Sermon Tone Analysis

Today, we’re going to see the judgement of Babylon from a different perspective, and it isn’t pretty.

And what we’re going to see here is that God hates pride and selfishness, and materialism, and they are particularly bad when the show up in his people.

So we’re going to be warned to come out of Babylon here.

And we’ll talk about what that means and how to do that.

Here’s today’s message.

If you only get one thing, get this: Put your hope in Jesus, not in stuff.

That’s the message of Revelation 18- Put your hope in Jesus, not stuff.

Let’s read the first part of this chapter:

What are some of the reasons that God gives for judging the world here?

Pride, materialism, and selfishness.

These are the three main indictments against the world that rejects the authority of God.

Some of these might give us cause for concern.

Remember in this same book, Jesus wrote to Laodicea- the church who were so rich they didn’t need God, and he said, you think you’re rich but you’re not.

You think you can see, but you’re blind.

You think you’re clothed, but you’re naked.

Spiritually, you lack everything you have physically because that’ where your hope is.

And to me, materialism is such a stench in my nostrils that you make me want to convulsively vomit.

The same is true here.

Babylon seduces the nations into rebellion against God through materialism, and she tries to get Christians to follow.

As the people of God, we must Put our hope in Jesus, not stuff.

Pause

When we put our hope in our stuff, pride controls us.

How we see ourselves rises and fall with how much or how little we have.

That’s a twisted identity.

We can start to think of ourselves as more important than other people who are also created by God in his image and loved deeply by him.

Not a real story, but I’m sure there’s a grain of truth to it somewhere:

*cutting to the front of the long line at the terminal demanding to being first class.*

Man: “Do you have any idea who I am?!?!”

*grabbing the terminal loudspeaker* Employee: “May I have your attention please?

We have a passenger here at the gate who DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS.

If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17.

Thank you.”

If we don’t guard our heart and Put our hope in Jesus, not stuff, it will absolutely inflate our ego and make us think that we are somehow better than others, and we will be filled with the worst of all sins- pride.

God hates pride.

The world places its hope in stuff, not God, and go hates it when we imitate the world in our ungratefulness.

For my kids, I like to spoil them (and I think this is part of the father heart of God), but the minute they act spoiled… uh uh.

It’s over.

I don’t mind spoiling them, but I mind if they act spoiled.

The other day, we were at Walmart (that’s when the trouble started, right?), and the kids had been behaved *alright*.

We told them we were going to get some ice cream if they behaved.

Elsie hitting her brother.

Isaiah not listening and getting out of his seat.

Nehemiah freaking out over the lady only having a wonder woman sticker, not a Batman one.

Well, we didn’t get ice cream that night.

Is that a surprise.

I don’t mind spoiling my kids, but I do mind if they act spoiled.

I think that’s part of the heart of God.

And so God loves to spoil us by giving us the Holy Spirit.

When we act entitled to our salvation because of something we’ve done, or when we act better than others because we are saved, it causes some of the same reaction of disgust in God that we feel when our kids are acting spoiled.

Kind of like this:

[[Tim Hawkins Video]]

Sometimes, that’s us, isn’t it?

We get selfish and spoiled and ungrateful for what God has given us.

We complain to God about something someone else has that we don’t, and it’s pride.

It’s materialism.

And so here, we hear a song to Christians, saying, "Come out of her, my people" basically, "Babylon's falling; get out of dodge."

Not physically, but spiritually.

It's not saying to move away physically, or to wall up our churches so no one worldly can come near.

It's saying, "don't engage in her activities."

Spiritually, come out of her, so you don't partake of her sins.

Why?

Because if you're part of her kingdom, you get her judgments.

If your hope is in stuff, you will mourn like they do when that stuff is all destroyed.

These guys are sad and afraid.

Why?

If they shared in her prideful, selfish, luxury, they will share in her destruction.

Notice they emphasize that although Babylon was great, it was destroyed in a single moment.

The bodies and souls of men?

You might look at that, and say to yourself, “well, slavery isn’t an issue in our day, so does that really apply to us?” Let me tell you how you might contribute to the selling of the bodies and the souls of men:

Sweatshops

Track it down.

Workers in these places are paid on average less than $1/hour, 25% of what a family needs to survive where they live, they are subjected to verbal and physical abuse, long hours, forced overtime, and basically slavery.

In some instances, they are treated like prisoners, made to work in an area surrounded by barbed wire and guards armed with shotguns to make sure they don’t leave.

As a Christian doing commerce in the world, track down your purchases.

It can be hard work, and sometimes impossible to tell, but as far as you can discover, do not support the enslavement of people made in the image of God.

Produce farms in the southwest

Track it down.

Illegal immigrants there are often mistreated.

Many are provided substandard housing (which comes out of their pay) in some instances being forced to live with 13 other workers in a two bedroom trailer, paid less than minimum wage, and often are not paid at all because their employers know illegal immigrants will not sue them.

And if you’re thinking that it serves them right because they came here illegally, you have in mind the things of man, not the things of God and you need to repent.

We are citizens of the kingdom of God first, and Americans much further down the list.

God loves ALL people.

We need to also.

Pornography

Track it down.

Look at me.

Long pause (count to 5 Mississippi)

For those of you indulging in this trap, if you think that your hidden sin is okay because it isn’t hurting anyone- that its just a girl on a screen, track it down.

Sex trafficking in our country is at an all-time high because in our culture, sex sells.

And it sells the bodies and souls of people.

If this is what you’re spending time filling your heart with, chances are what you’re watching IS hurting someone and those girls are probably sex slaves.

Track it down.

If that’s you- you’re addicted to pornography, let Jesus set you free from it.

There is nothing he can’t redeem you from.

There is nothing he can’t save you from.

Don’t leave today without confessing it to someone so that you can be set free.

[Gospel Message]

We can only be prideful toward other people when we forget they are created in the image of God and objectify them.

And that’s what the world does.

It objectifies people.