Compassion To The End

[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the service this morning. We are again blessed to be here, to be here as God's church and to focus on eternal values.

[0:20] And as was reminded today, are we waiting for His return? And absolutely we are. We've been sitting for a while. I think it would be good to maybe, let's take a couple minutes and just get up and maybe greet our neighbor and then we'll go into the service.

[0:43] So go ahead, stretch, greet your neighbor, and we'll get into the message. It seems that this year Easter is creeping up very fast as it's still in March.

[0:59] And so on the calendar we would have Palm Sunday today, marking the time when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the Sunday before the crucifixion.

[1:12] But we're going to be focusing more on the passage that was read for us, but we will touch into a bit of Palm Sunday as well.

[1:25] So I've titled the message, Compassion to the End. Compassion to the End. And a question to us before we dive in.

[1:41] How is the church of God doing in evangelizing the world? Report card time.

[1:56] How are we doing? How are we doing? Do we stop and think about these things? We look at the global church, called to be ambassadors.

[2:17] We look at a local church like Mountview. How are we doing with sharing the good news? And then we take it even further.

[2:33] How are you doing? Personally, in sharing the good news? And telling the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

[2:44] See, although God has commissioned the church to be his representatives, he has a plan in place to reach the entire world where perhaps the church comes short.

[3:09] And so with this message, I want us to realize that we look at the tribulation period as a dark, dark time of judgment.

[3:28] And yet, we see the biggest evangelization program ever known to the world. As the whole world will be evangelized.

[3:43] And to see the fullness of God even at the end.

[3:55] That his heart is that people would be saved. The other side is justice has to be done. And everyone that is not saved will meet the judgment of God.

[4:15] The two come together. We had previously looked at the seal judgments. Opening the seals and John the Apostle saw as one seal after another was taken off the scroll.

[4:37] And he saw the four horses, the different periods of judgment coming upon the earth. And then the fifth seal, the souls by the altar crying out to God, how long?

[4:53] And then the last seal, the earthquake, the moon turns to blood red, the sun is darkened, the sky retreats as a scroll, and men are struck with fear.

[5:16] And that's how we left the last message. And mankind crying out to the rocks, to the hills, and to the mountains, fall on us, hide us from the terror of our God.

[5:35] You know what? Chapter 7. We have what we call an interlude. That's a word we might not use every day in our vocabulary.

[5:52] An interlude is a time period that interludes or that has to come in between. And so, as we, I'm going to work through the first verses in chapter 7 as well.

[6:07] Even though they weren't read for us. But John says, After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of heaven.

[6:23] That, sorry, four winds of earth. That the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. And then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.

[6:38] And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, Do not harm the earth, the sea, the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

[6:57] So John sees another scene that intervenes. And he says, Oh, by the way, before you start harming the earth with your judgments, there's going to be a sealing of the servants of God.

[7:18] A marking, a protecting mark, identifying them as God's servants. And as John sees this vision of the four angels at the four corners of the earth, this isn't a proof text that the earth is flat.

[7:35] It's symbolic of the entire earth. It's all encompassed, is the language here. And so holding the four winds of heaven, that's going to blow the storm on the earth.

[7:53] The storm of tribulation. And he says, Hold on. First, we're going to seal the servants of God. And so John, John has already witnessed or seen the judgments, the seals on the earth.

[8:15] But now, he sees this. And he sees the mercy of God intervening. And verse 4, And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.

[8:38] And so, to be sealed means to be identified. it's also a mark of ownership. And so these 144,000 were marked and identified as belonging to God.

[8:58] And also, God's protection would be upon them during the tribulation period. And so they were identified as such. 12,000 out of each tribe is listed here in verses 5 through 8.

[9:17] I won't bother reading through that. But we have the 12 tribes of Israel here. And God is saying out of each tribe, I am going to select 12,000 and I'm going to set them aside for my purposes.

[9:34] And I'm going to have them there during the tribulation period. Now, this number has been distorted, this passage.

[9:54] There's been teachings that the 144,000 are, is the church. and it's symbolically the church.

[10:07] It isn't. It's literally God is going to work through Israel to have an evangelization program across the earth.

[10:19] It's going to be Israel whom God has chosen for this. Not the church. Others teach that this is the capacity of heaven.

[10:33] Paradise and then it's full. 144,000. And the rest will have life on earth as in the millennial kingdom.

[10:46] But heaven itself will be 144,000. That is false. It has nothing to do with heaven here. This is on earth for a time period God has a mission for these people.

[11:04] And so we see that Israel is very much at the forefront of God's plans during this time. Just to mention if you would scrutinize the verses 5 through 8 Joseph is mentioned along with his son Manasseh.

[11:29] So we have two out of that tribe but the tribe of Dan is not mentioned. And we don't fully know why. They're mentioned later in Ezekiel when it talks about the millennial temple and kingdom.

[11:47] There they're mentioned but here the tribe of Dan is missing. And it may be that the tribe of Dan apostatized in the Old Testament and they turned to pagan worship.

[12:03] They forsook their allotted territory and moved to another part and they turned to idol worship. That may have a role why their name isn't in this.

[12:19] We don't know for sure. But nonetheless there's twelve and the tribe of Joseph has two. moving forward.

[12:32] This is God's evangelism program. If we turn to Matthew 24. I want us to turn there.

[12:48] Matthew 24 and verse 14. verses 4 through 15 are the signs of the end and those signs take us right into the tribulation period.

[13:15] But verse 14 in the tribulation period and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.

[13:35] God has promised that the gospel of the kingdom of God you know it mentions not the gospel of Jesus Christ but the gospel of the kingdom what is about to happen when Jesus comes back from heaven we are going to enter the promised kingdom age a thousand years with Christ ruling and they are going to preach the gospel of the kingdom that that when Jesus comes back we are going to enter his kingdom repent repent and see Jesus Christ as your Messiah that is the message and so these 144 thousand will be instruments of God in proclaiming the gospel and then the end will come and will usher in the return of

[14:41] Jesus Christ if we now go back to Revelation 7 the next scene that John sees in verse 9 and I don't know if we put this together in our minds before but verse 9 says and after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations tribes peoples tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palm branches in their hands crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb what has just happened the gospel has been preached and here is the fruit multitude which no one could number of every nation tribe people and language out of every people group in the world there will be saved ones during this time now how do we know that these don't come out of the church age well if we if we go down in our passage to verse 13 then one of the elders so this is the throne seen up in heaven one of the twenty four elders answered saying to me to

[16:39] John who are these arrayed in white robes and where did they come from and I said to him sir you know and so he said to me these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb have you ever heard of dipping your robe in blood and coming out white comes out red does it not this is a reference they have washed themselves in the blood of the lamb they have been martyred for their faith and they have dipped themselves into the righteousness of

[17:41] Christ white robes coming out of Christ's blood declared righteous and they're clothed in white robes before the throne of God they're singing praises unto the Lord he he he is worthy of salvation and these are the ones that have given their life during the tribulation period there is going to be a lot of martyrdom that's going to happen and we see that as tragic and yet they're filled with God's glory as they sing they have been saved through the mercy of God as even through this dark time we have the world evangelized praise the

[18:49] Lord God has a plan and so the church age is given in a sense the same the same mandate as the 144 thousand we are to spread the gospel abroad it's been commissioned to the church as we interact with unbelievers around us to tell them the good news we don't know if they will survive till the 144 thousand can preach to them God is counting on us today and I thought it would be good for us to bring up a few scriptures to remind us the mandate for the church the commission Matthew 28 verse 18 to 20 as

[20:03] Jesus is preparing to lift off and go back to heaven verse 18 in Matthew 28 and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age this is our commission today to make disciples of all the nations and once they come to Christ we are to baptize them and then to teach them how to live 2nd

[21:12] Corinthians chapter 5 2nd Corinthians 5 starting in verse 18 now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God and why for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of

[22:25] God in him a commission on the church as God says you are my ambassadors you're going to go forth for me with the word of reconciliation telling people how to become right with God this is our mandate and thirdly Matthew 9 Matthew chapter 9 starting in verse 36 in Matthew 9 it's referring to Jesus when he Jesus saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd and then he said to his disciples the harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the

[23:46] Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest has anyone here dared to pray that prayer I'm sure there are some of us is that a dangerous prayer well in the sense that God might just take you up on it and and he wants us to let go of our earthly goals and go you know when Isaiah in Isaiah 6 saw the throne room and and God reveals a burden for the people of

[24:46] Israel as being wanderers and straying away and he says whom shall we send and Isaiah dares and he says send me send me you know we can we can focus on Mount View as a whole how well are we doing with evangelizing our communities I'm not asking for a report card but I'm asking us to think we can look at the church worldwide how are we doing but do you know what it boils down to me and you how am I doing because that's what builds the church and the church is only doing as well as

[25:54] I am it starts here we tend to look at the neighbor when it comes to this it's worthy asking and all of this do we share God's heart for the lost am I burdened that I would not want anyone to meet God in judgment and ultimately the lake of fire it does us good to examine and to even look what are the obstacles in my life what is stopping me from saying

[26:54] Lord here I am I can remember back in 2007 a brother was nudging us to consider going to Bolivia to the mission field as there was needs there and they needed a couple to go and that brother asked me or are you scared to let go of the farm and I didn't answer him a word but that God used that brother's voice and it started me thinking and

[27:59] I realized this was an obstacle that I was clinging to and I was unwilling to say here I am whether it is our personal possessions or maybe our traditions or culture but are we willing to pray God prepare and send me when this happens it is the surest sign that God's church is alive and when we're all about spreading the good news it is a sign of life like nothing else before it's the life blood of the church is having people come and being changed forever did you know that in church history the most effective tool that

[29:29] God has used in shattering our earthly goals has been persecution persecution throughout all the ages when God allowed persecution it drove his people to become heavenly minded and to let go of their earthly pursuits it's worth it's worth examining as we too will stand before God in the day of judgment and give account of my life I want to qualify as the spirit leads you we know that throughout all the ages God selects individuals to go and others to stay and to work locally and I'm not suggesting that all of us would go that

[30:41] God would do that but as but as we examine ourselves and say here am I Lord then the Lord has the freedom to choose whose heart is ready to go going back to Revelation 7 verse 9 we see the multitudes coming out of the tribulation period through being evangelized and they are clothed with white robes and they have palm branches in their hands have you ever stopped to think why palm branches when we think of palm branches where else in scripture are we reminded of

[31:54] Jesus riding into Jerusalem Palm Sunday they spread palm branches that he could ride on and palm branches are symbolic of being victorious victory and these this multitude having been martyred for their faith are now before the throne of God worshiping and serving our eternal God they are victorious death has been defeated and eternal life forever more as they've been translated from earth to heaven they are victorious they have palm branches in their hands as they're worshiping let's turn to

[32:57] Luke not Luke John John 12 the gospel of John chapter 12 just to tie this together John 12 12 to 16 we have this is Palm Sunday it's the Sunday before his crucifixion the next day a great multitude that had come to the feast the feast of Passover when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the King of Israel and then Jesus when he had found a young donkey sat on it as it is written fear not daughter of

[34:03] Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's colt and his disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him so so we have Jesus riding as he had announced previously I'm riding into Jerusalem where I will be mocked and scourged put on trial and put to death that was the message to the multitudes that he had been saying especially to the twelve and here he is riding in for the Passover feast and the crowds are celebrating and they put down palm branches signs of victory only they're not thinking of

[35:10] Jesus being victorious in rising from the dead they are thinking as verse 13 says blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the king of Israel they are thinking finally we will have victory over the Romans and Jesus will ride into Jerusalem and on the feast of Passovers he will conquer and become our king and the kingdom age will begin this is their thoughts selfish they wanted freedom from a heavy handed government but they had already in the past year of his ministry rejected him as the coming

[36:19] Messiah and as we're going through this course on Wednesday evenings we're seeing that building as we're halfway through that the gospels we see the rejection the turn of events and and here we see the climax they're looking to him as a savior from human government and if we turn now to Luke 19 a few verses there Luke 19 41 it's the same journey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday verse 41 in Luke 19 now as he drew near he saw the city and wept and he wept over it saying if you had known even you especially in this your day the things that make for your peace but now they're hidden from your eyes

[37:34] Jesus is weeping for the Jewish nation as they reject him as the prophet who Moses spoke about that would come and he's literally weeping and saying only if only you knew what makes for your peace personal peace peace with God eternal peace peace that allows us enables us to meet God with joy instead of fear this is what our Lord said as he rode into Jerusalem if only you had known but now that is past you have rejected me and sure enough five days later they killed him and the same crowd in

[38:49] Jerusalem yelled crucify him crucify him even when Pilate sought to find a way out you know God had selected the Jewish nation he had not only selected he had called Abraham and out of him grown a nation that would be his treasure on the earth his representative in the Old Testament they have miserably failed in their task in their representing God here on earth they have failed God is going to give them another chance and in the tribulation period the Jews are going to evangelize and here God is going to seal them and make sure that it happens all of us all of us would like to hear the words of

[40:01] Jesus Christ well done you good and faithful servant is that true we would all like to hear those words let us seek the Lord what does he have for my life am I willing to put my all on the altar and say here I am let's pray father how great is your grace your love that even to the end you seek the lost and father as we we tend to lose sight of your heart as we get so busy with our everyday life our jobs our own agendas that we tend to drift but father call us back one at a time that we could as well come to the point here am

[41:39] I Lord father to your glory to your honor this is the prayer of our church of your church in Jesus name amen