Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 17:1 Pt.2
May 2nd, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

The Progression of Unbelief and Apostasy

All through the church age unbelief and apostasy has plagued the church. The progression has always been downward and away from the truth and obedience to God's Word. Even in Paul's day he warned the Ephesians that after his departure false teachers would come in corrupt the church.

Scripture records the progression of unbelief and apostasy. Paul said in 1 Tim. 4:1 "Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" Though apostasy would characterize the whole church age, there would be a great depature or apostasy in the last days.

This theme was repeated by Paul in 11 Tim. 3:1, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."  As we look out today at what is happening in the professing church, the Evangelical church, we see this prophecy being fulfilled.

Peter also adds his word to this prophecy, 11 Peter 2:1-2, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. and many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."

I do not personally know of a single premillenial Bible teacher who does not believe that the Church of Laodicea typifies the Evangelical church of the present hour.

In Revelation 2-3, the history of the church is laid out in advance. Each of the seven churches represent an era of church history. One after another the churches enter into decline and apostasy. The only church that does not apostasize, aside from the church of Smyrna, is the last days church of Philadelphia, it is commended and promised that it will be caught up in the rapture. The final church of the church age is the church of Laodicea, the Evangelical Church.

Look at Laodicea, Revelation 3:15, "I know thy works, that thou art neither  cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot." What a description of the Evangelical Church today. They read God's Word, they talk about God's Word, they preach God's Word, but they hold it lightly and act as if obedience to God's Word was optional, as if it has no authority or power in their lives. Jesus said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:..."  This same Jesus said, "He that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple."

Our Lord is not talking about believers in this text, in Revelation 3:16 we see that clearly. "So then because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." We know that our Lord could not and would not spew His own out of His mouth, therefore Laodicea is an unsaved church! I heard a well known conference speaker say some 25 years ago, that a number of pastors of large churches had told him that they fear that well over half of their congregations are not saved.

Verse 17, evidently is speaking of the Evangelical church of our day. "Because thou sayest, I am increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked."  "Increased with goods," that could speakof no other church than the church of our own day, the Evangelical Church.

"Poor, and blind, and naked," that is spiritual poverty, spiritual blindness, spiritual nakedness. All of this is the result of failure to be in God's word!

Paul describes this in terms we recognize today in the much of the church. 11 Tim. 4:2-4, "Preach the word; be instant in season; reprove rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Believers today cannot wait to jump on the bandwagon of the next false teacher who comes down the highway.

I suspect, that when the church is raptured, many evangelicals will be left behind to join with the false church. This world wide church will claim to be the bride of Christ! But she is the unfaithful, counterfeit, harlot church of Revelation 17.

Is the Roman Catholic Church the Harlot? It is certainly part of it, but it goes beyond Romanism.  Verse 5, "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."  Notice, "the mother of harlots", what is the mother of this great religious system? Where did it begin? We have to go back to an early period in the history of the human race.

In Genesis 10, we find a man named Nimrod, of the fourth generation from Noah. That is where Babylon began! Harry Ironsides said that, "Nimrod was the great apostate of the Patriarchal age." The spirit of Babylon was a man made way of salvation as opposed to God's way of grace! They sought to build a tower to heaven with their own works, by the works of their own hands. That describes the Babylonian system, that is the program of all false religion!

Genesis 11:3 says, "And they said one to another, Go to let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar."  "Let us make brick"  Verse 4, "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth."  We will get to heaven, in our own way, by the works of our own hands. That is Babylonianism!

The counterfeit Bride of Christ, false Christedom has the soteriology of Babylonianism. Notice in verse 3, "They had brick for stone and slime for mortar." Their building materials were counterfeit, not the real thing. The real thing is found in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." The spirit of Babylon is a man way of salvation by works instead of "By grace through faith."

Nimrod's dream was of one world-wide superstate with one man-made religion! That dream is still with us today!

Nimrod tried and failed, Nebuchednezzar tried and failed, the Ceasars tried and failed and Constantine tried and failed. But there remains yet one more massive attempt to establish Babylon!

Today the Roman Catholic Church is working all-out to bring a union of all the religions of the world. The Babylon of Revelation is an apostate religious system clearly identifiable with all of Christendom in union with papal Rome taking the lead in its formation.

(Next week we will see   1 - The System Exposed.  2 - The System Explained   3 - The System Extinguished)

Matthew 2:13-23 PT. 1
May 2nd, 2010
Weekly Bible StudyArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

The Flight  into Egypt

Introduction  --  Chronology of events

1- Joseph and Mary come down from Nazareth.

2- The baby was born in a cattle shed.

3- The shepherds came that same night and worshipped Christ.

4- Probably the next day they moved into a house in which they lived temporarily.

5- forty days later Mary and Joseph and the baby went up to the Temple for Mary's sacrifice of purification.

6- Probably not long after that the Wise Men came and found the baby Jesus in the house at Bethlehem.

7- Immediatly after that the flight into Egypt took place.

8- It seems that they were not in Egypt very long until Herod died.

9- They then returned to Nazareth.

THE REASON FOR THE FLIGHT

Verse 13 "And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."

The reason for the flight is given, "Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."  What a confrontation!!! God brings His Son into the world and Herod seeks to destroy him! Behind Herod is Satan! In the child is Jehovah God! What a conflict!

God is moving in Christ to save the world---Satan is moving in Herod to prevent God's purpose! That is the conflict of the ages! We see it from the beginning of scripture to the very end! Satan seldom confronts God directly, most often it is an indirect confrontation. He always attacks that which belongs to God, that which is intended to glorify God, man. Satan hates man because man is made in the image of God and was created to glorify God.

We see this purpose of Satan to attack the purposes of God revealed in....

1- Cain killing Abel.... Satan thought Abel was the line through whom the promised  seed would come, though it was Seth.

2- Corruption of the pre-flood world.

3- Corrupting Abraham with the wrong seed....Hagar and Ishmael.

4- Corruption the sons of Jacob....By intermarriage with the pagans in Palestine. God moves to preserve them in apartheid Egypt.

5- Pharoah (Satan) tries to annihilate Israel in Egypt. (Killing all the male babies)

6- Over and over again, all down through the history of Israel, Satan tries to destroy the promised seed, by corrupting the kings.

Verse 13 is but the renewal of this age long conflict between God and Satan. We have the story of this conflict revealed in Revelation 12:1-6. Take a moment to read it. The Woman is Israel. The 12 stars are the 12 tribes of Israel (Gen. 37:9). The baby born is Christ. The Dragon is the Devil. The plot is the conflict of the ages.  It is Israel, not Mary who brought forth this man child.

The key to understanding the conflict is the fact that, if Christ rules the nations and redeems mankind, Satan's kingdom will be lost! Herod then, is a pawn in Satan's hand. The real contestants are God and Satan. The battle ground is always the hearts and minds and lives of men. The ultimate object of this conflict of the ages is you and I! Will we give our allegiance to God or Satan.

Observe, it is not always easy to identify these forces, often the forces of Satan assume a disguise to fool men as to their true identity. Deception is one of Satan's major devices.

I want you to see two perspectives of Herod:

A- He Was The Ruler Of The land.

He appears to sit on the throne of David, he was powerful and wealthy and he sought hard to please the poeple. He renovated the Temple until it was an absolutly magnificent building. Wouldn't that impress? In fact he built beautiful buildings all over Palestine! He built the Aqueducts at Caesarea, the Herodian in Judea and other impressive projects. Herod was a very impressive fellow! He was a man of power, influence and wealth! How prone the church of Jesus Christ has been to want to identify with the rich and powerful of this world!

Illustration- As a boy I went to baseball games with my Dad, and I loved to go. The program was 25 cents. You needed a program because you couldn't tell the players without a program. So it is with the people of this world, you can be fooled about who is on the Lord's side! The program is God's Word! You can't tell who the players are until you put them alongside God's Word.

An individuals  great achievements do not mean they are on the right side of the 'conflict of the ages.' An individuals outward expression does not mean he is on the right side in the 'conflict of the ages'. Remember in verse 8, Herod said, "That I may come and worship him also", you can't tell a book by its cover. Herod had a nice cover, "That I may worship him also", Satan comes to the sanctuary, to church, in the persons through whom he is working!

B- The Real Herod Stands Up.

We see the real Herod in verse 16, "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." Now we see the real Herod exposed, we know from history that he murdered his sons, brother, uncle, mother-in-law and his wife. That is the real Herod!

Satan whitewashes his servants sometimes in order to deceive and defeat God's servants. Never forget that Satan is the great deceiver!

(Next week we will see the instructions for the flight)

Confidence in Him
May 2nd, 2010
Thought for the WeekA.W. Tozer - (1897-1963)
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Exhortation

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. --Hebrews 4:16
You can have this confidence in God, and you can have this respect for His will. Do not expect God to perform
miracles for you so you can write books about them. Do not ever be caught asking God to send you toys like
that to play around with.
But if you are in trouble and concerned about your situation and willing to be honest with God, you can have
confidence in Him. You can go to Him in the merit of His Son, claiming His promises, and He will not let you
down. God will help you, and you will find the way of deliverance.
God will move heaven and earth for you if you will trust Him. Faith Beyond Reason, p. 49
"Thank You, Father, for the majesty of this truth. It certainly is only in the merit of Your Son, but in that merit
You've given us a powerful promise. Thank You that You never let us down. Amen."