This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We're continuing our look through Revelation 18 this week. This is Day 3,
talking about these voices of perspective that God gives us on Babylon, on the
world system of selfishness, the voice of condemnation that will fall, the voice
of separation, "Come out from her, my people. Separate yourself from this world.

" And I want to spend a second day on this one because I believe it's one of the
great issues of our day. Separate yourself from this world. There are two
motivations that are given in these verses to separate yourself from this world
and both of them are in the way of warnings.

First, separate yourself from this world because you know how easily you can get
caught up in selfishness. And second, separate yourself from this world because
you know where this world is headed. That's what verses 6 to 8 are all about.

Let me read those verses. Speaking of Babylon says, "Give back to her as she has
given. Pay her back double for what she has done.

Mix her a double portion of her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as
the glory and luxury that she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as
queen, I am not a widow, I will never mourn.

' Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her, death, mourning, and
famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
" That's where Babylon is headed.

This world of selfish pursuit. And right now it may look, as you saw in these
verses, it may look like all glory, all luxury. She's giving herself glory,
she's giving herself luxury, but one day it's going to turn into torture and
grief.

In fact it says here a double portion of torture and grief. Notice closely what
I read in verse 7. Babylon says, "I sit as queen, I am not a widow, I will never
mourn.

" Babylon is lying to itself. And because Babylon, this system of selfishness
lies to itself, it lies to you. It's going to lie to you.

That this luxury, that this glory is what you need. Here we sit as believers in
Christ, followers of Christ in this world, or if you're not yet a follower of
Christ, he's inviting you to become a follower of Christ, maybe even through
these verses. Maybe even through the book of Revelation, you're going to say,
"Jesus Christ, I will follow you.

I thank you for your forgiveness. I'm not going to depend on myself or my life.
I'm going to follow you.

" And as a follower of Jesus Christ, right now in this world, we're living in
Babylon and we're seeing the glory and luxury a lot of the time. We look around
and we say, "Wow, that person gives himself glory. Wow, that person's not a
follower of God, but they got a lot of luxury.

" I mean here's a follower of God who's living in a shack in Rwanda because they
are trying to serve God's people. And here's a follower of the ways of this
world who's living on their own island in the Caribbean because they're
following the ways of this world. Is that fair?

Is that right? Here's one person who is denying themselves. Jesus said, "I want
you to deny yourself so that they can serve others.

" And here's another person who is giving themselves glory and luxury. Well, if
all you had is the perspective of this world, it doesn't seem fair. It doesn't
seem right.

But this world is not all there is, and it's not going to last. What the pastor
in the shack in Rwanda is doing is going to last. What's happening with that
Caribbean island, it's going to be gone like a puff of smoke.

Gone. To separate yourself from this world, we just got to walk through this one
together because we get this one so confused. And I find that many who want to
live this kind of life keep getting caught up and, "Well, why did that person
get this even though they're not separating themselves from this world?

Why is this happening in this person's life? " Here's this other person who's
trying to say, "I want to be separate from this world. " But their lifestyle, it
just seems so condemning.

It just seems so anti-people. They don't seem to love anybody. I mean, they want
to live a holy life, but they don't love God's people.

And they're so proud of how separate they are from the world. And you think, "I
don't want to be like that. " To separate yourself from this world, you've got
to understand there are three groups.

In Jesus' day, there was a group called the Pharisees. These were the rule
keepers, and that's one of the groups. A second group I would call the fun
lovers.

Now, they had names for these guys, philosophical names in Jesus' day also, but
let's just call them the fun lovers, people who are like, "This world's about
the fun I can have. " And the third group is the follower of Christ. In fact,
let's call them those three things, Pharisees, fun lovers, and followers of
Christ.

Pharisees, the rule keepers. They devise a system of rules that only they can
keep. And then they proclaim themselves the winners.

It's like playing Monopoly with your brother when you were a kid, who kept
changing the rules as they went along so that they could always win the game.
That's what Pharisees do. That's what rule keepers do.

Let's change the rules so that no one else can keep the rules as well as I can
keep the rules. And then when I see how well I'm keeping the rules, I'm going to
proclaim myself the winner in this world. And a lot of times, it's about
religious rules, what you can do, what you can't do.

Now, these Pharisees, they may look separate from this world, but the truth is
that keeping rules is just their selfish way of fulfilling their pride. And many
people, many of us as followers of Christ who need to be separate from this
world, we see the Pharisees, we see the rule keepers, and we think, "I don't
want to be like that. " But then we don't take the step of being a true follower
of Christ.

We shy away from what they are doing, and you need to do that. But you also need
to be invited in to what it means to be a true follower of Christ, which we'll
talk about in a minute. Pharisees, first group.

People who know they can't be Pharisees tend to choose to be in a second group.
I call them "fun lovers. " They live for pleasure.

Now, it's okay to have fun, and it's okay to love the fun that you have. But
they live for the fun that they have. That's their whole life.

And it may be evil pleasure, or it may be, in quotes, "acceptable pleasure. "
But their lives are all about satisfying their selfish appetite for fun. God
made us to enjoy life.

But they have taken that God-given desire, and they've turned it into a selfish
pursuit. They have a great fear, often, these fun lovers, that if they get too
close to God, He's going to take away their fun. And they have a great pride,
oftentimes, these fun lovers.

They have a great pride that no matter how bad they are, no matter how selfish
they are, at least they're not a Pharisee. At least they say to themselves, "I'm
not a hypocrite. " Well, they're not a follower either.

Pharisees, that's not the way to go. Fun lovers, that's not the way to go. And
in order for you and I to separate ourselves from this world, we have to realize
there are more than two choices.

That's why I believe many of us don't separate ourselves. We think there are
only these two choices. There's a third choice, and that is the choice to be a
follower.

You can choose to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ condemned the
Pharisees for their way of living. Don't be rulekeepers.

Woe to you who are rulekeepers. And Jesus Christ invited the fun lovers into His
way of living. And in fact, that's exactly what those two groups need to hear.

If I'm a rulekeeper, I need to hear my rules are condemned, that they're never
going to get me where I want to be. That's going to be a difficult day for me.
But when I recognize that and I realize my rules are condemned, but I don't have
to be condemned because Jesus Christ has set me free, that brings me new life.

The fun lover needs to hear an invitation from Jesus Christ. Instead of an
invitation to live the way I want to live, an invitation to live the new life
that He's given me. He wants to make you a new creation.

There are more than just two choices. As we talk about separating ourselves from
this world, let me protect you, hopefully, from some thinking on this. One of
the thoughts that comes to our minds is, "Okay, I'm going to be a follower of
Christ.

Jesus is here with me. That means that all I can do is feed the poor. That means
that all I can do, Jesus is with me, is preach the gospel.

So every day, I'm either feeding somebody or preaching to somebody. That's what
I do all day long every day. " Have you ever read the New Testament?

Look at the life of Jesus. If you're following Jesus, you're going to do the
kinds of things that Jesus would do. Read the New Testament.

Jesus spent a lot of time taking care of His family. He didn't start His public
ministry until He was 30. So 30 years, He was doing some things to take care of
His family.

So taking care of your family, that's something that Jesus would do. You do it
with a heart toward Jesus, you do it with a love for Jesus, knowing He's right
there with you. Jesus, did you know this?

Jesus was a party-goer. He wasn't a drunkard. He didn't get drunk at the
parties, but He went to parties.

In fact, the Pharisees called Him a party animal. There was something about the
life of Jesus that had an infectious joy to it. He loved to be around people.

He loved to talk to people and get to know people. To think that being in this
world but not of the world, being separate from the world means that I can only
do the "spiritual things" that Jesus does. Everything is spiritual when you do
it in His name.

In His name means I'm following His purpose. I'm following His power. Now, I
can't make something spiritual that's wrong, that's evil, that the scripture
says is wrong.

But what I'm saying is I can love my children from selfishness. I can love my
children from a sense of apathy. I'm just doing it because I did it yesterday.

Oh, I can love my children as a follower of Jesus Christ. It is my choice. You
should be with your family and enjoy your family in His name.

Serve your family in His name. Recognize that He's right there with you.
Recognize in everything that He's there with you, even in your entertainment.

What would Jesus watch if He watched TV? I think He'd watch Extreme Home
Makeover. He was a carpenter after all.

That'd be His favorite, wouldn't it? I don't know what His favorite would be. We
all know there's evil things in entertainments and we don't want that to be a
part of our lives.

But does that mean I can never relax with my family? No. You sense that Jesus is
there with you.

Jesus Christ was the person who knew how to laugh, how to have a good time. So
you say, "Jesus, let's go out to eat together after church. I'm bringing some
friends with me.

I don't know if He'd eat pizza, but you go and eat with Jesus. I don't know what
restaurant He would choose. The key is knowing He's there with you.

" I know that to Jesus the pizza wouldn't be what's most important, the
fellowship, the time spent together, eating together. He did that often with His
disciples. Jesus Christ went to sinners' homes.

Sinner in that day meant someone who did not believe in God. He spent time just
relating to them. He enjoyed being in their presence, in the world, but not of
the world.

First John 2, 15 to 17 says, "Don't love the world. Don't love the world. " The
only way that I know to do that, to not love the selfishness, the pride, the
luxury of this world, the only way I know to do that is to fall deeper and
deeper in love with the Creator of this world, deeper and deeper in love with
Jesus Christ.

Trying to say, "I'm not going to love that, I'm not going to love that, I'm not
going to want that, I'm not going to want that," it doesn't work. But
recognizing who He is and that I'm a follower, that He's so much better than
anything this world has to offer, the more you follow Him, the more you see
that. That's my testimony to you.

The more I follow Him, the more I see that. What He has to offer me is so much
better than anything this world has to offer, so much greater, so much deeper.
He has an eternity to offer you.

So why love the world when you can love Him? You can love Him whose relationship
with you is going to last for eternity. Why hold on to this world when it's
fading away?

Babylon is fallen. When I have a new city, I have a Savior. That's the voice of
separation.

Father, help us to live out this new life that You've given us in Christ, not by
trying in our own energy and power, but by trusting in who You are. Not
pridefully as if we're better than someone else, but humbly, knowing that God,
the only way to live this new life is because of the gifts You've given us in
Christ. So humbly we come to You and say, help us to make the choice today to be
a follower.

In Your name we pray, Jesus, amen.