Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 474. 474. Not have I gotten,
but what I received, Grace hath bestowed it, since
I have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. I'll see my footsteps from God
to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy in
my case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace,
only a sinner. Saved by grace Only a sinner
Saved by grace This is my story To God be the glory I'm only
a sinner Saved by grace Tears unavailing, no merit that I,
Mercy had saved me, or else I must die. Sin had alarmed me, Fearing
God's face But now I'm a sinner Saved by grace Only a sinner
Saved by grace This is my story to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows. ♪ Loving his savior to tell what
he knows ♪ Wants more to tell it would I embrace ♪ I'm only
a sinner saved by grace ♪ Only a sinner saved by grace Be seated we'll sing hymn number
125 125 ♪ I hear the Savior say ♪ Thy strength
indeed is full ♪ Child of weakness, watch and pray ♪ Find in me thine
all in all ♪ Jesus, claim it all ♪ All to Him Sin that left the crimson stain
He washed in white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find I have
power and mine alone Can't change the leper's spot the heart of
stone. Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. for nothing good have I whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white in the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus made it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when He bore the throne, Jesus died, my soul to save,
I have lived, shall still repeat. Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain,
He rose, You know, we don't have to wait
till we're here before God to be perfect, you know. The scripture
said, Colossians 2, 9, you are complete in Him. Complete, it
has the same word. Complete means perfect. So I'm
gonna be what I am now, that's what I'll be when I get there.
I'm already that. I'm already complete in Christ.
I already have the righteousness of Christ. I'm already perfect
in Christ. And that's why, well, what a
blessed hope we have. What a blessed hope. All right,
turn with me to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. Start reading in verse 28 to
the end of the chapter. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree. When her branch is yet tender
and put forth her leaves, you know that summer is near. So
in like manner, when you shall see these things come to pass,
Know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto
you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be
done. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither
the Son, but the Father. Take heed, take ye heed, watch
and pray, for ye know not what, when the time is. For the Son
of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house,
and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and
commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for ye know
not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight,
or at the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest, coming suddenly,
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all, watch." Lord, our great, blessed, and
glorious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God
over all, blessed forever and ever. Lord, we are so thankful,
so blessed, so grateful for the mercy and grace you gave us in
Christ. Thank you for choosing us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Lord, had you not
chosen us, we'd have never chosen you. Had you not made us willing,
we'd have never been willing. Had you not put forth your power,
we would never, ever know you. Had you not revealed yourself
to us, Lord, we'd still be in darkness. As the old hymn writer
said, we is lost, and yet you found us. We was blind, and Lord,
you come and give us sight. Oh, how we bless you for that.
And we bless you for the sight that you give us in your word,
the sight you give us of your grace, the sight you give us
of your mercy, the sight you give us of your forgiveness,
of your righteousness, of your justification. Oh, you give us
sight to see these blessed things, your sovereign free grace given
us in Christ, the blessed power of God given to us in Christ.
Lord, how we bless you and praise you. And Lord, we've gathered
here this morning to worship your Son, to worship your blessed
Son, to honor Him, speak of Him, magnify Him, and cause it to
be a blessing to your dear saints here that's gathered today. Lord,
come down among us. Oh, Lord, it'd be awful to be
up here and be in this service today without you. So please
come among us. As I often pray, Lord, visit
this vine. Come and visit your plantation.
Lord, we're your people. You're our savior, you're our
master. Please come and visit with us. Come among us. Give
us of your presence. Give us of your power. Give us
of your ears to hear and hearts to see and hearts to believe. And Lord, please save your people
in this place. Lord, for sinners that are starting
to hear, starting to get a little glimpse of what it is to understand
the scriptures. We pray that, Lord, you'd sow
that seed, that good seed, that incorruptible seed, and that
seed would bring forth fruit, and that seed would be brought
to life through our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. God bless the
gospel today. May it run well. We ask these
things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. The rock that stands forever
is Christ my righteousness. In him I stand and in everlasting
bliss. Christ is my boast and glory,
all wrath for me is o'er. The judgment of the sinner, it
frightens me no more. There is no condemnation There
is no hell for me The torment and the fire My eyes shall never
see For me there is no sentence For me there is no string For
Christ my Lord who saved me Will shield me with His wing No angel
nor a devil No danger, fear, nor fight No foe, no tribulation
No throne, no power, nor might No height, no depth, no creature
That has been or can be, Can pluck me from thy bosom, Can
sever me from thee. My heart bleeds up with gladness,
Grief cannot linger there, were four saints high in glory bathed
in the sunshine fair. The fountain of my singing is
Jesus there above. The sun that shines upon me is
Jesus and His love. Number 268. Number 268. How firm a foundation ♪ Should
ye saints of the Lord ♪ He is slain for your faith ♪ In his
excellent word ♪ What more can he say ♪ Than to you he hath
said to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O being. not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will still
give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to Upheld by my gracious omnipotent
hand When through the deep waters
I call thee to go The rivers of woe Shall not be overflowed
For I will be with thee Thy troubles to bless And sanctify to to be
thy deepest distress. When through thy retrials thy
pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee. I only design thy draws to consume. ♪ And thy gold to refine ♪ The
soul that on Jesus ♪ That on Jesus ♪ Hath pleaded for repose
♪ I will not ♪ I will not ♪ I do not deserve ♪ That's over all hell ♪ Should
endeavor to show ♪ I'll never, no never ♪ No never forsake You know, the scripture says
that God cannot deny Himself. And when He talks like that,
He's really talking about that He can't deny those that are
in Him. He cannot deny His people. It'd be easier for Him to deny
Himself and Him to deny those that's His. And that's why He
said, For the elect's sake, I preach the gospel. Alright, let's look
here in Mark chapter 13. A TITLE OF MY MESSAGE THIS MORNING,
WHEN CHRIST COMES, WHEN CHRIST COMES. YOU KNOW OUR LORD JESUS HAS GIVEN
US WARNINGS OF THE LAST DAYS. YOU REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID, BACK
UP HERE IN VERSE 23, HE SAID, BUT TAKE HEED, BEHOLD, I FORETOLD
YOU ALL THINGS. HE FORETOLD US ALL KINDS OF THINGS
THAT WERE GOING TO HAPPEN. And he talked about a tribulation. And those days after the tribulation,
the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.
And the stars of the heavens shall fall and the powers that
are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then
shall he send his angels and gathered together His elect from
the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost
part of the heaven." So He foretold us, He gave us all these warnings,
all the warnings that we dealt with last week, but then He makes
three promises to His elect, in all these verses He makes
three promises to His elect. Look what He said in verse 20,
He said, Except the LORD hath shortened those days, no flesh
shall be saved, but for the elect sake. And he goes on to say a
little stronger, Whom he hath chosen. He s going to shorten
those days, and them days they re going to make them come quickly
and be over very quickly. And then look what he says down
there in verse 22, For false Christs and false prophets shall
rise, and shall sow signs and wonders, and seduce, if it were
possible, even the elect. Go shorten the days, and we're
not gonna be seduced, we're not gonna be deceived. You know why?
Because we're God's elect. We hear the voice of Christ,
and His sheep hear His voice, and they follow Him. And then
look what another one says down in verse 27. then he shall send his angels,
now this is when Christ comes, and then shall he send his angels,
and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the
four corners of the earth, from the uttermost part of the earth
to the uttermost part of heaven. Now what He s talking about,
that this is when the last days, when He ll reunite the body with
the Spirit, because He even brings things from Heaven when He sends
this thing down. And I tell you, this is at His
coming again from Earth and Heaven. And that's what he's talking
about. He says, When the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, then the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are here, it is
appearing, shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of
an eye, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And that's
what our Lord sent from the uttermost part of heaven, earth, even unto
heaven. That's when everybody's going
to be reunited again. And then but before His coming,
let me say this in verse 24, there's going to be a great tribulation. Now, I don't know what this actually
means, but I do know that I read some things about it. Now, there
is a doctrine that goes throughout this world that says that there's
going to be seven years of tribulation AFTER Christ comes and gets His
Church and leaves everybody else here. and the people that didn
t live right and didn t live right in this world and didn
t commit to Jesus and didn t love Him as they ought to have, they
ll have to go through seven years of great tribulation, and he
that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. But that
s not what he s talking about here, and that s a FALSE DOCTRINE!
That s a BAPTIST PURGATORY, you ve heard me mention that before.
But I tell you, this tribulation is before Christ comes, right
before He comes, and we may be here and we may not, but He s
going to send tribulation that this world has never, ever seen
before, and there s been some tribulation on this earth. I
mean there s been multitudes of the Lord s people burned at
the stake, been multitudes of the Lord s people stretched on
the rack. There s been multitudes of the Lord s people with their
heads cut off. And I tell you, there s been
great tribulation for a lot of people in this world, but the
tribulation HE s talking about, that s why I said I m going to
shorten those days. going to be as bad as it can
possibly be before Christ comes again. But he says, But because
I'm going to SHORTEN those days, and the only reason He's going
to make those days come QUICKLY to an end is for His election. But it is, and this, how awful
it would be, God only knows. But I do know this, people are
waiting for an Antichrist to appear. John says there's many
Antichrists in the world now. You know what an Antichrist is?
Anybody that does not preach the gospel of the free grace
of God in Christ. Anybody that makes salvation
up to something that a man has to do, that's Antichrist. If
you get God's people to be elect saved without the gospel, that's
Antichrist. Free will is Antichrist. Pentecostalism is Antichrist. EVERY DOCTRINE AND EVERYTHING
THAT'S EVER TAUGHT APART FROM THE FREE GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST,
APART FROM THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD IS ANTICHRIST, AND
THERE'S NO REASON TO BEAT AROUND THE BUSH ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT'S
TRUE, AND THAT'S WHY I SAID IF IT WAS A FALSE CROSS AND FALSE
PROPHETS SHALL ARISE AND SHALL SEDUCE OR DECEIVE THE VERY ELECT
IF IT WERE POSSIBLE. if it were possible. And I tell
you what, the Antichrist is here and multitudes and multitudes
are CONTROLLED by him. All you got to do is tell somebody
what you believe, that God is sovereign, that man is dead in
trespasses and sins, born that way or live that way. and that
God unconditionally elects some of Adam's fallen race. And then
He calls that elect people out of the world through the gospel.
And He sends the Holy Spirit to bring them to Christ. And
when they're brought to Christ, they shall never ever perish. They will persevere to the very
end. They'll all, every one of them,
die in the faith. Now, you tell that to somebody
and the first thing you do say, Oh, my goodness, that's not fair.
That's not right. There's nothing that can't be
right. I've never heard such a thing
in my life. I never either to somebody across
my path with the gospel. But oh, my. and the heavens will
reveal and change dramatically. Look what it says in verse 25. You know, and this is a mysterious
thing here. He says, And the stars of heaven
shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And that s when Christ will come.
Now, I'm going to show you this from the Bible. I'm going to
show you this, exactly what's going to happen when Christ comes
again. Look over with me. You keep this and look in 2 Peter
chapter 3. Look in 2 Peter chapter 3. You know, this is what's going
to happen. You know, and whether we're here
or not, SOMEBODY'S going to be here! SOMEBODY'S going to be
here! But look what He said, now in
verse 3, 2 Peter 3, 3, Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days SCOFFERS walking after their own lusts.
What do they scoff at? Grace? Mercy? God s sovereignty, God s power,
God s right to love whom He will, choose whom He will. And then
look what He said, saying, Where is the promise of His coming?
When is He coming? Where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue, as they
were from the beginning of the creation. Things go on just like they always
did. Now listen to what he says here.
For this they willingly are ignorant of this, that by the word of
God, God by His power and the power of His heaven, the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water,
whereby the world that then was, was being overflowed with waters
that perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are right now, are by the same word kept in store, reserved
unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition. And look
what he says over here in verse 12. Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Let me read you another one. That SHOWS you that! People,
you know, they make fun of His coming, but look, let me read
this to you. This is in Hebrews 1, but you
don t have to look. He said in Hebrews 1.10, And
thy Lord in the beginning hath laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish! What? What s going to perish?
The earth? The foundations of the earth?
They shall perish, but you remain, Lord, you'll remain. And they
shall all wax old as doeth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years, your years will not fail. So I'll tell you what, it's gonna
be, it gonna be something nobody's ever seen before. And there's
gonna be somebody on this earth that'll be when that happens.
and God's elect, that's why He's gonna shorten those days. Well,
when shall these things be? Well, look what He said down
in verse 32. When shall these things be? Mark 13, 32. When shall these
things be? But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, No, not the angels which are in heaven. He said, Neither
the Son. He said, I don't know. Christ
has said, I do not know, but only my Father knows when this
hour is coming. But that day and hour, nobody
knows when Christ is coming. The exact day cannot be known,
but you know how many times people have predicted that Christ is
coming? You know how many times people
have predicted that Christ was coming? THERE'S BEEN MULTITUDES
AND MULTITUDES AND MULTITUDES OF PROPHETS THAT PROPHESIED THE
DAY THAT CHRIST WAS GOING TO COME. THEY'LL GET A HEBREW CALENDAR
DOWN, AND THEY'LL GO BY A HEBREW CALENDAR. I DON'T CARE WHAT CALENDAR
YOU GO BY, IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL THE FATHER SAYS
IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. WE DON'T GO BY OUR CALENDARS,
AND GOD DON'T GO BY OUR CALENDARS. HE SAID A DAY IS WITH THE LORD
AS A THOUSAND YEARS, A THOUSAND YEARS AS A DAY. BUT I DO KNOW
HE'S COMING. He said, ìNobody knows.î And
so why in the world would anybody want to try to say heís going
to come on this particular time? Thereís going to be, you know,
theyíll say, theyíll say that, you know, itís 15 minutes until
the time Christ comes. And then theyíll move it up every,
every time a current event happens, theyíll say, ìThatís telling
us that Christ is coming again. That tells us that Christ is
coming again.î They follow prophecy by current events. You know,
back when Ronald Reagan was president, do you know he had six letters,
and you know, all of his names, Ronald Wilson Reagan. He had
six letters in all his names. You know what everybody was saying?
666 is here. Ronald Reagan's 666, so I tell
you, we're in a mess. I remember that. I tell you,
people just, you know, if you've got blinders on and you're blind,
you can't see! But I do know, and listen, whether
He comes and gets us all and whether we're here in the tribulation,
it don't make no difference to me. The only thing I'm interested
in is being with Christ, and one of these days our Lord says,
It's your time's ALWAYS ready. But my hour's not yet, but your
time's always ready. The only thing I'm interested
in is when Christ comes, I'm His. I belong to Him, whether
He comes to get me by myself or whether He comes to get us
all at the same time. That's the only thing I'm interested
in. I don't care when He comes, but I know He's coming, and He's
gonna come get me. He's gonna come get me. He's
gonna come get you if you're one of His. Huh? Oh, my. You know, it was, and I do know
some things about it. Now look, hold Mark 13, look
in Matthew 24. Look at Matthew 24. There's gonna be some things
that's very obvious. But you know, that's 124, 100,
Noah preached 124, 120 years. Nobody believed a word he said.
Nobody believed a word he said, but look what he said in Matthew
24, 37. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days
that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, nothing
wrong with that. We re going to eat today, and
we re going to drink today, nothing wrong with that. Marrying and
giving in marriage, nothing wrong with that. But when that s all
that people are interested in, that s all, What shall I eat?
What shall I wear? What shall I drink? And Noah
preached for 120 years, and people went on like Noah told them,
Listen, there s a flood coming, there s a rain coming. And he
built on that ark, he worked on that ark for 120 years, and
everybody in the world knew it, and I said, There's an old man
over there under, building him a boat! And he's gathering animals into
that boat! Well, who in the world cares
about an old man building a boat? I want to get married! Oh, listen,
go, I want something to eat. Fix me something to eat. Give
me something to drink. And they didn't pay a bit of more attention
to, and that's the way it is about the gospel. That's the
way it is about Christ. That's why this health and wealth
gospel is so popular. You know, God will make you healthy,
He'll make you wealthy, and He'll make you, He'll prosper you if
you do the things that He tells you to do and you give your tithes,
everything will come out just right. Well, it didn't come out
right for the apostles. It didn't come out right for
Christ Himself. He was nailed to a tree. But oh, look what He says now.
And all they were eating, drinking, marriage, giving in marriage
until the day that Noah entered the ark. And this is what he said, and
knew not until the flood came. That's the way it's going to
be when I come again. People so interested in doing
everything else, but everything else. Everything else
and then look I want to tell you show you the certainty of
his coming when these things gonna be Look what he says, I'm you know,
I'll show you the certainty of his coming. Look what he said
in verse 30 Verily I say unto you that this
generation shall not pass till all these things be done and
HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY."
Now, what generation is He talking about? He s talking about the
Jews. He said, He come of His own,
and His own received Him not. He was a Jew, He kept all the
law, He done everything that a Jew would do. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was a Jew, and He s talking about the Jewish people. He said,
I come for these people, and I come, and they know that I
was coming, they know the Messiah was coming, and that He come
unto His own, and they received Him not. And He said, this generation,
these Jewish people, they shall not pass away. This generation
will be here when I come again. He said, the eyes, you know,
when our Lord comes again, The Jews that reject Him, the ones
that say He's not a Messiah, the ones that today do not believe
that Jesus Christ has ever come, they're waiting for Him to come.
But I'm telling you, they wear their beanie hats, their yarmulkes,
and they got the little curls down the side of their face,
and they wear them long black coats and those big broad-brim
hats. But I'm telling you, our Lord said, THEY'RE NOT GONNA
PASS AWAY, you know, and they've been trying to annihilate the
Jews since the Jews ever existed. God sent them into exile twice. He sent them to Babylon and to
Syria. 70 years in Babylon, and for 400
years he never said a word to the Jewish people. And he, Malachi, said, Suddenly
the message of the covenant shall appear in his temple. Christ
appeared. But they never paid any attention.
And he said, oh, I come unto them and I preach the gospel
to them. He stood and wept over Jerusalem. Our Lord wept twice.
One time he wept over Jerusalem, said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Tears
running down his holy face. I would have gathered you just
like a hen would gather her chicks and I would have gathered you
and I would have done you and you'd know what peace you had
if you had listened to me. If you had listened to me. My and
I'll tell you they've been trying to not like I said, they killed
about six million in World War two and right now Everybody hey,
you know everybody that's anybody Wilson. They want the Jewish
nation annihilated But it's not going to be There's going to
be a people on this earth all of Jews and you know, they say
that Christ gonna save every Jew. Well, he's already saved
every one of them and I'm one of them. I'm a son of Abraham
for one thing, and he's not a Jew which is one outwardly, but one
inwardly. Circumcision of the heart, not
of the flesh. Oh my. And I'll tell you, they're
gonna find him. They're gonna find him. And oh
my, they're gonna be here, and then they're gonna look at themselves
and they say, What did we do? What did we do? This was the
Messiah. This was the Christ. This is
Him. This is Him. And then look what
he says there in verse 31. Heaven and earth, both. The heavens
gonna pass away, gonna be a new one. And the earth shall pass
away. But he said, you know something
that'll never pass away? My word. I tell you what I have
to say. He said, My words are spirit
and they are life. And that's why we cherish His
word, love His word. And then look what He said over
here in verse 10 of chapter 13. And the gospel must first be
published among all nations. Now over in Matthew it says this,
he said over there it says that the gospel be preached among
all nations as a WITNESS against them, as a witness against them. You tell me someplace, you go
find any place on the earth where some missionary hasn t went with
the gospel. Lentz Heller, his father, down
in New Guinea for about 50 years, he translated the Bible into
that vernacular down there, that language, so they could have
a Bible. They got Spanish Bibles, they
got Chinese Bibles, they got a Bible for every language, They translate books into Spanish,
into Chinese, they translate some MESSAGES into Chinese, they
do all this stuff, the GOSPEL s already been out there. But
you know what the problem is? God come into town and they done
just like Christ, run Him out of here, we don t want Him, we
don t want that. And you know there's lots of
places where people, people have to HIDE to worship the Lord. Right now in Vietnam, let me
tell you, listen, I keep up on this stuff, in Vietnam, right
now, people have to HIDE to worship God and hide their Bibles. Or
they'll take them out and kill them. Same thing in China. in
China. God may raise up China and make
it America, like it s not like this. He may raise up a church
over there that won t quit, because I know one thing, He s done Ronekebot
over America. But oh, my, my words! The gospel
has to be preached! And let me say this about the
gospel. Paul told the Galatians, he says, I marvel, I marvel, I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from the grace of Christ," did you hear that? Removed from
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which really is NOT another gospel. He said, If me or an angel from
heaven bring any other gospel that I've already preached to
you, let him be accursed. Now, what's the gospel we're
talking about? What's the gospel we're talking about? You know,
there's two things that has to be established before you can
ever preach the gospel. First of all, you've got to have
a God that's absolutely just. You've got to have a God that's
absolutely just. Nobody gets by with nothing.
A God that's absolutely just, absolutely righteous. You've
got to have a God that's that way. and he will not compromise
with anybody. And listen, and the second thing
you have to have is have somebody stand in the room instead of
the sinners that God, the soulless sinners shall die. Ain't that
what it says? Well, how in the world can God
condemn a sinner to death and being a just God, and yet at
the same time SAVE them from their sin. And justify, be justified in
saving them from their sin. There s only one way. God gives
a substitute, someone to stand in our place, someone to take
our place, someone to face a just God in our place. someone to
take our sin upon himself, someone to bear the wrath of God, somebody
that would die, and I mean he got to be somebody that God would
accept. He got to be somebody that kept
the law. He got to be somebody that honored
God all the days of his life. He got to be somebody that s
perfect, somebody that s righteous as God Himself. Who could that
possibly be? Behold the Lamb of God! Here
He comes! Here He comes! What s He coming
for? To save His people from their
sin. And God looks back and said,
I m satisfied, I m justified in clearing all these sinners.
How s it come? Because My Son took their place. My son! Boy, there's sin. My son! Done everything that I required
of them. Now, that's the gospel you've
got to know. That's the gospel. If you don't know how God can
be just and justify sinners through a substitute and be satisfied
with that substitute, then you don't know the gospel. And that's the gospel, he said,
that's what's got to be preached. NOT THIS GOSPEL RUNS OUT THERE
AND SAYS, GOD LOVES YOU! GOD LOVES YOU! GOD LOVES YOU!
WE DO TOO! JESUS DIED FOR YOU! JESUS DIED
FOR YOU! WILL YOU ACCEPT HIM? PLEASE ACCEPT
HIM! LET HIM INTO YOUR HEART! GIVE
YOUR HEART TO JESUS! THERE'S NO GOSPEL IN THAT! THERE'S NO GOSPEL IN THAT! OH
MY! I tell you what, now it's up
to you, it's up to you now, what are you going to do about it? Jesus is calling, will you hear
His voice? I tell you what, you know the
only people who hear His voice? Our Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice, I know them, I know them, and guess what? They know
me. There ain't never been a goat
turned into a sheep. There never has. You know how
you can tell a goat? Every time you tell him the truth,
he'll say, but, but, but. Oh my, but that's what we're
talking about. We gotta have a gospel, and the gospel has
to be the gospel of God's grace. The gospel gives God all the
glory, gives no glory to man whatsoever, none. Man has nothing
whatsoever to contribute to his salvation. He cannot ever, from
the time God saves him until the time God takes him home,
he never one time contributes anything to his salvation, not
any moment in time. And let me tell you why you can't
do nothing. Because if you did, you could do something, then
Christ died in vain. And that can't possibly be. Can't
possibly be. Well, well. Then look at this
parable of the fig tree. This parable of the fig tree. Down in verse 28. And he says,
and after he's told all these things are gonna happen, after
he gathers his elect, and Christ comes in the clouds with great
power and glory. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree. When her branches yet tender, and put as forth leaves, you
know the summer's nigh. Now we know that, that happens
to us every year. A tree, fruit trees, summer tree, you know,
and it starts getting a little warm and stuff, having real tender
branch. Next thing you know, a few leaves
will start popping out, little old bitty leaves. Next thing
you know, they start going. You know what we say? It'll warm
up good, and you say, boy, it ain't be long, it'll be summer.
That's what we do. We go through the same thing.
That's what our Lord's saying. He said, when you see this happen,
He said, you know, the summer is nigh. And what he's saying
is, when you see all these things happen, he said, you know that
summer is nigh, when you see all these things come to pass.
And oh my, and then look what he says now, down in verse 29. In like manner, so ye, in like
manner, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that
it's nigh, even at the doors. Oh my, in like manner? Oh my. And they said, that's when they
shall see the Son of Man coming in great power. When that thing
is nigh, when we see that, you know, the tree, it's springtime,
and one of these days we're gonna get to go be with Christ. But
oh, in like manner, it's nigh, the doors, even at the doors.
Ain't that what he says? It is nigh, even at the doors.
Now you keep Mark chapter 13, and I want you to look in Luke
21. Look at Luke 21, 28. Whoa, whoa. Why didn't the rules allow
that thing? I've got this thing excited. But oh, look what it says here,
now it's in verse 28. And when these things shall begin
to come to pass, then look up, lift up your heads, for your
redemption draweth nigh. What redemption is he talking
about? The redemption of this body. We've already been redeemed
by the blood, but he's talking about the body. He said, your
redemption, your body gonna be changed. It's right here, that's
what he's talking about. And oh my, look over in Mark
chapter 14 with me. Look over in Mark chapter 14.
I hope you got Mark 13 still with you, but look in Mark 14,
61. They're standing asking the Lord
Jesus, you know, And our Lord held his peace,
Mark 14, 61. But our Lord held his peace and
answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him
and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
This is what our Lord said, I am, I am. And you shall see the Son
of Man coming, sitting on the right hand of power and coming
in the clouds of heaven. Oh my, that just upset these
fellas, they got so upset they crucified him, crucified him.
And you know, and he said in like manner, our Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was left to go back to ascend to glory, says in Acts
chapter one, he said that the disciples, he went outside Jerusalem,
you know, and he started going up. He started, gravity turned
loose on him, he started going up. And he went all the way up
and went into the clouds. And all those disciples stood
there just looking and looking and looking. Couldn't see Him
anymore because He went through the clouds. There's a man standing
over here and a man standing over here, and there's a white
apparel, and you know what they said? You men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into the heavens? Said the Christ shall come back
in the like manner He's left. In other words, He left in the
clouds, He gonna come back in the clouds. He left in power,
He gonna come back in power. So, you know, you waiting for
him to come back right now, they stood looking in the heavens,
that all remember again. Oh, our Lord said, this is what
we're talking about in like manner. You know what's going to happen?
He said, the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout and the trump shall resound. and he shall appear, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. And thee which were alive and
remain shall be changed in a moment, tweaking of an eye, and we'll
be caught up together with the Lord, and so shall we ever be
with the Lord. And you know what the next verse
says? Comfort ye one another with these words, That comforts me very well. All
right, and you know what he said in Revelations 1-7? I could show
you that, but listen. He says, When Christ shall come
in power and glory, then every eye shall behold Him, and even
those who pierced Him shall see Him. That's what he means when
all the dead gonna rise. They all gonna have to face it.
The man that pierced our Lord Jesus Christ is gonna see Christ
when he comes again. And you know what they're gonna
holler? Oh, woe is me. Hide me, hide me, hide me. Is
there a place I can hide from the wrath of the Lamb? Oh, my. Oh, listen. And what should be
our present attitude? Well, let me show you here in
verse 23. But take heed, I behold, I foretold
you all these things. Well, what should be our present
attitude at all these things that we've learned the last two
weeks? Well, trust Him. Trust Him and
trust Him alone. Oh, trust His word. Trust Him. People talk about He's finished
working, and I thank God that He did finish the work. But it's
who finished it that makes it effectual. But I'll tell you
this, trust Him. Trust Him alone. Give your soul
into His hands and He'll keep it safe. He said, not a hair
of your head shall perish. And let us, by God's grace, grow
in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Never stop
growing. Never stop learning. our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then look what our Lord said
in verse 33, look what He says, Take heed, again He told us,
Take heed. And you know what He says, He
tells, Watch, three times in these verses. First one says,
Watch and pray, for you not know when the time is. And then in
verse 34, the son of man cometh as a man taking a far journey,
who left his house and gave his authority to his servants, and
to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Verse 35,
watch. So our Lord, three times he says,
watch, watch, watch, watch. You reckon we ought to be watching? Three times he says, watch, because
you don't know the time is coming. He said, watch and take heed.
And here's what he said. Pray. Pray. Pray. Take heed, watch and pray. Pray. Pray. Pray what? Even so, come Lord
Jesus, come quickly. Lord, keep me. Lord, teach me. LORD, PRESERVE ME UNTIL YOUR
COMING, AND WHATEVER, DON'T NEVER LET ME, NEVER LET ME BE REMOVED
FROM CHRIST AND HIS GOSPEL." Oh, my. And then he says, The
Son of Man, Christ is as a man taking a far journey, and that's
what He did. Where'd He go? He went all the way to glory,
sitting at the right hand of the Father. And He left His house. Who's His house? Us. Christ is the Son over His own
house. his house, and listen to this, and he gave authority
to his servants." Well, who did he give authority to? To his
preachers, and to people who talked to him. And God ever manned
his work, watching, praying, and commanded the porter to watch,
commanded the porter as the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit s going
to watch for us. And he says, You watch, therefore, you have
no idea, you don t know when the master, and oh, I like that,
the MASTER of the house comes. He s going to come again. He
said, You don t know when the master of the house is coming.
Now, watch this, whether he comes in the evening time, he may come
at midnight, right in the middle of the night, or he may come
when the rooster gets up of the morning and starts crowing, Or
he may come in the morning. He said, you just don't know
when he's coming. And here's what he said. You don't know
when he's coming. He said, less coming suddenly,
he finds you asleep. You know what David said? Don't
let me sleep the sleep of death. Come find you sleeping. You know
people that's asleep are not conscious if anything goes on
around them. He said, wake up, stay awake,
stay awake. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all, watch. And he gonna come, he'll come
suddenly. I mean, it'll be that quick.
It'll be that quick. Well, there was some, I know I'm taking
too long, taking too long. You all know the parable of the
ten virgins, don't you? There were ten virgins our Lord
talked about in Matthew 25. Five were wise, five were sleeping. The five wise, they kept their
lamps burning. They had a light. They had a
light to see by. And they kept it burning, it
burned all the time. And they was awake. And then
there was five of them that were sound asleep. Their lights had
went out, they'd lost their sight, they'd lost, there wasn't no
heat, there wasn't no light for them to see by. And all of a
sudden, the master of the house came back. And those five foolish
Persians jumped up and said, give us some of your oil, give
us some of your oil, give us some of your light. He said, no, no, we ain't got
enough just for ourselves. And you know what? The Lord put
those five foolish virgins someplace besides those five wise. And you know where the light's
at? Christ is that light. Holy Spirit is that oil. So I tell you, watch and pray,
watch and pray. Our Father, oh, bless, bless
you, Lord, our God. Lord, thank you for your word. Oh, thank you for it. There's
so little that we know, so little that we touch on, but Lord, we're
grateful that you taught us your gospel, taught us how you can
be a just God and a justifier. of them who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, Lord, enable people here
today to believe on Christ, to trust Christ, to look to Christ,
not go out into this world without Christ. Oh, Lord, don't. These young kids, these children,
these young people, oh, God, please don't let them be lost.
Please cause the gospel to run well in their hearts so that
precious seed of the gospel, that seed that brings forth good,
make the ground good so that seed will fall on it. And Lord,
as we gather this afternoon to eat together and fellowship together
and enjoy one another's company, enjoy this wonderful food that's
been prepared, bless our time together. And thank you so much
for allowing us to have a meal together, enjoy one another's
company. Thank you for all the food that's been prepared and
all the love and care that went into it. And Lord, help us to
honor you and glorify you in all we say or do for Christ's
sake, amen, amen. All right, if y'all need to go,
go ahead on. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. I hope you all stay and eat with
us. No service tonight. I'll get a night off, boy, and
I'll tell you what, I'm