And shout while passing through
the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet Alabra prayer. That's a wonderful hymn, isn't
it? Mount Pisgah's lofty heights. That's where the Lord took Moses
up. He said, You cannot go. You're
not going to leave the children in the promised land. Moses represents
the law, you know. And God took him up on Mount
Pista before he took him to glory to show him the promised land,
that all that he promised, not one word of his shall fail, that
God's people shall go cross over Jordan. There it is. It just
remains to be seen. Let's look at Luke 21 now. Luke
chapter 21. And Robin, if you're listening
to this, I appreciate you now more than ever. Jeanette. After
this day, John. After this day, leading the singing,
playing. And I will make a lot of mistakes,
Robin. Just did, John. But we're to make a joyful noise. The Lord does not listen to our
playing or our singing. He's looking on the heart. Luke
21. Times like this make everyone
think of the end times. You can't help it. We should.
We should. The coming of Christ. He is coming.
The Lord tells us to always be watching and waiting. That's
what He said in Luke 12. Look over there real quickly.
Luke 12. He said in verse 36 and following, to his disciples. Remember, he
warned them throughout this, verse 34, where your treasure
is, that's where your heart will be. That's why he said, Provide
bags that wax not old, treasures in heaven. Set your affection
on things above, those things that are in, things of God. Verse
36, he said, You yourselves be like men that wait for the Lord
when he will return from the wedding. And when he cometh and
knocketh, that they may open unto him immediately. Blessed
are those servants unto the Lord, when he cometh, shall find and
watch him. Verily I say unto you, he shall gird himself, make
them to sit down to meet him, and will come forth and serve
them." Verse 40, wait and watch, be ready, the Son of Man cometh. We read this Wednesday night. The people met together. The disciples, two thousand years
ago, asked the Lord. Look at verse six. They were
showing him the temple. And even they were impressed
by that big edifice, that beautiful building, weren't they? And we,
so vain, were impressed with man's works. And our Lord said,
verse 6, that it shall not one stone be left standing on it,
anything that any man has done. I thought about this. After that
building, that temple was torn down, I bet you there was one
stone left. The chief cornerstone. Foundation. I bet you. Just like
when the flood destroyed this world, one thing rose above it,
wasn't it? Everything on earth, the highest
mountains, all of man's work were destroyed. You couldn't
see any of it. One thing rose above it all. The ark. And those
in Christ. He said, I have overcome the
world. And we shall rise above it, too. Verse 7 of Luke 21. They asked him, Lord, Master,
Teacher, when shall these things be? What sign will there be when
these things shall come to pass? They wanted to know. They thought
it would be soon. In verse 8 and 9, he said, Take
heed, you be not deceived. Let no man deceive you. He said
in another gospel. For many will deceive and be
deceived. Many will come in my name and
say, I'm Christ. That is, Jesus is the Christ.
And that's what he said in Matthew 24, didn't he? Matthew 7. Many will say, well, we preached
in your name. They'll come in my name and say, Jesus is the
Christ, and the time draweth near. Don't go after them. Now,
this was 2,000 years ago. Don't follow them. Because it's
not near. He's telling his immediate disciples
right then, it's not soon. All right? Verse 9, you're going
to hear of wars and commotions, and they have been since the
beginning. Be not terrified. These things must first come
to pass. But the end is not by and by. That is, any time soon. By and by. We sing that song
in the suites, by and by. Well, it is so now. By and by,
very soon. But he said in Matthew 24, more
fully, he said the gospel must go into all the world for a witness
to all men. And he said, then, then shall
the end come. Now back then, the gospel was
in one little place. Right there, Jerusalem. Then
all that persecution came. People were killed left and right.
Blood of the saints was shed all over the place. And the Lord
spread this, scattered His people in it. It was the worst time
in their lives. What was it all about? God's
glory. Salvation of many. Isn't that
a good picture? that God spread the gospel all
over the world, and because of our brethren that shed their
blood, we have the gospel. So, God is merciful, and he should
have just wiped out Adam and Eve right there, but he didn't,
because God is merciful. God is love. God is gracious,
and God has an elect. He said, I have a people out
of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation on earth. Isn't God
good? And not one person on earth that
deserves it. God said, I've chosen a people
out of every single family. Every family. But now, our Lord
said to them then, I'm not coming anytime soon, but now 2,000 years
later, He's at the door. Right? Verse 32, he said, this generation
and this generation and basically Adam to Moses, Moses to Christ,
and Christ to his country. Three generations. We're in that
last generation. Two thousand years. So I know
every generation has thought especially in, you know, terrifying
times, World War I or Civil War, Revolutionary War, Civil War,
World War I, World War II, the whole world is thinking maybe,
okay? But the key is, and Paul wrote
about this, there should be a falling away. The gospel will go into
all the world as a testimony, as a witness. And there shall
be a falling away. You don't fall away from error.
You fall away from the truth. A forsaking in the land. Paul
told young Timothy in the last days, he talked about that, and
he said, evil men, seducers who act worse than word. He says,
they'll turn away their ears from the truth and the fables. So there has to be a falling
away. Look at verse 9. He said, wars
and commotions, terror. He tells us, be not terrified. Be not terrified. God is called
the terrible God in the scriptures. How many people have ever read
that? How many people believe that? We do. God's true people do that. If
you believe this thing, every word, you must be one of his
people. But verse 10, he said, nations
are rising against nations, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes
in diverse places, earthquakes, famines, withholding the rain,
pestilences, that's diseases. And there have been so many of
them just in the last few hundred years. Dubonic plague, diphtheria, smallpox,
scarlet fever, and on and on it goes. And now this. Nothing new under the sun. And our Lord says these things
will keep going on. Fearful signs, great signs shall
there be from heaven. Romans 1 says the wrath of God
is revealed. from heaven, and God's people
recognize that. We're not condemning everyone,
because we ourselves are sinners. We're pleading with God to have
mercy on us and every one of us. But the fact of the matter
is, God does condemn. And this wrath of God is upon
all sin and unrighteousness, men and women that hold or suppress
the truth of God in unrighteousness. And Romans 1 goes on to talk
about how they weren't thankful and didn't glorify God so. The wrath of God. So, verse 20,
go down to verse 25. There shall be signs in the sun,
the moon, the stars, upon earth, distress of nations. This whole
world is in distress. Perplexity. No one knows what
to do. Even the leaders of nations. The Prime Minister of Britain
has this virus. The Prime Minister. The future
King of England has the virus. The sea and the waves roaring.
Why? Look at verse 22. This is God's
Word. These are the days of vengeance. that all things which are written
may be fulfilled." Sometime in your own free time, just start
reading Isaiah. I've been reading it. I was going
to preach a message about our great burden and the bearer of
it. Sin is the burden that we have. Isaiah had a burden because of
the sins of his people. because of the clear judgments
of God against it. And all through Isaiah, it says,
the burden of Moab, the burden of Egypt, the burden of this
and that, of Damascus, the burden, the burden, the burden, the burden.
He had a burden. He saw the Lord high and lifted
up and said, Woe is me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean
lip. Dwell in the midst of the people
of unclean lip. And all through Isaiah, Isaiah 13, read it. Read
it. It's terrifying what the Lord
says He's going to do this to us. But then, He gets over it
in verses like this. But, comfort you, comfort you,
my people. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 42. My servant is coming. He's going
to bring judgment to the Gentiles. Isaiah 53. That's the bearer
of the burden. God's people have sinned. We've
all sinned. We've sinned. Why shouldn't the
wrath of God be on us? It should. But why isn't it? Because God's poured out His
wrath on crime. That's why we meet in His name,
right? Not for righteousness we have
done. Vengeance. God should have vengeance. It should have vengeance on us. But he took vengeance on his
son. He took out his vengeance. Oh,
my people. That's the good news, isn't it?
And much of this was said to his immediate disciples. Verse 23, Woe to them with child
and them that give suck in those days, great distress in the land.
That was right before the destruction of Jerusalem. It happened at
70 A.D. It happened. That's what he's
telling them. It's coming. When you see him, verse 20, compass
Jerusalem. That's not going to happen again.
Although spiritually speaking, they do compass. And there's
war with God's people. Spirit of Jerusalem. We're compassed
about by enemies. And it says throughout Revelation,
they're going to overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Who's he that overcometh? He
that believeth in Christ. But he says these days of vengeance.
And I was going to have you turn to Romans 1 and Isaiah 13 for
the sake of time. But our God is rich in mercy. And He purposed to save some. And if you're here and you know
something of his purpose, and you look to him in repentance, repentance toward
God, that's what Paul preached all the time. What do you say
in prayer? Just the same thing as always. Same thing Paul preached
everywhere he went. Repentance toward God. Daniel's
prayer. We have sinned. Solomon's prayer. If any man sinned, all have sinned.
Everybody knows the plague. God's people know the plague
of their own heart. Ezra, Nehemiah, on and on it goes, David, against
thee and thee only have I sinned. All who call upon Him for mercy
and in truth, you'll hear them in Christ. He purposed to save
some. If you know this purpose of God
in Christ Jesus, oh, blessed are you. If God in His goodness
has granted you repentance, That means He's granted you salvation. To the praise of the glory of
His great grace. Our God made a covenant. Here's
our salvation. Our God made a covenant with
His Son. We read that back there in Psalm
50. Those who have made a covenant with me. We don't make the covenant.
God made the covenant long before. But what it is, is we come to
Him believing, trusting in our covenant head. Trusting in Christ,
in the covenant keeping God, in His mercy. David said, this
is all my salvation. You made a covenant with me,
ordered in all things and sure, that is concerning me. You made
a covenant concerning me. The purpose of God to save me,
He made with Christ before the world began. That's all my salvation. I can't keep that covenant. Christ
did. And God will. Always. He remembereth for us that covenant. When we forget it, when we are
fearful, when we are troubled, when we think He's going to cast
me out, He said, I'll never cast you out. Why? I made a covenant. He's the covenant keeping, faithful
God. He took this vow and He'll never
break it. Aren't you glad? Oh my. This woe our Lord pronounced,
those that don't believe Him, there will be no, there should
be no great fear upon God's people now or when it comes. I know
there won't be when it comes, because in a moment, in the blink
of an eye, we'll be chained. It's going to be like sleep.
We're going to wake up. It's all going to be over. I want you to see something. Go over to Zechariah 12, a little
book of Zechariah. It talks about vengeance. The Lord took great vengeance
out on Israel, didn't he? Why? They killed his son. because they rejected the Christ.
They still do. And this is what God has against
all mankind. God's Son. It's all about God's
Son. People do not worship the Son
as they do the Father. God's vengeance will be poured
out. Look at Zechariah 12, verse 9. It shall come to pass in that
day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem. I will pour upon the house of
David, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplication. And they, see Israel was guilty
too, but God in mercy poured out this spirit of grace and
supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. So shall they mourn for him."
Right after our Lord was crucified, at the day of Pentecost, Jews
from all over, mostly Jews and Gentiles, came to Jerusalem to
go through the motions like they always did. It was just tradition
to go to Jerusalem. to the temple. But God, rich
in mercy, poured out His Holy Spirit through the preachers
of the gospel, and they heard the gospel cry, and they began
to mourn over Him whom they had pierced. And when the gospel
comes to us, that's what we do. And it says they'll mourn for
his, one mourner for his only son. Who's my only son? God's
only begotten well-beloved son. And be in bitterness for him,
as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And that day
shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem. And it goes on to
talk about every family apart. Each individual will and must
mourn. Alright, now go to Revelation
1. Revelation 1. This is the same Oh, I wish I'd
have had you look at verse 1 of chapter 13. In that day there
shall be a fountain open to the house of David. That's where
we sing that song. There is a fountain filled with
blood. Revelation chapter 1. This is
at the end of it all. And the Lord says the same thing. Revelation 1 verse 5. From Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, first forgotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved
us," this is God's people, "...he loved us, washed us from our
sin in his own blood, made us kings and priests unto God the
Father. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierce
them." See, it's all about God. And
all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. But God's
people shall shout because of him. Oh, they shall shout. All right,
go back to Luke 21. Look at this. It says in Luke
21, verse 10, 11. The great earthquakes, verse
10. Diverse places, famines, pestilence,
fearful sights, great signs. There have been earthquakes from
the beginning. The showman. God has from the beginning shook
this earth. Why? The showman. This place is crumbling. I lay
in bed and our house is not too old. It's 15 years old. And it pops and cracks to the
earth. Settling. Settling. It's falling. And it's the whole world. That's what God does, constantly
does. Earthquake, from the very beginning, to show the whole
world. That bunch of worms I bought,
you know, put them in a tub. I would go down there every now
and then and just shake it. There wasn't any. God looked
down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there were any
that did seek God. Any of them called on him for
mercy. Keep shaking here. Any. We wouldn't have either. But God. You see why you can't preach
the gospel of Seth by saying, but God. Fear not thou worm,
Jacob. Jacob wasn't seeking the Lord,
but blessed God the Lord sought him and came to him and shook
his world. That's what God's showing us,
His people anyway, that this is crumbling, this is dying,
I'm going to destroy this whole place. And once more, Hebrews
12 says, once more in the end of the world, He's going to shake.
God shook this world as never before when Christ was on that
cross. You know what it says? The whole earth did quake. You
know that, Brother Joseph? That's what it says. The whole
earth did quake when Christ was hanging on the cross. Why? To
show man, you don't worship my Son? that my son would come down
to this leper colony and do what he did, and you don't care? And we wouldn't have it but God. He's showing us here, and He
said in the last day, finally when it's all over, He's going
to shake the world, everything in it, that the things that may
not be shaken will stand. As he said, not one stone left
standing on another, but those that are standing on Christ,
the cheap cornerstone, will not be shaken. Solid ground, like those children
of Israel going through that muddy Jordan. And the first one
that passed through, you know what he did? Abel, you know what
Abel did? He hollered back, he said, it's
okay. It's solid ground. It's rock
solid for God's people. Christ is that solid rock. Verse
12 and following, he talks about persecution. All those who believe
the truth will be persecuted. The things that I'm saying right
now, it's just my opinion. Anything, if I said anything,
my opinion. Have we not just read verse after verse after
verse of God's Word? And yet people the world over
get angry and mad at you when they say, this is God's judgment.
This is not God's judgment, they say. We're all good people. The
Word of God says exactly the opposite. And if you dare to
proclaim the truth, just declare what God says, they're going
to hate you for it. Paul said, am I to become your enemy for
telling you the truth? Yeah, you do. But actually, you're the best
friend the world could ever have, aren't you? People that lie to people are
not their friends. You're children, you warn your
children, don't you? That's what God does for his
people. And they're heeded by his grace,
by his mercy. And he says, I love this, in
verse 14, whenever you're persecuted, settle it in your hearts. Remember,
Peter said, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and minds.
Be ready to give every man an answer that asks you for a reason
of the hope that life is in you. Don't have to meditate before
you answer. I love the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
the three Hebrew children. The whole world was getting together
in worship of a false god, a god of money, gold. Let's all get
together. And the king said, if you don't
meet with us, We're going to throw you in that fiery furnace.
And those three Hebrews said, we don't have to stop and think
about it. We don't even have to stop and think about it. We're
not going to do it. If God saves us, wonderful. If he doesn't, that's all right
there. Though he slayed me. That's the
next. You might want to do anything.
Though he slayed me. Now trust him. Because it's the
Lord. Let me just give you an answer
to that. He may slay you and everything
about you. He's not going to slay your soul. He's going to
save your soul. Alright, so it says there will
be famines, droughts. Oh, we're in a drought, aren't
we? Hearing the word, the water of
the word, famine. I'll persecute you, settle it
now. Verse 15, I'll give you a mouth
and wisdom your adversaries will not resist. And verse 16, he
says you'll be hated. Verse 17, you'll be hated. Verse
18, look at this, not a hair of your head shall perish. You know, we lie if we say we're
not afraid. No, we all are. Everybody, the
whole world is just part of it. The disciples think of their
fears. They're going out, and the Lord said, they're going
to hate you, they're going to want to kill you, they're going
to persecute you, they're going to go into a town, you're about
to flee to the next one. He said, not a hair of your head
will perish. But you say they did. They did. All the disciples were killed.
Yes, they were, weren't they? But not until the Lord says. Meaning they were immortal. Remember
the Lord said, no man taketh my life from me. And no man takes
our life from us. And no disease takes our life
from us. The Lord killeth and the Lord maketh alive. Now if
God, here's the thing, if God, He said, Not every hair of your
head is numbered, and not one shall fall to the ground like
those birds in the forest. Not one shall even fall without
your heavenly father, without his purpose, without his will.
Not one. Now, God is so insignificant things. Seemingly insignificant. It's just proof of God's absolute
sovereignty over all things, down to the most minute things.
Germs. not a hair of your head shall
follow." That's your heavenly father. If God rules over and
controls the most insignificant things of all, if everything
down to the hairs of your head are ordered in all things, what
about the big things? Our souls, our families, our
everything. Big things. I quit long ago worried
about my hair falling out. I realize it's hopeless. I have
no control over it. We don't have control over anything.
The little things, you know, I can't... Mike, I wanted to
be tall. I couldn't have one stature. Why are you tall and
I'm short? It's the Lord. And everything is. This is meant to give us hope.
Why do we meet here? To dispel our fears. If we don't
believe, we won't be established. We need to be established in
this present truth that our God reigns and rules over what? All
things. Down to the hair on your head.
The world doesn't believe that. You know why they don't believe
it? They don't understand it. I don't understand how God can do this.
I don't either, but I believe it. Don't you? If it's not so,
If it's not so, if God doesn't reign over every single thing,
brethren, why are we here? Why are we here? We need to gather
our things, get our guns, pack up our cars full of food and
a tent, and run to the hills. I'll tell you a better thing
to do. Hide in the cliffs of the rock. Commit, submit all your things,
your meal, your food, everything to the Lord. He careth, cast
all your care upon him. He careth for you. Who? His people. How do you know? He sent his
Son to die for you. His people. So, he says down in verse, here's
the verse I wanted you to really look at. Verse 19. in your patience, possess you yourself. In other words, in our language,
get hold of yourself. Here's what Paul wrote in the
book of Colossians. Do you know the perils he faced?
Read it sometime. Read of all the perils. A disease
was the last thing he worried about, although he was surrounded
by it. Everybody wanted him dead everywhere
he went. Perils, perils, perils, perils. I was in perils here, perils
there, didn't I? Here's what he said while he
was in prison, waiting to have his head cut
off. Boy, that's fear. No. He said, listen. He said, let
the peace of God rule in your hearts. To which you're called. What?
Peace. Peace. Christ left and said,
peace. You're going to hear war and
rumors of war. You're going to hear famine, earthquake and diseases
and pestilence and all these things. Terror. I said, peace.
My peace I give unto you. Say unto the righteous, it's
well with them. No matter what it is, it's well with them. No
matter what God said, it's good for them. It's for the end and
salvation of their souls and the glory of God. Say to the
righteous, those that are in Christ, it's well with them.
Say to the wicked, it's not well. It shall be ill. But now if any
wicked man turn from his way and turn to Christ, he'll have
mercy on him. He'll abundantly pardon. That's
what we say, isn't it? But say to my people, peace be
unto thee. Peace. Our Lord, He kept saying
that and saying that, but peace. And then after He arose from
the grave and He appeared to them the first time, peace be
unto thee. My peace I leave with you. My
peace I give unto you. They said, now, you're going
to go out there and all these things are going to happen, but
peace. He said that's what you're called
to peace in one body. Verse 16, Colossians says, Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not.
Fear not. You know, the Lord said that
more than anything else. Fear not. Fear not. Of all of the
things He said the same, He said that more than anything else.
Fear not. All our lifetime was subject
to fear. And He came. And he's coming again. He says,
fear not. It's all good. It's all good. And he says, singing. Psalms and hymns, spiritual psalms,
singing with grace in your heart to the Lord, whatever you do,
do it in word or deed, all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give him thanks to God and the
Father by him. Now look down at verse 26. It says, men's hearts shall fail
them for fear. Looking after those things coming
on the earth. Powers of heaven shall be shaken.
That means spiritual powers. Spiritual wickedness in high
places. That means there is a war going on. And we're not fighting
it. The Lord fought it on Calvary's
tree. But still, we have adversaries.
And we're no match for them. But Christ. Read that in Revelation
12 for yourself. Then they're going to see the
Son of Man coming. In a cloud with power and glory, great glory,
Peter said, we didn't make this up. This is no covenant of vice
fable. We beheld his power and his glory. John said the same thing. We
beheld the power and glory of the Son of God. And verse 28,
he says to all his people, when these things begin to come to
pass, lift up your head. Look up. Look up. You know we need to have our
faces to the ground. We need to be on the ground before
the Lord, calling for mercy upon us, our children, and our nation,
don't we? And I believe you probably are.
But then the Lord says, those who bow down, those who humble
themselves, those who call on the name of the Lord, He says,
look up. Lift up your heads. Your redemption
draws nigh. What have we got to fear? We've
got everything to look forward to, don't we? And I didn't say
any of this. I didn't say any of this. The
Lord, who cannot lie, said all of this, didn't He? And I'm just
telling you what He said. Oh, how we need it. Stand with
me. Our Lord and our God, in the
name of Thy blessed Son, Thank you, thank you, thank you. We thank you, Lord. As long as
we have breath, let us thank you. Your mercies, for your mercy
endureth forever. Your mercy that is in Jesus Christ
our Lord. Lord, vengeance belongeth to
thee. Wrath from heaven should fall
upon all the sons of men, and we are one of those. But, God,
how we thank You that You have made known unto us the burnt
offering, Christ, that You laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
We pray for ourselves. We pray for our children. We
pray for this nation. Maybe, Lord, that You in great
mercy and grace Pour out your Spirit once again that men may
look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him, mourn
over their sins, hunger and thirst after righteousness, and that
you reveal Yourself to them. That would be wonderful. If you
don't do it for many, Lord, do it for a few. Do it for some.
Do it for our own. For Your glory and Your great
namesake. Lord, we're sure thankful You've done it for us. In Christ's
name, amen. For those listening by mixer,
we'll begin recording at 930.