Let's read. Let's read verse thirty-five,
verse, let me just check, Matthew twenty-four. And Jesus went out and departed
from the temple, and his disciples came to him, or to show him,
the buildings of the temple. They were impressed with everything
and wanted to give him a tour. And Jesus said unto them, Seeking
not all these things, verily I say unto you, there shall not
be left here one sum upon another. that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, just a little while later, the disciples came unto
him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ, or that is, many shall come in Jesus'
name, saying, He is Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars, and
rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled, for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet. The nation shall
rise against nation, and the kingdom against kingdom, and
there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in different
places. All these are the beginning of
sorrow. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's
sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. he that
shall endure unto the end, the same shall be said. And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place, Let him understand. Then let them
which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on
the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his
clothes. And woe unto them that are with
child, and to them that give stock in those days. But pray
ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath
day. For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world. To this time, no,
nor ever shall be. And except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But, for the
elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto
you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, For there shall
rise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great
signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the
desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers.
Believe it not. Or as the lightning come up out
of the east and shine it even under the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass
is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened. And the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of
the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He shall
send his angels with a great sound of trumpets, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end
of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree. When his branch is yet tender
and put as forth leave, you know that summer is nigh. So likewise
ye, when you shall see all these things, know that it, or he,
is near, even at the door. Verily I say unto you, this generation
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." All
right, let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we come
tonight to worship. We come to give thanks.
We come to acknowledge our God, that He
is God. And in Him we live and move to
have our being. God in whose hand is our breath
is. All our ways to work with all things after the counsel
of His own will. declaring that in, from the beginning,
things that are not yet done, who purpose, purposes all things
and they come to pass. God was decreed all things, predestined
all things, declared all things, appointed all things. who is God. We've come to worship,
praise, acknowledge Thee. Thou art God and beside Thee
there is none else. There's no God but with Thee.
Thou art our God and we worship You, give You thanks, praise,
honor and glory for all that we are and all that we have. Without Thee we can do nothing,
especially He cannot enter into the things of God. A natural
man receiveth them not. He cannot, husband. As spiritually
discerned, you must reveal among us by your Spirit, your Holy
Spirit, who leads and guides into all truth. Spirit of truth, Spirit of Christ.
We ask now that you would give us that Spirit, your Holy Spirit. You said you would give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask. We're asking now that you would
grant us your Holy Spirit, that you would open your Word to us,
your Word which is Spirit and life, that we might understand
it, and that it might be our very bread, meat, and drink. Plant it as that incorruptible
seed. Let nothing take it away. Plant
it, let it sink down, deep down into our ears and into our hearts. Let nothing remove it. Hide it
in our hearts. It might not stand against thee.
Create faith, O Lord. Strengthen faith. Build us up on this holy faith.
Bless us tonight, we pray, for your son's sake, your son's glory
and honor, because of what he did for sinners. We pray these
same things for your church that meets everywhere in Christ's
name. Amen. All right, I want you to
turn now to Isaiah 59. Turn that over to Isaiah 59.
Now, most of my preacher brethren, all the men that I have confidence
in, the greatest preachers, believe that our Lord's return is very
near, very soon. And we believe this based upon
God's Word. It's very clear in many, many
places. 1 Timothy 2 Thessalonians, Matthew
24, we just read it, 2 Peter 3, many other places, Old Testament
Scripture. All of God's Word gives clear
descriptions of times or days immediately preceding our Lord's
return. No man knows the very day or
the very hour. Our Lord made that plain. But
of the times and the seasons, he said, we may know. There are
two principal signs, two chief signs that tell us of the imminent
return or very near return of our Lord. Number one is apostasy. Number two is iniquity, aboundance. Now, apostasy means a departing
from a faith, from truth, a departure from truth. Look at Isaiah 59,
and you may want to work this. I refer to this all the time.
It's a clear commentary on today. Isaiah 59, verse 13 through 15,
in transgressing and lying against the Lord. and departing away
from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering
from the heart words of falsehood, that is, lies. Judgment is turned
way backward. Justice stands far off. Truth is fallen in street. Equity cannot enter. Yea, truth
faileth. And he that departed from evil
make of himself a prey, that is, he's a target. And over in
2 Timothy 4, you know that passage, it says, the time will come,
he told young Timothy, preach the word in season and out of
season, for the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine. But they'll turn away their ears
from the truth unto absolute fadings, make-believe stories
that have absolutely, have nothing, no scriptural basis whatsoever.
Apostasy, truth. The true gospel is hard to find.
Many of you drive some distances to come here. Why is that? Because the truth is not everywhere
to be found, in many religious houses. But the truth, the true
gospel is not everywhere to be found. Back in Matthew 24, turn
back there, Matthew 24, keep your place there, that's our
text. In Matthew 24, our Lord said
in verse 5, now this is our Lord speaking here. And he says in
verse five, many shall come in my name. Many shall come in the
name of Jesus. They'll say he is Christ. And
shall receive many. And when God says many, that's
a lot of people. Understand that? When God says
many, he who numbers the stars. He said many, and that means
a lot of people. Many shall come in the name of
Jesus, say he's the Christ, and shall deceive many. They're not
true. Preachers, verse 11, many false
prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. It says it twice.
So there won't be any mistake about it. There's a lot of deceivers
out there. Paul said it, evil men and seducers
wax worse and worse and worse. Now, he said that 2,000 years
ago. And we think, well, if one comes
along, we think, well, it can't get any worse than him. And then
if one worse than him comes along after him. And in the next verse, verse
12 in Matthew 24, he says this. Now, he just talked about apostasy. False prophets shall rise and
shall deceive many and depart from the truth. Verse twelve,
and because iniquity, this iniquity, false religion, because this
iniquity shall abound. The love of many shall wax cold.
That's the first iniquity that abounds, religious iniquity,
and that gives rise to immorality. Actual, open immorality. You
know, that right there is the place that gives rise to the
immorality in this country. That's why this country is powerful,
and I'll tell you a couple of things. Because men don't talk
about a holy and just God who punishes sin. and the judgment, and so where
is God of judgment, Isaiah said? Where is He? He's not coming
down that pulpit. No, this one He is, but the average
pulpit. But iniquity, wickedness, lewdness,
uncleanness, there's never been a time in history where it's
advertised now, and it's flaunted, and even promoted and lauded. Now, never been a time in history
where it's worldwide that lewdness and absolute filth and immorality
is taunted and promoted. And anyone such as yourself,
anyone who has any sense of modesty or values or principles at all,
If you turn any public medium on, TV, radio, magazine, whatever
it is, no matter what you turn your ear to or look with your
eyes on, it offends you. There's something absolutely
immoral and disgusting all about it. I absolutely hate to watch
television with my daughter, because something's going to
come on, even in advertisements, commercials. that absolutely offends you,
it's offensive, it's immoral, it's... Lord, people don't let... Since we're so inundated with
it and bombarded with it, don't become desensitized to it, insensitive
to it. Filth and lewdness and debauchery,
apostasy, iniquity, now more than ever. Don't you see that? Now you speak clearly, it's never
been laid. We're talking, now we're not
talking about just this country. In fact, you know, you keep going
back in history, you look at pockets of the world, over in
Europe, you know, the Dark Ages, or all that cesspool of niquity,
but we're talking about worldwide now, every continent, in every
country. Men have been just as wicked,
you know, thousands of years ago, but it's never been global,
except one other time. One other time, right before
God destroyed this planet, the first time. All right, now, he said, this
is our Lord talking, Christ who said, no heaven or earth will
pass away, but one word that I say, not one word will pass
away, not one word. And we made the comment not long
ago that men have tried to disprove and discount one word of this
book and haven't done it yet, not one word. Not one word has
been found to be disproved. Come up with all sorts of theories
and arguments and so forth, but not one word has been disproved. And our Lord, this is the one
we believe in, who lived reigns and rules in heaven right now,
who sits on the circle of the earth. He said, heaven and earth
will pass away, but not one word of mine will pass away. Everything
I say, He says, bear it, bear it, I say unto you. That's the way. Verse 30, he
says he's coming. The Son of Man, he's going to
come. Everyone shall see him. Verse 31, he hasn't elected.
He's going to gather them together. I don't like elections. We don't
know who cares. Christ said he hasn't elected,
and he's going to gather them together from all over the world.
They've caught your stride, we've caught yours, what Jesus Christ
said. And he's coming. Where's the sign of his coming?
They argued in 2 Peter 3. Mockery, shock. Where is the
sign? You see, the living is coming and gone. Yeah, just barely. As far as our calendar goes. But
he's coming back to this earth according to his word. These
are not the words of some middle-state prophet standing out on the street
corner with a sign, prepared to be by God. This is the Son
of God. Now, when is he coming? Verse 36, he said, Of that day
and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only. And so does any man who says he knows when, the
day or the hour, and it does not come to pass right at all.
He's a false prophet. Right? No man, none. And less later on, he said, I
was wrong, I was false. He repents of his error and says,
I'll never try that again. But no man knows the day and
the hour, but he did study. He can know the signs and the
seasons. He can learn the parable of the
fig tree. He can discern the face of the sky. Any good sailor
can look at the sky at night, tell what the weather's going
to be like in the morning, or the sky in the morning, tell
what the weather's going to be like that day. Any good farmer
knows when he sees leaves popping up, what's going to happen, what
season it is. And he said, you ought to be
able to know these things by discerning the signs of the times
that we live in. In 2 Thessalonians, he said,
we're not in darkness, even as others, that that day should
take us as asleep in the night. But we're watching. Believers
have their eyes wide open. Unless we're asleep in this chanted
ground. Right? But the clue of all clues,
the evidence of all evidences, It points to the nearness of
His return as found right here. We didn't read it, but look at
it. Verse 36. Of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only, but... Now here's a clue. He's talking
to His disciples. Remember, they're the ones that
came and asked Him, when? But. No man knows a day or night,
but. Now look at this verse. As the
days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, feasting and marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they didn't know. They didn't have a clue. They
weren't even suspicious. until the flood came and took
them all away. So shall it come in some way." Didn't have a clue. Clue of all clues. He said, the
days of Noah. Now, the days of Noah was a particular
time period. All right? As in the days of
Noah. What was going on in the days
of Noah? All right, let's go back there.
Genesis chapter 6, okay? Genesis chapter 6. Let's look
at the days of Noah. This should be, oh, many things
to you, I hope, if you're with me. It should be interesting. It should be edifying. It should
be profitable for truth, doctrine, correction, instruction, righteousness,
comfort, warning. occupation, all of these things.
Genesis 6, here's the story of the days of Noah. Now, you notice
the slant similarities to our day as we look at these things.
Genesis 6, verses 1 and 2, and it came to pass when men began
to multiply on the face of the earth. Most Bible historians,
I mean, that is the ones that we have confidence in, Matthew,
Henry, and Gil, and so forth, believe that there were literally
millions of people on earth at the time, and not just over in
Asia. Millions of people. On the face
of the earth. Is that what it says? The face
of the earth. That means the whole earth. began
to multiply, and daughters were born unto them. Now, that's significant.
It brings up women. Verse 2, the sons of God saw
the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them
wives, plural, of all which they chose. All right? Now, these
sons of God and daughters of men, all right, these are two
This gives reference to two peoples, two different peoples, two sets
of descendants. All right? Two sets of descendants. Go back to chapter four, chapter
four. Now, this is a reference to the
sons of Cain. Remember, Adam and Eve had two
sons, Cain and Abel. See, he hated Abel's bloody religion,
salvation by sovereign grace. That's what Abel brought to land.
He had nothing to do with what God provided. Cain brought what
he had done, the works of his hand, through the ground and
the dirt. from the ground, which God cursed.
He brought that. His words from the ground. God
rejected Cain and his offering. He got mad at Abel simply because
Abel believed the blood. And Cain killed him. First murder
was over religion. And it was an unbeliever hating
a believer. All right? These are the descendants
of Cain. He's talking about these daughters
of men. These daughters of men are references to the descendants
of Cain, the men of the world. And it brings up the daughters
because, well, we'll get to that in a moment. But look at verse
16. It says, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. See that? Cain still didn't like
the truth. He still liked his religion,
and he went out from the presence of the Lord. That means he's
godless. All right, Cain is a type, a picture, and he is the father
of the godless world, the godless, unbelieving world. And all of
his descendants here we're going to look at. Look at them, verses
17 through 19. Cain knew his wife, she conceived
and bared Enoch. That's not the one who walked
with God in chapter 6. And this fellow built a city,
called the name of the city after his own son. They didn't think
about God. They didn't care about God. Enoch
was born, Erad, and so on and so forth, several others. All
right? Verse 19, now, one of his sons,
Lamech, just mentioned him, he took unto him two wives, polygamy
started. Polygamy started from this bunch
that come from Canaan. God told Adam, God gave Adam
one wife, did He? One wife. It never has been.
It always has been that way, one way. For this cause shall
a man leave his father in Cleveland, his wife. Alright? Polygamy is not multiple wives. That's an excuse for man's out-and-out
bestiality and all else began to rise at this time. All other forms of debauchery
began to arise. Cain's descendants were without
God, wicked, vile, anything goes. And you know, people today, even
today, multiple divorces is just another form of slavery. Marriage doesn't mean anything.
You don't like it, you're done. Just multiple, multiple, multiple,
just keep on, who cares? It's almost laughable, isn't
it, how many wives some of these actors and so forth have? But
now, these men weren't ignorant savages. They weren't ignorant
savages, verse 20. Ada married Jabal, who was the
father of such as dwell in tents, such as have cattle. These fellows
were cattle farmers. Verse 21, his brother's name
was Jubal. He was the father of all such
as handled harp and organ. They had an organ back then?
Harp. Musicians. Remember these fellows then,
how many years have they lived? Hundreds and hundreds of years.
You learn how to play guitar then. Now, he got rid of his iron.
They told him he wouldn't hold a cannon at this time. I'm telling the truth, these
people were musicians, they were artisans. Look at the next, verse
22, and the structure of every artificer, and brass, and iron,
artisans, craftsmen. Verse 23, this fellow Lamech
said, Hear my voice, ye wives, I have slain a man. They were
violent, Fierce fighters, brawlers, so
forth, ready to brawl and fight. But they weren't savages. They
were brilliant craftsmen and intelligent human
beings who lived hundreds and hundreds of years. Now back in
chapter six, it says in verse two, The sons of God saw the
daughters of men. The daughters of these men were
noted. It says daughters were born out
of the men of the earth. Daughters of men. It brings them
up and mentions them particularly because they were noted for their
sensuality, for their vanity, for their beauty. by that gorgeous woman walking
around. They knew it. Everybody else
knew it. And even the sons of God knew
it. Now, who are these sons of God?
All right? Sons of God. Look back at chapter
four at the end. Chapter four. Sons of God. Now, the two genealogies give
it. That is, two families. And they're separated, but their
distinction made between them. Cain's descendants, and we talked
about that bunch, wild bunch, though they weren't savages,
but yet they were godless. And people, you don't have to
be in the honky-tonk and in the gutter to be a wild man. You can be a professor or a politician
or whatever. To be wicked and wild, you don't
have to be out and out drunk. But these were godless men and
women. But these sons of God were descendants
of God. And for God, she said, hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel. Now Seth is the father of Enos here. But you notice
here it says God appointed. He named Seth appointed. Appointed by God in the stead
of Abel. This is one of God's sons. This
is a believer. Seth. He's a believer. And to
Seth, he had a son whose name was Enos. He called them, they
need us. And then began men, those first
one I said, you with me? Then began men, these men, to
call upon the name of the Lord. Okay? And if you have a margin, it
says they called themselves by the name of the Lord, sons of
God. believers. God's followers. God's men. God's men. These are God's men. These are
believers, all right? Sons of Cain and sons of God. You see the difference now? All
right, who are these signs of God? Well, here's a list of them.
Look at chapter five, and we won't go through all these names,
but there were several. Cainan, several names mentioned. Enos, Mahaliel, Jared. Let's
just go on down. Verses 9 through 18 gives these
names, but let's just go down to verse 18. Jared lived 162
years in Baghdad. This is one of those sons of
Seth and Enoch, a great, great, great, great, great, great grandson
named Enoch. Verse 21, it says, Enoch lived
65 years and would get Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God. After he would get Methuselah
300 years, he walked with God. And with no doubt after a hundred
years, this is the man of God. Two hundred years went by. This
is God's man. Three hundred years in the midst
of a pagan and perverse society. You saw all these men and these
people. That's his family, that's his
co-workers, that's his relatives, that's his fellow, his neighbors
and all that. Sons of Cain. But he walked with
God, and there were others, not many, not many. Look on down, Methuselah, Lamech,
verse 28, Lamech lived a hundred and eighty and two years in Gadisthun,
they called him, too. He had no life. Another son of
God. Know that his rest was comfort. A man who's found his rest and
comfort in his God. Sons of God, these are believers,
and they had wives and children. And you can count on it, they
were believers. If they were believers, they
worshipped the holy, just, and sovereign God. And they worshipped
God by the blood of the Lamb. Abel did, and the one in his
stead did. You know he did. Seth, Enos,
on down, Enos. He can't come to God without
blood. And they came to God, and they believed in the coming
of the seed, the woman's seed. They believed in the Christ.
They were lovers of God, lovers of good, and lovers of each other.
Sons of God. Even then, he had a compromise. After a while, he followed me
away, and I crossed this river. Are you hearing me? Because when
the flood took place, there was one man and seven other people
on that barge. Think about it. Apostles said
it. Think about it. When our Lord
said, In the Son of man goes shall he find faith on the earth.
Will he find one man who really trusts in him, Christ him, who
really believes God's God? It comes to God by the blood
of the blood only, through faith in Christ alone, to believe every
word of God. Will there be one? I want to say that. Will he find
faith on the other? Even they began to compromise,
because it said in verse 2, that they saw these daughters of men,
and they were good-looking, buddy, and they took wives. They married
them. Because I've heard my pastor
warn daughters, sons and daughters of believers, year after year
after year after year, don't marry an unbeliever, don't marry
an unbeliever. What do they do? They marry an
unbeliever. What happens? They're gone. You don't see them
again. That's what happened there. They had them pretty wise, but
they were lost. And our Lord said in verse 3,
look at it, our Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive
with man. My Holy Spirit shall not always
strive with man. Strive means to contend with,
to warn, to instruct, to wrestle with. Like God wrestled with
Jacob. You remember when God strove
with Jacob? He wrestled with him. Thank God. Jacob thanks God that God wrestled
with him, that God got ahold of him and wowed man. Thank God God put a bit in his
mouth, a brow around his neck, a saddle on his back, wrestled
him down, killed him down. This is when sometimes you can't
always sweet-talk while that's cold. Wrestle, contend, strive. That's what that means, strive.
God wrestled with Jacob, and buddy, God through His Holy Spirit. This is how God strives with
men and women. He puts a conscience in them.
Does your conscience strive with you? It better. If it stops, you're
a goner. The conscience is the law of
God written on the hearts of men. That's wrong. Don't do that. Don't go there. Do this. What's
wrong with you? Turn. That's conscience that
God puts in a man. The world doesn't have it. Sons
of men don't have it. Only the sons of God, after a
while, their consciences are seared, say it with a hot iron. God strives through conscience
and preachers of the Word. It's right here. Does this strive
with you? Whenever you come and sit under
the stand of death, there's a strike, there's a battle. There's an
old man in you, in us, that comes, and the perfect holy law of God
comes to battle with him, puts him down. He's got to be broken,
he's got to be humbled, he's got to be... Contracted in the
dust and mortified that old man. Damned him. And this is what
it does. This is the tolerance of God's
Spirit that plunges it in the heart of that old sinful wretch,
you see that? If that stops, we're conquered. If we come out sinning, Men and women come and sit under
the sound of the gospel until finally, you can see it on their
faces, hardening. The point doesn't get through
anymore. You've got the presumptuous side of
religion, and you can't get it one more time. Now, that's, God said, I'm not
going to strive always. And Peter said, judgment begins
at the house of God. The time has come, and even now,
the judgment has begun at the house of God. The world out there
is not hearing this message tonight. We are. They say, you. I say, we are. Preachers. Noah was a preacher. God said it. Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. For a hundred and twenty years,
with every day that he entered that ark, every saw of that saw,
and everybody that walked by, he was saying, Judgment's coming.
Judgment's coming. Enoch walked with God. These were preachers. And a man
and a woman that quits listening to their conscience, quits listening
to the preacher, is a goner. You might not even like the preacher,
but take many out to him. You don't have to like the preacher,
but you'd better like what he's preaching God's Word. You'd better
if this didn't happen. Verse 3, the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always drive me, man. Think about these churches. Uh,
you know, many people wonder, what's going on, what's 13th
Street? 13th, everybody has to get involved. It's a year's time
to retire. Scott Ritchie, Jack Staines,
on and on. Where are the young lads that
are going to replace them? People are concerned. They might not
be in it. There were big churches in Jerusalem,
Ephesus, Laodicea, and so forth. They're not there anymore. This sure ain't gonna be a church.
It doesn't have to continue. My spiritual eye always strives
with man. He's just flesh. Who's he talking
about? Talking about us? We're flesh.
And so he says that his days should be a hundred and twenty
years. God reduced the life expectancy of man from, you know, get this,
they lived nine hundred and some years. And God reduced it to
a hundred and twenty years. Like that. A hundred and twenty years. It
went down in 70s, now it's men think, well, wonderful thing,
but had to go back to the 70s. Hard problem now, okay. Well,
120 years, all right. And the so-called church today,
if you see What's happening with religion
today? We talk about apostasy and these
men that were supposed to be sons of God apostatizing and
going into the world, the women of the world and so forth. Do
you see modern religion today as it is? Do you really? Do you
have your eyes wide open when you see this? Honestly, like
I said, I apologize so often if I come across as being too
judgmental and all that. But folks, I'm not. We don't know what happened to
him. We don't know what happened to
him. Religion is an absolute mess. It's so far from the truth.
It's so far from the truth. If you just say now that God
is God, You've got a fire in your hand. If you just say, God's will will
be done, then everything. You know, it's not half as bad as I make
it out to be. I mean, I don't make it out to
be half as bad as it really is, that's what I mean. Pirates have sold the truth for
money and to get a big theory and compromise the truth, and
so diluted the truth until finally evil is good and good is evil.
And God's Word is out of season. Men and women are not set in
God's Word. All right, now look at
verse 4. It talks about these men of worth, and I've got to
hurry. These were giants in the earth
in those days, giants. Men know it, so they're not only
their size, but they're dominating and domineering character. The
word giant, if you look it up, idea, it means bully. Overpowering
fellows. Mighty men, be gone. It says
the giants and the earth, sons of God came in and the daughters
of men, now that's not talking. And some of these idiots have
said that these are angels that came down out of the sky that
have made it with human beings, with women, produced some super-power. That's how ignorant people are. These are talking about these
professors, these professing believers, Because we know that
there's an apostasy there. They came into the knowledge
of men, they bear children of men, they became mighty men,
warriors, ruthless tyrants, hard, men of renown, rich and famous,
admired for their size, for their power, for their riches, for
their vital tendencies, ruthless. This big, strong, powerful, loud,
proud, famous, and everybody wanted him, and made off with
him, and he loved him. That sounded familiar. Sounded just like professional
athletes or something, doesn't it? Or politicians and famous
people. Verse 5, And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great. Great. That means he was just in his superabundance, the
weakest man in the earth, through the whole earth, angry on that
every imagination, the margin says the whole imagination, every
part of him Every imagination of the thoughts, every thought
of his heart was only evil, continually. He went to bed thinking, woke
up thinking, and spent the whole day pursuing. Matthew Poole said, man perpetually
is, right now, perpetually doing and thinking of evil. He's evil
in his heart, in his soul, in his body. He's completely given
over to flesh, sin, and wickedness. And you don't have to look hard
to know that that's so. And in Psalm 14 it says, God
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all going to suffer.
They are all, together, lumped together to become filthy. God looks at mankind as filthy. There is no... This is God's
Word. This is not some zealous preacher. This is God. There is none that
do good, not one. Job said, there's not a just
man on earth that doeth good. And it was so bad, verse 6, it's
that God said he repented the Lord that he had made man on
earth, and grieved him at his heart. Now God is, you understand,
God doesn't repent. Scripture says that God is not
a man, that he should repent. Repent means to change your mind.
God doesn't change. God is speaking in a language
we can understand. Is he not? Have you ever heard
somebody say, I wish you'd have never been born? That's the language that God's
speaking in, so that we'll understand his utter detestation and abhorrence
and hatred for mankind. No, God doesn't love mankind. It says here, He repented that
He made you. Is this the most foreign thing
you've ever heard in this generation? No. God loves everybody. No, He's sorry He made you. That's
a fart right for love, isn't it? Another minute goes by, and
I'm sorry that she's my daughter. But it says here, God's sorry
He made mankind. You'll never hear that on tape.
But you hear it from God's Word. He repented. He grieved Him at
His heart. And he says in verse 7, I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both
man and beast. I'm going to wipe them out. Is
that God's love for man? I'm going to wipe him off the
face of the planet, God said, in anger and ragged utter abhorrence
of man. Now do you know why they don't
read the Old Testament, why they don't use it at all? This woman
up here in this charming place in Rocky Mountain called the
God of the Old Testament an anthropomorphic war god. It's not funny, it's not funny. In other words, you'd say it's
some Neanderthal conception of God with Isaiah. She's mocking
Isaiah. And man, when man was created
from the dirt, he said, dust you are and dust you'll return.
And God said, there's only one way to wipe out dust. Just wash
it away. And that's what he said. And
the white washed man is washing away. That's what God did. But, here's another but. Verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of man. Noah found grace in the eyes
of man. found grace. Noah found grace. That doesn't mean he was looking
for grace. It means he was an object of
God's sovereign electing, calling, predestinating, preserving, keeping,
saving, eternal grace. That's what that means. Noah
found grace. Noah was a sinner. Yes, he was. It was clear as soon as he got
off the ark, he planted the vineyard, and waited just long enough for
it to grow, and got drunk, and laid in the desert. God said, after the flood, look
at this. You want to look at this? Now,
there's no one left but Noah and his family, and after the
flood, verse 21 of chapter 8, look at this. Now, this is back
to the, no one's left, there's no one. And look at what God
said, verse 21. The Lord smelled the sweet scent.
He smelled that blood sacrifice, which is Christ. Not only was
he accepted in the blood. He was a sinner, but God accepted
him. He was a sweet-smelling Savior, remember that? The Lord
said to his heart, I will not curse the ground any more for
man's sake, for the imagination of a man's heart is evil for
me to use. Who's he talking about? There's no wonder. Noah was a
sinner. But Noah found grace. Noah found
grace. God was gracious to Noah. God revealed Himself to Noah,
and in Noah. And was there a difference between
Noah and the And those sons of Cain. Yes, they were. Yes, they
were. We're not saying that Noah was
an absolutely, openly, immoral, wicked, vile fellow like those
others. No, sir. No, sir. He's a salt of the earth. Yes, he was. Fine man. It says back in chapter 6 that
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. He was. He was a just man, upright. Why? Because he found peace. Now,
this just didn't happen just then. Noah walked with God a
year before, a history before. Noah found the same grace as
we find. You know, the same grace that
finds us as we find at the hands of our God. We find that God
has been gracious. It's the same grace that Noah
found. What kind of grace is it? It's eternal grace. God predestined
Noah to be his son. God chose Noah before the foundation
of the world. You know, he was one of His elect
upon the foundation of the world, chosen in Christ, predestined
to be his son of God. Yeah, he was, and he will be. Eternal grace. Noah found restraining
grace in the eyes of God. Noah would have been just like
those sons of Canaan had not God restrained him from evil.
There's not one thing Noah wasn't capable of doing except for the
restraining of the rest of God. We see that right after the flood.
Noah found constraining God a great deal. The only reason he stopped
God and walked with God and believed God and offered up the sacrifices
of God was because God constrained him. God taught him, God led
him, God did goodness to God, led him to repentance. It's God
that works in him both to do well and to do what he's supposed
to do. Constrained grace. Noah found constrained grace.
Noah found regenerating grace. He was a new creature in Christ
Jesus, created unto good works, which God before were named his
apostles. Noah found keeping grace, kept
by the power of God through faith. Noah found sufficient grace for
120 years, and through all that mockery and persecution and loneliness. Can you imagine what he went
through? Can you imagine what he went
through? You ought to be able to if we're going through
the same thing. God is holy, God is just, and
I'm going to destroy this world. Ha ha! Are you kidding? No, y'all.
No, that's me after the fall, Noah. It's going to rain and God's
going to destroy this world. It's going to rain so much it's
going to flip. You're a fool, Noah. Until the
day he went in there and said, OK, y'all can perish if you want
to. I'm in the ark. Because God said it. And Noah was, as it were, crucified
under the Word. Killed. They've been here a good
while. Shut the doors. One day was about,
two days went by, and the world started to collapse, and they
were standing outside the tunnel before it happened. Standing
outside the door of the Ark of the Covenant. Five days, it was
about six days, seven days, that door shut. And no one didn't pull the shutter. And then a big rain dropped the
side of his fist and I didn't know what happened. I catch him
down. And they start knocking on the
door. You better believe they start knocking on the door. A long intersection.
One man is seven feet from the top. Can you believe that? You better believe that. This is what Peter said in 2
Peter 3. Scopper is going to come, and
they're meeting with him, and willingly meet with him, and
flood him, and set up creation. He started with creation. They
projected it, bummed it down, they don't believe that God created
the planet. That's ridiculous. Only a fool
believes that God created all this. But science has proven
that un-evolution is absolutely true. Everybody standing by knows
that's so. That's what they're leading to
without hearing that. Darwin didn't come up with that. Now listen, let me close with this, all right? I've got to close. Look over
at 2 Peter chapter 3 and close it. Now, God Almighty has decreed
new heaven, new heavens, and new earth. New heavens being
the firmament, skies, and so forth, not new heaven, the place
where God is, but heavens and earth. Isaiah 65 talks about
it, 2 Peter 2, several, many other places. God has already
decreed this. He said, and 1 Peter is ready
to be revealed, been decreed by God before the first world
was ever made. Before the first world was ever
made, God decreed the second. And they were named for the cook. Now all of this to the world
is absolute fiction. You know, what I say right now
to the world is absolute fiction. It's a fable. Some call it doctrines
of death. This is God's work. God created all things from the
beginning. The new world, He put names in
a book called the Lamb's Book of Life. He put all those names.
It's predestined, elected, chosen by God to be in this new world. And it's waiting, this new world
has been waiting, this old world, what we're standing on right
now, for the course of this world to be perfect. This world's running
its course, and so I'm going to tell you. And God's fullness of time. Let's
look at 2 Peter 3, verse 10. He said, And the day of the Lord
will come as the thief of the night, in which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
a spurt of heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up, lest not some man stand on
the street corner with a long beard and a staff. This is the
apostle Peter, who lost his life for Satan's sustenance. And he
got this from the Son of God himself. All right? Verse 11,
seeing them, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner
of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and guidance? That is, about the things of
God, not taking up with the world, not following after the world,
fashions, beliefs, this and that and the other, not caught up
entangled with, taken away by, married to the so-called, the
Word. Looking for, verse 12, looking
for and hastening, or looking forward to, wanting it to come
quickly, the coming of the day of God. Wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
this promise, Christ's promise, we look for new heavens and a
new earth, and here's the good news. Where are you dwelling? Righteousness. In the old world
sin abounds. And it got so bad, and it's gotten
so bad, but it got so bad that God has destroyed it once. Now
there's inhabitants of it. And it's gotten so bad now that
God's going to destroy the whole planet in a snap. He says, I'm
going to close it up like a vegetable.