Verse 36 says, But of that day
and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but
my Father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, They were eating and drinking,
marrying and given in marriage until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall
two be in the field, one shall be taken and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill, one shall be taken,
and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know
not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, if the good
man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come,
he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to
be broken up. Therefore, be also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh, who
then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them meat in due season. Blessed is
that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that ye
shall make him ruler over all his goods. But, and if that evil
servant shall say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming,
and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and
drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in
a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites, And there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." Turn back with me, if you will,
to the book of Revelation, and let us begin where we left off this
morning. We were looking at the thousand
years, the millennium that the Scripture sets forth actually
began the binding of Satan with the incarnation of our blessed
Savior. As we said a couple of weeks
ago, He was bound in the Lord's birth in that while all men born
in Adam are born sinners. They have the blood of Adam,
the blood of rebellion. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't. He bound Satan in his birth.
He bound Satan, secondly, in his life of obedience. The Scripture
says all have sinned that come short of the glory of God. Satan
was bound as to his ability to hold the Lord Jesus Christ in
subjection because Christ Himself said, I do only always those
things that please the Father. He bound him in his death in
that when the Lord Jesus Christ died, he who is in himself holy,
harmless, blameless before Almighty God actually was made sin. and paid the debt of His people
being made a curse for them. He was bound in His resurrection. God raised Him from the dead.
The Scripture says the Lord Jesus Christ raised Himself from the
dead. Raised, justified, proclaimed openly before all. I find no fault in Him. I've
accepted His death. I've accepted His payment. The
Lamb. He's bound. So the thousand years
actually were shown to be from the birth of our blessed Lord
until the judgment. The Scripture says, as we left
off this morning, the Lord took Him, bound Him a thousand years
and cast Him into the bottomless pit, shut Him up, put a seal
on Him that He should deceive the nations No more till the
thousand years should be fulfilled. Now, the thousand years that's
being spoken of this morning, the millennium, it is a period
of time when the Lord Himself has bound Satan from deceiving
the nations, deceiving the people of the nations, till that period
of time was completely Now, we said this morning, God Almighty
stops the mouth of the lion Himself, just like He stopped the mouth
of the lions in which Daniel was completely in their presence. Now, we know for a fact, when
the Lord said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth Me. Who has the Father given to the
Lord Jesus Christ? All that the Father has everlastingly
loved. All that the Father has chosen
to set His affection upon. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me, and Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out. Now, I do understand, as we said
this morning, that when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world,
He came and said, I am sent but to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. But the Lord also told His apostles
in John 10, 16, just informing them. He said, let it be known
to you. Let me tell you something. John 10, 16. He said, other sheep
I have. which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice." Boy, I like that. You notice he didn't say might.
They might. I hope. They're going to hear
the gospel preached and I've everlastingly loved them, but, well, if they don't, you know,
decide to come, They won't. Oh, no. Oh, no. This is what God said. Other
sheep, I have. I have them. They're His. They're His by choice. They're
His by purchase. And I'll tell you this, when
He gives them a heart in the day of His power, they're His
by their free and sovereignly, sovereign, ordered will. They will come. He gives them
a heart to come. Oh, the sheep I have, not of
this fold. What does he mean? They were
not Jews by nationality. They are not Jews of Palestine. They are not of this fold. Them
also I must bring. Why? The Father
gave them to Him. He shed His blood. Will there
be a possibility that the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for
someone and they not come to Christ. Is there a possibility
of that? No. Why? Because He's God and
He does as He will. Someone says, yeah, but you know,
man has got to choose whether or not he decides to come. If that's the case, let me give
you the best word of advice that I could ever give you. Don't
pray to God anymore. God's already done all He can
do. Pray to the One that you're saying is the One that needs
to make the decision. That's the One, Kevin, they need
to talk to. The Lord's done, you say, the Lord's done all
He can do. He went to the cross and He died and He shed His blood.
He's done all He can possibly do. You say, well, but we pray
that the Spirit of God will move on them. But wait a minute. If
it's still left up to man to decide his free will, don't pray
to God anymore. You're wasting your breath. If
man is the one that's going to make the decision, talk to man. Does that make sense if that's
the case? Them I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice. shall be one fold and one shepherd."
Why? Because God is pleased to show
mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will. "...cast him into a bottomless
pit, shut him up, set a seal on him that he should deceive
the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled."
Now, here again, this thousand years, is the period in which
Christ has come into this world, bound Satan as the Messiah, as
a man, until the thousand years should be fulfilled. What does
that mean? Until God has called all of His elect that He is going
to call. Until the thousand years should
be fulfilled. He should be able to deceive
the nations no more. The Lord told His apostles, He
said, you go into all the world. The Lord is getting ready to
ascend into heaven. He said, start and go to Samaria. Man,
they would not even consider going to Samaria. Samaria? Those dogs over there? Well, there are some dogs in
this congregation this morning that God was pleased to call
out of darkness. And during this period of time
until this thousand years, as the day has appeared at this
time, till it should be fulfilled." And God would call in. And He
has allowed Satan to not deceive the nations anymore. The gospel
has gone into all the world. God has called and raised up
men to preach the gospel of free grace. The Scripture says that
the Lord Jesus Christ bound him that he should deceive the nations
no more. When Saul of Tarsus, when God
called him out of darkness on the road to Damascus, do you
realize where Paul the apostle was sent? He was the apostle
to the Gentiles. He went and preached in Ephesus
and Thyatira and all of these, you know, the nations, the places
that were not of the Jews. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Satan was bound. God had sent some preachers out.
And they went out and they raised up some churches. And there was
the church at Thyatira. We looked at it in the first
chapter of this book, or second chapter, second and third chapter
of this book. And He sent these preachers that
the Lord would call out His people under the preaching of the Gospel.
And the Scripture says, He bound him that he should deceive the
nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled, till
God is called out. All He's going to call out. Do
you know why we're still sitting here this morning? Because a
thousand years is not fulfilled. Who knows? Maybe God will call
out somebody today. If He's pleased to do so, He
will. And after that, He must be loosed for a little season. Now, as to the exact timing of
this little season that Satan is loosed, we're not told. We
do know this, that it's at the conclusion or at the end of the
thousand years. I know that. I know that it's
between the incarnation of our Lord and the judgment. I know
that. This little season. But the wording
is such that it means a fixed and small space of time. That's a fixed and small space. That is, in comparison to the
thousand years that represents the period during which God is
calling out all of His people, Jews and Gentiles, all of them. And after that, the Scripture
says, after the time that God has bound Satan from the deception
of the nations, God has been pleased to bind Satan during
this thousand years, a representative time in which God has bound him
as to his ability to call out whomsoever out of every nation,
kindred, tribe and tongue. Someone says, you know what,
those evil people over there in Iraq and Iran and stuff like
that. Let me tell you something. If
God is pleased to call out one of those Iraqis, or one of those
Iranians, or one of those Russians, or Chinese, or whatever, if God
is pleased to call him out. Freddy, he's coming. He's coming. Satan is bound as to his ability
to stop God from calling out all that the Lord is pleased
to call out. The Scripture says, though, at
the end of that period, Satan must be loosed. or the word is
loosened for a little season. Satan shall be allowed to deceive
in general as he did before, though obviously God's elect,
that is, those who are called out of darkness during that even
little season, will surely hear and believe. Matthew chapter
24 out of the passage Brother Scott just read. I'm trying to
be so plain. This book, especially this particular
portion of Scripture right here, has been so abused that we must understand by God's
instruction what is being said. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, verse 21, For there shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor
ever shall be. And except those days should
be shortened, there should be no flesh be saved, but for the
elect's sake..." Isn't it amazing how many times
the Scripture bears out God's purpose in election? What for
the elect's sake? What for the elect's sake? Those
days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto
you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall
arise false Christs, false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive
the very elect. God's elect will not be deceived. Those that God has called out
of darkness, they're not going to be deceived with free will,
false free will doctrine. A counterfeit, the thing that
makes a counterfeit so dangerous is how close does it look to
the real thing. I've said before, if you try
to make a counterfeit hundred dollar bill, don't make it yellow.
It's not going to fool anybody. But if the color looks good and pretty well looks in order and
all that, you may have to look real close. The great deception,
I'm convinced of this, will come where there's much truth being
preached, brother Scott. There's much truth. They'll use
right words, but you remember this, a little leaven leavens
the whole lump. Just a little bit. Just a little
bit of heresy makes all the difference in the world. Be careful what
you hear. Satan being loosed for a little
season I am convinced that there will be much preaching that sounds
real close to the truth of God's grace, the truth of God's mercy. Listen to what's being said,
because a little leaven, a little leaven. The Scripture says, if
it were possible, it would deceive even the very elect. He'll be
loosed for just a little season. During this little season, and
I'm just taking Scripture against other Scripture, in the book
of Malachi, the Lord said that there will come a time when there
will be a famine. Not a famine of bread, not a
famine of food, but a famine of the hearing of the gospel. There were many times in the
last centuries when there was great, great truth. Being a priest, I was reading
a while ago, praise God, out of John Newton's books and out
of Spurgeon's and Calvin's and Luther's. Great, great areas
of places in this world where the truth of God's free and sovereign
grace was preached. And the Lord was pleased to bless
out of all of those areas and places the preaching of the gospel.
Now you begin to look around now and tell me how many places
you know of where the gospel of free grace in all of those
places Go to England now. Go to Metropolitan Tabernacle,
where God Almighty blessed that place for almost 50 years under
Charles Spurgeon. And Spurgeon died. And it wasn't
just no time. There was no gospel there anymore.
The building is still there. Where Calvin was, France, Great,
great places. How many places are there now? I believe this little season
is that Satan will be allowed to be loosed. And I honestly
believe that we are in the little season where there is great,
great famine of the preaching of sovereign, saving grace. Matthew 24, 11 and 12 says, "...and
many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many..." I looked that up. What they truly love is what
it is. The love of many. It's not that
God's people who truly love Christ shall wane because Almighty God
will keep His people. The love of many are what they
truly love. The Scripture says, "...shall
wax cold, or shall be shown to have no life." Here's what he
said, "...many false prophets shall arise, shall deceive many,
and because of iniquity shall abound. What men truly love,
the love of many, shall be shown to have no life, shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto
the end, The same shall be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end come." That's what he's talking
about. That little short season. Strong witness for the gospel
that has been seen for hundreds of years. There's a famine. There's a famine. Some of you
know what I'm talking about. There's a famine. But for God's
elect, if it would be possible, the Lord said, that even the
very elect would be deceived. But is it possible? No way. No way. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2, 13, 14, we're bound to give thanks unto God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. Now, let me remind you whose
words these are. These are the words of Paul the
Apostle under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. The Scripture
says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Inspiration
of God. My question is this. Is there
a possibility there's any one of these words? Is it a possibility
that any one of these words are not so? Not in the least. Inspiration. Paul said, under
the inspiration of God, but we are bound to give thanks unto
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Through sanctification
of the Spirit. That means the Spirit of God
has set you apart. Here's two people. God has set His affection on
one of them. The Spirit of God has sanctified that person, set
them apart for God. Was there any difference in them?
No. What was the difference in them? The grace of God. The mercy
of Almighty God. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. John said he cast him
into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him
that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years
should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed for a
little season. Verse 4, And I saw thrones, and
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, for
the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, nor
his image, neither had received his mark from their foreheads
or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years." Now this verse gives great insight into the means
of God's calling, calling out His elect, the result of God's
power in calling the elect and the blessing of being called. And that's Scripture that I just
read. I'll try to hurry. Time is almost
gone. The means of God calling His
people. Remember that this passage of
Scripture takes place after Satan has been bound during this period
of time as to the calling out of God's elect. The Lord purposed
He'll call out Jews and Gentiles. Satan can't stop Him. Satan must be loosed for a little
season after this time. And John said, I saw thrones. I saw thrones. I want you to
notice that word. I saw thrones. Now, if it had
said throne, you'd say, well, I know who sits upon that throne.
There's one that sits upon. This here says thrones. During
this time, remember the time frame that we're in. We're in
that thousand years, that is, as of today, from the birth to
the judgment. John said, I saw thrones. Let me show you a passage of
Scripture that will give you some help, I think, on this. Turn
to Matthew 19, 28. Matthew 19, 28. I saw thrones. Matthew chapter 19 and verse
28. These are the words of our Lord. And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel." Now you read that one for a little
while and think on that. Here the Lord is speaking to
His disciples, which are those that He has called out and set
apart to go out and to preach to the whole world. He tells
them the reason, number one, that they followed Him. It says, I say unto you which
have followed Me in the regeneration. Now there's the key. Number one,
first of all, why? Why? What is the means of God
calling out? regenerates them. Regeneration
means two things, actually. Regeneration means the new birth. Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. I'm talking about any of them
now. Please, do not think I was regenerated because I... If you did something, to regenerate
yourself, then that was regeneration by your work. Do you see what
I mean? Regeneration means the new birth,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Men and women
are born from above. They're born by the grace of
God. You had absolutely nothing to do with your first birth.
You did not decide one day, I think I'm going to get my mom and dad
together here. You see how ridiculous that thought
is? Regeneration. It is the communication
of new life through the Holy Spirit's blessing, His Word. The Lord says, "...verily I say
unto you, you which have followed Me in the regeneration..." The
regeneration also means the inception of a new state of things in contrast
to the old. Turn with me to Luke 24. As I've
said before, anyone can make a statement concerning these
Scriptures. If you're going to make a statement,
back it up. because somebody will call you
on it. But if you can back it up with the Word of God, that
ends it. That will stop it right there. Luke 24, beginning in verse 45. Luke 24. I need to get over to 24, I guess.
Verse 45. Then opened He their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in His name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things. And behold, I send the promise
of My Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until
ye be endued with power from on high." Now, in the regeneration,
two things that we know. God Almighty communicates new
life and there is, the Lord was telling them at Pentecost, there
is going to be a new state of things. The Spirit of God will
come upon you. Don't leave Jerusalem, He said,
until you be endued with power. Our Lord, after His resurrection,
promised this enduing of power, clothed with. On the day of Pentecost,
the Scriptures reveal that the Spirit of God, in the form of,
they saw it as cloven tongues, rested upon these men as they
began to preach. This inception of a new state
would be seen in Acts 1.8. Look at this, Acts 1.8. Acts
1.8, But ye shall receive power Or look, if you have your margin
there, or the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. The Lord had told His
people, you'll be endued with power. The Spirit of God will
be upon you, will rest upon you, and you'll preach. He told His
apostles back in Matthew 19, 28. He says that when the Son
of Man, let me look at that. I don't want to misquote it because
I'm going to end here pretty quickly. I want to make sure
that we get this part right here. He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
ye which have followed me in the regeneration, in the new
birth, in the new state of things, when the Son of Man shall sit
in the throne of His glory." What does that mean? Remember
the period that we're in. A thousand years when God Almighty
is pleased to call out His own. God calls preachers to set forth
the glory of Almighty God. He endues them with power. What
is the power by which these men preach? It's Christ Himself. "...when the Son of Man shall
sit in the throne of His glory." 1 Corinthians 3.16 says, "...know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?" The Lord said, "...ye which have followed Me
in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne
of His glory." He sits in the throne of His glory. He is omnipresent. Someone says, He's in heaven.
He's everywhere. He sits in the throne of His
glory where He is pleased to make Himself known. He sets forth
Himself in the throne of His glory in the means by which He's
pleased to call out His own. The preaching of the gospel.
He said, And you shall sit upon twelve thrones, seats of authority,
during this thousand years. I understand. I'm trying to be
very careful. Listen. Think of where we are
right now. From His birth to His judgment. He said, You'll sit. John said,
I saw thrones. The Lord told him in Matthew
19, 28. He said, You shall sit upon thrones. There shall be seats of authority
is what that word means. Not the throne. of His eternal
glory, of which we know we shall sit with Him because we're of
His body. But He said, you shall sit upon
thrones or seats of authority, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. I read that at first and I thought,
now, if that's talking about, which
I knew it wasn't, if that's talking about in glory after after it's
all over and these twelve apostles are going to be sitting on thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel? What does that mean? How can that be? Remember the
period that we're in. The Lord said He's going to call
His elect in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the
throne of His glory. God calls out preachers and they
as men endued with power, where God Himself sits on the throne
of His glory in them. They preach and they judge the
twelve tribes of Israel. Now, this judging, this separating
is what it actually means. Determining is another word that
the word means. Judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel back
in the Old Testament were God's appointed people. They were twelve
tribes. They were God's people. The one
that God had chosen to send the prophets to, sent the law to,
the twelve. But they were a type. They were
not all of God's elect in eternal salvation because many of them,
the Scripture says forth, died in rebellion against Almighty
God. Remember when Korah stood up
against Moses and he says, Moses, you take way too much upon yourself. Moses, I tell you what, I'm going
to call you on the carpet. And Moses told him, he said,
I'll tell you what you do. He said, won't you get you and get
your censors? Everybody just like you. And
he says, let's meet here tomorrow. And he said, we'll draw a line
in the sand. I'm paraphrasing. We'll draw a line in the sand.
And he said, I'll tell you what, we'll let God make a decision
on who is right. And the Scripture says the next
day when Korah and all of his crew got there and they had all
of their little censers and they had all of their religious regalia,
and the Scripture says that God just opened up the earth and
sent them all alive to hell. and God ended it. They were in
those twelve tribes, but they were not the elect of God. God
had a people within that people. These twelve tribes that are
being spoken of right here in the book of Matthew 19, He said,
you'll judge when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His
glory. When Almighty God has regenerated a man, sits in the
throne of His glory within that man. The temple of God Himself. A man that God's called to preach
the Gospel. He said, you'll sit on thrones.
That is a seat of authority. Not because that man is something
himself, but because God's given him the heart to preach the Gospel.
There's his seat of authority. And he preaches. And what is
he doing? He's judging or determining, setting forth the judgment of
Almighty God. What God calls truth. to the
twelve tribes of Israel, a picture of God's elect. Judgment in not
condemning, but it's actually setting forth the message that
God has said will be the means to call out the twelve tribes
of Israel, the picture. God's ministers are the means
by which He calls out His people. They sit upon twelve thrones. Actually, there are not twelve
thrones that twelve men are sitting on. They are types. They are
pictures. And these ministers judge, or
by their preaching that is blessed by the Spirit of God, God makes
manifest who the elect are. They are preaching. So back in
closing, in Revelation 20 in verse 4, during this thousand
years, from the time that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this
earth until the final judgment, the period of time that God was
pleased to actually call out and hold back Satan, bind him,
that he should deceive the nations no more, that means that God
had elect in And every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And
Satan couldn't stop Him. He could not stop Him. God had
bound Him. Hindered Him is what it means.
Stopped Him. And John said, I saw thrones
during that time. Thrones. I saw seats of authority
that God had raised up. There's one right there. A seat
of authority that God had given apart. Raised up a man and preached
the gospel in this place. I said before, Katy, West Virginia
has got to be one of the most blessed places I've ever known. Almighty God raised up a preacher. And the Lord said, when the Son
of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, taking up residence
within the heart of a man, gave him a heart to preach, Carl.
He says, you that have followed Me in the regeneration, when
the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, He said,
you'll see it. You'll preach. John said, I saw
thrones. And they that sat upon them,
and judgment was given unto them. The proclaiming of the gospel,
of God's judgment, Judgment in the sense, number
one, this is what God's preachers preach. Judgment was given unto them.
What? That they're the ones that's
going to make the determination who goes to heaven and who goes
to hell? You know better than that. What's the judgment that
men God's called to preach the gospel? What is the judgment
that they set forth? Well, here it is. They set forth,
number one, that the just one, God Almighty, has justly put
away all of the guilt of all of His people that He has everlastingly
loved, that He put away judgment for them in the person of their
substitute. They proclaim judgment. This
is what we say. God has been just. And He's the
Savior. And they proclaim, secondly,
that God is going to judge all that die in rebellion against
Him. John said, I saw thrones. And they that sat upon those
thrones, judgment was given or taught them. Not that they are
the ones, as I said, that's going to say, OK, you're going to hell
and you're going to hell. No. This is what we do. We say
God has put away, cast as far as the east is from the west,
the guilt of all those that He chose to show mercy to. We proclaim
judgment. God has spewed out judgment. There's no doubt about that.
And we proclaim judgment in this. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. God is just. God is going to
show justice. God is a just God. Someone says,
I believe God is a God of love. He is. He is a God of love in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that has satisfied His judgment. Well, I hope that this has been
a help to you. This is a very, very abused and
misunderstood passage of Scripture. But if this passage of Scripture
is not consistent with everything that you've ever heard concerning
the gospel of free grace, then we're viewing it in a wrong way. May God add His blessing upon
the hearing of His blessed gospel. Okay, Gary, you come.