Simple Faith

Bill Henry: Sin is everywhere. That's always been the case, but today on Simple Faith, Pastor Bill Henry points to an alarming trend. Sin is being accepted and celebrated everywhere, even in the church.

Bill Henry: There are many who falsely profess to be doing these same things in the name of Jesus. They say that they're Christians and they welcome sin into the churches and they celebrate sin and they say that it's good and it's from God. They too are already partaking of this cup of abominations and filthiness.

Bill Henry: And what I'm saying is we see the stages already being set up before our eyes.

Bill Henry: Have you ever noticed that in the Bible, religion is never talked about in a good light? In fact, the people who regularly gave Jesus a hard time were the so-called religious people. This is what separates Christianity from the rest of the pack. Christianity is not a religion. It's all about a relationship. It's not a point system, it's a free gift.

Bill Henry: This is Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel. We're in the midst of a verse by verse study through Revelation and we find ourselves in chapter 17 today. Now, this is not a pretty picture we see painted by John in this passage. In fact, it's downright frightening. Let's join Pastor Bill for today's message in Revelation 17.

Bill Henry: Revelation 17 verse 1. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Bill Henry: So as we come to this portion of scripture, again, if you, if you couldn't tell, we've kind of come back into a lot of symbolism. As you read through this chapter, a lot of symbolism, and we're going to break that down today, at least a lot of it. But also, as you read many commentaries, you're going to find that there's also many opinions, and they don't always agree, even with men that we look up to and I look up to as heroes. So, even as I'm teaching today, you might have different views and different things. Again, you're, it's okay if you're wrong, I'll still love you. And, but just, the same thing coming back, as we're studying these things, it reminds me of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12, that for now we look in the mirror that gives only a dim or blurred reflection.

Bill Henry: But then, when perfection comes, we shall see in reality and face-to-face. I know in part imperfectly, but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly. In the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood by God. So again, we here at Calvary Chapel, we take the book of Revelation and most of the prophecies of the Bible literally. That these things are literally going to happen. But when we come to portions of the scripture that are clearly symbols, even here, it's very clear because as you continue in the, in this book or this chapter, excuse me, we'll see that some of these symbols are actually explained. This represents this and this represents that.

Bill Henry: So it's kind of a neat thing. But at the same time, we need to also understand that if I can encourage you as your pastor, if I am your pastor here, not to get too caught up into these things either. I know some people like to get caught up in the fantastical, if you will. I remember I had this one group of people, Tally and I were flying out once a week in New Mexico back in the nineties trying to get a fellowship going. This group had already been meeting and they'd been watching videos. And the first group that, you know, book that they did was Daniel, the book of Daniel. And then I noticed the second group, a book that they did, when we came, they were towards the end of Revelation.

Bill Henry: And then they were going to be heading either back to Daniel again or again to over to Ezekiel. And I said, you know, how about you guys just, let's do the book of John. Let's do something where you know, just more straightforward to teach us how to love God, love one another and to love the lost. Those are the things that we should be getting caught up in. We study these things, yes, but remember, if you're a Christian, you're not going to be here for any of this. So again, we study it, but if I can encourage you, please don't get too caught up into this stuff, the Nephilim or all this other kind of, you know, it's interesting that Paul, as he's talking to the two young pastors, Timothy and Titus, he warns them not to get caught up into the fantastical if you want, I'm paraphrasing just a little bit.

Bill Henry: So look at verse one. It says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me. Now, remember last week and the week before, we looked at the seven bowl judgments. This is the last of the wrath of God to be poured out upon the earth that has rejected God. That has rejected Jesus Christ as son and are living in rebellion to Him. So these bowls are poured out. And then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me. Remember this is the Apostle John, saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Bill Henry: Now, the great harlot here, notice, come, I will show you judgment of the great harlot. Now the great harlot, most of your commentators believe that this is Babylon. It even says it in a moment too. But but not just Babylon, but like not the city this time, but this is the religious system. That this represents this harlot, this religious system that has taken over the world in the time of the tribulation, in the time of the 70th week of Daniel. And so this is a great harlot. Notice who sits on many waters. Later on in the book we're going to, or in this chapter, we see that those many waters actually represent the people of the world. And so that's what the many waters is. Verse two says, you know, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication.

Bill Henry: So, basically, one commentator said that in the last days, it's, there's going to be a monstrous, ecumenical combination of everything that people consider to be spiritual. So after the church is gone, the real church of Jesus Christ, when we are raptured, you're going to sadly probably have a lot of churches that call themselves Christian, still full. Many will be half full. Sadly, there'll probably be even still a few here left here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel.

Bill Henry: But again, those are those people in, you know, that will be left behind will be those who maybe thought they were born again, saying to me, Lord, Lord, didn't I do this in your name? But they never knew Jesus. They're just simply religious. They hold on to a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. And so we see that there'll be this ecumenical combination. Again, it's called Babylonian Babylon the great or Babylon the Great.

Bill Henry: And basically, notice, they're made drunk with the wine of fornication. The kings of the earth committed fornication. And so, it's interesting that as this new religion comes on the scene, and I again, I think this will be at the beginning of the great tribulation, that all of a sudden you'll have this is coming together of Buddhists, and of Islam, and of Christianity, and all these things. But it'll be these weird portions of these faiths, especially Christianity, it'll be basically those who don't believe in the Word of God. It'll basically be those who just have some form of Christianity, but it's not true Christianity.

Bill Henry: But again, it'll mix all together. There'll be this whole big Kumbaya moment, if you will. And so, notice here that the whole, the kings of the earth, verse two, tells us that they committed fornication with her. So the leaders of the world, the kings of the earth, will partake of this worship system.

Bill Henry: Now, remember, God calls this fornication. Why? If you look in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God basically decries that if anyone worships any other God but Him, they're committing adultery or committing fornication. And so that's spiritually. And so that's what he's talking about. They're committing fornication, spiritual fornication with this false religious system.

Bill Henry: And so, it's not just the kings of the earth. They'll notice, it goes on to say, that the inhabitants of the earth. It says that they will be made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Now, when you get drunk, you basically lose control, you enter into a haze, a terrible thing to get drunk. And, you know, you, you drink so much, then your, so many brain cells are being killed by the alcohol. You go into a haze, and that's kind of what's happening. The, the people here are drunk even with the wine of this fornication. In other words, they're deceived.

Bill Henry: They're going into this false worship, they're worshipping all these false things, but notice again, they are worshipping. They are lifting up their praise to something, and we even see earlier in the book of Revelation, they will also worship the dragon, who is Satan, they'll worship the beast, the antichrist. But it's interesting where it says they're made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Remember in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18, it says, do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Bill Henry: So, these people of the world will not be filled with the Spirit of God, but with dispensation, they will be drunk with the wine of fornication, they will worship false gods, they will worship through a false religious system, here called Babylon or Great Babylon. Now, look at verse three.

Bill Henry: So he carried me away in the Spirit to the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and having precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

Bill Henry: So again, here we see the Apostle John. Now the angel is carrying John away, notice, in the Spirit, into the wilderness. And we see the same woman, notice, I saw a woman. This is still the same woman. But now she is sitting on a scarlet beast. So the woman again, remember that same religious system, but now that religious system is now sitting on the scarlet beast. And notice the scarlet beast was full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And those are going to be explained later, by the way. We won't get to those today, but we will explain those later.

Bill Henry: Now, notice too in verse four, the woman was arrayed in purple and in scarlet. So, purple there would, would basically tell us that she was royalty. That's what, how you address if you were royalty would be in in purple. Now, the scarlet could also go along with that thing of royalty. But it could also be talking just about blood because, notice again, that the beast in verse three is sitting on a scarlet beast. And so it could be representing blood and death, which when we see what continues to come, it makes sense that way as well.

Bill Henry: Now, notice as well, she's considered royalty. She's adorned with gold, precious stones. Now, it's interesting because many of your commentators believe this to be a representation of a mutated form of the Catholic, the Roman Catholic Church. Because again, if there were any true believers in the Catholic Church at that time, the Roman Catholic Church, they would have been raptured. So any who were standing for the truth and for righteousness in the Word of God would be gone.

Bill Henry: And it makes sense as you look around at the Catholic Church today, adorned with gold, precious stones. We see the pop and fancy. Not just in the Catholic Church, but if you've ever been to an Orthodox Church, very similar. Even the Lutheran Churches are very similar in those ways. And so again, it's an interesting thing. Again, and that when we continue in this chapter, we're going to look a little bit more at the Roman Catholic angle, and, you know, the Babylon, how the Babylonian worship system goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel. So we will be looking at that as we continue on, but not this morning.

Bill Henry: So again, it's interesting because of this, we see that there'll be a lot of pomp and there'll be a lot of fanciness within the churches. And, you know, when we look at that later on, we're going to see this. But notice that she has a cup full of the abominations and the filthiness here at the end of verse four, of her fornication.

Bill Henry: In the amplified, it says it this way, holding in her hand a golden cup full of the accursed offenses and the filth of her lewdness and vice. Now, it's interesting, when you look in the Greek there, the word filth, there there's a sexual connotation to it.

Bill Henry: So, not only will this be a false, you know, religious system, but it'll be mixed in with a lot of sexual worship. There'll be a lot of, not just the filthiness of, you know, harlotry against God, the true God, but also within the worship. Which makes sense when you look at the different religions of the world, even today. A lot of the religions practice sexual things within their faiths. If you look at, I think it, I'm, I think it's Sikhism.

Bill Henry: That when you, they actually have temples and that they come down from the temples, they have harlots that come out of prostitutes, temple prostitutes. It's part of their worship even today. Look at Islam. Your promised, you know, what, 40 virgins or 70 virgins, if you're good enough and you make it to that place. Even Mormonism promises the guys at least, sorry girls, but the guys get a planet to populate if you're good enough and the women, all the women that you want or whatever. And it's a sad and wicked thing, but that it's going to be mixed in with this religious system. A lot of sexual sin as well.

Bill Henry: Now, as we look around today, it's not a far reach to get to this point. Does anybody see that? When you look around today, and to think about the the the sexual immorality, and religion combining forces. And we see this happening today. Maybe many of you don't realize it's happening today. When you look at homosexuality, the homosexual movement, and the transsexual movement, basically today they're being lifted up and honored as religions.

Bill Henry: They're being vener, you know, just venerated up. Examples of this are abound. We have another month of, you know, gay pride month, of celebrating sin and and transsexuality and things. And it's, it's, it's so wicked to see. But here's the interesting thing. I don't know if you heard about what happened over, you know, um, in Eastern Washington there, um, is I'm just Spokane.

Bill Henry: They had painted some crosswalk for Pride Month in the LGBTQrstuvwxyz colors. And some kids, some teens, three of them they caught, they they went over them and they they made skids over the whole thing. Well, guess what? They've been arrested and they're now being charged with felonies and face up to 10 years in prison.

Bill Henry: Now, we have people that burn the flag, our American flag on a on a daily basis almost. We have people deface churches and synagogues. And none of them are facing 10 years in prison. Again, why? Because it's a God. It's being worshipped as a God. It's being lifted up. When you have parents sacrificing their children and bringing them to these transsexual reading hours at the library and even some churches today.

Bill Henry: You can see that it's a religion. They're offering their children up to these false gods. So again, even though this isn't happening today as far as fulfilling, we see it preparing to be fulfilled. I think Barry Stagner, he likes to say we we start to hear, you know, the horns of the apocalypse, the the hoof hoof prints of the four horses of the Apocalypse.

Bill Henry: And so we see this. We see so many kings of the world today are already partaking, um, basically of this cup of abominations of filthiness as they lead their countries to celebrate Pride Month and other such things. And again, notice they're not just celebrating anymore, but now they make their whole country celebrate. And and there are certain places now that even, I think I saw in England, you know, that just you can't speak out against them. I think in Canada too because again, it's it's basically, they won't say it, but you're attacking their God of sexuality.

Bill Henry: And that's really what it's become as this God of sexuality that's perverting not just our government, but also our schools. I mean, whatever kind of person has to be so depraved to think that we have to start teaching children at four and five years old about sex. What, what does it tell you that they're thinking about all the time, these people who want to teach it? Sex. It's disgusting, but again, it's it's being celebrated, not just here in America, but most of the countries of the world.

Bill Henry: Now, if this weren't terrible enough. There are many who falsely profess to be doing these same things in the name of Jesus. They say that they're Christians and they welcome sin into the churches and they celebrate sin and they say that it's from, it's good and it's from God. They too are already partaking of this cup of abominations and filthiness.

Bill Henry: And what I'm saying is we see the stages already being set up before our eyes. Could you imagine if we were all gone tomorrow, the rapture came? The world would, first of all, I think there'd be dancing on the streets by a lot of people. There'd be mourning as well, by the way, a lot of the people still sitting in the seats in the churches. But man, you know, again, I think many people would be excited.

Bill Henry: Because for many within the world, they don't just, you know, look on these things, they maybe they might not practice them, but they also celebrate those who do. Well, it's not for me, but man, you know, it's all all for yourself and it doesn't matter what people right or wrong, it doesn't matter if it's sin or not. And so what do they do? They approve of those who do such things. And I've seen, you know, these videos of parents bringing their children to these, you know, gay pride events.

Bill Henry: And there's half-naked if not fully naked guys or gals. And and their little kids are sitting there saying all this perversion. And the parents are like, oh, this is wonderful. No, that's child abuse. But remember what it says in Romans 1:32 about this, though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.

Bill Henry: Now, because of the days that we're living in, I I really feel called as a pastor that I have to say this as well. Look, I want to remind you that we are to stand against this wickedness and we are to stand against those who practice these things. We need to stand against schools and school boards who put forth this stuff, these sinful things and want to teach them to our kids as normal. We need to stand against our governments that seek to normalize and celebrate these sexual sins.

Bill Henry: But we also need to remember, beloved in Christ, that we are not to hate any of these people. Can you hear me on this, please? We are not to hate any of these people but love them enough to give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and warn them what the Bible says about if we do not repent from our sins and come to Jesus Christ. Remember, they're right where you were, maybe in a different place sin wise, but before you came to Christ, you were headed to hell too. We were headed to the lake of fire too.

Bill Henry: So even if they do hate us because we give them the gospel, and sadly many do. Many are filled with hatred towards you, many are filled with intolerance towards you, even though they're calling out for tolerance, many are filled with anger towards you. But we are still commanded to love them.

Bill Henry: This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill's series in Revelation. It's our sincere hope and prayer that you've been blessed by the words you heard from Pastor Bill today. If you'd like to share today's message with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can actually download an audio MP3. We have a large number of Pastor Bill's messages archived, and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That's simplefaith.org, just click the media tab.

Bill Henry: And if you'd like to contact us, just click the contact us tab at our website. There's a tab at the top of the homepage where you can also send in a prayer request. You can also call us. The phone number is 833 by grace. That's 833-294-7223. And if you'd prefer the US mail, our mailing address is Post Office Box 55, Battle Ground, Washington 98604.

Bill Henry: And this month, when you support Simple Faith with a donation of any amount, we have a resource we're very excited to send you. It's a wonderful 365-day devotional book by Anne Graham Lotz, titled The Joy of My Heart. In this collection of daily devotions, Anne Graham Lotz brings some of her most thought-provoking meditations from six of her best-selling books into concise and captivating readings for each day of the year. That's going to help you rediscover that his word is definitely the joy of my heart. It's yours for a donation of any amount this month. To donate, go to simplefaith.org and click the give tab.

Bill Henry: Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have three services on Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:45, and 11:30, and a great time of studying God's Word every Wednesday night at 7:00. For more information and directions, go to simplefaith.org, and you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and be sure to join us next time as our series in Revelation continues here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel.