welcome back to our Sabbath school
lesson this quarter I'm so glad you've
joined us we're in lesson 10 the quarter
is speeding by and the title of our
lesson is Satan's final deceptions I
well remember that morning in Chicago
waking up to the news reports that
deaths had occurred after taken
cyanide laced capsules that were
designed to reduce fever these Tylenol
capsules have been tampered with and
people took them in all good conscience
thinking that it would reduce fever
thinking that they could
get well if they took the Tylenol
capsules and they ended up dying it was
a tragedy
what had happened we still don't finally
know till this day who did it why they
did it but this we do know the people
who took the Tylenol
were unsuspecting
they were innocent
they thought that they were taking a
pill that was going to help them
but somebody had tampered with it you
know what the Bible says in Proverbs 14
verse 12 there is a way that seems right
to the man or the woman but the end is
the way of death
it is possible that somebody has
poisoned the well
the water Springs of Life
it's some it's possible that somebody is
tampered with the Divine truths of God
changing those truths and that Satan has
a final deception now let me be clear
nobody can change the truth of God they
can attempt to change those truths but
truth is eternal
God's word
lasts forever the Bible says in Isaiah
40 verse 8. the flower feeds let's look
at it together Isaiah 40 amazing passage
scripture tells us that the word of God
is solid the word of God is secure
verse 7 Isaiah 40 verse 7 will give us
the introduction the grass withers the
flower Fades because the breath of the
Lord blows upon him surely the people
are grass the grass withers the flower
feeds but the word of God stands forever
there's an eternal permanence in God's
word but Babylon
false religion that we've been studying
about last week passes around her wine
cup of false Doctrine to intoxicate
people in error now
we noted last week that Babylon
represented false religion it
represented apostasy represented
drifting away from the true God and as
we studied last week Babylon is a
man-made religion based on human works
and attempts to appease god with human
righteousness
rather than accepting Christ in Jesus
Christ in his matchless charms and his
wonderful love as our sole source of
righteousness see there's nothing that
you and I can do to save ourselves
it's only can be we can only be saved
through Jesus
in his love and grace forgives us his
love and grace grants to us power
changes Our Lives
we studied that last week we also
noticed last week that Babylon was a was
the center of idolatry it was the center
of the worship of Idols images flooded
into the Christian church and we see
this happened in the early centuries in
the Roman Church in an attempt to
appease the pagans who were already
worshiping images the church often
renamed those images after the Saints
and as the pagans came into the church
half converted or not converted at all
they brought in it with it with them in
it their Pagan practices like image
worship but today we look at a few other
characteristics of ancient Babylon one
of those characteristics of ancient
Babylon as I pointed out in the lesson
for Monday in the quarterly
was the idea of the immortality of the
Soul
now Satan is going to use spiritualism
to deceive multitudes in the last days
Revelation chapter 16 for example verse
13 and 14. one of the things that I want
you to emphasize if you are a teacher in
the lesson
is the fact that we cannot trust
miracles signs and wonders alone if
they're not in harmony with the word of
God merely because there is a sign of
Wonder worked does not verify that as
the truth of God's as true not at all
because the devil can work miracles the
only Miracles we want to accept are
those that are in harmony with the word
of God and are leading us back to the
word back to obedience and faithfulness
to the word look Revelation 16
verse 13 puts it this way
it says they are the spirits of devils
working miracles which go out to the
kings of the earth and of the whole
world to lead them to the Battle of that
great day of Armageddon they're the
spirits of what demons and what are they
doing they're working What miracles we
see the same thing in Revelation chapter
18 and we look at Revelation 18 and
we're looking down there at verse 23. in
the light of the lamp shall not shine in
you anymore that's speaking about
Babylon what's the light of the Lamb
David said in Psalms 119 verse 105 Thy
word is a what lamp unto my feet and the
light unto my path so when it talks
about the light of the lamp it's talking
about the light of God's word Babylon
has turned its back on it Babylon has
rejected it shall not shine in you
anymore and the voice of the bridegroom
and the bride shall not be heard in you
anymore for your Merchants were the
Great Men of the Earth by your sorcery
all nations were deceived by your what
by your sorcery so how does Satan
deceive the Nations by sorcery now that
can happen in a number of ways
remember in the Garden of Eden
Eve was tempted by Satan and he said to
her you shall not surely die she said to
the serpent if I take the fruit God said
you'll surely die Satan told the first
law and he said You shall not surely die
in other words you have natural
immortality you can sin and live on
the idea of the immortal Soul comes
through
Greek philosophy it comes through
Socrates and Plato and the idea was that
the soul could leave the body at death
and that the soul could be freed from
the prison of the body
the Bible does not teach that at all in
1800 places the Bible in the King James
version talks about the word Soul or its
equivalent never once it is a Immortal
soul in fact the Bible says first
Timothy chapter 6 verse 16.
says only God has immortality so the
devil tries to deceive us through
masquerading his dead loved ones and he
tries to deceive us as through false
Miracles through spiritualism through
things like the Ouija board through
things like apparitions fortune tellers
and have you noticed the large amount of
Hollywood Productions that have some
kind of spiritualistic theme the large
amount of YouTube videos that have a
spiritualistic theme or books there of a
spiritualistic theme or TV Productions
this is no accident
Babylon false religion that does not
understand
Ecclesiastes 9 5 the dead note on
anything
the living know that they shall die but
the dead don't know anything
here very clearly in scripture the Bible
points out that death is put asleep 53
times John 11 Jesus said our friend
Lazarus who had died is sleeping so then
his disciples didn't understand and
Jesus clearly said Lazarus is dead so
Jesus equates death with sleep
we see that throughout the Bible death
is a rest until the resurrection
death is a rest until Christ
returns
and as he does
the dead in Christ rise first first
Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 and 17
and says the Lord himself showed him
from heaven with a shout with the voice
of the archangel
and the dead in Christ shall rise first
and we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air if
the dead went immediately to Heaven why
would you need this glorious
Resurrection the whole Bible points this
idea of the Resurrection so Satan has
introduced a lie
through Babylon
one of babylon's lives is the
immortality of the Soul now there's
another one and we bring that out very
clearly in Tuesday's lesson Babylon was
the center of sun worship
the ancient Babylonians worshiped the
Sun
in Ezekiel chapter 8 verse 16 the Bible
talks about Israelites who turned their
backs to the Temple of the Lord and
worshiped the sun toward the east
and so the prophets of God
Ezekiel condemned this sun worship he
had some worship in ancient Egypt with
Ammon ra the sun god Sun Worship in
Babylon with Bel Marduk Sun Worship in
Persia with mithra-ism and Sun Worship
in ancient Rome with Sola in the victus
so you had Sun worship and Babylon what
does Babylon represent in Revelation
Babylon mystery the mother of Horowitz
apostate religion a man-made religion
that emphasizes human works not the
righteous of Christ
a religion that focuses on the worship
through images
a worship that fails to understand the
immortality of the soul and the devil
deceives through sorcery and
spiritualism a worship based on sun
worship or Sunday worship
I hear
I've put down in the bottom of your
lesson two on Tuesday I've said it was
an in succeeding decades that Emperors
and popes continued through State
decrees and church councils to establish
Sunday as the singular day of worship
which remains today as well for the
majority of Christians what a powerful
example of the hard truth that just
because the majority of people believe
in something a practice it doesn't make
it right so Sunday worship came into the
church gradually over the centuries
largely to disassociate Christianity
from the Jews and secondly to try to
bring the empire together and unite Sun
worshipers from paganism with Sunday
worshipers in the church and all this
was done
in contradistinction to the truth of
worshiping the Creator on the Bible
Sabbath God is giving us a powerful call
to faithfulness in the Book of Ezekiel
chapter 20 verse 20. the Bible says that
the Sabbath is a sign between God and
his people
so the Sabbath is a sign of Allegiance
it's a sign of loyalty to God
and God calls us from Babylon Revelation
chapter 18 verse 4 and 5. you've we find
it here Revelation 18 verse 4 verse 5.
it puts it this way
and I heard another voice from Heaven
saying come out of her my people unless
you share in her sins what is sin First
John 3 verse 4 sin is the transgression
of the law unless you receive the verb
plagues so in other words this is an
appeal by Christ to come out of every
law-breaking church for her sins have
reached to heaven and God has remembered
her iniquities so here is a final appeal
Babylon is Fallen has fallen come out of
her my people so the great appeal of
this lesson this week
is to live lives of Godly obedience
lives that are totally committed to
Christ lives that turn our backs on the
falsity and the errors and the apostasy
of Babylon to make Christ the center of
our Lives the center of our actions the
center of our beliefs the center of our
teachings and so that Christ himself is
exalted let's pray
Father in heaven we thank you so much
for Jesus we thank you that although
deception is all around us we need not
be deceived we're so thankful that
Christ is our Lord and that we can trust
him day by day and Moment by moment fill
us with your love your grace and your
goodness enable us to be faithful to you
until you come again to take us home in
Christ's name amen