[0:00] I'm going to read a psalm with you. I don't know what you think, but man, it's the Word of God. It is so fantastic. It is so beautiful. Have you ever been in trouble?
[0:13] This psalm was probably written for Hezekiah. It might have been written by him, but most people believe it was written after God got them out of massive trouble.
[0:25] In 1 Kings 19.14, you can look it up later if you want, Hezekiah gets a letter from Sennacherib. They bring this letter to him.
[0:37] Hezekiah knows what to do better than most of us. He didn't call the deacons in. He didn't go to the businessmen. He didn't go to the generals. He didn't go to the other preachers.
[0:49] He said, let's go to the house of God. That's fantastic enough right there. Amen. I love what the Bible says. He took the letter like God didn't know what was in it, opened it up and said, that's it.
[1:04] That's what they're saying about you. And I need you. If you have your Bible open. In verse 15, he prayed before the Lord.
[1:15] And he said, you are God. You alone, even thou alone. You made heaven. So I call on you, verse 16, to hear and see the words of Sennacherib, who reproaches the living God.
[1:31] Yeah, the kings of Assyria have destroyed nations. They have thrown their gods in fire. But they were not real gods. They were the works of men's hands. Wood and stone.
[1:42] That's why they were able to destroy them. Lord God, I want people to know that you are God. And you alone. Verse 20, Isaiah said, you've got to underline this in your Bible.
[1:54] It's just one of them things that jump off a page. He said, God says to, or Isaiah says to him, you prayed and he heard. Look at that.
[2:05] He said, thou hast prayed to me. Thus said the Lord God of Israel, thou hast prayed to me. I have heard. God, help us.
[2:15] If that doesn't thrill you, we've experienced that personally. You've experienced it. God is a prayer hearing God. In chapter 19 and verse 22, he said, whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?
[2:28] You're talking against the Holy One of Israel. And you think your big chariots are going to win a war. Verse 35, they put 185,000 soldiers around God's city.
[2:46] They could win. They had the power. They had the weapons. But Hezekiah knew God. And in 35, the Lord went out and smote.
[2:59] The angel of the Lord smote them, killed them. 185. Love this. They were all dead corpses. I mean, they went to bed thinking, tomorrow we destroy God's people.
[3:13] And God says, you won't wake up tomorrow. Verse 36, Zedekarib departed. And he returned back to Nineveh. He went into the worship at the house of his idol, God, who is no God.
[3:27] And his sons killed him. I don't know who's surrounding your city. I don't know what's happening in your life. But I know this.
[3:39] Our God is a terrible God. That's the King James word for it. Modern word, he's awesome. But terrible means, he is so powerful, you better be scared.
[3:53] That's really what, sometimes awesome, I mean, it's ugly. I'm not trying to be ugly, but it kind of tones it. Terrible means, I mean, what do you think you'd feel when you wake up and look out and there's 185,000 dead people?
[4:06] I doubt you'd be dancing a jig and saying, oh, that's good stuff. You'd just be like, whoa, that's God. Read with me. It's kind of funny.
[4:18] They should have been thanking God. But the men of God had to stand up and say in verse 1, oh, clap your hands, all you people.
[4:30] Get up and give God a hand. He said, we're not charismatics. Well, these Jews clapped for Jesus. And then he said, and you shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
[4:46] For the Lord most high is terrible, awesome, wonderful. He is so powerful, he strikes fear.
[4:58] You know, the truth is, we don't have to fear him like he's going to hurt us. But when you're in the presence of almighty power, almighty holiness, almighty ability, you probably, you know what they did in the Bible?
[5:13] They fell dead at his feet. They weren't dead. They just fainted. They were like, that's, boom, they fainted. You know why? Because he ain't like us.
[5:25] He's too far above us. You should say amen right there. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet. He will choose our inheritance.
[5:37] The excellency of Jacob, whom he loves. God is gone up with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Now verse six, I want all y'all to read verse six with me.
[5:50] Psalm 47, six. I want you to read it out loud. And I'd just like to say, I'm afraid after we read this verse, we should change. Sometimes, these musicians and leading songs, and we kind of drag, and we kind of mumble through it, and we kind of look at it as prelude.
[6:13] We don't give it importance. But look at this. Read with me verse six. Everybody, out loud. Ready? Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto our King.
[6:26] Sing praises. God was in the lock and singing business. I mean, this is divine scripture.
[6:37] Amen. Clap, shout, praise, sing. Amen. Amen. I mean, if, if, if, if last night when you went to bed, you didn't sleep because you were afraid, 185,000 soldiers around your city, you had no idea you would live.
[6:55] You knew the next day you'd be dead. You were hugging your wife when you went to sleep. If you did, you had your children pull close and you said, don't be afraid. But you knew they should be afraid because if God didn't come through, your kids would be dead.
[7:12] Your wife would be raped. And then all of a sudden God wiped out the enemy. Wiped them out. No slingshots, no bows and arrows, no spears, no swords, no shields.
[7:27] God wiped them out. I bet you'd be like, sing praise. I bet you wake up at the family next morning and say, we need to sing. He saved us.
[7:38] Look at this. Verse seven. For God is the King of all the earth. Sing you praises with understanding. God reigns over the heathen.
[7:48] God sets upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together. Even the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted.
[8:01] I probably won't get around to this. It's all inserted right here. See those shields? Nobody really knows what I've mentioned. But you know, they made golden shields.
[8:14] And then those shields got taken and replaced them with brass shields. And you hear God says, oh, don't worry. Y'all ain't no able to hold on to shields, but I am. I am still in charge. So anyway, this is a song of victory.
[8:29] It's also a millennial song. Talking about the day when Jesus will take over the entire world. I hope you take your Bible and follow me. Number one, our God is an awesome, terrible God.
[8:42] He has to call the people to praise, honor, and give thanks. Oh, clap your hands, all ye people.
[8:54] Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. That wasn't clapping for the singer. That was clapping for the victor. That wasn't clapping for the preacher. That was clapping for the God who just wiped out 185,000 enemies.
[9:10] It's embarrassing that God's people had to be reminded to be thankful. Like the ten lepers when only one returns. We are quick to pray, but we are not quick to praise.
[9:22] The worship was very enthusiastic. Sometimes independent Baptists are drier than a gunpowder keg. I don't know what you're drier than.
[9:33] Dust. Dust. I'm dry too. I'm not blaming you because it's kind of like my personality to be dry and dull. But these people, man, I don't know if you can see it. They were jumping up and down.
[9:45] Of course, I think we would be too. You ever seen any of those pictures of when World War I and World War II ended? Those people went crazy. And they didn't see anything like God's people.
[9:58] 185,000 wiped out. Basically, we'll see this in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, when Jesus finally wins, He's going to call all the buzzards. And He's going to say, y'all come eat.
[10:11] I have fixed you a big supper. Those that don't like me, their dead bodies are laying out there. Eat them. It's in the Bible. I'll show it to you. Verse 2, the Lord Most High is terrible.
[10:23] He is a great king over all the earth. Well, that's not true yet. He might have been ruling in Israel and surrounding areas.
[10:39] But He will be king of all the earth. He's so powerful that His power struck all in their hearts. That's terrible. That's what that means.
[10:51] Imagine being terrified of 185,000. Imagine seeing them all dead. God, our God, the God of the Bible was no small idol.
[11:02] Every country had their little gods. They could bring them with them. They could set them up. I could take you to Arequipa and take you to the idol makers where they cut a piece of wood or they form some clay or they get some ceramic or they get some metal and they make them a God.
[11:18] A God they can pray to that reminds them of God. But this God is so big that when a king and a general mock him, he wipes them out.
[11:30] The general is now dead. Now look at the prophecy. You need to understand the Bible is not just a history book. It's not just a history book.
[11:41] It's not just about how God saved Israel. You live in a wicked world. They don't like you. You believe in marriage to a man, a man married to a woman for an entire lifetime.
[11:53] You believe in raising children to love God. The world doesn't like you. You believe that babies' lives ought to be protected. You believe that adultery ought to be wicked in everybody's eyes.
[12:04] You believe that homosexuality and other sins would be wrong. They don't like us. We're in a war. We're backed up against the wall. There's 185,000 enemies and it's easy for you to think we're beaten and we're defeated.
[12:19] But he's not bothered by 185,000. He's already proved that. Verse 3, He shall subdue the people under his feet and the nations under us and the nations under our feet.
[12:32] He's going to make it happen. You see, Israel doesn't win the battle. God wins the battle. He chose our inheritance. He loved the nation of Israel and He made it happen.
[12:45] I don't know if you'll do it because you don't carry Bibles. But I wish you'd go with me to Revelation 19, 11. This is going to happen. I must confess, I just believe the Bible the way it's written.
[13:01] I believe that Jesus will come. I believe, verse 11, that there will be a heaven opened and a big old white horse and the God sitting on Him will be called faithful and true.
[13:16] In righteousness He will judge and make war. He'll take over the world. He will have, in verse 12, many crowns. He'll take the crown from the USA.
[13:27] He'll take the crown from Great Britain. He'll take the crown from Germany. Everybody will know there's only one king and He has all the crowns. In verse 13, His vesture is dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God.
[13:41] That's Jesus. Did you know there will be armies which were in heaven following on white horses? That's me and you. When He gets ready to come down here and kick rear, we'll just ride and watch.
[13:56] That's going to be fun. Amen? All of a sudden, the headlers of this world, all of a sudden, the Idi Amin, you don't know who those people were probably because you don't know enough history. You burned that book along with others, I'm sure.
[14:10] But all these bad people, all these, they're raised up against God, all these that say God doesn't exist. Jesus will come and they will follow up on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, dressed in righteousness.
[14:25] I am not worthy to be in that battle. I'm not worthy to sit on a white horse. I'm not worthy to come with Jesus. But He made me worthy. Keep beat that.
[14:36] And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword and He would smite the nations. He'll take over and rule the world with a rod of iron. And He will tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
[14:51] God, excuse me, you're not going to like this. I know you think He's all love, but He is mad. He is mad. And He's holding it back now to give us time to tell people about Jesus.
[15:08] But the day is coming when tribulation will come on this world like no one has ever seen. Six million Jews dying, Chinese killing other Chinese, Japanese destroying Chinese, Africans selling Africans, British and American people selling slaves, people being mistreated.
[15:27] Ain't nothing ever happened that will compare when God steps out and says, I'm here. We're settling accounts. It's going to be wild. And then He'll rule. A name is written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
[15:41] Now I want you to read verse 17 so you know I didn't make it up. And I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds, the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come gather yourselves unto the supper of the great God.
[15:57] Can you imagine that? I don't even like buzzards. I see them on the road. All I want to do, I'd like to run over them. Sorry. And look at what it says, that they may eat of the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sat on them, the flesh of all men, the free and the slave, both small and great.
[16:23] God said, yeah, they rose up against me, but this time I am wiping them out. I want you to picture 185,000. Now I want you to picture millions who reject Jesus.
[16:37] I want you to picture countries eaten up by Hinduism and Buddhism and atheism and false Christianity and every other kind of false religion and they shake their fists in the face of God and they don't accept Jesus.
[16:53] They will rebel against him and he will win. That's at the last of the millennium, by the way. Don't have time to go into all that. And I saw the beast, the Antichrist and the kings of the earth and their armies gather together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army.
[17:14] And he's not so strong. He's not so strong. An angel goes over and just whoops him, wraps him up in chains and throws him in a bottomless pit. Don't ever think the devil.
[17:26] He's stronger than me and you. He ain't stronger than our king. He ain't stronger than the angels God has working for him. Verse 20, the beast was taken. The false prophet was a fake religious guy.
[17:39] He was taken. He had deceived them that received the mark of the beast, them that worshipped his image. And they were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.
[17:52] And the remnant were slain with a sword of him that sat on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth and the birds got full. You ever seen one of them old westerns back in the black and white days and the poor guys laying on the ground dying and the buzzards are in the trees just waiting for him to quit quivering?
[18:13] That's what I, when I read this, that's what I'm thinking about. Our God's a terrible God. Not terrible like you might think today, but terrible in the sense he is so powerful.
[18:25] You don't play with him. After all, he is the creator. He made all of us. He made it. He's in charge. Not only is he a terrible God, an awesome God for you younger people, he is a triumphant God.
[18:44] You see, it's about Jesus. Yes, that little story spurred them to write a song. By the way, we could get a little more excited around here and say, praise the Lord and sing like we meant.
[18:57] A friend of mine in Mexico used to say, if I can't see your tonsils when you're singing, you ain't singing yet. God is gone up with a shout.
[19:12] The Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Calvary's over. He came to suffer, but nay rises to rain. I read this in a sermon outline.
[19:24] I like it. Here it goes. He came the first time to a manger. He's coming the second time in majesty. He came the first time as a carpenter. He's coming the second time as a king.
[19:35] He came the first time to a stable. He's coming the second time on a stallion. He came the first time to be crucified. He's coming the second time to be crowned. He came the first time on a tree.
[19:46] he's coming the second time to a throne he has gone up been exalted given his perfect proper place as who he is the king of the universe and we are to sing praises be honest with you right now if my voice was where it used to be even i'd be breaking out a song with you we ought to sing praises we ought to be saying boy god there ain't nobody like you oh god you are so powerful oh god you deserve our worship and you may mock it but there ought to be some tears running down our faces ought to be some hands raised up there ought to be a little bit of excited shouting about him there ought to be some clapping for him it ought to be like oh my soul there is no god like our god he is our king and our god he is worthy of our praise there is none other who can defeat all the enemies and rule over all of creation notice he will come back and celebrate kingdom and rule over all the earth verse 7 god is the king of all the earth he's mucked you know the two-thirds of the world that you claim to be christian it's so easy when you live here to think that everywhere has got so many churches but 65 percent of the world doesn't even claim christianity as a religion 35 percent says they're christian and boy they're not if there were there wouldn't be racism there wouldn't be people hurting policemen right now there wouldn't be all this junk going on if they were saved come on be honest born again people don't do that stuff hell people do that stuff bad cops people that hurt cops both he's not king right now two-thirds of the world don't even recognize him i was in china years ago maybe 99 or 2000 not sure of the year and i was with a missionary friend named keith colors and he's in the front seat with the taxi driver and i'm in the back seat and i do not like it they're talking chinese and i don't get a word of it and i keep saying what are you saying what are you saying what did he say and he said the guy asked me what i do he said i told him i'm a pastor and he said what's a pastor he said i teach the bible the guy said what's a bible he said i told him about jesus and he said who's that and i'm sitting in the back said let me talk how do you tell this guy he's the king of all the earth sing ye praises with under you know who he is sing praises on sunday morning we need to knock stephen cofield and his group up here off the stage we ought to sing so loud his hair will be going back if he had that long hair he used to have he would really look funny amen we ought to say god you are worthy of our praise he will rule over pagans in verse 8 he reigns over heathen that's our word for pagan those who don't know god and he sits on the throne of his holiness psalm 47 9 he is greatly exalted he is greatly he's not now i mean we exalt him but his name is a cuss word his name's a swear word he's a mocked and laughed at his bible is considered a dead book i'm not by us i'm talking about out there the day is coming when he will be greatly exalted in acts chapter 1 in verse 9 he was taken out and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they were looking up towards heaven the angel said this same jesus which is taken from you into heaven shall so come again in like manner did you see him go into heaven he's coming back he is king he is god he is not you are not just a product of evolution you're not just whatever you
[23:51] want to be he is god he is worthy of your worship a great war will soon take place in zechariah chapter 14 and verse 1 the bible says the day of the lord he will gather in verse 2 all nations against jerusalem to battle and the city will be taken houses will be ruffled women will be ravished and the city will go into captivity and the residue will be killed verse 3 you should mark these in your bible then then shall the lord go forth and fight he might whip us the devil but he will i like the word then they might be killing us and raping our wives and destroying our children and burning down everything we have but when he rises up he will fight against those nations as he fought the day of battle by the way in verse 4 his feet will stand on the mount of olives and it will split east and west and make a great valley now all the power and honor go to jesus he is finally in his rightful place verse 9 the princes the people of the god of abraham the jews who have rejected him finally getting right with god they're like he is our god they deny him now i met a friend with one of our church members i met a jewish lady and i said man i'm so glad to meet you i said you know you're the special people to god you're god's chosen people and she said well i wish blankety blank he'd have chosen somebody else they won't say that then they'll be happy to be the city the god of people of the god of abraham he is greatly exalted i have six minutes and i want to give you a bunch of verses i really wish you opened your bible to them i'll try to give you time to get there go to second peter 3 10 now listen to me when you read psalm 47 and you hear that jesus is coming back it's supposed to do something to you when i was a boy we lived out in the country for years we lived on dirt roads you don't know what that is don't have blacktop don't have asphalt don't have concrete it's either gravel or chert or dirt and when somebody's coming down the road there's a whole cloud of dust coming and my parents hated that they said we get rich we're gonna live on a blacktop road so no dust gets in the house nobody had air conditioners either but some days my parents would wake up and say get ready get dressed clean the house put out the new towels get out the best silverware get out the best plates that you never get to use company is coming and so we had to do all these things because they were coming and if you know jesus is coming look what it says second peter 3 10 the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night you need to know that you don't know so you got to be ready all the time but look at verse 11 with me if you would seeing then that he's going to come and everything around us is going everything around us is going to melt that nice car going to turn into a lump of metal that house is going to burn down your clothes are going to be gone because it ain't worth anything in jesus presence he said if you know that verse 11 what manner of persons ought you to be and holy living and godliness you know jesus is coming let it affect the way you live let it affect the way you read your bible let it affect if jesus were coming tomorrow we'd probably make some changes we're to live spotless lives second peter 3 12 we're to look for and hurry up the day of the coming of god we're to look in verse 13 for new heavens and a new earth where dwells righteousness so in
[27:55] verse 14 he says since that's true beloved seeing that you look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless he's coming and we want to be clean and ready my mother used to put clothes on us and we could sit on the porch we weren't allowed to play we couldn't ride the horse we couldn't go to the barn we had to sit there and stay clean after the company got there we finally got to get dirty amen well jesus is coming ain't time to get dirty boys first john chapter 2 and verse 28 and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming i think you need to know something positionally you're accepted and positionally you're perfect and positionally you're great but often your practice doesn't line up with your position and a christian says i know who i am and i want to live like who i am i want to become who i was made to be i hear people say oh we have to worry about that we're in grace well john didn't know that he thought you ought to worry about it and paul thought you ought to worry about it paul said in first corinthians 9 24 we all run in a race but one receives surprise so run that you may obtain verse 25 be tempered in all things they're going to get a crown that rots but god has crowns prepared that do not rot he said therefore i will not mess around with this i will not be uncertain i will keep my body under subjection less of any means when i preach to others i should be a castaway paul was like i'm watching my step i'm being careful i'm disciplining myself i don't know if you know this but jesus told the church in revelation 3 11 you better hold on to your crown let somebody take it it's like god said got this for you austin here's your crown but i mess up and the crown will be gone whether you like it or not we are running in a race second john 8 says look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrong we have worked but we can lose it huh we have worked but we can lose it he said but i want you to receive a full reward you really want to get to heaven he had all this for you and he says well the way you acted i'll just give you this you say but i'm accepted you are accepted but you're to pray to be acceptable read the bible some of you need to read more books in the bible you've been reading jude and psalms and proverbs and and genesis you know you never got to leviticus come on first john 3 1 says man can you imagine the love the father has called us the sons of god the world doesn't know us because it never knew him beloved you're the sons of god verse 2 and it does not yet appear what we shall be but this much we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for he shall see him as he is after he said those wonderful things look what john said so if you believe that if you have that hope that expectation and that trust purify yourself as he is pure hey your cousins are coming today take a bath wash behind your ears get the dirt out from between your toes we didn't wear shoes you know get clean sit down on the porch and you clean clothes this company is coming jesus is coming you get this you get this our god will rule if you believe that
[32:00] it has to consume you if you really thought that jesus was coming or that you were dying when i was a kid there was a tv show one year to live i don't remember what the name it was with this guy was given one year so he goes crazy doing everything he ever wanted to do but i think if you knew you had one year i bet you to hone up on your praying hone up on your bible reading i bet you'd be like when he comes i want you to find me faithful you don't have the promise of a year sweetheart he might come today tonight and if you have that hope purify yourself father in heaven thank you for what for me was a great chapter you blessed my heart i praise you i magnify you i lift you high god you are great i love you your people here love you i pray god that you do a work tonight i pray you'd show your power i pray you'd help us to get hungry to serve you and to be used of you with every head bowed every eye closed he's coming again i believe it will be soon this is not something to play with won't you tell him right now i want to start taking this seriously if you're not already why don't you say to him i'm going to really hey stop it with the porn guys girls stop it with things that you know you wouldn't do if jesus were here he is here and he will come get us let's live out who we are in christ i am accepted but i want to live acceptably in christ i am told though that i'm to grow let's grow if you're listening on the internet and you've never trusted christ the promises of god are not for you till you trust jesus bible says you have sinned against the holy god there is no help for you except jesus bible says your sins have separated you from god the bible says the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal is eternal life the bible says that god loves you so much that he gave his son to die for you i challenge you to trust christ for your salvation what a god father in heaven take praise tonight from your people we love you in jesus name amen thank you