Particularly religious men and
women, but even men and women who don't have any particular
interest in religion will talk to you or listen to you talk
about prophecy. You give him a chance to meet
some drunk on the street and he'll talk to you about that
day when the moon's going to be turned into blood and sun's
going to cease to shine. Talk to you about what's happening
in Israel. All these are signs of the times. I'm talking about
some fellow, he's a drunk, he can't stand up. Well, it's just
the signs of the times. Everybody's interested in prophecy.
If we were to advertise that next week I'm going to be giving
prophetic seminars explaining the times in which we live. It
wouldn't take much to pack out this building and get folks to
come listen. How come? How come? Because the world has
been duped into thinking that the kingdom of God and the coming
of Christ has nothing to do with the here and now. And when you
think about things prophetic, And Christ the King and the kingdom
of God and the coming of Christ. You're talking about future things.
So you put that off and it has no real bearing on your life
right now. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Now I want to talk to you this
evening about the kingdom of God. And I want you to listen
very carefully and attentively follow through the scriptures
as I do so. At the outset, let me state emphatically
that almost everything you hear preachers say on radio and television
about the Kingdom of God is totally false. And when I say totally,
I've got that word underscored in my mind. Totally false. Almost everything that you read
in the Popular books that are sold in religious bookstores
about the kingdom of God. Hal Lindsey has made himself
a millionaire, multi-millionaire. Late great planet Earth. Satan
is alive and well on the planet Earth. It's all fiction. And I'm being real nice when
I call it fiction. It's totally, totally, totally without foundation
in this book. You get your Bible that's got
study notes, study Bibles. Folks want to get a good study
Bible, don't get one, just get one that's got the Bible in it.
Want to study Bible, got notes in it. Whatever the notes say
about the kingdom of God and most everything else is just
dead wrong, just dead wrong. This you can be sure of with
regard to anything a man does in religion. If he's making money
on it, his message is not God's message. If he's getting rich
on it, his work is not God's work. I don't care who he is,
I don't care what he has to say. And if what I have to say to
you this evening in this message is not verified by the word of
God, no, I'll go further than that. If what I have to say to
you this evening with regard to God's kingdom does not arise
directly from the word of God, That is, if what I'm saying to
you about God's kingdom is not what you read in this book with
your eyes, you'll account what I say religious tomfoolery and
don't listen to me either. We have a world full of religious
tomfoolery, men and women who got a notion that they understand
everything about the word of God. They've got it all figured
out and they're quick to tell you about it and quick to get
your money so they go tell somebody else about it. Listen to what
the book says about God's kingdom. Now let's open our Bibles to
Luke 17. Our text will be verses 20 through 25. Let's see what God the Son has
to say about the kingdom of God. It ain't near as complicated
as folks think it is. Luke 17, 20. And when he was
demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said, the kingdom of God comes 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 his disciples,
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. You desire to see one of the
days of the son of man. And they come and say, here he
is, there he is. See here, see there. Go not after them, nor
follow them. Verse 24. For as the lightning
that lighteneth out of one part under heaven shineth unto the
other 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. Now let's look at
these six verses line by line just as they're given. We read
first that our Lord Jesus was demanded of the Pharisees when
the kingdom of God should come. Now whenever the Pharisees asked
our Lord a question about anything, their motive was always evil. It was always evil. They never
asked him a single thing in order to learn something. They asked
him things in order to entrap him. They asked him things so
that they might find an excuse for accusing him of some evil.
They asked him things so that they might hear him say something
which they could seize upon and rend out of his context and deride
him for his doctrine. We have lots of folks just like
them all around us. They don't ask questions to learn,
they ask questions so that they can show you up. They ask questions
so that they can show you what they know, or they ask questions
so that they can get you in a trap and get you to say something
that they can take out of context and deride the gospel of God's
grace. But here, these Pharisees went even further. They demanded
Him. It's a strong word. They demanded
Him. What arrogance, what presumption,
what hellishness of heart is exposed when sinful men dare
to demand anything from the God of glory. And yet these men who
make this demand upon the Son of God profess themselves to
be the only ones who really worship God. Do you recall a few years
ago when that Harrikin was going up the East Coast and Pat Robertson
got on television and he wrestled with God. We're going to stop
this thing. I command you in the name of
Jesus not to come here. And then took credit because
it didn't come to Virginia. Oh, that's great faith. That's utter
blasphemy. Well he didn't command God, whose
dust is that? Does he have his way in the whirlwind? Are the clouds the dust of his
feet? I command you not come shore here. They commended him,
demanded him. The word means accosted. It means
interrogated. Now all the Jews were at this
time looking for the Messiah. They were expecting him to come
right at this time. All the Jews were expecting the
Messiah to come and establish a physical earthly kingdom that
is a material political dynasty reaching to all the world and
a kingdom that would cause the Jews to sit as monarchs over
everybody else in the world. And it was going to be something.
I mean, they were just dead sure this kingdom was going to be
something else. And the Pharisees were expecting this as well.
But this demand has the tone of derision. It's as if they
said this, you tell us that you're the Messiah. You've been going
around preaching that you're the son of David. You've been
telling folks that you are the son of God, the king of Israel.
If that's true, where's your kingdom? Do you really expect
anyone to believe that you, a common, ordinary man, a man that nobody's
impressed with, a man that has the common reputation of commonly
dwelling with sinners, eating with them and drinking with them,
walking in their company, Do you really expect anyone to believe
that you are the Messiah? Alright, if you're the king,
how long are we going to have to wait for your kingdom to come?
When's your kingdom coming? When's it going to appear? And
our Lord answers them as he taught us to answer a fool according
to their father. He sees the occasion here, not
only to answer them according to their folly, but also to give
instruction to his disciples who were in the crowd. And it's
obvious that as he is speaking to these Pharisees, looking at
them, he's saying, boys, you'd be sure you'd get the lesson.
You'd be sure now you hear what I'm saying. He speaks to his
disciples and gives them blessed gospel truths. And yet at the
same time, he speaks to these Pharisees And you can picture
what he's doing. He's giving words that seem intended
purposefully to confuse the confused. To dumbfound the dumbfounded.
Look at it, verse 20. He says, the kingdom of God cometh
not with observation. Lord, you're the king, show us
your kingdom. Show it to us. You say you're
the son of God, show us your kingdom. You say you're the Messiah,
show us your kingdom. Pull it out and show it to us.
Show it to us. We'll believe it, just show it
to us. He says it comes not with observation. I can almost picture
those fellas. These paupers, learned, ignorant,
religious men. And nothing is more likely to
make a man ignorant of the things of God than religion without
God. These pompous, learned, well-educated, ignorant religious
men, they hear the master say, the kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. Oh, oh, oh. Kind of like somebody
tells you a joke and gives the punchline, and you don't get
it, so you say, Just dumbfounded. Just dumbfounded. Confused. And yet our Lord was not just
speaking to them. He's talking to his disciples.
Those who were in the crowd and you and me today. These things
are written here and recorded here for our learning, for our
instruction. When our master looks at these
disciples and says, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
I'm sure Peter, James, and John perked up their ears. They worship him as the Christ. You read it back there a little
bit ago. Thou art the Christ, Thou art the Son of the Living
God. They worshipped Him as the Messiah, the King, the King. He says, the Kingdom of God cometh
not with observation. You remember the disciples asked
Him, said, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of
thy coming? He says, the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
Let's hear this. I expect Mary Magdalene, the
one dear person in the whole crowd who had understood our
Lord's teaching. I expect she stopped dead in
her tracks, cupped her hands behind her ears. I want to hear
what he's got to say now. The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation. What on earth does that mean?
It means this very simply. The kingdom of God is not like
any kingdom you've ever heard about or read about or seen. The kingdom of God cannot be
compared to any earthly kingdom. There's no correlation, no comparison. Its coming cannot be observed
by the eye. It cannot be observed by observing
signs and marking dates and measuring time and checking off fulfilled
and unfulfilled prophecy. Its presence cannot be observed
by carnal means, because it's not carnal, it's spiritual. Is
that simple enough? That you cannot observe the coming
of God's kingdom by any carnal means. Oh, I've got this thing
figured out in mathematical equations. No you don't. I have measured
the dates from the time that Daniel gave his prophecy to this
time, to that time, to that time. I've got this thing, I've just
got it approximated. No you don't. No you don't. We're
talking about a spiritual kingdom, not a carnal kingdom. And it
cannot be observed by carnal means. Those who expect to observe
anything of this kind are sure to be disappointed. they wait
and watch for the kingdom and they write their books and they
sell their tapes and sell their videos and add their crusades
and they predict then it doesn't happen doesn't happen and then
they got a warehouse full of books and got to start all over
again and folks keep on listening to them keep on listening to
them people have the notion that someday the Lord Jesus is going
to come and he's going to be a king, he's going to establish
a thousand year millennial reign. That is not taught in this book.
That's not taught in this book. I was over at Lexington one time
listening to an old man preaching. Some of you folks know him. He
said in the kingdom I'm going to be made mayor of the city
of Detroit. I can't imagine anybody wanting
to be mayor of the city of Detroit, but certainly not the kingdom
of God. I listened to an old preacher one time, he was preaching
on the millennial kingdom, he said there's going to be strange beings as
long as you are and pumpkins big enough to live in. Well, I'm not interested
in living in a pumpkin either. That stuff's silly. It's absurd. That's not what this book teaches.
That's not what it teaches. The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. Let me give you three things,
and they're very important. The kingdom of God does not come
with any pomp, pageantry, or show. It doesn't come with any
kind of outward, physical, visible display. In fact, if you look
at the marginal translation, if you have one in your Bible,
it's translated just this way. The kingdom of God cometh not
with an outward show. Not an outward show. It's not
an outward show. I had a preacher tell me recently.
He used to pastor a Southern Baptist church. He quit. He said, you know, we choreographed
our morning worship services and planned them for at least
three months in advance. That's a large Southern Baptist
church. I'm talking about songs, special music, the choir, we
choreographed it all, had it set three months in advance.
It was all put on as a Hollywood production. The kingdom of God
cometh not with an outward show. It ain't God's kingdom. It ain't
God's kingdom. Oh, and the Lord Jesus comes
and establishes his kingdom. He's going to build a huge city
over in Jerusalem. He's going to build a huge temple
over in Jerusalem. And you'll see it. It's obvious.
How many times in your lifetime? You may not have read this stuff.
I try to keep up with something going on in the world, in the
religious world. I can't tell you how many times. Through the
last 37 years, I have read things, somebody give a report as though
it were on the AP wire service. They've already got the stones
cut for the new temple over in Jerusalem. Time's come to build
it. The Lord's coming. The Lord's coming. I've read
those things time and time again. It cometh not with a show. Not God's kingdom. The kingdom
of God, secondly, doesn't come in such a way that men can observe
it so as to grasp it, to see it, to understand it. The kingdom
of God is a kingdom nobody can see except those who are born
again. It's a kingdom no one can enter
except by the new birth. No one can discern anything at
all about God's kingdom except they be taught of God. Now hold
your hands here in Luke and turn to John 3. I want you to look
at two texts. John chapter 3. When will we ever learn? The
only way we can understand this book and the things of God is
by the teaching of God's Spirit. In your studies this morning
in Galatians, Lindsay began dealing with the allegory of Sarah and
Agar back in Genesis 16 and 21, I believe it is, and the events
that took place. And Paul seizes those historic
events, and he doesn't say, now I'm going to use these things
as an allegory. He says these are an allegory. Now you tell
me which book he read to figure that out. Who taught him that? God taught
him that. And the only way on this earth
you and I can understand what our Lord teaches in this written
word is if his spirit teaches it to us in our hearts. Look
here in John 3. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He was the smart one of
the smart ones. The same came to Jesus by night
and said to him, Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher come from
God. For no man can do the miracles that thou doest except God be
with him. We know that. And the Lord Jesus begins his
conversation with Nicodemus this way, Nicodemus, you don't know
a blasted thing. You don't know anything. You
just think you know. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. He can't know it. He's not talking
about seeing it with his physical eyes. He's talking about seeing
it with his mind, understanding. Verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto
him, Well, how can a man be born when he's old? Now this sounds
just like a good Pharisee. Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? What you talking about?
Why, you talk nonsense. You expect a grown man going
to call back up in his mother's womb and be born again? As if
he really thought the master meant that. Just foolishness. Read up. Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit. Be born naturally and be born
again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. You see that which is born of
flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter
2. 1 Corinthians 2. Normally when we refer to this
we begin at verse 14. Back up to verse 12. 1 Corinthians
2 verse 12. Paul is talking about believers.
He's talking about believers. He says now we have received
not the spirit of the world. Why would he say that? God doesn't continue teaching
you by the things you have always been taught. He doesn't continue
teaching you in the same way you've learned everything else.
We receive not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which
is of God. That, that is God has given us
his spirit for this purpose. That we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, We don't try
to convince you of these things by logic and reason and rhetoric,
but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man, the fellow
who's got the Spirit of the world and not the Spirit of God, receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually
discerned. No man can see the kingdom of
God except to be born again. Read on, verse 15. But he that
is spiritual judgeth. The word is discerneth, understands. He that is spiritual judgeth
all things. Yet he himself is discerned,
understood, known, judged of no man. The man who's born of
God, the man who's taught of God, it doesn't matter if he
can't read and write. It doesn't matter if he's never
been to school a day in his life. The man who's born of God is
taught of God, and he understands the things of God, and the man
who's not born of God doesn't understand him, much less the
things he understands. Now read on. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? that he may instruct him, nobody. But we have the mind of Christ. The kingdom of God doesn't come
with observation. This is the third thing. When
our Lord says the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
He's saying the kingdom of God does not come in such a way that
you can observe it with your eye. The kingdom of God does
not come in such a way that it can be observed by natural means. And thirdly, the kingdom of God
does not come by observing things. How does a fellow get in the
kingdom? Well, you got to believe on Jesus and be baptized. You've
got to believe on Jesus and eat the Lord's Supper and drink the
wine. You've got to believe on Jesus and keep the sacraments.
You've got to believe on Jesus and observe holy days. You've
got to believe on Jesus and do. The kingdom of God doesn't come
with religious do's or religious taboos. That's not how you get
into the kingdom of God. You're born into this kingdom.
Look at Romans 14. Now, let me read Romans 14. You
turn to Colossians 2. Romans 14, the apostle says this.
The kingdom of God is not meat and drink got nothing to do with
what you eat or what you drink got absolutely nothing to do
with it nothing to do with it but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost in other words the kingdom of God doesn't
have anything to do with outward things that you perform or refuse
to perform, but rather the kingdom of God has to do with inward
things that God performs. Righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. Look at Colossians 2 verse 20.
Paul is giving a serious charge to beware of vain deceivers,
religious legalists, and work mongers. He says in verse 20,
Wherefore if you be bid with Christ from the rudiments of
the world, that is from the religious legalism of the Jews who seek
to bring you under it, and of the Judaizers who seek to bring
you under it, You've been free from these rudiments of the world. Why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to ordinances? Now watch what it says. Now just
in case you don't mean what I mean. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. Oh, he's such a godly man, you'll
never see him touch that. He's so holy, he wouldn't taste
that. Oh, he's so near God, he wouldn't
handle that himself. No, he's a holy man. Ordinances of men, meat and drink,
read on. Which all are to perish with
the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men. which things
indeed have a show of wisdom. It looks good. It impresses men. It's a show of wisdom in the
worship of man, well-worship, and humility, and the neglecting
of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. That's all carnal religion does. It satisfies the flesh. Look what I've done. Now I feel
so good. Don't you feel good about me?
That's all it is. It's the gratifying of the flesh.
It's the worshipping of man. The fact is, now listen to me,
if you and I see something that greatly impresses our eyes, that
greatly impresses our natural senses, something that impresses
our feelings so much so that we, by the things that we see
and observe, we tend to think surely God's kingdom is here,
surely God must be in that. It could not happen if God wasn't
in it. Such thoughts are dead wrong. That ain't the kingdom
of God. That ain't the kingdom of God. I can't tell you how
many times I've had folks say to me, and you probably have
as well, surely, surely, you cannot deny that God's in that.
Look what's happening. You can't deny that God's in
that. Look what they're doing. Oh, we must. Let's see if that's
not so. Look at verse 21. Neither shall they say, lo here,
or lo there. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Now remember the context. It's really just an amplification
of what our Lord is just saying. The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. Read it in its context. He says the kingdom of God does
not come in a way that you can see it with your physical eye,
that you can discern it by natural means. It doesn't come by observing
things in religion. Neither, neither shall they say,
lo here or lo there. Many in those days, many in the
days immediately following our Lord's death, many throughout
these past 2,000 years since then, have said, here's Christ. There's Christ. They point to
a man who claims to be the Messiah, the Christ, and our Lord says,
when folks say that Christ is over here, don't pay any attention
to them. When they see things that greatly
impress them and they say Christ is over there, don't pay any
attention to them. He says ignore such things. I want to investigate those things.
Why would you want to investigate poison? Does that make any sense? Does it make any sense to y'all?
If you're sitting here and I gave you a powdery substance, looks
red, and back on the back side over here I've got a label that
says this is strawberry Kool-Aid. Put a little water in it and
it's good. And I've got another powdery substance over here.
And I say to you, now back here on this side, this is arsenic. Get your spoonful of that and
you go. Tastes the same. And looks the same. Results not
the same. And I turn around and show you
the label. Let me try this. I want to investigate. Let's
see. Idiot. Our Lord says ignore the stuff.
Ignore it. Oh but we, we want to, we want
to give everything a fair standing and a fair reasonable consideration. Not deadly poison. Stay away
from it. But there's more to the warning
than that. We live in days of mega churches, super churches,
crystal cathedrals. Every year, every year at Christmas,
Easter, that old man in Rome Poor old soul, can't even stand
up. Puts on his Masonic Order uniform, looks like a clown's
costume that's been well done. His silly looking skirts and
his hat and his gaudy crosses and all of his regalia and his
staff and the whole world. Every major network in this country. will force you, if you turn on
the television set, to watch that blasphemous, idolatrous,
unholiness the Pope go through his ceremony. It's so impressive. It's so wonderful,
what a solemn service. Look at this St. Peter's Basilica. Give me five minutes, I'll tell
you where they got the money to build it. What foolishness. Tell evangelists,
bedazzle us with their millions, with the things that they do,
their great works. They'll show you all the wonders
that are taking place. They'll go from city to city
and have campaigns and crusades and thousands come and they perform
miracles and people's lives are changed and oh, how wonderfully
impressive they are. And we tend to think, We're prone to marvel. We're
prone to marvel. Maybe God really is in there. I mean, it's so rich. It's so
powerful. It's so impressive. Everybody's
going there. Everybody's following that. Everybody's speaking in
tongues now. Everybody's performing miracles
now. Everybody's getting rich on Jesus
now. Everybody's involved in religious tomfoolery now. Everybody
goes to Mass or goes to this religious sacrament or that religious
sacrament. Everybody's doing it! The buildings are beautiful
and huge and gorgeous. Costly. Money, money, money. Power, power, power. Surely God
must be in this. Do you know what? That's exactly
what happened to the Apostle John when he saw the same thing. He saw the Pope on television,
Christmas Eve. He sure did. He saw Billy Graham
in his great citywide crusade in Western Saigon, in Sao Paulo,
Brazil. He saw the Benihians healing
services. and thousands attended. He saw
smiling Bob's Crystal Cathedral and he was overwhelmed. Well preachers show me that.
Turn to Revelation chapter 17 and I'll show you. Revelation
17 verse 4. You see when we're impressed
with the religion of this world That which folks call the kingdom
of God, the work of God, we're just impressed with a beautifully
decorated whore who seeks to destroy everything, who deserves
to be destroyed and soon shall be destroyed. Revelation 17,
4. The woman, the woman, was arrayed
in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery, Babylon, the great mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And when I saw her, I wandered with a great admiration. She's
so beautiful. She's so powerful. All the kings
and nations of the earth chase after her. And the angel said
to me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? Let me tell you who this woman
is and let me tell you what I want to do with her. Now look at verse
21 back in our text again. Our Lord says the kingdom of
God is within you. Now this word within again if
you look at the marginal translation might be translated among you.
And certainly that is a doctrine taught in the scriptures and
taught by our Lord. The fact that the Lord Jesus was standing
there in their midst, the kingdom of God was among them. The fact
that his disciples were with them, the kingdom of God was
among them. If you want to confuse somebody at work tomorrow, and
they start talking about religion to you, you tell them the kingdom
of God is right here amongst you. Well, where did I see that? God's people among you. It's
right here. But our translators use the word
within, and there's a proper translation that I think conveys
more accurately our Lord's meaning in this place. The kingdom of
God is within you. It's spiritual, not carnal. It's
a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. It's an inward kingdom,
not an outward kingdom. It lies not in outward things,
but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The
kingdom of God is established in the hearts of chosen, redeemed
sinners when Christ, the King of glory, enters into the heart
and establishes His kingdom by right of His crucifixion. The
Lord Jesus comes and binds the strong man, Satan, and dispossesses
him. He sets up his throne and his
kingdom in the hearts of his children, and he reigns in them
by the power of his grace. Now look at verse 23. In verses
23 and 24, our Lord turns now to speak specifically to his
disciples, those who were then standing before him, and you
and I. And he talks to them about a
time of great trouble now the time he's talking about is not
some specific day but any day in which the words of these two
verses are applicable look at verse 22 he said to his disciples
the days come when you shall desire to see one of the days
of the son of man and you shall not see it the days to which
he refers by the whole gospel age, the whole age his church
lives in this world from the sacrifice that he accomplished
at Calvary to his glorious second advent. How often these disciples
must have heard these words from our Lord ring in their ears. I can almost picture brother
Thomas, oh I wish I could put my hand in his side one more
time. I almost hear Brother John, even
in his old age, many, many years after this, oh how I would love
to lean upon his breast one more time. How I wish I had seized more
earnestly the opportunity to hear him when he was here. Commune
with him when he was here how I wish I had paid attention when
he spoke The days will come Soon coming when you shall desire
to see one of the days of the Son of Man And it's not going
to happen But that's not all that our Lord meant These words
were spoken for us, too The days of the Son of Man are those days
and seasons of When the Son of Man meets with and instructs,
comforts and blesses His people by making Himself known to us,
by taking the things of God and showing them to us. These are
the days when He meets with us in His house, communes with us. And when God's saints are deprived
of these days because of persecution, because of sickness, because
they've despised them and God in his providence takes them
away. Then they prize them. Then they prize them. I've lived long enough now to
have seen lots of things. I've seen many women for many
reasons, pack their bags and decide they're going to move
somewhere else and move to a place where they can't meet with God's
people and can't worship God. And I sat with them and watched
them weep because they can't undo what they've done. John Gill put it this way, Let
us prize, make use of, and improve such days and opportunities while
we have them. We know not how soon our teachers,
our pastors, preachers may be removed into corners when we
shall wish in vain for them, for seasons of hearing them. Sad it is to know the worth of
the gospel opportunities by one of them. How sad. How sad. And yet, even
when such times come, if by reason of persecution, men and women
are driven away from the place of worship and the visible church
in a place is absolutely scattered and destroyed, If by reason of
God's providence he takes a John Bunyan and shuts him up for 12
years and you can't hear your pastor preach, if in God's providence
he just silences the witness of the gospel all around you,
and men and women flock to hear this and flock to hear that,
still don't follow the Antichrist. Look at verse 23. And they shall
say to you, see here, or see there, Go not after them. Don't do it. Don't do it. Verse 24, our Lord speaks of
his day and of his coming in his day without warning, without
sign, suddenly, speedily, like lightning, like a bolt of lightning.
Now, this certainly applies to Our Lord's second coming, there's
no question about that. There's a day coming, bless God
there's a day coming when Christ shall establish His rule in this
universe absolutely so that there is nothing left in the universe
to give any opposition to Him. The world itself shall be made
new and our Lord Jesus Christ and we with Him shall reign forever
in God's kingdom. But it's not just that. His day
is any day He comes. to visit and bless his people. People come out with how-to books,
how to have revival, how to do this, how to do that. Signs of
revival. There ain't any such thing. Ain't
any such thing. He comes like a bolt of lightning. Sit on the back porch and hear
the rumble. Just a little bit in the background, nothing happens.
Hear a rumble, nothing happens. With two ladies sitting out on
the back porch and it's getting a little dark outside and don't hear anything
suddenly, the whole sky lights up. Just like that. Just like
that. That's exactly what he says.
He comes to refresh his people when there's no expectation of
it. He comes to bless when there's no expectation of it. He comes
to revive when there's no expectation of it. And when he comes, his
day is his day. In other words, you have no control
over it. It is his day. And when he comes again, it'll
be as a bolt of lightning. But before he can come and bless, something's got to happen. He
says the son of man must, must suffer and be rejected of this
generation.