gift to you. Just feel free to take that. And we invite you to just keep coming and, and learn what the Bible teaches for yourself. I think you're going to see today that's uniquely relevant. Well, I want to invite you to turn to the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, uh, chapter 17.
And we have been in a series on Revelation that we're— where it's an overview series. And so you may be wondering, well, why do we skip Chapters 14, 15, 16. Well, Revelation has a bit of a parallel structure. There's a number of kind of expressions of God's justice and wrath in the first half. There's a middle, and then there's another kind of parallel section of God's justice and judgment.
And if you miss those, we made some important comments about the character and nature of God. So go back, read that in your Bible, or catch up on those messages. But this section of Scripture I've heard called the cosmic warfare part of Revelation. Doesn't that just sound like the kind of thing you want to learn about? Like, yeah, sign me up for the cosmic warfare class.
That is what this section is. It's showing us that behind what we see right in front of us in the world, there's actually a cosmic war going on behind the scenes. And so we see this with the woman and the dragon, the woman representing God's people and the dragon representing that great enemy God, Satan clashing, and we saw last time in Revelation that the dragon sends two figures into the world, the beast out of the sea, which represents evil government, worldly government opposed to Christ, and its method of opposition to the church is just attack. And then we also see the dragon sends the false prophet, whose method of attack is, well, not straight-up attack, it's deception. Now, the third figure.
The third figure is defined not by attack or, or kind of spiritual heresy, deception, but by something, well, far more seductive.
So let's read the text today, Revelation chapter 17. We're going to read verses 1 through 6 and then jump to 18, verses 1 through 5. This is God's Word. Revelation 17:1, "Then one of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had 7 heads and 10 horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of Earth's Abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Now, 18, verse 1.
'After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast." 'For all the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.' And then I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, Lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
This is God's Word. Now, Father, we pray, oh Lord, this is one of those passages, good Lord, that I pray that we would not miss the main point.
Point of all here, all that's here. Lord, I pray that you would clearly, succinctly help the text of Scripture to land with weight and force on our hearts.
Help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Well, I was homeschooled, as you can probably tell. I was homeschooled for most of my schooling up through high school, and one of the benefits of that was that I read a ton of Greek mythology.
I did not know growing up that it was not normal, that all the public school kids did not read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, but that's just how I rolled. That's how my family rolled. And so I grew to love a lot of the Greek mythology stories. I knew they weren't real, but I loved the The labors of Hercules. I love Medusa's head that turns people to stone.
And if you're wondering, you know, is that really the kind of thing a 7-year-old should be reading? I don't know, but I did and I loved it. And I especially love the journey of Odysseus, right? This great figure who went to the Trojan War and is trying to get back home. And he goes through all of these trials and tribulations on the way home.
And I like the Cyclops. Everybody loves a Cyclops, right? He fights a Cyclops, all this cool stuff. But there was one section I was puzzled by that, especially as a kid, I didn't understand at all. It was a section where one of the characters warns Odysseus, as you sail home, you're gonna go through a dangerous, treacherous section of water, but the danger is hidden.
And here's what will happen. You'll hear the most beautiful song in the world, the most glorious, magnificent, seductive song. You'll be tempted to begin to sail toward it, but if you do listen to the song of the sirens, you will dash your ship on the rocks, and in some of the traditions, be consumed and eaten by half-bird, half-woman creatures. Don't do it. So Odysseus, being smart, he takes a bunch of wax, he puts wax all in his guys' ears, I don't know how he had so much wax.
Why was the wax there? No details. But he happened to have a giant thing of wax, stuffs it in everybody's ears, and then here's what he does. He says, "Tie me to the mast, and if I scream and beg to go toward the song, tie me down even tighter, and I'll let you know when it's safe to, you know, to take the wax out of your ears." And so they do. The song begins, and Odysseus is tied down.
The sailors can't hear it, and he's begging and thrashing around, and they just tie him tighter and tighter and tighter until they— sail through on the way home.
This passage functions for us very much like the warning given to Odysseus, that there is a siren song all around us that we are unaware of, and if we do not heed the warning, we will be similarly dashed upon the rocks and devoured.
If you're wondering, is this going to be like an up upper or a downer passage? I think you're getting the feel.
Here's how I would summarize the warning of the passage: Beware the world's siren song.
Beware. First section, the song of the siren. What can we learn about the song of the siren here?
6 · Exegetical move situating Revelation 17 in the broader context of the seven churches (chapters 2-3), identifying seduction rather than persecution as the primary danger
Now, one of the reasons that this is in Scripture is that if you read Revelation 2 and 3, you'll see that one of the temptations of the churches in Asia Minor was not to crumble under persecution, but rather to be seduced away from Jesus. And that warning to Thyatira and, I think, Pergamum is pulling them away, and Jesus wants them to see clearly what's happening.
Remember, Revelation is meant to reveal all of this strange imagery. It's not meant to confuse you or just make you go, throw your Bible up in the air and say, "I don't know what that means." It's in fact meant to reveal the deeper spiritual reality behind the world around us.
7 · Exegetical differentiation between the beast's method (force, compulsion) and Babylon's method (seduction, enticement)
Now, here is the tactic change from the beast we covered last time. The beast comes and says, "You must do this or else," right? Which is forceful, the force of evil government sometimes opposed to the church.
But Babylon's tactic is totally different. And Babylon says, "Come, you'll enjoy it. You want to do this. Look at all I can offer." Meanwhile, the beast is, "You better do it or I'm going to kill you." And then Babylon's like, "Well, don't listen to him." This is like a cosmic good cop, bad cop thing, right? And the church is in danger.
8 · Exegetical exposition of the sexual immorality metaphor pervading Revelation 17
Now, the controlling metaphor— this is kind of a weird, I know, weird passage to read with 11- and 12-year-olds in the room. So parents, you have fun kind of walking through this at home.
But this metaphor of adultery or immorality is threaded through the whole section again and again. You probably felt it getting repeated, thinking, "This is kind of a weird thing to read out loud with a bunch of people that I don't know." Yes, that's the controlling metaphor of adultery, of immorality. And Hamilton comments this way. One of the commentators on Revelation says this: The whole world owes allegiance, or fidelity to God. The whole world should relate to God as a wife does to a husband, in purity and devotion.
But the world has forgotten God, betrayed Him, and sold herself to anyone who will pay. So what we see is this metaphor of immorality or adultery. Some of it is literal, but the metaphor is meant to illustrate a a spiritual immorality, a spiritual adultery. Where that occurs anytime we take something that is not God and lift it up to the place of God in our lives. It could be money, or lust, or power, or identity, or any one of a number of things.
That is the danger.
9 · Hermeneutical clarification addressing the identity of Babylon
Now, you may be wondering, okay, well, so is this Babylon figure, is this Rome and it's already passed, or is this about to come? Who is this? Well, this is an interesting section of Revelation because so often the answers in Revelation are not straightforward. The imagery here used to describe Babylon is actually almost word for word the imagery used to describe the nation of Tyre in the Old Testament in Ezekiel.
So in some ways you'd say, oh, well, Babylon— wait, Babylon's the same as Tyre, this worldly nation that Ezekiel was prophesying against. But then there's some clues like This city is on 7 hills, and if you know your Roman history, you know, oh, that's Rome, Rome, city on the 7 hills. So you think, well, it's got to be Rome, but it's also Tyre. And it also seems to suggest that this is going to happen in a culminating way toward the end of history. So is this the European Union?
I mean, you're like, I don't know where— where do we go here? Well, the answer is, is this about Tyre? Is this about Rome? Is this current? Is this about some future nation?
Yes. Yes, it's about the world's culture. So the beast is about government. This is about culture, the world's culture in opposition to God. And very likely it will— there will be a culminating culture before the last battle.
But it doesn't remove us from the danger. It's not as though we're like, okay, well, I think it's probably going to be a culminating culture. So we're not being seduced at all. No, no, no, no. If they faced the danger in the first century, how much more do we face it today?
10 · Exegetical unpacking of Babylon's first enticement: greed, materialism, luxury, possessions
Now, why would anyone— it could be asked, why would anyone follow Babylon? Obviously, spiritual adultery, bad stuff, no good. Well, look at what she offers. First, greed, materialism, money, possessions, right? All of that stuff.
She's described in verse 4 as being clothed in luxury. She has rare purple and scarlet clothing. She has gold jewelry covering her. She has just arrived with an epic shopping trip, a pile of shopping trip bags from Prada and, you know, I don't know, wherever else expensive stuff happens in the world. As you can tell, I'm not real into the luxury, the women's luxury gown scene.
But she is alluring. She is glorious. She is seductive. She is drawing in with purchasing and buying and selling the offer of— to those who come to her, the offer of the finest foods, the finest homes, the finest things, everything from financial security to a nicer car to a bigger house to thrills to amusements to an Instagram-worthy, epic trip to Norway that will put all of your high school friends to shame, right? This is what she offers.
She offers greed.
11 · Exegetical unpacking of Babylon's second enticement: lust and sexual immorality
She also offers lust. Now, again, we read the descriptions of sexual immorality here. It looks delicious. She offers passion and fulfillment of every desire.
She offers it openly. She offers the thrill of stolen glances at naked bodies and illicit affair with a coworker, of wants and pleasure of every kind. She holds it out to all who are come to her.
12 · Exegetical unpacking of Babylon's third enticement: pride, self-exaltation, power, position, popularity
Third, she offers pride. As we read in verse 7, she says, "I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning shall I never see." Right?
She is at the top of the world. That she's described literally as being in bed with the rulers of the world. She offers access to power, to position, to respect, to popularity. She exalts the self. She offers each person the thrill of being the center of attention, the reserved parking space, the award on the wall, the popularity of a million social media followers replying to your every move, everything that shouts, "Look at me, exalt me, glorify me." me.
Do you see in the end that what she really offers is the exaltation of the self over and against the exaltation of God?
13 · Direct address to the congregation diagnosing the default assumption most Christians hold: that the surrounding culture is mostly neutral with occasional bad spots
And if you read the letters to the churches, this seductive call was working.
Now, here's what I want to pause and ask. What do you think the default posture of the Christian is to the world around you? I think for most of us, we would just assume that, okay, a whole lot of culture around us is just neutral and fine, and maybe every once in a while, like, "Okay, yeah, definitely don't do that," you know. "Oh, that movie, that's a really, really bad movie. Christians don't do that, but all the other stuff, it's fine." Revelation 17 is saying, "Wake up." up.
You are being drawn in. You are hearing the song of the siren, and you can't even tell, and you're about to be dashed upon the rocks.
14 · Personal family story about a Mazatlán vacation where an uncle was nearly drowned by an undertow — a danger that felt distant until it became real
I think of years ago when my whole extended family went for a vacation to Mazatlán, Mexico. And, man, the water in Mazatlán is the best, right? It is not this Nordic ice water of California.
Okay, it is like, it's like the perfect bath temperature, right? You just put your feet in, you're just like, ah, it's both refreshing and not cold, it's the best, you know? And the sun sets over the water and you're just out there and everything in you is just like, I love this. And so you kind of swim out a little bit and you're floating, except the parents would always warn us, watch out for the undertow, watch out for the undertow. You might get pulled out to sea or drowned.
And as a kid, you're just like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Grandma." But one time, memorably, as a kid, one of my uncles—fine swimmer, normal guy—sucked out with the undertow.
And another of my uncles went in after him trying to save him, and he was nearly sucked out. And finally, the lifeguard with other stuff goes out there and is almost— I don't think it's an exaggeration to say— just barely able to rescue him.
And as the word kind of spread through the family, we went to the beach to see what was happening. The warning our parents had given us suddenly became very real. And here's the warning. You may think you're floating neutrally, but you may well be sucked out before you know it. Sucked out into the ocean.
Man, this, I think, is the feel of Revelation chapter 17. This is an urgent warning to the Christian that the culture around us is not neutral. I think sometimes, especially in America, we begin to be like, "Oh, well, we like a lot of the things of America, so American culture is almost tipped a little bit toward the Lord, right?" Revelation 17 says this: Apart from the Lord, the world's culture will be pointed away from God and toward the cliffs that destroy.
15 · Direct application challenging the congregation to examine the standards they use for media consumption, material living, and relational boundaries
So just think about it. What media do you consume?
What do you base your standard of living on? What do you base your standard of that— that's definitely too much bad content in that show. What do you base that on? Oh, I would never watch that one, but this one's okay. Why?
Why?
Or your pursuit of life centered around yourself and just saying, okay, I gotta cut these people out of my life. They're just not— they're not a safe space for me. And so I'm going to, you know, I don't like this person and I don't like that person and nobody can tell me what to do and I'm going to pursue my own path. Why? Well, because it feels right to me.
Beware the pull and the undertow of the world around you.
16 · Resource commendation and brief exposition connecting the exaltation of self in Revelation 17 to contemporary cultural analysis (Carl Truman)
I just briefly want to commend to you, especially on the issue of how the self and pride and possessions and sexuality are all interwoven. Linked right now. I want to commend to you the work of Carl Truman. And he— I'm reading a really big book called The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, which is great if you loved your, like, third semester advanced women's studies class.
This is the book for you. But for the rest of us, this shorter book I think is accessible. He has done a number of interviews, but he has done excellent work describing how Where we are in terms of our stance as a culture toward LGBTQ+ issues has been shaped by the thread of what's been in America since the very beginning, which is the radical expression of self where no one can tell me what to do or what is right for me. And so that connection is also being made in Revelation 17. It's not new to Truman.
He's seeing it, the exaltation of self, wealth, power, government, religious figures that will say, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you want to do, that's fine." And you can— listen, you will be able to find a church with some guy in a pulpit, maybe in a robe, that will okay anything you want to do in this world.
What defines normal for you? Revelation says, "Beware. Beware."
17 · Structural pivot into the second major section of the sermon, which will expose the falseness of Babylon's promises
Second, the truth of the siren song. Now, this is where Revelation not only warns us but exposes the bankruptcy of the siren's song.
18 · Exegetical exposition of Revelation 18:4 — the command 'Come out of her, my people
Verse 4 in chapter 18 is the clear call of the text.
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.' The call is, 'Come out of her.' And notice where The people of God are. It's not like there's the worldly culture over here and we're over here and we're like, "Yeah, that's crazy over there, huh?" The Lord comes and says, "You're there. Come out." And I love how it's just the assumption. It's not like, "Well, if you're in the world, you know, definitely come out." It's like, "No, I know where you are. You're there.
Come out. Come out."
19 · Exegetical and theological exposition of why Christians should not listen to the siren song: Babylon offers a share of pleasure, but it is actually a share of judgment
Now, why? Why would you not listen to the siren song? First reason. She offers a share of pleasure, but in reality, it is a share of judgment.
Look at the wording of verse 4, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues." Commentator G.K. Beale says this, "One of the lessons of these verses is that Christians should be in the world but not of it. To be of the world means that we have compromised our values to share in the world's present wealth and advantages, but at the cost of also inheriting a share in its coming judgment.
You understand what's happening here? The world is saying, "Listen, listen, I've got a share for you, a share of pleasure, of joy, of material wealth, of exaltation of yourself, of affirmation. I've got a I've got a share for you. Don't you want to come and be part of it? And the unsuspecting person goes, "Oh, sure, I would like a share of all of that.
That sounds wonderful," right? Only to find that instead of a share of joy, it's a share of judgment.
Look, this is the reality in Revelation. Keeps track of everything. Don't mistake because it seems as though in the short term somebody is getting away with something that you're like, "Well, I guess, I guess they're getting away with it." The book of Revelation, one of its purposes is to remind us no one gets away with anything in the end.
Every evil deed, every spouse cheated on, every employee exploited, every vulnerable person manipulated, In the moment, the cheating spouse may feel pleasure, the employer may get more profit, the manipulator may get what they want, but in the end, that pleasure will be pain, the greed will be poverty, and the proud will be humbled. That's the first reason.
20 · Exegetical exposition of the second reason to reject Babylon: she promises eternal glory but delivers eternal desolation
Second, Babylon offers a shining forever, but in the end, it is a forever desolation. Look, if you look at verse 1, the imagery could not be more haunting. This great city, towering city, people coming and going, merchants coming and going, all the world coming to her, all of a sudden in verse 1, she has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast she has become.
If you've ever seen one of those, like, there's like a bazillion of them, zombie movies where some guy somehow has been asleep and he wakes up and he tries to walk through the big city and, you know, where there used to be billboards like Broadway and the lights and stuff, they walk through and it is a ghost town and the buildings are crumbling and evil creatures are in the shadows and Literally, birds are cawing in the air. Caw, caw, right? This is what becomes of Babylon forever.
She promises that the things she offers will last forever. No, what will last forever is the desolation brought to her.
21 · Exegetical exposition of the third reason to reject Babylon: she offers many friends who affirm and support your choices, but they will abandon and devour you
So much more we could say there. Very quickly, she also offers friends, many friends, many people to come and affirm you and love you and support your choices. But in the end, the friends will devour you as well.
At the end of chapter 17, verse 16, that the 10 horns, the kings that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their heart to carry out this purpose. Here's the reality: the friends that the world offers around you, the friends clapping and cheering on, like, "Yeah, go do it," they'll be nowhere in eternity. In fact, in the end, they will be the people to turn and attack you and abandon you. And here's one of the things that you gotta understand about Satan in the book of Revelation.
Satan is not just a do-gooder that's like, he doesn't like God, so he's running around trying to help people 'cause he's just such a big-hearted guy.
He's not out to help people. He's out to destroy anyone made in the image of God. So when he offers something, you gotta understand, this isn't just like a friend saying, "Hey, I had some extra meat that I cooked in the smoker. Do you want it?" And you say, "Yeah, awesome," and you take it home. This is a guy shooting poison into the meat, handing it to you with a smile.
These are no friends. In the end, they'll abandon and destroy.
22 · Exegetical exposition of the fourth reason to reject Babylon: she offers luxury, but in the end it is worthless
Fourth, Babylon offers luxury, but in the end, it is worthless luxury. Remember all the fine clothes that she had as she walked the red carpet and all the pictures were being snapped? Well, look at what becomes of her in chapter 18, verse 14: "The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again.
Alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls, for in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.
In the end, what good is a luxury apartment in the burned-out rubble of a destroyed city.
That's what it will be in the end.
I know you probably have seen some of the images of the war in Ukraine and some of the buildings that are half destroyed. And it would be like— it's like this: somebody coming to you and saying, "Listen, great city. It's a great part of town. Got an open floor plan." "Plenty of sunlight. You're gonna love it." You buy the apartment.
You show up. Half the building is gone. It's an open floor plan because it's been shelled and it doesn't have one of the walls, which is why it's so sunny.
Right? It's worthless. It's worth— what she offers is worthless in the end. What good is a pile of the finest delicacies of life handed to you on platter after platter when you know that night you're headed to the electric chair? What good is all that food?
It's just going to rot and spoil.
What good is a porn magazine to someone burning to death?
She offers luxury, but in the end it is worthless luxury.
23 · Cultural reference to Citizen Kane's final scene to illustrate the worthlessness of accumulated luxury — in the end, all belongings become junk thrown into the fire
I love the last— I'm kind of a film nerd— I love the last scene of Citizen Kane, which nobody probably under 50 has seen. But baby boomers, you guys are my people. All of your movies are my movies and earlier. And this great image in the last scene of Citizen Kane where this guy with untold luxury all over his property, living alone in an empty house, in the end dies.
And the last scene are his belongings being thrown into the fire. Because all the things he collected from all over the earth became no more than junk in the end.
That's what Babylon offers.
24 · Doctrinal assertion synthesizing the exposition: sharing in Babylon's sins and sharing in Babylon's judgment are inseparable — there is no way to take the pleasure without the punishment
And so the Lord comes and says, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you share in her judgment." And make no mistake, church, you cannot separate the sharing in sins from the sharing in judgment. It can't be done. You might think, "Well, I'm in for the fun part but not the back end," right? No, it's the same ticket, just flip it over.
25 · Direct application turning the question from 'are you' to 'where are you' listening to the siren song
Now, the question then that should, I think, in a godly way haunt us is this: Are you listening to the siren song? And in fact, after I wrote that, I realized the better wording is probably, "Where are you listening to the siren song?" Not "Are you?" Verse 4 assumes that we will need to come out of Babylon. So I think we can assume there's somewhere in our lives that the Lord wants to put his finger on today and say, "Man, you think you've just been treading water, but you're being sucked out to sea. Your view of dating, or relationships, or money, or possessions, or whatever, identities, it is— you're getting sucked out." sucked out to sea. You listening to the siren song?
Where are you listening to the siren song?
26 · Structural pivot into the third major section of the sermon, which will provide practical strategies for resisting Babylon
And then I want to hopefully help equip you to get safely home. Look, this passage is in our Bible not because Babylon's victory over the church is inevitable, but rather the church triumphs over Babylon. How then does the church triumph over Babylon in the end, right? It says in 17:14, They, these forces, will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.
So the church in the end will triumph. But how do we triumph? What has God given us to triumph?
27 · First strategy for resisting Babylon: remember home
Well, the first thing I want to encourage you to do is remember home.
Just like Odysseus headed for home, we must remember where we are headed. One of the great things we'll see when we get to chapter 21 is that Babylon and the New Jerusalem are absolutely put side by side. Like, have you ever seen one of those websites where you're trying to decide, should I get this cell phone or that cell phone, or this coffee maker or that coffee maker, and it has, like, the little list side by side, right? And so it's almost like Revelation says, here's Babylon, Here's the New Jerusalem. Here's Babylon.
Here's the Bride of Christ. Which will you choose? Well, the choice should be easy.
As we sail, as we hear the siren song, remember where we are headed. Revelation 21, just a taste of this: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The whole kingdom of Babylon destroyed in an instant. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their 'God, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' Church, where Babylon offers a share, Jesus offers a better share. Jesus offers a share of glory. Look, we are recipients of a share in the eternal life of Christ. 1 Peter says— describes it this way, that it is an inheritance, imperishable, undefiled, kept in heaven for you. You hold a ticket and everyone around you in the world will say, "That's worthless.
Ha! I got a better ticket for you." But Christian, Hold on to that ticket because we know where we're going. We're going to a better place, a better city where the share is a share of glory, where the forever is a forever of eternal life, where the luxury is a luxurious, glorious inheritance that will never fade. And Jesus offers friends and those around us who will not abandon us, rather they will be gathered with us. With him forever.
Look, when you begin to hear the siren song, the first thing you have to do is say, "Where am I going?" When the mirage of Babylon begins to come up in your mind, head for home, Christian. Remember that Jesus offers something far better.
28 · Second strategy for resisting Babylon: stop your ears up — actively reject the world's definition of normal
And then, second, stop your ears up.
Just like Odysseus's guys, needed to throw some wax in their ears. I think there is a godly way in which we have to get really used to throwing wax into our ears to resist the siren song of the world. G.K. Beale says this: "The worldliness both outside and inside our churches is always making godly standards appear odd and sinful values seem normal, so that we are tempted to adopt what the world considers normal." What is a normal approach to identity in life? What is a normal approach to sexuality? What is a normal approach to the money that sits in your bank account?
What is a normal approach to social media? Here's what I want to urge you, Christian. Is your normal the normal of the world, or is your normal the normal of God's Word?
Babylon will always make godly standards appear odd and sinful values seem normal. I was watching this— I don't even know how I happened to come upon this clip, but this celebrity who I won't mention was joking. He was on a talk show. He's joking about having fathered multiple children on an immoral spree because he was having a hard time in dealing with grief.
And on the talk show, everyone is laughing. The girls in the talk show next to him are laughing like, "Oh, that old guy, you know, fathering a bunch of children because he was sad." Like, and I remember thinking, like, I thought of this quote and I thought, that is supposed to be normal. It's supposed to be normal for somebody to wake up and say, I just don't love you anymore.
It's supposed to be normal to watch shows with softcore porn in it. It's supposed to be normal to spend every dollar and more on yourself and never think of others. That is what is normal in America. But the normal of the Bible is far different and far better. So there is a godly way in which you got to go, "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." And that looks like— well, looks like a lot of things.
Oh, man, there's so much more I could say here. Let me just give you one more quote from Beale. He says this as related to greed, as related to lust, as related to pride. He says this: "The chief purpose of humanity according to Revelation is to glorify God and to enjoy him." not to glorify oneself and enjoy one's own achievements. This is the way you could hear the siren song is, is that siren song calling me to lift up myself to the throne, or is what I'm listening to encouraging me to keep God on the throne?
That's what we have to listen for.
29 · Third strategy for resisting Babylon: lash yourself down to the truth of God's Word
Okay, second— I mean, third, rather. Okay, head for home, stop up your ears, Lash yourself down.
Lash yourself down. Man, we have got to have things in place that keep us tethered to the truth of God's Word when we hear the siren song of the world, right? Here's the difficulty. In Revelation, it's so clear that the enemy and the world apes and mimics what God has made and what God has done, right? The prostitute, the harlot in Revelation 17 looks almost, if you squint, like the bride of Christ.
The beast in 18 is described as the one who was and is and is to come, almost like God. The beast has a wound that he didn't die from, almost like Jesus. And so as you're looking, like, wait a minute, wait a minute, which one of these is the real one? We got to be lashed down and we got to be able to see through these things. Otherwise, look, man.
We used to go to Wattis more often, but my favorite thing in Wattis, bro, was when like there would be like a character that looked kind of like Mickey Mouse and it would be like Ricky Mouse Panadería or something like that, you know? And you're like, is that kind of— it's kind of Mickey, but kind of not, you know? Or, or like Dinosaur Park shirts, like kind of like Jurassic Park, but not, right? That's what the enemy and the world are doing in Revelation. You're like, ah, dinosaur park is cut, no, no.
How do you see through them? You have to lash yourself down to the truth of God's word. Revelation is meant to reveal. And the whole Bible, in a sense, is what reveals. The whole Bible is the glasses we put on to see, oh, that's Ricky Mouse, that's Mickey Mouse, right?
This is the bride of Christ, this is a harlot, right? We need the lens of God's word, so we gotta tie ourself down.
30 · Expands on the 'lash yourself down' strategy by introducing the Wisdom Pyramid (Brett McCracken) — a hierarchy of input sources with the Bible at the base (clearest, most authoritative) and social media at the top (least clear, least authoritative)
I could spend, like, 20 minutes on this next thing, but I just wanna show you something, okay? So put up the wisdom pyramid. So this author, Brett McCracken, that came up with this, you can find this online.
I think it's commendable. He has a book, like a little book that's an easy read called The Wisdom Pyramid. And I wanna encourage you, you have to lash yourself down. Usually the way that we approach life, we approach it upside down, Write, like, a lot of social media, a lot of internet, the Bible at the top when we get to it, right? And he's saying, no, no, no, from the lens of Scripture, you go from the clearest to the least clear, right?
You go from the Bible, which you'll ask yourself to in daily reading and memorization, and if you don't know how to read the Bible, let me encourage you, get with a Christian brother or sister and just ask them, man, help me learn how to read the Bible for myself. We'd love to connect you with a discipleship group. We'd love to, especially if, If maybe pornography is an issue or sex addiction is an issue, we have a group for that called the Freedom Fight we'd love to connect you to, right? So those things will connect you to the Bible and connect you to the church, right? Being in this rhythm where one, it's like, look, I don't know what you feel, but I feel like this.
Every week I almost live underwater, and once a week on Sunday morning I come up for air. It's just like, oh, okay, all right, we're okay. And then we go back and swim in the world sea for the rest of the week, right? The church, and then nature could be a great way to just break the world's hold on you, right? You're like, "Oh, the new TV show's coming out." Just go outside and look at a sunset.
"The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands." Nature has this beautiful, the creational, general revelation thing that does to us. And just do that. Lash yourself down. To the truth of God's Word.
31 · Fourth and final strategy for resisting Babylon: sing
Alright, last thing: sing.
How do you fight the world's siren song? You remember where you're headed, you stop up your ears when you have to, you lash yourself down to the truth of God's Word and with other believers, and then you sing. There's a second way to beat the sirens in Greek mythology. I wonder if anybody knows this. Does anybody know what other character or group of characters beat the sirens?
There's got to be a homeschooler in here. It was actually the Argonauts, right? The other big group of adventurers. And they had an advantage that Odysseus' guys didn't have. They had Orpheus.
Orpheus, the greatest of all the ancient musicians, and their tactic was a little bit different. What they did is when the siren song came, Orpheus began to play, and he outplayed the song of the sirens. It's almost like when the sailors were tempted to drift, Orpheus would play so beautifully, it would keep everyone back on track. Have you noticed in Revelation, brother or sister, that they sing all the time? Everyone is always singing all the time.
Have you noticed that? Because as we sing, we remind ourselves of the truth of who God is and what he has done. You could actually sing, you can meditate. What I mean is this: your heart should sing. Your heart should see who God is, see where we're headed, see what he's done, and overflow.
And if you're singing, oh, that's the safest place to be when you hear the song of the sirens.
32 · Pastoral aside addressing the temptation to self-righteousness after a convicting sermon
One, okay, just one example, right? When the scroll comes and the Lamb comes, and let me just say this, look, a message like this, I think probably every single person is going to be aware of some area of deficiency in their life, or should be. The only people I'm worried about in this room are people that are like, "Eh, I think I'm good. I'm good.
Don't have anything I need to change," right? I would love to pray for you after the service, really, because that's a dangerous place to be. We should all be feeling, man, this area of my life has been shaped more by the world. Or yeah, I did watch that and I shouldn't have. Or I've been allowing this pattern into my life or into my family, and I know I need to pray and ask for God's help and put that to death.
I need to stop that.
Why do we sing?
Because the only thing that separates Babylon and the bride of Christ is not people who have cleaned themselves up.
They are people that Jesus has cleaned up.
Revelation 5, and the Lamb is revealed, and the song of God's people is this: Worthy are you to take the scrolls and open its seals, for you were slain 'And by your blood you ransomed people for God.' What changes between the harlot of Babylon and the bride of Christ? Only this: the blood of Jesus buys us back. 'From every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign shall reign upon the earth.
33 · Historical example of John Newton (slave trader turned pastor) to illustrate the proper end-note of the sermon: not self-condemnation but gospel hope
Look, the last note, brother and sister, that you should be feeling as we end is not, "Oh, I'm so messed up. I'm so jacked up.
I really need to change." Listen, I hope the warning has been helpful to you, but I hope, like John Newton, you will end— John Newton was a slave trader. He was an evil man for decades. And as he lay dying, he said, "I remember only two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior." Savior. This, church, is what separates us.
34 · Concluding charge synthesizing the four strategies into a doxological climax: sing, remind yourself of what God has done, gather with the saints, drown out the siren song until we're safely home
And what Revelation says to do then is sing it.
Remind yourself of what God has done. Remind yourself of who you are in Christ. Remind yourself of his victory. Remind yourself of his home. Take in the Word.
Gather with the saints. Sing your lungs out to drown out the song of the siren. Until we're safely home. Amen.
35 · Closing prayer addressing two audiences: those not in Christ (inviting them to wash in the blood of the Lamb and affirm both 'I am a sinner' and 'I have a great Savior') and the church (asking for sobriety to the danger, longing for home, and singing that does not stop)
Would you stand?
Let's pray. Oh Lord, I pray that if anyone is here and is not in Christ, is not part of the bride of Christ, Lord, I pray that they would hear the invitation in Revelation, that, that you invite those covered in stains and sins to come and wash their garments white in the blood of the Lamb. Lord, I pray that there'd be no one here that only would say, "I'm a sinner." Lord, bring them to say the second, "I have a great Savior." I pray that they would see you and believe. And, Lord, I pray for all of us as a church. Lord, may we not May we not listen to the siren song of the world around us.
May we be sober, aware of the danger in the undertow. But I pray, Lord, that we would beware, be wary, learn to fight it, not so we can be better than the people around us, not so we could be self-righteous goody-two-shoes, rather, but that we would desperately, longingly head for home. And, Lord, I pray that as we close in singing, oh, Lord, I pray that the song of the Lamb would resound in this place. That the song of the redeemed would resound in this place, the song of the victory of Christ and the hope of glory resound. And then may it not stop.
In Jesus' name, amen.