Go back to Matthew 24 with me. Whatever you do, do it heartily
unto the Lord. I appreciate that, Sherry. I appreciate your willingness. Our Lord said, and the disciples
asked him how long, when should the end of the world be? And
he said in verse 6, you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled. All these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet. title of this message, subject
of this message, is The End. These recent world events with
this godless leader in Korea, North Korea, these very real
and dangerous threats give us concern. And they should. Many madmen and women have lived
through history and done some dreadful and horrible things
to bring about great destruction and pain and misery upon the
human race. We don't wish for that. Could
it happen? Yes, it could. It has, many times. And whenever we hear of wars
and threats or rumors of wars, we wonder like the disciples. We ask questions like the disciples. Is this the end? Especially when we hear about
nuclear bombs and all. Anybody here? Everybody in here,
let's cross your mind. How is it going to end? We know
it's going to end. The Lord says so. How is it going
to end? Will it be nuclear destruction,
wipe out the human race? No. You can be sure that that's
not the way it will all end. But thinking about these things
made me, and I hope you, drove me to God's Word. Worry, a little fear drove me to God's
Word again, to lean upon God's Word which he's caused me to
hope. And to understand some things. You see, we have an understanding
that the world doesn't have, and therefore we have hope. We
sorrow. We have doubts and fears, but
not like those who have no hope. Scripture is not silent about
the end of the world, but speaks often of the world, the end of
the world, and speaks of a world without end. That's how we're going to end
this message. But our God who spoke, Scripture says, unto the
fathers by the prophets. We're going to look at Daniel
in a moment. Our God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets of
these things many times. Ezekiel, Daniel, and others spoke
often of the end of this world as we know it. But God hath in
these last days spoken unto us by His Son, by His Son, by whom
He made all things, who reigns and rules over all things, who
He made heir of all things. And we just read what our Lord
said. We're going to read it again.
We're going to look again at it. But notice with me the terrible
things the Lord said would happen to this world. In verse 6, the
Lord said wars and rumors or threats of war. Verse 7, He said
nation against nation, constant conflict and battle. People in
this world wish for and hope for and want peace in this world. They want to change the world.
They want the world to change. They want there to be peace on
earth and goodwill among men. But it will never be. Our Lord
said it will never be in this world. You will always hear of
constant conflict. He said don't be troubled. Verse 7, famines and pestilences,
earthquakes in different places. And sorrow, verse 8, this is
the beginning of sorrows. The beginning is going to continue.
Sorrows are going to continue. All the days of planet earth,
sorrows, wars, trouble, conflict. Read on. Nine, they deliver you
up to be afflictions, murder, hatred, offense, betrayal, false
prophets, deceit, iniquity abounding. The Lord doesn't say anything
good, does He? There doesn't seem to be anything
good in this earth, does He? hope for this planet, this world. Does it? It doesn't give us any
hope whatsoever for this world. Dire warnings and prophecies. Aren't they? Doom. Doesn't it? I thought, you know, this morning,
this beautiful spring morning, spring is the beginning I love the spring. I do. I look
forward to some things. The spring makes me look forward
to a new life, planting a garden and things and so on and so forth. And you do too. Well, it's a
good time for us to think about the end. One wise man said to his people,
he said, Do you think the Lord is coming today? In all honesty, do you really
think the Lord is coming today? People were honest and said,
no, we don't think so. He said, well then, at a time
when you think not, when you don't expect it. As in the days
of Noah, I'm selling lot planting, planting and planting and going
on with life as usual. and knew not until he came. The flood came, took them all
away. Fire and brimstone. It's a good time to think about
the end. Oh, that they were wise and would consider their latter
end. Because for some, it's not the
end. It's not the end at all. It's
just the beginning. And if we have more faith, if
we believe the One who is speaking these things, if we trust Him
more, let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you,
He said. If I go, I will come again. To do what? Destroy you? No. Receive you to Myself. That
where I am, you may be also. We ought to be, in the words
of Peter, Peter said, seeing that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God
when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Who said all that? Christ did.
Beloved, seeing that you look for such a thing, give diligence. Our Lord, these
words are not the words of a madman, a doomsday prophet standing on
the street corner of New York City, but the Lord Jesus Christ.
God manifests in the flesh who cannot lie. And the same words
that he said were repeated by the prophets and apostles and
are still repeated by true pastors and teachers today, whom the
Lord called. And we ought to be sober. We
ought to be serious. And so much more as the day approaches. That day, the Scriptures talk
about that great and dreadful in Malachi. That great and dreadful
day of God. It's going to be a dreadful day
for those who don't know God. Anyone in here who doesn't know
God has great reason to dread that day. But it's going to be
a great day for those who do. a great day, a glorious day,
redemption, a day of redemption, a day of jubilee. Scripture calls
it the glorious liberty of the sons of God. That day is not
the end for his people, not the end, but the beginning of eternal
life, eternal peace, joy, unspeakable, full of glory, days without end,
one long eternal day. Right after all these dire warnings
and speaking of trouble and pestilence and famine and death and hatred
and deceit and all of that, he says, verse 14, But this gospel
of the kingdom is preached in all nations, the gospel of good
news. In the midst of all that bad
news, in the midst of all those bad tidings, there is glad tidings. And I am come to give glad tidings
to those who need them." Good news in bad times. Good news
for bad people. God is just. He will by no means
clear the guilty. But He is a just God and a Savior. He delights to show mercy. God
is holy and God is merciful to all that call upon Him in spirit
and truth. God will punish sin and God will
pardon sin. All manner of sin shall be forgiven.
God is angry with the wicked every day. The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. Clearly
revealed. The wrath of God is clearly revealed. The mercy of God is there. His
tender mercies are over all this world. Clearly revealed. Even
to the wicked, the rain falls on their heads. There's no hope
for this world. Here's my message. There's no
hope for this world. There's no hope in this world.
It's destined to be destroyed. Don't put your hope in it. Don't
plan the future in it. But there is hope for sinners
in Christ. Those who hope in His mercy.
Those who repent to God and have faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in verse 15, the Lord said, when you see the abomination
of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, he mentions Daniel. And he said, when you see this,
and who reads it? You notice the little parenthesis?
Whoever reads this, who's he talking to? Us. Let him understand. If you read this, the Lord mentioned
Daniel. He said, you need to understand.
If you read it for your own peace, for your own comfort, for your
salvation. You need to understand what Daniel
understood, what the Lord showed to Daniel. If you read this,
you need to understand. Brother John kept praying. Did
you notice? Did you hear what he kept praying?
Lord, give us an understanding. We need to see Christ. That's
what he prayed. Okay. Let's go back to Daniel. Go back
to the book of Daniel. And our Lord said this. If you
read this, you need to understand. Go back to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 9. Begin there. Daniel 9. There's so much written, things hard
to be understood, impossible to understand. No man knoweth
completely. There's much mentioned in the
book of Daniel, days and weeks and years, and we don't know.
And I've read various men, John Gill and Matthew Poole, and listened
to other men on tape, and no one knows. We just guess about
these days and weeks and years and events that took place and
this and that and the other. But there are some things we
do know and understand. Something essential. God's children,
like Daniel, whom the Lord loved and chose to reveal some things
to. We're going to see that. All
right, look at Daniel chapter 9. And this was Gabriel, the
man Gabriel, verse 21. The Lord speaking, the man Gabriel,
whom I'd seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to
fly swiftly. touched me about the time of
the evening oblation, and he informed me and talked with me
and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding. Daniel, the Lord sent an angel,
a man he called him, named Gabriel. to give Daniel an understanding.
And the Lord is still doing that. The Lord is still raising up
men chosen by him to fly swiftly with this message, cold from
the altar, to give his people an understanding that they might
know something. Three, at the beginning of our
supplication, Daniel had been praying. Daniel had been calling
on the Lord. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And Daniel had been. And the commandment came
forth. You see that? The commandment
came. God gives commandment to save His people. And the way
He does it is by the gospel being preached to them, giving them
an understanding that they might know God, know themselves, know
Christ, see Christ. Daniel is going to see Christ,
and I hope we will too. Verse 23, he said, I have come to show
you that you are greatly loved. How do you know that God loves
you when He reveals these things to you, when He gives you an
understanding? Therefore, verse 23, understand the matter and
consider the vision. Daniel understood some things,
and we do too. God's people all understand some
things. Go back to verse 3 of chapter
9. Go back there. Daniel, and well,
verse 2, Daniel had been reading Jeremiah. Daniel had been reading the Word
of God through Jeremiah, and Daniel said, I understood something.
I was reading the Word, and my understanding was opened unto
me. And what did he do? He sought God. Verse 3, it caused
him to seek the Lord by prayer and fasting. And he prayed unto
the Lord. Verse 4, he, O Lord, unto the
Lord my God, and made my confession. And he said, O Lord, the great
and dreadful God. So here's the beginning of wisdom,
the fear of the Lord. He called the God of the Bible,
the true God, the great and dreadful God. Fear of the Lord. Daniel understood something of
who God was. And we must too. We do. God's
people do. And it caused him to repent.
Look at verse 5. We have sinned. Daniel didn't
say, these are all a bunch of sinners. He said, I'm a sinner.
We have sinned and committed iniquity, have done wickedness.
and have rebelled, departing from thy precepts, from thy law,
from thy judgment. Neither, verse 6, have we hearkened
unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy names, our
kings, our princes, our fathers, to all the people of the land."
We haven't hearkened to God's Word. We haven't believed His
preacher. Unbelief. Verse 7, he said, O Lord, righteousness
belongeth unto thee. He knew and understood something
of the righteousness of God, and we do too. Righteous art thou in all thy
way. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee. Not us, unto thee. Verse 9, look at this. He said,
"...to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness." In
other words, salvation is of the Lord. It belongs to Him.
We don't deserve salvation. Daniel understood that salvation
was of the Lord. It belonged to him. And that
he can show mercy on whom he will. He can be gracious to whom he
will. And Daniel understood that he needed mercy and he needed
grace. That's what he said in verse 4. He said, You're the
covenant God, great and dreadful God, keeping covenant and mercy. God is a covenant God. God has
ordered everything, purposed all things. And it's sure. He
made a covenant. And there's mercy, a covenant
of mercy, the sure mercies of David. And we need those mercies,
but it's up to God to show it to whom He will. Daniel understood
that. Verse 11, Daniel said, O Lord, all Israel has transgressed
your law by departing, they have not obeyed thy voice, therefore
the curse is upon us. America and the world does not
realize it's under a curse. Curse is upon us. And judgments of God, verse 12,
he said, you are judges that judge us. You brought upon us
great evil. The condition of our society
is the judgment of God. The judgment of God. Upon a God
hating world. That's why everything's like
it is. The judgment of God. And Daniel cried. And verse 18,
Oh my God. How was he saying that? Oh my God. From a broken heart. Inclined not to hear. And here,
hear our prayer, our confession. Open thine eyes, behold our desolation,
the city which is called by thy name. We don't pray unto you. We do not present our supplications
before thee for our righteousness. We don't have any, but for thy
great mercy. We need mercy. Oh, if only the
people today were crying out, Oh my God, be merciful. Oh, Lord, look at verse 19. Oh,
Lord, hear. We're not praying just to be
prayed. We want the Lord to hear us.
Oh, Lord, forgive. Forgive. Oh, Lord, hearken and
do. You do it. Lord, you're going
to have to do something. Lord, do something for us, for us and
our children. Lord hear, Lord have mercy, Lord
do, defer not, for thine own sake, O my God." Then the Lord showed him something
that he understood. And we have an understanding.
We know that the Son of God has come. And it's given us an understanding. We understand something of the
fear of the Lord. We understand something of the
terror of the Lord. We understand something of the
judgments of the Lord. We understand something of our
own sinfulness, our own need of mercy. We understand something
of that. Not as we ought to know, or we'd be like Daniel who prayed
constantly. Well, we do. We do. I'm afraid
we're guilty of everything Daniel said. Did not sought thy faith. But the Lord in mercy then sent
Gabriel, the man he saw at the beginning. And in verse, we already
read this. Gabriel said to him, Daniel,
I'm come to show you the matter. I've come to show you. And here's
what he showed him. Verse 24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people, upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression."
Now, Andrew, I've come to show you that God's going to finish
the transgression. God's going to put an end to
transgression. How's that? Do you understand? Do you understand? Has God given
you an understanding that He has finished the transgression
in Christ? What did our Lord say when He
hung on the cross? It is finished. What's finished? Well, 2,000
years to come. 2,000 years of sorrow, of trouble,
of pain, and suffering, of death, and betrayal, and hatred, and
murder. But our Lord said it's finished.
What's finished? The transgression. I put away
the sins of my people. This is Christ He sees. To make
an end of sins. To make reconciliation for iniquity. Yes, God is angry with the wicked
every day. God's not angry with them. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Good
news. Good news. You see that in Christ,
you understand that's in Christ, to bring in an everlasting righteousness,
to seal up the vision, to fulfill the Word, the prophecy, to seal
it up tight. Nothing can be added or taken
away from it? Huh? To know, to anoint the Most Holy? Who's that? That's right. Read on. Know therefore and understand. Verse 25, from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah
the Prince, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, seven weeks, three score
and two weeks, the streets shall be built again, the wall even
in troublesome times. What does all that say? Where
are all these weeks and times? Don't concern yourself with that.
That's not what you need to know, what we need to know. We need
to see Him as our Lord. Trust Him. And it goes on to
say in verse 26, and just for your... understanding, know that
it has something to do with when Christ came the first time. He
came exactly when the Lord, in the fullness of time, God sent
forth His Son. Whatever those days and years
represent, that's when He came. It was fulfilled. And when is
He coming again? Well, don't you worry about that.
But you do know this. He is coming at the very day.
We don't know. No man knoweth the day or hour
the Lord said. You don't need to understand that. You don't
need to understand today, but you need to know that. Read on. And then the Messiah will be
cut off, not for himself. Isaiah said he was cut off from
the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was
his trickery. He was cut off, not for himself.
God forsook him. Why? For his people. For his
people, that we may not forsake him. Read on, and the people
of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end thereof shall be with
a flood. The end of the war, desolation is their determinant.
You'll confirm the covenant talking about some wicked one who set
up abominations. Now who's that? Satan and his
little season. But now, Christ said, now is
the judgment of the prince of this world. Isn't it? Didn't
Christ say that? When He was headed to the cross,
He said, Now will He be cast out. Yes, out into the world.
To wreak havoc, but not upon His people. Not upon His people. Look at chapter 10. Now, this
thing has an end, a wonderful end. Chapter 10, so the Lord
showed Daniel. Daniel saw Christ. He's coming. Verse 5, here He is. I lifted
up my eyes, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen." You know
who was clothed in linen in the Scriptures of old? The high priest. He saw Christ, and he gave a
glorious description, just like Ezekiel, just like John. He saw
the same one. John said, We beheld his glory. And verse 8, when he saw the
Lord, like John, he said, I was left alone, a great vision. There
remained no strength in me. My comeliness was turned into
corruption. I retained no strength. Like
Job said, I've heard of you, now I see you, and I hate myself.
Like Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips. Like
John said, I fell at his feet as a dead man. Like Daniel said,
my comeliness, my beauty, everything about me melted into corruption.
And so it is with all of God's people. When they see the altogether
lovely Son of God, they see no beauty in themselves. And then they hear a voice. I heard the voice of his words.
I heard the voice of his words. Eyes on my face, on the ground,
and he touched me. Verse 10. Jerry, you play that
a lot. He touched me. Oh, my soul. He set me up. And said, verse
11, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to Daniel, speaking
to all those He comes to and gives an understanding that they
might know Him that is true, and they are in Him that is true.
Daniel, you're a man greatly beloved. You're greatly loved.
I love you, Daniel. How do you know? Because you
understand my word. You believe me. Who is it that
loved me, Christ said? Who is it that loved with me?
He that hath my commandment, and keepeth it, and lays hold
of it. So he says, stand up. Stand up,
Daniel. I'm sent to you. And when he spoke to me, verse
10, I stood up trembling. To this man would I look, Scripture
said, to him that is poor and of a contrite heart. I'm trembling. Are you talking to me? Yes, I
am. But it's good news. It's good
news. Wait. Will you hang on to the
end? Daniel, fear not, verse 12, fear
not. Isn't that what the Lord said
every time he came to his disciples, every time they thought they
saw a vision, they thought they saw a ghost, they thought they
saw a spirit, and he said, it's me. You're not seeing anything
but me. Don't worry about this, worry
about that. Fear me. They had nothing else to fear.
Fear not. To all those that fear the Lord,
he says, fear not. Daniel, verse 12, from the first
day you set your heart to understand, Your words were heard. I heard
you. I'm ready to pardon our God. Scripture says in Isaiah, before
they call, I'll hear them. I'll answer them. And then he
talks about the prince of Persia, Satan, who our Lord did battle with and
he defeated him. Go on down here in verse... Go to chapter 12. I'm out of
time. Let's go to chapter 12, okay?
Let's go to the end. Let's look at the wonderful end
here. Well, Daniel, after seeing the Lord and the Lord speaking
to him many things after that of the end, Daniel said in verse
5, well, he saw The Lord, who stood on the river, there were
two on either side. He was clothed in linen, verse
6, standing upon the waters. That's the Lord. He said, How
long shall it be to the end? When is this end, Lord? I don't
fully understand. When is it going to be the end?
And the Lord said to him, the man clothed in linen, who was
standing on the waters, said, It will be a time and a half. times and half He shall have
accomplished. He's going to scatter the power
of the holy people. That is the gospel. Didn't our
Lord say in Matthew 24, after the gospel is going to be scattered
through the church, the persecution, all that trouble and all that
the Lord warned them about? It's for a purpose. It's for
a good purpose. An eternal saving purpose. The church has to be persecuted
and hated and scattered like a seed pod to the wind. We have it because of all that
trouble. We have the gospel because of
all that trouble that the church, hatred and murder and so forth.
The power of the holy people. That's the gospel is the power
of God. These things are going to be finished. Are you still
with me? With him? I'm just reading. Verse
8, I heard, but I understood not. I heard what he was saying,
but I didn't understand. Oh, and he said, well, Lord, what about
the end? When? But when is this? Daniel, look at this, verse 9. Go your way. Just go your way. The words are closed up, sealed
to the time of the end. You don't know. No man knows.
Only I know. Go your way. Just walk. Trust
me. Psalm 25 says this, says, The
meek will he guide in his way. He'll show them his way. Teach him. Psalm 37 said, The
steps of a good man, a righteous person, one that's in Christ,
are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Go
thy way. Teach me thy way, O Lord. That's why we sang that. Teach
me thy way. He went on to say, and remember
this, where e'er my lot be cast, teach me thy way. Go your way.
Just go your way. Don't worry about fear not. Don't worry about the end. If you know me, you have nothing
to worry about. That's what he's saying. Go your
way. What's your way? What's the way of God's people?
Well, the way of the transgressor is hard. The way that seems right
to man is destruction. The way that of all flesh goes
is away from God, but the way of God's people is to worship
God. They want to know God. They want
to, teach me thy way, O Lord. Show me thy way. Well, he did. Christ said, I am the way. Grow
in grace the knowledge of me. I am the way. The way of peace,
the way of joy, the way of happiness, the way of wisdom. I am it. Go
thy way, Daniel. Read on. It's all sealed up. It's all settled. Verse 10, many
shall be purified and made white. These transgressors, these sinful
ones, many shall be purified and made white. How's that? Christ
came to purify His sons, to make them white, to make them righteous.
And tried, they'll all be tried, every one of them. The trial
of our faith, which is more precious than gold, it perisheth, though
it be tried by fire, it's going to be found unto praise, honor,
and glory at His appearing. But the wicked shall do wickedly.
Now here's the Lord's warning and promise. You can count on
this. It always has been, and this
is what our Lord said in Matthew 24. It's a wicked world. It's this present evil world.
It always has been from the day of Noah until now, the Lord said,
it's wicked, it's destined for the scrap heap. Don't be caught
in it. Don't be caught up in it. Love it, the Lord said. None, verse 10, none of the wicked
shall understand. None. They don't understand.
They don't believe this stuff. When Noah preached, Noah, a preacher
of righteousness, they scoffed and they mocked. Millions of
people just scoffed at him. This notion, they said, of a
holy God punishing sin, that's ridiculous, they said. And our Lord said, the same thing
is going to happen when I come. They don't understand. Do you
understand? Why? Let me quote it again. Because the
Son of God hath come and given us His respect. Good news, Christ
came and said, you've been found in me. Father has sent me to
you through an angel of his mercy to tell you, you're one of mine.
You're one of my leg. He said, the wise shall understand.
And from that time, the daily sacrifice, 11, shall be taken
away. Nobody's sacrificing lambs. They haven't sent Christ's left.
It's desolate. Ichabod's over the door. There's
just a remnant. But he says, blessed is he that
waiteth unto the, what? He talked about
1,290 days. Are those years or days or weeks?
What does that mean? I don't know. Nobody does. He
knows. But he just said, blessed is
he that waiteth. He said, you'd be like men who
wait for the Lord. That when He comes, He comes
in the first watch, He comes in the second watch, He comes
in the third watch. He said that day is not going to overtake
you as it did, doesn't it? It's not going to. You're not
in darkness. You don't sleep as others. You've
got your eyes open. Blessed is he that waiteth. Those
that are sitting, worshiping, listening to His Word, waiting,
looking forward, blessed are those that look for His coming. The world doesn't want him to
come. The world didn't want him to come the first time. They
don't want him to come again. Do you? Oh, we do, don't we? Come
quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. I'm coming. It's
going to be in a moment. Twinkle of an eye. Count on that.
But look at it again. Verse 13. Go thy way. Just go
thy way. Till it ends. What's the way
of God's people? If you knew that the Lord was
coming today at noon... Let me go a little further. If you knew for a fact the Lord
was coming, say, May 3rd of this year, what would you do differently?
That's a good question. What would you be doing? What
would you do? Well, hopefully, you wouldn't be doing anything
differently. Go your way. The Lord knoweth the way of His
people. Because He put them in that way. They're calling on Him. They're
seeking Him every day. They're worshiping Him. They're
thanking Him. They're thinking on Him, aren't they? That's the
way of God's people. They're in Christ, you see. And
Christ is in them. And they're waiting on the Lord.
They're waiting on the Lord. They're looking forward to His
coming. They're talking about His coming to one another. And
they get together once or twice a week, or however many times
they get together, to talk about His coming. To look forward to
His coming. Don't they? That's what they
do. Those that don't, aren't. That's just a fact. There's no
getting around that. But those that do, are. That's
their way. Go your way. It's going to end.
And that right early. Just keep doing what you're doing.
Trust me. He said. Till the end. And look
at this. He said, You shall rest. Thou
shalt rest. You know, all this trouble and
these trials and this affliction and this pain and this suffering
and this hatred and this betrayal and deceit and all this you're
going through, it's going to end. And you're going to rest.
Eternal rest. You're going to rest with My
people. The end of that man. Mark the perfect man. The end
of that man is rest. Peace. Come unto Me. He said,
I'll give you rest. And you'll stand in thy lot. at the end of the day. He said,
I go to prepare a place for you. I have a lot up there for you,
reserved for you. Psalm 16 said, the lines have
fallen. He said, the Lord maintaineth
my lot. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you and you're kept. It is kept and you're kept by
the power of God. And he said, the lines have fallen
into being pleasant places. You know, the Lord, Sister and I have talked about
this so many times, that the older you get, the more this
world begins to fade, the beauty of it. When you're young, you
look at this big, bright new world and you think, whoa, I
want this, I want that. Well, the older you get, the
more you think, oh, that's nothing but trouble. That's nothing but
trouble until finally it's all just trouble. It's all just done. And then you start getting a sight
of the Lord. Those that have gotten a sight of the Lord Jesus
Christ are a pearl of great price. They sell everything. They buy
the truth and wouldn't sell it. They've had their eyes fixed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They need Him and nothing else.
Food and raiment, fine, but I've got to have Him, the mercy of
God, the love of God, and cry, I've got to have Him. I've got
to have Him. I cry. Have all this stuff. Let the world have
this stuff. And the more we live, the longer we live, the more
it loses its luster, doesn't it? The more it fades. Fade,
fade, its earthly joy, the Lord Jesus. Now, he's mine. And the
Lord says, it's coming to an end. And He's weaning us from
this world. He's preparing us, making us
fit to be partakers with the angels in life. And He says it's
going to end. It's going to be one long eternal
rest and peace. Now who wouldn't want that? The
world doesn't. God's people do. Does that interest
you? Does He interest you? Oh, I pray
that the Lord himself will come and give you an understanding
as he gave Daniel. Daniel was in prison. He was in Babylon. He was held
captive. A sinful man held captive in
bondage, in prison, in sorrow, eating bread and water. Sad,
isn't it? The Lord said, Daniel, the end
is good, real good. Alright, we're going to sing
in closing, The Sands of Time are Sinking. That's number 509.