Now would you open your Bibles
with me to the book of Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. I was thinking
as we were singing Joy to the World, every year Joe sort of
threatens. He said, you know, he said we
ought to sing this all year round. I agree with him. In fact, I'm
expecting maybe in July to sing Joy to the World. June or July. And he said, well, what do you
think everybody will think? I said, well, they'll wake them up. You know,
they'll think Christmas is coming. But you know, I don't think Isaac
watched when he penned Joy to the World. He sat down and said,
I'm going to write a Christmas carol. He just wrote a hymn. that exalts Christ, and that's
what that does. But we, you know, tradition for
tradition's sake. And so I ask you, would it make
you uncomfortable saying joy to the world in July? And if
it would, too bad. Just too bad, isn't that a right
joke? So we may do that. All right, let's look at Mark
chapter 13. We're continuing our study through the book of
Mark chapter 13 concerning the last days. We're living in the
last days. And remember that the last days
refers to the days that fill up the time between the first
coming of Christ and his second coming. And he's teaching his
disciples here concerning issues of the last days, the days of
the New Covenant, the days of the New Testament, what will
mark those days. He talked about two great events
that had One has taken place, one began to take place and is
still going on today. That would be the beginning,
what he called in verse 8, look at Mark 13 and verse 8, the last
line there, these are the beginnings of sorrows. And he says this
is just the beginning of those last days. Don't sit around and
think in their day that Christ was coming back in their lifetime. because he said these are the
beginnings of sorrows. That first event was the destruction
of the Jewish temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the closing out
of the Old Covenant times, which lasted about 1,500 years between
Sinai and that time when Christ came to do his great work of
redemption on the cross, where he said it's finished, the veil
in the temple was rent from top to bottom, And then the new covenant
was inaugurated or ushered in at Pentecost when Peter stood
in Jerusalem and preached that great message of Christ and him
crucified. Preached the same gospel that
had been preached in all the Old Testament and the same gospel
of salvation by God's grace that we preach today and will by God's
grace continue to be preached up until our Lord's second coming. But that was one thing. And then
the second thing was the mass deception of false Christianity. They will come in his name, calling
themselves Christian, but denying the truth, denying the gospel
of Christ, introducing the doctrines and the traditions of man into
this thing. And so he tells them, he says
now, up until that time you're going to hear about wars and
rumors of wars as you always have. There's going to be things
that come about like that. He says nations are going to
rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes,
famines, troubles, troubles, troubles. Man is a few days full
of trouble. But he said don't be alarmed
at those things. These are the beginnings of sorrows. In other words, don't look at
those things. and determine, well, the Lord must be coming
back. As I mentioned last week, people, they'll hear about some
great disaster, and it's a sorrowful thing, it's a pitiful thing.
And they'll say, oh, well, I just know, hear about an earthquake,
or a tidal wave or something, or a plague, and you say, well,
that means the Lord's coming back. No, he says, don't look
at those things that way. Those things have always been.
These things that he told you about, the destruction of the
temple and the beginning of false Christianity, now that began
in John's day and in Paul's day. He said that in 1 John chapter
2. He said, as you have heard the spirit of antichrist. Now
that's what that is. Antichrist is a spirit of false
Christianity, religion that comes in the name of Christ but who
denies the doctrine of Christ, the truth of Christ, the truth
of God's grace. That's what anti-Christ is. And
John said, you've heard that it shall come. He said, well,
it's even here in our day. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
18, he said, it's right here. And then he talks about many
who went out from us. That's the spirit of apostasy.
They left the gospel. They claimed to believe it and
then they left it and turned against Christ and his people.
So that's the deception of false Christianity, but these are the
beginnings of SARS. Now look at verse nine. He says
in verse nine, he says, but take heed to yourselves. Watch out, be on your guard,
be ready. And the title of this message
is like the Boy Scout motto, be prepared. That's what he's
saying. You be prepared. And here's what
he says is going to happen. He says, they shall deliver you
up to councils. Now the council there are religious
councils. That's what he's talking about.
Like the Sanhedrin. That was the Jewish high religious
court. The Sanhedrin. They're going
to deliver you up to their religious councils. And in the synagogues. Now what's a synagogue? That's
a gathering of people for a religious purpose. They gather to worship.
To read the Bible. Listen to what he says, "...in
the synagogues you shall be beaten." Now, we could easily accept it
more if he'd have said, well, in the local bars you're going
to be beaten, or in the local brothels they're going to beat
you up and throw you out. Now, we can understand that,
couldn't we? But in the synagogue, where they're meant to worship
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenant-keeping God,
The God who gave the law to Moses and Israel from Mount Sinai,
they're meeting there to read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy and so forth all the way up through Malachi. They're
meeting there to read those scriptures and they're going to beat us
up in that meeting? Now, are you getting the picture
here? And he says, and you shall be brought before rulers and
kings for my sake. Now, there's the civil courts,
rulers and kings. religious courts, religious gatherings,
civil courts, and he says, for a testimony against them. This
will be a testimony against them who persecute you. And so he says, this is going
to happen during the last days. It began at the beginning in
the book of Acts when Peter preached that message The preachers, the
evangelists, the apostles, at that time, they begin to be persecuted. And it's different ways, different
degrees, different times, all right? And it will be common
to all believers up to the second coming of Christ. Now, you say,
well, I don't feel like I'm much persecuted. Well, hold on. And
compared to the early church, we're not. I mean, we've got
it pretty easy, don't we? I've often said we live in the
best of times because we have a constitution that gives us
the freedom to worship here in this place without persecution
or harm from government. And they didn't have that. But
Christ tells us that in the last days, true believers, the true
church, will face trials, troubles, oppositions and persecutions
while we live in this world." And he says, be prepared, take
heed to yourselves. And he reveals this to us for
several reasons. Number one, as I said, we must
not be surprised or taken unawares by this. It's sorrowful It hurts
when someone persecutes us or says all manner of evil against
us for Christ's sake as I read in Matthew chapter 5. It's not
an easy thing to go through. Christ said rejoice and be exceeding
glad. He's not talking about be a masochist. He's not saying that you should
enjoy pain and derision and all of that. He's not talking about
the enjoyment of those persecutions and oppositions. He's simply
saying you rejoice in the fact that those persecutions, those
oppositions, those trials will not separate you from Christ
and the blessedness that we have in Him. No matter what men do
to us, it will not separate God's people from Christ. Romans chapter
8 says it. Who shall separate us from the
love of God in Christ? Shall tribulation, shall persecution,
shall death. None of these things can separate.
There's the rejoice. We rejoice in Christ. We don't
rejoice in the pain. Anybody who does that's a fool.
There's something wrong with them. They need to be put up
somewhere. But we rejoice in Christ. That's
what he's saying. And I'll show you more about
that in just a moment. But we've got to be prepared.
Now, the second reason he tells them this is so that we can understand
that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
Much trouble. Now, you remember how every prophet,
every apostle, Every evangelist was persecuted for Christ's sake.
And it's through much tribulation. And the reason is this, this
world is not our home. This world is not our home. And
young people, it's harder for you to see that than it is for
the elderly. But this world is not our home.
This is not our permanent dwelling place, in other words. And then
the third reason he tells them this is to comfort them, to comfort
us in the assurance of eternal salvation in Christ. Now remember
what he said there in verse 8, this is the beginnings of sorrows.
There's sorrow. But it's not sorrow unto despair. And I dealt with that in the
last two messages quite extensively showing how that sorrow there,
that word sorrow there is the same kind of sorrow that a woman
goes through in childbirth, the travail. It was used to describe
the Lord's suffering from Gethsemane upon the cross to His death.
The travail of His soul, Isaiah 53, He shall see of the travail
of His soul and be satisfied. In other words, at the end of
that sorrow, there was a birth, so to speak, and that was the
new creation, His church. Christ died for His people. and
all that the father giveth him shall come to him, and him that
cometh to him will no wise cast out." All of those things, that's
the beginning. So, in other words, it's not
sorrow unto despair. Don't despair, you see. The sorrow
that we're going... Paul said in Romans 8 that this
suffering of this present world is not even to be compared with
the glory that's going to follow. The glory that we'll receive
in Christ. Now, let me give you several
things here about this issue of being prepared in these troubles.
First of all, These troubles, these persecutions, these sorrows,
now listen to this very carefully, they come over the gospel, over
the preaching and witnessing of the truth of God's grace in
Christ. That's why these troubles come.
Christ said, blessed are you who suffer for righteousness'
sake. Blessed are you when men revile
you and say all manner of evil against you for my sake. for
the truth's sake. This is not speaking of all the
sorrows that are common to all men and women without exception
because of sin. Everybody, listen to me, you
know this is so. Everybody in this world at some
time or another goes through trials and persecutions and sorrows
and sufferings. There's suffering that's common
to everybody, sickness, the suffering of death, physical death. I mean,
that's common to everybody. But that's not what he's talking
about here. He's talking about a specific suffering that comes
for a specific reason to a specific group of people. It's the specific
group of people are His people, His sheep, His church, God's
elect, believers. And the specific reason is because
of their testimony of the gospel, how God saves sinners. the truth
of the scriptures. It has to do with their witnessing
of the one way. There's one way of salvation.
And that truth offends the natural man. It has to do with our identification
with Christ. It's because we preach Christ
and Him crucified. Listen to it again. He says in
verse 9, Now why is all this happening? Is it because you're all such
an obnoxious people or something? You've got terrible personalities
and you're just not nice to people? What is it? What is it? Verse
10, and the gospel must first be published among all nations.
It's because the gospel must be published. It must be preached
everywhere. You're going to walk into a place
where they never even heard the name of Jesus Christ, and you're
going to tell them basically, and I know you've got to use
a little wisdom here and a little tact now. I've only got so many
minutes here, so I can't do the whole... You're going to walk
into a place where they've never even heard the name of Jesus
Christ, and you're basically going to tell them this, that
Jesus Christ is the one and only way of salvation, and what you've
been worshipping all your life, what your grandmother worshipped
and your grandfather worshipped, is an idol. Now think about that. Wow, what
are you saying? Are you saying you're the only
one saved and everybody else is lost? I've heard that in my
own country, how about you? Is that what you're saying? No,
I'm saying this, any way but the way of God's grace in Jesus
Christ and Him crucified and risen again is a false way of
religion and salvation. Now do you believe that? Or are
you going to cry, peace, peace, to everybody? Well, you know,
they're so sincere, they're so moral, they're so dedicated,
they're so generous, all of that. You see, that's not... What does
it take to get a sinner into heaven? Is it sincerity, generosity,
morality? Is that what it says? What does
this book say? Now, you can say, well, I believe that generosity
and sincerity and morality will get a person into heaven. Now,
you may say that, but when you say that, you are not identifying
with Christ and His Word and His people. You've left the gospel. Because the gospel doesn't preach
that. One way. I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. John 14 says. There's one God
and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus.
There's none other name given among men whereby we must be
saved. Jesus Christ and him crucified.
What is the way of salvation? The grace of God in Christ. What
is the way of eternal life? This is life eternal that they
might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. John 17 and verse 3. What is
the only way of righteousness? How does a sinner, how is a sinner
made righteous? In God's sight. There's not but
one way. Through the obedience unto death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by being washed in his blood.
His blood is the only way that you and I can be forgiven of
all our sins. There's no other way. I mean, you can sit in a
lotus position and stare at your belly button. That's not going
to do it. You can climb Mount Everest and see the high llama.
That's not going to make it. You understand what I'm saying?
I'm not trying to be hard and mean to people. You see, it's
just, again, I'll go back to the physician. I mean, if there's
only one cure for this disease, you want to know what it is,
and every other cure is a false cure, right? And if you don't
find out which one's the right one, you're going to die. That's
the issue. You can try to keep the Ten Commandments.
Go ahead, try it. And if that's what you think
makes you righteous before God, I'm telling you, you're on a
broad road that leads to destruction. You're deceived. You may think,
listen, you may think that joining a church will get you saved,
get you into heaven, make you righteous. You may think getting
baptized, you may think going to church on Saturday will do
it. You may think giving your tithe will do it. If that's what
you think, my friend, you're deceived by false religion. You've been doing these things
all your life, some people might say. You know, I grew up believing
this, believing that. What I'm telling you, if it's
any way but Christ and Him crucified and risen again, His righteousness
alone, His blood alone, it's a false way. And that's the gospel
that's got to be preached among all nations. Look at verse 11.
He says, but when they shall lead you and deliver you up,
take no thought before what you shall speak, neither do you premeditate,
but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak
ye, for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. What he's
saying here, he's not, you know, some people will use that verse,
say, well, see, I'm not supposed to study, I'm not supposed to
prepare. No, no, no, that's not what he's saying at all. He just
simply, when you're under the gun, when you're under pressure,
Don't you worry, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You'll know
what to say. He'll give you the words. You'll
speak by the power of the Holy Spirit. He'll give you that.
That doesn't mean that when I enter the pulpit, I shouldn't be prepared
and study the word. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter
2 and verse 15, study to show thyself to prove unto God a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. Now, does this contradict that? No. He's simply saying,
when they bring you up before these councils and you're under
the gun, don't worry about it, don't be anxious, God is going
to be with... Christ will be with his people.
He'll give you the spiritual fortitude that you need. And
then he says in verse 12, look here, he says, now brothers shall
betray the brother to death and the father, the son, and children
shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put
to death. Now, here's what he's saying
here. Now, I'm going to tell you something, and you all know
this. There's probably no greater blessing here on earth than to
not only believe the gospel, which is the gift of God's grace.
By grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
If you're a believer, you're a miracle of God's grace. Did
you know that? That's what a believer is. We
are the new creation in Christ, and it's by God's grace. And
there's not a greater blessing than that, but I'll tell you
what, another great blessing is not only to believe it yourself,
but to have your earthly family believe it with you. Isn't that
a blessing? Husbands and wives and children
worshiping together, looking to Christ together, that's a
great blessing. But, it doesn't always happen
that way, does it? Sometimes your greatest enemies
in the truth will be your earthly family. Sometimes that's true. Now, and somebody says, well
that's amazing. Well, go back to Genesis chapter
4, don't turn there. What was the first problem in
the first earthly family? And what happened as a result
of it? What was it over? It was over the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. Cain and Abel, two brothers.
Cain hated Abel. Why? Because God accepted Abel's
offering and God would not accept Cain's offering. That's why Cain
hated Abel. And really, we don't know anything
else about Cain. I've heard stories about him.
Most of them, if you drew a picture of what most people think of
him, he'd have horns and a tail. But that's not Cain. Cain was
a hard worker. He was concerned with his relationship
with God because he brought the best that he worked hard for
to God. But God rejected Cain's offering. Now, what was the problem? Exactly
what was it? In Cain's offering, there was
no blood. In Cain's offering, there was
no Christ. That's the problem. Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission, no forgiveness, no
righteousness before God. Abel brought the blood of the
lamb. Abel knew that that animal blood could not save him. How
do you know Abel knew that? Because God the Holy Spirit tells
us that in 1 John chapter 3 and Hebrews chapter 11. Abel was
looking far off into the future to a promise that God had made
of sending one whom that animal blood typified. And the one whom
God was going to send was the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to put away Abel's sins and to make him righteous before God.
And Cain rejected that. He said, I've worked hard, I'm
going to bring the best that I've got to offer to God. And
God wouldn't accept Cain's offering, and he accepted Abel's, and Cain
went after Abel and killed him, two brothers. Now, in light of
that, verse 12 shouldn't surprise us at all, of Mark 13. But he says in verse 13, and
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. For my name's
sake. But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. So this trouble comes over the
gospel. Turn to John chapter 3 with me. John chapter 3. This is what
it is to suffer for righteousness sake. So I mean, If you get pulled
over today for speeding and they give you a ticket, don't pull
over and say, Lord, I'm suffering for righteousness sake. No, you
got caught speeding. This is over the gospel. And
if the cop pulls you over, he's not persecuting you, he's just
doing his job. And it's a God-given job. Did
you know that? For the happiness and safety
of our society. So, though you may feel persecuted,
you're just deluding yourself. This is over the gospel. Look
at John chapter 3 and verse 19. Now, here he's talking to a religious
man named Nicodemus. And he says, and this is the...
Well, let's read verse 18. He says, He that believeth on
him is not condemned. He that believeth on Christ.
He who trusts Christ for all salvation. But he that believeth
not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God." He's rejected Christ. And this
is the condemnation that light has come into the world, that's
the light of the gospel of Christ, the light of the grace of God,
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Now, why does such trouble come
over the gospel? Because now, you know, it's the
nature of light, it reveals the reality of things. And it exposes
the reality of things. So it reveals and it exposes. So this light, this gospel message
reveals who God is. God is sovereign. That's what
this light revealed. Read it in the scripture. God's
in control. God, you know, somebody accused
me of one time of making man a puppet, and I remember what
brother Tim James said, and I agree, and he said, well, I'd rather
man to be a puppet than God to be a puppet. That's what man
makes God, trying to make him a puppet. That God turns and
sways and reasons according to your will, that's not the God
of this book now. God is holy. He must punish sin. Listen, God's wrath and judgment
against sin is not God throwing a temper tantrum. God's wrath
against sin is God's just judgment against sin that deserves death. The wages of sin is death. God
is sovereign, He's in control, He's holy, and that offends man's
pride. I'm the captain of my own fate.
The determiner of my own destiny. Are you? Are you? Well, let's let a little microscopic
germ fly up your nose today. And lay you on your back in the
hospital at death's door. And then tell me how much you're
the determiner of your own fate. The driver of your own destiny.
You see what I'm saying? You know really, we don't control
anything. I'm serious. People around here
talking about, oh, I've got a free will. Well, you're free to do
whatever you want to do to a point. Somebody said you're free to
do whatever you want to do. Well, what if you want to fly today? Start
flapping your arms and see how high up you get. You're not going
to make it. You don't have that ability.
And I'm not just making fun now. Man, here's another thing. Here's
another thing. It shows that we're sinners.
We can't save ourselves. We can't even decide ourselves
saved. That's true. Salvation's of the
Lord, not of man. That offends man's dignity. Without
Christ, the Bible teaches us, without Christ, all we are is
sin in God's sight. There's none righteous, no not
one. None that doeth good, no not one. The Bible teaches that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save what? Sinners. Paul said,
of whom I am chief. He didn't come to save good people.
He didn't come to save those who deserve to be saved. Do you
know at no time in our lives, and I'm talking about our life
here on earth and our life in heaven if we make it to heaven,
and the only way we'll make it to heaven is through Christ.
Isn't that right? No time in our lives will we
be able to say, now I deserve salvation, now I've earned it. No, sir. It's all grace, grace,
grace. And that offends man's self-righteousness. That's right. One way of salvation,
no other way. This mountain analogy that God
is up on the mountain and people are just going different roads.
My friend, there's only one road and His name is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now, he says here in verse 19,
men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. Now, what are their deeds? He's
talking about their efforts to save themselves, their efforts
to keep the commandments. You see, what the Bible teaches
is this, is that Christ's obedience unto death, His righteousness
alone, is the only way that a sinner can be accepted before God. And
that our efforts to save ourselves and to make ourselves righteous
before God are wicked and evil in the sight of God. Now, why
is that? It's because they're the result of unbelief and religious
pride. And they reject the work of Christ.
He goes on in verse 20, he says, "...for everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh the light, lest his deed should
be reproved, discovered." Somebody says, well, I know I'm saved
because I did this or I did that or I did this or I didn't do
that. Well, the gospel light exposes that as being evil. Not
because you were insincere and not because it wasn't real, but
because it's a denial of the person and finished work of Christ.
God sent His Son into this world. Why did He send Him? His name
shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us. Now for me to try to
be saved like Cain, bringing my works, my efforts, my will,
my faith, anything in order to remove God's wrath and gain His
favor is to deny Emmanuel. is to deny the one who came to
this world, the child that was born, the son that was given.
The Bible calls that the offense of the cross. Turn over to Galatians
chapter 5 with me. Paul spoke of it here in Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 11. Now here's what was going on.
There were certain Jews who claimed to believe the gospel. who claimed
to believe in Christ. But they wanted to tell the Gentiles
this, they said, but yes, we believe in Christ, we believe
He's the Messiah, we believe He's our Savior, but you have
to be circumcised to really be saved. That's what they were
saying. To really be holy now, to really
be righteous, you've got to do this, you've got to add this
to what Christ did. It's like people today, some
say, well, you've got to add baptism to what he did, or you've
got to add tithing, or church membership, or your works to
what he did. You see, a Christ-plus religion
is in reality a Christ-less religion. And Paul said here in verse 11,
he says in Galatians 5, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? In other words, if I was with
those fellows in preaching that you've got to be circumcised
to be saved, then why are they persecuting me? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. The offense of the cross. What
is that offense? That offense is when men who
hold on to other things other than Christ and Him crucified
as saving them or making them righteous or making them assured
is exposed as nothing but evil. Look at verse 1 of Galatians
5. Paul said, "...stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage." That bondage being man's works added to Christ. Now, listen to what he says.
Here's the offense of the cross, verse 2. What does he mean? Well, if you think that being
circumcised will save you or keep you saved or make you righteous
and holy, it doesn't matter if you claim that Christ is your
Savior, He'll profit you nothing. You cannot add anything to Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's how narrow this thing
is. You say, well, they just believe a little different than
we do. Yeah, they believe a little different. Listen, you can put
anything in the place of circumcision and it will still say the same
thing. Listen, if you be baptized for
that reason, thinking that it'll save you or make you righteous
and holy before God, Christ will profit you nothing. You see,
what do we confess in believer's baptism? We confess that Christ
is our all and in all. Christ is our only forgiveness,
our only righteousness before God. I have no other. My baptism
didn't save me. My baptism confessed, was a public
confession that Christ did all the saving. You see the difference? He goes on, verse 3, for I testify
again to every man that is circumcised. That is for that reason that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. In other words, if you,
listen, if you think anything but Christ and His blood and
righteousness alone saves you and keeps you and gives you eternal
life and blessedness before God, then here's what you've done.
You're under the law. You've denied Christ. You're
a debtor to do it all. He says in verse 4, Christ is
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law. You're fallen from grace, which
means you deny grace. You claim to be saved by grace,
but you deny. And let me tell you something
now. The deception of false Christianity is not in an open denial of grace. Because everybody who claims
to be a Christian will claim, well, we're all saved by grace.
It's a subtle denial of grace by adding other things. Man's
works, man's will, man's traditions. Whatever it is. And you can mark
it down. And that's offensive to the natural
man. That's why the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. Turn to John chapter
15. Let me hurry here. John chapter
15. So these troubles come over the gospel. Now listen to this. These troubles, these persecutions
that he spoke of in Matthew 13, they identify us with Christ.
Look at John chapter 15, look at verse 18. He's talking to
his disciples. He says, If the world hates you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. Now why did it
hate our Lord? Why did the world hate our Lord?
It wasn't because of his bad personality. It wasn't because
he went around hitting people all the time or anything like
that. It was because of his message of one way through him. It's
because he claimed to be God in human flesh. It was because
he claimed to be the only way of salvation and forgiveness
and righteousness before God. And no other way was any good.
That's what he said. He said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that right?
He offended them. The disciples told him one time,
said, Lord, you offended them. You remember what the Lord said?
He said, well, blessed is he who's not offended at these things.
Do they offend you? Well, look at verse 19. He says,
if you were of the world, the world would love his own. In
other words, if you entered into the world and spoke peace to
the world and had fellowship with the world, they'd love you.
But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word
that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they
have kept my saying, they'll keep yours also. These persecutions
and oppositions from the world identify us with our Savior.
That's why He said, if you deny me before men, I'll deny you
before my Father. These troubles identify us with
one another as a church. It's common to all believers.
These troubles are a gift from God. How about that? You might
say, well, that's a gift I'd rather not receive. Well, it's
a gift. Philippians chapter 1 verse 29, For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also
to suffer for his sake. They're a gift from God. These
troubles will not defeat us because of Christ. He's our victory.
He told his disciples in John 16 and verse 33, these things
I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation, trouble, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He
overcame the world. He overcame the world in every
way, in every temptation, every test, especially the test of
the cross, where he went to the cross and died for our sins.
And he told them, he says, you're not taking me by force, I give
my life willingly, because he loved his people. The gospel. This gospel which is to be preached
to all nations in every place, and this trouble comes over that
message. Now let me close with turning
to Revelation 19, what Brother Jim read. Turn to Revelation 19. Now in
Mark 13, he made this statement. He said, He that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. That's the fruit of
God's grace in our perseverance. The perseverance that he speaks
of is a gift from God. It's the power of God's grace.
God saves us by grace and he keeps us by grace. But let me
show you this. In Revelation 19, and I'll deal
with this a little bit more in the next time, but you know,
he spoke of the great whore there, who with her fornication persecuted. The Saints, the great whore there
is false Christianity, false religion, but mainly false Christianity,
disguised. And then he says in verse 7,
look in Revelation 19, 7, he said, Let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come
and his wife hath made herself ready. The Lamb there is Christ,
the wife is the bride of Christ, that's the church. This is the
final end of all things. This is the marriage of the Lamb.
This is our glorification when we're caught up with him at his
second coming and united to him, gathered by him and united to
him forever in glory. And she made herself ready. Now,
how did she make herself ready? Look at verse 8. And to her it
was granted. To her was granted. That means
given. Whatever is going to be said
here, she didn't earn it or work for it. It was given that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. Now, what is the righteousness
of saints? It's not our works. I've heard
preachers go to this verse and say that. They say, well, that's
the obedience of the saints. No, no, no. What is the righteousness
of saints? It's the righteousness of Christ
given to her. Jeremiah 33 verses 15-16, "...and
she shall be called Jehovah Sikhanou, the Lord our righteousness."
We take His name. It's His work. It's His obedience
unto death, charged, accounted to us. And it says in verse 9,
"...and unto me, and he saith unto me, right blest are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith
unto me, these are the true sayings of God." Now, what does that
tell you? It means everything else is false. Everything else
is false. You be prepared. Let's be prepared. All right.