to Mark chapter 13, let's read
verse 14 again. But when you shall see the abomination
of desolation, well, that just sounds bad, doesn't
it? Just sounds bad. spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing where it ought not. That's what I've entitled this
message. Standing where it ought not. And that is the key really
to understanding this passage of scripture. It says, let him
that readeth understand. Now I couldn't count the times
I've read that and thought, why don't I understand? I've said
that so many times. I've always had a vague notion
as to what it meant. It had something to do with false
religion. I was sure of that. But I've read that, let him that
readeth understand, and thought it seems like I would have a
clearer understanding than I do. But I've done that a hundred
times. I'm not exaggerating. But I think I have an understanding.
Finally, and it is found in the phrase, standing where it ought
not. The place of Christ. The place of all glory. The place of honor. The place
of majesty. The place of all the credit. The place of God's beloved son. He stands in a place and none
stand with him. He stands in a place where he
does not share his glory. He stands in the place of the
glory of his achievements. He stands in the place of having
all the honor in my salvation. And if you're saved, he stands
in the place of having all the honor of your salvation. He gets all the glory. None. Let me repeat that. None. goes
to me or to you. Now, what about that one who
seeks to stand in that place? That is as evil as anything that
I can conceive of standing in the place of Christ. Seeking to take some of the glory
that goes to him only and giving it to yourself. Now, the abomination
of desolation stands in a place where it should never stand willfully
standing in a place. It should never be taking a place. It has no right to take the place
of glory. the place of credit, the place
of honor, the place of the cause, the source, the origin, the explanation
of my salvation. Now, when you see the abomination
of desolation standing in the place where it ought not, you
better run. That's what he's saying, it makes desolate. It'll
make you desolate. You better run. And when he's
saying don't go back to get your coat, don't go back into the
field to get your whatever you left in the house, what he's
saying is run right now, don't wait for anything. Run, flee
for your life when you see the abomination of desolation. Now, I have a hope. for Judgment Day. I wish the Lord would return
and hasten His return. I'd be happy if He came back
tonight, wouldn't you? And when He returns, there will be judgment. And I have a hope that on that
great day, He's gonna say to me, the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to say to me, Todd Nybrandt, speaking to me as one who knows
me. And he's going to say to me, well done, thou good and
faithful servant. Now he's not only gonna say that
to me, he's gonna say that to every single believer. You're going to hear him say
to you, what will that sound like? You're going to hear him
say to you, calling your name, knowing you well done. You know,
that makes me blush to even think about it because I know better
than that as far as what I am in myself. But if he did well, I did well. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. I have a hope that I will hear
the Lord Jesus Christ say to me, come, not depart, come, thou
blessed of my father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Enter in to the joy
of thy Lord. How can I have a hope like that?
I mean, those are big words. Those are mighty big words. How can I with what limited knowledge
I have of myself, and I don't want to know any more than I
know. But how can I say with conviction that he's going to
say to me, well done, thou good and thankful
servant. How? My hope that I'm going to hear
that is entirely 100% Grounded on this, God willed
it. God willed it. By the witch will, we are sanctified,
declared by God holy. By the witch will, we are sanctified. You know, I am becoming more
and more resistant to people talking about
sanctification, they talk about your works. Justification is
Christ's righteousness. Justifying and sanctification
is how you live by grace. That's not just sanctification.
Write that down. When people use it that way,
it's not. Scripture says we're sanctified once for all. Perfect
tense, passive, perfectly completed, never to be repeated. We're sanctified
once for all. By the witch will, we are sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Now, God willed that it would be said of me, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. God willed it. Therefore, it
must take place. I'm going to hear those words
for this one singular reason, because Jesus Christ did well.
and he put away my sins and he made it to where I did well,
because when he did well, I did well. I will hear those words
because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in my behalf. No other reason. No other reason
wanted. No other reason needed. I We'll hear those words, that's
my hope, because of God's sovereign will, He WILLED me to be this! And here's why, because of the
work of His darling, beloved Son on my behalf. Now, I say with David, this is
all my salvation, and this is all my desire. Is this all your salvation? God's
will. Doesn't have anything to do with
your works. Doesn't have anything to do with your efforts. Doesn't
have anything to do with your attempts at holy living. It doesn't
have anything to do with your ability to turn away from sin.
One thing. God's will, you can't separate
God's will and the work of Christ. Same thing, I'm not saying two
things, I'm saying one thing. God's will, the work of Christ. You see, God's will is the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do, he said. I've glorified thee on the earth.
I finished the work that thou gavest me to do. Now he stands
in a place by himself, doesn't he? Hebrews 1.3 says, when he
had by himself purged our sins, no help from you, no help from
me, no creature mayor is going to be able to stand in that place.
He did this by himself and he's the only one that can stand here. Amen. We, we love it that way,
don't we? We don't want it to be any other
way. Now the abomination of desolation,
the Antichrist, same thing, no difference. The abomination of
desolation attempts to stand in the place where it ought not. Now notice the Lord says in verse
14, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel.
Turn with me to Daniel chapter 9, it's found in the book of
Daniel three times. Daniel, the ninth chapter, right
after Ezekiel, Daniel. Verse 27, and he shall confirm the covenant with
many for one week. And in the midst of the week,
he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation or the offering
to cease and for the overspreading. Now
that word overspreading means the wing. the extremity, putting
on the edge. The sacrifice, the offering is
no longer central. It's pushed off to the side. And he shall make it desolate,
even into the consummation and the determinate shall be poured
upon the desolate. God's judgment is going to come
upon this. Look in Daniel 11. Verse 31, and now arms shall stand on his
part and they shall pollute. Now the word pollute doesn't
simply mean make vile or make dirty or add something to it.
I mean, all those ideas are included, but the word actually means make
common. No longer special. It's common. Remember Hebrews chapter 10 verse
29 of how much sore punishment shall ye be thought he count
worthy who has trodden underfoot the son of the God and made of
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. That word unholy is the same
word that's generally translated common. Common. That which is general to all.
as opposed to that which is peculiar to the few. You see, when you
make the blood for all men without exception, you've made it common,
and you've made it to where it doesn't have the place of glory.
Man's will, what man has done, has the ultimate place of glory. Look in Daniel 12, and from that, and from the time
that the daily sacrifice should be taken away and the abomination
that maketh desolate set up. Now what's taken away? The daily. And that word could be translated
the continual sacrifice. What is my continual standing
before God? The continual sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. At all times, the only way I
can get any assurance, any hope that God will look at me in favor
is because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the time,
all the time. It's continual. It's daily. And the abomination of desolation
seeks to take that away. I repeat the abomination of desolation. is standing in a place where
it ought not, making itself the cause in some way of salvation,
and not us, it is given to deceive." Now, this began, this abomination
of desolation, it began back in the Garden of Eden. Turn with
me to Genesis 30. Now the serpent, verse 1. Now
the serpent was more subtle, more deceitful than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden. Did he really say that? Well,
no, he didn't. The woman said unto the serpent,
we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden. God
has said you should not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. Now I've heard people say, well,
that's inconsequential. Of course, she shouldn't have
said, I mean, it doesn't make any difference whether she said
anything about touching it. I can see why she would have said that.
Now, wait a minute. You don't have anything what God said at
any time, under any circumstance. She was dead wrong in making
that statement. Neither shall you touch it. You
see, the fall had already began. Bad things were already coming
to pass. Now, listen to the serpent. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now, here is the temptation. Right now, you just follow your
nature. You don't make a choice between
good and evil. Moral virtue Likeness to God is seen in you making
the choice of good over evil. You'll have a glorious free will,
and that's what's going to make you like God. Now, let me tell you what that
does. That makes your will sovereign
over God's will. That makes your will the cause
of your salvation. That is your will standing in
the place where it ought not to be. Now, you think about this
thing of the will involved in salvation. There's basically
three places people use the will in their view of salvation, which
is an abomination desolation. First, it's your will that accepts
Christ. And the reason you're saved is
because you of your will made a decision to accept Christ.
Now, if that's the case, Christ doesn't stand alone. Your will
stands alone as the cause of salvation. Now, the second place
the will is involved is in this thing of wealth. You can become
more holy and less sinful by the decisions you make. You choose
to reject this sin. You choose to start doing this
good thing. You choose to start whatever it is. Your will is
involved in that. You become more holy than you
were and less sinful than you were. Your will is the main agent of
that. And your will gets the glory. This is standing in the place
where it ought not. You see, the very essence of
false religion is free will. The very essence. At the end,
if, you know, most people believe you're gonna get a higher reward
in heaven according to your obedience. Well, that goes back to your
will, too. Things you decided to do. And that's going to give
you, you might as well say glory to my will. Praise to my will. My will's made the difference.
Standing in the place where it ought not. Now, there's no such
thing as free will. It's actually an absurdity. Your
will's controlled by your nature. God does not have a free will
in the sense that his will is controlled by who he is. He's
got a holy will. He's got a righteous will. He
cannot lie. Well, if he's got a free will,
he can. He don't have a free will. He's who he is. His will is controlled by his
nature. He's holy. The natural man's will is controlled
by an evil nature. And the very idea of free will
is ludicrous. When I say I have a free will,
what I'm saying by that is my will is independent of God's
will. I'm my own will, I'm my own captain,
I control my own fate. Now, very few people will say
it like that because it just sounds too wicked to just go
ahead and say it that way, but that's what people really believe,
if they put the will in salvation. Think of what the Lord said in
Romans 9, verse 16, through Paul, it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth. mercy, as many as received him to them,
gave you the power to become the sons of God, even to them,
which believe on his name, which were born, not a blood, not of
the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Now the abomination desolation
and to Christ's religion seal seeks to put man's will somewhere
in the equation of salvation. Turn with me to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. Now I've
read so many commentaries on this passage of scripture. And,
uh, quite often when people, uh, particularly more modern
commentators talk about, uh, this passage of scripture, they
say, Isaiah is talking about the King of Babylon. Now, I would
not deny that he is talking about the King of Babylon, but he's
talking about Lucifer, the son of the morning. He's talking
about Satan. Now look what is said in Isaiah
14, beginning in verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven? Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning,
how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the
nations for thou has said in thy heart, Now you're going to
read this phrase five different times. I will. I will. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will set also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Now is that not seeking to stand
in the place where you ought not? What's going to happen? Verse 15, yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell. to the sides of the great pit. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter two. Now this is speaking of the man
of sin, the mystery of iniquity, the Antichrist, and I want you
to see how he seeks to stand in the place where he ought not. Verse 1, Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in
mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter
as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Now we hope the day of Christ
is at hand, don't we? But anytime somebody uses this
to get something, herald camping, giving a date, when the Lord
said he didn't even know the date. Somebody says, explain
that to me, I can't explain that. No, you're gonna try. God knows,
the Son does it. This is reserved for the Father.
I don't, it's just so. And so some man thinks he can
predict the day when the Lord says he doesn't even know? Wow,
that's foolishness. And Paul had, there were people
circulating pirate letters saying the day of Christ is at hand,
y'all need to do this, you need to do that, you need to give
all your money to me probably is what it is, and that way you'll
be in good shape. But he says in verse three, 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." Now, this is talking about Antichrist. Now, it's very important for
us to understand that anti-, the prefix anti-, does not mean
against Christ. When people think of the Antichrist,
they think of someone with horns and fangs and a pointed tail
and breathing out fire and some kind of monstrous thing. Anti
doesn't mean against Christ. Anti means in the place of Christ,
in the stead of Christ. That's how Antichrist comes. And somebody says, well, is he
just one man? that's going to be at the end time? Is there
just one antichrist? Well, hold your finger there
and turn real briefly to 1 John chapter 4. Verse 1, Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many, not a few, many False prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now, not just every spirit that
believes that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, but every
spirit that publicly confesses. What's a man believe? What he
publicly preaches. Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh? Well, that's everything we believe is in that statement.
He was before He came. He's the eternal God. He came
in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh.
He did what He came to do. He came to save His people from
their sins. That's what He did. He completely
saved His people from their sins. That's what He did in the flesh.
Now, any spirit that confesses that, they're of God. And every
spirit, verse three, that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of antichrist. Where if you've heard that it
should come, and even now already, it is in the world. There are
many antichrists. Back then, right now. And what he's doing, he's bringing
a message that seeks to stand in the place where it ought not.
Now the simple message of Christ coming in the flesh, he was before
he came, he came and he did what he came to do, puts him in the
place where he stands by himself. Nobody stands with him. He is
by himself. The false message seeks to take
that place. Now go back to 2 Thessalonians.
What does this man do? Verse three, let no man deceive
you by any means, 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, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. That sounds like
somebody standing in the place where they ought not, doesn't
it? That's exactly what that is. Now let's go on reading. Remember you not that when I
was with you, I told you these things? And now you know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. The Lord
is restraining him. He can't move any more than the
Lord lets him. You see, the Antichrist belongs
to God, and he's doing his will. He doesn't know it, but he's
doing his will. He's on God's chain doing God's
purpose for the glory of his son, just like everything else.
Start to glance that way. God's withholding him. Verse seven, for the mystery
of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now lets or keeps
this from taking place will let, Whatever happens is what He lets
happen until He, the Antichrist, the mystery of iniquity is taken
out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His
mouth and shall destroy Him with the brightness of His coming.
Now you think about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we read of the brightness of His coming. Oh, who can? Describe that and you know every
believer upon seeing him is gonna be perfectly conformed to his
image We'll be like him for we'll see him as he is John says And
what's gonna happen to Antichrist and all unbelievers? They'll
be consumed by the brightness of his coming even him who's
coming is after the working of Satan and with all power and
signs and lying wonders." Now, this man is going to be a powerful
man. He's going to do miracles and he's going to have signs
and wonders. And people are going to say, he must be of God if
he can do things like that. He will have these powers and
signs and lying wonders. What are all they? I don't know,
but he's going to have them. This is who he is. And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, And here's
why they perish, because they receive not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. Now this is so important, the
love of the truth. You know what the truth is? That my salvation is caused by
the will of God. That my salvation is completely
perfected and performed and achieved by the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you love that? Do you love that? Now there are
people who, and I've met people, I had somebody sitting in my
family room one time, I'll never forget this, and we were, he
was talking to me, he visited church a few times, and we were
talking about election, And he said, well, I see the Bible teaches
it, but that doesn't mean I like it. I thought, well, I do. I do. That's what I said, I do.
I do. I love the truth. And you know why I love the truth?
Because this way I'm saved. I take this personal. This is
the only way I can be saved, for God to will my salvation
so that it must be, and for Christ to accomplish everything needed
for my salvation, to where nothing comes from me, it all comes from
Him, and He gets all the glory, and I receive the love of that.
Now, these folks who don't receive the love of that, look what it
says, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned,
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Now, you heard what that said. God will send them this strong
delusion. Will God do that? Yep. Yep. But
the word that they should believe a lie in the original, the definite
article is used. That they should believe the
lie. The lie is man's will. Free will. Anywhere in salvation,
that's the lie. If your will contributed to anything
in your salvation, you've been deceived. And God has sent you
strong delusion that you should believe the lie because you received
not the love of the truth. that you might be saved. Somebody says, you're taking
this too far. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. This is the lie
standing in the place where it ought not. Now, if you see it,
run for your life and do it right now. because it's the abomination
that makes desolate. Wherever it is received, it brings
desolation. But we're bound to thank God
always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, which are the same thing.
Where you have the sanctifying work of God, the Holy Spirit,
you have the belief of the truth. And where you have the belief
of the truth, you have the sanctifying work of God, the Holy Spirit.
Now back to what I said at first, my hope of being saved is that
God himself, before time began, willed my salvation and my salvation
became history before there was any history. And my hope of being saved is
that Jesus Christ actually accomplished my salvation. And when he said
it is finished, I was saved to the uttermost. All of my hope
is there. All of it. Now, who gets the glory in that? He does. And he ought to have it all. Amen. He ought to have it all. But I, as much as I love him
getting all the glory because he ought to have it all, I love
it for this reason too. If he gets all the glory, in
reality, that means there's nothing I had to do to save myself. He
did it all. And if there's anything left
for me to do, I know I won't be saved. I'm sure of it. I'm
dead sure of it. But if he gets all the glory
and salvation, that means he did it all. That song, I Surrender All, no,
he surrendered all. He did it all and he saved me. And anything that stands in that
place where it ought not is the abomination desolation. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that our
salvation is wholly caused by thy sovereign will, making it
so through thy son, making it so by what he did. We give thanks
Lord, deliver us from being deceived by the abomination that makes
desolate and enable us to preach your gospel in this generation
for the glory of thy name that sinners might be allowed to see
the glory of thy son in their salvation. Bless this message
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.