Man of sorrows, what a name. It crossed my mind that the Lord
told us to be of good cheer. The reason being is that He was
a man of sorrows. Scripture says, bore our sorrows. And therefore, we should be of
good cheer. He had a right to be sorrowful.
The man of sorrow is acquainted with grief from his youth up
as our sin substitute. Well, here we go again. I'm going
to say the same old things. Same message to mostly the same
people. Sunday after Wednesday we do
this, don't we? You're not going to hear me say
anything you haven't heard hundreds of times. Why do we do this? I don't know if you read the
bulletin article by my pastor, but I thought it was good. I
put it in there for you to read. I read it. That's why I put it
in there. And I typed it. I typed it. It took a while. But it was good. Why do this again? Because we're worshiping. We
come here because it's a great honor and
a privilege, not only our reasonable service to worship God, set aside
a couple of hours a week to thank our God for watching over us
every moment of every day. It's certainly a reasonable service,
isn't it? and a joy. As Peter said, Lord,
thou hast words of life. This is life. This is life. Christ is life. These words are life, necessary
to sustain our life, the savor of life to life. Life needs to
hear it. Need to hear it. Can't live without
it. It's like food. You can't live without food.
And it's the love of God's people's heart. It really is. God's people love this, love
to worship God, love His Word, love each other, look forward
to seeing each other, and love to gather at the table.
That's what we're doing. We're sitting down. You're sitting
down. You've got the easy part. It's the good part. And we're
sitting at the table like families do. It's an enjoyable time. Last night my daughter treated
me to an early Father's Day dinner. Took me out and the rest of us
too. She's a working woman now. She's
got more money than I do. But took me out and I so enjoyed
that. The older you get, that's about
it. Sit around the table with those
you love and eat good food and fellowship. Well, that's what
we're doing. That's why we come here, why we need to come here. And why do this again? Well,
the Apostle told us so much more as you see the day approaching. Exhort one another. That's what
we do when we gather here. Every time we're exhorting one
another, hey, he's at the door. I mean, he really is. If Christ
does not come back to this earth real, real soon, which I think
he is, he's going to come for somebody in here. Yes, he is. We've seen it happen unexpectedly
at a time when you think not. And it's not Peter who greets
people. It's the Lord himself who comes
for his people. So the time is short, and we're
preparing to meet our God. We're going to our long home
from which we have not returned. Scripture says we're preparing. We're preparing. And as I said, I believe his return is very
soon. So very many things, if you have
any discernment at all from the scripture, just open your eyes
real wide to see the times. Paul said, you have no need,
in 2 Thessalonians, he said, you have no need that I should
write unto you of the times and seasons. Well, you ought to be
able to tell. Our Lord said in the parable of the fig tree,
you ought to be able to discern the signs of the times, just
like a farmer reads You know, the sky, the sailor reads the
sky, the farmer reads the seasons. It's very easy. You just open
your eyes and you listen to God's Word, which we're going to do
right now. That day is very near. Verse
30, here in Matthew 24, the Lord said, Then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven, then all the tribes of the earth
shall mourn. They shall mourn. Africans and Chinese and Japanese
and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. Scripture says weep
and wail over the revelation. Mourn. Why? It's over. But God's people are not going
to mourn. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye, when that last trump shall sound, we'll be changed.
All of that we read there, the Lord is a simultaneous thing. The removal of his people, there's
not going to be one moment's fear or trepidation or worry
or anxiety of God's people. Not one second. It's just like
you're going to sleep. Not one second. But the world
will, greatly more. shall mourn. In verse 31, the
Lord went on to say, And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect
from the four winds. Just as everyone all over the
world shall mourn, God has a people from every tribe, kindred, nation
and tongue. There are Chinese who are going
to rejoice. There are Japanese and Africans
who are going to rejoice. Great gathering. A great gathering
shall gather together. Why? He's going to gather all
his people together to go worship. For a long, long time. We're just doing right now, we're
just practicing. What are we going to do forever? A great gathering, a worship
service. Verse 32, he says, Now learn the parable of the fig
tree. When its branches yet tender and put forth leaves, you know
that summer is nigh. You know it's up. So likewise,
when you see all these things, know that it is near. Now, he
said, know that he is near, even at the door. He's at the door. Verily, he
said, I say unto you, verily, truly, it's true. Well, in verse 34, he said, I say unto
you, verily, truly, I say unto you, this generation shall not
pass till all these things be fulfilled.
The Lord said many things throughout this chapter, and he said this
generation shall not pass away. It's not going to end. until
all these things be fulfilled, all of it, until he comes. This
generation shall not pass until he comes. This generation. Now, does it
not behoove us to find out what this generation is? It's certainly not talking about
those few years that he lived on the earth, is it? Now, this generation, Peter said
this in his letter, and as I said, these things are clearly seen
from Scripture. 2 Peter 3 is a clear warning and things that give
us an understanding of the times. 2 Timothy 3 and 1 Timothy 4 and
just on and on we could go. Luke 17, Matthew 24, Revelation,
on and on. The Lord said through Peter,
don't be ignorant of this one thing. Everybody wants to know
when, when, when. Don't be ignorant of this one
thing. A day is a thousand years. A
thousand years is a day with the Lord. The Lord said this
generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. There were 2,000-year generations
in scripture from Adam to Abraham. 2,000 years, give or take a few
years. Man counts years. They get lost
in the shuffle. Don't be going by modern calendars. The Jewish calendar is not as
late as the Jewish calendar says it is. At any rate, 2,000 years
from Adam to Abraham. And then there were 2,000 years
approximately from Abraham to the Lord Jesus Christ set foot
on this earth. 2,000 years. That's the generation. Are you with me? This generation,
badly, just let you in on a little something. I wouldn't dare predict
the day. No man knoweth. Our Lord plainly
said that no man knoweth. But the day, the seasons, the
times and the seasons. Just as in Noah's ark day, the
Lord, 120 years there went by and then it was finished. And then seven days passed. Nothing happened. You just go and learn what that
means. I believe the Lord doesn't do anything new if those who have eyes dissent.
Well, when? People ask, when? And most people
ask that because they're just trying to buy a little more time.
How long do we have? David, the psalmist who looked
forward to Christ's coming, David who said, oh, I'll be satisfied. when I awake with eye like it.
David said, ìHow long, O Lord, how long?î David said that a
few times, ìOh, how long?î ìLord, how long do I have to stay here?î
ìWhen are you coming?î ìIsnít it time for you to act, Lord?î
ìThey make void your law.î ìLord, rend the heavens and come down.î
ìLord, come.î ìHow long?î ìHow long?î Godís people still say
that, not buying time, but they really want the Lord to come,
even so come quickly. Lord Jesus, they said. He said,
I'm coming quickly, and they said, even so, amen. Come quickly,
Lord. And our Lord said, no man knoweth,
verse 36, no man knoweth day and hour, but as we said, the
times and the seasons can be known from Scripture. Well, the
Lord said many things, but now he's going to describe the times of his return, how things will
be during his return, when he comes, how things will be. Verse
37, this is a conclusive statement, as the days of Noah were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, as the days of
Noah. Now, Peter, as I said, Peter
wrote of this, same thing, brought up the flood. in 2 Peter 3. And he said this, and here's
clear evidence also. He said, the Lord said through
him, that in the last days, the very last days, scoffers shall
come walking in the lustre of their flesh and shall mock, saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? All things continue as they have
been. Everything is going on like it
always has been. We don't believe he's coming,
and as we noted before, I believe around 2000, Y2K, that everybody let out a collective
sigh of relief, even those who did not believe, yet were somewhat
fearful. They wouldn't admit it, but they
were. It did happen. It went by. It wasn't 2000 years,
they don't know what the year is. But they thought it was around
2000, and it came and went, and another year went by, and another
year went by. Remember us studying that at
that time? Remember saying that at a time
when you think not, it's not going to be what everybody's
looking for. A time when you think not, like
seven days, you know, the ark was completed. And then Noah
went in the ark before a drop of rain fell. Where was Noah? Where he always
was. You'll find Noah where he was
120 years before that. Now, Peter said, this is what
men are willingly ignorant of, the flood. Isn't that what he
said, Vicki? He said they're willingly ignorant.
that the world was destroyed by a flood. One of the things,
he said creation first, that willingly ignorant of creation.
Creation, if God created this world, then he owns it. That's why people are so dead
set on disproving, trying to disprove that God is the creator. If they can disprove that, then
they have nobody to answer to. If you make something, you own
it, and you can do with it what you will. God made this planet
and everybody in it, which Scripture says, the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world and the inhabitants thereof,
and he does with it what he pleases, what he pleases. That's God of
the Bible. He created it. And as Scripture
says, one of these days you're going to fold it up like you
do a vesture. put it away. It's his. So they're
willingly ignorant of the creation and the flood. What was the flood?
What was the flood all about? Why did God, why did the flood
happen? Was that the Ice Age? Incidentally,
all the things they attribute to the Ice Age, I attribute to
the flood. And we'll not go into that. The flood is a stark picture of God's hatred
of sin, and how God was angry with the wicked every day, and
God will punish sin, sinners. He will put them away. As in
the days of Noah, he said in verse 38, as in the days that
were before the flood, verse 38, The days preceding the flood,
and I want every eye, young and old alike, to look at that. As in the days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day, the very day that Noah entered into the ark, that
very day, they were doing this, eating, drinking, and marrying.
Business as usual, in other words. Things were going on like they
always have. I started this message by saying that. Here we go again.
Same old, same old. I hope it's more than the same
old, same old to some. Business as usual. Folks were going on with their lives. They
were going on with their lives. They were confronted by this
Noah. He was a preacher. Noah was a preacher and everybody
heard the sound of the hammer. Day in and day out. They wished
that hammer was not heard. They wished somebody would silence
that fellow. It's driving us crazy. It's a
reminder. Every day was a reminder to them
of the things that Noah was saying. Judgment is coming. God doesn't
love everybody. God's going to destroy everybody.
But God is merciful. God is gracious. God is love. God will spare those that get
in His ark. Whosoever will, let him come. Come into the ark. Boom. Boom. Because God is angry. Boom. Every day. They all heard it. But they were going on with their
lives, and after a while, you know, you hear something, and
you don't hear it anymore. My grandparents, my father's
parents, used to live in Rome, Georgia, a little one-horse town.
And I do mean one-horse town. They had the old party line on
the phone, you know. the general store right next
to their house with a potbelly stove and a nail keg and a checkerboard
and the old men sat at it all day long. I don't know what they
did for a living. As a kid, all I remember them
is sitting playing checkers. Uncle Lawrence's. He wasn't my
uncle, but everybody was your uncle. Uncle Lawrence's general
store, Henry. I remember going on his meatus
plate. I probably had a redbone hound. I don't remember, but
honestly. And party line, you know, Sarah,
get me Barney. But they lived, I mean, as close
as from here to that front door from a railroad track, their
house. I mean, it was that close. And that was, I've been going
there since the fifties, since I was a little child. I still
had a few steam engines running at the time, I don't know. Could
have. But anyway, I remember the first
time we went there, and my grandmother had a feather bed, you know.
Oh, we loved to sleep in that feather bed. You know, we'd just
sink in the middle. All four of us. Kidding. But anyway, I remember the first
time we went there in a train that night. We were sleeping
in that feather bed. And that train ran right over
top of us. I thought it was. The house was
shaking, and I thought, we're all going to die. I distinctly
remember that. But you know, after we'd stayed
there a while, I didn't even know. It passed through
that night. Somebody said, did you hear the
train? No, the train didn't come. Yes, it did. That's the way this
preaching is. I've only done it 17 years here. My pastor has done it 50 some
years. Noah did it 120 years. Eight people. How serious is
this? Hannah, eight people. Believe God. We're talking eight
people. We're smarter than that generation.
We're dumber. We're dumber. Eating and drinking. Now, the
Lord's not condemning young people. The Lord is not condemning eating
and drinking. He did it. He ate and drank a lot. Somebody
invite him, he'd go there. And they called him a glutton
and a winebibber because he did that. Remember? He ate and drank. He enjoyed
it. Do you think he enjoyed eating
with his disciples, eating at the table? One day he was eating and drinking
at a place that he didn't particularly enjoy, the Simon Pharisee, but
he's waiting on somebody. He's waiting on the guest of
honor, his guest that he had called personally. And lo and behold, she came in,
sat at his feet. That's another story. But the
Lord ate and drank. He's not condemning that. Not
condemning marriage. No, no, no. He's the one that
ordained it. He's the one that said it should be. It's not good
for a man to be alone. Let him have a wife. It's a good
thing. The first miracle he performed was at a wedding. He made the
wine for it. Wine, Scripture says, made for
a feast. He made it. Here, enjoy yourself. It's a
happy occasion. Celebrate. Yeah, he did. Only an old prude, somebody who
doesn't know God, would say there's anything wrong with those things.
God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. But now here is the
problem. It's when we Love those things so much that
we forget God. That we don't give God a thought.
And that's what was going on in the days of Noah. They were
eating and drinking, which is lawful. They were marrying and
giving and marrying. But some woman, her daughter
was going to get married, and she was just consumed with it.
And the Lord's Day would come around, and she didn't show up.
I got a wedding to plan. There's a much bigger wedding
that you have better be a part of, that you'd better real be concerned
about. It's called the marriage supper of the Lamb, because a
time will come when there will be no more marrying and giving
and marrying. Those that have wives with me,
they know they had none. Scripture says. Then the flood came. Our Lord
said the flood came. Verse 39. The flood came. And they knew not. They weren't
expectant. They just didn't... Why weren't they expectant, Stan?
Somebody had been warning them for years, hadn't they, Stan?
Why weren't they expectant? Whose fault was it? Was it the
preacher's? Was it God's fault? God sent
Noah. It was their fault. They got all to blame. The flood
came. Destroyed them all, the scripture said. Destroyed them
all. All of them. Scripture says in Romans 1, the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. You know, most folks fear tsunami
more than they fear God. People on the West Coast, they
keep telling them it's going to happen. It's going to happen.
And they attribute it to natural causes, don't they? Out there
in the ocean is a fault line, you know, and it's going to have
an earthquake and a tsunami is going to happen. Everybody's
afraid of tsunami. And don't give God a thought.
The wrath of God clearly revealed from heaven. You know how many people, you
know there are millions of people that die every day. Right now as we speak, since
we've been meeting together, Literally thousands of people
have died. And people don't give it a thought.
But they're waiting on the big one. And God's removing them. Like cattle. Like a farmer going
out and getting the cattle to slaughter. Every day. Every day.
People don't give it a thought. They carry it on their louses.
Like I see people all the time at these funeral homes. Don't
you? People come and they're forced.
to think about death, to think about eternity, just for a moment.
They're forced to. They're forced to show a little
respect and dress up and all that. They don't want to be there.
It's an uncomfortable situation. They have to be there. They go
through it and can't wait to get out. And then, let's forget
about that. Let's go on with what we were
doing. That's what the Lord is saying. That's what the Lord
is saying. The flood came. The flood came. Go to Luke 17 with me now. We're
going to look at something else here in Luke 17. This is another
account of what our Lord is saying here in the days of Noah. Luke
17. Days of Noah. And what that indicates,
the days of Noah, eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, you know how much an average wedding costs today? Anybody know? I mean, nuts. An
average wedding. But most people spend $10,000
to $20,000. That's funny, isn't it? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, those
things indicate prosperity. Eating and drinking, there's
an abundance. Rich and increased with good.
Married and given and married. The time of great prosperity.
Scripture does not teach, and you're looking at it, that there
will be some kind of worldwide dearth or whatever. There will
be a famine all right. It's not bread. It's the hearing of God's Word.
Though there are more Bibles, there are less people hearing
it. The famine of God's Word. But prosperous days, these indicate
prosperous days. From Genesis 4 through chapter
7 is when the flood came. From Genesis 4 to chapter 7,
the Lord describes in great detail the world and the people in it.
And he mentions people that build cities, architects, builders,
contractors, so forth. They build cities. He mentions
cattle barons, men that have great herds of cattle and so
on. He mentions arts and crafts,
people that do those things. Musicians. Musicians. He mentions gigantic men. He
said in those days they were giants. Big men. Men were bigger,
taller, stronger, faster. Athletes, more than ever before. Beautiful women. He mentions
beautiful women. He said the daughters of men
were fair. Oh, they were good to look at. That sounds like today, doesn't
it? Like reading a headline. In verse
28, he says, verse 27, they did eat and drank, married, wives,
and were given and married until that day. Prosperous day. Men of great stature and arts
and crafts and talents and so forth, beautiful women and on
and on, rich and increased with goods and life as usual. And then in this prosperous day,
look at verse 28 then. He says, likewise also as it
was in the days of Lot. Everybody in here knows the story
of Lot, don't you? Lot, who lived in Sodom. He says again in verse 28, they
did eat, they drank. In other words, business as usual,
life as usual. They bought. Here they were buying
things. Prosperity, again, that's prosperity. People complain today about gas prices,
don't they? Well, I don't see them running out buying, everybody
buying Honda Civics. No, they've got plenty of money. Buy a big old Tahoe, get six
miles a gallon. No problem. We're just paying
the same prices that Bill Clark paid 25 years ago in Europe.
Right now. This is just a foiled, rotten
country, is what it is. Anyway. Prosperity. Got all kinds of money. Buying,
selling. See that? They drank, they ate,
they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it. You got
to have some money to build. You hear that, Sam? You've got
to have a lot of money to build and prosperity. That's what that indicates. Now again, there's nothing wrong
with these things. Nothing wrong with building. Do you know that
we're going to do these things in the new earth? Isaiah 65 tells us that. Plant
gardens, build, eat, drink. The Lord says He's going to eat
and drink with us. There's nothing wrong with these
things. But do you know what Scripture says about a man just
plowing his field that doesn't know God and doesn't give God
the thought? A man plowing his field? It's
wicked. It's evil in the sight of the
Lord. Right now there's somebody out there putting up hay. Well,
that's a good, honest profession and a good thing, putting up
hay. It's evil to God. This is a day the Lord hath made
where God's people meet together to worship God for that hay that
He grew for them. And they're out there not giving
God a thought. Well, they will someday. And man, they will someday. They'll have a long time to think
about it, won't they? What men do not have in all their
thoughts right now, they won't actually be able to get out of
their thoughts someday. Won't ever be able to get it
out of their head. Plowing the wicked. Plowing,
planting, building, eating, drinking, whatever it is, without giving
God a thought is evil to God. Don't thank God, worship God,
set aside a little time to worship God. Where did Lot live? All right,
it's in the days of Lot. Where did Lot live? Where did
Lot live? He lived in Sodom. They were
prosperous days. And what kind of place was Sodom?
It was the most wicked, vile city on earth at that time, or
we think it was. At least it's the only one that
the Lord mentioned at the time. There were others. There were
cities of the plain. Do you remember that he also
destroyed the cities of the plain? Not just Sodom, but other cities.
Because a lot say, well, let me go to this city. He said,
get out of there. You need to get out of there. Don't go there.
Should have gone to the mountains with you, Uncle Abraham. He lived in Sodom. It was a decadent
place. So what we're seeing is, these were the most prosperous
times. Very prosperous time. And they were decadent time.
Wicked time. Wicked, wicked time. And he says in verse 29, this
is something that the world scoffs at and laughs at and talks about,
fire and brimstone. It rained fire and brimstone
from heaven. You believe that, do you? You believe that, Laura? Fire and brimstone. God is going
to rain fire and brimstone. And a preacher that preaches
that, he preaches fire and brimstone. Well, who said that? Just who
said that, Catherine? Who was the first person to say
that? Some wild man standing on a street corner with a sign
on his hand, the end is near? It was Jesus Christ. Fire and brimstone. He's a preacher
of fire and brimstone. Fire and brimstone. It rained.
It rained down fire and brimstone. Destroyed them all. Destroyed
them all. Decadent time. God said in Noah's day, he said
he saw that the wickedness of man was great, that is multiplied,
widespread in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually, every day,
only evil. No good thoughts came to his
mind. He just sat, devised evil on his bed and woke up and carried
it out every day. Scripture says that God looked
down, the earth was filled with violence, violence. Second leading,
second or fourth leading cause among young black men of their
death is homicide. Something like 30 or 40% of them
don't live past 24 years old. Killing one another. Violence, violence. And God says,
I will destroy all flesh from the earth. I'm going to do away
with it. But in those days of Noah, that's
the way it was. But when I hear a light, a little
bit of light, a little good news, Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. One man. That's one more than
deserved it. That's one more than deserved
it. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God being gracious. Lot did too. Scripture says,
God being merciful to him, laid hold on him. Had not God laid
hold of Lot, he wouldn't have come out. God laid hold of him.
Warned him. Sent three men. One of them was
the Lord himself. But Noah found grace, and as
I said before, Noah found grace, so where did you find Noah? Where
is grace found? Where will you find grace? Where
will you be when you find grace? What did Paul say where he wanted
to be found? Noah thought, I want to be found
in that ark when that raft comes through. I'm just going to work on this
ark. I'm going to believe God. I believe this ark is going to
be my salvation. God told me so. One way. One
way. And he told everybody that came
by, one way. And his life was that ark. His life was that ark.
His everyday life was that ark. His life was literally in that
ark. That ark was going to save him. And his whole life he lived
by faith in that ark. Every day he spent, Deborah,
thinking about that ark. Not a part of his life, it was
his life. It's not just a good story. Noah found grace. So where did
you find, how do you know someone has found grace? Where will you
find them? About the things of God. As Christ
said, I must be about my Father's business. As Noah found grace, he was found
in that ark. In, about it, around it, talking
about it. Every day, every day, his conversation
came around to that ark. You know what did, didn't you?
Every day. And anybody he ran across, they
got a pinch on them. Put black tar all over that boat. You know how long it took? He
did it inside and outside. There's a picture of the blood
of Christ. It covers in and out. It covers
us from the wrath of God. If you're in Christ, He won't
touch you. Not one. God does not punish
you for anything. That ark took it all. Every way. And God did that to His Son on
Calvary's tree. And He became a bloody pulp. Blood, and that blood made Pope
pitch. from my soul. I was in Christ
at that time, and that blood, like the mercy seat, John, that
blood covered me completely. And you know what? He was on
the inside, too. God said, Noah, you take that pitch and pitch
it on the inside. What do we need on the inside? He didn't
say that. He just did it. Meaning nobody's coming out,
nothing's coming in, and nobody's going out. You ever tried to
open something that's been Pitched shut for a long time. Big door. Massive door. Elephants could
get in. God, Scripture says, shut the
door. God shut the door. God shut him in. God said, Come,
because God was in the ark. Said, Come, thou, and thou and
thy house, all thy house, come. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me. I know when his house came in,
that was it. Few, many were called, 120 years, few were chosen. Come. And they came into that
ark, and the scripture says, God shut the door. After seven
days. Seven days. That was the hardest,
most trying days of tribulation that Noah ever went through.
Harder than the 120 years previous. Those seven days of waiting.
And we're in those seven days right now. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, we are. And the door is
open. But there ain't very many people
who really believe that this is going to happen. And that
Christ is really the only way. And everybody says, no, God loves
us. No, He doesn't. No, He doesn't. The love of God is in that ark.
Melanie, come on. Come with me. Okay? Are you coming? Let's get in the ark. What do you say? Well, there was a seam on the
outside, though. Somebody had to pitch it. No seams, like that robe that
Christ did, that seam. You're safe, Noah. You're safe. Well, we were talking
about Lot, weren't we? Lot found grace. Noah found grace
because Noah was found in the ark. And we find grace, the grace
of God, if we're found in Christ, in Christ, about Christ, thinking
of Christ, talking of Christ. If He is our life, we've found
grace. That's how. And it says a lot
found grace too. You wouldn't know this unless
God said it, but Scripture has called in just a lot. Just Lot. It says Lot was vexed. That just man was vexed with
the conversation of the wicked. Vexed every day. He hated living
in Sodom. He went there. He shouldn't have
gone there, but he did. And he about perished himself,
didn't he? And his family. His son-in-laws
did. And his daughters ended up being
real bad. And he lost his wife. to Sodom. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? Well, he did. Well-watered, nice
city. Well, he was in Sodom, but he
was not of Sodom. Can you do that? He lived in Sodom. He lived in
Sodom But he didn't live for Sodom. Barbara, he conducted
business with a bunch of Sodomites, but they were not his intimate
companions. They were Lot's wife. The second shortest verse in
all of Scripture. The Lord said, Remember Lot's
wife. Lot's wife did not truly believe. Lot's wife was thinking about
her home. Lot's wife was thinking about
her friends back in Sodom. Lot's wife did not want to leave
them and go with God's people. She wanted to stay with her friends
in Sodom. So she longingly, Scripture says,
looked back. Where are you going, Lot? Where
Ruthlee and the rafts come. Come with us. Okay, it looked
like no, her heart was in Sodom. and with her Sodomite friends. So she stayed in Sodom. And she got what Sodomites get. Anybody in Sodom worth that?
No. Let me read this in closing.
You can look at it with me if you want. It's worth looking
at. Hebrews 11. In closing, Hebrews 11 says this about the chapter
of those who died. They all died. Everybody dies.
Everybody dies. Abel died. Noah died. Abraham died. Isaac died. Jacob died. Sarah died. They
all died. But these all, verse 13 says,
died in faith. Everybody in here If you go before
me, we're going to lay your body in a box. Oh, may you die the death of
the righteous. May I be able to stand over your
coffin with some amount of assurance so that I can preach with some
peace and some joy. It's the hardest thing on earth
to do is to preach a funeral to somebody that you just don't
think they know about. I don't want to do that. I don't
want to ever do it again. But I'll have to. But these all died in faith.
In faith? In who? In what? In who? I said
it right. In Christ. In faith. They hadn't
received the promises. It says that they see them afar
off. And this thing is not as afar
off for us. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we first believed. And we're persuaded of them.
You persuaded? John, Jesus, are you persuaded
of this? You know whom you have believed and are persuaded? They
are persuaded and confess. What do they confess? They are
strangers on this earth. And if strangers on this earth,
they are strangers to the people of the earth. But they that say
such things, do you say these things? You say these things
with me, don't you? Sherry, you say these things,
don't you? They declare plainly that they
seek a country. If they had been mindful of that
country, like Lot's wife, truly, if they had really, really had
it in their hearts and minds where they came from, where they
came out. Children of Israel, all the charter
members died in the wilderness. Nobody over 20 except two. They came out of Egypt, they
all wanted to go back, wanted to stay there. But had they, these others, been
mindful, truly, they would have had opportunity of a return.
But now they desire a better country. That is a heavenly. So, God. They're not ashamed to call the
brethren their brethren. These are my brethren. I'm a
companion of them that fear thee. That's it. They're not ashamed
of that, and so God is not ashamed to call them brethren. So you'd
be ashamed of me and this evil and adulterous generation. I'd
be ashamed of you. You confess me, I'll confess you. You're
a friend of God, like Abraham, he's our friend of you. And there
is a friend that's sticking closer. And so he had prepared for them
a city, a city, an everlasting city. And he writes a whole lot about
that, you know, a city in heavenly Jerusalem coming down. It's going
to come down for those who look for it, those who look for it,
those who believe, those who are right now in Christ, it's
coming. Who are you coming with? Who
are you going with? Where are you going? What are you looking for?
What's your life? Who's your life? Do you believe
all these things? It's no cunning, devised fable. It's the word
of Jesus Christ. He said, Heaven and earth shall
pass away. My word is at the door. And he said,
and this is what this knocking at the door, He's not, man, you know that.
He's not standing outside everybody's hearthstove. He's at the church.
We're hearing it. We're hearing it. Here's what.
Open the doors. Come in and suck with you. Suck
with you. And tell you more. Like those
disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were sorrowful. He said, why are you sorrowful? And he revealed himself to them.
And they said, well, come on in. Come on in. I have no leave. Come on in. Stay with us. We
want to hear some more about this." And so he did. Man, they
were happy. Oh, were they happy. Their hearts
burned. And from then on, they were one
accord with God's people from then on out, waiting on His coming.
And for every one of them, He came. Every single one of them.
These all died in faith. And it will happen for us, each
one of them. If the Lord doesn't come and
take us all collectively, wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that
just be wonderful? I'm hoping my dear old folks
go together. They might not. But then again,
I might go with them. We all might go together. Wouldn't
that just be wonderful? You know, he said this, listen
to me. They said, when, Lord? The last thing he said, where
the body is, Do you know what that meant? When he left, they were gathered
together. When he comes back, they're gathered together. Where
the body is, eagles gather. What are they doing? Waiting. Waiting on the Lord. He's coming. All right, let's stand. I'll
dismiss this in prayer for a few extra minutes if necessary. Our Lord, let this be more than
a Sunday sermon. Let it be through your Holy Spirit. Take these words, your word,
which shall not pass away, which shall not return void to you.
You who wrote it, said it, spoke it, taught it, must apply it. Lord, take this word and apply
it savingly, effectively upon the hearts, not the heads. It's just in our minds we will
be convinced by something else, influenced. But if thou, Lord,
take up residence within us, Christ in us is our hope of glory,
and we in him. So Lord, come, we pray. By your
Word, create a new creature in Christ. Let these old things
pass away. Let all things become brand new
in Christ. New creatures looking for thy
coming. This is our hope, our pray, for
ourselves, our children, our neighbors and all. May they hear
us give that dire warning, solemn warning, get to Christ. It's
in Christ's name we're met here today. honor of Thy Word, His
glory, so great salvation. Amen.