Good morning. All right, turn
over to Mark 13, and we'll be looking at verses 9 through 13.
Mark 13, 9 through 13. Now, we're looking here in Mark
13. We're seeing the details that
concern the judgment of God, which is coming upon the earth.
And our Lord is graciously preparing His people. He's preparing them
for the persecutions, the troubles, and the trials that they're going
to face in this world. As this judgment is coming on,
they'll face these things in the world. And so, our Lord begins
this gracious preparation. He's preparing us. This is a
grace of God to prepare us. And He says to them in Mark 13,
verse 9, He says, heed to yourselves. Take heed
to yourselves, because we have many enemies. There's many enemies
of the Lord and of his people, and so the reason that we have
enemies, the reason for these enemies is that Jesus Christ,
our Savior, he did the work of salvation. He died under the
justice of God, he died to put away the sin of his people, he
was buried, and now he's risen. He's arose from the grave, he's
ascended to the Father, he's glorified by the Father, and
so he's sitting on the throne ruling and reigning. And he's
opening those seals, and he's implementing the will of God
in the earth. He's establishing the kingdom
of his people, and he's doing this through the spreading of
the gospel. He's sending this word out into
the world among the Jews, and then out into Samaria, and then
out into the rest of the world. All the world then, and all the
world now. It's all been spread out. And so because this is happening,
people are getting angry. People are not happy. People
of the world, people without the Spirit of Christ are angry. And they're mad that their days
are numbered, their time is coming, and God rules and reigns in the
earth. And so they're not happy about
that. And so the enemies of Christ,
because they can't touch Him, He died once unto sin, and never
again. They can't touch Him, so they
persecute. They will persecute His people.
Our Lord said, if they persecuted Me, they're going to persecute
you. If they received Me, they'll
receive you. If they've heard Me, they'll
hear you. If they reject me, they're going to reject you as
well. We're going to be treated the same way. So, these enemies
persecute the people of God. And Paul told Timothy to strengthen
him and to prepare him and to make him consider these things.
He said in 2 Timothy 3.12, Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. We're assured that
we will suffer persecution for Christ's And so Christ foretells
us of these things because our consolation, our peace, our restoration
will be by God through this Gospel. He ministers that peace. and
that comfort to us through his son Jesus Christ. So he's telling
us these things so that we know and we know who to turn to and
who to look to, the Lord Jesus Christ. So this portion that
we're looking at here in Mark 13, it describes the trouble,
right? All of Mark 13 describes the
trouble. which is coming upon the earth,
upon unbelieving men and women, the judgment of God that's building,
that's being stored up for them, that will be poured out in wrath
by God. But God assures us that He has
established, He's fulfilling all the promises to the people
of God in Christ. And so our title this morning
for this portion of Scripture, 9-13, is the promise to endure. The promise to endure. And we'll
just have two divisions. First, the manifestation of persecutions. The manifestation of persecutions,
and then we'll see the promises of God. We'll see these promises
in Christ given to us, alright? So, last week we saw the disciples,
they were asking, just to give some context, they were asking
Christ there in verse 4, what shall be the sign when all these
things shall be fulfilled? And we saw how the Lord began
to describe, well, you're going to hear wars and rumors of wars. There will be earthquakes. There
will be famines in diverse places. All these things will come. And
he said, these be the beginnings of sorrows. These are a foretaste
of the judgment of God which will be poured out upon the wicked
who do not believe Christ, who do not trust Christ for their
righteousness, but are still trusting in their own works,
whether they're religious or non-religious, either they're
in Christ or they're not. So there are foretastes of that
judgment. We saw that it happened first to Jerusalem. It was a
picture of God's judgment poured out upon Jerusalem, which shows
us this pattern that God will do to all the earth in the end,
when he's done, when the works are finished. Alright, so now
we know that every man experiences trouble. Alright, everybody has
troubles. Everybody has difficulties and
trials and tribulations and sorrows, right? Job in 5-7 tells us, yet
man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Alright, so
as surely as when you light a fire and those sparks are going to
go up, So trouble will come upon man. We're born to trouble. But
the sorrows that Christ spoke of here were a foretaste of his
judgment because of his return. When he returns, he will pour
out judgment and deal with the people who continue to rebel
against God. And now the Lord makes it personal. Now he gives a personal word
to his people in verse 9. And he says, take heed to yourselves. Because now the world is angry,
and they've been pricked, and they're upset, and they're going
to persecute you. They're going to turn on you.
So as this gospel goes forth, the world labors, they're laboring
to fill up their cup of wrath. You see that picture in the Old
Testament where Canaan filled up wrath before the Lord sent
Israel. When he delivered Israel out
of Egypt, it was then when they had reached the fullness of their
wrath, of the cup of wrath. And so then God poured it out
upon them. Same thing with the world. The
world is laboring now in anger against Christ, in anger against
his gospel, in anger against the grace of God revealed in
his son, they're laboring to fill up their cup of wrath. And
one of the ways they do that is in persecuting the church
of God. So this is a promise that the
Lord gives us in John 16.33. Our Lord tells us these things, John 16, 33, these things I have
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world
ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. So he's saying, even through
this tribulation that you go through, be of good cheer. Rejoice,
be glad in the Lord because you know that you have the victory
of Christ. You have victory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we ought not lose sight of
that fact. When you're troubled and when
you're disappointed by your own sin and your own weakness and
your own failings, you remember Christ. You remember what God
has done for you in his son Jesus Christ. And you lift up your
head looking to Him and give Him thanks that He saves by grace
and mercy and not by our obedience to the law and our works, right? So we understand through the
scriptures that every trial, right, what God shows us is that
every trial, every misery, every sorrow, every failing, it's all
a according to the purposes and the work of God. God is in complete
control just as the Lord has divinely appointed all of our
mercies and our triumphs and our restoration. It's easy for
us to say, well, I know it's God that restores me. I know
it's God that turns my heart. Well, God is also in control.
and guiding and directing even when we're in the midst of trials
and suffering and shame and seeing again our need of Him. We're
brought low as well, alright? And Paul says, he words it this
way in Philippians 129, he said, for unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, alright? God
doesn't just give you spiritual blessings, in Christ, such as
faith and love and joy and peace, but also to suffer for his sake. God has divinely appointed these
things to his people. He's divinely appointed them,
he's in control. Alright, now, what Christ reveals
in our text today is that these persecutions are going to come
from all sorts of peoples and places. And the first place that
we see is it comes from religious groups. Look at Mark 13 verse
9. Here's the religious. He says,
But take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up
to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten. And you think about it, when
you're out on the street, it's not the guy on the street who's
smoking cigarettes and drinking and cussing and doing whatever
he does. That's not the person that's
going to smack you in your face. The person that's going to beat
you and strike you in your face for telling them the truth is
the religious person. That's who's going to be angry
with you. Because they've got something
that they're trusting in. They've got a covenant with death.
And they are certain that their covenant with death that they've
made is the hope of their security. They don't call it the covenant
of death, but that's what they're trusting in, dead works religion. And they are sure that if anyone
between you and them is saved, it's them and not you. And so
how dare you tell them the truth of God and how dare you instruct
them and explain to them the glories of God in the face of
Christ. You're not even telling them what they need to be doing
and stop doing. You're telling them of the grace
of God and the face of Jesus Christ and how that God saves
a part from man's works. and they're getting angry and
more red in the face and more heated and they're not happy
with you. And so the fact is that when
you're speaking of the grace of God, all they're thinking
of is, wait a minute, what about my works? And now I'm feeling
on the outside from God and I don't feel safe and secure because
you're telling me it's by his election in grace, and I've been
directed towards this law here, and this is what I've been doing,
and now I'm finding out that I'm deceived? That can't be.
That can't be so, and so it becomes very personal to them, and so
they get angry about that, and so Well, we see it in scripture,
right? In John 9, I think it's 934,
where that man, it looks like he was born without eyeballs. I mean, he was born blind and
it was amazing that he was saved. It was, I mean, I'm sorry, that
he was given sight. It was amazing that Christ gave
him sight. It wasn't like he just needed
to be smacked on the head and then his, you know, his optic nerve
went into place and then he could see. He had no ability to see
and Christ gave him sight. What seems to be eyeballs so
that he could see and they were amazed by that. And so they're
asking him how did this happen and he's telling them how this
man he couldn't see but this man gave him sight and now he
sees and he's repeating the same thing he's saying look you know
you know that you know they're saying don't don't give praise
and glory to him you give praise and glory to God well he was
giving praise and glory to God because he was glorying in the
son whom God had sent and says that they answered him and they
just basically said, you were born altogether in sin. Because
they believed that if you were born blind, you were a sinner,
your parents were sinners, everybody's a sinner, and that's why you
were born blind. And he said, does thou teach
us? Or they asked him, does thou teach us? And then they cast
him out. They got rid of him all because
he was glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and what he had done for
him and giving him sight. So the religious people will
persecute you. Then we also see that you can't
trust rulers and kings, magistrates, governors, police chiefs, and
mayors of cities. They're not going to come through
for you and deliver you in that day. Mark 13, verse 9. The second
half says, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my
sake for a testimony against them. You're going to reveal
the truth of God and the salvation of God, not through a political
solution, not through your trusting them to do it, but through your
belief and trust in Christ, that God saves apart from man's works
and these things. And you think about it, it was
Pilate that approved of Christ being crucified. It was Pilate
that said, all right, all right, we'll do that. We'll crucify
him. So Pilate turned Christ over to be crucified. And Felix
He had heard Paul preaching in Acts. Felix heard him. He was
a governor over that area and Paul's brought before him and
he preached the truth. And yet he wanted to do the Jews
a pleasure. And so when he left the office,
he left Paul. bound in chains. So all these
governors throughout history, rulers have killed and burned
and shut people up in jail and taken their property, all because
they preach, all because they confessed Christ and to rest
in His grace and mercy and not what they wanted them to do.
And so our Lord then reveals, therefore, you know, it's the
religious rulers, it's the people's rulers, you know, the
governments and things like that. And he also reveals another place
where betrayal will come from. And some people have a real hard
time with this one. It's because it comes from family. Family members reject you. Look
at verse 12. He says, now the brother shall
betray the brother to death, and the father, the son, and
children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause
them to be put to death. Alright, so that even when it
comes to Christ, that bond of blood can be severed. And they'll
hate you for your hope and trust in Christ. There will be people
in your own family that won't hear it, and they'll judge you
for it. They'll judge you and treat you
differently. So that's because when a person
is walking in the flesh, when they don't have the Spirit of
Christ, they won't receive the testimony of the Spirit of Christ,
and so they'll respond by some work of their flesh. And Paul
words it this way in Romans 8, 5-7. He says, For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. And so that's why you hear
family members when they hear you glory in Christ and speak
of grace and how God reveals himself to the faith which God
himself has given and that he gives you rest in Christ to stop
trusting in your works and your obedience to the law or your
disobedience to the law. That that's not determining Whether
you're in the favor of God, that it's all resting on Jesus Christ. When you're speaking like that,
that flesh in your family member or friend, they hear that and
they're angered. Because that's not what they
believe. That's not their trust and their hope. They're trusting
in their works. And again we see that throughout scripture
because you have Cain who slew his brother Abel because God
had respect unto Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's. And you had Esau
who despised his brother Jacob and drove him away was the cause
of him having to flee, of course God used that, and you have Ishmael
who saw his little half-brother Isaac and he mocked him, he made
fun of him, and that's because the Lord said right back there
in the beginning in the garden that he would put enmity between
the seed of the serpent, all the people of the flesh who come
forth under the spell and the darkness of Satan and the seed
of woman, which is the promise of God Jesus Christ. So all his
people who have his seed in him They hope in faith and they trust
him and look to him by faith, not trusting in their own work. So even we who today, you know,
we live in a free society for the most part. I mean, there's,
you know, things that come up, but if you're really, if you're
honest, things have always come up and there's always been turmoil
and beatings and various things, but generally we live in a pretty
free society where we're largely free from the risk of, you know,
beatings and being put to death for our hope in Christ, at least
as it is today, you know, the Lord knows. But, you know, we
still suffer the scorn, you know, the hatred of people, the slander.
When they find out, right, when we close our mouth and we don't
want to talk about Christ, it's because we know the the shade
that's cast upon us because of our hope in Christ and you know
that they immediately bring all that baggage you know of popular
culture to bear that oh you're you're one of those and then
they begin to not invite you to things and you know they don't
necessarily even give you a chance to answer or speak for yourself
and so you're judged for whatever it is that they think. I mean
I've had times where at work I was friends with people I said
I was a I just mentioned I was a Christian and I that immediately
their face turned red and they were angry I don't know what
they were thinking but they just assumed that I hated them for
whatever they were whatever they were guilty of I don't know but
they never talked to me again after that and And that was the
end of that, just because I mentioned that I had a hope in Christ. So those sufferings, those are
the types of things that we typically do face and go through just for
the faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
if you speak as God reveals himself in this word, you're going to
make enemies. You're just honest with the God
of the scripture. As sweet as it sounds to you,
as gracious and inviting as it is to you, it's the exact opposite
of what they're hearing. As glorious as it is, alright?
So now, coming back to what our Lord opened with in Mark 13,
9, He said, but take heed to yourselves. and he says that
too because why you know considering all these enemies that we have
external to the flesh also consider what you and i are in the flesh
and we know the weakness of our flesh and we know we want to
be liked and we know we want people you know to deal with
us according to our character and you know how we deal with
people and we don't want to be misused and treated like that
like we've seen throughout history that they're treated and so he
says take heed to your flesh because we know this flesh wants
to protect itself and would sooner turn and be silent or not say
anything or say something sometimes you know we're pricked and we
want to say something and the spirit teaches us not to say anything
but we know that our worst enemy is the flesh and the flesh wages
war against that new man in us and it was that that conflict
and struggle that's created because we want to preserve ourselves
and get along fine in this world and yet it's contrary to the
things of God and what the Lord reveals to us and teaches us.
So Galatians 5.17, I'll just read this one, you can see it
also in Romans 7, but Galatians 5.17, he says, For the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot
do the things that ye would. The flesh is warring against
that new man created in us of Christ, so you can't do the things
that you would. So thank the Lord for grace.
that we're saved by grace and not by works, because it would
be quite a bitter pill if it was by our works, because none
of us would be saved then. So the Lord reveals this promise
of persecution that comes from the religious world, that comes
from legal magistrates and rulers, that comes from family, and that
comes from our own flesh. And he says, ye shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake. And that's in 13, verse 13. So
our Lord, therefore, provides, he gives us in his word an abundance
of promises to comfort us, to assure us that we are his, to
know what he has provided for us, what he's done for us, and
what it is that we're sacrificing here, but what it is that we're
gaining, right? But we're coming And so we have
these promises by which we're consoled and comforted and inspired
and encouraged to walk, to continue, to endure in this walk in Christ. So that brings us to the promises
of God. And Christ affirms to us God's
purpose of grace in Christ shall be fulfilled. It's because the
world is persecuting. God isn't saying, well, all right,
it didn't work out the way I thought it was going to work out. Let's
just change everything now and that's it. You know, you, that
sacrifice, sorry, but shop's closed and we're not doing this
anymore. No, the Lord promises that he shall fulfill the promises
he made to his people in Christ. And you see that in verse 10.
Mark 13, verse 10. Christ tells us, and the gospel
must first be published among all nations. And so Christ is
confirming, God's not stopping. This gospel is marching forth. It's going forth, whether People
believe it or not, whether the world accepts it, whether the
world's quiet about it or makes a big noise about it, this gospel
is going forth. So God's publishing this salvation
and he's going to save his people. It's going to, he's going to
give faith and he shall save all his people. And the encouragement,
in addition to us personally who believe, and are thankful
and who have children and family and friends that we love and
that we want to see come to faith in Christ. That's an encouragement,
but it's also an encouragement that Christ shall preserve his
church because it's through the church that he uses to publish
this gospel. to support this gospel, to defend
this gospel, to send this gospel out into every little dark corner
of the earth, it's the church that the Lord is pleased to use
to give this word to, right? Paul called it the church of
the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And so she's
going to be preserved until her work is done. Until God says,
enough. It's gone out, and all my people
have been called in, and that'll be, you know, when her work is
done, she'll be preserved until her work is done. So as stated
earlier, it's the spread of this glorious gospel that then stirs
up that hatred and that enmity that's in the heart of every
man, of every unbeliever, which we all are by nature until the
Lord saves us. So that then incurs or invites
that persecution. The more honest you are, the
more steadfast you are, the more faithful you are to proclaim
it, the more likely it is that persecution will come your way.
The more you change it and the more you say something other than what
you know is the truth, the less likely you are to be persecuted
for it. But again, just remember, it's always better to be hated
for who you are than loved for who you're not. And if you really
believe these things, then just be faithful and declare them
and let the Lord do what he will because you never know that person
that you're sure is not going to believe the truth may be that
brother or sister who does hear it and believes the truth. Because
usually the person that you're so sure they'll love the truth,
they're the ones that get the angriest. And it's those ones
that you think are the least likely that the Lord, I don't
know, you have a real nice conversation with them and you're declaring
the truth. and they're hearing it. So, and the Lord's planting
a seed there. Alright, so it stirs up that
persecution, but in the face of that persecution, we see the
Lord strengthen his church so that she remains steadfast in
the face of that persecution. It's a glory of God. It's a testimony that were trophies
of his grace because it's God who does this work. and his people. It's God that causes us to persevere. And so that testifies all the
more that this work among us is the glory and the power of
God. It's his work that does it, knowing
what we are by nature. we see it's his work by nature. I mean, some people like a good
dust-up, you know, they like to mix it up, but most of us
try to avoid confrontation as much as we can, but it's the
Lord that displays his grace and mercy in this, all right? And so Paul, as our brother read
earlier, I'll just read verses 20 and 21 in 1 Corinthians 1,
He says, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And so, the
power of God working in His people, that new man which He's created
in us, keeps us faithful and obedient to just move forward,
to trust Him and to stay upon the will of God in serving Him. And that's because He makes us
to know. By His grace, He makes us to
know He is our very life. And we're looking to Him and
we're growing more and more confident in Him and dependent upon Him. And so we're willing to stand
in the face of opposition knowing that this is my life, this is
my hope, this is my all. And this world is passing away.
And so I'm willing to stand with Christ. And so even though this
world opposes it, you want to be faithful to the Word of God. And knowing that the Word goes
forth, even Paul said it this way, 2 Timothy 2.9, he said,
Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but
the Word of God is not bound. Alright, it's not bound. So even
if we suffer, If we take a strike against us, the Word of God does
it. The Word of God is going forth and doing the work which
God sent it to do. Then Christ gives another promise
to those that are being persecuted. He says in Mark 13, verse 11, But when they shall lead you
and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,
neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given you
in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak,
but the Holy Ghost." Now he's not talking about preaching.
We are to prepare in preaching. And we're to study and to be
prepared to preach a word for the people, to the people of
what God's shown us. And this is talking about you
that are being persecuted and suffering for the gospel's sake.
He's saying the Lord will give you that word to speak to them.
He'll keep you persevering and enduring and being faithful.
And so it testifies to the salvation of grace because the Lord's saying
here that he gives the Spirit and the Spirit's the one that's
going to give us the words to say and to speak of. Now, when
I read that, I was thinking of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, and
I'll read that to you. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. Paul tells us that it's by the
grace of God that I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all. Now listen to how closely this
sounds to what Christ said, when Christ said, For it is not ye
that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And Paul's speaking about his
laboring, his abundance and laboring. He was laboring hard for the
gospel of Christ. And he said, yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me. So again, it's another affirmation
to us that the works that we do are not by our works. It's not us stirring up the flesh
to sanctify ourselves, to do a sanctified work. It really
is the grace of God. And we're to labor believing
and trusting Him, but it's not your work and it's not my work.
If there's a good work done, it's all by the grace of God,
and we have one person to thank for that. It's by God and His
grace. And so He's the one that brings
these works to pass. So it's the grace of God that
makes us to know, for example, what Christ has accomplished
for us. It's the grace of God that makes us to know Amos. And
Lord, the way we take heed is by confessing, Lord, I'm a sinner. And I have nothing to boast in. And I see my insufficiency and
my inability to do that which pleases you. And that's the grace
of God giving that to you. And it's the grace of God to
know and to see the promise of God in His Son, Jesus Christ.
that because I can't do a work for myself to make myself righteous,
I see now that's why He sent the Lamb of God, His Son Jesus
Christ, that He worked all righteousness. That He is the very righteousness
of His people. And that He went to the cross
and He sacrificed Himself to the Father. He laid down His
life. under the punishment and the
wrath of God to work righteousness for His people and to cleanse
them from their sins. So that we now go free of the
debt that we owe, the debt of righteousness that we owe to
God that we were accumulating because every opportunity we
had we just sinned, or took glory to ourselves instead of giving
glory to God, building up that cup of wrath, well Christ took
that wrath and he put it all away. He bore it for his people. And it's God, it's the grace
of God that makes you, that helps you, that gives you to see that.
It's God revealing himself to the faith which he's given. And
so the Holy Spirit is given to A. wash us with the blood of
Christ, to apply that blood and wash us of that sin and that
stain and that corruption. It's the Spirit of God that turns
these hearts from deadness and darkness and trusting self to
Christ, to believe on Him. And it's the Spirit of God that
is given to seal us. cause us to endure, cause us
to persevere in Christ, to keep walking in faith looking to Christ. That's why we don't run off and
just do whatever we want to do because Christ paid the price
and the sins put away anyway. That's why He teaches us and
turns us from living like that Because we have the Spirit of
God that teaches us, wait a minute, I really shouldn't be doing this
or that. And it's not profitable. It's
not good for me. It's not good for my brethren.
I don't want to do these things, Lord. And so it's the Spirit
of Christ that seals us and turns us from the walk of this world
and the way that this world does things and the hypocrisy and
the wickedness. He turns us so that we're not
satisfied with speaking of grace and using it as a cloak of hypocrisy
and a cloak of darkness. He turns us. He's teaching you
that through the gospel, causing you to fall in love with the
Lord Jesus Christ and to want to know him more and more. So
through this, this taking heed to ourselves, He's turning us,
the way we do that is not by saying, I'm going to sanctify
myself and just try harder. That's not, we know that's just
the work of the flesh and it goes nowhere. And if it does
go somewhere, we start to boast and hold our brethren accountable
for not doing what we've somehow managed to do. But instead he
brings us He humbles us. He shows us what we are. He'll
allow us to see what we are. By His grace, Christ will have
put it away, but we'll see what a filthy, rotten scoundrel we
are left to ourselves and the need that we have of God. And so He'll bring us to beg
him and to seek him for mercy and to say, Lord, please don't
let me go. Don't leave me to myself. Lord, I can't do this. It's got to be entirely by your
grace. So he's the one that's by his
grace, that's bringing that prayer, that's bringing that cry, that's
looking to him and crying out, Abba, Father, have mercy upon
me. Because we know the other examples
we have in scripture, you have Demas, who loved this present
world and left Paul. He had Diotrephes who got too
big for his britches that he wouldn't even accept the apostles
to come in to the church there and he wanted to control the
show there and wouldn't let anybody else in. And you had Judas who
betrayed Christ and so we see these things as warnings, right? Ananias and Sapphira who lied
to the Holy Spirit and died right there. We see those as beacons,
as warnings to say this is the flesh, this is where the flesh
is going, but you that are looking to Christ and staying upon Him,
that's the grace of God doing that in you. That's not you,
that's the grace of God. So our Lord tells us, no man
having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. But rather, whosoever, he says
in another place, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. And so the promise of Christ,
we hear those, and in the flesh, if you're shuddering, you ought
to shudder. I do, because we know what we are, but the promise
of God in Christ is that we shall endure. you continue walking. It's because of the grace of
God. It's because He's giving you the Holy Spirit to believe
and He seals you by His Spirit so that you shall. And that work
which He's ordained for you to do, you shall do it. In the day
of His will on the day of his calling
you shall perform that work which he's called you to do. So the
reason why we endure is because everyone whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, they're sealed. Christ died for them,
his blood put away their sin. It says by his own blood he entered
him once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption
for us. So the works are finished. It's
all been done in Christ. So his people shall not fall
away. They shall endure. They shall
persevere. And Paul says in one place in
Ephesians 4.30, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. So that purchase that Christ
made, he's going to return and he's going to receive that which
he's purchased. He said, when the Son of Man
returns, shall he find faith in the earth? Yes, because he
purchased a people and he's going to return and gather them up
to himself. So, brethren, we may go through
fiery trials, but the joy and the rejoicing is that these light
afflictions that we go through, and we'll see them and know them
to be light afflictions, especially when it's all done, these things
are ushering you in to that kingdom of God, that glorious inheritance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Does the flesh love it? Does
the flesh try to wiggle and find excuses in justifying its wickedness? And what it does, of course the
flesh does. But the truth is that our endurance
and our perseverance will continue moving forward, looking to Christ,
because that's what the Lord is doing here. All these trials
and persecutions, we'll see the perseverance and
the endurance of God in us. And those persecutors, those
that persecuted his people, they'll be dealt with in the day of judgment.
And they'll be thrown into the lake of fire with the whore of
Babylon who fornicated with the earth and brought in all her
works of darkness and whatnot. But you trust the Lord Jesus
Christ and you cry out to him. And when you see the wickedness
and the weakness and the unbelief in your own heart, you remember
Christ and you look to Him and cry out to Him because that's
why the Lord allows you to see that, that you find all your
hope in Him. All right, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you for your mercy, for the grace that you've shown
to your people in your Son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, we see in ourselves
nothing good, Lord, except that which You've done, the grace
of God in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, that's... Your work is
all that we have, Lord, and we have no works of our own. But
we thank You that we are made righteous in Your Son, Jesus
Christ. Lord, help us to ever be looking
to Him. We're thankful, Lord, that you
don't look to us in our works, but that you ever look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that you would
bless our fellowship now with one another. Help us to look
to Christ and rest in Him. It's in the name of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, that we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right. Levi, would you come up and let's
Father, we thank you for the hour you gave us, Lord, to see
your son, Lord, to hear him preached. We pray that we don't sit in
vain, Lord, and that it will Your spirit will keep us to the
end. In your name we pray. Amen.