Chapter seventeen in the book of the Revelation today is our portion. We come to a very solemn chapter today, very lengthy, but as we follow it we shall go step by step following the outline on your lesson sheet as we come to what is written in chapter seventeen as well as in chapter eighteen relative to the fall of Babylon. You will find in your opening remarks of the page number twenty-seven regarding Babylon and the Beast, you will find in the introduction of the paragraph beginning the page that the fall of Babylon is referred to back in chapter fourteen as well as in chapter sixteen. Now what we are about to read and study today is not a continuation of the prophecy. Rather what it is, it is an explanation of what we have read in chapter fourteen and what we have read in chapter sixteen, where very briefly the Spirit of God related the coming fall of Babylon the Great. And now we study the chapter in detail that records the vision that John was given relative to the great harlot and also the beast. Let me read the first six verses. As we begin, there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth, have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And a woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with golden precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand. full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead a name was a name written, Mystery, Babel and the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman, drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration, properly rendered would be the word, with great amazement. Now may I very briefly introduce our study this morning from this chapter with a few remarks that I believe should be needful relative to what we approach here in this seventeenth chapter of the Revelation. Some of you should, and we should all remember as we've studied the book of the Revelation, And especially the chapters two and three, we saw the history, the prophetic, as well as the spiritual history of the church upon the earth, as John by the Spirit reveals it in those seven letters to the seven churches. Now do you always also remember that in those seven letters, we found that there was a constant spiritual decline in the outward testimony of the profession of Christianity upon the earth. We also noted, and I remind you of it, that in some of those letters particularly, we saw the distinction between those who were genuine believers and others who were only professing believers with no reality to their profession of conversion. Then when we came to the closing letter, which was Laodicea, Did we not read that the Lord Jesus said of Laodicea that there was no room for him within that testimony? He was without standing at the door? And did he not declare, I will spew thee out of my mouth? And we recognize that the Laodicean stage of the church's history was the closing testimony of the church upon the earth. Now let me briefly state, with no apology, for the fact is an unpleasant truth, but it is true. The church in its outward testimony upon the earth is a failure. I didn't say, neither does the Word of God say that all Christians are failures, but a professing corporate. Now may I make a distinction, and we want to see it. There is a distinction between the individual Christians, and the outward corporate character and representation of the church. And may I remind you as well as myself, we recognize that when the Lord Jesus walked in the midst of those seven candlesticks, those seven churches, he exposed what was genuine and what was false in relation to the testimony. So that we can confess, frankly, You can't change the situation. Failure has significantly been true of the church's history. Now let me also corroborate the fact. You that have studied dispensations will always remember that every period, whether it's the period of innocence in the Garden of Eden, whether it's the period of conscience, between the Garden of Eden and the Flood, whether it was the period of human government when Noah was brought back to the earth to govern it, whether it was the period of Abraham's life of promise, whether it was the period of the dispensation of the law beginning with the institution of Israel as a nation down to the coming of Christ. Every period ended in failure. God's people unitedly failed. Now there were individuals that did not. But unitedly there was failure in not keeping the word of God. Now that is just as true for the church at large in its corporate testimony. We're going to see that. For what we have before is John is being shown what is the false church that will be preeminent and predominant upon the earth after the rapture. For when the rapture takes place, all the true believers constituting the body of Christ, the church will be taken out. But that profession, not genuine, never born again, the professing to carry on the testimony of Christianity will be left. And what we have in chapter seventeen and eighteen, we find God's judgment upon that false church. For it will consist not only of the domination of one particular brand of Christendom, the strongest, what has been the greatest, open manifestation of any church power, I hope I don't have to tell you the name of it, If you know church history at all, you can recognize all down through from the dark Middle Ages and down, there's been one predominant church of which we shall see in its character in our chapter has been guilty of spiritual fornication and of corruptness and even of the slaying of God's servants and of his witnesses. But it's not only that one dominant church, I believe every brand of professing Christendom will come under her domination before the end. Some of you perhaps are aware of the fact there's a strong ecumenical movement that is absolutely not scriptural. To bring all the churches together. One world church. It will be accomplished. But now may I point out this. That church of which we shall now read will not be the Lord's church. It'll be the devil. Oh, does Saint have a church? He sure does. He's building it. And we see in the days that after the true church is taken, That church which he dominates will be manifested. And then come under the judgment of God, which we have in our chapter. Now what John is given in our first six verses, if you please note, the vision on your lesson sheet, the vision of the great harlot. And she dominates the nations religiously, as does the beast. politically now let me point out first what we have in the whole chapter you've got in your heading of your page the vision of Babylon and the beast Babylon mystery the great Babylon Babylon the great and you've got the beast now here you've got two characters one represented by a woman who as we shall see sits upon the beast but these two characters they represent the moral condition of the earth after the rapture, before the Lord comes back to the earth in glory and in power. And very similarly, you find them represented before the days of the flood. There were two particular characteristics in the days before the flood. There was corruption, moral corruption, spiritual corruption, and there was violence. Those two are the main things that took place before the flood. Manifested the need of God's tragic, drastic judgment. And that's what's going to be manifested after the church, the true church is taken out. There's going to be the manifestation of that corruption of the false church, together with the violence of the one who is the beast, of whom we studied in chapter thirteen, the head of the revived Roman Empire. And so as you read that paragraph, please note, she is Satan's counterfeit of the true church. She is supreme over the civil power, without with glory, but inward corruption, produce a terrible progeny of children, but guilty of the blood of saints, and so on. Now let me just briefly state this. I'm not... how many of you have read much of medieval history. But as a boy in England, that's all we got. English history went back even before the days of Christ. But one of the most prominent and dominant periods of history was that period when the church, professing church, and I speak very bluntly, it was the Roman Catholic Church. Politically dominated the nation. politically dominated the kings. And if you study the history of those dark Middle Ages, the manifestation of the opposition to those who wanted to carry out the word of God and refused to bow to the political power of that church caused many to be taken in debt. in the name of Christ. Well, we have a great deal of uproar regarding the persecution of the Jews. But may I say, the church itself, professing church now, has been guilty of the blood of many. And all you need to do, read the history of the past century. particularly before the eighteenth and going back even to AD five hundred and that there may I put it this way God hasn't forgotten it God hasn't forgotten it and now we see now please note this now we see in the prophetic word of revelation the revival of that political power being associated with the woman who sits. Please note this in verse three. John says he was carried away in the spirit, where? Into the wilderness. Why a wilderness? Beloved, what John is describing by the Holy Spirit, the situation is for the dry barren desert spiritually upon the earth. And he sees the vision of the woman on the beast in the wilderness. Now may I give a contrast? Because you can link chapter seventeen, eighteen and nineteen together. In chapter seventeen and eighteen, you've got the false church and its destruction. In chapter nineteen, you have the marriage of the lamb with the true church. And may I give you this thought, before you get to the marriage of the lamb, God says, I'm going to destroy the false church. There's not going to be any claiming to be the bride of Christ. They'll be destroyed before that wedding of the marriage of the land to the bride. You can recognize how beautifully it falls in the prophet's sequence, how God said, I'll destroy that false church. And you please note. And you read in verse three again. She sat upon the woman with sitting upon a scarlet colored beast. Now will you please go to verse four. The woman was arrayed in purple scarlet color. Do I need to tell you purple and scarlet colors that dominate that particular church in the Roman Catholic system? Their cardinals? Their bishops? Therefore, godly day. And may I say something? I hesitate in a way, but I notice that. That even some of our Protestant, even some of our evangelical groups are carrying out similar outward ritual in being adorned. I want to tell you something. Don't you ever think I'll ever come here with any ecclesiastical down on me? I'm only a brother. with my fellow believers in the body of Christ? Let me ask you the question. Could you go back to the early church and imagine Peter looking like the Pope today or any other person that adorns himself with ecclesiastical garb and Rome? No? Please, the outward adornment which has been superseding the inward condition. That's what you've got here. She's outwardly arrayed. Rich, go in verse four. Not only purple and scarlet, jack with gold, precious stones, pearls. Remember what Laodicea said? I'm thou sayest, said the Lord Jesus. I'm rich. I have need of nothing. And let's say very frankly, I say very frankly, when you look at the false church with all others that will come under his shelter in that coming day, let us pray. For will you please go back? Go look at them with me in verse one. I want you to notice at the end of it. That great whore, please let me say, I didn't like this book. The Lord wrote it as spiritual adulterous. Sitting upon what? No, many waters. And I want you to recognize the broad expanse of this false church in her power over the nations, as we can see. And yet you've got it in verse two again. The kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth, made drunk, intoxicated by the wine of earth. And please let me say, this is spiritual adultery. This is spiritual fornication. It's spiritual Babylon. It's not literal Babylon. A city that once has existed and has been destroyed. And according to Jeremiah fifty-one, the destruction of literal Babylon was final in the days when God judged it. Never to be revived again. This is spiritual Babylon. The spirit of it goes all the way back to Genesis eleven. Under Nimrod, who built the Tower of Babel. It's rebellion against God. Proud! Exalting self rather than the Lord. But good with verse four, please. I want you to notice something. How she is decked, as we have noticed. And then, but, worse still, she has a golden cup in her hands, full of what? Abomination, filthiness, of her fornication. And one can well recognize, sad indeed, is the suggestion that in that goat play outwardly everything to attract the flesh. Everything to attract the flesh. Everything to attract the flesh. May I say, please lovingly, how would you, if you follow the scriptures, how would you describe the church as it is to Christ? Can you describe the church on the ground of scripture by any ornate building or any ornate garment? The church, according to Scripture, is made up of born-again blood-bought people. Born-again blood-bought people. And you may call the building the church, but the building isn't the church. The church walks into the building, if you please. You can't have the church unless you've got some living saints. No matter where you meet, whether in the open air or in a provided building as the case may be. Please, please let me put it this way. Let me say very frankly, lovingly, and I need it for my own self too. Every born again believer is a fellow member with me in the body of Christ, which is the church. Which is the church. And may I give you this thought? Ephesians five twenty five Paul writes Christ what loved the church now let me ask you a question and I ask my own heart how much do I love the church and when I say that I mean how much do I love God's people for after all they are the church God's people God's people God's people. And it is with a sad heart to realize how God's dear people today need help. Food, ministry that will build them up. The outward show that attracts the flesh, that's not the church. But here in the false church, may I go again as we saw in the beginning of our paragraph, On our lesson sheet, it's Satan's church. It's Satan's church. Now let me give you something else to think about regarding that church in its coming manifestation. You know in Romans chapter thirteen, where we studied last year the book of Romans, we are told in chapter thirteen to obey the powers that be. Meaning the government. And as Christians, We recognize from the teaching, and may I remind you, when Paul wrote it, he was writing to the church at Rome, to the believers at Rome. He was writing while the Roman Empire was in power back then. What kind of a power was it? Well, they were killing Christians, but he's telling them to obey the powers of their being. But when it comes to the church and the Great Tribulation period, that principle will not hold. If you're going to obey the church and if you're going to obey the powers that be in the Great Tribulation, you've got to worship the beast. You have to worship the beast. And as we've seen from already our study, anyone that worships the beast will be cast into the lake of fire. So you can recognize when, put it this way, when Satan's church is existing in its full power, none of it belongs to God at all. God takes his hand off it. Satan has his power. And if you will please note it, and it's well to note it, please may I say, if I may go further, in verse five, as the apostle writes, and you go to verse five, Upon her forehead was a name written. Babylon. Mystery. In other words, now here you have, you know, the word mystery is unusual in the New Testament. It usually refers to something never revealed before. And as John looks at this woman on the beach, riding the beach, and one can recognize the ecclesiastical power will have influence over the political power. for a while. Not all the time, but for a while. There's a book written during the World War. I remember reading it with much interest. And the title of the book was The Vatican in Politics. And the revealing fact, one revealing fact in that book that I read amazed me that it recorded very definitely and concretely with positive proof that the Roman Catholic Church subsidized Hitler for one specific reason, to use Hitler as a buffer against communism. And you know the Roman Catholic Church doesn't want communism. But for political reasons, put millions of dollars in the hands of Hitler. That's a good spiritual discerning act, wasn't it? Unfortunately. Unfortunately. But now, in the Great Tribulation, as we see here, she comes dominantly into power, and Satan energizes. And as you read, John says, the mystery is this. Battle on the great, and no, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Producing! Children like us. You remember in chapter three of the book of Revelation, chapter two rather, the letter to Pergamus? You remember there was a type of a woman called Jezebel whom the Lord accused the church of Pergamus of permitting her to teach? I will kill her children, said the Lord Jesus. And beloved, the sad commentary is, there's the production of followers, the production of children who follow us. produced by our false pity, produced by our ways and by our power. And yet they are called harlots and abomination of the earth. And as we have noted in verse six, here you have it again. I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Can I say lovingly, my young life as a boy in England was saturated with English history. And it was very difficult to read anything in English history, particularly from the maybe AD five hundred and up, without finding in the history of it the persecution of the church against true believers. And the shedding of their blood. Mary, Queen of Scots, she didn't mind chopping somebody's head off. And many of the others in that day. And there were many. You think of the martyrs that gave their lives of the state, even for writing the Bible. Latimer and others, who for the sake of bringing the word of God out in writing and in praying, gave their lives to reproduce that word for the people. They were martyrs. Who murdered them? The church. The church. You know, one of the greatest powers of those days in the past, before England ever rose to such power, was Spain. It was the greatest power in the world, dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, enforcing what was often called the Spanish Inquisition upon all their enemies, torturing them. They had what they called the racked where they would take if they ever called an Englishman, captured an Englishman, they'd take him, put him on this right, and the right would pull his legs in opposite direction, pull his arms in opposite directions, just as though they're trying to tear him apart. Oh, because they're trying to subdue the country to obey the church. Sad. Now, may I say then, the greatest tragedy that ever has taken place in relation to the church's history when the church began to become political. And may I give you the suggestion, it's bad for it today if it tries to do the same. Separation. We are in the world, but we're not to be of the world, said the Lord Jesus. And one can recognize. when thus we're unfaithful to his truth and his word. How false conditions arise. And we have them here. And John was amazed. Now the word admiration doesn't mean he admired the woman. It really means in its original he was astonished, beyond telling. Now please note verse seven through verse, as we go on, down through verse eighteen quickly. And John gives the history. of the beast as he comes on. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I'll tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carryeth her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. Now very briefly, and you have it on your lesson sheet, you can follow it at your convenience. Here's the woman, and you have it on your lesson sheet, you can follow it at your convenience. Here's the woman riding the political power. the political power. And thus one can recognize she sits in authority over the beast. May I go further to state, there's no question of doubt, financially, materially, that there will be contributions to help the beast, who is the head of the revived Roman Empire, to carry out his desires. He acknowledges, and he will acknowledge, the supremacy of the church in this particular way. But now please note, as you go to verse eight, you have the beast described. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into position. And let me stop just right there. Here you can recognize... You recognize the history of the beast. It was, is not, shall be. The thing you've got, if I may put it frankly, you've got the history from God's word of the Roman Empire. It was, is not, and now come. And you can recognize, it was Gibbons, I believe, that wrote what has been called the history... of the Roman Empire, the fall, the rise rather, and the fall of the Roman Empire. But there's one thing that historian could never write. The revival of it. But you've got it in the Word of God. It will be revived at the end time. And the beast here represents it. But please note, where that beast or the character of that kingdom comes, out of the bottomless pit, the abyss. And one can recognize the satanic character of that reign. We saw it in chapter thirteen, the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon, the satanic trinity. And all of it in its character comes out of the way. Stuff problemless pit. And may I say lovingly, when you read, when you listen, when you hear, when you see what's happening in the world and even in our country today, the things that are coming out of bottomless pit already. What will it be? And let me remind you of what Paul wrote in Second Thessalonians, when he made the declaration that the mystery of iniquity does already work. But he that restrains it will restrain until he's taken out of the way. And when the Holy Spirit takes the church out of the sin, then the mystery of lawlessness and the very man of sin will come out in the open. Man of that sin. So you have the recognition that even the revival of the Roman Empire is yet to be and will be in that coming day. But the origin of its power and the origin of its strength, satanic. Satanic. From the bottomless pit. And then you've got the statement that they that dwell upon the earth shall wander, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, is not, yet is, is yet to be. Will you go and read the Daniel chapter seven very quickly? I want you to know this from the prophecy of Daniel. The statement that Daniel is made the right regarding the vision of the last days of the revived Roman Empire. And in chapter seven of this book of Daniel, I would like you to follow with me very carefully what Daniel refers to, beginning at verse seven, if you please, and then going to verse twenty-three. Chapter seven of the book of Daniel, and verse seven we have Daniel given a vision. Look, verse seven says this, I saw in the night visions. Behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured, break in pieces, stamped the residue with the feet of it. And it was diverse or different from all the beasts that were before it. And it had ten horns. And then you've got this. Confederated kingdom. But go to the Revived Roman Ember. But go to verse twenty-three, twenty-five. For I want you to notice that Daniel was concerned in the meaning of that last beast that he had in the vision. Verse twenty-three. Then the angel said to Daniel, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, shall devour the whole earth, shall tread it down, break it in pieces. Now look. and the ten horns out of the kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall rise after them. And he shall be diverse from the first. He shall subdue three kings, none over twenty-five. He shall speak great words against the most high. He shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and long, and they shall be given unto him in his hands, until a time, and times, and the dividing of times. Now here you've got pinpointed again the last half of the seven-year period of Daniel nine, taking in the great tribulation, a time, one year, times, two years, making three, and half a time, making three and a half. And Daniel was astonished. At the fourth beast, it was far worse in its destruction than the preceding empires that were represented, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, as well as the Grecian. May I say this? Let me say it humbly but carefully. The revived Roman Empire is going to be far worse than it ever was in the days of its original power. It's going to affect the whole earth. going to affect the whole. Back to our chapter in Revelation, please. Now I want you to let us go quickly on as we begin reading in verse nine. And here is the mind which hath wisdom, that seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now here is what John is stating. Anyone that's wise enough will recognize from these words where she will be sitting in her power. And you have the expression, on seven hills on which the woman sitteth. Now this makes it very clear that this Babylon of chapter seventeen could never be Babylon in the empire of Nebuchadnezzar long ago. There's no hills over there, more deserts. But a city from which this woman rules, at seven hills. And if you've read history properly, there were seven famous hills around Rome. The center of the beast kingdom and the center of the woman's power. And she's sitting. And then there are, as you go on, seven kings that are fallen. One is, the other is, not yet come. And when he cometh, he... He must continue a short space. And the beast at once, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. You have on your lesson sheet, I just pointed out particularly, on the number two, you've got the location of the kingdom, which we have just mentioned, the seven-hill city of Rome, the place of the great harlot also, and then following that, the political history of the beast, Seven successive forms of government, seven kings. Five are fallen, said the Scripture. And the Roman Empire has been ruled in the past. And you've got the names there of the various forms of government it had down to the military tribunal. And then one is, and when John was writing, the imperial form of government was instituted by Julius Caesar and existed in John's day. And then John said, the other has not yet come. And this is the future of the empire of Rome in its revised form as we saw it in chapter thirteen in verse one. And the eighth suggests an advanced description of the preceding power in the last days. presenting to us the terrible satanic character, the powerful imitation of the revived Roman domination, rather, of the revived Roman Empire, in its hellish display of evil at the close of the age. Its terrible character overwhelmed the prophet Daniel as we have seen in Daniel chapter seven. And then you've got the ultimate destruction, as we read in verse eleven, is going to perdition. Now will you please go back then to our chapter? in chapter seventeen. And we read particularly in verse twelve. The ten horns, the kingdoms which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet. They were not existing when John wrote. But received power as kings, one hour with the beast. And these their one mind, and shall give their power, their strength unto the beast. And these shall make war with the land, and the land shall overcome them. For he is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. Now, let me repeat again what we have seen, and you have on your lesson sheet. We have two particular characters in the forefront of this chapter. The woman, Mystery, Babylon the Great, to be the head of the revived Roman Empire. They dominate the scene. Now we find also in the chapter God very briefly described his judgment upon both of them. The woman as well as the beast. They shall and they will be judged in God's due time. Now please go with me if you please in verse fourteen. You can recognize that the beast shall make war with the Lamb together with his cohorts. The land shall overcome them. For he is Lord of lords. And kings are kings. They that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. Now you have the... Please let me go if I may to chapter nineteen at the end of it. Let me just touch upon it very briefly. For here it is recorded. I'd like to read in chapter nineteen the end of that chapter. The nineteenth chapter. Let me read verse nineteen through twenty-one. And this is really what ultimately takes place. I saw the beast. I saw the kings of the earth. Their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse. That's Christ coming down from heaven and against his army. And the beast was taken with him the false prophet that brought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast. and them that worship his image, these both were cast alive in the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. I think we can safely say, from what we have read in chapter nineteen, What we saw even at the end of chapter sixteen, and saw reference to it in chapter fifteen, the destruction of the beast with all of his armies. He dares to make war against the left. Let me visualize it if I may with you. The end of that political power is coming when Christ defends from heaven. But the beast with all of his armies dares to fight against the Lord, the Lamb of God, coming down from heaven with all the armies of heaven and his saints attending. But that will be the final destruction. And may I note with you, please, the enormity of their wicked character, beast and false prophet, the enormity of their wickedness is so great they go alive into hell. They are not even judged. They're not even given the privilege of being put to death and buried and brought again in resurrection to stand at the Great White throne. They are the first inhabitants of hell. Now let me please correlate that in another manner. Please, may I say it lovingly, earnestly, sadly, truthfully, the world is coming to an awful place and condition where two of the most wicked characters in human history will dominate. all the nations of the earth. And they're wicked characters of such a nature. They're not worthy of death. They're not worthy of being judged. But immediately, when Christ comes, they are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire. And when you read chapter twenty in the book of the Revelation, when the devil himself will be cast there, they're still there. Let me say solemnly, what's the prospects for the world? Please, please let me say, I do it earnestly because we have some of our dear evangelical preachers making attempts to convert the world. They won't do it. It's contrary to the teaching of God's will. True, we should be seeking to say so. Right. And saving them from the doom that's coming on the world. Now soon that may yet be. Who can tell? But oh, that sad fact. The world is going rapidly to the forecasted doom. And may I give the thought? God has been long-suffering. Could you wait two thousand years to see the world go the way it has, not do something about it? Judging? So long God has waited practically, preaching the gospel of His love and of His grace. But go back to our chapter before we close. We want to see the doom of the woman that comes before us at the end of the chapter. And if I may say, go to verse fifteen, as the angel tells John. He said, Under me the waters which thou sowest, where the horse sitteth are people, multitudes, nations, tongues, meaning languages. May I give you this all? Do you see the universal character of the false church over the whole earth? I say lovingly, I say, and I say truthfully from past history. The ambition of the Roman Church itself has been to be the political authority over the world, the church ruling the world, made an attempt, manifested its power in a great way to the destruction of many lines of God's dear saints and the blood of many minds. John Bunyan, if you ever read John Bunyan's book, oh, it's one of the most blessed allegories you could ever read of the Christian's path. And how he brings even in John, well, John Bunyan's suffered because of his testimony for the Lord. He suffered at the hands of the church state in the country of England. He spent twelve years in jail because he preached the gospel. He wasn't a recognized Church of England. preacher or teacher or minister of the word of God, not ordained by the church state. But he knew the Lord. And as he often said, he had the ordination of the nail pierced hand. And in his allegory of Pilgrim's Progress, he writes much of church history. He comes to the place where the Christian, as he's journeying home with the glory, sees a great giant, called giant pope in the story. He's biting his nails because his teeth have been pulled out. Before then he could play people. There is no question of doubt. The teeth of destruction was taken out of the Roman church. after Luther and others rose up to bring the liberation of the gospel and the word of God. The strength to say John Bunyan Kant does not write in his book of the revival of that church, but the revival of it as a world influence is coming. It's dominating even today. And I'm sure you find, if there's one church in the whole world, if there's one particular denomination in Christendom that's interested in World government is the Roman Church. More than any other. Far more than the Baptists and Presidents here and they were more. Interested. Seeking to sway the multitude. And you've got the John saying and the angel telling him the waters that you saw where the horse said it. People, multitude, nations, tongues. Now we're reading verse sixteen. The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast. Now note, here's your destruction of the church, that false church. Even before the beast is slain, the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, thee shall hate the horn, shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. And God's judgment, he uses the very power that she had influenced, the powers that she had sought to rule over and to influence. He uses them to rise up to the destruction of that false church. For God has put in their, no, no, for God has put in their hearts to do what? To do his will. Did you ever notice that God takes wicked people and makes them do his will? He did it with Nebuchadnezzar. He's done it with others in the Bible. And he puts it into their heart. I think of the words of Ephesians one, thirteen. God worketh all things after the counsel of what? His own will. Oh, beloved, may I say often it has been said properly and truthfully, no matter how the scenes move, and the moving of the scenes before us, God is behind all the scenes. And he puts into the heart of these things The beast and all of his kings that are under him, that destroy the horn. And we read to fulfill God's will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou seest or sawest is that great city. And please, don't you dare say this is Jerusalem. Don't you dare say it's Jerusalem. That great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. You're not in the millennial when you read this. Where our Lord Jesus will be reigning from Jerusalem. That is the city. Now one of the wonderful things. We saw it in chapter thirteen. The whole world wandered at the rising up of the beast. In that. We'll wander in that coming future day. And what a wonder it will be an amazement to the world. But oh, to recognize the judgment comes upon. You know, I'm sure that you realize you have read and you have seen that even today, as you think of the Roman Catholic system, now it speaks of the fact of it being, what do we call Rome? The Eternal City. The Eternal City. Well, Bill, I'll thank God it isn't. I know I'm going to the Eternal City. city, the new Jerusalem. But oh, they're lacking that. Please let me say that. Now let me correlate in closing this thought. Christ loved the church. It's true, Brian. And may I give you this encouragement? Not only encouragement, admonition. I need it. May God teach you and me who are believers to love fellow believers. Those who are born again, they are members of his body. His church. Now may I state lovingly, it's just too bad. Though we find many dear Christians who earnestly in lust for souls are seeking to win them, we don't find too many Christians that love the church. Do you get my thought? Oh, beloved, please let me say this. And I pray with all earnestness that God will keep my heart just as wide as it ought to be, as well as narrow as it ought to be, but wide enough to say, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you're with me in that one church. That one body of Christ can make God a... And I beg of you, please take this lesson from what we have followed today. May God help you and me to realize what the true church is. And love. You don't have to love the stones in the building. Love the living stones that are in the spiritual house. Men and women. Oh, beloved, you may not always be able to walk in fellowship with some of God's dear children. But make God help you and me to love them. One dear brother that I have to disagree with because of his unsound teaching. He was so shocked when I told him I didn't agree with him. He said, can't we be friends? Friends, I said, brother, I said, I gotta love you. But I told him, though, when the rapture comes over, go up alongside of you and tell you all the way up, I told you so. I still have to love him. And isn't that the test? Please, isn't that the test? Look, don't love... one another because you're Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, they want your will. We're children of God, one in Christ Jesus. Shall we pray? Oh, beloved, blessed Father, give us that wideness of heart to be as broad as the scriptures as well as as narrow as the scriptures would be. But that broadness of heart, Lord Jesus, the love thine own people as you love them. We may not always ourselves be very lovable in our testimony. We may often displease thee, Lord, but we can never say you stop loving. And now we pray for the true church today. We pray for a big heart, even ourselves, that our heart may go out and pray for the blessing of God to be upon his people wherever they are. And Lord Jesus, we want to thank thee. We're going to be thy bride. We're glad we don't belong to the false church. We belong to the bride of Christ. Sanctify the truth to our hearts and lives. In Jesus' name as we give these nights. Amen.