I'd like for you to turn back
with me this morning to Mark chapter 13. I hope you were paying attention
as I read through this chapter. I'm not going to go back over
it. But I'm going to use verse 33 as my text. Now let me say some things before
I get back to this. The Bible says, without fear
of controversy, without making allowances for unseen events
or circumstances, that Jesus Christ our Lord is coming again. He's coming again. It doesn't
say He might come. It says He cometh. He cometh. Well, preacher, why select the
Bible as a basis of this fact? Well, because it's the Word of
God, the foundation for all that we believe concerning God and
the salvation of our soul. That's why it's important to
me. When I ask the congregation to turn with me to a certain
such a chapter or I simply give you the reference of what I'm
quoting to you, or a portion that I've used to quote to you.
Most generally, I give you the book and the chapter and the
verse. I want you to turn to it and look at it. This is the,
what I have to say doesn't amount to a hill of beans compared to
what, if God's not saying this, then what I'm saying means nothing. It's the Word of God and the
foundation for all that we believe concerning God. And well, preacher,
I just thank God. That ain't how it's done. You go in this book and then
talk to me about who God is. Paul was so convinced of this
fact that when he was talking to his countrymen, he said, let
God be true and every man lie. Let's just start there, you see.
Let God be true, regardless of what you think, regardless of
what your daddy taught, regardless of what your great-grandmother
taught. It doesn't make any difference, regardless of what the Baptists
have to say. Let God be true and every man
lie. If God establishes a thing, it's
worthy to be believed. You can rest on it. You can find
peace in it. You can find hope in it. But
what men say, it changes constantly. Constantly. And then secondly,
because the Word of God has never failed in its prophecies. In Deuteronomy 18, verses 19-22, God gave the people a way to
know who was God's prophet and who was not. He said, When a
prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow
not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath
not spoken. This man hath spoken that of
himself. You don't have to fear that man.
If every prophecy of God's prophet does not come to pass, he's not
God's prophet. I heard a fellow on TV talking
the other day about the Bible. And he was talking about Nostradamus
in particular. But he said, the Bible has a better percentage
of prophecies coming to pass than these men. Nostradamus and some of these
other men. My friend, the Bible does not have a good success
in its prophecies. It has a perfect record. It is
not high up on the list. It is at the top. And God said,
if any of these things do not come to pass, that is not my
prophet. That is not my prophet. No prophecy of the Scripture
has ever failed to come to pass. So when I tell you that the Bible
says Jesus Christ is coming back, He's coming back. You can believe
it. And you need to. The Word of God will never be
proven wrong concerning the second coming of Christ. Nearly 2,000
years ago on a mountain called Olivet, 11 disciples gathered
together with their Lord and they watched Him ascend into
heaven. It doesn't say how He did it.
But I just, in my own mind, kind of see Him just leave the gravity
of this world and begin to rise up into the sky. And it said
He was received into the clouds by His angels And he ascended
up out of their sight, and they were still standing looking up
into the clouds. And when they come to themselves,
there was two men, one standing on one side and one on the other,
both of them dressed in white apparel. And they said, you men
of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? That same one
that was taken up for you is coming back. He's coming back. So go be about his business.
You go do what he told you to. He's coming back. This is not
it. It ain't over yet. He shall so come in like manner
as you've seen him go into heaven. Our Lord said to those same men
just a short time before, He said, I go to my father's house
to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I'll come again. I'll come again. In all my soul,
I receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. Seers and self-proclaimed prophets
arise from time to time with predictions of His coming. They said He's going to come
at a certain time. But you know what always accompanies that?
Sell your house and send me the money." Somewhere along the line. We're
all going to pack up, you sell your house and bring it in, give
it to me, and we're all going to Guyana. Seers and self-proclaimed prophets
arise from time to time with predictions of His coming, saying
He's going to come at a certain time, saying He's going to appear
there. They're going to rebuild the
temple. Over in Jerusalem, they're going to rebuild that temple
and Christ is going to appear inside that temple. Our Lord assures us that of that
day knoweth no man, not the angels, not the Son, but the Father alone. And religion in general talks
about a secret return and rapture of the saints. They're going
to be driving the IC bumper stickers on cars all the time. If this
car is vacant going down the road, the occupant was raptured. They talk about the secret coming. Planes with no pilots, trains
with no engineers, ships with no captains. And then a period following that
called the tribulation for a thousand years and then the end of the
world. Some talk about a rebuilding of the temple. And upon its completion
that Christ will appear within much the way he occupied the
old tabernacle in the Old Testament and filled it with this yakina
glory and all of that. But what do we really know about
his second coming? I know this. According to the
scriptures, it'll be unmistakable. You're not going to go back home
wondering about who those people were in them cars and what happened
to them cars. That's not how it's going to
be. Let God be true in every man's life. You go read it for
yourself in the scriptures. Our Lord said, if they, these
false Christs and false prophets, if they say unto you, behold,
he's in the desert, He said, don't waste your time. Don't
waste your time. Behold, he's in his secret chambers. He's going to appear in the temple.
He said, believe it not, Matthew 24, verse 27, for as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be." John said, Behold, he cometh with clouds, now listen,
and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him,
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. His
coming will be absolutely unmistakable. Matthew 25, 31. He said, when
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And
before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
What do I know about His second coming? I know it is gloriously
unmistakable. When He comes, it's not going
to be like His first coming. It's not going to be in a cradle
over in Bethlehem. It's not going to be just a few
gathered around to see Him. Every eye is going to see Him. And I know this about His second
coming. It's going to be sudden. People talk about a thousand
years when unbelievers will pass through this state of great tribulation
and trouble, and if they can hold out to the end, they'll
be saved and all this kind of nonsense. It's going to be sudden.
Sudden. 1 Corinthians 15.52, In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound. And I want you to, I'm going
to stop and pause here for just a second. You know what that
trumpet is? Everywhere I've ever heard it
read, it means the gospel. The gospel is going to sound
one last time, and it's all over. All over. In a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound. And the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed over a thousand years." No. In the
twinkling of an eye. What else do I know about His
coming? I know this, it'll mark the end of this gospel age. Oh, may the Holy Spirit press
what I'm about to say. on your heart and consciences. When our Lord appears this next
time, it will mark the completion of
His redemption and the end of the day of mercy. It's over. No more lust. No more gospel. No more warning. No more opportunities. I know a lot of people who believe
in sovereign grace don't like to talk about opportunities,
but I'll tell you, I can't explain it, but I'll tell you what the
Lord said about it over in Proverbs. He said, I stretched out my arms
and you regarded it not. Is that an opportunity? That's
exactly what it is. No more opportunities. No more
light. No more means. No more spirit of grace. No more
intervention in the lives of sinners. It's the end. It's the end. Upon the return
of Christ, the days of grace will have reached its highest
end. The elect of God will receive a bodily resurrection and stand
fully justified, fully glorified, fully sanctified before God their
Savior. And they'll sit with Him. They'll
sit with Him upon His throne and justify His judgment of this
world. and even of them of their own
household, they'll say hallelujah, amen. True and righteous are
his judgments. And I'm going to tell you something.
If you can't say it here right now, you ain't going to say it
there. You're going to get on God's side in this thing of justification
and condemnation. And I know this about His second
coming, time shall be no more. What is time? What time is it? What is time? Time is a, I can't even tell
you how small a portion it is, but it's just a tiny piece of
eternity. But though it be insignificant
in its span, yet God has purposed in this tiny little space of
time to manifest his glory in the salvation of sinners. Time. In the light of eternity, it
says, and unto our God, who is an eternal being, it said a thousand
years is as of a day, and a day a thousand years. Time is not
relevant except as it is limited by certain events and circumstances
which God has marked to manifest His glory. And when Christ, who
is the angel of the covenant, no other angel is going to descend
out of heaven with a rainbow over his head. That's Christ. That's the angel of the covenant. He's going to descend out of
heaven and He's going to put one foot on the land and one
up on the sea and declare, time shall be no more. He's not saying
that this little piece of eternity is going to disappear. He's saying
the time of grace is over. Oh, my soul. No matter how far down into the
pit you sought, no matter what you said or done, there is now. You hear me? Now. Not tomorrow. Not tomorrow. Not after a while. There is now. Right now. Today. There is at
the right hand of God a Savior who is willing and able to forgive
your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If you can believe on Him and
look to Him and acknowledge Him as your Savior and Lord. Listen to this, this is the will
of Him that sent me, Christ said. that everyone which seeth the
Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up when at
the last day. Now, it's coming. It's coming. And if it doesn't get here in
your lifetime, you'll still experience the end of your time when you
die. Either way. Pointed unto men wants to die,
and after this, the judgment. So whether you wake up at the
eternal judgment or whether you die in your sins in this world,
either way, you're going to wake up in judgment. You're not going
to get out of it. That day is coming. I can't explain
to you how fast it's coming. It's coming. It's coming so fast. at the first promise of the first
coming of Christ, 4,000 years before he came, fresh off his
lips to our mother Eve. At the birth of her very first
son, she said, I've forgotten the man. Here he is. He's here.
They looked for it as though it was going to come any second,
4,000 years before he came. It's been 2,000 years since his
death. how much longer you figure you
got. This day's coming. I'm telling you, the Bible's
never failed in prophecy. So you sitting around, some of
you young people thinking, well, I think the whole thing going
to be proven a hoax one of these days. They're gaining ground
on it in science and that. You don't gain no ground on something
with a perfect record. And of these things, these great
and glorious things, our Lord commands us to do three things
in the light of that day that's approaching. In the light and
impact of what it means, He commands us to do three things. Mark chapter
13, verse 33. Take ye heed. Watch and pray. Let's look at these three things
and see if the Lord will open them up to us. First of all,
He tells us, take heed. What does that mean? That's old
language. I don't know what we use today
in its place. My dad used to use a little phrase,
Had them glasses out on the end of his nose and he'd say, take
care. I knew exactly what that meant. I'd straighten up and quit doing
whatever I was doing to aggravate him. Here he says, take heed. Take heed. It means to attend
with great care. It means to give careful attention. It means an earnest contemplation. It means to listen as though
your life depended on it. Take heed. Take heed. Take heed to what? Take heed
to who it is that is speaking to you. In this particular place over
here in Mark chapter 13, it was the Lord Himself. The Christ
of God, the Son of God incarnate in human flesh doing the speaking. This was Emmanuel, God with us. And I'm going to tell you something,
and you do whatever you want to. All through this gospel age,
God has appointed, gifted, and sent ambassadors to bring the
message of His Son to chosen sinners. It's just so. That's what the Bible declares. And again, let God be true in
every man's life. He sends them there not only
to call out the chosen sinners of God and bring them to repentance,
but to warn men of the impending doom that is about to fall on
them. Luke 10, verse 16. The Lord sent out 70 men out
to speak for Him. And this is what He told them.
He that heareth you, heareth Me. This is the first thing. This
first thing, you're going to have to figure it out. Here's
the first thing. Who's telling me to take heed? Is this just another preacher
or is this God's ambassador? Is this just another man with
another opinion, another doctrine, another religion? Who is this
man that's talking to me? He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despises you, despises me. And he that despises
me, despises him that sent me. And if you'll read about the
ministry of Christ, I believe you'll see that His gospel was
not received any better than ours. They didn't pay any more
attention to Him than they do to me. That's just so. I have a station, a calling,
an official title, if you will, to stand before you in that capacity
and bring to you the message of the King. Take heed to who's speaking. How do I know that you're the
ambassador of Christ? Get you a Bible. They don't cost
that much. Go down to the bookstore and
buy one. Take it home and read it. Follow along as I preach
to you and see what I'm telling you. See if this is the Word
of God. Take special heed to who's speaking
to you and who he's speaking of. God's ambassadors preach Christ.
Don't preach anything else. I don't have anything else to
say. No man can minister the things
of God to you apart from Christ because all of His blessings
are given in Christ. I'm a carpenter. I can fix your
house, but that's like putting a band-aid on cancer. It's not
going to help you. I can't minister you even a single
blessing of God without preaching Christ to you. That's why I throw
all that stuff out the window. Let's just go to the source.
Let's go to the mother lode. Let's go over here at the spring,
at the fountainhead. Christ. No man can minister to you the
things of God apart from Christ because all His blessings were
given in Him. It's an illusion. I hope you'll
hear me. It's an illusion to believe that
a man is ministering to your soul who's not preaching Christ. That's an illusion. I don't care
how many hospitals he's built or orphanages he's started or
houses he's built and give to the poor. In Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in
Him. Are you sick? He's the physician. And let me tell you something,
you waste your money on the rest of them just like that woman
did with the issue of blood. You waste your whole living on
it if you don't care. He's the physician. Are you sick?
Go to him first. Go to him first. Are you hungry? Oh, I'm the bread. He said, I'm
the bread. Are you confused? He's the truth. Are you blind? He opens the eyes
of the blind. You say, well, I have no leadership.
He's the shepherd. Are you dead? He's the resurrection. Are you condemned? He's the justifier. Are you a guilty sinner? If we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Preacher, don't you believe we
need to help those with physical need? Well, sure I do. I'm not
going to let a man stand outside my door hungry. If I know about
it, I'm going to feed him. But I can't minister the blessings
of God to him through that food. The only way I can minister the
blessings of God to him is to preach to him. Preach to her. My friend, the Son of God has
come into this world and fully accomplished the redemptive will
of God. He put away all the sins of God's
elect, and by His representative obedience, clothed us with a
perfect righteousness. And having accomplished our redemption,
He ascended back into glory, into heaven itself. And the Scripture
said, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Why did He
go? To obtain eternal redemption
for us. He went beyond the veil as our
High Priest. He ascended into glory itself,
into heaven itself. And unto them that look for Him.
He is coming back. Just like that high priest came
out of that tabernacle with his hands raised to bless the people,
our Lord will return one day without sin unto salvation. And
this present age and this world, as we know it by His Word, is
now being kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. God keeps this world in
long suffering toward His elect, not willing that any of them
should perish, but that all of them should come to repentance.
That is 2 Peter 3, verses 6 through 10. I recall several years ago seeing
some amateur videos. They recorded that 2011 tsunami
that hit Japan. I don't know if any of you saw
any of those or not. But one showed a bunch of folks
walking next to an inlet. They weren't too far in off the
ocean. And they were walking down this inlet. It was in the
morning time and kids were going to school and some of us old
folks like we do got up and went out for a little stroll, get
a little sun in the morning. They were out there walking down
the street. The crossing guards was out with their little thing
going, letting people cross and all this. And all the people
were standing next to this inlet, and there was about as high as
this railing here, a concrete barrier over this big canal. And they were looking down, and
there wasn't an ounce of water in it anywhere. Totally dry. And they were all just talking
and pointing and looking at this phenomenon that had happened,
and they were looking down in there, and after about four or
five minutes, One of the videos spanned over one direction, and
you could see about six or eight foot of water coming down that
canal. That canal was 40 feet deep. All the boats that were tied
up along the edges were laying down on that sandy bottom. And
here come this water, and it come rushing in, and of course,
being in a surge like it was, it just smashed those boats into
each other, and they were flipping over, and everybody was oohing
and aahing and watching the boats. watching all this damage and
watching this water and all of a sudden the tsunami sirens
went off. And yet they continued to watch,
just amazed by what they were seeing. They continued to watch
and then the inlet water began to rise. and it turned pitch
black. The water did. It was just pitch
black in color. And it was filled with debris.
And still, they were amazed. And standing there, little school
kids and cops and everybody, they're all standing there looking
over the side, looking at this water. Pretty soon, it was up to the
bottom of that little three foot. Now, 40 foot of water was roaring
surge coming through there, had rooftops of houses and cars with
their lights on. You could see people in the cars,
and they're bobbing down this torrent just going. And still
they stood there looking. They could reach over the wall
and touch the water. And the waves in that thing were just
amazing. It looked like you were standing
in the forewaters of Niagara Falls or something, watching
all this stuff come down through here. And still they stood there
and looked. And the cops came over to them and said, started
pointing to a motel that was in the background and pointing
up to the siren. Don't you hear the siren? Don't
you hear the warning? They still stood there. When
the water got about halfway up on that seawall, it dawned on
them, and they took off running. It's too late. Too late. Many
of them didn't make it. They didn't make it. Our Lord said of His return,
as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. For in the days that were before
the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving
in marriage. until the day Noah entered into
the ark." Now listen, "...and knew not." They knew not until
the flood came and took them all away. He's coming back. He's coming back. What can I
do about it? Take heed! You see where he's
coming from? Take heed! Listen! You don't come here to be entertained.
I'm not up here to entertain you. If I were, I'd have a band. I'd get some big wigs to come
in here. I'd get some movie stars and singers to come in here and
talk to you. I'm not up here to entertain
you. I'm up here trying to tell you the siren's going off. Here's the water, here's the
flood. Don't you see the people being swept away by the men of
perdition in this world, wickedness and false religion? It's carrying
them away, whole houses of them carried away in the torrent.
The sirens going off. And still you're standing looking
with bewilderment and unbelief. Take heed. And then he tells
us this, secondly, he said, watch. What does that mean? That means
look. It means look. Look around you. Look around you. One of the video
clips of that tsunami was taken from a hillside overlooking a
town. Kathy and I watched this one
together. In the background, you could see this monumentous
wave, this big, it's not really a wave. A tsunami is like a two-mile
section of water in the ocean that's raised up 50 feet and
it's coming at you. And you could, over top of that
town, you could see this big black wave coming in, towered
above the city. And in the middle of the city,
you could look and there was cars and they were stopping at
red lights and driving and Going about their business, going to
the store, going to school, going wherever they was going, going
to work, going to the grocery store. They was just driving. All they had to do was look. All they had to do was look. Even closer in the video was
the field. Some did look. Some heard the
siren, and some were fleeing for higher ground. And they were
coming across there, and there was some old folks and cripples,
and they were just basically dragging a wheelchair and a man
across that field trying to get him and hear this thing coming.
And by now, it's into the buildings, and it just, the buildings are
just disintegrating under the power of that big wave. Evidently,
it was just right on the ocean. And some of them made it up the
hill to safety, and everybody on the hill was scared to go
down, and still they were coming, and this man finally, this old
cripple had made it to the bottom of the hill, and they just left
him there. And then two of the guys up on the hill just couldn't
stand it, and they ran down, and they just basically picked
the man up out of his wheelchair and began to try to run back
up that slope, and they was in four feet of water when they
got the man to the top. You know, he talks about the
preaching of the gospel to some is like pulling men out of the
fire. Same thing. A condemnation of judgment that's
leaving men and women as reprobates is engulfing this world in its
deceits and lies. But there's hope in Christ so
long as this age is preserved. It's a day of mercy. It's a day
of grace. Look at what's going on in this
world. Look at what's going on in your
heart. I was talking to Luke outside. We were talking about
cancer. And I said, when they diagnosed
Kathy, they basically told her she was dead. And we immediately start, well,
what about if we do this? But you know something? Once you accept the fact you're
dead, everything else is good news. Isn't it? It's good news. Now, they do
have a radiation. Oh, that's good news. They got
some chemo, and we can push that out. Went out from, what was
it, six months? Went out to 18 months. Boy, that's
good news. Well, you come and tell a well
man he's got 16 months to live, that ain't good news. It is to
a dead man. You know what God tells you from
the scripture? You're dead. And when He opens your heart
to understand that and embrace that and justify Him in it and
say, you're right, I am. I'm dead. I'm born in sin. I
come forth from the womb speaking lies. I can't do anything. I'm
dead. Everything else from that day
forward is good news. Oh, I tell you, election will
take on a whole new light. You mean He hasn't elected? You
mean somebody's going to be spared? You mean it might be me? He has gospel preachers' lives
given to the gospel? Oh, I want to hear it. And where's
he at? Everything's good news from that point on. Look. Watch. That's what our Lord said. This
is the day of grace. So look. Look. And just like I told you a while
ago, when talking about listening, as though your life depended
on it, look as though your life depended on it, because it does.
It does. And then here's the third thing.
Pray. What does that mean? That means
call on Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the throne of glory. All power in heaven and earth
has been given unto Him. In Him alone can a dead sinner
live. In Him alone can a member of
Adam's race be an heir of God. Looks like you called on Him,
man, don't it? Huh? Boy, I tell you right here, right
now, If you thought that you were in trouble and this is going
on, that's going on, if you thought this man could help you, you'd
mortgage your house, you'd sell everything you had, go hire this
man to help you. If you thought he could. Here's
one who can. And nobody called on him. Isn't
that something? Nobody called on him. You will
if you know who he is. You will when you learn what's
coming on you. You will when He opens your eyes
to see the condemnation of this world and what's going on. You
call on Him then. Call on Him whose glorious person
is the power to make us sons of God. Oh, may the Lord be pleased
to enable every one of us right now, not tomorrow, not after
a while, not somewhere down the road, but to call on Him. Call
on Him. A preacher, I come in my heart
cold. Call on Him. Call on Him. The Spirit of God is here at
His request. Did you know that? That's His
gift. The Spirit of God is the Ascended
Lord's gift. And He's sent here to take the
things of Christ and show them to you. What can I do? You can call on Him. Call on
Him. And then you can listen. You
can listen. And you can take heed. And you
can look. Huh? Those three words. Take heed. Watch. And pray.