Let's turn to John chapter 17. Read about our Lord's Prayer. John chapter 17. In order to save someone, the
one who saves must have authority over all. See what it says here. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me. And they have received
them, and have known surely I came out from thee. And they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine. Christ
is our great mediator. And all mine are thine. and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them, and now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee,
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name, those that thou gavest
me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition.
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come, and now come I
to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou should take
them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth. As Thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. And for their sakes I have sanctified
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray thou for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
the word from Christ. For Christ prayed for those who
would believe through their word. That they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. and the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and Thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that Thou hast sent me and hast loved them as
Thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which Thou hast given me. For Thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world, O righteous Father. The world hath not known Thee,
but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent
me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. Let us pray. Our precious Heavenly Father,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our precious Savior,
our Redeemer, our Great High Priest, our Mediator, in His
precious name, we come to You, Lord, thanking You that You caused
us to come here. Thank You, Lord, for this building
that You give us to meet. Thank You for this faithful priesthood
that You've caused to get up here and tell us about our Savior,
time after time. We pray that You'd send the Holy
Spirit to him one more time tonight, Lord, Cause Him to tell us about
Christ. Open our hearts, our eyes, our
ears. Cause us to see Him. We want
to hear from Him. Forgive us of our sins. Pray
for the sick, Lord, that You'd be with them. Heal them to be
Thy will. Pray again for my children, Lord,
my grandchildren, my wife, her family. They don't know You,
Lord, and don't seem to care. Pray that You'd cause them to
come hear the gospel. Forgive me, Lord. Lead me not to myself. Help my unbelief. In Christ's
name I pray, amen. Don't know anybody that don't
need it any more than I do. Our Lord started in verse 20
is where I want to start reading and bring a message from this. And when he was demanded of the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, lo here
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
And he said unto the disciples, the days will come when you shall
desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall
not see it. And they shall say to you, see
here or see there. Go not after them nor follow
them. For as the lightning that lighteth out of the one part
under heaven shineth under the under part under heaven, so shall
also the Son of Man be in his day. But first must he suffer
many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the
Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, They
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all. Likewise, also as it was in the
days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went
out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed all. Even thus shall it be. in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be
upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come
down to take it away. And he that is in the field,
let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife? Whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall
lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night
there shall be two men in one bed. The one shall be taken,
the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together.
The one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be
in the field. The one shall be taken, and the
other left.' And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord?
And he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles
be gathered together. Our Lord is talking about the
kingdom of God. Where's it at? How do you see it? How do you
know? How do you know? And people's interested and there's
a lot of talk about the kingdom of God in lots of circles. And
there's lots of ideas about the Kingdom of God. Most people don't
believe the Kingdom of God won't be until Christ sets up a thousand-year
reign in Jerusalem and sets on a throne over there. But they
wanted to know when the Kingdom of God is going to come, these
Pharisees did. And you remember when our Lord
Jesus, right before He ascended up in Acts, His disciples asked
him, said, Lord, will thou at this time restore the kingdom
to Israel? Will thou at this time restore
the king? Will you sit on the throne of David like it was promised?
Will you ascend to your throne now? Is it time for the kingdom
of Israel to be established again like it was in the days of David,
in the days of Solomon, in the days of Hezekiah? Are you going
to set up the kingdom again? And they was very interested
about that. And our Lord is telling us here
that the kingdom of God is utterly and absolutely unlike any other
kingdom in this world. That's what he's telling us here.
And look what he says. He answered them, they said,
when is the kingdom of God going to come? And he says, the kingdom
of God cometh not. with observation, with outward
signs. He says the kingdom of God doesn't
come with a lot of visibility, a lot of power and pomp and circumstances. You see the Jews and those people
in those days, they were looking for an arrival of an outward,
earthly, visible kingdom. And in that kingdom, they would
have the prominence and they would have the power. They would
sit back and rule the whole world, and that's what they thought
was going to happen. And our Lord says, you know, it don't
come with observation. And our Lord Jesus said, it won't
arrive with armies. There won't be no army come marching
in here. I won't come into Jerusalem on
a big prancing white horse. There won't be great chariots
going down the streets. And there will be a great proclamation
going out, you know, the kingdom of God come, here comes the king.
In fact, you know how our Lord says the kingdom of God came?
He came meek and lowly, setting about a colt, the foal of an
ass. And all they began to praise him. He said, and that's what
is written, thy king, O Jerusalem, shall come meek and lowly, riding
on a colt, the foal of an ass. And that's what they, that was
absolutely for And everybody said, here comes
the king. And they said, the king's going
to come. You say, that fellow's lost his mind. And that's what
these Jews thought about him. And that's what most people think
about him today. They think he's got to come with
great pomp, great power, great circumstances. But oh, no. Our Lord Jesus said, it won't
arrive with all folks looking out and saying it. And that's
what he said next. He said, they won't say, look
over there. There it is. look over here here it is there
in verse 21 he says and look here says for behold the kingdom
of god's within you it won't come in such a way that people
say over there see that's the kingdom of god over there that's
the kingdom of god oh see look at all that glory over there
look at all that glory over there that's the kingdom of god over
here and it's over there But our Lord Jesus Christ said, Behold,
the kingdom of God is within you. It's a spiritual kingdom. The rule and reign of God within
is what he's talking about. And when he says the kingdom
of God is within you, this means where God is recognized, God
is honored, God is bowed to, God is recognized, God is acknowledged,
and his kingdom and rule sets up in a man's heart, and he is
thrilled to death that Christ sets on his heart, the Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And because of that, because
the kingdom of God's within you and don't come with observation
people can't say there it is I can't see the kingdom of God
within you and you can't see it within me but if Christ is
in there and Christ sets up in your heart And that's what most
people's looking for. They're looking for a great kingdom.
And our Lord says the kingdom of God reigns in a man's soul,
reigns in a man's heart. It's within you. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And that's why people came forward
and said, boy, the kingdom of God's over there. Kingdom of
God's here. You know where the Kingdom of
God's at? It's in every single soul that's on top side of God's
earth where Christ comes into a man's heart and soul. And I
tell you something, when He comes into a man's heart and soul,
He don't knock to be asked to be let in. He don't plead to
be let in. He comes. He comes. And I tell you what, look, Romans
14, 17. This is what the Kingdom of God is. Romans 14, 17. You know what the kingdom of
God is? Look what I said here in Romans 14, 17. Oh, it's a
spiritual kingdom. You know, our Lord told us to
pray, said, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come. Come, kingdom. Oh, kingdom of
God, come. And may your will be done on
this earth, in me, in my home, in my heart, in my life, as it
is in heaven. And I tell you what, His will
is gonna be done on this earth just like it's done in heaven.
The only difference is that everybody in heaven rejoices and does the
will of God gladly, willingly, joyfully, obediently, with no
hesitation, and not just does it. But down here, we do it,
believers do it, but everybody, everybody's gonna acknowledge
that God's will was running in this world and ruling in this
world. Whether you bow to it, submit to it, rejoice in it,
and find great comfort in it. But look what it says here about
the kingdom of God in Romans 14, 17. For the kingdom of God
is not in what you eat or what you drink, I know I'm in the
kingdom of God because I wear white shirts and black pants
and wear a big black hat and I wear long dresses. And I got my hair done up in
buns and I don't let anybody, nobody's ever going to see my,
you know, and they go on and on with that kind of stuff. I know I'm in the kingdom of
God because I send my children to Christian schools or I train
them at home. He said that don't, meat and
drink, what you eat and what you drink has absolutely nothing
to do with being in God's kingdom. Nothing. And look what he was
on to say. But righteousness, this is what
the kingdom of God is, righteousness, that's an inward thing. And peace,
that's an inward thing. And joy, that's an inward thing. Huh? And joy in the Holy Ghost. All of those things are things
that takes part in a person's heart, in a person's life. That's
the kingdom of righteousness. Acknowledging God's righteousness,
Christ's righteousness, and our desperate need of it. And the
only righteousness whereby we can stand before God is the righteousness
of Christ. And peace, peace with God. God's not angry. God's at peace. He published peace. He brought
peace. He established peace. that because we're such peace
and been reconciled by the death of God, Christ's Son, that we've
been reconciled in such a way that now we can come boldly into
the presence of God. Come boldly into the holiest
of holies. Come right now into the presence
of a holy God, infinitely holy. And I tell you because somebody
entered in for us before, entered into the holy place with his
own blood and opened for us anew in a living way into the kingdom
of God. And I'll tell you what, every
soul can go right now in, you know, only the high priest was
allowed to go behind the veil. And the scripture says now we
go behind the veil. God's infinite. He inhabits eternity. He's infinitely holy, infinitely
righteous. But our Lord Jesus Christ went
behind that veil and put his own blood there. And he opened
for us anew and a living way means it's constantly and continually
open as if the blood was just put there and the lamb was just
slain and God accepts all of us as we come. Huh? And oh, it's joy. Oh, what joy
the gospel brings. What joy the gospel brings to
our heart. What joy it brings to our souls. And you've got to go thinking
about God and thinking about the gospel and thinking about
grace and being saved by grace. Thinking about you, you, you,
you being saved. I have stood in utter astonishment
many times over my life. I'm saved! I've been by myself and walking
along and just stop and say, I'm saved from sin. Where would I be if God had not
saved me by his grace? But he not only, beloved, saved
me, but he takes us from the, translates from the power of
darkness and translates us into the kingdom, kingdom of his dear
son. Now that produces joy. Oh, this spiritual kingdom that
I'm talking about, it came and men didn't see it. It came in
Bethlehem. And a few shepherds saw it. A few shepherds heard about it.
When the angels came and told him, behold unto you this day
in the city of David is born unto you a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. You go over and look and there'll
be a stable over there and there'll be a baby. He'll be wrapped in
swaddling clothes. And that's the Savior of this
world. That's the Savior of his people. And, oh, beloved, when
Christ was manifested in Jerusalem for three years, three years
our Lord went through Jerusalem, went through Galilee, went through
Nazareth, went through Capernaum, went through Judea, went all
over preaching the kingdom of God, healing and saving and cleansing
lepers and raising the dead Showing people compassion and pity and
feeding people that were hungry. Our Lord did all of those things.
And still yet, they didn't see the kingdom of God among them. And I tell you what, when he
was eight days old, they took him in the temple to have him
circumcised and dedicate him to the Lord as the firstborn
son according to the scriptures. And there was two people in that
temple that saw the kingdom of God. Anna been sitting there, she
is a widow for 80 years. She's an old woman and she recognized
the Lord Jesus Christ when he came and Simeon, God said, you're
not gonna die until you see. my savior, my son. And old Simeon
walked through there and oh my, and he picked up that eight day
old baby and held him in his arms. He says, mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. He saw the kingdom of God. He
saw the rule of God. He saw all of God's salvation
in that infant. He says, now Lord, just let me
go in and die. Let me die. I've seen all I need
to see. Just let me die. And that thief
on the cross, two of them, malefactors, they both railed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then all of a sudden, one
said, Lord, remember me. When? When you come into your kingdom.
And our Lord said, today, Not tomorrow. Not a year from now. Not when you do better. But today,
you're gonna go with me. You're gonna go to paradise with
me. Very, very few people knew our Lord Jesus Christ and saw
His kingdom. 30 years later, from that time,
so many of them recognized Him. 30 years later, a few fishermen,
publicans, and sinners saw it. The king came on to his own,
and his own received him not. Righteousness was right in their
midst, yet they didn't see it. Look what he said to Nicodemus
in John 3. Nicodemus in John 3. Oh my, the king came on to his
own, and his own received him not. The king was right in their
midst, and they didn't see it. And here's why. Here's why men
don't see it. Oh, listen, that says in verse
2, the same night, the same came to Jesus, Nicodemus, the ruler
of the Jews, said unto him, Rabbi, teacher, we know that you're
a teacher come from God, didn't say nothing about a savior, didn't
say nothing about a redeemer, didn't say nothing about A king
didn't say nothing about the one who blood was going to be
shed. He said, oh, you're a good teacher.
Oh my, you teach us all kinds of things about God we didn't
know before. For no man can do these miracles that you do except
God be with him. Our Lord answered, said unto
him, truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born from
above, he can't see the kingdom of God. The only way you can
see the kingdom of God is to have a new birth. For God to
give you a new heart, God give you a new spirit, God give you
a new mind, God make you a new creature. You can't see the Kingdom
of God unless God gives you the new birth. Now that's all there
is to it. You know why some people can't
see it? Why they're looking for it to come instead of seeing
it where it is right now? Because they ain't never been
born again, never been regenerated. And that's why he says, old john
said to him one day said there stands one among you whom you
don't know you don't know who he is and then look what he said
here now go back over in our text there in verse 22 he said
to his disciples the days will come when you shall desire to
see one of the days of the son of man and you shall not see
it And here's two comings of Christ in this particular passage
of scriptures, and I'll get to it. He says there's two comings
of Christ. And he says the days will come,
the days will come when you'll desire just one of the days of
the Son of Man. One of the days like I was with
you. One of the days, days will come when you will desire one
of the days of the Son of Man. But you won't be able to see
it. There'll come a time when you'll desire for the Lord to
appear and long for His appearing and desire. And there's times
now how we desire for the Lord to come. How we desire for the
Lord to appear. How we desire that the Lord will
come and take us out of this world at times. Sometimes we,
sometimes, I know everybody don't do it, but there are times that
you get so weary and get so so so heavy in this world said lord
oh if you just be pleased to come and take me home to be with
you oh lord if i could see one of your days when the day that
you come to take desire to see your day but look what our lord
says he said you'll you'll desire to see one of the days of the
son of man you'll be you you'll desire to have one of the days
like you had with me And then, and he said, they shall say to
you, see here, there's the Son of Man over there, or see there, they'll say, there's the Messiah,
there's coming Christ there, he's come over here, he's come
over there. And he said, don't follow him, don't follow him.
They can tell you and said, well, you know, I'm not, before my
second coming, he said, there'll be people said, the Messiah's
over here, the Messiah's over there. You know how many people
in this world right now claim to be of the Messiah? A lot of them. A lot of them. And I tell you, but look what
he said about his second coming. Look what he said about his second
coming when he comes again. He said there in verse 24, as
the lightning that lightneth out of the one part under heaven,
shineth under the under part of heaven, so shall also the
Son of Man be. And what he said was, he says,
when I come again, when I come again, it'll be so suddenly,
it'll be just like that, just when you see lightning flash
from the east, going out that way, just like lightning flashing
across the heavens. and you'll see that lightning
he said I'll be I'll come so quickly I'll come so fast it'll
be like lightning and just as you see lightning I'll be a visible
one that you'll see I'll be visible he said every eye shall see me
everyone shall see the son of man coming in his glory and it'll
be a lightning flashing suddenly brilliantly And that's what our
Lord said. He said, so shall also the son
of man be in his day. I mean, it's going to come like
that. It's going to come like that. Listen, I'll tell you what, when
our Lord comes, it'll be so fast. And fast, they said, he would
even change us in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. If he,
when he comes, he said he'll change us in a moment in the
twinkling of an eye. So that means when he comes,
everything gonna happen just like that. I'll tell you, I never will forget
this one time. We had a little old horse and Joe was his name,
Joe, little Joe. little red racquet horse. And
we'd ride that thing all over the place. And one day I was
riding him and that's where they put all the timber and stuff
and put all the pine in there. And I was riding him over towards
Blossom Town. And you know, there's that great
big hill. We went down behind the house
and went over and got way up on this great big hill. And I
stand sitting up there on that horse. And boy, a big old lowering
red sky come across. And man, it struck my heart.
I said, oh boy. What if the Lord comes? What
if the Lord comes sitting right here? And I seen that, and I
said, boy, what if the Lord comes to be sitting right here on this
horse? And I tell you what, that was
some kind of experience. I thought, boy, wouldn't that
be something? Sitting on that hill on that
little old horse. I said, boy, what if the Lord comes? I'd have left that horse. I'd
have got out of that saddle just like that. Oh, my. But look what our Lord said,
look what he said in verse 25, but there's got to be something
before his second coming. He talks about his first coming,
that kingdom of God that he's talking about now. He said, but
first, before he ever comes the second time, before that we'll
ever see him in his power and in his glory, before he ever
comes as lightning out of the east, suddenly, visibly, powerfully,
But first, must he suffer many things. What must he suffer? He must suffer being despised,
being rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He must
suffer at the hands of men. He must be lied on. He must be
beaten. He must have a crown of thorns
put on his head. He must have a robe put on his
back. He must have a reed put in his
hands. He must be put on trial. And
then he must be beaten. And then he must be walking through
the streets of Jerusalem. He must be taken outside Jerusalem. And he must be nailed to a cross. He must suffer all those things.
He must suffer even his own father forsaken him. He must suffer. He has to suffer. Without suffering,
without him being made a sacrifice for us and suffering for us and
bearing our sins, then there wouldn't be any salvation. We
wouldn't look for a second coming. We wouldn't care. And then not
only must he suffer many things, but be rejected And when he said
of this generation, he's talking about all the Jews, I must be
rejected. Of this generation, this generation
that he came unto his own and his own received him not. Oh,
listen. His first coming, he came in
humiliation to suffer and to die. At his second coming, he'll
come in power and great glory. and put down everything under
his feet, and the last enemy put under his feet will be death,
and then he'll deliver the kingdom up to his father. He said, Father,
here's the kingdom. I brought it to you. This is
what I give to you. I give to you the kingdom that
you gave me. I give it back. I've made everything
under my feet. And, oh, beloved, in first time
he came, he was made to be sin, He was made to bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. But the second time He comes,
He'll come without sin unto salvation. And the first coming, He must
suffer. And the second coming, He'll come as lightning. He won't
slip in here. These fellas saying, you know,
there's going to come a rapture and He's going to leave everybody
here to suffer. He's not going to. He said there'll be a secret
rapture that He'll come and slip His people up out of here. He
never comes secretly first. He ain't gonna sneak in here
to sneak us out. Our Lord never, I mean, He does, what He does,
He does outwardly, powerfully, gloriously. And these Jews, they
expected a Messiah to come and reign, not one to come and suffer. But in both, in His first coming,
He came to reign, and in His second coming, He comes to reign
over everything. and everyone. And look what the
world will be like in our Lord's coming. This is the way it's
going to be when our Lord appears. As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it also be in the days of the Son of Man. Huh? And look what all they did. They
did eat. Everybody got to eat. I ate.
I ate today. And they drank. I drank today.
I drank water today. I drank a Coke today. And they
married wives. I married a wife. You all are
married. You got wives. And they were
given in marriage. We just gave a family, just gave
Elmer away. And they stood up and say, blessed.
Her children shall rise up and call her blessed. When I said,
who gives this woman to be wed to this man? Her children got
up and said, her children rise up and call her blessed. And
we do. Oh, what an experience that was. Huh? And they'd done
all of that until the day that Noah entered in the ark and the
flood came and destroyed them all. Nothing wrong with what
they were doing. The thing that was wrong was
that was the only thing they cared about. Noah preached righteousness
to them for 120 years. They heard the gospel. Noah preached the gospel to them.
These men that helped build that ark. And they got, and after
they, he preached righteousness and prepared the ark and people
kept going on, going on, and going on as if nothing was ever
going to change. Nothing's ever going to happen.
There ain't nothing, everything's going to go on just like it is
now. Until one day, it started raining. And the scripture said
here, And the flood came and destroyed every single one of
them. And that's what our Lord's saying
here. He said, before I come, He said, that's why we're preaching
righteousness. That's why we're preaching the
kingdom of God. So you won't be caught unaware. So you won't
be caught with like, everybody's doing what they said, but the
thing, that's not the only reason for living. to be in the kingdom
of God, that's what he said. And then look what else he said,
in the days of Lot. And ain't that the way it is
now? In fact, they're not even given in marriage anymore. And
then likewise, also it was in the days of Lot. They did eat,
they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built
it. Every one of us does those things. Raise gardens, build
buildings, build houses. Eat, drink, we buy, we sell. Nothing wrong with any of those
things. But they was not interested in nothing but that. They didn't
care about anything else. And look what it says. But the
same day that Lot went out of Sodom. This is what's going to
happen now. The same day that Lot went out of Sodom. It rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed it all. And you know what our Lord said?
Even thus shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. You know,
and God's people are so few. In Noah's days, eight souls sang.
Lot and his two daughters were sang. God's people are few. He called a little flock. He
said, come and inherit the kingdom prepared from you from the foundation
of the world little flock little flock and it'll be a day of separation
even thus shall it be in the day when the son of man shall
come and it'll be a day of separation look what he said in verse 31
in that day that day which christ returns that day when we keep
preaching he was should be upon the housetop and he stuffed in
the house Ain't no it's too late to go back down and get everything
you got and take it away. And if you're out in the field,
ain't no sense going back to the house. Men don't want to
do something. Men don't want to try to save
themselves right at the last. Just like they did in Noah's
day. Believe me, when it started raining
and that door was closed, that door was closed before the ark
was ever lifted off the ground. Before the rain ever fell, God
said, come down into the ark and the door was closed. And that's what our Lord said,
the door is going to be closed. And I tell you what, and that
ain't raining yet, and that ark ain't moved yet, there ain't
enough rain to cause that ark to be lifted up yet. And so folks,
you know, they went on about their business, said, boy, Noah,
him and his family's crazy, they're in there, and they think something
bad gonna happen. Boy, when it started raining,
you know, they grabbed their suitcases and everything. Noah, let us
in, let us in, Noah. Let me and my babies in there.
If you won't take me, please take my babies. Too late. And look what he says. Remember
Lot's wife? Men don't want to do something.
Can't take it away with you. They go out in the field, try
to save their loss, and they lose it. And he said, remember
Lot's wife? Tell you something about Lot's
wife. She was a righteous man's wife. Her husband was a righteous
man. He was a just man. And she was fled from Sodom with
her husband and two daughters. Her and her family left out of
Sodom. And God said, don't look back.
And that's what he's saying to them. Don't return back. When you hear this kingdom of
God preaching, this kingdom of God that's within you, and this
kingdom of God that's the spiritual kingdom, don't try to go back
and get something else. You can't go into the kingdom
of God with nothing but yourself. And only Christ can put you in
that kingdom. He said, don't go back and try
to bring a bunch of stuff in it with you. You can't do that.
And remember what's life. He said, don't look back. And she, because she did look
back, she perished in her sins. Why was that? Because her heart
was still inside of her. She wasn't in the kingdom of
God. Kingdom of God wasn't within her. And I tell you something,
Lot and his wife is separated for eternity. And Lot, when he got to glory,
he don't even remember ever having a wife. But I tell you what, he had to
live the rest of his life without her. And look what our Lord said here,
talking about this kingdom of God, Christ's coming. Whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it. Go ahead and try to
save your life. Hang on to life like these folks
did. Just go on. Hang on to life. Hang on to what
you enjoy. Hang on to pleasure. Hang on
to world. Hang on to houses. Hang on to lands. Hang on to
jobs. As if that's all there is. But our Lord said, but whosoever
shall lose his life. Forget that stuff in the house.
Forget that stuff in the fields. You're following Christ. You're
after Christ. You're going to Christ. And who
loses his life, gives it up to the truth of God's words, to
its warning, to faith like Noah, to faith like Lot, our Lord Jesus
Christ said he'll save his life, his life will be preserved. And
oh my, and then when this day happens, and this is what happens
in the gospel even now, but there's going to be such a day of separation,
look what he says, what an awful day of separation. I tell you
in verse 34, I tell you in that night, there shall be two men
in one bed, two men. One's gonna be taken, the other's
gonna be left. One's gonna go to be with Christ,
one's gonna face the judgment. Just like when Noah went into
the ark, he was in the kingdom, he was saved. When Lot was taken out of Sodom,
Judgment fell on all the rest of them. And that's what our
Lord's saying here. Two women should be grinding
together. Oh, they're grinding that corn, grinding that, make
meal, gonna make some good cornbread. They'll be grinding together.
One will be taken. The other shall be left. Two
men should be out in the field working. One will be taken and
the other left. Left. Oh, my. And they said, Lord, and they
answered, and they said, Lord, where, Lord, where is this kingdom
at? What's going to happen in this
day? And he said, wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles
be gathered together. And wherever the body is, wherever
men say the body is, and this body means a corpse. This body
means a corpse. That people's gonna say the kingdom,
then they're gonna say, no, we don't have to worry about that,
the kingdom's over here. And it's a dead corpse. It's a dead
body. And there in the scriptures,
when it says eagles here, it's talking about vultures. And that's
what'll happen. People will run here in yonder,
and wherever they end up at, there'll be a bunch of vultures
eating on a corpse. And the kingdom of God will be
established forever in glory, God's people will be in it, and
then judgment's going to fall on everybody else. You know, it's like those ten
virgins. Oh, they all slumbered and slept.
Every single one of them slumbered and slept. But they heard the
voice of the bridegroom saying at midnight, arise, the bridegroom's
coming. Boy, the five jumped up and said,
oh boy. They had their lamps trimmed,
oil in their lamps, and they were burning. They, oh, they went out to meet
the bridegroom. Oh, it's a wonderful thing. My
bridegroom's coming. And there's other five. They
jumped up and said, boy, our oil, our lights, man, our lights
is out. They ain't got no oil in our
lamps. Our wicks ain't been trimmed. They run to the farm, give us
some of your oil. No, too late now. And then it says, and the
door was shut. And the door was shut. When's God gonna shut the door
on you? Huh? Maybe God does shut the
door on son. Maybe he's already shut it. Maybe he's already shut it. It'd be awful if he shut the
door on you, wouldn't it? He did it on a multitude of people. He did it in Noah's day, did
it in Lot's day, did it in his day, and he's gonna do it when
he comes again. Oh my, the door will be shut. Our blessed, blessed, most blessed,
glorious Savior, our Redeemer. Oh, blessed be your name. Lord,
we look for your coming, long for your coming, desire for you
to come. But Lord, while we're still yet
here, before you call us, for you take us out of this world
of sin and sorrow and grief and burdens and. We have people we love, people
we care about, people we pray for. We pray for our children,
our sons and our daughters. Pray for our grandchildren, our
great-grandchildren. Some men pay for their wives
and some wives pray for their husbands. Some people pray for their fathers
and their mothers. And Lord, as long as we have
breath, as long as you enable us, we'll continue to pray for
them. And we know that they are just
like us. We did all the things that those
other people did. But Lord, you made the difference. And we ask that you'd make a
difference as it pleases you. And we bring glory to you to
do that for Those we love, if it pleases you, and if it will
glorify you and bring honor to your holy name, that's what we
want. That's what we desire. And Lord,
we're like John, where you said, lo, I come quickly. And John
said, even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.