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Alright, we're here in Revelation chapter 17, and the name of this sermon is The Concept of Babylon. And so, as we're going through Revelation, starting in this chapter and next chapter, there's basically two full chapters devoted to Babylon, and it's a pretty deep concept in the Bible. Quite honestly, if you're only reading Revelation, and you don't know other parts of the Bible that apply to this, it's going to be very dark saying, it's going to be very confusing. And so we're going to take our time to explain this. We have four sermons from this chapter and next chapter combined, so we can understand what is Babylon, because the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's day is not here anymore, but it's a term used of Babylon. We're going to see what that means. So let's go back to Genesis chapter 10, and we'll go back to, later in the sermon we'll go to Revelation, but let's go to Genesis chapter 10, and the name of the sermon is The Concept of Babylon. The Concept of Babylon. Now kind of before I get into the concept of Babylon, this is kind of a deep section too. We'll talk about some other things, and we'll kind of get into this sermon here in Genesis chapter 10, and realize that the flood has just taken place, and so this is the world after the flood has taken place. Obviously, everybody was drowned except for eight people. And here we are in Genesis chapter 10, and notice what it says in verse 8. And Cush begat Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. Now, there's not a whole lot in the Bible about this guy Nimrod. I believe his name is mentioned four times in the Bible, if I remember correctly. It's not mentioned a whole lot, but what it says in these two verses, three different times, it says that he's mighty, okay? In verse number 10, it says he was, or verse 8, he's a mighty one in the earth. Verse 9, a mighty hunter. Verse 9 as well, later on, he says a mighty hunter, okay? So he was obviously a very powerful person, because the phrase mighty men is referring to someone who's really powerful in terms of in the earth, and so he's a very strong and powerful person. Now this phrase, mighty hunter before the Lord, there are a lot of different opinions on what this means. In fact, whenever you have a topic in the Bible where it's not super clear, you'll have a lot of books on that topic. Because everybody says, hey, I've got this secret mystery, a 500 page book on a man who they devote a couple verses to in the Bible, and they'll say, well, this is what this means, buy my book, I'll show you the great mysteries and explain it, blah, blah, blah. And so, look, there's a lot of different opinions. What it says is he's a mighty hunter before the Lord. Now some people, theory number one, they think when it says a mighty hunter before the Lord, some people think that's referring to being like a mighty hunter of the souls of men, referring to either killing people that believed on the true God or trying to turn people into reprobates because he's a really, really wicked person. Now go to Ezekiel chapter 13, Ezekiel chapter 13. Now let me say this, although I don't think that's the primary meaning here, it could be a secondary application because when you look in the Bible, we'll see in Ezekiel 13 that being a mighty hunter of souls is actually mentioned in the Bible. So it is possible when we're talking about a man who was mighty in the earth, who I believe is responsible for the Tower of Babel, he's mentioned right before chapter 11 which talks about it, obviously he was a very powerful man in this earth and I don't believe he was a godly person. We'll see that during this sermon. And so, look, that could be one application because the people that are powerful and false prophets today are bad people. So notice what it says in Ezekiel 13 verse 18, and say, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the women that sew pillows to all arm holes and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls. Will ye hunt the souls of my people and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? Now look, I have no idea what it means by sewing pillows or making kerchiefs, which is like a handkerchief, and that's a really deep passage. I think it's probably the deepest thing in the entire Bible, to be honest, even in the book of Ezekiel, but I want you to notice how it says, will ye hunt the souls of my people? Okay? Notice what it says in verse 19, and will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. Your kerchiefs also will I tear and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand do be hunted, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Now, I don't know why God is so angry about these pillows. It's something I don't fully get yet, you know, if you figure that out, you're welcome to preach here one time, explain it as long as you know what you're talking about. But notice how it talks about this phrase, hunting the souls of my people, okay? It says that several times. And so look, that is a biblical phrase, and it's possible with Nimrod being a mighty person and a powerful person, it is possible he was trying to destroy belief in the true God and kill believers. In fact, I think that's very probable, okay? Go back to Genesis chapter, Genesis chapter 10, Genesis 10, Genesis chapter 10. Now I don't think that's the main application, but Nimrod was a bad guy, and so it's very, very possible it's a secondary application. Let's look at something else, so in Genesis chapter 10, this was kind of a new one, but I heard in the Philippines, I've never heard this before, but people teach that Nimrod was a good guy, okay? Now I've never heard that in the U.S. before, but I guess some people think Nimrod was a good guy, and here's the reason why they say this. In Genesis 10, 9, it says, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. And they say, well, if it's before the Lord, he must be good, okay? I mean, it's before the Lord, he must be good. Well, this is why you compare spiritual things with spiritual. Go to Genesis chapter 13, Genesis 13, Genesis 13. And so look, I know we're showing you a few things before we get into this concept of Babylon, but Nimrod was a very powerful person at the time, so I want to show you a few things here. And notice what it says in Genesis 13, verse 13. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Do you notice how the men of Sodom were also before the Lord? Do you know why that is? Because God is omnipresent. I mean, everything's before the Lord, okay? So yeah, I mean, it says, you know what, he's a mighty hunter before the Lord. That doesn't mean he's a good guy, because before the Lord does not guarantee, oh yeah, he's like a great man of God. It's just saying that, you know, God sees it's visible. It's before the Lord, okay? Go back to Genesis chapter 10, Genesis chapter 10. And so this mighty hunter before the Lord, those are two theories about this. My personal opinion, at least the primary application, is that when he says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, it's talking about hunting animals, okay? And you say, why would you say that? Well, I want you to realize that the flood has just taken place, okay? Now when the flood's just taken place, you know, before the flood, I mean, there's all this vegetation, all this food readily available and everything like that. And after the flood, you know what, they don't have people located in every area. And look, where there's locations where there's no people, it's gonna be overrun with animals. And look, they didn't have a grocery store in Genesis chapter 10, okay? Maybe they had a sorry, sorry store, like a little bit of this and that, but they didn't have a grocery store where you can walk in and get anything that you want. So actually finding food and hunting food was actually a very valuable thing, okay? So I think he actually was a mighty hunter. He was very good at getting food. And also another thing could be that the fact that when you're going to conquer new areas, it's gonna be overrun by animals, you gotta get rid of the animals. And so that would have been a very valuable trait if you're gonna build your military and build your kingdom to be able to get rid of the animals. So I think the fact that he was powerful came from the fact that he was a mighty man in terms of strength and military ability, and he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. I think that is why he became powerful and became this big leader and everything like that. Now, I'm not 100% sure because this phrase is only mentioned right here, and there's a lot of different opinions about that. Maybe you have a different opinion than that, but I believe that's why he was a very powerful person because he was a mighty hunter. And at that time, computer skills weren't that valuable, right? Math skills probably weren't as valuable as being able to just hunt animals, okay? Depending on what time you live, various traits, various things are more valuable. I think that is why he became powerful, okay? Notice what it says in Genesis 10 verse 10. And it says in Genesis chapter 10 verse 10, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Arach and Achad and Calne in the land of Shinar. Now notice it says the beginning of his kingdom. He was a powerful person. He had a kingdom. He was a ruler, okay? He had a kingdom, according to Genesis chapter 10 verse 10, in the beginning of his kingdom, okay? Now, has anybody in this room ever heard of a guy by the name of Sargon the Great? Has anybody heard of this person? Sargon the Great is considered the first leader of the first empire that ever existed, the Akkadian empire. They considered the first empire, the first kingdom that ever existed, okay? Now it's interesting. I watched some documentary clips, and I read some articles about this because some people believe that Sargon the Great and Nimrod are the same person. And Sargon the Great is considered the first leader of the first empire that ever existed. Now here's what's interesting about this. And actually turn to Isaiah 20 real quickly. Isaiah chapter 20 real quickly. Isaiah chapter 20. What's interesting about this is that people try to use this character Sargon the Great to say that Nimrod is made up and he's not real. And they say Nimrod was actually based on Sargon the Great, okay? Now here's what's funny about this. The first time where people really documented human history, you're turning to Isaiah 20. The first time that human history was really documented and everything was paid attention to was during the Greek empire. That is why the Persians were considered the lowlifes of all time because Greece conquered them. Now when you're reading the Bible, King Cyrus doesn't seem like a bad guy, does he? We went through the book of Esther. The Persian empire was by far the godliest major empire that's ever existed, in my opinion. They were far better than Assyria or Greece or Rome or Egypt. Look, they had traits that were actually pretty good and King Cyrus was a pretty good guy. You know, Darius or Darius, he was a pretty good guy. That's a different one from the book of Daniel that I'm talking about. But when you look at the Persian empire and also the Medes, look, they were pretty godly compared to these other major empires that existed. But because Greece was the first one that really documented history, they just criticized the Persians. And if you remember correctly, they said the Persians were barbarians because they didn't have any sodomites. If you remember from the book of Esther. The Greeks were bragging about that and they said, we brought sodomy to Persia. That's why they're barbarians, no sodomy. You know, we talked about that when we went through the book of Esther, I don't remember which sermon that was. But it's like their view of what's right and perfect is being accepting of all this filth and wickedness, okay? But the general idea about Persia is that Persia were a bunch of animals. Now why do people think that? Because that's what secular history says, because Greece was the first one that actually documented stuff. And history is written by the winners, right? Now here's the thing about this. We know Persia wasn't very bad because of what we read in the Bible. Obviously God eventually wiped them out. They must have become very wicked, but they are not that bad when you're reading the Bible. Persia does not seem wicked like Assyria or Egypt or those other empires, okay? But here's what I want you to understand about this. Since that was the first time where they really documented history, if we're going to try to find out something historical from before that time, what is the best source of that? This book right here. There's no question about it. Why? Because secular history didn't document stuff, and this book is not just stories put together. It's not like the apocrypha where there's all these errors and these stories make no sense. They give you times and dates and names. They say this location at this date, this person's the son of this person's the son of this person. Why does the Bible do that? The Bible was doing that to show its authenticity, that it was written by God and you can trust it and you can prove it against history and the Bible proves to be true. It's not just random stories like in the Quran where there was this one guy who just in some location blah, blah, blah, nobody saw it, but just trust me it happened. No, it actually gives you the locations and the events. Why? Because the Bible is showing its authenticity. And look, the truth fears no investigation and God says this was the timeframe. This is the truth. God's not afraid of it being investigated because this word is correct. So here's the thing. When we're looking at a guy named Sargon the Great who existed right around the time that Nimrod existed, his exact date is not known, but it's right around the time of when Nimrod was. What would be the best source to find out whether or not this is true? The Bible would be. Notice what it says in Isaiah 20 verse 1. In the year that Tartan came onto Ashdod, even Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and fought against Ashdod and took it. Now this is a different Sargon, but I will say this. They say that historically he was named after Sargon the Great. If you look that up, he was supposedly named after Sargon the Great. I personally believe Sargon the Great actually existed. But I'll say this, secular history didn't know about that until the last 150 years where they found some archeological evidence. I mean, it's more of a recent thing and now they've made him out that he was the most powerful man, but he wasn't even known in human history. He was forgotten. Okay, now go back to Genesis chapter 10, Genesis chapter 10, Genesis 10. Now here is my opinion and I can't prove this, but you know what? I think secular history has some truth to it in this situation because I believe Nimrod is probably the same person as Sargon the Great. Many people had multiple names in the Bible or throughout history they had multiple names, but I actually have a reason for why I believe that he was actually Sargon the Great from the Bible and I can't prove this two plus two equals four. I'm just giving you my opinion, but I will say this. They say Sargon the Great was a leader of the first empire that ever existed. Now the definition of an empire or a kingdom, that kind of depends on who you're talking to. Obviously they never reached the level of Egypt, but they considered the first kingdom or is this built together thing of everybody coming together as one and in the Bible, who's the first person who's the leader of that Nimrod. But notice what it says in Genesis chapter 10 verse 10 because here's the thing, Sargon was from the Akkadian empire. Notice what it says in Genesis 10 verse 10, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Akkad and Calne in the land of Shinar. Now you see Akkad there and the way they spell Akkad for the Akkadian empire is A-K-K-A-D-I-A-N, but A-K-K-A-D is the same as A-C-C-A-D. It's a different spelling of the same location, but you notice part of Nimrod's empire, part of his kingdom, it mentions Akkad. And that is the area where Sargon the Great was said to be ruling. So my opinion is this, Sargon the Great actually existed probably the same person as Nimrod, but some of the historical details of Sargon the Great are a little bit squirrely. You say why? Because history is flawed, okay? You look him up, it's right at the same time frame as Nimrod, it has a very similar location, he's leader of the first empire. I think there's a good chance that he's the same person, but here's the thing, Nimrod was not based on Sargon the Great. The information we know for a fact is from Nimrod. What we hear in history about Sargon the Great, hey, maybe he didn't even exist. I could be wrong. I'm going off a few things. I mean, because here's the thing. If you look up information about Sargon the Great, what they're saying today is certainly not true because they make him out to be like he was a god. They make him out to be, you know, in some stories, like he was like Moses, his parents put him down a river and everything, and they say, well, Moses was based on Sargon the Great, blah, blah, blah. So they try to do anything to disprove the Bible, but you know, it's kind of like with any character, they just build him up into being bigger than he actually was, okay? So I cannot prove to you Nimrod is the same person as Sargon the Great, but I will say this, that they try to say Nimrod never existed because they say he was just based on Sargon the Great. I think Nimrod existed, obviously, and I think Sargon the Great existed, they're probably the same person because it's around the same time frame, the same area, the leaders of the first empire. But the information on Sargon the Great you hear, some of it's true, some of it's false. We don't really know, okay? Notice what it says in Genesis chapter 10, verse 10, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, okay? So he was a leader, he was a powerful person, and notice how it says Babel, okay? This is where you get Babylon from, okay? Notice how it says Babel. Now look at verse number 11. Out of that land went forth Asher and built a Nineveh and the city Rehoboth and Calah. Now Asher is the same as Assyria, okay? Because you notice where it says Nineveh, and Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. And so look, in these two verses, because you pass the flood and you're like, man, the most exciting part of the Bible's done, right? The flood, the beginning of the world and everything, but there's important information right after the flood. Because you're seeing this future empire of Assyria mentioned here in verse 11, you're seeing Babel mentioned in verse 10, Akkad, the Akkadian empire, all of this information, okay? But I want you to understand here as we're looking at Genesis chapter 10, with Babel, this is kind of the first introduction to this idea of the concept of Babylon. The concept of Babylon starts before Nebuchadnezzar, okay? There were empires that existed before Nebuchadnezzar, and this concept goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel, okay? So point number one, when we're talking about this Babylonian system, this Babylonian idea, the concept of Babylon, number one is control, control. Turn to Daniel chapter four, Daniel chapter four, Daniel four. So we're talking about this Babylonian system, this concept. Number one, you're looking at an empire that controls, that has power, that has influence over the nations of the world, okay? Not just a small zone, but they control pretty much everything. They have real power in this world, okay? Daniel chapter four, let's look at the Babylonian empire with Nebuchadnezzar as an example of this. Daniel chapter four, verse four, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house, verse four, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known onto me the interpretation of the dream. Nebuchadnezzar says I was flourishing, I was rich, I was powerful, I was prominent, I had control over so much, over all the world. Then I had this dream. Verse number seven, then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known onto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last, Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and before him I told the dream saying. Now I find it interesting that even though Daniel has already proven himself, Nebuchadnezzar still doesn't go to him for advice, when he needs help. That's kind of the way it is. People ask you questions sometimes about life, and because you read the Bible, they know you're a Christian, they know you're going to have a good answer, but then when they have the next problem in life, their first tendency is to go to the world for advice. You say why? Because the world usually gives them what they want to hear. You can tell Nebuchadnezzar's not saved because in verse eight he talks about the spirit of the holy gods. He doesn't understand who the true God is. He doesn't understand there's one God. Verse nine, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen in the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached on to heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, and it says there's this tree, and it reaches up to heaven, kind of similar to what they were trying to do with the Tower of Babel, okay? And what the indication is is that Nebuchadnezzar is very powerful. This tree reaches up to heaven, the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. What is that saying? He's saying, you know what? You have power. You have control over basically the end of the earth. That is how powerful Nebuchadnezzar was. Go to Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2, Luke 2. So if you're looking at this concept of Babylon, what are you looking at? You're looking at this empire that's very powerful, that has major control. That's what you see in Luke chapter or Daniel chapter 4. Now notice what it says in Luke chapter 2 verse 1, Luke chapter 2 verse 1, and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Notice this man, Caesar Augustus, who was shortly after Julius Caesar, he has power to tax the entire world. What's that called? It's called control over the events happening throughout the entire world. It says he made a decree that all the world should be taxed. He's in control of the things going on in the world. Let's go on to Revelation 17, Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 17. And look, we're just looking at a few things here and there because next week's sermon is the history of Babylon, so I don't want to give away too much information, but I'm just trying to show you that when you're looking at these empires, one thing you see in common for an empire that's going to be known as Babylon is that they have control. Now there was the literal Babylon with Nebuchadnezzar, but the empires after it that basically ruled the world, if they're going to be known as Babylon in spiritually speaking or the concept, they have to have control over the events of the world. Notice what it says in Revelation 17 verse 1, and there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. You say, what does that mean to sit upon many waters in Revelation 17 one? Well look at Revelation 17 verse 15, Revelation chapter 17 verse 15, and he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the horse sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. So when we're talking about this concept of Babylon, we're talking about something, an empire that has control over the events of the world. Sitting upon many waters over nations, over kingdoms, they control the events that are going on. Notice what it says in verse 2, Revelation 17 verse 2, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So the kings of the earth commit fornication with her, you say why? Because of her power and influence? Because she has control over the events of the world? Now I preached a long time ago, several months ago, about Revelation 17 before the Protestant Reformation series, and if you read closely, and I don't want to re-preach it during this series, Revelation 17 is referring to the Roman Empire, because it uses the present tense when it talks about one of them is, and Revelation 18 is not talking about the Roman Empire. And the reason why we're spending several weeks on this is because this is pretty deep, and I remember the first time I heard this preached a long time ago, and you know, it was confusing. It's like, how is it talking about something different in Revelation 17 and in Revelation 18? Why would it be different? Okay? But when you understand with John in Revelation chapter 17, he saw things in his mind, and there's a lot of things that hadn't been created yet. And so for example, when he's explaining this, the empire that existed was the Roman Empire, and it segues into Revelation 18 as it talks about the end times Babylon. Okay? And so like in the Bible when it talks about shooting arrows and stuff like that, look, you know, when we're talking about the end times, I don't think they're using a bow and arrow during the end times. I think they're probably using missiles, but an arrow is a good way to describe where they'd be able to actually understand that. Verse 18 of Revelation 17, verse 18, and the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Reigning over the kings of the earth, what does that mean? It means having control over the things happening in the world. Okay? Now turn in your Bible to Genesis chapter 11, Genesis 11. Now does Babylon exist today? No, it doesn't. But the concept of Babylon didn't die. Yes, Nebuchadnezzar's not the leader anymore. They died out, but the concept didn't die, okay? Because it's still mentioned in the Bible long after Nebuchadnezzar. So we're not specifically talking about the literal Nebuchadnezzar here, okay? The concept of Babylon. And you look at these different false religions, and oftentimes they'll talk about all that Babylonian system. Even false religions understand this concept of Babylon idea, okay? Now number one, we saw control, and number two, we see a confederation. That means joining together. We see control, we see a confederation. Notice Genesis 11, verse 1, Genesis chapter 11, verse 1, and the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. They're united together. They have a common language, okay? Verse 2, and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. So notice how they dwell together, they have the same language, and it says they dwelt there. That's a confederation. They're joining together, okay? They're looking at an empire that has control, but is also joining together. They have a confederation together, okay? Verse 6, and the Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language. They are joining together. They're united. Go to Psalm chapter 2, Psalm chapter 2, Psalm chapter 2. So look with this Babylonian concept. Number 1, you're looking at a location, a nation, some sort of empire that has control, but also has a confederation. They are united on many different fronts with other wicked people and leaders. It's a united system under one, okay? You see control, you see a confederation. Psalm 2, verse 1, why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and notice this, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying. So notice how the rulers are taking counsel together. They are a confederation. They are united against the things of God. Now certainly to some degree, we see that even today, right? No matter where you live, no matter what country, you see a uniting of these political powers and things like that that are anti-God, they're against the things of God, and they are united together against God, whether they realize that or not, okay? But even more so during the end times, you're going to see this. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, and you say, you know, why is it that they're united together? Why do they have this confederation? Why did they build the Tower of Babel and all these things happen? We need to understand this, that Satan is the God of this world. Satan is the God of this world. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them. Notice how it says the God of this world. Now many Calvinists will tell you this is referring to God. It's definitely not referring to God, okay? Because they say, well, you know, if God's in control, he's the one blinding the minds of people getting saved. That's what they believe. So they think, I mean, James White's on record saying, hey, this is referring to God because he's blinding the minds of people that don't believe. Well, we don't believe that. We believe Jesus died for everybody, okay? But Satan is the God of this world. And when you look at the things and the structures that are set up, look, this whole world is set up so nobody gets saved. The devil set things up to try to prevent people from getting saved, prevent people from living godly. I mean, when you get saved, you realize that you were lied to about the most important thing that exists, right? Especially if you get saved later in life, if you don't grow up Baptist. Getting saved when I'm a teenager, I'm like, man, if how to get to heaven is not what I thought, then maybe everything else is false. And as you grow and you learn and you read the Bible, you start realizing a lot of things you learned were lies. I mean, most things you learned in life are not true. This is why I always liked math because two plus three equals five before you're saved and after you're saved, right? But history kind of changes before you're saved and after. Science kind of changes before you're saved and after you're saved, right? Many things we hear in life were actually lied to about. They're not actually true. Why is this? Well, Satan is the God of this world and he is trying to blind people from believing. Go to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians six. So how does he do that? Well, he set up systems that are joined together against the things of God and he has the power and he has the influence on them. That's the reality. Okay. Notice what it says in Ephesians chapter six. You know, what's funny is, you know, some people that, that are, you know, really big conspiracy theorists, you know, they, they call it like the truth or movement. It's this group of people that are really hardcore into conspiracies and you know, they really think that they understand that, you know, Hey, all these things are lies and everything. And what they don't realize is they're actually part of Satan's system. Also you say, why? Because all these conspiracy theories and all that stuff that has nothing to do with living a godly life has nothing to do with getting people saved or anything like that. Now do I believe there's these evil systems like Zionism and all this stuff? Yes, absolutely. Okay. And if you don't understand a biblical perspective, look, you're wasting your entire life. You just study conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. What's funny about this is some of them get so obsessed with it that they make you scared to drink a bottle of water. Like you might die if you drink this water. It's gotta be like the non alkaline or this level or whatever. It's like, good night. It's just like you're going a little bit overboard if you know, eating this piece of chicken versus you know, this piece of chicken is going to kill me or whatever. It's like you're going a little bit overboard. Okay. I understand there's shreds of truth to this, but because of the fact, you know, if they're not saved that they dive into that as their religion, there'll be these hardcore political people and conspiracy theory people. And look, when it comes to us living the Christian life, what does it say in Ephesians six? Should we focus on those things? Ephesians six verse 10. Finally, my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. You think of the wiles of the devil. There's an old cartoon called the road runner and the wily coyote where he's always trying to trick the road runner and somehow he tricks himself. You know, I don't remember just vaguely, but the wiles of the devil, basically the devil is trying to trick you. He's trying to deceive you. Verse 12 for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now go to Matthew 10, Matthew 10, Matthew chapter 10. So how do you fight against the devil with all these wicked systems and things like that? Do you just protest at all these rallies and things like that? Look, I'm not saying you can never do those things, but if you want to fight against the devil, you read the Bible. You want to fight against the devil, you go to church. You want to fight against the devil, you go soul winning. Okay. And what I've found with all these conspiracy theories, like kind of the big one, at least in the US is like 9 11 is like the big one. And you know, most people don't believe things happen exactly like the government says. But you go down one door and there's always all these side doors, like maybe this happens. Maybe this happened. I mean, even the biggest guy, Alex Jones, you know, a lot of conspiracy theorists say he's like COINTEL, like he's paid by the government to deceive people and everything like that. It's like, good night your entire life, you just go down all these rabbit trails and you never know the truth. Okay. It's like it's a waste of your time. Who cares if you find out and look, if you find the deep, dark secrets of all these events that the government doesn't want you to know, they're going to kill you, right? I mean, maybe it's better not to find out all the deep, dark details. Does the government lie to us? Absolutely. Do you need to know every detail about it? No, you don't. You need to know what the Bible says. Now here's the thing. The devil wants to join all these forces together. He wants a confederacy. Is that God's system though? Does God want this system where everybody is united together as one? What does it say in Matthew 10 verse 34? Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. Now look at many churches, I'm not even sure how they'd explain this verse because they have this attitude that God wants to join everybody together, you know, world peace and everything. He says, I didn't come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. He says, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father. I'm come to set a man against his father that they would be against one another. You say, why would he do that? Well, I mean, think about Abraham, right? I mean, he had a father who didn't live a godly life. His father worshiped another god and it prevented him from actually serving God. Now look, obviously, Lord willing, if you have a family, everybody in that family is serving God. Wouldn't it be great if every cousin, every uncle, every aunt, every grandparents, they all just love God? I mean, wouldn't that be great? A family get together of like 50 people living in different locations and everybody's a soul winner and that would be an awesome family reunion. But show me where that exists on earth. I mean, this is the closest thing you're going to get to that sort of family reunion is church. That's the reality. And look, praise the Lord if you have parents that, you know, love the Lord and they go so any. I'm just saying it's the minority of the situation where that's actually true. Okay. He says, I've come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother. You know, a daughter against her own mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And so the daughter in law against her mother in law, that kind of speaks to the fact that maybe you marry into a family and maybe that family's not godly. Maybe that family is, you know, hardcore Catholic. You know, my wife, you know, her family, you know, they're saved, they're believers. But amongst this big family tree, they are the only non Catholics. Okay. Now, look, I, you know, we see their relatives from time to time, you know, and, you know, down in Pomponga and everything like that, we've given the gospel and things such as that. But here's the thing about this. We're not going to go have lunch with them every couple weeks. You say, why? Because they're Catholic. See, man, that's so harsh. No, they believe different things in us. They're against the things that we stand for. And it's like, if you're around them all the time, they will influence you. Now, look, I never preached, you can never talk to your family or never see your family. I talk to my parents every single week. I talk to them on Skype for about an hour and a half. You know, I love my parents. I'm not saying that you can't stay in touch with your family. But I am saying, judge your personal situation and figure it out. Because if you have relatives that are stopping you from living for God, then you might want to either sever those ties or make them a little bit more loose. I mean, think of Jacob and Esau. Esau is like, man, I want to see you, Jacob. I'm so in. And Jacob keeps saying, no, no, it's all right. You know, he wants to have distance. Okay, why? Because he knew Esau believed different things. Okay, so it says, you know, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And quite honestly, that is often the case. He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. And what the Bible is saying here is this, that if you have family that's going to prevent you from living for God, you've got to make a decision to choose God over your family. That's the way it is. And look, obviously, you know, we wish that wasn't the case. Okay, obviously, we wish everybody we knew in our family believed the same things and love God. But the reality is, most of the time, that's not true. Okay, now, my parents are saved, but with many people in this room, your parents probably aren't saved. Now, do I think you should spend time at Christmas? Yeah, you know, spend time for a couple days, nothing wrong with that. Try to give them the gospel. Try to get them saved. Here's what I'm saying, though. Don't make people that are unsaved your best friends, even if they're your family. You say why? Because they will lead you down the wrong path. I'm not saying you have to disconnect from them. I'm not going to preach something the Bible doesn't preach like you can never talk to them again. I'm going to start watching your conversations online. But I am saying be wise about it and don't let your family prevent you from living for God. Okay, go back to Genesis chapter 10, Genesis 10. Does it sound like God's for unity? Does it sound like God just wants to join everybody together? I mean, let's just have this joint fellowship with Victory and CCF and the Catholic Church and put aside all differences. We're on the same team, right? We believe in Jesus. Does the Bible teach that concept? No, it doesn't. We have individual churches. Okay. And look, I'm proud to say I'm a Baptist. We just had a series about that, but we're not going to hold hands with all the Baptists either. Now, if there's a church that believes the same things as us, by all means, we can fellowship with them. And I'm not saying they have to believe every single doctrine or every single belief. They believe the core things. We can have fellowship, we can have, you know, have, you know, I don't know, get togethers or whatever. But the reality is you don't really see that much. I mean, I would love it if there were a lot of great Baptist churches. I think it would be great. I think it would be great if people didn't have to drive an hour and a half to come to our church, if there are great churches everywhere. I think that would be great. That's not the reality though. And God is not for this unity. Okay. Notice what it says in Genesis 10, verse five, Genesis 10, verse five, Genesis 10, verse five, by these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands. You see a division taking place. Verse 25, onto Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg for in his days was the earth divided. Now I understand this is a literal division, but the concept is all the way back to Genesis chapter one, where he divides light from darkness. Okay. This concept of division is all the way back to Genesis one. And you see it over and over again in Genesis 10, verse 32. These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations in their nations. And by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. Look, God is a God of division. And yet at the tower of Babel, they were trying to unite everybody together. Was that of God? Absolutely not. You say, why? God's not the one for a Confederacy. God's not the one for a unity of everybody getting together. No, that's the devil. Who's the God of this world. Go to Genesis 11, Genesis 11, Genesis chapter 11. So what do we see in Genesis chapter 11? While we see a Confederation, we see them joining together. And notice what it says in verse eight. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth. And they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth. And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. They joined together. They have a Confederacy. God divides. God separates. Why? God is a God of division. That's what the Bible teaches. All the way back to Genesis one where he divides light from darkness. Now I want you to understand I'm not saying we should intentionally divide and cause problems or things such as that. Obviously, the Bible speaks about us being at peace with all men if it's possible. I mean, look, if everybody at your job hates you, it's probably you, right? If everybody at your company hates you, it's probably because you're a jerk. I mean, that's the reality. Because look, I've worked plenty of secular jobs in offices, and you know, people didn't hate me. Okay. You say why? Because as a Christian, you should be a polite person. You should be respectful. You should be hard working. And look, when you disagree, like, for example, you know, at your company, they always want these get togethers, you know, fellowships and parties, and people are drinking and stuff like that. And I remember my old job. I remember going to one, and then I regretted it and saying, man, I shouldn't have done that because people are getting drunk and everything. I just kind of ended up leaving early. And I remember I didn't go to the future ones, and you know, I knew people weren't crazy about it, like the upper management, because they want everybody to go to these things. But look, I was as polite as I possibly could be about it. You know, I tried my best. You say why? I'm not trying to start a fight, okay? We shouldn't try to start fights. We shouldn't have divisions. In fact, one of the reasons why I said the Church of Corinth were baby Christians is because there were divisions, okay? We shouldn't try to have divisions. We should try to have unity, but not sacrificing our beliefs for the sake of unity. Do you understand the difference? Now as a church here, it could be a little bit different depending on the topic. Let's say two people discuss a various Bible topic that's not a core doctrine, and then both sides think they're right. You know what? The respectful and nice thing to do is, yeah, you know, I can see your perspective and be polite about it. Don't be a jerk about it, okay? Now obviously I preach things in the Bible, and look, if somebody comes to you and they're trying to tell people that salvation is by works, by all means tell me, because that's a big issue. But if you have a different opinion on that verse in Ezekiel 13 about those women sewing, you know, pillows for arm holes, look, I mean, if two people have strong opinions about it, hey, that's fine. If you're going to argue about that, though, that's kind of stupid. Have unity. Just say, oh, I can understand your perspective. We can just agree to disagree. It's not a big deal. We should seek to have unity when possible, okay? But the problem here is the fact we do have some beliefs that are non-negotiable, okay, where the world is not going to understand this. Now, let me give you a perspective, an honest and sincere example here in the Philippines. One event here in the Philippines, and I preached this before, it's very wicked, is the Feast of the Black Nazarene. But I'll be honest with you, if I had a coworker who was going to the Feast of the Black Nazarene, I wouldn't mock them and rip them and make them feel like a terrible person for going to it. You know what I would try to do? I'd try to do what I did at old jobs. I would invite my coworker out to lunch and try to give him the gospel, okay? Now, I'm not saying if the topic comes up, you need to lie or pretend you believe something you don't believe. But I'm saying even in a situation like that, I think you should try to be respectful about it. You say, why? Well, they're obviously not saved. That's the issue that they need. Now, if you get them saved, by all means, start to show them some things in the Bible. But if they're not saved, what's the point of arguing about something that has nothing to do with the gospel? Because they're not going to understand it. Look, you could spend an hour arguing with a Pentecostal about speaking in tongues. Guess what? They're not going to get it, and they're not going to change their mind. But what if you get them saved? Oh, they'll change their mind in 30 seconds. You say, why? They got the spirit of truth inside of them, okay? So look, when it comes to your job, try to have unity with people. But the reality is this, God is a God of division, and as much as we try to have peace with people, we're not going to be able to have that, okay? Now, number one, we saw with this world empire, this Babylon concept, you see control, okay? You see a confederation, they have this joining together. But you also see corruption, okay? You see control, a confederation, and corruption. Notice what it says in Genesis 11, verse three. 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. And they said, go to let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach onto heaven. They're trying to build a city and a tower to reach up to heaven, okay? Now look, we talked about Nimrod at the beginning of this sermon, and it's not a coincidence that talks about him being a mighty man and having a kingdom. I'm sure this was his design to do this, and I'm sure they were spending a lot of money to do this. I mean, it's not like this is just 10 guys in the backyard saying, hey, let's build a tower to reach to heaven. I got a brick. No, this is an organized effort of a lot of powerful people, a lot of money, probably the best people at their jobs in all of this kingdom. And he was probably paying them pretty good money to build a tower to reach up to heaven. So if you read over this, you might think, hey, there's a bunch of Bobo guys trying to reach heaven. No, I mean, this is an organized effort that has real money behind it. So this is a very wicked thing. They're doing this. Why? Because probably they're trying to worship the sun or whatever, or they think they're powerful. They're trying to worship something like God or something like that. It's obviously something that's very wicked, and we can tell from God's reaction to this. And look, the pagan world always is worshiping the stars and the sun and all these different things. Okay. So it says this, who's taught may reach on to heaven. You say, I don't know. How do you know this is wicked? Look, even they think it's wicked. Even they know God doesn't approve. You say, how do you know that? And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. They say, let's get a backup plan in case we get scattered. Now, why is it they were worried about getting scattered? Well, they know they're doing something wrong. They know they're doing something God doesn't approve of. Look, Genesis 1 was already written before this. They knew, and I'm sure they heard preached that God was a God of division before. They knew that according to God's word, God was against this. But you know what? They're doing against what God says. And they say, let's get a backup plan. Let us have a name in case we get scattered so we can join back together as one. They know they're doing something wrong. That's why they have a backup plan. Now logically, they really don't have to worry. I mean, this is the kingdom that rules the world. Nimrod is this powerful person. His kingdom reaches to all these areas. They've got all this money, the financing, they've got everything. They don't have to worry logically, but then God steps in and he basically just changes the rules. He's like, I'm going to change your languages. It's like they wouldn't have even known what that meant at the time, right? So notice what it says in verse five, and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language. And this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. And God says, if they're able to do this, nothing's going to restrain them. They're going to do whatever they imagine to do. Okay? The Bible speaks about having wicked imaginations. And look, we can think of everything, sodomy, pedophilia, all the stuff for why the world was flooded before and the corruption before. The Bible speaks about them being corrupt. Same things are going to take place afterwards, and God says, you know what? Same thing's going to happen again. I'm going to have to destroy the earth, so you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to separate them. I'm going to divide them, and I'm going to break up their languages. Verse seven, go to, let us go down, and they're confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. And so he confounds the language, and now nobody understands one another. So look, they're up in that building, and the one guy says, hey, you know, I need a hammer. It's like, okay, I know. It's like, I don't know what you said. It's like, a hammer, what? It's like, now they don't understand one another. I mean, can you imagine the confusion that would result? I mean, can you imagine if you just had 10 different people that only spoke one language, and they're very different languages, like you had Mandarin Chinese and Russian and all the languages like, you know, the African click languages, and they're trying to, you know, I mean, and they don't know any nouns, because in today's world, a lot of nouns are similar. So you go from country to country, and even if they might have a different name for it, they'd still understand what you're saying. But look, they're not understanding anything at this point, and so if they don't understand one another, they're not going to be able to do anything, and God confounds the language. You say, why? Because God's a God of division, and what the Bible says is there is going to be corruption that was going to result. We have this Babylonian system here, the Tower of Babel. We see the control. We see the confederation, the joining together, and we see the corruption God says was going to take place. Now realize that in this world, there are some pretty tall buildings, right? I mean, there are some pretty tall condos in Ermita, right? I mean, throughout Metro Manila, there are some pretty tall buildings with, I don't know what the tallest is. I mean, 40, 50, 60 floors, maybe more. I mean, there's some really tall buildings, and look, there are taller buildings worldwide, some pretty massive buildings. I don't know how far they got up to reach toward heaven like they're saying, but look, I don't think that they were Bobo and had no ability whatsoever. I think they had real ability to build a very massive building that would probably be even hard for us today to do, and they have an organized effort. They have money and all this stuff. They probably got pretty far before God says, you know what? You're done. I'm taking it down, okay? We're seeing this mentioned all the way back in Genesis Chapter 10. Now go to Revelation 17, Revelation 17, Revelation 17. Now look, this concept of Babylon that's mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18, in a way, it's a really deep topic, but in a way, it's not really that deep, and see, the point of making this four parts for these two chapters is to make it a lot simpler to understand because when you understand the concept of Babylon goes all the way back to just after the flood where it mentions the Tower of Babel, and you have this system that has control, and you have this system that has a confederacy, confederation, and you have this system that's going to be corrupt, it helps us understand the end times, and also we're going to see next week as we talk about the history of Babylon, this is not some new thing. It's not just Babylon with Nebuchadnezzar and then end times Babylon. No, throughout history, there have been a lot of empires that had real power. I mean, every empire thinks they're never going to fall. They always think they're unbeatable. I mean, with the Greek empire, the Bible even says that when they were strong, when they were mighty, then boom, they're destroyed. In fact, every major empire, right when they're at their peak, overnight, it's like they're gone. I mean, it never makes logical sense why they'd be destroyed. Right? I mean, if an empire existed today that had that sort of power, it is possible that just overnight, boom, they lose all their power. That is kind of God's system where he basically takes them out when they least expect it, and it doesn't make any logical sense. With the Assyrian empire, 185,000 people were killed in an instant. Now in today's world, that's a lot of people. But imagine back then when 185,000 of your army is just destroyed. They said in most military battles, like the maximum it got to was like 100,000 back then. So basically, you know, you're losing all your forces, your power. God can make it happen like that. Revelation 17 verse one. Revelation 17 verse one. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talk with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore. And it talks about the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Now it's really the next chapter. What actually kind of gets into that, where it talks about that, the judgment of the great whore. Let me turn there myself real quickly. The judgment of the great whore. Notice verse two. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Here's an empire that has this control, and they're causing everybody else to be wicked. They have that sort of control. Verse three. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. What are you seeing? You're seeing corruption. I mean, in verse one it said the great whore. Verse two, committing fornication. Verse two, drunk with the wine of her fornication. Verse three, names of blasphemy. You're seeing this corruption. Verse four, and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Abominations, filthiness. This is a very lavish, powerful empire. Verse five, and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. It calls this Mystery Babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Now this Babylon, though, throughout the Bible, it kind of changes locations, okay? We're going to see that as we talk about it next week. We'll see all the different locations. But notice this empire has this control because it's the mother of harlots and abominations. It is the one that's influencing all of these other nations and basically causing wickedness to spread throughout the entire world. It has a control. It's under this united system, a confederacy, and corruption is the result of this. You see in verse four where it talks about scarlet and purple and gold and precious stones and pearls. It's a very rich empire. It has this sort of power. This is what we're seeing with the concept of Babylon. Now what's interesting is in verse five it talks about Mystery Babylon the Great. It refers to it as a mystery. It refers to it as something that's a little bit confusing, okay? Now that kind of makes sense because when John is hearing this, you know, it's describing the Roman Empire in Revelation 17, but at the same time a lot of what he's describing hasn't even necessarily taken place yet because a lot of it really fits with the Roman Catholic Church from hundreds of years later. But he's describing it as a mystery, but here's the thing about this. In 2020, this really doesn't have to be a mystery to us. I mean when John sees it, I mean he's bewildered. He wonders with great admiration, you know, he marvels at it. To us today though, we have the entire Bible to understand this and we can see that this concept that he's teaching about Babylon, you know, we have the entire book and the entire Bible to tell us about this. So this concept of Babylon, although it's a big mystery to John, it doesn't really have to be that big of a mystery to us because later on in the chapter he describes exactly what he's talking about and we get to look at the past and not the future like John. We look at the past of Revelation 17 and it's like Roman Catholic Church and that came from the Roman Empire and it's not that confusing to us. This topic, although it's a deep topic, it doesn't have to be that confusing to us. You say, why? Because we have the entire Bible to tell us. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to read your word about the concept of Babylon and help us to understand these things that will help us to understand why the world is the way it is and we can see many things like this taking place in today's world and we can understand, you know, what we have ahead with uncertain times, the future that might behold us here, whether it's our lifetime or hundreds of years from now, we can see these systems being set up. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.