Transcript

Sermon Transcript: The Finality of False Religion

6/6/2021 Jeff Schwarzentraub 48 min read

- When I was a student at the University of Illinois for a couple of years, I lived in our fraternity. And while I was living in our fraternity, one time went down to our kitchen area and we had a fly problem. There were flies all over the place. And instead of calling the pest control, somebody had the great idea that what we needed to do was buy flypaper. And so somebody ran out to the store, came back and got about 30, some rolls of flypaper in the way these things work is you, you hang them. And then they kind of unraveled down just sticky tape. And I remember thinking, what's that gonna do? I mean, we've got flies all over the places is disgusting we should call somebody. The next morning when I went down for breakfast, it looked like raisinets on tape. I mean, there were flies stuck every which way, all in different directions. And I remember thinking, you know I can't believe this works. I mean, if I were a fly and I saw half of my family like pinned against there, many who weren't breathing and others who are gonna like uncomfortable. You think you'd ask the question like, Hey, what's going On? Should I land? And yet they don't. They just continue to land. Why? Because flypaper is attractive, it's seductive, it's sticky and it leads to death. False religion is attractive, it's seductive, it's sticky and it leads to death. And while it may not have been a tragedy to see so many flies die, certainly a tragedy to know that there are millions of people around the globe that don't have a relationship with the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ due to an allurement of a false religion that is keeping them from serving the one, true God all throughout the scriptures.

The Bible makes crystal clear that there is one way to God and it's through his son Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father, except through me. You either have a life in Christ or you don't have life in Christ. The Bible makes that crystal clear and yet for millions around the globe, they still don't understand that message. But I have good news for you today.

The good news is while we live in time and space that God has a great love for you. And he wants to make you aware of his gospel and how much he loves you and how you can have a relationship with God but also have good news to this morning for you too for all the people around the world that serve all sorts of different gods in their own image. There's an end game to that. There's a finality to all of the world, religions. It's all coming to a close and that's what we're gonna talk about today. We're gonna take a look at what false religion is and how it got its root and how it's attractive and what makes up false religion but how God is going to have finality to that and bring that to an end.

So I encourage you this morning to open your Bible up to Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 17. And while you're turning to that chapter which we'll read aloud in just a minute just be reminded of, as we've gone through this book just the beauty of what the holy has given through the Apostle John as he's writing these things to us where we see chapters one through 11, really being the chronology of all of that is going to take place. In the end times, then we saw chapters 12, 13 and 14 being parenthetically or parentheses of that last three and a half years. Last week, we looked at 15 and 16 which really showed the final bowl judgments during that last 30 days after that seven years. And what that was going to look like. What we see in the next three chapters 17, 18 and 19 is really adding information or being parenthetically of the bowl judgments. During that 30 days what's taking place, what's what's going on and what we're really gonna see is an end in chapter 17 to the final world religious system where Jesus Christ is seen as king of Kings and Lord of Lords to the glory of God, the father and that's where we are today.

So let's let me read this as we, you read along with me and then we will unpack this together. It says, "then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the great judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with 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. And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a Scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and 10 horns. The woman was clothed in purple and Scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery, Babylon the great the mother of harlots and of all the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. Then I saw her and when I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, why do you wonder I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and the 10 horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will wonder when they see the beast that he was and is not, and will come, here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads of the seven mountains on which the woman sits. And there is the seven Kings, five have fallen, One is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was, and is not, is himself also an eight. And he is one of the seven. And he goes into destruction. The 10 horns, which you saw are the 10 Kings who have not yet received a kingdom but they receive authority as Kings with the beast for one hour, these have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the lamb and the lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those who are with him are the called and chosen and faithful. And he said to me the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are the peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, and the 10 horns which you saw and the beast, those will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked. And we'll eat her flesh and burn her up with fire for God has put it in their hearts to execute his purpose by having a common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman who you saw is the great city which reigns over the Kings of the earth."

And as you read that passage there's so much symbolism in that passage. You may read it. And I know, when I read it for the first time, Like what in the world are they talking about? I get, how is that all gonna play out? Because really what we're reading about is a great harlot, a great prostitutes. He came to church today to learn about the great prostitute. That's why you're all here today. And it really lists about 10 things this great harlot is known for. She's a prostitute, is immoral. She sits on many waters. The Kings of the earth are her paramours or her partners. She rides a seven headed, 10 horn, Scarlet beast. She's dressed in purple and Scarlet and fabulously wealthy. She carries a golden cup filled with abominations. She has the title mystery. She bears an identity with Babylon. She's drunk having imbibed extensively on the blood of the saints. And she has identified with a great city that rules all over the Kings of the rules over all the Kings of the earth.

So what are we talking about here? When we're talking about this prostitute when we're talking about this harlot this great harlot that has all the abominations what we're really talking about is false religion. But we're really talking about is that which is antithetical to a true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus during his earthly ministry made some very simple statements in John 14:6 He says, I am the way the truth and the life. And no one comes to the father, except through me. Jesus said the way to God is exclusive. He is the only way to God. There is no other way. It doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter where you live geographically in the world, whether you're tall, short, male or female it makes no difference. The only way to have a relationship with the true God of the universe is through the person of Jesus Christ. God, the father sent his son to be the savior of the world. God loved the world so much that while you were still sinners, Christ died for you.

The biggest problem you and I both face is our sin condition. And because of our sin condition, because we're terminal because we are going to die. And after that face judgment it is imperative that we understand that the only way to have our sin forgiven the only way to be in relationship with God is through what Jesus Christ has done. And there is no other way to God. Now I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm in church. I'm some way I'm preaching to the choir, preach it brother. I'm telling you for the world. This is the only way to God. There are, there is no other way.

And this great harlot is that which draws men and women, boys, and girls away from who God is. See the first thing you need to know about false religion. We'll talk about three of them.

The first thing is this that false religion tirelessly works to win over your heart. False religion tirelessly works to win over your heart. Now you might say, well, what's false religion? How do I know what it looks like? This is the way I'm defining false religion today. False religion is somebody's choice to worship someone or some thing in some way other than prescribed in the word of God. That's false religion.

False religion is someone's choice to worship someone or something in some way other than prescribed in the word of God. Have you ever heard people say something like this? I'll choose to worship who I want. What's good for me is good for me. What's good for you is good for you. That's false religion. False religion is someone's choice to worship. That worship means to give ultimate allegiance to, ultimate allegiance to, it's my choice to give ultimate allegiance to somebody or someone in some way that's not prescribed in the word of God. That is false religion.

And you'll see today, there are myriads of ways and they're drawing to everybody on planet earth. You're gonna have felt some of the ways that we read about today when it comes to what false religion actually looks like and you'll see how it's been active in your life. Because the only way to God is through the person of Jesus. And the reason that's important Isaiah 42 verse eight says, I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not share my glory with others or give my praise to idols.

God makes it crystal clear that he is the one and only one who will be worshiped for his glory. And he's very jealous of our love for him. He wants to know that he's central in our lives. He's the one who has set up salvation.

Our God had made up of father son and Holy Spirit worked out the salvation process through which mankind can be saved. It has nothing to do with your choice of what you want. It has everything to do with what God did for you, right? And so let's talk about this.

How does false religion work tirelessly to win over your heart? It's constantly at work. You'll feel these. I'm gonna spell these out. As we walk through the verses, I've labeled about seven of them as we walked through this first point. And the first is this, false religion is pervasively unfaithful. It's pervasively, unfaithful, it's everywhere. And it's unfaithful every time.

Notice what it says in 17:1, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on the many waters. I'm gonna show you the judgment of the great harlot. I'm gonna show you that all the world religions are going down. I'm gonna show you what that's gonna look like when Jesus has described as king of Kings and Lord of Lords to the glory of God, the father, the judgment of this harlot.

Now what's the truth about a prostitute. There's an allurement to something that's false. There's a stickiness to it. There's an invitation in, but this invitation kills. It leads to death. It leads to destruction, all false religions, lead to destruction.

Let me make, maybe make, let me make crystal clear from this pulpit. If you're not worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is, whoever or whatever you're worshiping in whatever way you're worshiping is leading to destruction and death in your life. Period end of story. Right? And it's pervasive. There is an allurement in your life to worship all sorts of things other than the Lord, Jesus Christ, right? I mean think about what they would be for you. I mean, for me growing up sports, I went to church but I love sports, there is a time of my life I went to church, but I loved girls. There was a time in my life I went to church, but I wanted to be rich. And there's a time in my life I went to church, but I wanted to be popular, right? I mean, there's all sorts of things that pull at your heart someone or something where you can give allegiance to someone or something other than the allegiance to the Lord, Jesus Christ. And it's constantly at work in each and every one of us it's pervasive. And it's totally unfaithful.

If you are not personally seeking the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory, you spiritually you've been prostituted out, spiritually you're being unfaithful. And we'd read about prostitution as a metaphor in both the old and the new testaments to talk about this how God feels about false religion. When he's created us to worship him and him alone. And yet we go after someone or someone else in our own way. That's how God feels. He feels like we've gone after a harlot. That's how God feels. It feels like we've been unfaithful to him. And this is everywhere in our culture and you can't escape it. You can't escape. It it's everywhere. And I'm not just talking about the world religions of the day.

I mean, there's world religions out there that aren't worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, there's Islam, there's Hinduism, there's Buddhism. Some people follow the sayings of Confucius. There's Judaism, there's Mormonism, there's Jehovah witness. There's all of these that do not believe that through repentance and faith in Christ alone you have a relationship with God. All of those are false religions, right? Scientology, just because Tom Cruise's a spokesperson. It's a false religion. Kabbalah just because Madonna's into Kabbalah, it's a false religion. Oprah Winfrey, who I'm sure is a very nice person. But when I hear I've never met her but when I hear she talks more about self and the God within and all these things, false religion, right? So just because somebody popped up and says this is what I believe doesn't make it right.

The Bible makes clear that the only way to have a relationship with God is to repentance and faith in Jesus to recognize you're dead in your sins. And that God is the one and the only one who can make you alive in Christ. That's salvation. Anything else you go after is religion. And it's pervasive. It will call you, it will beg you come serve us, come serve me. Right? Even in things that are good, right?

Like some people it's when they're single it's who they're dating. You know that that takes their worship of God off the throne for who they're dating. Some people in their marriage. They make family, the center of their worship. Family's extremely important. God designed the family, it's good. Marriage is extremely important. God designed marriage. It's good, but it's not to be worshiped. It's a blessing. And within that blessing we're to worship the Lord. Having a good job, that's a blessing but we're not to worship the job, making money, good thing. I encourage you to do that, right? But at the end of the day, it's not to be worshiped, right?

There's this pull all the time to take Jesus off the throne and find someone or something else in some way that you can give your allegiance and worship to. And the world is looking to do that. And here's why, because you were created to worship; you were created to worship. And if Jesus Christ is not whom you're worshiping you will find someone or something else in some way to worship to try to fill a void that only Jesus Christ can fill. And it's pervasively unfaithful. It's everywhere, it's everywhere.

Now. Why is that? Here's why, because the devil is real and he hates you. He hates you. I mean, think about the heart of Satan. You can read about it in Isaiah chapter 14 I'll just read two verses 13 and 14 talking about his nature. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the Mount of the assembly and the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the Heights of the clouds. I will make a name. I will make myself like the most high God. I mean, I, I, do you hear that?

I mean, if you wanna know what the unholy Trinity of false religions look like, it's me, myself and I. I get to choose who or what I'm gonna worship in the way that I want to do. I, I, nothing you choose is gonna be satisfying. God makes clear in his word. The only one that will ever satisfy is him. God loves you so much that's why he tells you that you're sinners. God loves you so much that's why he tells you that you're dead. God loves you so much because he wants you to respond to him in his grace. God wants you to be alive and be satisfied in your worship of him, but make no mistake about it. This false religion is pervasively unfaithful.

What else is it? It's intoxicatingly enticing. It's intoxicatingly enticing. Notice who this great harlot goes after who she's in partnership with, with whom the Kings of the earth commit acts of immorality. And those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. Some of you are more experienced than what it's like to be drunk than others in here. But we all know that if somebody has been imbibed too much or if they're under the influence of alcohol or drugs that is what is doing the talking for them. That is what is doing their actions for them. When you are drunk when you are on drugs, when you're intoxicated, guess what? You're not acting in alignment with wisdom. You're not acting in accordance with truth. You're acting based upon how you feel or what any given circumstance would do. Some people say, you don't have all your marbles. You're not doing it right. Right?

What's going on here? Immorality is just so enticing, immorality is so enticing, ever felt like a pull towards immorality. I don't see any hands but we all know that they'd all go up. So that's good. Right? So the point is this, some of us are like, well I'm not whom I've been, I was faithful before I got married. I've been faithful now. I've never struggled with immorality. Well, then you don't understand immorality. Immorality is a tug that don't have Jesus Christ centered on the throne of your life 2/47, 365. You ever felt a tug towards that.? You ever felt a tug to lie or cheat on something. You ever felt the tug to cheat on a test. You ever felt to tug, to lie to your boss. You ever felt a tug to cut a corner. You ever felt a tug to not take care of yourself. You ever felt a tug to gossip about somebody else, ever felt those tug, that's immorality. It's intoxicating if you go down that road, it'll take you to a place that you never thought you'd ever been.

And what's going on with this false religious system. It's pulling people in by the millions on a daily basis because it's so enticing. It's so enticing. It just feels right. I mean, Jeff, Christianity may work for you but this doesn't work. This is what works for me. This is what feels good. This is what's right for me. No, it's actually, you're intoxicated on immorality. You're living completely for yourself. You're not willing to bow your knee before the Lord Jesus Christ and give him all the glory that his name is due. Now why don't we talk about that? Because if you're not living completely for Jesus you are living a immoral. Why? Because, because the first Jesus said when he was asked, what's the most important commandment? What did he say? You shall love the Lord your God with what are your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Second. Like it, you should love your neighbor as yourself.

How do you know you're not living immoral, that you love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It means Jesus Christ is center in your life. And you desire to give him allegiance and love. And you desire to love who he loves which are people specifically in the body of Christ. But even people outside the body of Christ you're called to love them. Not because it's comfortable. Not because it's fun, but because you love the God who created you and who he loves and you love what he loves.

And if you're not living like that, guess what? We living immoral, you're living immoral. Now, why is this so important? Because we swim in a sea of immorality in our culture. We swim in it. I'm pausing the message here because when I was preparing this week I really believed I needed to say this because I believe there's some men in our church and maybe not just men, maybe women too, but for sure, men that are on the precipice of stepping over the cliff of immorality. You're, you're in a position where you go through the motions, you come to church, maybe you're single and you pretend like you're spiritually pure and morally pure. But you know what? You're, you're on the precipice of making some decisions to take into immorality. Or some of you guys here that are married. You're with your wife right now. Maybe you have your arm around her. Maybe you're even holding her hand. But while I'm preaching, you're still thinking about the immorality that you're about ready to engage in. Can I just encourage you as your pastor? Don't do it. Don't do it. It will lead to destruction. It will destroy your life. You can choose to sin, you just can't choose the consequences of your actions. Will God forgive you? Oh yeah. Could your life still be destroyed? A hundred Percent. I've seen it happen.

So I'm reading this for some of you that need to hear this today so that I can be bold enough to tell you as your pastor that I love you, but go back and read Proverbs chapter seven, the whole chapter I'm gonna read just a few verses. He says, "my son keep my words and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live. And my teaching as the apple of your eye bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister and call understanding your intimate friend. They may keep you from an adulterous from the foreigner who flatters with her words." Well, what's this woman like drop down to verse 15. She says, therefore, I've come out to meet you to seek your presence earnestly. And I've found you I've spread my couch with coverings with colored linens of Egypt. I've sprinkled my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon come let us drink our fill of love until the morning. Let us delight ourselves with caresses. For my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him at the full moon he'll come home. With her many persuasions she entices him, with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox, goes to the slaughter or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver as the bird hastens to a snare. So he does not know that it will cost him his life."

I'm reading this 'cause somebody needed to hear that today. It will cost you your life. It will cost you your family. It will cost you, your kids. It'll cost you everything. Turn your back on immorality and start running towards Jesus like right now. And here's the beauty of running towards Jesus when you're in that place, he will embrace you and love you and take you where you need to be. And what you're really trying to fulfill can only be fulfilled in Jesus anyway. So you might as well get as quick as you can. I know it's sobering to tell you that, but I mean for me to be naive enough to say, well, we're BRAVE Church we preach the Bible every week. I mean, we don't have guys like that in our church. Oh yes we do, some guys in our church that never thought they'd ever be in the place where they're ready to make the phone call or do what you're ready to do this afternoon. Stop it. Don't do it.

Honor the Lord with your body. Honor the Lord in your morality. If that was just for one of you today I think it was important that I said that. See false religion is pervasively unfaithful. It's intoxicatingly enticing. I mean, Satan will always just show you the little sliver you can cheat and get away with it. You can be immoral and get away with it. She'll never know. He'll never know. Let me tell you something, God knows, God knows. You can choose to sin you just can't choose the consequences. Choose to honor the Lord in all that you do.

False religion is also demonically inspired. False religion is demonically inspired. Notice this, and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a Scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and 10 horns. We'll talk more about those seven heads and 10 horns in a bit. But we've been through this understanding before that this is the, this is the Antichrist. This is what this world system is going to look like. You need to understand that all false religion is demonically inspired.

Now that's not a popular saying just so you know it, it doesn't get much play. We live in a world where it's okay to tell people that you're spiritual. Okay. It may not be okay to tell people that you worship God anymore. I mean, that's getting less and less but it's okay to be spiritual. Everybody can be spiritual we're cool with that. But what's unpopular in our culture is when you tell people even in a loving kind way that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the father, and that the only way reason you have a relationship with God is because you've repented and trusted in him by faith. And it's through his death on the cross, in his resurrection from the dead and apart from him, there is no life. And if you don't believe that you will be punished in hell for all eternity.

That's not a popular teaching. If you don't believe me, try it tomorrow wherever you go to work. And you'll find very quickly. But if you start talking like this that take all the world religions, take, take Islam take Buddhism, take Hinduism, take Judaism, take all of these world religions that don't center on the person and work of Jesus Christ, death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead alone for the forgiveness of sins and say, anyone out there that's like that apart from Jesus is demonically inspired. See what you have. See what people say to you, 'cause what most people wanna say is all roads lead to heaven, just be sincere. Just be a good person.

I'm here to tell you there's only one road that leads to heaven for "broad is the way and wide is the road that leads to destruction and many are on it." I was driving in here this morning, coming North on I-25. And it was closed down by lone tree, I couldn't get through. I had to, I had to do a work around right. Bothers me when my timing's off a little bit. But when it comes spiritually, if you wanna go to hell. They'll build an extra highway for you. I mean, they'll expand the lanes. I mean, you wanna go full whole-hog, full sin pattern, man. We'll we'll, we'll expand it. You think you only need four lanes, we'll give you eight. We'll give you 12. As far as you wanna go as quick as you wanna go, we'll go there.

But Hey, you want eternal life?, there's only one gate and it's a narrow road and it's through the person of Jesus. And it's a hard way, but it's a worthwhile way 'cause only Jesus will take you to life. And Satan knows this because Satan sees by the hundreds of thousands daily that died around the world. Those who trusted in a religion, other than trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ go directly to hell. He watches it, he sees it, he knows it. That's what he does. So how does Satan work? Satan works in such a way for the non-believer to blind you. So you can't see the glory of the gospel so that even while I'm speaking, you can't understand what I'm saying. You can't see what I'm saying. It's not real to you that Jesus Christ is the only way, he blinds the minds of unbelievers. So they say that's garbage, that's foolish or maybe you've already done that. What's he did to people in the church. If you've already repented and trusted in Jesus he's lost you forever.

We've talked about the fact that no one can snatch you out of the father's hands. No one can snatch you out of the Son's hands you belong to him forever and ever. And nothing can change that no matter what. So what does he do to believers in the church? He tries to keep you from worshiping them now. He tries to come steal, kill, and destroy your life. He wants to throw you off course so that you destroy your witness and you lose your joy and you lose your hope. That's how he works here. He lies to people that come to church that he gets them to think that, Hey just by showing up on the weekends and you gave some money and you joined a small group and you did all these say, Hey, you're in. Even if you've never repented and trusted Jesus.

Friends I'm here to tell you, the only way to have a relationship with Christ is that you've repented and trusted in Christ. It's a relationship. First and foremost, Christianity is a relationship. Do you have a relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ? And we learn at first Peter five, eight. "We have an enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." Why does he do that? I mean, when lions stalk their prey they hide in the tall grass. They look, they I mean, you have to be aware that they're coming after you. It's when you're not aware that you get taken out.

Christians, Satan hates you. He's coming after you. If he's lost you for all eternity he still gonna try to get you to center your heart and life and mind on something other than the person of Jesus. And if you don't know Jesus that's all he's doing in your life right now. He doesn't care what religion you serve. He doesn't care how successful you are how unsuccessful you are, as long as he can keep you from serving the king that's his goal. That's his goal on believers and non-believers. Every world religion is demonically inspired other than a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

What else do you notice about false religion? Check out verse four. It's excessively opulent. Notice how this woman was clothed. The woman was clothed in purple and Scarlet. That's a royal and regal and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. I mean, she's looking fine, right? Having in her hand, a gold cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her immorality, excessively opulent.

Let me sum up false religion very quickly for you. All false religion works from the outside; Christianity is the only relationship that works from the inside out. Study all the religions of the world. They always start from the outside and work their way in there's these things that you must do. There's these five or seven orders that you must keep. There's this pathway that you must stay on. There's these ways that you must dress. There's these things you must say there's these meetings, you must attend. It's all outside. You must dress a certain way.

And some, some world religions we don't have to mention them by name. It's all about opulence. How big are the cathedrals? How beautiful do they look? How much money can we put into them? How do we dress those who are clergy? How big is the hat gonna be? How you know, what's it gonna look like? How do we dress it all up to make it look super phenomenal?

If Jesus Christ is not being elevated, it's garbage. Right? Religion always works from the outside in. Change this about yourself, do this about yourself. Get this thing, right? Do this, do this. I mean, did they still have bookstores anymore? Is that, is that still a thing? Okay, go, go look at the self-help section go look at the religion section. They're all one in the same. So what you can do to get right? So that if there is a God, he'll love you.

See Christianity doesn't say what you can do to get right. Bible makes it clear. There's nothing you can do to get right. "There is no one good no, not one." The only way you can get right is because God is so good that he came and laid down his life for you and died in your place as a substitutionary atonement for your sins. So that if you'd repent of your deadness and trust him you could have life in his name forevermore. It's not about how you get to God, It's about how God came for you.

But everything with world religious system there's this opulence, there's this enticement. And you say, well it may not be in the clothing that people wear but it's in what they promise. Like if you follow these rules, God will make you rich. If you follow these rules, God will make you healthy. If you follow these rules God will give you the perfect job. I have news for you, you follow God you may not have the perfect job, you may not get rich and you may get sick and you definitely will die. I mean, that's the fact. But religion tells us there's these things we can do to have our life any way that we want it.

Now, listen, I'm not against making money. Make some, I'm not against having a job that you enjoy, get one. I'm not against getting married. Marriage and family are the centerpiece of what God wants to get done in the world.Do it. I'm not opposed to you having fun and taking vacations. God's not opposed to that either. Just don't make any of those things the baseline foundation for what makes you happy in life.  Make Jesus Christ the center of all those things, right? I'm a goal setter, I like setting goals. I wanna give God all the glory I can until he takes me out of this world. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not the center of my life. Jesus Christ is the center of my life. Jesus Christ must be the center of your life.

The older I get, I mean the more I hate religion. I hated it when I was a kid. I mean, I hated religion. I went to church 'cause it was the right thing to do. And if I went, then I could watch the NFL today, sooner. So I went to church, right? I mean, it was the right thing to do. I couldn't stand it 'cause you know what it was like before I was a Christian, everyone had to dress a certain way. You got to speak a certain way. You got to act a certain way. You act different in the building than you really do on your own. I know that never happens at BRAVE Church, but it did when I was growing up. Right. But after becoming a Christian, I hate religion even more because I see it for what it is. And it's garbage.

See God made each individual unique in his own way. God gave you your own unique personality, your own way of seeing the world, your own way of glorifying him. And yet so many of us come together and think there's only one way to serve God. There's as many ways to serve God as there are prescribed in his word and in who we are in our person. So we don't tell you what you need to talk like or how you need to dress or what you need to do.

I was with a friend last night they were telling me they send off one of my sermons to one of their family members to, Hey you should listen to pastor Jeff. And they told me he made it about 30 seconds. And I said, why? was it a hard one? He said no you weren't wearing a suit. So he couldn't take you serious enough. And I don't wear a suit 'cause you all wouldn't take me serious enough. Right? I mean, I wore a suit when I went to seminary every single day, I wore a suit, when I did stuff in the marketplace. I just personally don't like them, right? I mean, I told my wife if I die and you bury me in one I'm coming back, right so.

I just don't lie, I wanna relate to you. It's not how you dress, it's not what you do. And yet, what do we do? We come to church, we lose all our own opinions of what we can and can't do and who we are and what liberties we have and what we don't. Here's the honesty. What God wants you to do is honor him in every area of your life and whatever he calls you to do. That's how you honor God but don't make that a thing for somebody else unless it scripturally mandated. There's freedom in that, that means there's different ones of us that can participate in certain things. And other ones of us here that can't, and we're not making that a law, unless it's in the word of God.

The Bible says don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth. So we're not allowed to talk in an unwholesome way. Bible says to be careful what you feed your eyes. Well, what does that mean, pastor Jeff can we watch a rated PG 13 movie or, or not? I don't know. It means if you're honoring God with your eyes, you're honoring God. So honor him with your eyes. What's that look like for you? Let God speak to you have the Holy Spirit inside of us. The beauty of Christianity is not all these rules that we're doing to get right with God. The beauty of Christianity is Christ in us the hope of glory. When you repent and trust Jesus, he's in you he's trying to guide you and lead you. And yet, so often we're still looking for the rules. Can I, or can't I? I don't know if I can pick that church or not, like can we sing songs or not sing songs, acapella or not? Can we have a band or not? I mean, there's so many rules.

If there's any group of people, Jesus had trouble with during his days on the planet, who was it? Pharisees, religious people. He loved them. He even died for them but he had a really big problem with them. If you get a chance this week read through Matthew chapter 23, I'll just read a few of these. I mean, here's what he said about religious people. "What do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people for you do not enter yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." That's pretty strong, wouldn't you say. Woe to you, nobody's going to heaven through your ministry. 'Cause you're not going to heaven through your ministry and woe to you for that. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees because you travel all around land and sea to make one convert. When he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of hell as you. That's pretty strong I think. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees for you clean the outside of the cup of the dish but inside you're full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind guide, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

Have you ever gotten stupid arguments in a church? Can you wear hats or not? I don't know. I don't care. It's about Jesus. It's about elevating Jesus. If something is not prescribed in the Bible we have Liberty for how God leads us. Do you understand, religion kills. It kills Christians. It kills non-Christians, BRAVE is not religion. BRAVE Church is established to advance the kingdom of God for people who have truly repented and trusted in Jesus Christ. Amen. That's what we're about.

Notice what else about this false religion? False religion is secretively abominable. Notice what this prostitute had written on her forehead. A name was written, it says a mystery really, literally it says a name on her forehead was written mystery, mystery. Mystery in the Bible means something that wasn't revealed in the past that we now understand. That's really what a mystery is. What a false religions try to do. They try to keep you from understanding that their way leads to hell. That's what a mystery is here.

False religions, all promise people that are going to heaven Jehovah Witnesses, promise it. Mormons, promise it, Hindus, promise it. Islam promises it and they're dead wrong. Only through Jesus Christ. Will you live with God forever, period. There's all these secrets and there things you gotta do and you gotta climb the thing and you gotta do all these. No, no, you do not. You repent and trust Jesus and you have everything you need in that moment for life and godliness for the rest of your life, is a secretively abominable.

What else has it? It's intrinsically self-centered. Know what it says about her, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. Yeah she's the mother of all harlots false religion is the mother of all harlots. What does that mean? I mean, we really pick this up. And the reason we started this series in the book of Genesis was to remind you of  how this all came place. 'Cause you would think after God established the world and mankind, sinned and Adam and Eve sinned and sin entered the world, you'd be like why? But you'd realize that we would have done the same thing and it, sin is pervasive in us.

But you would think after a global flood where God destroyed everything and Noah and his three sons and their wives are all surviving to repopulate the planet. You would think at that point, I'd be like, all right we get it right. We don't want to mess this thing up make it like two chapters. I mean, before they are trying do things in their own way again, and Genesis chapter 11 we read that the whole earth use the same language and the same words. And it came about as they journeyed east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar. They settled there, even though God said spread out over the earth, they're gonna settle. And what are they saying? Come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they used some bricks for stone and they use the tar for mortar. And then they said, come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens and let us make for ourselves. a name. Otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

In other words, we don't wanna do what God wants. If we don't do what we want God's gonna make us do what he wants. So let's build a city for ourselves. Let's worship the way we want for ourselves. Let's do what we want for ourselves. That place was called the Tower of Babel. The beginning of Babylon, the mother of all harlots.

The heart beat of false religion is you choosing to build what you want, do what you want, worship whomever you want, whenever you want, however you want for your glory. It all started back in Genesis 11. And it's been a continued thread all throughout  the earth.

And by the end, when we get here in the last period of this age Jesus Christ is gonna put a stop to all of that. They're all gonna come crashing down and people are gonna realize that there's only one name that's above every name, Jesus Christ the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It's intrinsically self centered. Everything about false religions, intrinsically self-centered everything about it is self-centered.

Now I know some people are pushing back saying, Hey, Jeff I know some people at my work that are not Christians but they're really nice people. I know some really nice people that aren't Christian. I know some really philanthropic people that aren't Christians. You know, sometimes when you're looking at the family of God, like how come they got in and they didn't get in, right? I mean, there's good people who don't know the Lord but here's what you would discover. If you could rip open the heart, what God sees that you don't is that anybody who's not a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ is always serving themselves. Even when they give their giving to get back. Even when they love, they're loving to get back. Everything is centered on themselves. That's what the Bible teaches. And so even if they look good on the outside, that's false religion, false religion always wants to look good on the outside. And that's why there's this allurement. There's this lie in our head that always goes, I don't need God, I don't need to do it his way, I can do it my way I can skirt this, I can do that. That's false religion. That's false religion.

And we don't want any part of that here. We wanna be authentic not religious people not self-centered people, authentic people. That's why I love BRAVE Church. You know why? Because the people that come here that love the Lord are just authentic centers that have been saved by the grace of God and everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. There's nothing here that says you have to listen to this music. You better do this. You got to dress a certain way. There's none of that coming from here. There's Hey, would you worship the Lord your God and serve him only. I love the stories.

I met with a guy in our church this week. He came in, he'd been in prison. He's a registered sex offender that attends here. And yes. Before you write me 30 different letters. Yes, we put all the proper means in practice. He does not work with our kids. He will not work with our kids but I'm gonna tell you something. I'm listening to his story about how born again he is and what God did in his life while he was in prison and how much he loves the Lord and what God is doing and how he's willing to submit to our pastors and our leadership to do whatever he can to be here as often as he can to be in every service that he can to give God more glory in his life. And it was so refreshing to my soul after that meeting, I went home and told my wife that's why I do what I do. That's why. 'Cause God saves people and redeems them amen.

And all you're gonna see in heaven is a story of a group of people that were once dead and were made alive by Jesus who repented and trusted him. That's  all that heaven's made up of. That's what we want our church to be made up of too. Amen. That's who we are.

And finally, you'll see this that false religion is outwardly hostile. It's outwardly hostile. We're seeing that more and more in our culture as I've aged, I've seen it more and more. I mean, it used to be able to wear like a WWJD bracelet and people, that's cool. What would Jesus do? Neat. Right now it's a little more hostile towards that. Isn't it? Maybe if you're really gonna go all in with Jesus you're gonna, you're gonna face some things you didn't have to face before. Notice this. He says, I saw the woman. This is verse six, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.

What does  false religion hate? Jesus and Jesus followers. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly. Now in John's day, there was martyrdom. So like, why is he so troubled? He said, I pondered greatly. I wondered greatly this word in the original means, this is crazy. Like what's going on, John is looking forward to the future. And here's, what's crazy to John. He's seen martyrdom. He's seen false religion in his day. What he's never seen is it ever seen it on a global scale where everyone is worshiping someone other than Jesus and everybody is going off to hell and everybody's good with it. And John's looking at it and say, that's nuts. They're killing Christians. And they're elevating their own God they're elevating the Antichrist or elevating the false prophet. They're worshiping the devil. This is crazy.

John seen glimpses of it in his generation like we have in ours. But one day it's coming full-scale around the world, where to be a Christian as we've talked about, well maybe perhaps in your generation or maybe not for years or generation after, it may cost you your life or cost you your job or cost you relationships because you're gonna stand firm for Jesus in the heart of people that are against him.

Now, why is this true? We see bubblings of this everywhere. I mean, I grew up playing sports. I mean, I played sports my whole life. I've been around a lot of people that have played sports. Now you think about the name, Jesus Christ. Who's the king of Kings and Lord of Lords. Why is it every time somebody does something bad in sports that his name gets elevated. You ever noticed that, you ever seen anybody in the NBA a shot and yell out Buddha? I mean, have you, have you ever seen it? I mean, I've never, I mean, I've had, I've had Muslims drive me in a cab before but when they miss a turn they don't yell out Allah or Muhammad. I mean, why is that?

That our Savior's name gets lifted up because there's something intrinsic in the heart of God's people where people hate God and they hate his followers. When Saul was persecuting the church and dragging people off to prison and God enlightened his eyes and he saw who God was. What has God's first question of Saul, Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? And I'm sure Saul thought, I'm not persecuting you. It's these Christian people out there.

Well, to persecute Christians is to persecute God himself because Jesus is his bride and he's part of his bride and he loves his bride and there's gonna become more hostility towards Christians as we continue to go. That's what the Bible teaches. Now we may have great times of revival before all that happens. I'm optimistic, I like to pray. And I'd like to believe that God can do super abundant far more than we could ever ask or think according to his glorious power, that's at work within us. I preach because I believe that God can bring revival to the church. I preach because I believe God wants to advance his kingdom. I also preach because the worst things get the more his church expands. I'm good with all that. I don't know what God's gonna do but we know there's coming a day where it's gonna get really, really difficult. And John's like, this is crazy, this is crazy.  But notice what God says, the angel said to him why do you wonder, why are you saying this is crazy? I'll tell you a mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and 10 horns.

Now, if we talked about false religion how it tirelessly works to win your heart which is our big point of the day. Notice what else would false religion does false religion uses counterfeit ideas to obtain worldly power influence and authority. All false religion is a counterfeit. It's a counterfeit idea to obtain worldly power influence and authority. Why do people wanna be religious so they can have more power? They can have more influence. They can have more authority. What we're, what world religions draw us in more and more. If you can promise me, I'm gonna have more influence I'm gonna have more authority. I'm gonna have more power. I'll follow whoever your God is, right? There's a, there's an allurement to that either now or in the future. God's gonna do all this great stuff for you. If you honor him, notice what he says to John. He says, the beast that you saw was, and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into the, and go into destruction.

Remember we talked about this in chapter 13 at the Antichrist is either going to fake a false wound and appear as though he's dead or God's gonna give Satan some power to miraculously resurrect them for a period of time. But know this, this counterfeit is not going to be real. And there's only one who has risen from the dead who will be alive forevermore and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. So even if this is a hoax or some sort of faulty miracle, so that the world looks on and says, look at that Antichrist. He died and he rose again. And John is like, this is crazy. One already died and rose, it's Jesus. Why are people following this charlatan? Why are people following this Antichrist?

And notice what it says, he'll go into destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation the world will wonder when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come all those who are truly not born again will see the beast and be like, that's incredible I'm worshiping that. When have you ever seen a person die and rise from the dead? When have you ever seen a person be able to call down fire from heaven? When have you seen, I mean, this is the beast. There's no one like the beast. That's what we talked about, except for those whose names have been written in the book of life before the foundation of the world. What's that mean? It means this. Some people don't like to talk about the doctrine of election or the teaching of election, like, oh, I hate that document. Well, it's in the Bible. So we should probably talk about it, right?

What's it mean people get confused on this because the doctrine of election doctrine of election is not a doctrine for unbelievers. It's a doctrine for believers. It means this, if you're saved, if you've repented and trusted in Jesus if you're saved, here's what you can know. You never went searching after God. God always came searching after you and your name was written in his book before one of your days came to be and there was nothing you can do about it. And God selected you to himself. And you're his forevermore. That's awesome news 'cause there's nothing you can do. You belong to God. And he did all the work by his grace.

What it doesn't mean is that if I'm a non-believer I can't get saved if I'm not elect because all throughout the Bible says God desires that none would perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of him. God says all throughout the Bible that anyone who comes to me I'll never turn away.  what you find in the Bible that men are without excuse. So even those that go to hell, it's not because that was God's desire for people to go to hell. We read in Matthew 25 that the hell was created for the devil and his angels. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell, that God does not take delight even in the death of wicked people going to hell.

God loves his creation but the doctrine of election says this. If you're his, you're his, you're his, here's the question. Are you his? Because the Bible still tells us we're 100% responsible to respond to God through repentance and faith. Have you trusted in him as your Lord? Once you have, you can know this that it was him doing all the work before you even knew him. You weren't seeking after him, he came to see you keen after you. And he loves you with his whole heart. That's who he is.

Notice verse nine, here's the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are the seven Kings. Now the seven heads on the seven mountains Rome was known as the city of seven Hills. So some people say, well that's Rome and the great cities, Rome, it could be. But notice how verse 10 says no, the seven mountains or the seven Hills on which they sit are seven Kings. He's talking about seven Kings. We've talked about these Kings before these Kings have been the world powers throughout the history of the world. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece. Now Rome at the time of John and finally the revived empire. That's gonna come and be the empire for the Antichrist during that time. That's the, that's the seven. Here's what he says. He says five have fallen. Well, who's that? That's Egypt, Assyria, Babylon Medo-Persia and Greece. They fallen. One is that's Rome at the time that John's living, the other has not yet come. That's the future world empire that we've been talking about.

And when he comes, he must remain a little while. There's gonna be a season where God allows this worldwide global commercial and geopolitical empire this religious empire to exist for a period of time, we've been discussing this. This is nothing new to us. Notice what it says. Verse 11, the beast, which was, and is not that's the Antichrist is himself also an eighth and as one of the seven. And he goes into destruction.

What you're gonna see is that the beast that's going to be leading this worldwide empire who wasn't and now is, is part of that seventh kingdom but he's really gonna be the eighth king. 'Cause he's going to dominate and rule all by himself and eventually go into destruction. He says the 10 horns, which you saw are 10 Kings which have not yet received the kingdom but they receive authority as Kings with the beasts for one hour, we've talked about these 10 Kings this federated kingdom with 10 Kings that are gonna be worldwide or 10 political leaders that are gonna join forces with the Antichrist that are gonna do this. And they're gonna join forces for an hour.

Now is an hour mean 60 minutes. I think it's doubtful here. When Jesus said in John 17:3 father glorify yourself that my hour has come. He wasn't talking about the next 60 minutes are really important. He was saying, now's the time. This is the hour he says, for a period of time there's going to be a world dictator helped out by 10 specific Kings that are gonna rule on planet earth, geopolitically religiously in every other way. They're gonna have dominion over the entire planet. That's what we're gonna see. And they're gonna go into to destruction but God's gonna give them a period of time. He says an hour here to do this.

Now notice their one purpose. They have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast. Now listen, false religion, people will give up anything. If they can get more power and authority they'll give it all up. When we were talking about the Antichrist and why would people take a mark on the back of their hand? Why would people take a mark on their forehead? Why would people give allegiance in worship to this beast? 'Cause they know if I don't get my allegiance and authority to the beast, I can't buy or sell anything. I can't own a home. I can't live in an apartment. I can't buy food. I mean, we're not gonna make it. So I'd rather worship the beast than trust God to provide for me what he needs. I'd rather worship the beast than deal with all the difficulties that are coming.

Listen for the true believer that will never happen. You'll never take the mark for the true believer who believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ. You will trust him all the way to the very end. And he will bring you home. That's the doctrine of his grace. That's what he promises that he will do in your life.

But notice this world, religion. I mean, if you talk to your friends that aren't Christian, ask him, why do you do what you do? Because they think it gives them more power authority and influence. And for somebody like my friends don't even believe anything. They just go to the mountains every weekend they go skiing They just, you know, they like go into games, like why? 'Cause it's doing something for them. It's helping them grow in what they wanna be influential in. It's helping them grow in their authority. It's helping them grow in their power.

Everybody that doesn't worship Jesus is trying to fill a void on the inside for something that's completely unsatisfying. And only in Jesus can you have life. BRAVE Church I'm begging you. I mean, nothing would be more tragic than to have you come to a church like BRAVE where the word of God is preached where the gospel is shared week in and week out to have you not respond through repentance and faith and be separated from God for all eternity when you had every opportunity to respond to him.

Don't believe the counterfeit don't believe the miraculous powers that Satan will one day use or demonstrate to show that he's the Christ. He's not the Christ. There's only one Christ. The greatest miracle ever was that Jesus Christ the God man laid down his life on a cross and died for your sins and rose from the dead and in him there is no other miracle that you need to be aware of. It's Jesus and him alone. Amen.

Now I know this is a challenging message. So I wanna tell you one other thing about world religions and we'll go through this rather quickly but this is the best news of all. World religions will come to an end. They will come to a sounding end. Verse 14 is one of my favorite verses in the entire book of Revelation. These world religions, that wage war against the lamb but notice what's gonna happen. And the lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and king of Kings. And those who are with him are the called and the chosen and the faithful. I got good news for you, we're on the winning team. We will be victorious. Jesus Christ will be high and lifted up and just think about this. Think about every single person, you know, on the planet. Either atheist, somebody who says, I don't really believe in God, Hey, here's what you can know about them. One day they will bow their knee and say with their tongue that Jesus Christ is king of Kings and Lord of Lords to the glory of God, the father you don't need to live in fear. They may not be able to see it now, but it's a fact that people everywhere, no matter where they live no matter who they are, no matter what they said we'll recognize Jesus Christ as Lord.

The important thing is to recognize him as Lord now so that you're ready when he comes next time. Amen. And that's what's going on here, Jesus saying I'm not worried. I mean, sometimes we read the book of Revelation and man there's a lot of troubling things going on here. It's kind of scary Jesus is saying, I'm not worried. I'm still the same provider. I'm still the same protector. I've still got your back. And I will demonstrate myself as King of Kings and Lord of Lords because that's not who I'm going to be. That's who I am right now. Amen. That's who he is.

"And he said to me, the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are the peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Why did we talk about this being pervasively unfaithful? Because where's harlot at where's the false religion drawing every single place you go. Move to India, you'll feel it. Move to Israel, you'll feel it, stay in the United States. you'll feel it. There's always an allurement to pull you away from the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter where you go because false religions is pervasive everywhere.

He says in the 10 horns you saw and the beast which are the Kings and the Antichrist these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked. And we'll eat her flesh and burn her up with fire for God has put in their hearts to execute his purpose by having a common purpose and giving their kingdom to the beast until the words of God will be fulfilled. So what do we see here? What we see is this picture at some time during the end that the beast who's the Antichrist and the false prophet and all these Kings of the world are gonna hate false religions. And God's actually gonna use them to put an end to all the other world religions. And they're gonna form one confederated religion to worship the Antichrist with Jesus Christ himself will put down.

Remember in the old Testament there were times where Israel was gonna fight an enemy. They didn't know how they were gonna do it. So they prayed and they prayed. And by the time they went out to fight the enemy the enemy had already fought each other and they were already killed. Like that's, what's gonna go on here. All these false religions will come to an end because God's gonna purpose the Antichrist and the false prophet to hate all the world religions so they all come under one. So that will be no more religions. There'll be those of us who serve Jesus. And then there'll be one false religion in the world. And then ultimately Jesus Christ is gonna squash that.

And the section ends by saying this, this woman is harlot whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the Kings of the earth. And we don't have time today to talk about which city that is. And I don't know that it totally matters. There's a lot of ink that's been spilled on. Well, what city? What's the name of the cities of Denver? Probably not Denver. What city is it? Is it Babylon? Is that the city like modern day Iraq, is it Jerusalem where God is going to take Israel which has been unfaithful and redeem faithful Israel. I mean, what, what, what city is this? What are we talking about? I don't totally know. But I think for those that are living at that time it will be pretty obvious what that great city is.

Here's what we need to know. False religions is real, false religion is nagging. It's drawing you, it's pulling you. And I'm here to tell you on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ in him alone is who you're looking for. It means if you're here today I'm not asking you to join BRAVE Church. I'm not even asking you to join a small group. Although I think those things are great. When I'm asking you to do is repent of your sin and trust Jesus Christ, as your personal Lord and savior. It's the best thing that could ever happen to your life is to be in relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ.

And for those of you that already know him, say, yeah, I already know him. I'm not, I'm not gonna succumb to false religion. Just be aware because the devil hasn't stopped working on you either. And he's gonna do everything he can to draw you away from. What's prescribed in the word of God so that you don't serve him. God wants your heart. God wants your life and God wants your everything. Amen. Would you stand with me as we pray? Lord Jesus. We come before your throne now. And we just thank you for your living and active word. And we thank you that one day, all the false religions of the world will come crashing down. That there's a finality to it. And that Lord, you will use your glory to crush it. And Lord, we just pray right now for you to do your work here. If you're here today and you've never trusted in God through the person of Jesus Christ here's how you can pray, Lord Jesus. I know I'm dead in my sins, but I believe that you died for me and rose from the dead. Lord I turn from my sin. I repent of my sin and I placed my faith alone in you come into my life and be my Lord and savior. And for those of you who are gathered here who know the Lord, who are feeling that you're on the precipice of sin would you confess your sin to the Lord right now? Would you come running back to Jesus right now in this place and experience his welcome upon your return and allow him to do a new work through you. Lord protect us, protect us from religion and let us live out our relationship for your glory for you are the only one who's worthy and it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.