[0:00] We'll take your Bibles, if you would, and go with me to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13, we'll start in verse 9. Mark chapter 13 and verse 9. You know this exciting passage. Jesus is still hours away from the cross.
[0:13] He will be soon in the garden of Gethsemane. He will soon be suffering. He will soon be nailed to a cross. But before he dies and before he is buried and rises, again, before any of that, because he is God, he tells people what's going to happen.
[0:28] He says nothing is taking Jesus by surprise. The fact that he is going to be arrested, the fact that he is going to be crucified, is not going to shock him in the least.
[0:38] He is God. He has existed since long before the creation. The fact is he has no beginning and he has to win. He's God and he's God in human flesh. And as he gets ready to die, he loves these 12 men that he's been traveling with now for about three years.
[0:54] And he loves these men very much and he loves us. And so he takes the time to say, let me go ahead and tell y'all what's going to happen. He said, so this is going to be out there in the future. And I'm going to give you a way to know kind of what's happening when it's happening.
[1:08] He said, there'll be a time coming after this, that there'll be a great tribulation. And things are going to get horrible on the earth. It's going to get so bad that even those that love me and are my people, they're my chosen, my people are going to want to doubt me.
[1:24] And they're going to, because they're so afraid. In fact, it's going to get so bad. I'm going to shorten the time because it'd be really hard. They wouldn't be able to take it. And it's going to be terrible. And he goes on to explain all that's happened.
[1:36] And he said, after that tribulation, he said, I'm going to shake nature. And y'all are going to know I'm in charge because it's going to look like the devil's in charge. But you're going to figure out I'm really in charge and always have been.
[1:47] And then he tells them, and after that, I'm coming back. You'll see me riding on the clouds, coming back down here to heaven, from heaven down here to earth. And I'm coming back to this earth. And he said, now, you need to know to be ready for that.
[1:58] And I'm going to tell you how to watch for signs and see what's going on about me coming back. The deal is here that I ought to know first Jesus is coming soon. And I ought to understand that.
[2:10] I ought to believe that. I ought to live my life in light of that. I ought to live knowing that I am not just some human. I'm not going to be on this planet doing my thing and going to die. But there is a God in heaven who has a plan for the ages, who is working on this earth.
[2:24] And he is going to return someday to this earth. And he tells us about that. So go through the passage of scripture with me. I think if you halfway love Jesus, this has got to be some most exciting information.
[2:37] So if you would, let's read Mark chapter 13, verse 9, if you would with me. The Bible says, but take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to councils. And in the synagogues you shall be beaten.
[2:49] And you shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake and for a testimony against them. Father, I pray now that you would open our eyes and help us see scripture and help us see what you're saying and help us apply it to our lives.
[3:03] I pray, God, you'd help us leave here more mature in you, more understanding of what you're doing, and more living out our faith. And God, I pray for the one that's here that might not be saved, that today they would get saved, they would be born again, they would become a follower of yours.
[3:17] And I pray, God, that you'd save them. I pray also, God, for every Christian, for us to live in light of eternity. And I'll give you praise for all you do in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
[3:29] Now, you know the next thing on the agenda for us, the next prophetic event on the agenda is the rapture. And that's a time when Jesus will come in the clouds.
[3:39] He will not come back down to the earth. Most people will not see him. Only we will see him. He'll be in the earth. He'll sound the trumpet and the archangel and all that will make all that. And we will all rise out of here.
[3:50] Dead people will come out of the grave. Their bodies will be transformed. Our bodies will be transformed. And we'll go up to the clouds and we'll be with him. And we will be with him then forever. We'll be spending the rest of our eternity with him.
[4:03] And that's for us. But there will be people on the earth. And these people are going to go through a great tribulation. And that's what's happening in Mark chapter 13.
[4:14] So Jesus says, guys, it's going to get bad before it gets good. It's going to get bad. Because, see, he's going to come. He came once at the first coming. That was at what we call Christmas.
[4:25] There will be a second coming. That's not the rapture. He will actually come back to earth. He will actually, Jesus will return to this earth. He will come down out of the clouds like he went up.
[4:35] His feet will touch the Mount of Olives. It's a wild and wonderful story that's not actually told in this passage of scripture. Jesus is coming back to this earth. And before that, though, there will be this time of great tribulation.
[4:48] It's about seven years. And the nation of Israel and all the people who have hated God and rejected him and mocked him and thought poorly of him are going to go through literally hell on earth.
[5:03] It's going to be horrible. And so he also says, now those that are following me during that time period are going to go through some horrible treatment also. That's what happens in verse 9.
[5:14] He said, let me warn you, take heed. Look at that word, take heed. Let me warn you that those believers on the planet after this rapture and when this tribulation happens, they're going to be called into the synagogues.
[5:27] They're going to be beaten. They're going to be mistreated. People will be killed and they'll do it because you love Jesus. They'll do it because you love Jesus. And it'll be a testimony against them. And so when the wrath of God is poured out on the earth, they will receive punishment for that.
[5:42] I need you to know that that already happens on the earth now all over the world. But it is man's wrath and man being angry and man hating Christians. And there are, you know, people don't like Jesus.
[5:53] You know, I don't underline in that verse. If you have your Bible up to Mark 13, 9, for my sake. So much happens not because of me and not because of what I believe.
[6:05] They don't like Jesus. They don't like Jesus. Let me just throw this at you. If people don't like you at work because you're a Christian, I hope it's because you're a good Christian and not an obnoxious Christian.
[6:17] Can I get an amen there? Some Christians, I don't blame them. It wouldn't be for Jesus' sake. Somebody just ought to punch you and you learn how to treat people better. Amen. So it ought to be for the sake of Jesus.
[6:28] I love Jesus. Honor the word of God. I want to live like what I ought to. I want to do what God says. I want to tell you about Jesus on the cross and they'll get hurt. The very next thing he says is going to happen is found in verse 10.
[6:40] Look at Mark 13, 10. The Bible says the gospel must first be published among all nations. There's going to be horrible persecution, but God is going to see to it that the gospel is preached all over the world.
[6:55] I need you to look at this way just a second. This verse does not apply to today. This verse applies to after that rapture, after that tribulation period starts, and you're going to see that clearly in the Bible. So we're not waiting for the last person to get saved before we can all be raptured out of here.
[7:09] We're not waiting for the last one to get saved. We got a job to do, but we're never going to get it done. Our church ought to work as hard as we can, but we'll never get the gospel preached everywhere.
[7:20] But God has this fantastic plan that before he comes back that the second time the gospel will go all over the world. You're going to see that this morning. The idea of world evangelism permeates the scripture.
[7:35] It's on every page. It's all the way through it. And now Jesus says, I'll be coming back. But before I do, I'm going to make sure everybody in the world. Here's the gospel. Look at verse 10. The gospel must first be published among all nations.
[7:49] Now, how's he going to do that? Go with me to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 1. We're going to have to go kind of quickly through some scripture, but you can write it down and study it out later and look at it if you would.
[8:01] Revelation chapter 7 and verse 1. And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds. Now, for those evolutionists who like to make fun of the Bible, because it says the four corners of the earth, I'd just like to say to you that every newsman you ever listen to says, sun will rise tomorrow when we all know the sun won't rise.
[8:22] You could say the earth will turn to where we can see the sun. But they use the same terms as the Bible, even though they make fun of the Bible, which shows they're really dumb to make fun of what they're doing. When he says here the four corners and the four winds, by the way, the weatherman has four winds, you know, north wind, south wind, four corner wind, it's all the same deal.
[8:43] Don't let people intimidate you because they say stuff like the Bible's dumb and says four corners. That shouldn't intimidate you. That terms are still used even in the news and even by your weatherman.
[8:56] So there's a four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, meaning all sides of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.
[9:09] And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. See, God's going to send angels to harm the earth. But before he does it, he says in verse three, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees.
[9:22] Listen, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads. Now you've heard about the mark of the beast, the 666. These guys are getting sealed too.
[9:33] These are going to be Jewish men. Look at verse four. And I heard the number of them that were sealed, which were 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. You might've heard about another group that's got 144,000 witnesses called Jehovah's Witnesses.
[9:48] They should read the next verse or the last part of the verse where it says children of Israel. See, all the tribes of the children of Israel. Guess what? These guys, these servants of these 12 tribes, which I'm going to show you a little bit more about that in just a second.
[10:01] They're going to take the gospel and they're going to, the 144,000 missionaries are going to spread all over the world. You are impressed with our 31 missionaries of our little church.
[10:12] I just want you to know there's going to be 144,000 men taking the gospel message around the world. Skip down to verse nine. If you got your Bible open, starting in verse five, you're going to find tribe, tribe, tribe, tribe, tribe.
[10:25] And so it's just as specific as it can be. God's calling Jewish people out of 12 tribes, 12,000 out of 12 tribes, it's 144,000.
[10:36] And they are witnesses. Look what happens in verse nine, if you would. And after these 144,000, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne, before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.
[10:58] And they were crying with a loud voice, salvation to our God, which sits upon the throne and unto the lamb. Skip down, if you would, into verse 12. Saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever.
[11:15] Amen. And then verse 13, somebody said, I'm not sure who those people are. So it says in verse 13, and one of the elders answered and saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes?
[11:27] And whence came they? Who are these guys in the white robes? And where'd they come from? And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
[11:44] Verse 15. And therefore are they before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. In verse 16, they'll not be hungry anymore.
[11:56] They'll not be thirsty anymore. But in verse 17, the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them into living fountains of water. And God will wipe away all their tears from their eyes.
[12:07] So look at this for a second. Jesus said, I'm fixing to die. And there's going to be a lot of people saying that Christ has come, but that's not true. You need to know this. There's going to be this time of tribulation.
[12:17] They're going to really beat you guys up. And they're just going to go really rough if you love me. And then you've got to understand the gospel is going to be published all over the world. It's going to be preached everywhere. Now we don't know for sure in that verse, but then if we've studied our Bibles, we go to Revelation, we find out he's going to call out 12,000 men out of 12 tribes, 144,000 people.
[12:36] And they're going to cover the planet preaching. And God's going to reap another harvest. He always wins. You should say amen right there. He always wins.
[12:47] Even when he takes us out of here, he always wins. The nation of Israel who messed up and didn't do their job in the beginning will come back and will do their job because Israel is God's people and God always wins.
[13:00] And God always fulfills his purpose with his people. And so now go to the next passage. Go with me to Revelation 14, 1. The gospel is going all over the world. In Revelation 14, 1, we get a little bit clearer explanation of that.
[13:12] In Revelation chapter 14 and verse 1. And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. Now you know when it's a lamb. You remember in John chapter 1 and verse 29, John the Baptist looked up on the hill, saw Jesus coming.
[13:27] And he said, behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You know what a lamb is. You've been through the Old Testament. You've watched them be sacrificed every time a lamb died. It was paying for the sins of somebody.
[13:38] And when Jesus died on the cross, he was paying for your sins so you could go to heaven when you die. And so when he looks up on the hill, he sees a lamb. He sees a lamb. And with him, are you ready?
[13:50] 144,000 who have their father's name written in their foreheads. Let's get down to verse 3 for the second time. And they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne, before the four beasts and the elders.
[14:03] And no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women because they're virgins.
[14:15] These are they which follow the lamb with us wherever he goeth. These are redeemed from among men, the firstfruits unto God and the lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault.
[14:30] Verse 6 is going to make it clear. These are that 144,000. God's got a plan to evangelize the world after the church is gone. Verse 6, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.
[15:01] That God has a plan. God has a plan to get the gospel to the world. You can mark this one down. There's only one way to heaven. There's only one way to have your sins forgiven.
[15:14] There's only one way. Allah doesn't have that way. Not the Allah of the Muslims. Buddha doesn't have that way. Mohammed for those Muslims doesn't have that way. Hinduism doesn't have that way.
[15:24] Even most Christianity doesn't have it that way because it'll never be by the works you do. It'll never be by the times you've been baptized. It'll never be by the amount of times you took the Lord's Supper. It'll always be because you came to the Lamb.
[15:37] You came to one who died for you on the cross, who paid your sin debt and offers you a free gift. You will come, like all the rest of us, humbly. You will come, like all the rest of us, knowing that you do not deserve that he would love you.
[15:50] You'll come, like all the rest of us, knowing that he is the only one that could save you. And that gospel is going to get preached all over the world. So back in Mark chapter 13, back in Mark chapter 13 in verse 10, the gospel must first be preached among all the nations.
[16:06] So before Jesus comes back, rapture happened up here, tribulation started right here, things are getting real bad, but before it's all over, the gospel will be preached. And that last seven years, it's going to be shocking how much, we won't be here.
[16:20] We'll be watching this maybe, but we won't be here. Now go with me to Mark chapter 13 in verse 11. Now listen, you need to understand what's going to happen. Out here at the very beginning of the story, where we are today, where Jesus was, he said, even though you're not in that bad tribulation time, there's going to be a lot of rough times for all of you.
[16:40] Serving Jesus is never going to be easy. All that serve God, all that serve Jesus should expect persecution and bad times, but we're not in those days. And he said, but I'm going to tell you what's going to happen out there.
[16:51] And so what's going to happen somewhere along right in here, somewhere, the rapture of the church is going to happen to snatch it away. We looked at last week and he's going to take us out of here. And there's going to be chaos all over this world. Cause they don't know what in the world happened with the millions that disappeared.
[17:05] We've gone to heaven. And then this guy's going to step forward, this antichrist. He's going to make peace. We'll get that in a minute. He's going to make peace on the earth. And he's going to have an answer for everything. He's going to pretend like he's almost Jesus in human flesh.
[17:18] And he's going to, he's going to make peace for everybody. And, and, and Jesus is going to call out 12,000 of 12 tribes. And he's going to send 144,000 people witnessing. So nobody lost, nobody saved is still here, but they're all going to be starting to get saved.
[17:32] And when they get saved, it's going to get bad for them. It's going to get bad. They're going to be called in. They're going to be beaten. Mark chapter 13 and verse 11, they shall lead you and deliver you and take no thought beforehand.
[17:45] What you shall speak, neither do you meditate, premeditate whatsoever shall be given you in that hour. Speak you for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy ghost. So here's what's going to happen. These people are going to believe Jesus.
[17:56] They wouldn't believe him during the time of preaching now, or maybe they got saved afterwards and they never even heard the gospel. And they're going to get arrested and they're going to get taken before political leaders and religious leaders, just like Jesus was.
[18:10] And they're going to be beaten and mistreated and hurt. And here's what he says. Now, don't worry about what you're going to say because when they bring you in, I'll take care of you. When they bring you in, I'll give you the right words to say when the persecution starts, I will take care of you.
[18:25] Now you need to understand real quickly, because if you grew up in a country church, that's a preacher's verse, ignorantly taken out of context. So many preachers, they think this verse means when you're going to preach at your church, don't study anything.
[18:38] Don't premeditate it. Don't even consider what you're going to say. Just walk up and preach whatever comes out. That's what I got to say. I have actually been in churches where a preacher got up and said, I ain't got nothing to say today.
[18:50] I don't know why he ain't giving me nothing. And after he got through saying that, he said, anybody in here got the word? And this one guy, I was sitting on the front row with a message, but I was like, I don't want to be too show off of here.
[19:00] I could have preached for 10 hours if it had given me the chance. And this guy came up to the front of the church and he literally goes, I thought that ain't no word.
[19:12] That's a laugh. Amen. I wanted to get out of that church, but I didn't have any way to do it. That's not what this is about. It's not like preachers are not supposed to study. If you ever leave vision, you didn't know everybody stands in this pulpit studies.
[19:24] And they spend time praying and studying and thinking about you and thinking about the word. And they put hours into these messages. I'm not just getting up here and spewing out hot air. I'm going to say to you what I studied and learned in the Bible.
[19:36] Y'all moved to another church. You're going to find one of those preachers. As soon as he says he's letting the Lord lead him like that, and he doesn't have to premeditate it, you should premeditate your exit. Amen. Never should a Sunday school teacher think like that.
[19:49] Never should a discipler think like that. Never. Never. Go with me to Mark chapter 13 and verse 12. This persecution is going to get horrible. The Bible says, Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father, the son, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
[20:07] Do you understand what's going to happen? By the way, this happened. This happened in Soviet Russia. This happened in Soviet Russia. This happened in China. This has already happened in places where when the government comes, and they're Christians.
[20:19] This happened in Germany. Often not about Jesus, but when you think you might get killed, you'll turn into your mama. When you think you might get killed, you'll turn into your brother. And Jesus is warning him, Listen, nobody's going to love me.
[20:34] Everybody's going to hate me. And they're going to try to get you hurt too. And it's time of great tribulation. Nobody's going to love me. Look at Mark 13, 13. That's what he said. And ye shall be hated of all men.
[20:47] Why? For my name's sake. This is amazing. Can we just be honest? I don't say political things here. But it is amazing to me that you can do a Muslim action.
[21:01] You can do a Hindu action. You can do any kind of worship action. But if you do Jesus, they're going to say something about it. If you want to pray to Jesus or in Jesus' name, they're going to come after you. You know why?
[21:11] Because they don't like him. They're fine with anybody but him. Because there's only one real him. Because there's only one real way to heaven. Because there's only one real God. There's only one who can save.
[21:22] And that's the God of heaven. And then it says, another phrase that's often misunderstood. He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.
[21:33] Now let me explain something to you. That has nothing to do with your salvation. This is a tribulation verse. So Christianity is not about grabbing on to the horns of the altar of God.
[21:44] And no matter what happens, you just hang on. And you pray to God you can hang on until you die. And maybe you'll get to go to heaven if you can hang on. And endure to the end. And so when bad stuff's happening, you're like, I can't let go.
[21:55] If I do, I'll go to hell. That's not biblical. Your salvation is not by what you did. It's by what he did. When Jesus was on the cross, he said, it is finished.
[22:07] He didn't say, he did not say for, but listen, he did not say it's finished as long as y'all hang on. Can you hear? It's finished. As long as y'all hang on now.
[22:18] It's really only finished. If you hang on, that's not what he did. He said, it's finished. Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him, it goes, he's the author and the finisher of our faith.
[22:34] We're not saved because we do right. We don't keep saved because we do right. We're saved as sinners. Romans chapter five and verse six, he died for the ungodly. He died for those without strength.
[22:45] In Romans chapter five and verse eight, he died for while we were still sinners. He died for us so we could be saved. My salvation doesn't depend on how good I am. Got to get a context.
[22:56] Context. That's a key word for you. The Bible says here, he that endures to the end shall be saved. If you don't hang on, you won't make it through. Here's all that means. It's going to be like seven years of, that's not for us, by the way, we won't even be here.
[23:10] We will have been raptured out of here. But a person alive in those seven years, honestly, if you can't, if you can't deal with the, if you can't deal with the number, people are going to have the mark of the beast and people are going to be buying and selling.
[23:23] People are going to be hunting for you. And if you can't make it through, you won't make it through. Put it in plain old Tennessee hillbilly. If you don't make it through, you won't make it through. That's all that's saying.
[23:34] That's all that's saying. This is not a prescription for hanging on to be saved. Some of you have turned salvation into works. Some of you have turned salvation.
[23:45] And that's why you doubt your salvation. Sometimes you keep thinking to yourself, my salvation, my salvation depends on how well I hang on to Jesus.
[23:56] I had one of my children here and they were small still. I would do it with one of these boys over here, but they could probably whip me. But if I grab a hold of you and I'm holding on to you and you're holding on to me, it doesn't really matter if I'm the stronger one here.
[24:09] If I do the holding, you can let go and I ain't dropping you. I used to, I used to walk with my children and they want to grab my finger and they'd grab my finger and we'd be walking there where they could trip. But when they grabbed my finger, I'd take the rest of the fingers and wrap them around their little wrist.
[24:22] And they just hold it on to my finger. We'd walk along and sometimes they'd hit a place and stumble and they might lose their grip, but I didn't. I just picked them right up and kept on going. Because I'm the one that's strong enough and I can do that.
[24:33] Your salvation is not about you hanging on. It's about him hanging on. It's about him paying for you. And that's all through the scripture. Let me just say, because somebody's arguing with me in your head right now. For by grace are you saved through faith.
[24:45] And that's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. You're not going to get to heaven and say, I hung on. I hung on. I'll give you another story. Just a little illustration.
[24:56] When they built the ark and they put one door in the ark and in the ark, eight people were ushered into that ark and the door was shut. And if some, Yehu came along and drove a nail on the side of that ark and said, I'm going to hang on to this ark.
[25:08] Well, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. And then it rained it. And then after the rain stopped, just another 150 days, their hanging on didn't work. And they might've been hanging on, but they would've been miserable.
[25:19] But on the inside, Noah and his family were having a party. They had food and drink and animals and work and life because in Jesus, you have everything in Jesus.
[25:31] It's not about you, not about religion. It's not about you hanging on and you enduring that will get you to heaven. They're hated because of their love for Jesus.
[25:42] There's only one way out of this tribulation. That's to hang on to the end. You're going to have to hang on to the end. Salvation is never about what you do, including hanging on. Salvation was a gift.
[25:54] How about this verse for you? Romans chapter six and verse 23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[26:05] God gave us a gift. Now, why is God doing this tribulation thing? Why is God bringing his wrath on the earth?
[26:17] Why is this happening? And you can't read your Bible without knowing it's going to happen. I'm only going to give you a couple of verses, but here's what's going on. In Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse seven, the Bible says, alas for that day is great so that none is like it.
[26:30] It's even the time of Jacob's troubles, but he shall be saved out of it. The Bible says in Isaiah 13, nine, behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
[26:48] In Revelation chapter three and verse 10, the Bible says, because thou has kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
[27:03] You need to understand, God has put up with a lot of junk out of everybody on this planet. For the last 6,000 years, people have shot birds at him, mocked him, laughed at him, preached against him, written books against him.
[27:19] Every religion's risen up against him and he has lovingly and kindly and patiently sent preachers to tell everybody, he loves you, I don't care if you hate him, kill me and another will rise up and tell you more about Jesus.
[27:31] One preacher went to a fellow, a gang member in New York City and told him, God loves you and Jesus died for you and the guy said, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna cut you into 10,000 pieces.
[27:43] And the preacher looked at him and said, well, all 10,000 pieces will say God loves you and Jesus died for you. And he's put up with that. But there comes a day when God's gonna say, I've had it.
[27:54] The whole world's gonna figure out, I am God. You've even said stupid stuff like, you've been known to say stupid stuff like, well, if there is a God, let him strike me dead.
[28:05] Well, believe me, the day is coming when that's gonna happen. That's what the Bible's saying. It's only a seven-year period. We'll talk about that another day. Here's what he's gonna do.
[28:16] Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 8, if you would. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 8. You really need to look this up because you need to know this in the Bible. This isn't just some ranting, raving, crazy old man.
[28:29] The Bible says, and then shall that wicked be revealed. That's the Antichrist, that's Satan and what he's gonna be doing. Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
[28:42] He will not win. He will rise up. He will get seven years of pretty well unbridled junk he can do, but God will win. Verse 9, Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan.
[28:55] Now, if you don't know who it is, his working is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
[29:10] Did you not understand what's going on right now? Many of you may not be saved and you will not get saved because you got all kind of dumb reasons not to. Your family members have dumb reasons not to.
[29:20] Satan has caused people to believe lies. He has deceived them into thinking, I've got plenty of time to live. Death's not coming. They have received not the love of the truth.
[29:32] Do you know why Jesus died on the cross so you could be saved? The lost world tells you, if you get saved, he'll ruin your life. You get saved, he'll take away all your fun. Do you not realize that's like the most blatant stupid lie you could possibly say?
[29:44] Because you're going to hell and while you're plunging into hell, Jesus is rescuing you and they're saying, oh, we're not going to hell, we're just going to have fun. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. Boy, you got to be dumb. But then when you ignore God and walk away from God, you are dumb.
[29:59] They receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, shall God send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all may be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
[30:15] There's a day coming when God's going to say, you mocked me long enough. You laughed at me long enough. You're not getting another chance. You're going to go to hell. I'm going to damn you.
[30:27] You see, God doesn't want you to go to hell. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. God wants everybody to be saved. But you can only spit in his face so many times. You can only shoot him a bird so many times.
[30:38] You can only tell him to drop dead so many times. You can only laugh at him and mock him so many times. There will come a time, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, is telling us when God's going to look at you and say, oh, so you refuse to believe me.
[30:51] You refuse to believe that Jesus died on the cross for you. You refuse to believe that Jesus will save you. You refuse to believe that you can have eternal life. You prefer to go to hell and party with your friends. You're going to believe any kind of foolishness anybody's told you.
[31:04] All right. Okay. I'm going to let you have it. You can have what you want. You can have what you want. You'll believe a lie. You'll be damned.
[31:17] Let me explain the word damned to you. The reason the word damned is a bad word is because it means cursed and sent to hell. When he says you'll be damned, he said, okay.
[31:27] You want hell, you can have it. But never in the scriptures does he want you to go there. That's why he raised up churches.
[31:39] That's why he sent out preachers. That's why in this last seven years of time before Jesus comes back, he's sending out 144,000 more preachers to keep going around the world saying, he loves you.
[31:50] He loves you. He loves you. He died on the cross for you. You can be saved. And so if you choose not to be saved, that'll be a choice you made. If you died right now, did you go to heaven?
[32:09] Have you come to a place in your life where you realize that you were a sinner and Jesus died for you and you could put your faith in him? The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death.
[32:28] The Bible says, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Bible says in Romans chapter five, verse eight, but God commended his love toward us.
[32:40] God showed his love toward us. God proved his love toward us. God demonstrated his love toward us. And that while we were still sinning, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for you. God said, even though you wouldn't accept.
[32:53] And today you can be saved. And I invite you and call on you to trust Christ as your savior today. Today is the day that you should be saved. Don't play with this. You're not playing with me.
[33:05] You're not playing with Christians. And you're not playing with Baptist church. You're not playing with vision. You're playing with your own soul's eternity. Do you know Jesus?
[33:16] Jesus.