Take the World But Give Me Jesus
By Pastor Matt Black
11 March 2007
Lord's Day evening
Isaiah 13:15-22

Open your Bible to the prophecy of Isaiah and chapter 13. We will be reading verses 13 through 22.

The title of this evening’s message is “Take the World But Give Me Jesus”. 

Introduction:   Do you ever feel like you are living in Babylon? Babylon’s mayor is the devil. He knows his time is short. Deception is the air that is breathed in Babylon. We learned last week that Babylon seems to have so much to offer. Babylon offers everything. We are going to see tonight that when Babylon is lost, those who love Babylon are left with nothing.

Does any one here tonight have any investments in the stock market? The mechanism that makes the stock market competitive is no one knows what tomorrow is going to bring. Some people in the 90s invested in the “dot coms”. Everyone thought the new Internet companies would be the new golden goose of the American economy. People bought into the dot coms and when they went under, they lost everything.

There are a whole lot of people buying into what Babylon has to offer. People are buying in Babylon. They are buying it all up. We read chapters like Revelation 18, and we find that the god of Babylon is materialism. Babylon is a fast food society. It is totally self-centered. It’s all about you. This kind of stuff sells. What do you want in life? What size? What shape? What color? Do you want it to wash your dishes? Done! People are buying like there is no tomorrow.

Babylon’s Propaganda. I looked at a study recently on propaganda in the United States of America. Webster says that propaganda is “information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause”.

Can I ask you a question? Why is the American breakfast bacon and eggs? Alix Speigal from National Public Radio writes, “Years ago, Americans grabbed toast and coffee for breakfast. Public-relations pioneer Edward Bernays changed that. Bernays used his Uncle Sigmund Freud's ideas to help convince the public, among other things, that bacon and eggs was the true all-American breakfast.”

What Bernays did was set up propaganda departments in all of American companies and businesses. Propaganda was not a very friendly term, so he changed the term to “Public Relations”. People in 1905 were not materialistic for the most part. People bought what they needed. Most of the colors of things were dark, and most things were simple and practical. They conserved what they could, and there was very little debt in society.

Then Bernays came on the scene as the guru of how to control the American public and teach them that they should actually be more self focused more concerned about the individual. Bernays’ most famous book is called “Propaganda”. He is the one that made things fashionable in America. For instance, in the 1920s, Bernays’ began working for the American Tobacco Company, he persuaded women's rights marchers in New York City to hold up Lucky Strike cigarettes as symbolic "Torches of Freedom." By relating things to freedom, he pushed women’s liberation causes to the front—and women became more independent. No one could argue with women smoking now because he had successfully associated cigarettes and women’s rights together with Freedom.

Listen to what Bernays writes in his book:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons ... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

From the time of Bernays on, Americans were told that they needed this and they needed that—Bernays was the author of the idea of what we would call “The American Dream”. He put the dream together. Every one in America if they are anybody should have a car—a house with the three bedrooms and a picket fence. They shouldn’t be simple and practical. That is outdated. The citizen of today is an individual.

So cars and houses and clothes started coming out in every different color and size. Fashions were big.

Now what was the point of all of this materialism? The bottom line was MONEY. Money is what runs Babylon. Any time more money needs to be made, you don’t need to re-invent the wheel. You just need to change what is fashionable.

And the fashions of women are chosen by a few elite fashion designers from New York and Paris. Money comes in.

Have you heard someone say to you—those clothes you’re wearing are so 90s! The haircut of that person is so 60s. Why can we day that? Because Propaganda tells us that if we want to be happy we need to be regulated by the fashion police.

Friends, let me encourage you, and this is not our main point, but let me encourage you not to be ruled by this world in what you buy and in what you wear. Please God in what you do. Be simple, practical and smart with the resources God has give you.

Before we get to our text in Isaiah 13, turn over to Revelation 18:9, “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” Now drop down to verse 14, “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.”

The point of our text is everything you see in Babylon is going to come to nothing, so don’t live for it!!

We come to verses 15 through 18, and we see just exactly how Babylon will come to its end. Here is a picture of the Medes (see verse 17) coming against Babylon in an awful wicked war. This Medo-Babylonian War took place in 539 B.C. Of course this is simply what we call in the Bible a historical type. That is, the Medo-Babylonian War is a small picture of the real Judgment Day. So as we Babylon coming to nothing…

I. Let’s first see the Casualties of Babylonian living.

Listen if you live for godless earthly success, you are going to hurt more than yourself. There is always a price to pay for what you live for. Actually the price is your own soul. Everyone is sold to someone or something. We are creatures, and it is impossible to be our own master. Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Babylon is coming to an end. Mammon is coming to an end. If you’ve given your soul to Babylon, you will go down with Babylon.

A. You see, in Babylon, there are no Survivors.
Look at verse 15, “Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword”.

The Medes and Persians descended on Babylon. Those in Babylon found by the Medes and Persians will be immediately executed. “Every one that is found shall be thrust through”. There will be an element of surprise and most people will simply be found and come to their immediate death.

Others flee and are “joined” or in other words, ‘captured’ and then are put to death.

The point is, all roads in Babylon lead to death! Babylon seems like it is invincible, but it is not. Babylon was the mistress of the nations. It taught all the nations her sensual materialistic ways. Babylon seemed unconquerable. Yet, all who follow her will go to destruction!

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Matthew 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it”.

Babylon’s gates are large and beautiful, but they lead to destruction.

Not only are there no survivors (10 out of 10 will die)…

B. In Babylon, there is no Mercy.

Look at verse 16, “Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished”.

Young comments,

“War in all its brutality and cruelty is set before us. Only the fallen heart of man can do what the Medes are here depicted as performing. The aspect of a universal judgment is now pushed into the background, and Isaiah describes the appalling deeds of an army of depraved men.…[The Medes] are barbarians. Wrath knows no bounds.”

Children are utterly lost—dashed to pieces in front of the parents.
Houses are robbed and burnt to the ground by the Medes.
The wives are ravished. The Scripture here mentions what is unspeakable.

Now let us remember that this war is a picture of the consequences of our willful continuance into sin. If we continue in love with the world as a harlot of Babylon, war will rage in us and cast us into hell!

If you are in love with Babylon, all that you hold dear will be destroyed one day very soon. The children you have begotten and raised, the home you have built and the mate that you have loved will all be stripped away from you on the Last Day.

Application: Do your children reflect Babylon? How do they speak to you? Do they reverence their parents? Do your children live chaste lives? Are they pure? Have you let the Babylonians raise your children?

Men, how about your wife? Who has the most influence on her? Do you know what she is doing when you are away? Are you teaching your wife to love the Lord? Do you initiate spiritual conversations with her?

How about your home? Is it being robbed and looted by the Babylonians? Your home ought to be God-saturated, but sadly for the most part, today you cannot tell the difference between the TV of the professing Christian and the lost person. Is God pleased with your DVD collection? What is the atmosphere of your home? Is there a love and reverence for God?

The ironic thing about America is that we think we are giving our families everything, but we do so at the expense of their very souls. If you give the whole world to your wife and children, and they don’t have Jesus, they’ve lost everything.

If you are not ready on the last day, King Jesus will tell his angels what to do with you as it is written in Matthew 22:13, “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Mark 8:36-37, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Will you give all that you hold dear—your children, your wife, your houses and possessions, and even your own soul for adultery with Babylon. This adulterous affair with the world is but a “a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14), but your torment and misery will be eternal!

No survivors in Babylon,
No mercy,

C. In Babylon, there is no Regard for silver or gold.

At this point, the Medes will not make a peace treaty for any amount of money. They cannot be bought out. They are mad! They have been stirred up by the Almighty! Look at verse 17, “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it”.

Application: Dear friend, no matter how much earthly success you have, all of it—even if you have all the money in the world—it cannot buy your freedom from the chains of hell that await you. There is only one price the Lord will settle on, and that is the price of His own dear Son!

John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”.

1 John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” The only one that can bear the wrath of God and shelter you from the destruction you deserve is the price of the blood of the Son of God.

No survivors in Babylon,
No mercy,
No regard for silver or gold,
And finally no hope!

D. In Babylon there is no Hope.

You know what is one of the most exciting thing about our church? The new fathers and mothers. The Babineau’s and the Reid’s are going to have children within then next six or seven months. The most exciting thing to a community is to see children grow up to be young men and women. But I want to tell you the sad thing about Babylon. Babylon loves your children too. They want to steal your children’s youth and given them freedom without responsibility! Babylon leaves young men completely exposed! Look at verse 18.

No more strong young men. Verse 18a, “18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces”. Send your greatest young warriors to fight, and they shall be dashed to pieces—the idea is shot to pieces with arrows.

The saddest thing in the world is to raise your children—invest everything into them, only to see them throw their lives away.

There is no hope in Babylon because there is no next generation! Look at the last part of verse—this is when the true motives of men are revealed. The Medes and Persians have no pity on even infants. Verse 18b, “and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.” The Medes bring on a remorseless slaughter! Their “eye” shall not spare even the “fruit of the womb” and “children”. The eye is a gate to the soul, and these people who come upon Babylon have sold their souls long ago. They have no feeling and no conscience. God gives them over to a seared conscience and a reprobate mind. Paul says in Romans 1:21, they become “vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened”.

Keep your children out of Babylon. Babylon has no care to protect your little ones. The world will offer your children everything, but it will cost them their souls. The world is merciless.

II. Secondly, we see the End of the Kingdom of this world.

Let us read verse 19, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah”. Sodom and Gomorrah is a type of hell, and that is where all who trust in the earthly success of this world will be forever.

Look at the glory of Babylon. Babylon is described here as “he glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency”. Babylon is beautiful, even irresistible. She tries to replace Christ. The words “glory” and “beauty” are used by Isaiah of the Branch. Isaiah 4:2, “In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious”.

Now let’s stop and think about this. The beauty of the world is a counterfeit beauty. It gives you everything that Christ offers you, but it never satisfies.

Christ promises you eternal rest. The world says buy this mattress, buy this house, own this pool, get this time share, go to Disneyworld, and you will have rest! It’s a counterfeit!

Christ promises abundant life. You follow Christ and you will have life and have it more abundantly! But the world says your life isn’t complete until you’ve sufficiently packed your house full of goods that you will never use. If you want an abundant life, you need things, things, things! What you need for an abundant life is a bigger TV set with richer fuller digital color. If you want a fuller life, you need to get rid of that old car of yours and go into debt and buy a new car! You need to have the house with the white picket fence, or simply don’t have an abundant life!

Listen, Babylon’s beauty is the beauty of a harlot! I’ll say it again in James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

If you love Christ the world will hate you! But if you love the world, you are an enemy of God! Don’t be taken with earthly success. Rich or poor really doesn’t matter down here!

Do you show favoritism to the rich down here? It’s a sure sign you are in love with the world. You love Babylon if you favor riches. Listen earthly riches mean nothing.

III. Finally look at the destruction and Desolation of Babylon. Look at verses 20-22. This prophecy is true even to today, “It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.”

This prophecy is fulfilled even today. Wild animals inhabit Babylon. Babylon has come to nothing. Don’t put too much stock in the kingdoms of this world. I’m going to make a prediction tonight. The stock market is going to crash. I can’t give you a specific date, but it’s going to crash, and it will never recover. There is coming a day when the sky literally will be falling. I’m sorry to let all of you know tonight, but very soon global warming will no longer be on the political agenda. Everything is coming to nothing.

Conclusion: What would you have if everything was taken away from you? Could you serve God if you lost your house? Could you still serve God if you lost your health? Could you still serve God if you lost your family? What if you lost everything? If everything is taken away from you and all you have left is the Lord, then you have understood the essence of the Kingship and Lordship of Jesus Christ! There’s coming a day says John in Revelation 11:15, that the seventh angel will sound and we will hear the great voices in heaven, “saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Can you say, “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lamentations 3:24)? Friends, when your health and your home and your family all fail you, what are you relying on? Take the world. Take the world, BUT… Give Me Jesus!

Closing Hymn: 319 Just As I Am