This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and this is chapter 18 of the book of Revelation, day one
of our look through this chapter. As we begin chapter 18, we're really following
up on chapter 17 last week. These two chapters are about a city called Babylon,
and as we looked at last week we saw the description of Babylon had to do with a
world that will not last.

This world, the way that it is, will not last, but there are a lot of things in
this world that God wants to last, like you and me, into the next world, like
your character, like your heart, like his goodness, into the next world that is
going to last. This world, though, by the world I don't just mean the physical
world. The idea of the world or Babylon, remember we looked at last week, is the
selfish way of thinking, the worldly way of thinking.

Remember, this world will not last. We talked about five characteristics of this
world last week. Its father is the devil, number two, its focus is materialism,
number three, its character is immorality, number four, its business is
prostitution, and number five, its religion is anti-God.

That's what I mean when I talk about this world that will not last. And as you
take a look, as we took a look last week at these descriptions of a place where
God is not honored, where man is ultimately honored, where it's all about
setting ourselves up to be the power source of the universe, what does God think
about this? What is his perspective on this?

It's very clear. He described Babylon to us very much this last week in chapter
17. We saw the picture of it.

But here in chapter 18, you and I get more of God's perspective on Babylon. As
we walk through this chapter this week, we're going to hear four voices, four
voices that put everything into perspective. Four voices that put human history
in perspective, as they help us to see what is not going to last and what is
going to last.

Four voices that put the world today in perspective, as they help us to see what
is not going to last and what is going to last. And four voices that put the
world leader at the end times, what's going to happen at the end as everything
falls apart in order to be put back together into perspective, as we see what's
going to last, what's not going to last. Now as we walk through these chapters,
we just touched real briefly last week on the fact that these are a very, very
strong reference that anybody who knew the Old Testament would know they are a
reference to Jeremiah 51 and 52, where we see in those chapters the fall of
historical Babylon, the physical city of Babylon.

There's no city called Babylon today because God said there'd never be again a
city called Babylon. He was wiping it out forever. Here John is saying the
destruction of a spiritual Babylon, the world system that's organized by the
beast.

And in seeing that, God in chapter 18 gives these four voices that put it into
perspective. The first voice is the voice of condemnation. That's going to be
followed, we're going to see this week, by the voice of separation and
lamentation and celebration.

But the first voice is the voice of condemnation in verses one to three. Let me
read those verses for you. "After this I saw another angel coming down from
heaven.

He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a
mighty voice he shouted, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! ' She has become
a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean
and detestable bird.

For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings
of the earth committed adultery with her, and the emergence of the earth grew
rich from her excessive luxuries. " What is God's perspective on this world
system?

This voice of condemnation reminds us that God's perspective is Babylon will
fall. And that is incredibly good news. All the power that sets itself up
against God one day is going to be fallen.

God tells us that Babylon will fall. All the pride that is in our hearts that
tries to set ourselves up as God one day, all of that will fall. All the
selfishness that causes us to do evil to one another, one day all of that will
fall.

God tells us Babylon will fall, and he has known it from the beginning. From
when they first built that tower in a place called Babel, he knew that there
would be a spiritual Babylon in our hearts, a way of doing things, and one day
it would fall. From when they first bit into that apple, Adam and Eve, or
whatever fruit that was, it probably wasn't really an apple, it was an
invitation to sin.

From before God created the heavens and the earth, God knew what was going to
happen. He knew that we would sin. He knew that we would be selfish, but he also
knew he would invite us back to himself.

And he knew that one day, he knew that one day Babylon would fall. When we get
to verse 21 in this chapter, we're going to see that this city is fallen, never
to be found again. It affirms this entire chapter, the complete destruction, the
complete condemnation of this city, this power that sets itself up against God.

Now, you might have noticed that it talks about Babylon has fallen and
immediately she's become a home for demons, a haunt for every evil spirit, a
haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. People wonder, where did the birds
come from here? Well, if you think about this for a moment, unclean birds are
the kind of birds that were scavengers.

They're feeding on something that has died. And that's what this is saying. It
is dead.

It is gone. There's nothing there. Babylon, this world system, our way of doing
things, it's going to fall.

Here's the picture in this picture of condemnation. In one sense, you might just
in your mind think that you're holding two pieces of stock in two different
companies. And someone sits down with you who knows everything about those
companies and also for some reason knows the future in 10, 20 years of both of
those companies.

You can decide on how they know the future, but they know for certain what's
going to happen with the future of those companies. And the person who sits down
with you says, OK, you're deciding which of these two pieces of stock are you
going to invest in? I can tell you about them.

That stock there, let's call it Babylon, company Babylon. That stock there, it
is guaranteed to fall. That company is going to go bankrupt.

I can guarantee you that one day that company is going to exist no more. And
anything that you invest in that company, it's going to be lost, guaranteed. And
this other company, let's call this one the kingdom of God, company kingdom.

The kingdom of God, that company, anything you invest in that company, not only
will it not be lost, but it's going to increase. That investment is going to
increase 30, 60, 100-fold. I can guarantee you of that.

Now if you're sitting there considering these two pieces of stock and you trust
this person who's telling you this news about these two companies, which one are
you going to invest in? It's a silly question because the answer is so obvious.
Here's the question.

Do you and I show the same wisdom in investing our lives as we would show in
investing our money? I understand that we all have to live in this physical
world, that we have to buy food. I understand that we have to live in this
physical world.

We have to have a house that we live in. I'm not just talking about where you're
living. I'm talking about how you're investing.

How do I know what I'm investing in in life? Here's what you think about. What
do I think about the most?

That's what you're investing in. What do I value the most? What do I give the
most of my life and my time towards?

That's what you're investing in. So are you investing in selfishness and pride?
Are you investing in God's kingdom and God's power?

Are you investing in his eternity? There's a lot of ways to invest in what God's
doing. There's a lot of ways to invest in what I'm doing.

Which kingdom are you trying to build? The kingdom of me or the kingdom of God?
Which company are you investing in?

A company called Babylon or a company called the kingdom? That's the question
I've got to ask. You've got to ask every day of my life.

And if I ask it honestly, I realize sometimes I'm investing in the wrong place.
I've got too much attention, too much importance attached to that thing which
isn't going to last. God, help me let go of that and help me instead to hold on
to that which is going to last.

In fact, let's pray for that today. Lord, as we pray, we live in this world
where all the things of this world, all the selfish pursuits of pride and
pleasure, they seem so important sometimes. And it seems like one person is
getting ahead of the other or someone's getting something that I'm not getting.

And sometimes, Lord, because of that, I can chase after things I have no
business chasing after. And I'm not just talking, Lord, we're not just talking
about the obviously evil in life. We're also talking about the prideful that
someone else may not see, but I'm chasing after that position, not because I
want to serve someone, but because I want someone to see me as important.

I'm chasing after that opportunity to be involved in that ministry, not so much
because I want to make a difference, but because I really want people to be
pleased with me. God, help me, help me to invest in your kingdom and not in me.
Help me to invest in heaven and not in Babylon.

Today, help me to see how I can do that in a person's life, in the way that I
think, in the way that I act, in the words that I say. I ask this, Father, in
Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow as we look at verses 4 to 8, we're going to see a
second perspective in the voice of separation.