Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Pastor Jeremy, do you think this is the mark of the Beast?
[00:00:09] A precious lady had met me at the back of our church worship area in Lexington after Wednesday night Bible study. We were going through First Thessalonians, and she brought her Bible up to me and opened it very cautiously and discreetly and showed me where she had been hiding a coupon from Kroger that had come in the mail.
[00:00:37] And in the top right hand corner of this coupon was a QR code. Now, this was some time ago. I think this was the first QR code that I have ever. I had ever laid my eyes on. And I didn't know what it was, and she didn't know what it was.
[00:00:53] But as I'm prone to do with immediate sarcasm, I said, I don't know.
[00:01:01] But I would not tape it to my forehead or I would not have it on my hand and allow the checkout clerk to scan it. At Kroger, I bet it deducts $666 from your account.
[00:01:19] Now, I was just trying to be funny, and she looked at me and some of you know who this lady is, and she said, you're crazy, and just walked out.
[00:01:32] But I hope to offer you more clarity today on what this mark of the Beast is, because it has more to do with just end times lore.
[00:01:46] It's actually a small part of the story of evil in the world, an evil that will be in the world until Jesus comes again.
[00:01:57] It's a part of the story of this unholy trinity that we began to talk about two weeks ago that begins with the dragon. And in the dragon, this is where the evil that hates the church originates from Satan. He hates the church. The church reminds him that he has been defeated at the cross and through the resurrection and. And his doom is sure.
[00:02:24] And from the resurrection on, he has been out to destroy the church.
[00:02:30] But Satan has raised up evil in the world through what we talked about last week, this Antichrist rule.
[00:02:39] Now, in the book of Revelation, the term Antichrist is never used. It's used by John in First John, and it refers to a spirit that we said could possibly culminate in one figure, an Antichrist figure, which means a counterfeit Christ, which Jesus actually told us would happen at all times. There would be false Christ.
[00:03:04] But the rule of Satan that is opposed to the church in Christ is expressed in this rule. And it shows up in governments throughout history where laws and oppression and tyranny seeks to crush the church.
[00:03:24] And today we're going to see that this rule is empowered by A spirit, a counterfeit spirit that comes from the dragon that points to this Antichrist and it is the second beast.
[00:03:38] And what this second beast does is it makes the rule, the authority that is Antichrist. It turns that into religion.
[00:03:49] So the Antichrist, this first beast points to evil rule, this second beast points to evil religion. That often ties rule, this rule and religion together.
[00:04:05] And this has been replicated throughout history. We talked about all the way back to Egypt, but even more so since the resurrection.
[00:04:14] And it is likely to culminate at the end of history, this evil rule and this deceptive spirit in one rule, one person. But at the time of the letter, and we cannot lose context of this letter, Rome was the expression of, of the Antichrist rule, empowered by this Antichrist spirit. And what does this spirit do?
[00:04:44] Well, it promotes counterfeit worship.
[00:04:48] But we'll see.
[00:04:50] Christ gives us peace. And so first of all we see counterfeit worship of the spirit and Christ centered peace by the Holy spirit. Notice verse 11.
[00:05:02] Then I saw another beast. We talked about the first beast last week. We kind of summarize what those are.
[00:05:07] But this second beast later on will be called the false prophet.
[00:05:12] And we see, we're beginning to see. This is a spirit.
[00:05:16] The spirit anoints prophets. This will be a spirit that anoints a false prophet. A false message.
[00:05:25] And notice this beast is rising out of the earth.
[00:05:29] Now remember the dragon been defeated by Christ. Cross, resurrection, standing on the shore, lifts up this one beast from the sea. This is imagery to help John understand what's going on in the real world around him. It is a vision. Satan lifts up this first beast out of the chaotic sea, place of evil.
[00:05:53] Now this beast comes from the earth and it had two horns like a lamb. Remember these horns represent power and rule that the beast uses in the world. But notice this beast doesn't come from the sea, it comes from the earth. And it only has two horns. What's the point? It is less terrifying in appearance than the first beast who had seven heads and ten horns and came from the sea.
[00:06:20] But notice horns like a lamb.
[00:06:25] This is a figure that is Christ, like in appearance, coming in as a messiah.
[00:06:35] But notice. And it spoke like a dragon. The imagery there is to help us understand that this beast is deceptive.
[00:06:46] Remember when Jesus talks about wolves in sheep's clothing.
[00:06:52] This is a lamb that speaks dragon. And what does that mean?
[00:06:58] It is a false Christ spirit that lies and deceives.
[00:07:04] A lamb that comes in in peace, but then speaks like a dragon which is meant to destroy the church.
[00:07:15] This spirit is a lamb that lies like a dragon. And Jesus warned us.
[00:07:21] Olivet discourse There. There would be many false prophets that would come, many false messiahs that if it were even possible, would deceive and lead away God's people, the elect, if that were even possible, that there would be these figures, these rules, these governments that would come in like a messiah.
[00:07:46] But in the end we're full of lies and would deceive many. But how does it deceive? Notice verse 12. It exercises all the authority of the beast in its presence.
[00:08:00] Now who does that remind us of?
[00:08:02] The Holy Spirit.
[00:08:04] The Holy Spirit, which we would say is the presence of Christ, who is the authority of Christ in the world.
[00:08:15] The Holy Spirit is the presence of the kingdom. Now this spirit is the presence and power of the Antichrist spirit. And notice what it does. It makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. It points to a resurrection like moment in the life of this rule. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. Right? What do we see from the time of resurrection through the book of Acts. What is the Holy Spirit doing?
[00:08:49] Pointing to a resurrected Christ, one who is back from the dead. Empowering the church to say Jesus is Lord no matter what.
[00:09:00] Here this spirit points to this beast that seems to be back from the dead. And we talked about this last week, that this is what happens in Rome. It seems as though Rome is dead over and over and over again. But it's seemingly as if Rome comes back to life.
[00:09:21] And this spirit of Rome just continues to come back. And it's unstoppable.
[00:09:28] And it puts fear in everyone who stands in its way.
[00:09:34] Now, Rome came in like a lion.
[00:09:39] Like a lamb. Sorry, is that a song? Like a lion. Is that a Christian song?
[00:09:44] I know there's some other songs. That's not what I'm referring to.
[00:09:48] But Rome comes in like a lamb, promising peace, promising to provide world peace. And we see this in Pax Romano, which says, if you are right with Rome, you are right in the world. You are safe and you are secure. Allegiance is with Rome. And that would have been to other governments, other rule. As long as they bowed to Rome, Rome would keep them safe.
[00:10:18] But it was even more so with the citizens of Rome. The citizens of Rome had all kinds of rights and privileges because they were loyal to Rome. Rome provided them. Like a lamb, peace. Got it right that time. Lamb, peace, security, safety. We are for your good.
[00:10:43] But the Lamb also spoke dragon.
[00:10:47] Because the lamb would also say, we'll give you peace. But you have to be loyal to us. And loyalty, not just some abstract allegiance.
[00:11:00] Worship.
[00:11:01] You have to worship Caesar for you to have peace with Rome, for you to have safety and security in the world, you have to worship Caesar. And at the end of the first century, all of the cities in which, the seven churches that we're talking about in Revelation, all of those cities had temples of worship to Caesar. So all of the believers that this letter is being written to are being threatened to worship Caesar or they would lose everything.
[00:11:32] And you would say, oh, I thought Rome offered us peace.
[00:11:38] I thought Rome offered us security.
[00:11:42] Like a lamb.
[00:11:43] But. But Rome also speaks dragon.
[00:11:46] Rome is seeking to destroy you. Rome will call for your denial of Christ.
[00:11:53] And how many times in our life have we given ourselves over to lambs that speak dragon.
[00:12:01] Think about the idols in our life. Think about the sin that we struggle with.
[00:12:07] It comes in like a lamb.
[00:12:10] This person is good for you.
[00:12:13] This relationship is good for you.
[00:12:17] This movement, this thing that you need to be involved with, it is good for you.
[00:12:23] This activity, this sin, it's going to provide you happiness.
[00:12:28] Sin and idolatry always comes in like a lamb promising to give you peace.
[00:12:35] And. And then along the way, we realized, no, no, no.
[00:12:39] This little lamb that I thought was harmless is speaking dragon.
[00:12:46] And now it's trying to destroy me.
[00:12:49] Choose.
[00:12:51] How often do those things that are good and even harmless in our life eventually call us to choose?
[00:12:57] Choose Me or Jesus.
[00:13:00] You know what's going on in this relationship? It is making you feel good, guilty because you claim Christ and you go to that church every week. Okay, choose.
[00:13:11] Choose me or Christ.
[00:13:14] And you have to deny Christ to continue to walk with the harmless lamb, the peaceful lamb that is speaking dragon. This hobby.
[00:13:28] If you're going to be all in with this thing, you're going to have to give up some of those Christian things that you're a part of.
[00:13:39] Bible study, commitment to your church. You're going to have to. You're going to have to choose. The dragon accent begins to come out.
[00:13:49] Or if you're going to be a part of this movement, you're going to have to put that witness Christianity stuff aside, because we have to win.
[00:13:59] The cause is too important.
[00:14:02] You can't follow Christ and follow this movement.
[00:14:08] And the lamb that we thought was bringing us peace and security and happiness and joy all of a sudden is speaking in a way that will take our peace.
[00:14:19] Idols that promise peace eventually will cost you all your peace. And this is what the Antichrist spirit does in every way, in the world. And it is seeking to lead us away from Christ.
[00:14:32] To choose between this idol, sin or Christ and eventually causes cost us all our peace. But the Holy Spirit is different, right?
[00:14:45] The Holy Spirit is leading us to Christ, who's not just promising us peace, is the presence of peace.
[00:14:54] And that is why when it comes to those moments where we have to choose the dragon or Christ, it only makes sense to give our lives over to Christ, this One who has purchased eternal peace for us. The peace that we have in Christ is not through this demanding tyrannical rule. It is in one who walked to a cross and endured the penalty of our sin in our place. And all all of God's hostility that would be directed toward us for eternity. He endured and paid for on the cross so that he can get up out of the ground and declare to you by the power of the Spirit, peace be with you.
[00:15:40] You have peace now with God and so you can be at odds with Rome. You can be at odds with the world because you have peace with God in Christ.
[00:15:54] It's not an empty promise. It is the presence of peace. We don't worship Christ for peace, trying to earn peace. We worship Christ from a position of peace. In peace. You are here today not trying to earn some sort of peace from Jesus. You are here if you're a Christian, delighting in the peace that you already have, that he has already given to you. And so you sing the songs from an overflow of peace and you engage and you apprehend and you force into your heart through the word of God, by the power of the Spirit, I have peace with Christ.
[00:16:32] So my world is falling apart, but I have peace. That's the power of the Spirit that wages war against the Antichrist spirit and leads you to stand for Christ in the face of even violence, which is what we see next. Notice. We see counterfeit power and Christ centered courage. Notice. We first of all see signs of judgment in rome. Notice. Verse 13.
[00:16:59] This spirit performs great signs. Now we have to understand. We read through the book of Acts and what do we see that comes in on the church and is displayed in the church? We see signs.
[00:17:13] What are those signs and Acts doing?
[00:17:16] Telling us Jesus is back from the dead and he's with his church here. We see signs in Rome that are to invoke fear. And they are the presence of Rome. Ultimately the presence of this Antichrist spirit rule that's within Rome. And you see these signs that this evil is performing. Notice. Even making fire come down from heaven to the earth in front of people. Now where have we seen that? If we go back a couple chapters, we see the two witnesses and they are calling fire from heaven like Elijah. And what do we say that that is a picture of? That is a picture of the Church declaring judgment and condemnation on pagan gods. Well, Rome does too.
[00:18:04] Rome has a sign of judgment, sign that invokes fear, fire from heaven, Roman soldiers who are walking the streets.
[00:18:16] The Roman soldier sword was a symbol and a sign to invoke fear on anyone who threatened Rome. This is the message. This is the sign of judgment in Rome. We next see signs of power.
[00:18:31] Notice verse 14. And by the signs that are allowed to work in the presence of the beast. Again, this is the presence of this Antichrist rule. Which is this figure from Satan that's in the world. What is it doing? It's deceiving those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived again in Acts we see the spirit is says that Jesus is back from the dead with the church signs and wonders.
[00:18:59] But what other kind of signs do we see in Rome that are declaring that Satan we know you think his head is crushed, his doom is sure, he's been defeated at the cross and resurrection. But look at Rome, because in Rome Satan is alive and well.
[00:19:22] You see that evil spirit that's been cast down to earth.
[00:19:26] And where do you see it?
[00:19:28] Notice the text in these images, in these images of the beast. Where do you see these images of the beast? Well, Rome was full of idols. It was full of gods.
[00:19:42] And many of them were made in the image and likeness of the emperor.
[00:19:48] And so the serpent has sway over the world. Where do you see it? Well, you see it in the signs all around Rome. You see all of this idolatry and you even see it in the images of Caesar that you are told to bow down in worship. And if you don't, there is a sword coming for your neck.
[00:20:09] These are the signs and wonders, the message of Rome that is empowered by this evil spirit of. We think about the mesmerizing glory of Rome, the beauty and its statues and its art and this empire. What is it declaring to all who would oppose them? If you oppose Rome, there's fire coming from heaven down upon you. If you oppose Rome, there's judgment. And look at Rome, how beautiful, how glorious it is. You can't stop this empire, you can't stop stop this kingdom. And it was to invoke fear.
[00:20:46] In verse 15 it allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak. Now, many refer to the fact that there were animated statues in Rome. Sort of ventriloquist, action magician, sleight of hand around the statues. I just believe he's still referring to the coins, the art, the statues, the beauty. This overwhelming power of Rome that was all around its citizens.
[00:21:17] All of that was like the Facebook and the Twitter or X of the day.
[00:21:23] And it controlled the message.
[00:21:25] You couldn't walk the streets without being terrorized by the power of Rome if you were a Christian.
[00:21:32] If I'm a Christian, I'm saying, Jesus is Lord, how can I do that in a place so glorious, in a place so powerful?
[00:21:43] But notice then we see the sign of the cross that it might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
[00:21:53] Now, this is the sort of ultimate sign of power and judgment that comes down on anyone who opposes Rome.
[00:22:04] Not just the sword, but the cross.
[00:22:08] This was the most terrorizing act of execution known to man.
[00:22:14] And it was derived in Rome.
[00:22:17] And it was to say, do not cross us.
[00:22:20] You will be slain.
[00:22:22] You see that sweet little dragon or sweet, I can't get it right. Lamb. It's a lamb.
[00:22:29] A lamb.
[00:22:31] Sweet little lamb speaking dragon.
[00:22:35] We're going to give you peace, but we'll kill you if you don't worship us.
[00:22:41] Do you see how that works out?
[00:22:43] We'll crucify you. And I think what's going on here is what we see in Psalm 115, verses 4 and 8, where the Psalmist is declaring that the pagan gentile idols, they have mouths but can't speak.
[00:23:00] They have ears that cannot hear, and so they are useless.
[00:23:06] But through the sword and the glory and power and cross of Rome, Rome is animated into this idol that can speak and that can hear and that will crucify you if you oppose it.
[00:23:22] So Rome is no idol to be messed around with.
[00:23:29] No idol that is foolish and weak.
[00:23:33] It is an idol full of power that will crush you, and you better bow down and worship it. And we see that sort of spirit even in our own culture.
[00:23:44] Think about the signs of the spirit that come against the church and Christianity today.
[00:23:50] The sort of just judgment and shame that comes at us for being Christians or the sort of condemnation if you want, wear this or fly this or post this.
[00:24:06] You must not love your neighbor if you don't do this.
[00:24:11] And it's sort of this shame and judgment we see in recent days, just sort of bizarre.
[00:24:20] And I don't know how else to call it endorsements of evil, violent ideology among our leaders.
[00:24:30] And in your mind, you're here, you're saying, are they doing that?
[00:24:35] Are they endorsing that belief?
[00:24:38] This person that disdains and hates Christians and we say, how in the world does that happen? What is this Antichrist spirit that deludes the world and convinces the world that Christ must be opposed and the church is the enemy? Or the condemnation that comes about, the cancellation?
[00:25:04] Oh, you're one of those Christians.
[00:25:07] You must be one of those fundamentalists old school.
[00:25:13] Don't you know we're more progressive now and there's this sort of shunning and condemnation of just real, genuine Christianity. And it's bizarre. And it's because this spirit is still alive and prevalent in the world. And we see these signs that are to back us down.
[00:25:32] That is Satan saying, shut up, stop talking. You're the minority, you're weak. You don't have power. You just got to go along with all of those things.
[00:25:44] Well, as we see, this spirit breathes into Rome power. There is another spirit that has breathed into the church power.
[00:25:52] The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts comes on the church and Jesus says, you will receive power and you will be my witnesses. What does that mean? You will stand up and declare the truth. Jesus is Lord. And what is the sign the church gives in the Book of Acts? Jesus is Lord. And you can kill me for saying it.
[00:26:13] That is the power of the Spirit. We don't back down.
[00:26:19] We don't stand down when the Spirit says, be quiet, stop talking, stop. No. We say, no, no. Jesus is Lord. And the Spirit of God gives us that power. The power to be at odds with the world, but at peace with God in Christ.
[00:26:37] And what the Spirit does in those moments of shame and intimidation and fear, what the Spirit, the work of the Spirit in your life is not just this, you know, fuzzy feeling.
[00:26:50] The work of the Spirit in your life points to Jesus so that you speak about Jesus and says, jesus is back from the dead. You don't have to be scared.
[00:26:59] You don't have to be scared to lovingly and graciously and mercifully say, jesus is the absolutely only way to salvation and no one comes to the Father except through. You don't have to back down. The Spirit empowers you to say that that is the work of the Spirit in the life of the Church. But finally we see counterfeit fear in Christ centered freedom. Notice verse 16. And it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave. Now a Few chapters ago, we see this, the way in which this term is used, and it refers to all status of people. It is as though the whole world must do this. What is it to be marked on the right hand forehead.
[00:27:50] Now, as I move through this, I realize there's all kinds of different things that we think about this, but. But I want to press on those things that you have traditionally thought about the mark of the beast, because I believe it's important to not be deceived about what the mark of the beast is.
[00:28:11] So, first of all, this imagery here is what happened to slaves.
[00:28:17] They were marked by their master.
[00:28:20] And in Deuteronomy, Moses uses that same imagery. Remember, he talks about the law of the Lord, and he says to put the law of the Lord on your head and on your wrist.
[00:28:34] And that's where the rabbis came up with what was called phylacteries, where they. They would. They would wrap the word of God on their forehead and on their wrist, and it was to remind them that all of their life was to be surrendered to the law of the Lord. And in context, it was in the Shema, remember the Shema, that you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and to symbolize that God said, make sure the word of God is all over you at all times, because your mind is Israel. You are my property.
[00:29:16] But here, this counterfeit spirit uses this mark in a different way.
[00:29:22] While our thoughts and our actions are to be surrendered out of love of the Lord, the Antichrist spirit requires his followers to be marked. He requires his followers to be. Their whole life to be marked their allegiance to the beast.
[00:29:41] Notice verse 17. So that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
[00:29:53] Now, we cannot forget context.
[00:29:57] We've already talked about some of this in context.
[00:30:02] People in Rome would carry about certificates of worship that they got from the temple.
[00:30:08] You would go to the temple in your city, you would take some incense, you would throw it on the fire, and you would say, caesar is Lord. And as you left, you would get your certificate of worship. You would get something stamped. It's often what you used in culture, in society.
[00:30:24] And if you were not aligned with Caesar, you were refused goods and services because you would not worship Caesar. We talked about the trade guilds.
[00:30:36] Many of these trade guilds, they were given over to a certain God. It was their mascot God.
[00:30:43] They were given over to the emperor. And you would go into these trade Guilds, these places of business. And if they had a little altar or statue of Caesar or a God, it was kind of like those inspector ratings on the wall.
[00:30:59] Okay, I can do business with you.
[00:31:03] And this is what he's talking about here. What he's talking about here is an act of worship and allegiance, giving your life over to Rome the same way the people of God were to give their whole life over to God. It is an issue of worship. Notice verse 18.
[00:31:21] This calls for wisdom.
[00:31:24] Let no one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Now, many take this, the calculation here, and they say this is actually 666.
[00:31:41] The numerical value in Hebrew leads to the name Nero Caesar.
[00:31:47] He's talking about Caesar. Some people believe.
[00:31:50] I believe he's referring to something even more simple, that the number 777 is the number of God.
[00:31:58] The number 666 is the number of man.
[00:32:02] Man was created on the sixth day.
[00:32:07] On the seventh day, God rested.
[00:32:12] This is the tension between worshiping God and man. And he's saying here, if you worship Caesar, you are worshiping 666, which means less than God.
[00:32:25] You are worshiping something less than God. That is the calculation.
[00:32:31] You are worshiping a man.
[00:32:34] And in Revelation 7 times, there is this mark of God that is mentioned. Remember, his name will be on your heads.
[00:32:47] He will write his name on you.
[00:32:50] We often forget in Revelation, there's not just the mark of the beast, there's the mark of God, too.
[00:32:57] Seven times.
[00:32:59] And here, this counterfeit spirit is bringing about an Antichrist mark.
[00:33:05] But it always refers to allegiance or worship. The mark of the beast is used seven times. I believe if we were consistent that this is a literal mark, we would say at the end of time, believers are going to walk around with 777 on their head.
[00:33:21] And unbelievers are going to walk around with 666 on their head. I don't believe that's what it's referring to.
[00:33:27] I believe what he's saying here is this is an issue of worship.
[00:33:31] Who are you worshiping?
[00:33:34] Who is your life marked by?
[00:33:38] Is it marked by God? Is it marked by Christ? Or is it marked by Satan? And he's telling the believers in Rome, you must refuse the mark of the beast. What is the mark of the beast? Worshiping Caesar? And we must still refuse the mark of the beast. What is the mark of the beast? Worshiping false gods, Giving over to these things that would cause us to deny Christ. And here you can disagree with me on that. And you can have your own views. We talked about that through revelation. We don't want to be divisive.
[00:34:14] There's plenty of conversation and healthy discussion that can go around this. But I need you to get this one point.
[00:34:22] This is why I try to unback it so clearly.
[00:34:26] Because here, here's my fear.
[00:34:29] We get caught in these conspiracy things.
[00:34:32] And here, maybe it's not with you, but what you communicate to the world around you is something dangerous.
[00:34:39] You don't go to heaven by knowing what the mark of the beast is.
[00:34:44] You don't.
[00:34:47] You may know what it is and still go to hell.
[00:34:52] So the mark of the beast isn't as scary as Jesus sending you to hell because you go to heaven by being marked by Jesus, by receiving the name of Jesus, by believing in the gospel alone.
[00:35:08] It's futile to know all the conspiracies. And it's going to be a chip and it's going to be this thing in your brain that connects you to Starlink and all these things. Hold on, hold on.
[00:35:20] That's fun. Do all that.
[00:35:25] Don't do the thing. Don't take the mark and don't do the thing.
[00:35:29] That was almost as bad as God hates kids.
[00:35:33] If you were here before vbs, you know what I'm talking about.
[00:35:37] I mean, have those discussions. Yeah, do all that.
[00:35:43] But you better turn to your unbelieving neighbors and say there's something scarier than the mark of the beast and it's hell.
[00:35:52] And you better be marked by Christ.
[00:35:55] Because if you're not marked by Christ, guess what happens? This spirit of Antichrist comes in all the time. And you're always deceived and you're always distracted. You better be loyal and allegiance and have all your allegiance to Christ. And you know what that does? That gives you freedom to stand up and refuse the beast.
[00:36:15] Richard Wormbrantz was a Romanian pastor who was arrested in 1948 for preaching the gospel.
[00:36:25] And he spent 14 years tortured in a communist prison.
[00:36:30] Three of those 14 years he was in solitary confinement. And here's why he would not stop sharing the gospel with other prisoners and guards. So he wouldn't be quiet.
[00:36:42] That's the spirit of Christ.
[00:36:45] But here's what he would say about his time in prison.
[00:36:48] I've seen Christians in communist prisons with 50 pound chains on their feet, tortured with red hot pokers, in whose throats spoonfuls of salt had been forced, being kept afterward without water, starving, whipped suffering from cold and praying.
[00:37:14] Here's. Here's the. Here's the freedom that comes in the spirit.
[00:37:18] And praying with fervor for the communist.
[00:37:22] Do you see how free someone walking by the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ can be? Marked by Christ, redeemed by Christ, trusting in the cross and righteousness of Christ alone, His name alone. You see how free you can be?
[00:37:36] You can be in shackles, in chains, still free.
[00:37:42] 50 pound chains on their heads and feet, but free in the spirit of Christ.
[00:37:49] That's what this is about.
[00:37:51] Are you going to slave for the beast?
[00:37:53] Give your life over to him? Are you going to serve Christ because He's redeemed you from sin and death?
[00:38:01] And there's going to be times where we will want to say, is this the mark of the beast?
[00:38:07] Whether it's a coupon from Kroger or that Starlink chip I was talking about.
[00:38:15] Well, the question then and the question right now before all of us is am I slaving to the voice of the dragon who's promising peace?
[00:38:25] That is the decision point. Idolatry or Christ?
[00:38:30] Because there's the voice of another lamb who has been slain.
[00:38:35] And he has a Galilean accent and he says, follow me.
