together and sing hymn number
475. 475. Redeemed how I love to proclaim ? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb ? Redeemed through His infinite mercy ? His child and forever
I am ? Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed ? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb ? Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed Redeemed, His child and forever
I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever
I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long. I sing, for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed His child
and forever I am I know I shall see in His beauty The King in
whose law I delight Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth
me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
132. 132. I serve a risen Savior, He's
in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever
men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear
His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him,
He's always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus
lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me. A long life's near away. He lives, He lives, salvation
to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. In all the world around me I
see His loving care And though my heart grows weary I never
will despair I know that He is leading Through all the stormy
blast The day of His appearing will come at last. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus
lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation
to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within. ? My heart ? Rejoice, rejoice,
O Christian ? Lift up your voice and sing ? Eternal hallelujahs
to Jesus Christ the King ? The hope of all who seek him ? The
help of all who find him None other is so loving, so good and
kind. He lives, he lives, how gracious
lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation
to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. Mark 13. Mark 13. Got a long reading. And we'll
read down to verse 23. And as he went out of the temple,
one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner
of stones and what buildings? And our Lord answering said unto
him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon
the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and
John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us, when shall these things
be? And what shall the sign when
all these things shall be fulfilled? And Jesus answering began to
say, take heed, lest any deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And when
you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled, for
such things must needs be. But the end shall not be yet,
for nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be earthquakes in
diverse places. There shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginning of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves,
for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues
you shall be beaten, and you shall be brought before rulers
and kings for my sake for a testimony against them. And the gospel
must first be published among all nations, but when they shall
lead you up and deliver you up, Take no thought beforehand what
you shall speak, neither do you premeditate. But whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, speak ye, for it is not you that speak,
but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death, and the father and the son. Children
shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put
to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved. But when ye shall see the abomination
of desolation spoken of by Daniel in the prophet, by Daniel the
prophet standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand. Then let them that be in Judea
flee to the mountains. And let him that is on the housetop
not go down into the house neither in or therein to take anything
out of his house. And let him that is in the field
not turn back again to take up his garment. But woe to them
that with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
And pray ye that your flight be not in winter, for in those
days shall be such affliction as such as was not from the beginning
of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall
be, and except The Lord hath shortened those days, no flesh
should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom
he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And if any man shall
say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him
not. For false Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall
show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the
elect. But take ye heed, behold, I have
foretold you all these Thanks. Our blessed God and Father, by
Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our blessed Savior, the one Lord
Jesus, O God, and blessed Savior, your Son, your blessed Son that
you gave so willingly And you gave him for your people, for
the sheep, for your elect. And, Lord, we're grateful that
you're going to shorten the days for your elect's sake, that you're
going to protect us, that you're going to keep us, you're going
to preserve us. And, Lord, I pray that you'd be pleased to meet
with us here today. Come down among us. We know that
you don't dwell in buildings made with hands. You dwell among
your people, you dwell in your people, you dwell among your
people. And so, Lord, come among us. Come down and visit this
vine. Visit this plantation. Give us
of your presence, give us of your power, give us of your understanding. Lord, we want to be as Mary.
We want that one thing needful. We want to sit at your feet and
learn of you. And Lord, we've come to learn.
We've come to deal with things that's hard to be understood.
And Lord, I could not possibly deal with these things without
you. And Lord, please be merciful to our children, our grandchildren,
to the lost in this congregation. Lord, send the gospel. Cause
seed to be planted in the heart. Cause the gospel to run well
in the hearts and minds of your dear people today. Save your
people in this place. Save poor sinners. Lord, make
someone a sinner. And Lord, if you ever make them
a sinner, Lord, they'll come to you and they'll look to you
and you come to save sinners. And so, Lord, we also pray for
those whose bodies are weak, whose bodies are afflicted. Please
be merciful and gracious to them and heal their bodies according
to your will and your good pleasure. Bring glory to yourself today
through the word, through the word and through us for Christ's
sake. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Brethren, let us join to bless
Christ, our peace and righteousness. Let our praise to Him begin. High at God's right hand in heaven Son of God, to Thee we bow Thou
art Lord and only Thou Thou the woman's promised seed, Thou who
didst for sinners plead. Be the angel ceaseless, we praise our priest and king. Worthy is thy name of praise,
full of glory, full of grace. Thou hast the glad tidings brought
Of salvation fully wrought Wrought, O Lord, alone by Thee Wrought
to set Thy people free Thee, our Lord, would we adore
Serve and follow more and more Grace and bless thy matchless
love ? Till we join thy saints above ? Be seated. Turn the heat off. This is a, our Lord taught them
that I've told you things to come. I forewarned you. And this subject in Matthew 24
and Luke 21 and Mark 13 all deal with the last days, the things
that are to come. And most of this has to do with
what God did to the Jews after 70 years. And I was reading this
week where when the Roman army went in there, 70 years after
the crucifixion of Christ, they burned Jerusalem to the ground.
They killed 20,000 Jews in one hour. They went in there and
tore down every wall, burned every house, tore down the temple,
razed that place to where there was nothing left, and they killed
Jews by the tens of thousands. and went and killed the babies,
the mothers, they didn't care. That was the tribulation that
our Lord was talking about. And there's a vast, vast difference
in the way men look at things. Preachers can say they're going
to preach on prophecy, or they're going to preach on the revelation,
or preach on the beast, and they'll get a big, big hearing. men,
the way they view things and how the Lord Jesus views things
are entirely different, and I pray that it s our desire to have
the same view as our Master, and what we don t understand
what He says, we still believe it, we believe what He says,
even if we don t understand it. But look what our Lord said here
in verse 1, view of outward things. Look
as it says there in verse 1, As he went out of the temple,
he s leaving the temple. You remember when he was in the
temple, he run everybody out, run them out with a scourge,
and then they had all those questions. So he s leaving the temple, walking
out of the temple, he s leaving the temple, Herod s temple, and
And now everybody, you know, His disciples, in one place it
says the disciples ask Him. But here it just said one of
the disciples ask Him. And they pointed to that temple
and said, Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful building this is. Over
in Luke it says all of its adornments. And oh, they said, Master, look
what manner of stones. You ever seen such beautiful
stones? You ever seen such a beautiful building? Over in, like I said,
Luke, they said, Look at all of its adornments, beautiful
building. They said that the Temple of
Herod was considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever
built. And he said, Look at these beautiful stones, and look at
all these buildings here. Oh my goodness, what beautiful
buildings are. And I, Lord answering, said unto
him, You see these great buildings? Just look at them. Look at them,
go ahead and look at them. When I get through with them,
when God gets through with them, there shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives over against the temple, Peter, James, and John, and Andrew
asked him privately, tell us, ask two questions. When shall
these things be and what shall the sign when all these things
be fulfilled? They bragged, men likes big buildings,
they like beautiful buildings. They bragged about the beauty
of this building. They weren t interested in whether
God was in this place or not. They weren t interested in where
God dwells. They weren t interested in the
worship of God. They was interested in the beauty
of the building, interested in all the temple and all the adornment
that was around Oh, it had different courts, and it had a court for
the Gentiles, and a court for the women, and they had four
or five courts around there that our Lord was sitting in one court,
and He was TEACHING in one court, remember, when He was interrupted
by those men which took the woman in adultery. And so they were
impressed with this building. Men are impressed with buildings.
They re impressed with the beauty of the natural building. They
re impressed with the material things. they're impressed with
the gifts that people give. People will build a building
and they'll say, listen, we need money to build this building,
how many bricks do you want to buy? We'll put your name on the
bricks, we'll put the date on the bricks, and listen, if you
buy so many bricks, We'll dedicate so much to you.
We'll even put your picture up in the bill to let them know
how great job you've done to help us get this great big building
built. And oh my, that fella had that
Crystal Cathedral out in California. Crystal Cathedral. Oh, folks
was impressed with that. And he was so far out that he
set up speakers outside so people didn't have to go in the building.
They could pull up just like in a drive-in movie and hang
the speaker on their car and hear him preach. Oh, people are so easily impressed
with outward things. Oh, they're impressed with what
things go on. They're impressed with beauty.
They're impressed with power. They're impressed with prestige.
They're impressed by buildings. And it's rare to see a building
that don't have a cross on it. And the cross, the only thing
about the cross that we glory in is who was on that cross and
what was accomplished on that cross. Physical cross never done
anything for anybody. We are talking about a cross
that Christ died on. And I've said this time and again,
if you could find the cross, make toothpicks out of it because
men would worship it and miss Christ by a country mile. But
oh, they was impressed, oh my. But look what our Lord said about
it. He said here, say, oh, you all impressed with this building
here. You think you're really something.
He said, the day's gonna come there shall not be left one stone
upon another. And oh my, and we know, we know
because the Bible says this, God doesn't dwell in buildings
made with hands. You know where God dwells? You
know what his church is? You know what where God dwells
at? You keep Mark and look over in Ephesians chapter two with
me. Look over in Ephesians chapter two with me. And down in verse
19, I'll show you, you know, our
Lord, they were so impressed with this, and oh my, they bragged
on it. And they turned it into a den of
thieves, is what our Lord said. Turned the house of God into
a den of thieves. But I tell you where God dwells,
this is where God dwells. Now look there in verse 19 of
Ephesians 2. Now therefore, ye are no more
strangers or foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles, what the apostles taught, and the prophets, what
the prophets taught in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone on whom the whole building's built,
and whom all the building, fitly framed together groweth unto
a holy temple in the LORD, in whom ye also are builded together
for a habitation of God. And where does he dwell, and
how does he dwell there? By the Spirit. He puts things together. He brings all these people together,
all these different people, and His building is His people. His
temple is His people. And oh my, so they asked two
questions down here in verse seven. First, excuse me, verse
four. They asked two questions. Tell us, tell us, when shall these things be? When
shall these things be? And the second question is, what
shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? They
believed His Word. They believed that this was gonna
happen. They believed that building was gonna be torn down. They
believed His words. They just wanted to know when
it was gonna happen and what we was to look for when it come.
What are the signs, our Lord? He said, oh, what are the signs?
When shall we see? And look what our Lord, the first
thing He told them, look what He says. Take heed to yourself. He began answering them, and
he answered them, said, first thing I want you to do is take
heed to yourself. You take heed. You listen to
what I'm telling you, lest any man deceive you. That's the first
thing he warns them about. He says, whatever else happens
in this world, don't you let nobody deceive you. Don't you
dare let nobody come with another gospel. Don't let nobody come
with their works. Don't let nobody come with their
free will. Don't let nobody come with their chance. Don't let
nobody come with their good luck. Don't let them come. Oh my, he
warns him about being deceived because false prophets and false
Christ, they'll say I am, that's what he said. He said in verse
six, for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall
deceive many. And look what it says down in
verse 21. I'm gonna say a thing or two about this here. And then,
if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he's
there, believe him not. Now let me say a few things about
that. There's no way in the world I
can deal with this thing the way it ought to be dealt with,
but I'll tell you. You know, what does he say? Somebody says,
Christ is over here, and no, he's over here. Christ is over
here, Christ's over there. Let me tell you what that means.
That means you take like the people that worship the Pope
in all their big buildings, and they got their vestments on,
and when they give them the bread, and they give them the wafers
and the wine, they say they're receiving the Eucharist. That's
called the body of Christ. And what they'll say, Christ
is here. This is where Christ is at. And then there's the freewill
works religion. you know, free will s works,
you know, you ve got to WORK your way, you ve got to LIVE
it every day, you ve got to be a GOOD person, you ve got to
TEND CHURCH FAITHFULLY, you ve got, oh, just go on and on with
all their works, and then they ll say, get on their altars and
make their decisions for Jesus, and they ll say, Christ is here!
Christ is here. Then you ve got the FUNDAMENTALIST.
A FUNDAMENTALIST, you know, I mean, he s got his convictions, There
ain't but one Bible he'll read. There ain't one dress code. They
got to have a dress code. They've got all their rules and
their convictions and they got all their dispensationalism.
They got their premillennialism and they'll say Christ is here.
Christ is here. Then you got the legalist. that
law keeper, that legalist, that fella that sets in judgment on
everybody else that don't live right, everybody else that don't
go by what THEY think they ought to live, and how they ought to
live, and all the things that they think they ought to do,
and they'll say, well, Christ is here! Christ is here. They're going to have a, a, a,
these live nativity scenes. You reckon Christ will be there? Where is Christ? Where is He? I'll tell you where He is. He's
sitting at the right hand of God with all power and glory
vested in Him. He's got all the authority. He's
got all the power. He gets all the glory. And anything
that does not give all the glory to Christ is a false Christ. It's a false message. It's a
false message. And I tell you what, they'll
say, if you know Christ is here, Christ is there. And what did
he say? Don't go after him. Don't you
dare follow him. Don't believe him not. Believe
him not. I tell you, false prophets and
false Christs will arise and say, I am. I am. And oh, they'll tell you you're
going to restore the kingdom again. Don't go after them, our
Lord said. Don't go after them. And then He starts talking about
wars. Look what He says here in verse
7, And when you shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars, be
not troubled. For such things must need be,
but the end shall not be yet. For nations shall rise against
nation, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be earthquakes in
diverse places. There shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginning of sorrows."
And he warns of war, rumors of war. Do you know how many wars
are going on in the world right today? One time there was 380 wars going
on. Got a war in the Mideast? Got a war in Russia and Ukraine.
Got wars all over Africa. And you know America. America
was started with a war. Revolutionary War. That's how
we came to be America. Revolutionary War. And then the second war we had
was the Civil War. Then we had a Civil War. Now
this is just the wars America's been in. Then we had the War of 1812. Then we had World War I. Then
we had World War II. Then we had Vietnam. Then we
had Afghanistan. Then we had Iraq. That's just the wars we've been
in. And I tell you what, wars and
rumors of wars. If there ain't a war going on,
there's a rumor, we're going to start one. And he said, oh
my. And you know, I'm going to tell
you this. Nobody ever wins in a war. Nobody. Somebody may be the victor, but
the people that lose is all the people that die. But oh my, let
me tell you what, he goes on here, say wars and rumors of
war. But let me tell you what, you know, the greatest war that
there is, is the war men declared on God. Look in Psalm 2, look
in Psalm 2 with me. Look at the war men declared
on God. Henry Mahan's got a message on
there, on that. Goodbye God is the name of it.
Goodbye, God. And he used Psalm 2, Goodbye,
God. But look what they said here.
This is the greatest war ever was when men declared war on
God. In verse 2, The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against Jehovah
God, and against His anointed. saying, let us break their bands
asunder. We don't want them binding us
in any way. Cast away their cords from us. Cast them away. Cast them away. And that's the office war. Man
declared war on God. Oh, they declared war on God.
And our Lord said here, don't be terrified. Don't be terrified. The end's not yet. That's what
He said in verse 7, and it ain't even close to the end yet. And
you know when Christ comes, men are going to beat their plowshares,
their swords into plowshares, and we'll learn war no more. And then He says that nation
shall rise against nation, and that just goes on and on and
on and on and on and on. Kingdom against kingdom. Oh,
and the Bible, do you know how many kingdoms there were? And
it's just in the Bible. Babylonian kingdom, Assyrian
kingdom, Israel, just kingdom after kingdom. And oh my, and
look what he goes on to say, kingdom against kingdom. Oh my. Meanwhile, they just have, and
then look what he says, there shall be earthquakes. You know,
they had lots and lots of earthquakes, even in the days of Christ. You remember, I ll just give
you just an illustration of some things that s happened that we
know of. There was a volcano in Italy called Vesuvius. That thing erupted and destroyed
whole cities Whole city, Pompeii, everybody knows what that was.
Earthquakes, how many earthquakes have we heard since we've been
alive? Oh, how many earthquakes have
there been? How many earthquakes have there been? How many floods
have there been? How many famines have there been? How many pestilences
have there been? Cody preached on seven years
of famine, seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. There
s places right now where people are starving to death, and you
know why it happens? War is the cause of famine and
impendence more than anything else. They ll go in and destroy
everything that they have, let people starve. A man will burn
a city down and so he can rule over an ash. He's so proud of
himself that he'll burn a city down to be the ruler over a bunch
of ashes. That's how depraved man he is. And kingdom against kingdom.
And oh my, look what he says, and then there shall be earthquakes
in all kinds of places, famines, troubles. And look what he says,
that's just the beginning of sorrows. That's just the beginning. How many things have we seen
that causes sorrows over the years that we did? And oh my,
these are, what's the signs, what's the prophecy? Oh my. And you know, he says, it goes
on down there in verse nine, look what he says now. He's gonna
give them some signs. He gonna give, look what he says,
but take heed to yourselves. He gives a prediction for his
own disciples. but take heed to yourselves.
This is what's going to happen to you. They deliver you to the
councils, and then the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you
shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake and for
a testimony against them. And you know that after the Lord
ascended on the day of Pentecost with Peter Priest, the second
day they preached, they brought him before the council. brought
them before the council. How many times was Paul the apostle
brought? You know, Peter was crucified
upside down. The only man that died of a natural
death was John, and they burned him in a pot of oil, and God
preserved him and saved him, just like He did the children
of Israel in the fiery furnace. But all these things happened.
I mean, the Lord s people have always been In trouble they always
have been he doesn't prophesy smooth things of these fellows
He didn't say now you're gonna have health. You're gonna have
well, you're gonna have prosperity. You just pay your tithes Be faithful
be a prayer warrior and He said everything will be fine But I
Lord just told him said they ain't gonna have you ain't gonna
have a smooth sailing no place in this world. I It ain't gonna
happen. And God didn't tell, it's gonna
happen for us. And oh, he said, listen, he doesn't
prophesy a smooth thing to them. And look how they were treated.
Oh, you shall be beaten. How many times was Paul, he said
five times, five times of the Jews, I received 39 stripes. He was put in stocks in Philippi. Remember him and Silas? They
started singing. God called an earthquake to come. Here's one of them earthquakes
God sent. And you know the only place that earthquake struck?
Was in that building where that jail was in. Never bothered nobody
else. He shook out one building and
opened the doors and got those fellas out of there. Oh my. And I tell you, he tells
them this, and he said it'd be a testimony against them. Look
over, keep marking, look with me at Hebrews 11. Look in Hebrews
11. He said, you know, this things
will be a testimony against them, against them. You remember, Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
he preached 120 years, nobody believed him. But look down in
verse 37. It'll be a testimony for you
and against them. And he's talking about people, what happened to them.
They were stoned. They were sawn asunder, cut in
two with saws. were tempted, were slain with
a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And
look what God says about them, of whom the world was not worthy
of these men. They wandered in deserts and
mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And look what happens. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, God testified them. He said,
These are My people. These are My people. And I tell
you, be a testimony against them. And our Lord Jesus Christ, and
Luke, I want you to go over now with me to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. I want you to
see this over here, what our Lord promised His disciples. What he said here in verse 15,
Luke 21, 15. He said, verse 14, settling in
your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer. Don't
try to figure out what to say. For I'll give you a mouth and
wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay
nor resist. We've seen that happen with Peter
and we've seen it happen with Stephen, seen it happen with
Paul. And you shall be betrayed by
both parents, brethren, kin, folks, and friends, and some
of you shall they cause to be put to death. And you shall be
hate of all men for my sake, namesake." But listen to what
he says right here. But there shall not a hair of your head
perish. He said, let them do what they
want. Not a hair of your heads gonna
perish. When Paul was being so mistreated,
the Lord come to him and said, Paul, he told him what he was
going to have to suffer. He said, you're going to have
to stand before Caesar. You're going to stand before
the king for me. You're going to stand before Caesar for me. And that's where
you're going to testify for me. And that's where you'll seal
your testimony against all them people. Right then and there.
And oh my. And then I tell you what he said
here in verse 20 here of Luke 21. In your patience, verse 19,
in your patience possess ye your souls. And when you shall see
Jerusalem combast with armies, then you know that desolation
is nigh. And that Roman army destroyed it, and that's what
he's talking about here. And then he talked about how
the coming judgment was on. He said, desolation thereof is
nigh. Desolation. Oh my. He said there in verse 23 and
24, for those days of vengeance that ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN
MUST BE FULFILLED, MUST BE FULFILLED. OH MY, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO
DO IN THESE TIMES OF DANGER BACK OVER IN OUR TEXT? AND THEN HE SAID IN VERSE 10
OF MARK 13, 10, AND THE GOSPEL MUST FIRST BE PUBLISHED AMONG
ALL NATIONS. NOW AS FAR AS I KNOW, AS FAR
AS I KNOW, There's no place on the earth where the gospel hasn't
been preached. No place. No place. There's a lot of people
that's never heard it. A lot of folks that's never heard
it, never will hear it. But it's been out, it's been
published. They've got, go to Spain and Mexico, they got Spanish
Bibles. Go to China, they got Chinese
Bibles. There's people, you go on Sermon Auditor, there's people
that translate it into all different languages so people can hear
the gospel in their language, French, Russian. Henry Mahan
went to Russia to preach the gospel one time. He said it was
the darkest place he'd ever been in. He said it was the most uncomfortable
place he'd ever been, but he said he went all the way to Russia
to preach the gospel. And I tell you, beloved, the
Gospel, as far as I know, it's been published everywhere, everywhere. And our Lord says, You know,
not a hair of your head shall perish. And He said, Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of Gentiles until all things shall be fulfilled.
But the Gospel must be published among all nations. And then when
they shall lead you up and deliver you up, take no thought, don't
you think beforehand what you're going to say, what you're going
to say, Neither do you premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given
you in that hour, speak ye, for it is not ye that speak, but
the Holy Ghost." And this happened. I read this this week in Josephus. Brothers shall betray brother
to death, father to son, children shall rise against their parents
and cause them to be put to death. There were Jews that joined with
the Romans. because they didn't want to be
slain by the Romans, didn't want to be killed. So they joined
the Romans, a bunch of Jews joined the Romans and went and killed
their own people, went into cities and went into villages and slayed
their own people, slayed their own. One man killed
his own father, his own mother and his own children. You get that and read it, Josephus,
read it. He killed his own, it tells his name. His name was
Saul, son of Simon. Killed his father, killed his
mother, killed his children. He said, Listen, I d rather live
as to have them Romans kill me, so I ll join them. And oh, my! And I tell you what,
this idea of being betrayed, it's not just, you know, there's
people betraying people today, people betraying people today.
But look what He says in verse 13, And you shall be hated of
all men for My name's sake. But oh, listen, He that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. What
is he talking about here? He's talking about just exactly
what he says. How many of you have endured?
How many of you, Paul said, endure hardness as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. How many of you endured hardness
in your life? Every one of you, sometime or
another, you've endured hardness. You've endured some things. You
go through some things. Some of you gonna go through
some more things, but you gotta endure. You gotta endure those
trials. You gotta endure those things
that God puts us in. You gotta endure the afflictions. You gotta endure all the things
gonna happen to you in this life. You gotta endure it. Anybody
that says they enjoy a trial and got through it with flying
colors, they're deceived. I've never enjoyed a trial I've
been in, have you? I've never enjoyed it. I've never
enjoyed being God trying my heart, trying my soul, trying my flesh.
Have you all ever enjoyed a trial? Have you ever enjoyed God sending
you an affliction, sending you a burden, sending you a sickness,
sending you some kind of disease? Have you ever enjoyed that? I've often said this, what can't be enjoyed, you have
to be endured. Whatever can't help you, you
have to endure it, and I'm telling you, and these men that you're
talking about, Paul endured right up to the day he died, and he
said, I fought a good fight, I kept the faith, and now I'm
fixing to cross over. And that's what he's talking
about. THAT'S WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT.
LISTEN, WHATEVER GOD SENDS YOUR WAY, HE MAY SEND SOMETHING TO
YOU, YOU MAY HAVE TO ENDURE IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. THERE'S
SOME OF YOU GOT DISEASES IN HERE, AND THINGS YOU KNOW, YOU GOT
IMMUNE DEFICIENCIES AND THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO
ENDURE IT TILL THE DAY YOU DIE. YOU'LL HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. ARE YOU HAPPY ABOUT IT? DO YOU
ENJOY IT? OF COURSE YOU DON'T. But oh my, well, I got up. And then, you know, they're going
to have this awful tribulation, these awful things that's going
to happen. And when these things start happening, When they come
in and took the temple in Daniel, they come in and brought all
the things of God. They brought the silver chalices,
and they had that big party, and God wrote on the wall, you
know, in Belshazzar said, You're weighed in the balance and found
more. And they took all the things of God and took them into the
temple and consecrated the temple of God. with the things that
they stole from Jerusalem. And I always say, when you see
that, get to the mountains. And he's on the housetop, don't
go back down into the house, you start running. That's what
he's saying, you start running. You start running. Don't go back
to take anything out of your house. If you wait one minute
too long, it's gonna cost you. And he that's in the field, don't
run back to your house, just keep on going, don't go back
to get you a garment. And then he says to them, but
oh, a woman has got a baby. A woman's got a baby. And to
them, the gift sucks in those days. And this is what he said,
you pray that this don't happen in the wintertime, that your
flight be not in the winter, for in those days, shall be affliction,
says it was not from the beginning of the creation which God created
unto this time, neither shall be. Now I don't know when that's
going to happen. Our Lord said this generation
shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. And
I don't know when this affliction's going to come. I don't know when
it's going to come for all of us. But one of these days it's
going to come. And except the Lord, except the
Lord, has shortened their days. These days it's gonna send our
way, last days. No flesh should be saved. I know
that right now, that if God wasn't for God, there'd be no flesh
saved anyway. But for the elect's sake, I love
this, for the elect's sake, God had to elect people, for the
elect's sake, whom he had chosen, He goes short in them days. You
know the only reason this world's still standing? For His elect's
sake. There's going to be one of these
days, the last elect's going to be saved. It's over. And oh
my. Then he says, we've done dealt
with verse 21. He said, look here. False Christ,
false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders.
And boy, they do. These false Christs, they show
all kinds of signs and wonders. They make people believe things
that they say, oh my, that just, God's gotta be with him. I seen
that fella get up out of that wheelchair. I seen that fella
throw his crutches away. I seen that fella, they said
he was deaf and now he can hear. They do all that rigmarole. Look
what he says. They show signs and wonders to
seduce if it were possible, if it were
possible, if it were possible, even to elect. You know what
that means? It's not possible. It ain't possible. Ain't you glad that God's got
an elect people? Whatever else goes on this world,
he gonna take care of his elect. But he said, oh my, take heed. Behold, I foretold you these
things. Before Christ comes, in those
days after that tribulation, the sun shall be dark, the moon
shall not give her light, the stars of heaven shall fall, and
the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. Then, and all that's all in a revel,
then shall they say, the Son of Man coming in clouds with
great power and glory. And then look what happens. Then
shall He send His angels and gather together His elect from
the east, from the west, from the north, from the south, and from the uttermost part of
the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Well, I ought to go over that
again one of these days here. But our Lord's kingdom When our Lord comes, when the
Lord comes the second time, everybody says that when the
Kingdom comes, there'll be peace, universal peace. They keep saying
that, but it's not going to be that way. A lot of people, you
know, they go by current events. They see something that happens
in a current event, and they say, well, that shows you that
we're in the end times. That shows you that we're in
the end times. And let me, you know, I'm going to say this in
close. You all remember that that fell
out in California. What was his name? Campion? Campion. He said the day of the coming
of the Lord half a dozen times. He never come. He finally convinced
all of the people out there in California. He finally convinced
them. And this is just gonna give you a little story. Brother
Henry went out there and preached for that fella. And he told him,
he said, do not make predictions, do not make prophecies, because
if you find out that it don't happen that day, then nobody
will ever believe you. He finally got those people.
Now this is how people are. He finally got those people,
they put big billboards up, they sold their houses, took all the
money out of their banks, and they was ready, To give it all
away, waiting for Christ to come and get them. When He didn't
come, they didn't have a house, didn't have any money left. Let
no man deceive you. What about Jim Jones and over
900 people? Drunk the Kool-Aid and over 900
people died. You think there ain't false prophets
out there that show signs and wonders and make you believe
a lie and be damned? And if it were possible, if it were possible, if it were
possible, as old Scott would say, if it were possible, but
it ain't possible, the very election, they ain't
going to deceive the election. No matter what happens in this
world, God's going to keep his people. And who's afraid of this
old house being torn down and getting a brand new one? All right. Oh, our father, our father, our
father. There's so much here to deal
with, so much to deal with. We just scratched the surface. But Lord, you gave us these precious
promises. You gave us promises, your people,
that you'd shorten those days for your elect's sake, that it'd
be impossible for us to be deceived, and there would not be a hair
of our head, we'd be touched, that you'd protect us and preserve
us unto your kingdom. And Lord, whatever you send our
way, whatever it may be, we know that you always give grace sufficient
to uphold us, to meet our needs, to keep us, because we certainly
can't keep ourselves. And so, Lord, we don't fear the
days that come. We don't fear them, but we fear
you who could destroy this body and take our souls and send them
to hell. But, Lord, we We fear you. We don't want to dishonor
you. We don't want to lie on you.
We don't want to deceive anybody. Oh, Lord, we don't. We want to
preach the free grace of God in Christ. We want to preach
a gospel that gives hope and comfort and assurance to sinners where Christ come to save. Lord,
thank you for your promises, for keeping us, preserving us.
And Lord, please help us to beware of how dangerous this world is,
how dangerous false prophets are, how dangerous this world
can be in just a moment. God bless the dear saints of
God. Save you people in this place. Cause the gospel to find
a logic and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about
that name. Jesus, Savior. Jesus, like the fragrance after
the rain. King Jesus, Jesus. that all heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms will all pass
away, but there's something about that name. Well, see you tonight, six o'clock.
Lord willing. Yes.