[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 13 and verse 14. I'm so glad that you're here today. Looking forward to a study from the Word of God that's going to help you to understand about Jesus coming back.
[0:11] You know that Jesus is about to die. We are just hours from the time in the Bible here when he will go to the cross. He'll be nailed to the cross.
[0:22] He will suffer, and he will die, and the whole crucifixion story that you know about and you've heard about takes place. Before he goes, he's having a last-minute conversation with his guys.
[0:33] These 12 men have accompanied him for like three, three-and-a-half years, and they're very important to him. Everybody is, but these guys are his friends. These guys are his special students he's been teaching.
[0:43] And so he's about to go to the cross, so he's saying, let me tell you what's going to happen out there in the future. So you guys will be forewarned, so you guys will know what's going to happen there in the future. Now, there's something that's going on that you've got to have a little background for is Israel and Judah, the nation of Israel as a whole, has not been honoring God.
[1:02] They were chosen by God back in Genesis chapter 12 to take the gospel and spread it. Their whole kingdom should be a citadel of light. Their whole kingdom should be a place where everybody was hearing the word of God, studying the word of God, teaching the word of God, living the word of God.
[1:20] And that's what they should have done. But it didn't take them long to say, we'd rather be like our neighbors that don't know God. And we'd rather worship their false gods as our true God.
[1:31] And so they got into all kinds of just filthy and vile stuff that their neighbors were doing, burning their children in the fire, having religious services that included sexual immorality, worshiping idols had become the thing.
[1:47] And so now this religion has become a cultural thing. It's not a biblical thing. It's not a God thing. It's a personal or a cultural thing from the nation.
[1:58] And so Israel has totally gone off the rails. Israel has done what they wanted to do. And so some really bad stuff is going to happen. All through the Old Testament, God kept saying, if you guys don't straighten up, your country is in trouble.
[2:13] If you don't straighten up, your country is in trouble. If you don't straighten up, your country is in trouble. Now, Jesus is ready to die and be buried and rise again. And this is what he says.
[2:23] Look with me, if you would, in Mark 13, 14. The Bible says, Father, I pray this morning that you would help us as we understand what you're going to do in the future and what's going to happen.
[2:49] I pray, God, that those that aren't ready for your return, that today they would be ready. They would trust you as their personal Savior. They would be truly saved, born again, followers of Jesus.
[3:00] I pray, God, that you would do a work in their lives that would bring honor to your name today. And I will give you great praise and honor and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. I need to give you some background. So everybody knows there's a temple.
[3:13] If you come to church all the time, you know all this because we've been through Genesis, Exodus, all the way to 2 Chronicles now. You know about the temple. You know about the tabernacle. Some of you started visiting our church when we were in the book of Leviticus.
[3:26] I forget which one of the families in here walked in. And that night we had a live goat. And we were going to pretend to offer it on the altar. And the guys had built an altar. And they had some fake blood.
[3:37] And they started towards the altar with this. And they pretended to cut the lamb's neck. And they squirted this paint junk on the altar. And one of the families said, if you're killing a lamb, I'm out of here. We didn't kill the lamb.
[3:48] It was all fake. But the whole point is in the Old Testament there's this temple. First it was a tabernacle. And it's where God said, I want to be with you. I want to know you. I want to spend time with you.
[3:59] I want you with me. And so God came down and he tabernacled. God came down and he set up a place because even though we sinned and we went away from God, he's always come looking for us.
[4:10] He's always come towards us. It's always been God coming after you. Some of you might be here today and say, I'm trying to find God. Believe me. He's trying to find you before you ever thought about trying to find him. And that's the most beautiful thing in the world.
[4:22] So they set up this tabernacle. And then the tabernacle and then later in the temple, they had this wall around the temple. And on the outside there was a court of Gentiles where people that were foreigners and weren't Jews could come in.
[4:33] And get close to the worship. And then further in they had the court of the Jewish ladies. And then further in the Jewish men could go a little bit further. And then further in there was just a place where the priests could go. And then there was this one place that was the Holy of Holies.
[4:46] And it's the most central place in the worship of God. The most central place. It's where, it's like in symbol, it's where God is. He's not there. The ark is there. But it's the symbol of that's where God is.
[4:58] So for a Jewish person, this temple is everything. And in this chapter when he started off, he started talking about that temple. Inside that temple, it's getting progressively more valuable as you step in.
[5:11] And when you get into where the ark sits, when you get into the Holy of Holies, you're in the most beautiful, wonderful place that's dedicated for one sole purpose. The worship of the God of heaven.
[5:22] Now Israel's going to have to be shaken, shook, knocked around, whatever the word is, to their roots so they'll realize they need God. Israel has become a not God-fearing, not God-loving, not God-serving nation.
[5:40] They become vile and filthy and wicked in their sins. They have people that look like they belong, look like they believe, but their hearts are far from it. They serve God from their mouth outward, but inside they're full of dead men's bones.
[5:54] And Jesus actually told them that. And so right now, things are about to get rough in the story. Now he's telling what's going to happen out in the future. Not happened yet. Not going to happen for, well, we don't know exactly when.
[6:05] So basically the history is that Jesus came at Bethlehem. That was God in human flesh. And he came to earth and he lived among us. He lived among human beings for 33, 34 years, somewhere in that neighborhood.
[6:19] And then he was crucified. When he came, that was his first coming. That was his first coming. And so he came and he lived among us and he died. And in this chapter he's saying, but I am coming back.
[6:31] I'm going to die. I'm going to be buried. I'm going to go to heaven, but I'll be back. And so he's going to go to heaven. He's going to come back. So when he dies on the cross in a few chapters, he'll be buried and he'll stay dead for three days.
[6:43] Then he will rise again and he will ascend into the heavens. But in heaven, he's gone to prepare us a place and he's coming back. And he will come back one day in the future in what's called the second coming.
[6:55] First coming when he was born. Second coming when he comes back to rule and reign and take over the world. When he comes back, his feet will literally touch the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives will split and then all kinds of changes are going to take place that we're not going to get into today.
[7:10] Too much for one day. Overload. Overload. Before that, there's about seven years before that, there's what we call the rapture. And in the rapture, Jesus won't come to the earth. He's going to come to the clouds and he's going to sound the trumpet and the archangel and the whole thing.
[7:24] And all those who believe in Jesus, those who have died and those who are still alive, will disappear from this earth and go to heaven. And we will be with Jesus forever. And that's a wonderful time we're looking for.
[7:36] Shortly after we leave, it's only seven years, so I can say short. It's a short amount of time. There will be this horrible thing about three and a half years into that seven years. This horrible thing called the abomination of desolation.
[7:49] You got your Bible open? Underline that. Abomination of desolation. Desolation. It's got a key phrase in there. I wish you'd look at it as you're reading your Bible there. It says, let him that readeth understand. So you got to understand.
[7:59] It's not like this is something you just automatically pick up on. And you know what's going to end up happening? There's going to be this antichrist. This guy, antichrist. Antichrist.
[8:10] This fake Jesus who is not true, not honest, not right. He is actually from the devil and from hell itself in the terms that we would use that for.
[8:21] And he is going to go into this holy of holies and put up some kind of image of himself. And instead of saying worship God, he's going to say worship me. That is an abomination, which means a hateful, terrible, horrible act that turns the stomach, makes you sick that anybody, anybody would ever consider substituting somebody besides the God of heaven in that place.
[8:43] And it's called the abomination of desolation. It's going to be so bad. And now the Jewish people are going to leave. I forgot to tell you this. There's no temple right now. That's going to happen. So sometime, right after this rapture takes place, this antichrist is going to come on the scene.
[8:59] And he's going to settle up world peace. He's going to get us all together. Not us. We'll be gone. But get the nations of the world all together. He's going to get everything set up. He's going to make peace in the Middle East.
[9:09] Nobody can do that. Jimmy Carter tried. No one's ever got it done. Can't make peace there. But this antichrist will make peace. He's going to let the nation of Israel build their temple again. And when they get their temple built, they're going to start doing their old sacrifices just like they used to do in the old days.
[9:24] And the antichrist, about three and a half years, is going to kind of act like a nice guy. And about three and a half years in, he's going to come out and say, I am who I am. And I'm going to tell you who I am. And it's fixing to get really bad on this earth. He's going to go in there.
[9:35] And it's going to be an abomination, terrible, hateful thing that happens that will make them leave the temple and not go back to their temple. They have dreamed about heaven for so long.
[9:47] There will have appeared to be peace on earth, but there's no peace. And then he will set up that. The temple will be totally abandoned. And when that happens, you need to be warned.
[9:58] That's going to happen. And so look at what he says in Mark 13, 14. He says, you better run for the hills. Because, see, once the antichrist reveals himself and shows you what a wicked guy is, things on this earth are going to go horribly crazy.
[10:15] Write this down somewhere. That's why we call it the great tribulation. Because horrible tribulation, horrible affliction, horrible anxiety, horrible mistreatment, horrible abuse. Things that are going to make the Holocaust look like child's play are going to start taking place on the earth.
[10:32] And look what he says in Mark 13, 14. Let him that be in Judea flee to the mountains. Circle the word Judea. I want you to circle the word Judea for this reason. It's not about you. Unless you're not saved.
[10:44] And if you're Jewish, you're probably not Jewish. So this is about the Jewish nation. Those of us that are born again, both Jew and Gentile, will have been raptured out.
[10:54] And we're in heaven. And there's a lot of stuff going to be going on in heaven that we went over in Revelation. We'll go over it again because I think we ought to know it. But down here on earth, if you're in Judea, you better run to the mountains.
[11:06] Did you see that? It's going to happen in Judea. And it's speaking to the Jews in his tribulation period. And that's going to be the beginning of horrible misery. So you need to run for the hills if you're alive when that happens.
[11:20] Look at Mark 13, 15 and following. We're going to jump these paragraphs, this series of verses. We're just going to skim through it because it's all saying the same thing. And listen to what it says. Let him that's on the housetop, don't you go down.
[11:32] Don't even go back in the house. Verse 16. If you're in the field, don't go to the house. Don't even try to get it closed. Don't pack a suitcase. It's bad. Get out of here. Go to them that are with child. If you're a pregnant lady or you've got a child that you're still breastfeeding, oh my goodness, this is going to be bad.
[11:49] Because you're going to be on the run like you cannot imagine. Every video, every movie you've ever seen where an earthquake's taking place and you've got to get out of Dodge or a tidal wave's coming or a tsunami's coming.
[12:00] Just multiply it by a gazillion. When this happens, run. Run. That's all you can do. Run. Run. And here's why. Verse 19. Got your Bible open? Look at Mark chapter 13 and verse 19.
[12:14] For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, and neither shall be.
[12:28] Now, you've got to understand. First thing I want to show you, I want you to underline in that verse the beginning of creation which God created. Would you underline that phrase, the beginning of creation which God created? Now, I want you to look this way just a second.
[12:40] I don't know who you are and I don't know what you believe. And I know you go to secular universities and secular schools and you're taught by people who are atheists and agnostics and don't believe in God. But in the Bible, it's a very clear thing.
[12:52] The world had a beginning. The world has an end. There's a guy in charge. The world's got a beginning. The world's got an end. And there's a guy in charge. His name's God. He is God. And he's in charge.
[13:03] And in this passage, Jesus, roughly 4,000 years, says, guys, it's going to be bad. It's going to be worse than it has been since the very beginning of the creation. If you remember the Old Testament, horrible things happened.
[13:17] 120,000 people killed in one day. People being violated, ripped, mistreated, gut tripped out. People offering up their babies. He said, you've never in your life seen anything like this.
[13:29] I do want you to remember this. Creation. You're not in Genesis. You're in the book of Mark. You're not way back in the beginning. In the book of Mark, Jesus said he believed in the creation.
[13:40] Can I get an amen right there? Jesus believed in the creation. He hadn't taken a class on evolution. He hadn't taken a class that would lead you to believe that things accidentally got started and they'll accidentally end when we've globally warmed this place too much.
[13:56] He was like, nope, God started it. God's in charge and God will end it. And I got the story right here. I'm going to just stop and say this to you. I'm just aggravating the proud of you. But do you know why they want you to not believe in a creation?
[14:08] Because if you don't believe in a creation, you don't believe in a creator. If you don't believe in a creator, you don't believe in somebody in charge. You don't believe in somebody in charge, you're in charge. You're going to be sadly mistaken when you find out. That's not true.
[14:19] In those days, there will be affliction. Affliction such as was not from the beginning of creation till now. This Antichrist, this world ruler will dominate the world. He is going to build an image and he is going to make people worship that image.
[14:35] I don't have time to prove all this in the Bible today. Just keep coming. We get there. That image is going to be like alive and speak and just crazy stuff.
[14:46] And this Antichrist is going to get a mortal wound that should kill him, but he won't die because he's trying to imitate Jesus. See, the devil's thing is to counterfeit truth.
[14:58] See, the Bible says creation. They say evolution. The Bible says salvation. And they talk about making you happy or something. They're going to figure out a counterfeit. And so there's going to be a whole bunch of stuff going on.
[15:11] Satan seems like he's in control. And the suffering is so great that even the believers are going to have a hard time. Look at Mark 13 20.
[15:22] Look at Mark 13 20. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he had chosen, he shortened the days.
[15:35] Now, two words there. I want you to circle in your Bible. And you don't need to be afraid of these words. Elect and chosen. These elect and chosen here aren't the church.
[15:45] We're already out of here. We're already in heaven. These are his people. But when you're his, he calls you mine. He calls you chosen. He calls you elect. By the way, I married Betty.
[15:57] She's my chosen. She's my chosen. She's my elect. She's the one. It's a loving, sweet term. It's a term where God looks and says, y'all are mine.
[16:07] We even sing songs to get it from the Bible when we say, he is mine and I'm his. So there's nothing wrong with that word. It's a great word. But these people that belong to God are going to be hurting so bad.
[16:19] That if God didn't stop things, even they wouldn't make it through. But God's still in control. He always is. Now, before I go on to the second thing I want to show you real quickly this morning, I need you to understand this.
[16:34] This world is technically under the leadership and guidance of the devil himself. Not God. So y'all always want to blame God when something goes wrong.
[16:45] But God was in charge in Eden. And we chose for him not to be in charge. And we've been choosing for him not to be in charge all through the Bible. In the very beginning, he said, I got this place for you. And you can eat of the tree of life, but don't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
[16:59] And those first humans went and ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And death came on us because God never meant for us to die. And God never meant for us to get sick. And God never meant for all this junk to go wrong.
[17:09] And God never meant for all that. That's our choice and our choosing. By the way, when you get to the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus will be tempted by the devil.
[17:20] And the devil will have the audacity to look at Jesus and say, if you'll bow down to me, I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. And what's exciting or interesting or shocking maybe is that Jesus doesn't look at him and go, oh, don't be ridiculous.
[17:36] Jesus, I am in charge. He just says, that's not the way that my father wants to do this. Because you see all this time that the world's been under sin and the world's been ignoring God and the world's been doing its own thing.
[17:47] And the world's been following after the devil, the current, Ephesians chapter 2, write it down, you can look at it later. And after all that's been going on, Satan says, if you'll bow down to me, I'll give you the kingdoms.
[17:58] Jesus is going to take the kingdoms. He don't let the devil give them to him. He's going to take the kingdoms. And that's what this tribulation period is all about. So look at this, if you would, in chapter 13 and verse 24.
[18:09] You just need to know God's still bigger. God's still bigger. He's still in charge. He still takes, he's over the devil. The devil has reign and rule on the earth today. He's the prince of the power of the air.
[18:21] He has all kinds of stuff that he does, but there's still a God in heaven. And just about now, the devil's going to need his chain pulled. He's going to need to be reminded you're not really big stuff. Look at you in Mark 13, 24.
[18:33] But in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
[18:46] Now, I believe this is like after the seven years here. And so what's happening after the seven years? Satan has been just going crazy. By the way, half of the world has died. Half of the world has died in this period of time, roughly.
[18:58] Half of the people on the planet are dead. You want to talk about the sun going out or a greenhouse effect or global warming or climate change? Let me tell you, something horrible is coming on this earth.
[19:10] Something horrible is coming on this earth. But at the end of that time, God's like, hey, I am here, and I am in charge. Watch this. And he turns the sun dark, and the moon doesn't give her light, and the stars from heaven fall.
[19:25] The powers that are in heaven are shaken. Satan and his hordes, Satan and his followers are defeated. And then look what's going to happen, if you would, in Mark chapter 13 and verse 26.
[19:37] Look at Mark 13, 26. Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. You need to underline this.
[19:50] You need to underline this. So we've had all this great tribulation. At the end of that great tribulation, we've had a shaking of the whole planet. And God has torn up nature and said, I'm still in charge.
[20:00] And all of a sudden, at the rapture, no one saw him. He came in the clouds, and no one saw him. They don't want to even know he had come except that we disappear. But in the second coming, every eye will see him.
[20:12] The whole world will know that he has come. And he will come, and it says in the verse 26, they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
[20:23] Oh, you've mocked him. Oh, you have said he's not really a creator. Oh, you've said he's not really in charge. Oh, you've said you'll do it your way. Oh, you've said you'll live life like you want to live life.
[20:36] Okay. The one who gave you life is coming back. And when he comes, he comes in great power. First time he came, he didn't come that way.
[20:47] First time he came, he didn't come that way. Look at verse 27 before I give you some ideas about that. Then shall he send his angels, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
[20:57] He gets everybody together, we're going to start the millennial kingdom. Another lesson for another day. His first coming was totally different. In his first coming, he comes humbly. In his first coming, yeah, there's some angels singing, and yeah, some things happening.
[21:09] And there's a star, but he comes, and he's born in a stable. And he is raised by this humble Jewish family. And he limits himself from his glory, and he limits himself from his power.
[21:23] On the whole, he works miracles, but in all honesty, you don't know that you know that you know that he is. But when he comes back, he's coming in, and it's like this. I am here, and I come with power, and I come with glory, and every eye.
[21:37] And all those that killed me, and all those that hated me, and all those that mocked me, I am here. That first time he came to die. The second time he's coming to set up a kingdom.
[21:49] In the rapture, he didn't come to the earth. So I need you to get that verse so you know it. So look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, if you wouldn't, verse 17. We saw it last week, I think. Look at what the Bible said.
[22:00] But then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That time he doesn't come to the earth. When I was a boy, I was really frustrated and upset about a rapture and a second coming.
[22:13] I was like, I don't see how that works, because if it's the first coming and the second coming, it ain't a three coming. It ain't a one and a half coming and a two coming. I'm not following all this stuff. Y'all are confusing me. But there's major differences.
[22:24] In this verse, he's in the air, in the clouds. In the other verse, his feet touch the ground. So it's really, I remember the guy that was teaching me. He knew I was hard-headed and he couldn't convince me of anything.
[22:35] So he said, go read these verses and come back and explain how these are different. I came back, I said, okay, you're right. I'm wrong. I see they're very different. So there's a time coming when he's coming for you if you're born again.
[22:46] And biblically, that could be at any moment. There is nothing needed for Jesus to come back. In fact, biblically, we believe that everything is ready. And at any moment, whenever he's ready, he can come back and take us on to heaven and are born again.
[23:00] I know you mock that. I know the world has fun with this. I know that if I were a smart guy, we wouldn't talk about this. We'd talk more about how you could have your best life now. Well, your best life would be getting to go to heaven.
[23:12] And your best life would be able to go up in those clouds. And your best life wouldn't be to be left here. The real point of everything is in this part right here. I want you to go with me to Mark 13, 28.
[23:25] And from here to the end of the chapter, and I'm going to finish the whole section this week just so I don't keep beating you with it. But watch this. Jesus finishes teaching all this, and then he says, now, guys, I want you to learn a story, a parable.
[23:38] I want to teach you something so you'll understand what's happening. So he says in verse 28, now, learn a parable of the fig tree. When her branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know summer's near.
[23:50] And so when you in like manner shall see these things come to pass, know that it's nigh even at the doors. I want you to look at something. I want you to realize what's happening. Jesus says, nobody knows that I'm coming back.
[24:02] We'll look at that verse in just a second. Nobody knows I'm coming back. Nobody knows. So anybody tells you they know when he's coming back, they're dingbats. Just discounting anything they got to say.
[24:12] They're wrong. If somebody tells you, I believe he's coming back and they give you a date. How many times have they given us dates? They've been given dates. And if they had just read their Bible, Jesus said, well, I don't know. So I don't know how y'all figured it out.
[24:23] Say, man. I mean, I don't know who you think you are. You figured out it and he didn't. But he did say this. You can know when it's getting close. See what it says here? It's like a parable of a fig tree.
[24:34] When a fig tree in the winter and it's really cold and everything's dead. I so remember when my grandkids got here from Peru and they'd never seen winter. We don't even have winter.
[24:46] But compared to where I lived in Peru and Ariequipa, Ariequipa is spring and fall like weather all the time. And literally they harvest a crop and plant one the next day. I mean, it's like they don't have to worry about it. It's just all year round.
[24:57] I mean, it gets a tad colder than what they call winter. And it rains in the wet season, the rainy season. So, yeah, but they didn't know. And they got back and they were like, man, everything's so ugly. And all the trees are dead.
[25:11] And I said, oh, hang on. They'll be back. And they kept looking. They could just forever. And then one day they were like, man, it's green everywhere. They cleared off a piece of ground out in the front.
[25:26] And they got it all the way down the dirt. And they told me, no more grass there, granddaddy. We have cleaned that up down to the dirt. And then nothing will grow there now. I said, oh, it'll be there. They said, no, no, you're wrong. I said, oh, it'll be there.
[25:36] They said, we don't have to mow that. We'll have to clean it. It'll be clean. I said, oh, it'll be there. No, it won't. They came in one day and they go, that's stuff growing out there. You know that. Well, if you know anything about spring, I mean, you start seeing birds.
[25:49] You start watching little shoots of life come back on those trees. And you know it's almost like before you can open your eyes, you blink one time and it's all green again.
[26:00] And that's what Jesus said. He said, if you understand about fig trees, you ought to understand about me coming back. Look at verse 29. No, it's nigh. Now, all over the world right now, there are people mocking the rapture.
[26:13] Why do you reckon they mock the rapture? Why do you reckon they mock God? Don't you realize that 2,000 years ago when Jesus was about to come the first time, nobody believed him.
[26:25] Nobody expected it. It had been 400 years before his first coming. There had been no real preachers going on writing new books of the Bible or anything. It's called the 400 years of silence. And then when those wise men showed up to speak to Herod, they walked in and said, we've come to see the king.
[26:41] That star is leading us this way. And Herod goes, what, king? I ain't heard anything about this. They don't have some nut down at the Baptist church preaching about that. So Herod turns and looks at the guys that studied the Old Testament and said, y'all better tell me what's going on there.
[26:56] They said, give us a minute. Ran in the back room, cranked up their computers, did a search, and came back out and said, yep, the Bible says there's going to be a guy born in Bethlehem. He's going to be the king. And Herod's like, hey, you guys go on down there and find him.
[27:07] Come back and tell me because I want to worship him too because what I really want to do is kill him. Nobody believed. Nobody expected. You don't believe. We don't expect. The Bible says that he's coming. Look how far into it he goes.
[27:18] Jesus is really pretty rude about it in verse 31. In verse 31, he basically says, oh, y'all see like creation, the heavens, the stars, and the moon, and all the earth, and all the trees, and all the plants.
[27:31] Oh, that can rot before my words don't come true. I mean, he's pretty confident that this book could be trusted. Can I get an amen right there? He looked at him and said, y'all don't think it's going to happen, but I'll just go ahead and tell you something.
[27:45] Everything you see can be gone, but my word will not pass away. So here's some truths that we ought to learn today. Number one, no one knows when he's going to return. You need to mark this, circle it, and that way you'll know it any time you pass.
[27:58] Look at verse 13, chapter 13, verse 32. But of that day and that hour knows no man. The angels in heaven don't even know it, nor does the Son, just the Father.
[28:14] Excuse me? Somebody should talk to the seven-day Adventist and tell them about that. Somebody should talk to some other Baptist-type nuts that are telling you. In this verse, it says angels don't know.
[28:25] Another guy's running all over heaven doing all of his bidding. And the Son doesn't know. And Jesus said, no man knows. And he just got through saying in 31, my word's always right. So when I say nobody knows, nobody knows.
[28:39] You want me to tell you how many people know about when Jesus is coming? Nobody. Only the Father. But what's the lesson, Jesus? What are you telling us? What do you want us to preach?
[28:49] And by the way, when they write all the epistles, the second coming of the Lord and the rapture, all that stuff's going to be on the Scriptures. But every time, it has a purpose. It's not so you'll know last day stuff.
[29:01] It's so you'll be ready. Look at verse 33. Take you heed. Pay attention. Pay attention. Watch and pray.
[29:12] Because you don't know when it's going to be. So every Christian in this room ought to be saying to themselves, I'm not sure when he's coming, but I am going to be watching. I'm going to be studying what's going on around me.
[29:24] I'm going to be studying what the Word of God's saying. I'm going to be praying because there is a great God with great power. And Jesus is coming again on the clouds back to this earth. Your responsibility is to be ready.
[29:36] If he shows up today, are you ready? Some of you may be good Baptists, but Baptists are going to go to hell. Baptists don't go to heaven. Only saved people go to heaven.
[29:47] There's a lot of people just like the Jewish nation. They've got to look down, got to act down, got to walk down, but they don't know Jesus. I think verse 34 is probably one of the most weighty verses in this whole chapter.
[29:59] Look at verse 34. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work.
[30:10] And then he told the porter, the doorkeeper, you better be watching. I want you to look at this verse and I want you to listen to me real closely. First off, you need to know there is really a creation. There really is a God in charge and there really will be a time when he comes back.
[30:24] And that's just as clear as a nose on your face if you read the Bible to say the Bible at all. Anybody who studies the Bible would have a hard time denying that it says it. You might try to worm your way out of it, but it says it.
[30:38] But when he left, he said, now guys, let me explain to you what's going on here. You see, I'm leaving. If you would, it's a son of man is as a, for the son of man is as a man.
[30:49] So as I go to heaven, I'm like a guy that's going on a trip. And I'm in charge. And here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave my house and I'm going to give authority.
[31:01] Underlying authority. He said, I'm going to give some authority to his servants, to the people that work for him, to the people that work for him. So the owner of the business says, I'm going to take a two-week vacation.
[31:14] I'll be back. You're in charge. And I'm giving you authority to do all this and this. He probably even lays out and says, this is all the authority you have. Don't try to exceed it. Don't sell my company while I'm gone. And then he gets on the airplane and this guy's been given authority and he's been given, underline it in the verse, a work.
[31:30] You underline that in the verse? And to every man, his work. God gave authority and his work to every man, which makes it your work. So God gave authority to all of his servants and he gave a work to all of those servants.
[31:47] And he said, y'all better be watching. I'm coming back. Can I just say to you this morning, he has given you authority over resources, time, talents, even people.
[31:59] Everybody sitting in this room. You honestly, I don't know why we come up with this, but we kind of tend to think, we tend to think, I'm just an evolved animal. I mean, dogs and cats and humans, we're just evolved animals.
[32:14] I'm going to live and die. So the guy who dies with the most toys wins. That'd be true if you didn't know what the God view is. And the God view is he created the world. He's still in charge of the world and he's coming back to the world and he's given you authority.
[32:28] He's put things under your leadership and under your control and under your stewardship. And he says to you, if you look at it, it's his work. Would you put a circle around his work?
[32:38] It's really his work that he makes your work. And he gave you authority, but he gave it to a servant, not an owner. How are you using your authority?
[32:52] God has blessed you with children, yet you're maybe not faithful to get them to the Bible, get them to church, get them to the things of God. God, you've got authority, but you don't use it for Christ.
[33:04] You're a husband, you've got a wife. And so God gave you some authority, but you don't use that influence to bring your wife along for Jesus. God gave you authority over some money. And he said, here's some money.
[33:14] That's my money. I'm going to give it to you and use it for me because I'm coming back. God gave you authority over your own life to accept or reject Jesus. And you ignore that.
[33:26] He's given you a work. Have you found your work? Some of you are like, what? I didn't know he gave me a work. Then you've got a problem. You should get involved.
[33:37] You should realize you're not an accident. You're not a spectator. You're not allowed to just sit on the side of the road like nothing's happening. God has a plan for your life. And he wants to use you.
[33:49] And he gave you some authority and a work. You were given a limited time to accomplish his purposes. He's coming back. He's coming back. It won't be long until he comes back.
[34:02] So your boss goes on vacation. I used to be a missionary in Peru, South America. And I had trained a whole bunch of people. There were young preachers all over the city. And they called me El Gordo, the fat guy.
[34:15] That was really nice of them. But they don't even take it as that much of an insult. And I flew back in one time on the plane. And a taxi driver picked me up. And he knew me. He lived next to one of the churches.
[34:26] And when I got in the car, he said, it's a good thing the big guy's back. And I said, why? He said, because when you're gone, well, you know the story. A must play when the cat's gone.
[34:36] And I said, what are you talking about? He said, well, them boys need a strong hand. It's a good thing your strong hand is back. I got to church. I called all of them in. I said, what in the world is going on? And they said, oh, he's just talking.
[34:47] I said, oh, come on. There's got to be more to it. But can I say this to you? The big guy left. And the big guy's in heaven preparing a place. But the big guy's coming back. And the big guy turned over work to you.
[34:58] And the big guy gave you money and time and talents and resources. And the big guy gave that to you. And he's coming back. What are you doing with your authority and your work? Look at Mark 13, 35, if you would.
[35:11] Watch. If you understand what I'm saying, pay attention now. For you don't know when the master of the house is coming back. He could come back in the evening in the p.m.
[35:22] He could come back at midnight. He could come back about 4 o'clock in the morning when the roosters are crowing. Or he could come back when the sun comes up. But you don't want him to find you asleep. He told the porters to watch.
[35:35] They were standing at the door and watch. I have heard stories of military people that were put on guard. And I've heard stories of what other military people did to their military people when they were overseas in a dangerous place.
[35:47] They found a guy watching who went to sleep. And they told me it was against the rules. They weren't supposed to do it. But that guy would not go to sleep again. Because after the other guys that were risking their lives waiting on him, got through with him, he was like, it's dangerous to go to sleep.
[35:59] The Lord told you to watch. But you have taken this lightly. Most of us are going to be, when Jesus comes or even death knocks on our door, most of us are like, I didn't expect that.
[36:12] Well, you ought to expect it. You ought to expect Jesus to come back. You ought to expect to die. It's a part of what the Bible says. Are you ready? It's a serious question.
[36:25] In Mark 13, he says, let me tell you guys, I'm about to die. But I'm in charge. And I'm going to die. And I'm going to be buried. I'm going to rise again. And then a whole bunch of junk is going to happen on this world.
[36:38] But I'm coming back. I'm giving you some authority. I'm giving you a job. I'm giving you some time. But I'm coming back. Don't go to sleep. Do what I want you to do. You might say, well, I don't agree with that.
[36:52] Well, you're not disagreeing with me. You're disagreeing with what the book says. So most of us are going to go home today, and we're going to turn off our religious thing. We got our hour in. Or maybe you're really spiritual, and you got in two hours today.
[37:04] And you're going to go home. You're going to put your Bible up. It's convenient now that it's electronic. You don't even have to put it up. You just have to turn it off. Disconnect that app. And you're going to spend the whole week living your own life and forgetting God.
[37:18] Can we be honest? What are we going to do? Here's what he said. Basically, summed up, it is, I'm in charge. You belong to me.
[37:31] Everything you have belongs to me. Everything you are belongs to me. And I'm going to leave, and I got a job for you to do. I go do the job and watch because I'm coming back, and you'll be ready when I get here.
[37:42] I don't want to find you asleep on the job. I ask you a question. Do you know that you died, you'd go to heaven? If you died right now, do you know for a fact that your sins have been forgiven?
[37:58] From a biblical point of view, because you know what the Bible says, and it's true in your life. Do you know that? If you don't know it today, you ought to get saved. Jesus is coming soon. And then as Christians, there's a lot of money flows through our hands.
[38:13] God gave me children and grandchildren. He's given you maybe a wife or a child or a husband. But all these things God's given you, he wants them to be used for his honor and his glory.
[38:23] It's not about knowing stuff. It's about it being real to you. He came back today. Would you say, I've been trying to serve him.
[38:34] I'm doing right. I feel pretty good about that. I'm ready. Or would you say, I need to do a little reevaluating right quick. I'm asking you to do a little reevaluating right quick. It's about 10%.
[38:45] I'll have to close the little reevaluating right quick. I get into the know Ältr Society for him. I put a little bit more here. I gotta close the little gerevaluating right back with him. I'm trying to sign up for this list. Let's check it out. I'm 2021. I need to keep it out.
[38:56] All right. Andy, let's give it out. Kindle. I won't see you anyway. I'll see you later.
[39:09] I can alt it. I'm coming in.