I titled my message this morning,
The Abomination of Desolation. That's what struck me as I read
through this 24th chapter of Matthew. He said, when you see
what the prophet Daniel prophesied come to pass, the abomination
of desolation, and Mark adds these words, when you see the
abomination of desolation standing in a place where it ought not. Where it ought not. Now, this
phrase abomination of desolation is a Hebrew expression. I'm told by the old writers who
studied their language and read their their rabbis and their
historians and all the things about the Jews, they tell me
that this phrase, abomination of desolation, is a Hebrew expression
and that it means hateful destroyer. That's what it means. When you
see the hateful destroyer standing in a place where it ought not.
Now, certainly this has to have respect to the Roman invasion
of Jerusalem, who came into the holy city of Jerusalem and came
even unto the temple of God and set up their idols within the
temple and worshipped and sacrificed to their gods. But I believe
it describes something infinitely more ungodly than that. In 2
Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul said in verse 3, let no man deceive
you by any means. For that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, above all that is worshipped, so that he
as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Now the abomination of desolation
standing in the place where it ought not is anti-Christ religion. That's what it is. Now if you
have time and you don't understand what I'm telling you this morning,
I'd be happy to sit down with you, but I don't have time this
morning in 45 minutes to take you and show you through the
prophets and throughout the New Testament that this is what this
is talking about. The abomination of desolation
is Antichrist religion. It stands in a place where it
ought not. And it's established in the hearts
and minds of men by the lies and deceit of the God of this
world. Verse 7, For the mystery, he
said, of iniquity doth already work. Only he that now letteth,
that is, the Spirit of God, will let, will restrain, until he
be taken out of the way. Who's going to take the Holy
Spirit of God out of the way? Huh? Satan ain't going to do
it. He's omnipotent, John. Who's going to take him out of
the way? Only he that now letteth will let until he be taken out
of the way. I'll tell you who's going to.
You read the rest of that chapter there in 2 Thessalonians. It'll
show you who takes him out. The Father takes him out of the
way. And then, verse 8, shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. This is
the work of the hateful destroyer, that old dragon, the devil. And his work is seen in the hearts
of men who follow after, promote, and preach his lies to men. In
Revelations chapter 20, if you want to turn over there, in this
last vision given to John, the book of Revelations contains
seven visions in all. Each vision represents the whole
work of Christ from his incarnation coming into this world until
his second coming. Each vision, it goes back and
it starts at the beginning and it covers that entire gospel
age all the way up to his second coming. Now if you try to read
the book of revelations, which some of you here has already
done and tried to interpret it by human reason, You closed the
book. You hardly made it out of chapter
3 and you closed the book. Because you don't understand
what he's talking about. It tells you in verse 1 what
he's talking about. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And it concerns those things
which must shortly come to pass. And he told that to John having
already sent it into glory. And he's going to tell John exactly
what he did. He's going to tell John what
he's doing right now. and what he's yet going to do.
That's what he's going to tell. And he tells it to him over and
over and over. He tells him in seven different
visions all the way through this book. But in this last vision
over here in Revelation 20, given to John of this gospel age, he
tells his beloved apostle of the ultimate victory over Satan,
over the beast and the false prophet. And then he tells him
something of the glory of the New Jerusalem. And this entire
gospel age is represented here. It's symbolic. Well, preacher,
you expect me to just take your words on that? It's like the
144,000. Anybody in here believe that
all God's going to save is 144,000? Then why would He use that number?
Because that number indicates a definite figure. God has an
elect people that He's going to save. How many of them is
He going to save? Every last one of them. How many are there?
I don't know. I don't know. But He uses that
definite number. And so He does here in Revelation
chapter 20. He uses this word thousand. A
thousand year reign. You hear that all the time in
these churches. They're talking about this pre-tribulation rapture
and then All the saints are caught up and float around in air up
there with him for a thousand years and then they come back
and all this. That's not what that word thousand, you can't
take that word literally any more than you can 144,000 or
the dragon or the beast or the harlot or anything else you talk.
It's all symbolic language all the way through this book. And
it's talking about this gospel age. You get that in your head
and then go back and read this book and it'll begin to make
some sense. And all these symbols, all these figures are revealed
in the Old Testament. They're established. Babylon.
Ain't that what he called it? Babylon. Whoa. Who knows what Babylon meant?
You got to go back to where Babylon was formed and find out what
he's talking about. And then you come back over here
in Revelations and then the Word makes sense to you. You go back
and find out who this old dragon was. And then you know who he's
talking about over here. And so on. It's symbolic just like the chain. Does anybody here believe that
Christ came down holding a big chain in His hand and had a key
in His hand and went over to the bottomless pit? No, it's
symbolic. This language is symbolic. Now
watch this here in Revelation 20 verse 1. And I saw an angel
come down from heaven having a key to the bottomless pit and
a great chain in His hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years. Now there's only one angel with
the power, means, and wisdom to bind Satan, and that is the
angel. That's the Son of God, the angel
of the everlasting covenant. Nobody else has the power to
bind him. Nobody else has the key to the
pit. That's His pit. And He holds
the keys. He holds the keys. By His representative appearance
on this earth, His life, His death, His ascension into glory,
Satan's power has been broken and is bound by the revelation
of Jesus Christ all through the gospel age. He's bound. He's bound. This thing has been
manifested. He said he didn't do it in a
corner, William. He did it right out where everybody can see it.
It's manifested. If our gospel be hid, it's not
because God hid it. It's because the God of this
world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. That's
the problem. That's the problem. His power has been broken, and
he's bound by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, as the
end of this gospel age draws near, Satan is again turned loose
in the earth. Now what's this? Revelation 20
verse 3. He bound him and he cast him
into this bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon
him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand
years should be fulfilled. And after that, now listen, He
must be loosed a little season. He must be loosed a little season. Verse 7. And when the thousand
years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and
shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth, Gog and Magog. Now that's not talking about
Russian China. For those of you who listen to
these idiots on there trying to interpret this book as prophecy. This is talking about the nations
of the world deceived by antichrist religion. That's what it's talking
about. Gog and Magog. You can go back to the book of
Ezekiel and learn it for yourself. All these nations of the world
under this evil influence, to gather them together to battle.
the number of which is as the sand of the sea. And they went
up on the breadth of the earth and encompassed the camp of the
saints about. And that beloved city and fire
came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the
beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and
night forever and ever. Brethren, I believe that we're
living in this little season. I believe that's the days in
which we live right now. This little season. This gospel
age has all but gone. And in these last days, in this
little season, the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Father's
divine purpose, came down and took the key and unloosed that
old dragon. and turned him loose on this
world. Turned him loose on this world. And he's gone out to deceive
the nations which are in all four corners of the earth. And
no man can say this for a certainty, but all that I see in the scriptures
indicate that these are those days of which he's talking about.
And if the Holy Spirit will be pleased to teach through me this
morning, I've got seven things that every believer should know
about the days in which we live. I can't tell a non-believer anything.
Only God can teach you. But I pray that God the Holy
Spirit will be pleased to teach you through me this morning these
seven things. Now the first thing that every
believer needs to know is that we live in an apostate religious
world. It's apostate. It don't know
God. It don't know God. It don't have
a clue who God is. They know nothing about His purpose,
nothing about the glory of His character. Everything they say
is a total denial of the character of God. I tell you this, when
you start to learn something about the character of God, these
things will become a mystery to you. How then can God? Job said, I know that God will
punish sin, but how's he going to show mercy? That's what I
want to know. How can that be? Well, you didn't
have any problem with that until you found out God was holy, God
was just. Then it become a mystery. How's
he going to show mercy to me? How can he do that and still
be God? How can he satisfy the perfection of his justice and
holiness and still show mercy to me? Don't we have to compromise
one or the other? No, God don't compromise. That's
where the mystery, that's where the mystery comes in. We live in an apostate religious
world. The New Testament teaches us
plainly that before the second coming of Christ, there'll be
a general and universal departure from the faith of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, completely, totally. Leave it. A day, he
told Timothy, when they will not endure sound doctrine. They won't have it. Won't have
it. You know, even in Paul's day,
he went into the synagogues and taught, you better not go in
one today. You find yourself by the trousers
being pitched out in the front parking lot. They're not going
to endure that today. 1 John chapter 4 and verses 1
through 3, it tells us plainly that men teaching a false gospel
concerning the person and work of Christ is what constitutes
the spirit of antichrist. This is, John said, that antichrist,
whereof you have heard that he should come. That's what this
is. That's what this is talking about.
And never before in the history of the world has so many churches,
organizations, groups, and individuals denied the gospel of Christ so
unanimously as they do in our day. I've read church history,
and you go back and show me an age anywhere from the beginning,
from the incarnation of Christ up to this day, when the world
as a whole were so unanimous under this Antichrist religion,
and all of them adapting those principles, all of them receiving
those principles to themselves, even governments. I tell you,
the President of the United States, whether he's a Muslim or whether
he's a so-called Christian, he can have anybody from any church,
the Catholic church, the Baptist church, the Nazarene church,
anybody can go up there and pray. If I went up there and prayed
a prayer, like I believe this gospel to teach, That'd be the
last time I ever got invited to the White House. It'd be the
end of it. Don't tell me governments don't
adapt these things. Sure they do. And they form their
laws around them. This is that Antichrist. And
every major religious organization, including those who are non-Christian
faith, Jews and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists, They all embrace
the major lies of antichrist religion. Salvation by man's
free will. Justification by man's works. Teaching that evil is in things
and not in you. Huh? That's right. God loves
the sinner and hates his sin. I'll tell you this. If you're
a sinner, God hates you. God hates you. The only way He
can love you is to make you righteous. You go back and read Ephesians
chapter 1. We were chosen in Christ. Isn't
that what He said? Let me read that to you real
quick over here in the book of Ephesians. Verse 4, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Huh? That's right. Talking about rewards for men's
works in heaven. They teach a system of reform
rather than regeneration and conversion. And they teach rewards
for men's work. No man can say for sure, but
our days have all the earmarks of that little season where Satan
has been loosed. There's only a remnant, as far
as I can tell, throughout the world who still believe and preach
the truth of God's sovereign grace in Christ. All the nations
of the world have been deceived and give assent to these lies
of antichrist religion, making especially the time in which
we live perilous times. Isn't that what the scripture
says? Listen to these scriptures. 1
Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly that in the latter times Some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain
from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth." 2 Timothy chapter
3, verse 1. This know that in the last days
perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of them own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, that is, no natural
affection for their fellow man or even for his own kin, truthbreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. That is, they
prefer the things that give them pleasure over the things of God. Having a form of godliness. Now wait a minute. I thought you were describing
men out in the world. I thought you were talking about
these heathen people. I ain't. having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. Verse 7, ever learning, never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth, verse 13, but evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. And then in John chapter 5, verse
43, the Lord said this to the Pharisees, He said, I am come
in my Father's name, and you receive me not. If another,
and they will. I just read it to you in Matthew.
I read it to you in Thessalonians. I read it to you in Timothy.
If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. But you won't receive me. I'm
here in my father's name. My father's verified my ministry
with miracles, wonders, and signs. He verified my ministry by the
teaching and prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures. And
he's declared who I am. He said, if I do not the works
of my father, then don't believe me. But he did. But if another comes in his own
name, That's who everybody scramble out after. They'll go after him. There never before in this age,
in this gospel age, been a time when this was fulfilled as it
is in our day. We're living in an apostate religious
world with Satan loose in the midst. All right? the state of this world. This
is what we need to know. We're living in the last day.
Even if it ain't this little season, it's so close to it,
it ain't funny. But I believe it's this season
because I see all the earmarks of it. You can't go down the
road a quarter of a mile without running into a church. Everywhere. Everywhere. Now, brethren, if
we was all saying the same thing, we'd all be meeting in one spot,
wouldn't we? I mean, within a distance, we would. They can't get along
at all. That church before long will
split and there'll be two more. And it'll split and there'll
be three more. And it'll just go on and on and on. I drove
between here and Bossier City the other day looking for two
churches with the same name and couldn't find one. Now every
last one of them had a different name. Promoting something different. Living in an apostate religious
world. And then secondly, we need to
know this, the state of this world is the result of God's
judicial reprobation. Who turned the devil loose? Huh? He was bound, he was in the pit,
and the lock was on. Who turned him loose? Did men
do that? Who turned him loose? The Son
of God. Why would he do that? Judgment. That's why. Judgment. Judgment. The state of this world is the
result of God's judicial reprobation. Old Ralph Barnard said way back
in the fifties, this is a reprobate age, an age that cannot be explained
apart from the judgment of God. There's no way to define it other
than that. It was Christ who Loose the chain
and unlock the pit. In 2 Thessalonians 2, it tells
us of the danger of hearing the truth and ignoring what you hear
in the light of this world's religion. 2 Thessalonians 2.11,
it says, And for this cause, what cause? Because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. For this
cause God shall send strong delusions that they should believe a lie,
and that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. They played games with God. They
heard the truth, and they heard it over and over and over, but
they wouldn't have it. They wouldn't have it. They read
it word for word in this book, but they wouldn't have it. The
Holy Spirit himself touched their hearts and pressed the guilt
on their consciences, but they wouldn't have it. Now, you can
read about that over in Proverbs chapter 1. I called, he said,
and you refused. You refused. And all men, including all nations,
are held accountable for their sins. In Psalm chapter 9, verse
19, it says, the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all
the nations that forget God. Turn them into hell. Thirdly,
and this is along the same lines as the second point I gave you,
I know that this whole reprobation of this world is the work of
God. Proverbs chapter 1, you can read
verses 23 through 31, it tells the awful story of man's reprobation
and why. But he sums it up down at the
end of the chapter. And he said, they would none
of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and
be filled with their own devices. If I understand the scriptures
correctly, this passage is teaching this, that God has sovereignly
turned loose Satan and his hellish religion to secure the damnation
of all those who receive not the love of the truth. That's
why He turned him loose. And that's what He's doing in
this world. If you think you can get away
from it, you're a fool. You're a fool. 2 Thessalonians 7 and 11 teach
us that the Holy Ghost withholds from them His restraints, and
God the Father sends them strong to delusion to believe Satan's
lies and wonders. This reprobation is of God. And
it's God's judgment. on men and women who won't have
the truth. Here's the fourth thing we need
to know about these days in which we live. How do I identify these ministers
of Satan? Preach, ain't you being kind
of rough? Huh? Ain't you being a little
judgmental calling these men ministers of Satan? Well, let's
see what the Scriptures say. Let's see what the Scriptures
say. I want you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11. I want
to show you in the Scriptures that this is how and what they
are called and how they are identified. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers... Ain't that what that says? The same ones who transformed
themselves are called down there his ministers. It's no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness. whose end shall be according
to their works. They're his ministers. They're
deceived by him, transform themselves according to his doctrine, and
preach his lies. And there's three identifying
characteristics of these false prophets. The first is lying
wonders. Lying wonders. That is, pretending
to have and to give apostolic gifts and perform miracles. Secondly,
there's false motivation. Look at the motive. What's the
actor? What's the actor? Listen to this,
2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. There should be false prophets
also among the people even as there should be false teachers
among you who privately bring in damnable heresies even denying
the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Now watch this. And many shall
follow their pernicious ways. You know what pernicious means?
I'm going to give you an English lesson this morning. Pernicious,
it means deadly or fatal. That's what it means. Pernicious
ways, deadly, fatal teaching. By reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness. Ain't
that what they're saying? Through covetousness shall they
with pained words, pretense of words, make merchandise of you. That's their motive, covetousness. They're known by their pretense
of miracles and they're known by their false motives. And then
thirdly, they're known by their enticing message of words. He
represents these as harlots in Proverbs. Every false prophet in the world
is known by this. He'll always mix something, somewhere,
somehow to the work of Christ. Write it down. And you'll be
going along good. And old Jay Wembley said one
time, he said rat poison's 99% good food. It's the 1% that drops
you dead. Rats wouldn't eat it if it was
all poison. They eat it because it appears to be good food, but
it's deadly. It's deadly. Every false prophet
in the world is known by this. He will always mix something,
somewhere, somehow to the work of Christ. In that chapter I
quoted from a while ago in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3, Paul said, I
fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Now that word simplicity don't
mean simple. Doesn't mean easy. That's not
what he's talking about there. It means singleness. Lest your
mind the way... Think of the singleness in the
garden. They looked to God and God gave them everything. Everything
they needed, everything their hearts could decide. But Satan,
he beguiled them by making them think God was withholding something
for them that was good for them. Hath God surely said? I'll tell
you what he said. God just knows in the day you
eat this fruit, you'll be like Him. You'll be like Him. That's
the way Satan draws men away. Paul said, I fear that He'd come
along and remove you from that singleness that is in Christ,
sufficiency of Christ. Everything God has for sinners
was given to them by way of eternal blessing in Christ before the
foundation of the world. And everything God required from
the sinner was accomplished by Christ in his life and death.
Everything God promises to the sinner is made sure to him by
the resurrection of Christ. And everything that God reveals
to the sinner is revealed in Christ. Everything God gathers
in the last day, He'll gather in Christ Jesus. So that Christ
is all in all. That's the simplicity of Christ.
Don't let Satan beguile you and draw you away from that. Boy,
they just got such good music over there. Yeah, but listen
to what they're singing about. Christ is all in all. Any man
who preaches conditional grace, that is grace conditioned by
the works of a man, is a messenger of Satan. You're to avoid him,
don't even bid him good day. You see him coming down the road,
get on the other side. Leave him alone. That's what
our Lord said. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. Salvation is conditioned by the
work of Christ alone. He's our Savior. And salvation
is by God's free grace through faith, not of works, lest any
man should vote. All right. Fifthly, and I'll
hurry. In these perilous times, God's saints have great cause
for thanksgiving. You need to know that. Think
about where you're at. Think about what these days are.
Think about the untold millions who blinded to the grace of God. And here we are over here in
the middle of nowhere and God gathered us together in this
little assembly while the millions out there are being deceived.
I think at the very least we ought to come into this place
thankful, don't you? Why is it so hard to bow our
heads and thank God? Huh? Thank Him for the food we
eat and the water we drink. Thank Him for His watchfulness
over us, His preservation of us, and all the blessed promises
that He made real to us. Huh? And for His Son. Over here in II Thessalonians
2.13, having set before the church the absolute reprobation of the
world, Paul goes on and says this in verse 13, but we're bound
to give thanks. There's a little old group over
here and everybody else in that whole nation over here bowing
down to them little fat Buddhas and stuff. Here they are. There's a little tiny group over
here that Paul witnessed too. Run out of town. They run him
out of town. Not this group, but people in
the city. They didn't like it. They run
him out of town. He sent Timothy back there. to comfort them.
And here they are. He said, oh, He said, but we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. For God
hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of His Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He goes on down, verse 16, he
said, Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father,
which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation
and a good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good word and work. Listen to this. This is a part
of next week's Sunday School lesson. In Ephesians 5.18, He
said, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled
with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God in the
Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're here
this morning and you've been called out of darkness and apostasy,
of this world, how thankful you ought to be. Huh? Oh, thank God. Thank God. I don't care if there
ain't but four of you come in here. Thank God. I'm kind of like that old missionary.
He preached over in Burma for ten years without a convert and
finally one fella made a profession of faith and the young minister,
his helper that was with him, he said, Brother, he said, we've
been here for 10 years and we've only had one convert. He said,
we had one? He said, let's stay another 10.
Be thankful. Be thankful. All right, here's
the sixth thing. And I'm telling you, we give
thanks for all things unto God. We need to be thankful. We need
to be thankful. The sixth thing every believer
needs to know about these last days, these evil days, these
trying times, is that they put us in a place of great responsibility. I tell you, there's responsibility.
I don't know if we really enter into it. I don't know if I do.
I keep saying we and you and everything. I'll just put it
on me. I don't know if I really understand that. What kind of responsibility?
They're just a remnant in this world. And God himself has turned
Satan loose on this world. Our Lord, he who is in charge
of poverty and all things, came down with a chain and unhooked
the chain and unlocked the pit and turned him loose. And yet
he preserves us here on this earth. Why? Why? Because he has a work and we're
involved in it. And I tell you, there's a great
responsibility laid on us to do this work. It just makes me
want to buckle down all the more. Think about it. Think about how
near his coming is and what a great responsibility and what a great
privilege this responsibility is that he's left to us. Preach
the word. That's what Paul told Timothy.
Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when men
will not endure sound doctrine. but after their own lusts will
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And I'm telling
you this, we're few and far between that know and preach the gospel
of God's free grace. And I just feel a weight of necessity
laid on me in these evil times to do everything in my power
to warn men about these days. Don't you think when that day
approached after 120 years, Don't you think Moses' preaching was
a little more intense at the end of that time than when he
first started? He knew God wasn't going to do anything until that
ark was almost complete. And as that ark began to complete
and take its shape and take its form and the end was in view,
I think his preaching got more and more intense. And I tell
you, all things are complete in Christ. He's our ark. He's
ascended into glory. And I'm telling you this, we're
in that tiny little season just before he comes on clouds of
glory. And then lastly, and I want to
end this on a positive note, we need to know as believers
in these last days that there's no cause for alarm. He's given us in the 20th chapter
of Revelation, He lets us read the end of the book. Huh? He lets us read the end of it.
Here's what's going on. He gives us the picture. The
armies have surrounded us. They're encamped all around the
camp of the children of God. They're encamped all around you.
There's a huge force waiting to pounce on you, trying to destroy
you. There's not a church in this
place who knows what we believe that don't turn a thumbs down
on us. Not one. Now you just deceived if you
think they're over there praying for you and hoping something
will, uh-uh. No, they're going to turn thumbs
down on you. They're encamped around us, ready
to pounce on the children of God. That old Satan and his antichrist
religion has run rampant throughout the earth. And there's overwhelming
odds against these little pockets, these little churches. You go
back to that first vision of John, and you'll see that Christ
stood among the churches. He stood among the candlesticks.
And this is how he stands from that day till he comes to get
us again. He's standing in their midst,
and that's the only reason they survive. His presence and His
power is on those little assemblies. And the enemies ganged up all
around and they're ready to pounce like a lion. They're going to
pounce on the church of the living God. But you know what He said?
The gates of hell should not prevail against my church. And
I'm going to do it. And just about the time they're
ready to pounce on them, the fire is going to fall from heaven.
Ain't that what it says there? And devours Him. And the same one who loosed Him
from the pit is going to put the chain on Him again and put
Him back in the pit and turn the key. And this time He stays
there forever. Now you read that chapter and
see if that's not what that is. I tell you, that comforted Him
to me. I don't know what that does for
you, but that comforts me. Brethren, we're already heirs. Already. We're seated with Him
in the heavens. We already had the victory in
Christ. That's encouraging to me. That's
good news. That's good news. While the thousands
and thousands and thousands are going into perdition, my Lord
preserves and protects me, walks among us. He reigns from his
throne in glory, and not even Satan can resist his authority
and power. The victory is like a story already
told. Old Israel, cowered in fear, having gone
into Canaan, and seen the giants, and seen the walled cities, and
seen their armies. And they cowered in fear. And
old Caleb said to the congregation, when he heard what they said,
old Caleb stood up He preached to the congregation. And he said,
let's go up right now. Let's don't even wait. Let's
go. Let's go at once and possess it. If the Lord delight in us,
he'll bring us into this land and give it to us. Our enemies
are but bread to be eaten. That's what he told them. They're
just bread on the table. All their defense is departed
from them, for the Lord is with us. Oh, I tell you, if we could
just believe We already possess heaven's glory. We have the earnest
of it in our hearts and minds. Huh? It's ours. It's ours. Fear not in these last days. Fear not. Christ still sits on
the throne. Somebody asked Henry one day,
he said, Brother Mahan, he said, you still believe you're saved?
He said, well, I said, I don't know. He said, is Christ still
on the throne? If he's still on the throne, I've still got
assurance. I've still got assurance.