The Revelation 18:9 | Episode # 1153

March 18, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

The Revelation 18:9

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

If you would like to revisit today’s Bible study, please visit our website at https://hopealive.buzzsprout.com/ to download the transcript. 

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Therefore, you know, I mean, you. Y' all be surprised how many times I have somebody come say, Chad, I was listening to this guy. You ever heard of him? Well, of course not. Okay. I mean, no, probably not. All right? And he said. He said that Napoleon was the Antichrist and he's going to be read. He's going to be reincarnated and come back. Really? I tell you what, you give me where to find him and I'll go listen and see whether he's telling the truth. But first thing I want you to do is never listen to him again, okay? I'll figure out what's going on. Tell you what, if you'll promise to never listen to that garbage anymore because it's a rabbit hole, they're dragging you away from focusing on God, okay? There's a reason why God's writing this in here. He's giving you in D. I want you to notice detail about this, and it's not for you to go out there boogeyman hunting, okay? You're not big. You're not trying to find Bigfoot. And by the way, if you want to go hunt for Bigfoot, you are way behind. There's lots of people doing it. Just watch YouTube, okay? They have already looked any place you're going to go look for him, okay? And they know he exists, but they don't have really any good evidence of him existing. Okay? I mean, some fuzzy pictures for sure, and a lot. And I've been to Loch Ness, and there's. There's a potential. A monster could be there, but not right now, okay? And they got a million dollars if you find. It's 5 million, isn't it, baby? They said $5 million if you got a good, solid picture. Let me tell you, I had my camera out the whole time. You know what I'm talking about? I mean, you know, it's kind of like buying a lottery ticket. When you pass through Georgia, you know you ain't gonna win, but you know, you might as well take a chance, give them two bucks, see what happens, right? All right, So I had my phone out, okay? Pastors. Pastors advocating gambling. That's not gambling. That's just giving $2 to Georgia. Okay, all right. It's not gambling. There's not really any gambling going on. Just get you some change out and get you a ticket and lose. Okay, all right. Just letting you know we've done it recently. Okay. All right. It's good stuff. All right. He says the king of the earth who commit fornication and live. Now notice the kings of the earth, okay? Not a singular king. So it's not a singular nation. You know, as you. As you start reading through this, you can start marking things off, right? It can't be one country because it's the kings of the earth who have worshiped her, okay? The kings of the earth who commit fornication and live luxuriously with her will keep. Will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning. Now let me tell you something. When this religion, however it works out and whatever it is. Now, I have my ideas about it, but I'm not going to mention them. Okay? Did I skip verse eight? Sorry, let's go back to verse eight. Therefore, her plagues will come in one day, Which means this is going to get destroyed in one day. All right, now you go. How can it exist for 2000 years and then get destroyed in one day or 5000 years? Now you need to hear this. That's not why you think it's God. It's not God who's in charge of her? Satan. All right, I want you to hear me. Satan has set this up to lead people astray. Okay? But is Satan's goal for this one world religion to be the religion of the world? Is that Satan's goal? No, no. Satan's goal is for him to be worshiped. And that's why he's going to have an Antichrist. That's Jesus, the beast out of the sea and. And a false prophet. That's the Holy Spirit. That's the beast out of the land. And they're going to create this image that comes to life and knows everything and can do powerful things. That's what man. Notice he's counterfeiting what God did. And when he gets to the point where he's got that in place, what's he going to do with the harlot? Get Rid of her? Who can get rid of her in one day? There's only two people that can get rid of her in one day. God can get rid of her in one day and Satan can get rid of her in one day. Has Jesus come back and taken control where we're at in this book? No. So is it Jesus? No. So there's only one person that can take her out and that's Satan. And the reason he takes her out is because the chapters before we see him setting up what he desires to be. Because what did Satan say when he fell? I will arise and go up and be as God. She is the one world pagan religion, which is a lot of things. Snores religion, Norse religion. That's big nowadays. Y' all know that. Yeah, Viking religion. Yeah, it's all because that miniseries that they did with. What's the name of the. What's the name of the. The network that did it? No, it wasn't History Channel. The Vikings, you know. No, no, it wasn't the History Channel. Was Vikings on the History Channel? Yes. Huh? As amc. It was amc. It went on History Channel. It was originally on History Channel. I watched it. We watched it every week. It was some good stuff. I love the Vikings. Okay. Now, I mean, they ain't Jesus or anything, but I loved watching him. Some good shows. Ragnar Northbrook. Y' all know it. Y' all watched it. Ragnar. Yeah, he's good looking fellow. Y' all remember that? Yeah, we all like. That's north religion. That's paganism. Okay. Greek, Mount Olympus paganism. Roman paganism. Osiris, Egyptian paganism. There's a main world religion that was born out of that. Paganism. It's one of the top two in the world, numbers wise. It's in number two place. Total paganism. Okay. I didn't say none. I just said what it is. All right? Complete paganism. All right. Therefore, her plagues will come in one day. Death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judges her. All right, now notice she's under the judgment of God, but Satan's going to bring her down because he wants to be in charge. Now you go. Well, hold on. Does Satan. Satan does what? I want you to hear me tonight because sometimes people think that when. What's the opposite of God? I'm going to ask a question, everybody. When I ask this question, y' all answer all together. What's the opposite of God? Evil. Who said Satan or the devil? Okay. It's Not. He's not. He's not the opposite of God. The opposite of God's not God. Okay? Satan is a created being. He's not. He's not God. Okay. All right. And he's not the opposite of God. He's not. Okay? And Satan is doing. I want you to hear me. God wrote what was going to happen 2000 years ago. I don't know if y' all know it or not, but Satan can read. He knows everything that's in here. This befuddles Dean back there. Just absolutely befuddles him. And it does me, too, logically, Because he can't help himself. It's his nature. When God said, satan, you're going to try to make something that is like me, Satan goes, you're right. I am. He's going to do it. I want you to hear me that. That is the ultimate proof of God's power. That he can take one of the most powerful beings he ever made and get him to do what is not in his interest because it is in his nature and do it for God's glory, in the way God wants it done. That's powerful. God knows him so well that he's going to use his nature to do what's not in his interest so that God can be ultimately glorified in his fullness in it. Now, that's the truth. That's the truth. Satan is going to do. Satan has been doing. Listen to me. Satan only does what God lets him do. And he only does it when God lets him do it. Right. And that has to do with you, too. What's the story that teaches us that? Well, Job's a good one. New Testament, Prodigal Son's good, but I'm talking about directly says, not Judas, but he's good. You're getting close, though. Peter. Peter. What did Jesus say to Peter the night of his. The night of his betrayal? He says, satan has desired to sift you as wheat. And then he said, but, Peter, don't worry about it. I ain't going to let him. No, that's not what he said. Absolutely not what he said. He said, satan has desired to sift you as wheat. And then. And then he says, but when you get past it, when you get on the other side, strengthen your brothers. Well, that don't feel good. Hold on. Satan said he wanted to sift me. Hold on. Y' all have had a talk about me and didn't involve me in the equation? Yeah. He says, satan desired sift you like wheat, and I'm gonna let him. You go. Are you sure about this? God? Yes, because he knows everything and he's. I got all power over everything. So if it's, if so if it's going to be important for his, his, his growth and for God's glory that Satan get. That Satan gets to sift Peter like wheat, then he gets to sift Peter like wheat. And did he get. Sift Peter like wheat? Absolutely did. And Jesus knew it before it happened. Okay, so when you read that Satan did something or that you, or especially in Scripture, when you read that God is doing something, that doesn't seem like that's, that's, that would fit. You need to understand that God is working. God gets glorified by life and he gets glorified by death. All things glorify him. All things. Satan glorifies God that he's just and righteous and holy. Satan is the ultimate glorifier of the holiness and righteousness of God. He is, he is proof that God is holy and righteous proof of it. So when we're studying these things, you. I've always told you the. Where do we start? Where we start? Okay. When we, when we're, when we're filtering the Bible, there's certain things that we have to filter as the truth and they're preeminent. And you go, well, where are you coming up with this? Well, it's real easy. I started with the first book and the first chapter and get this, the first verse. And if, if you read it in the English, there's four words. It's actually only two words. Three words. Okay, you following me? It says in beginning Elohim, Not in the beginning. In beginning Elohim. Which means what does it all start with? God. God, he's sovereign. He's in control. He's all things. He's in. He's everything. So when I start sifting through, when I'm trying to figure out one passage, starting with, I always start with God's in control. He's sovereign. He's over all things. When I get that foundation laid, I can begin to understand a whole lot from God's word. Until you mentally assent to that and, and, and, and emotionally assent to it, you will not have true wisdom. You will not see God. You will not see God and the universe and your life from the right perspective. Until you start with in beginning Elohim, He's sovereign. He's totally in control. When you do, then all things are available to you. So the first principle is the first principle P spelled out in Bible in Beginning God, He created the heavens and the earth. Does the Bible describe how that happened? Huh? Yeah, it did. Describes him speaking those things into existence. Then it describes Jehovah, God forming those things or remaking those things. Rightly. Right. Because they became messed up. Right. Okay. Does the Bible teach us how that works? Where does it teach us? Good answer, John, chapter one. When talking about Jesus, it says all things were made by him, and nothing that was made was not made by him. Why was it made? Well, Romans 1 tells me that it was made to glorify him. Everything that was made was made to reveal his divine nature. That's what it says. So if I start with that, then everything else derives from it, all of it. Does Satan. Is Satan controlled by God? Yes. Did Satan get to touch Job without getting it okayed by God? No. Did he get to touch Peter without it being okayed by God? No. Did Satan get to touch both of them? Yes. It's hard stuff, isn't it? Yes. So Satan does what God wants him to do? Yes, does. So is the issue what Satan does? Aren't you hear me? No. The issue is who Satan is. The issue is who he is. The same is true for you. The issue is not what you do, although that has consequence. The issue is who you are. And if who you are is who God is making you into, then that has consequence too. And if it doesn't? If it's not, then it doesn't. Okay. Satan rebelled against God and became not God by his will, by his nature. The kings of the earth who commit fornication and live luxuriously will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning. All right, what does that mean? She has great influence over the world. She's highly influential. Okay? She. People are upset when it's over. It's kind of like when Nick Saban retired, you know, I'm talking about. I predicted it many years before that game down in Jacksonville, Florida, where they playing the Clemson Tigers. We've got somebody wearing a shirt like that in this holy place. In the. In the Clemson side. We were all around. We were in a sea of orange. Course, it was the whole. The ramp. And he looks this way and he looks that way and he starts walking toward the, you know, the curvy thing going down to the bottom. And I'm sitting there looking at him going, hey. He looks at me. I go, where are you going? He goes, I'm going home. Get your tail back in there. You don't get to win the national championship all the time. What are you doing? They cheering in there. They. They singing songs and you need to get in there. It don't happen every time. It goes away. You didn't enjoy what's. What is happening now, right? And in that moment, God said, well, you know, Nick's going to be gone one day. I say, no, God, no, don't do that. Don't do that. He said he's going. He going to leave. And he did. Sure enough, he lost to Michigan, just gave up. That was the end of it. He won a couple more and lost to Michigan and it was over with. And you know what? That's the way it goes. Not really. It's not really worth it really wasn't all that worth it back then for me. We should have sold the tickets and drove to Montgomery, got a steak and cooked it and ate rather than stayed there. Kathleen, I could made 4,000, 3,000. How much could we make, baby? $3,000 that day, if we just sold the ticket at 10:00 clock and drove back to Montgomery, we could have got some pepper tree wine, steaks and potatoes and cooked them up and watched the game and gone to bed early. But we didn't. We stayed there and watched that debacle. All right, in that what I mean, in that exactly what, what you deserve. When you worship other gods, that's what you do. Just get what you deserve. All right, I give that because this is what. That's how things. That's how we do right. As you go today, I pray that.

The Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.