Israel living in the city of Jerusalem are unbelievers.\u00a0 Consequently their destiny in God through tribulation, a time of Jacob\u2019s trouble is to be converted.\u00a0 In fact, this process is going to be so strenuous that according to Zechariah\u2019s prophecies, chapter 13, verses 8 and 9, only a third will be converted.\u00a0 [Zechariah 13:8-9, \u201c\u201cIt will come about in all the land,\u201d Declares the Lord, \u201cThat two parts in it will be cut off and<\/em> perish; But the third will be left in it.\u00a0 [9] \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cAnd I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested.\u00a0 They will call on My name, and I will answer them;\u00a0 I will say, \u2018They are My people,\u2019 And they will say, \u2018The Lord is my God.\u2019\u201d]\n\nUntil that happens Jerusalem is just like any other city.\u00a0 You know, we have gay right parades in San Francisco, I can show you times on the calendar where the identical type of parade takes place right there in the city streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Many of the inhabitants of that city, not just in a state of depravity but in a state of bondage, Egypt, thinking that somehow their religiosity is going to make them right with their god, not understanding grace and unmerited favor.\u00a0 Of all the understandings that we have, that is something that does not exist in the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 This is a process that they will go through to learn these truths.\u00a0 And so that old structure, God is going to take it in this seventh bowl and destroy that great city.\n\nAnd you say well, does that mean God is finished with the city of Jerusalem?\u00a0 Not at all!\u00a0 He\u2019s getting ready for His version of the city of Jerusalem, His original intention, the way He always wanted it, for it will be a literal city during the thousand year kingdom, after the second coming of Christ, and it will be the headquarters of the entire world.\u00a0 It will not just be a city of political significance, even more important to God than that is it will be a city of spiritual significance.\n\nIn fact, that\u2019s where Jesus is going to live for a thousand years; did you know that?\u00a0 The world will go there to worship Him. Zechariah 14:16-18 God says, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. [17] \u00a0<\/sup>And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. [18] If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall<\/em> on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\n\nPeople say to me well Andy, should we take a trip to Jerusalem.\u00a0 And my answer is why not, you\u2019re going to get there one way or the other, you might as well go now and just sort of get the lay of the land, because the world will travel to Jerusalem during the millennial kingdom to worship the King of Kings.\u00a0 Isaiah 2:2-3 says, \u201cNow it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.\u00a0 [3] \u00a0<\/sup>And many peoples will come and say, \u201cCome, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways\u2026..\u201d\u00a0 You mean the nations one day are going to go to Jerusalem not to impose their own will on the Jews but to learn the ways of God?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u2019\u00a0 For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from\u201d Washington D.C\u2026.. it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cfrom Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nThe whole plan of God is to get the world ready for that and\u00a0 yet what Jerusalem represents today\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is a far cry from what\u2019s coming.\u00a0 And so God allows this city to be destroyed.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that when Satan is in his place of incarceration for a thousand\u00a0 years and he\u2019s let out of his abyss, Revelation 20:7-9, and he is allowed at the end of that millennial kingdom one last stand, one last hoorah, who does he attack exactly?\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 20:9 says \u201cThey came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city,\u201d an obvious reference to Jerusalem.\n\nWhy would Satan, in his last stand against God, at the end of the thousand year kingdom come against Jerusalem?\u00a0 Because Jerusalem is where the action is.\u00a0 Jerusalem is the nerve center, it\u2019s the headquarters of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 The great scholar, Robert Thomas describing those verses says, \u201cAt the end of the millennium that city will be Satan\u2019s prime objective with his rebel army because Israel [from Jerusalem] will be leader again amongst the nations.\u201d\u00a0 I love Jerusalem, I even get the liver quiver when I\u2019m there.\u00a0 There\u2019s no more special place on planet earth than Jerusalem.\u00a0 And yet as wonderful as that place is it\u2019s but a fraction of everything God has intended for that city and thus the old must be destroyed to make way for the new.\u00a0 And so in this second bowl judgment Jerusalem is destroyed.\n\nNow if you read verse 19 very carefully there\u2019s a second city that is destroyed, you\u2019ll notice in many English translations, like for example, the New American Standard Bible which I\u2019m using today,\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice that after it describes Jerusalem the English translators put a period there in the English translation.\u00a0 Why did they do that?\u00a0 Because of the Greek text reflecting an idea that now we\u2019re going to be described in another city.\u00a0 What\u2019s that second city?\u00a0 Babylon the Great, the second part of versed 19, was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u00a0 I believe you have now a second city being described, Babylon the Great.\n\nDon\u2019t confuse Jerusalem with Babylon and don\u2019t confuse Babylon with Jerusalem.\u00a0 Those are two completely different cities.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Well, one of the reasons I know that is because the basement of the Book of Revelation is the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 If you want to understand the Book of Revelation\u00a0 you have to understand the Book of Daniel; if you want to understand the Book of Daniel you have to understand the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Daniel is the basement, Revelation is the ceiling.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to understand both together.\n\nAnd Babylon the Great has a paper trail, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Remember what Nebuchadnezzar said one day?\u00a0 Daniel 4:30, \u201cThe king reflected and said, \u2018Is this not Babylon the great,\u201d\u00a0 now here comes the I\u2019s, too many I\u2019s here, \u201cwhich I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You want to talk about an earthquake that\u2019s about to go off in his life, he had that for seven years as he became an insane animalistic type person for seven times because of that pride.\u00a0 And yet God, in His grace, restored Nebuchadnezzar when he came to his senses right back to the throne.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that amazing?\n\nSee, the earthquakes that go off in your life are not really designed to destroy you; we think so but God is just trying to wake us up because He wants to use us.\u00a0 He wants to restore us.\u00a0 But how do you use somebody that\u2019s so lifted up with pride because of the illusion of control that we don\u2019t even think we need God.\u00a0 And so this earthquake went off in Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s life but you\u2019ll notice when Nebuchadnezzar is making this prideful statement he uses the expression Babylon the Great.\u00a0 What is he talking about?\u00a0 The Roman Catholic Church?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t exist yet.\u00a0 The Roman Empire?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t exist yet.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about the city of Babylon between the Euphrates and the Tigris.\u00a0 One of the hanging gardens there, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, when the same expression shows up in Revelation 16:19 it\u2019s talking about the same city that is destined to be rebuilt and become the headquarters of the antichrist during this coming seven year tribulation period.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:19, \u201cThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u201d]\n\nA tale of two cities, you have to keep the cities separate.\u00a0 Did you know that the city of Jerusalem in the Bible is mentioned 800 times?\u00a0 And you know what it means every single time?\u00a0 Jerusalem!\u00a0 I know that\u2019s why you come here to Sugar Land Bible Church, to get these really cutting edge insights.\u00a0 Did you know that the name Babylon is mentioned 300 times in the Bible and do you know what it always means?\u00a0 Babylon!\u00a0 Why would John, at the end of the Bible all of a sudden get confused and switch the terms around?\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 A tale of two cities, Babylon is first mentioned in Genesis 11:8-9, the city, therefore its name was called Babel.\u00a0 [Genesis 11:8-9, \u201cSo the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. \u00a0[9] Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.\u201d]\n\nBab gates el God<\/em>, the gate of Gods, to quote those great theologians, Led Zeppelin is it, I think it\u2019s Led Zeppelin, is it Led Zeppelin, A Stairway to Heaven<\/em>?\u00a0 Did I get that right?\u00a0 Don\u2019t say yes because then you\u2019ll reveal how carnal you are.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 The gate of the gods, a stairway to heaven, right there in modern day Iraq, an area called Shinar, between the Euphrates and the Tigris.\u00a0 That\u2019s the first mention of Babylon.\n\nThe first time Jerusalem is mentioned in the entire Bible is Genesis 14 and verse 18 concerning Melchizedek, the \u201cking of Salem.\u201d\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Salem sound a little bit like Jerusalem<\/u>?\u00a0 Salem, doesn\u2019t that sound kind of like Shalom, which means peace, the city of peace.\u00a0 \u201cAnd Melchizedek, the King of Salem, brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.\u201d\n\nBabylon, Genesis 11.\u00a0 Jerusalem, Genesis 14.\u00a0 Now trace those cities all the way through the Bible and you\u2019ll have a tremendous Bible study in your hands.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see those cities interacting over and over and over and over again, always as separate entities.\u00a0 In fact, Babylon, as you know, is the place where the children of Israel were taken into captivity, modern day Iraq, for seventy years.\u00a0 A Tale of Two Cities,<\/em> the city of God, the city of Satan.\u00a0 You can sort of sum up the whole Bible studying everything God has to say about those two cities.\u00a0 And Babylon in her [can't understand word] thinks she\u2019s getting away with something.\u00a0 Probably all this time as she was abusing the Jews, taking the Jews into captivity, destroying the temple under Nebuchadnezzar, she\u00a0 probably thought she was getting the upper hand on God\u2019s people and\u00a0 yet like Jerusalem Babylon comes to a crashing halt there in verse 19, \u201cBabylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 16:19]\u00a0 You mean to tell me that Babylon has a cup?\u00a0 Yes she does.\n\nJeremiah 51:7 of Babylon says, \u201cBabylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD intoxicating, intoxicating\u201d now what do you do with the cup?\u00a0 You get drunk,\u00a0 you intoxicate. Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all of the earth.\u00a0 The nations have drunk of her wine, the nations are going mad.\u00a0 That\u2019s Babylon and her cup, and her legacy.\n\nNow look at Revelation 17:4, which as you know is all about Babylon. What does it say there:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201chaving in her hand a golden\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201ccup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality.\u201d\u00a0 Look at verse 2, \u201cwith whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.\u201d\u00a0 Why had the nations become drunk to the point of madness?\u00a0 Because of the intoxicating influence of Babylon as symbolized through this cup.\u00a0 And you understand that cup and then you understand the language of God who says, verse 19, \u201cBabylon the Great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 16:19]\n\nDo you like a cup Babylon?\u00a0 Do you like the intoxicating influence that you have spread throughout planet earth?\u00a0 Now\u00a0 you\u2019re about to get My cup God says.\u00a0 This is the cup of wrath!\u00a0 A couple of Sunday\u2019s ago I had a chance to teach on some of these things and we had a message entitled The Sarcasm of God<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Antichrist, do you like darkness?\u00a0 Fine, then your whole empire will end in physical darkness.\u00a0 Egypt, do you like frogs?\u00a0 Fine, I\u2019ll multiply them everywhere.\u00a0 Egypt, do you worship the Nile?\u00a0 Fine, I\u2019ll turn it into blood.\n\nAnd here you see again the sarcasm of God, the reminder that God, even in judgment has a sense of humor, reminding creation that who exactly is in charge here.\u00a0 God is in charge!\u00a0 You like the cup?\u00a0 Here\u2019s a cup, here\u2019s the cup of not just My wrath but My fierce wrath.\u00a0 I went and looked that up in the Greek.\u00a0 Normally what\u2019s used for wrath is org\u0113,<\/em> that word is severe enough but coupled with it is another word, thumos<\/em>, anger.\u00a0 The idea is anger to the point of a violent outburst, coupled with wrath.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just wrath but it\u2019s anger.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just anger but it is wrath because you\u2019ve got two separate Greek words here and the English translation doesn\u2019t know what to do with that.\u00a0 I hardly know what to do with it it\u2019s so severe, just translate it as fierce wrath.\u00a0 But it is anger and wrath, and wrath and anger.\n\nOn the plains of Shinar, when they built their first one world system to oppose God and God scattered the language and prevented the workers from working together, this project headed by Nimrod, you get this idea that God has never forgotten about that.\u00a0 He\u2019s never forgotten about Babylon\u2019s abuse of God\u2019s people all the way through the Bible. He\u2019s never forgotten about the captivity that the Babylonians brought the nation of Israel into for seventy years.\u00a0 He\u2019s never forgotten about the destruction of the temple that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed around 586\u00a0 B.C.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it says God remembered, He gave her a cup, the cup of His fierce countenance.\n\nYou say well,\u00a0 pastor, I\u2019d like to learn a little more about Babylon, and you may be sorry you asked that question because what is coming in chapters 17 and 18 is the final of five non-chronological insertions in the Book of Revelation, where you\u2019re going to get an in depth description of Babylon in chapter 17 and verse 18.\u00a0 In fact, look at chapter 17, verse 1, look what it says there.\u00a0 \u201cThen one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls\u201d aha, this is the angel that just poured out the bowl, that brought the destruction of Babylon, \u201ccame and spoke with me, saying, \u201cCome here,\u201d to John, \u201cI will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.\u201d\u00a0 And this is what you have in these non-chronological parenthetical insertions, five of them so far, we\u2019ve already studied four, \u00a0\u00a0(Can you believe that?)\u00a0 where the chronology stops.\u00a0 It stops saying first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh; it stops and it gives you more insight into something that just happened in the chronology.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we find coming in chapters 17 and 18.\u00a0 Jerusalem is destroyed, Babylon is destroyed.\n\nAnd then if you look at verse 20 you have the destruction of every\u2026 EVERY\u2026 \u00a0EVERY mountain and island.\u00a0 Have you ever seen an earthquake like that?\u00a0 Such a thing has never happened\u00a0 in history.\u00a0 But this one is coming.\u00a0 Verse 20, \u201cAnd every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.\u201d\u00a0 One of the questions we get in prophecy circles is what\u2019s going to happen to the antichrist\u2019s temple?\u00a0 I mean, we know there\u2019s a third temple, right, because the antichrist, Daniel 9:27, must \u201cput a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate\u201d midway through the tribulation period, in the middle of the week we\u2019re told.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d]\n\nThe antichrist goes into the third temple, the Jewish temple, and he desecrates\u00a0 it by deifying himself and setting up a pagan image in the temple.\u00a0\u00a0 Haven\u2019t we covered that issue in depth in Daniel and Revelation?\u00a0 Right in the middle of the tribulation period that happens and yet you can\u2019t have that event unless there\u2019s a what?\u00a0 There\u2019s a temple!\u00a0 So we\u2019ve always believed that a third temple is on the horizon.\u00a0 A third temple will be rebuilt.\u00a0 Having just returned from Jerusalem and visited the temple institute where they take you through from the mindset of an unbelieving Jew who doesn\u2019t function without the light of the New Testament, they\u2019ve got the whole temple laid out, garments selected, the red heifer being bred.\u00a0 All of this to function in this third temple.\u00a0 And we say wow, we\u2019re running out of time here.\u00a0 God\u2019s clock is winding down.\n\nYou see, Israel is the hour hand, Jerusalem is the minute hand, the temple Mount is the second hand.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you start to look at these things through the vantage point of prophecy.\u00a0 You start talking to me about a rebuilt temple, oh my goodness.\u00a0 In fact, the temple institute, you can find it as easily as a Google search today, it has videos of a promotional nature, praying about this third temple and they talk about it as if it\u2019s a done deal.\u00a0 And yet what\u2019s going to happen to that third temple?\u00a0 Well I agree with others, like Arnold Fruchtenbaum, that that particular third temple is going to be destroyed, just like the city of Jerusalem is going to be destroyed in bowl judgment number seven.\u00a0 The greatest earthquake in human history which decimates the city of Jerusalem will destroy that third temple as well.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because just as God is paving the way for a millennial Jerusalem, a Jerusalem as He intended it, not a Jerusalem that\u2019s mystically called Sodom in Egypt, He\u2019s paving the way for the fourth temple that\u2019s described in tremendous proportions in the Book of Ezekiel that the temple, which the Shekinah glory of God will re-enter.\u00a0\u00a0 WOW!!!!\n\nYou know, when Solomon built that first temple it talks in Kings about how the glory of God filled that place.\u00a0 So from around 966 B.C\u00a0 up until about 586 B.C. the glory of God was everywhere in that temple, and then the glory of God left.\u00a0 You read about it in Ezekiel 8-11 just prior to the Babylonian deportation.\u00a0 Why did the glory of God leave?\u00a0 The glory of God left for the same reason the glory of God leaves anything; man started doing things his own way, without God.\u00a0 And thus Jeremiah and Ezekiel would make predictions and assessments of the nation of Israel at that time.\u00a0 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so!\u201d\u00a0 Jeremiah 5:31.]\n\nIt\u2019s the people that were cheering on the corruption of the priesthood and the prophets.\u00a0 You don\u2019t think that kind of thing can happen in a church today?\u00a0 That kind of thing happens in churches all over this country where what is dictating the church is the itching ears of man, 2 Timothy 4:3-4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:3-4, \u201cFor the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting<\/em> to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, [4] and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.\u201d]\u00a0 And that\u2019s why when you get to Laodicea Jesus is on the outside of that church knocking on the door, seeking admission into His own church.\u00a0 And so the glory of God left.\n\nAnd God, in this seventh bowl destroys that third temple, that abominable statue erected by the antichrist as a worship to himself.\u00a0 Because God is through with temples?\u00a0 Not at all, there\u2019s a fourth one coming and its dimensions are massive in comparison to the second temple, even the original Solomonic temple, the Tabernacle, bigger than even a football field.\u00a0\u00a0 And it\u2019s going to be functioning for a thousand years in the millennial kingdom and the Shekinah glory of God\u00a0 that left will go back in.\u00a0 Read it for yourself.\u00a0 It\u2019s all in Ezekiel 40-46. Most preachers don\u2019t know what to do with that.\u00a0 You know what they do?\u00a0 They just get white out and allegorize it away,\u00a0 oh, it\u2019s a bunch of\u00a0 excuses, it can\u2019t be real, it can\u2019t be true.\u00a0 Nonsense!\u00a0 Everything that God said is going to happen and God is getting the world ready as Satan is being evicted for his Jerusalem, his version of it, \u00a0it\u2019s still a physical city, and his temple and his version of it still a physical temple.\n\nAnd we come now to verse 21where it continues and it says, \u201cAnd huge hailstones, about a hundred pounds each,\u201d the Greek word there is talent\u00a0 [\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03b1, a talent weight]\u00a0 which most people believe was about a hundred pounds.\u00a0 So it\u2019s translated as a hundred pounds each; huge hailstones, we\u2019re not talking about things that dent\u00a0 your car, the kind of hail storms that we\u2019re used to; we\u2019re talking about huge hailstones of a hundred pounds each come down from heaven upon men.\n\nNow we\u2019ve run into hail before in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 11:19 talks about a great hail storm\u00a0 but not like this, hundred pound hailstones.\u00a0 .\u00a0 [Revelation 11:19, \u201cAnd the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.\u201d]\u00a0 And you know it\u2019s interesting, what\u2019s the oldest book of the Bible?\u00a0 The Book of Job.\u00a0 Do you remember in the Book of Job where God showed up and started to ask questions of Job?\u00a0 You see, the whole Book of Job everybody\u2019s talking, chatty-Kathy dolls, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk talk.\n\nAll of them think they understand what\u2019s going on, all of them trying to analyze Job\u2019s predicament.\u00a0 Job doesn\u2019t understand what\u2019s happened to him even though he thinks he under\u00adstands.\u00a0 Neither do his so-called counsellors, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and then another guy, Elihu, and as readers we\u2019re kind of laughing at this talking, this process of dialogue because we have privy to each the first two chapters that they don\u2019t have.\u00a0 And we\u2019re seeing the limits and definitudes of human understanding because we have privy to the first two chapters that they don\u2019t have.\u00a0 And we\u2019re seeing the limits and finitudes of human understanding.\n\nAnd then finally God talks and God\u2019s only point is\u00a0 you don\u2019t know anything.\u00a0 And here\u2019s how I\u2019m going to prove to you that you don\u2019t know anything\u2014I\u2019m going to give you a quiz.\u00a0 How would you like a pop quiz from God?\u00a0 And He starts to query Job about creation.\u00a0 Job doesn\u2019t know anything about creation because he wasn\u2019t there, only God knows because He\u2019s the only eyewitness.\u00a0 Carl Sagan doesn\u2019t know either.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 All of these scientists that come on and tell us billions of years this, billions of\u00a0 years that, big bang this, big bang that, what do they know?\u00a0 They don\u2019t know anything because they weren\u2019t there.\n\nAnd in the process of this inquiry God says this: Job 38:22, \u201cHave you entered the storehouses of the snow or have you seen the storehouse of the hail?\u201d\u00a0 Job, do you know anything about the hail that I have in heaven?\u00a0 And if I\u2019m understanding this correctly that hail is something God created in heaven and it\u2019s been waiting there since creation itself for bowl number seven because that hail which God created, that Job doesn\u2019t know anything about, now comes out of heaven.\u00a0 Does it not say that there?\u00a0 Does it not say, \u201cAnd huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from\u201d where? \u201cheaven upon men; [and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.\u201d]\u00a0 And so this hail that God has always had is now released upon the inhabitants of the earth.\n\nYou say hail, that\u2019s sure sounds familiar.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t hail remind us of the seven plagues in the Book of Exodus?\u00a0 Yes it does, just like hail reminds of the seventh plague, and frogs remind us of \u00a0the second plague. Darkness, fifth bowl, darkness ninth plague.\u00a0 Rivers to blood, third bowl judgment, first plague in the Book of Exodus.\u00a0 Sores, haven\u2019t we read about that?\u00a0 First bowl judgment, Book of Revelation, sixth plague, the Book of Exodus.\u00a0 Have you ever asked yourself why there\u2019s so many similarities here with the Book of Exodus?\u00a0 I mean, when I read the Book of Revelation I think I\u2019m reading the Book of Exodus again.\n\nWhy the similarities?\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason for it.\u00a0 For one thing, just as the Exodus judgments happened literally the things that we\u2019re reading about in the Book of Revelation are literal!\u00a0 Beyond that, just as the plagues in the Book of Exodus kept increasing in intensity that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re seeing in the Book of Revelation isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Beyond that, just as Pharaoh kept hardening his heart against God that\u2019s what man is doing as we\u2019ll see at the end of this verse.\n\nAnd finally, in the Book of Exodus what is God doing?\u00a0 What did those ten plagues accomplish? God, in plague number ten finally broke the back of Pharaoh just like He\u2019s breaking the back of Satan here and consequently God\u2019s people were liberated.\u00a0 This is why we call it the Exodus, exit, leaving, they were taken out of 400 years of bondage.\u00a0 What is God doing in the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 He is taking the whole earth out of the bondage that it\u2019s been in since the fall of man!\u00a0 The earth, Romans 8, is in a state of travail, it\u2019s groaning under a curse, it\u2019s been that way, going back to our forbearers in Eden and God is performing the ultimate exodus; \u00a0Satan is being evicted.\u00a0 And the light and the glory of His kingdom, which will last a thousand years, will now come to the earth, with a rightly functioning Jerusalem, a rightly functioning temple, and a worshipful human race that will travel to Jerusalem to pay proper homage to the King.\n\nHow can you bring in something like that unless you evict the adverse possessor? \u00a0Satan is being evicted, exiting and I think that\u2019s why you have these parallels with the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 I have to be frank with you; it is to the point now where it grieves me when I see churches trying to bring in the Kingdom of God, just social activity or social gospel.\u00a0 Or they call themselves \u201ckingdom builders\u201d or the \u201ckingdom man.\u201d\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 The church can\u2019t bring this in!\u00a0 ONLY these judgments orchestrated by God will bring the glorious kingdom of God to the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus told us to pray, \u201cThy kingdom come,\u201d what are we praying for? We\u2019re praying for this to happen.\u00a0 Revelation 11:15, \u201cThe kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.\u201d\n\nAnd you think humanity would say great, bring it on Lord!\u00a0 But that\u2019s not their reaction, look at the end of verse 21. \u201cAnd huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBlasphemed,\u201d what does that mean?\u00a0 It means to speak against someone so as to harm or injure his reputation occurring in relation to persons as well as divine beings to revile, to defame, to blaspheme reviling.\n\nDavid Hocking in his commentary on the Book of Revelation on this verse says: \u201cIt is quite astonishing to read the response of the people of the earth to this remarkable disaster.\u00a0 All hope of survival be gone and nothing but ruins and evidences of total destruction will be evident.\u00a0 And still men do not repent but they do the opposite, but instead blaspheme God for doing it.\u201d\n\nIt is not as if God hasn\u2019t given people opportunities throughout the Book of Revelation for repentance. We\u2019ve studied that, Revelation 7, 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 Revelation 11, two Jewish witnesses.\u00a0 Revelation 14, an angel flying to and fro giving all men the eternal gospel.\u00a0 And there have been some that have received the grace of God.\u00a0 But by and large it looks like humans are just still humans at the end of the day. \u00a0\u00a0They just continue on in their own depravity, not responding to God.\n\nYou know, I\u2019m reminded of one of the greatest sermons that was ever preached on the Book of Acts in a place called the Aeropagus; I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever been a finer evangelistic oratory that\u2019s ever been given, EVER, by the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 You read through that and you say yeah, thumbs up, go Paul!\u00a0 And then you get to the end of the chapter and you see the reaction of people, and this is what it says:\u00a0 [Acts 17:32]\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cNow when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some began to sneer, but others said, \u2018We shall hear you again concerning this.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBut some men joined him and believed, [among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.\u201d Acts 17:34]\n\nYou hear an address like that, one group is laughing at it; another group is postponing a decision, don\u2019t bother me now with this.\u00a0 By the way, if you postpone a decision you just made a decision.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 And you\u2019re presuming that there\u2019s going to be a tomorrow; there may not be a tomorrow.\u00a0 But some believed, sneering postponement believing. It\u2019s so depressing to read that because I would think everybody would respond.\u00a0 I would think by the end of this whole process that we\u2019ve been studying in the Book of Revelation that the world would be converted; some have been but obviously what we\u2019re reading here at the end of verse 21 not all.\n\nAnd so really, it\u2019s the same issue with us, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 You hear the gospel, the grace of God, Jesus (as we say over and over again at this church) has stepped out of eternity into time to pay a debt for us that we can\u2019t pay.\u00a0 We take it right out of the Bible, we say it over and over again, we put it on social media.\u00a0 You know what we\u2019re going to get? We\u2019re going to get those same three responses; we\u2019re going to get mockery.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m foolish enough to look at the Facebook comments, many of them very encouraging but you get your mockers on there.\u00a0 Some are going to postpone the decision, oh I don\u2019t want to be bothered with that.\u00a0 But some believe!\n\nQuestion\u2014where are you in this?\u00a0 When it comes to personal salvation where are\u00a0 you?\u00a0 Let me up the game a little bit.\u00a0 Maybe you are saved and God has spoken to you in this sermon about something in your life that needs a change.\u00a0 Are you a sneerer, a postponer, or a responder?\u00a0 And so our exhortation at Sugar Land Bible Church for those that have never been saved is to get into that camp where they are saved and that happens with simple faith alone in Christ alone receiving what Jesus has done as a gift.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of walking an aisle, joining a church, giving money, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord when you trust in Him and Him alone for salvation.\u00a0 We say that over and over again, we\u2019re saying it again today.\u00a0 There are others that are saved and the Holy Spirit is saying this has to go under My power, this has to change, I have something better for you.\u00a0 And within the body of Christ I would say this;\u00a0 you\u2019re going to get the same three reactions.\u00a0 If the Spirit is convicting you of something are you sneering?\u00a0 Are you postponing?\u00a0 Or are you responding?\u00a0 Our exhortation to the unbeliever is to respond to the cross; our exhortation to the believer it\u2019s to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit whereby He seeks to transform us and conform us into the image of his Son.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for what is unfolded to us here at the end of chapter 16, all the truth that\u2019s for us in this seventh and final judgment.\u00a0 I pray that You\u2019ll be with us next week as we will begin to look at the whole subject of Babylon as we move into chapters 17 and 18.\u00a0 We ask that You\u2019ll be with us, we ask that You will guide us this week. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t