A Sharper Focus

It's Coming - Signs of the Christ Soon Return Pt 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000193A


00:02 ¤ ¤
00:20 Hello friends. Welcome to our Wednesday night Bible Study here
00:24 at the 3ABN Worship Center. We are continuing lesson number 44.
00:27 It Is Coming, the Signs of the Second Coming of Christ.
00:31 We'd like to invite you to take you time and join us for the
00:35 next hour as we walk through the word of God finding out what
00:39 the Bible says about the soon return of Jesus. All you need is
00:42 a Bible. In just a moment, I'll tell you where to get a copy
00:46 of the lesson where you can download it. But invite your
00:49 family and friends and whoever may be with you whether in the
00:52 church or in your home by yourself. We'd like to take the
00:56 time to invite you to join us. Before we go any further
00:59 though let us bow our heads and ask the Lord to guide us in
01:03 prayer. Loving Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity
01:07 to open your word. We do pray that You'll speak to our hearts
01:10 tonight, that your word will be clear, that what we read will
01:15 not only be informative, but also transformative. We pray
01:19 that those who are watching and those who are listening will be
01:20 strengthened by this program. Teach us Lord. And we ask that
01:25 all the glory and the honor go back to you. In Jesus' name we
01:29 pray, Amen. Now we're on lesson number 44. We're beginning on
01:34 question number 6. If you'd like a copy go to the following
01:41 website: ASF.3ABN.org and let's download lesson number 44 and
01:47 you will be prepared to follow us along in this exciting and
01:53 informative study. But before we do anything else, we always like
01:56 to sing our theme song. You can join us as we sing the song
01:59 Victory in Jesus. ¤ ¤
02:10 ¤I heard an old, old story, how the Savior came from glory¤
02:16 ¤How He gave his life on Calvary¤
02:20 ¤to save a wretch like me¤
02:24 ¤I heard about his groaning of His precious blood atoning
02:31 ¤Then I repented of my sin and won the victory¤
02:38 ¤Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever¤
02:46 ¤He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood¤
02:54 ¤He loved me e'er I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤
03:02 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤
03:09 ¤I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory¤
03:17 ¤And I heard about the streets of gold¤
03:21 ¤Beyond the crystal sea¤
03:24 ¤About the angels singing and the old redemption story¤
03:31 ¤And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory¤
03:38 ¤Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever¤
03:46 ¤He sought and bought me with His redeeming blood?
03:55 ¤He loved me e'er I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤
04:02 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤
04:20 Amen. And say amen again. We're glad to have you here. We're
04:26 going to continue our study tonight. You know the most
04:29 important event that is yet ahead of us is the soon return
04:33 of Jesus. And it reminds me to some degree of the story of Noah
04:39 You know, Noah preached for 120 years that the flood was coming.
04:46 He repeated it day after day over and over. It was his
04:51 repetitious sermon. He had one sermon, that the flood is coming
04:55 Can you imagine preaching for 120 years the flood is coming.
05:00 He kept preaching the flood is coming. And after a while the
05:05 people heard Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah. Mmm, Mmm. It became muted.
05:11 And the problem, the only problem that happens when people
05:17 hear this constant reminder that something is going to happen is
05:22 they believe, well it didn't happen 10 years ago, it didn't
05:27 happen 15
05:28 years ago, it didn't happen two decades ago, maybe it's not
05:31 going to happen in my lifetime and they tend to relax. But the
05:36 Bible tells us, let's go to Matthew chapter 24. I want to
05:40 just kind of lay some foundation here. The Bible gives us a very
05:45 subtle nudge, somewhat of an elbow to not allow the gospel
05:58 to become something that... Okay, Matthew 24:36. I'll look
06:09 at that one first. Let me see if we're going to hit that
06:14 again. No we're not going to hit that again, so I'm good.
06:16 Matthew 24:36, The Bible say: But of that day and hour...
06:22 how many of us know? No one knows, not even the angels of
06:28 heaven, but my Father only. So no one is aware, but now look
06:36 down at verse 42, verse 42. Watch. What's the first word?
06:41 Watch therefore for you do not
06:45 know what hour your Lord is coming. Now verse 44: Therefore
06:55 you also be together be ready for the Son of Man is coming
07:01 at an hour when
07:03 you do not expect Him. So we're told to watch. And then we're
07:10 not only told to watch and be aware and alert, we're not only
07:14 told that no one knows the day nor the hour, but we were told
07:17 as we're going to lead into this from next week, from last week,
07:21 we were told in verse 33, verse 33, and let's look at that.
07:28 Matthew 24:33, what were we told? So you also when you see
07:36 all these things know that, together, it is near, even at
07:43 the door. And so we are mindful of the signs that Jesus
07:48 prognosticated or pointed
07:50 out in Matthew 24: He says when you start seeing all these
07:53 things
07:55 you need to know that it's near, even at the door. My wife and I
07:58 fly quite frequently. The last flight we took, we got to the
08:05 airport on time, but we got a notice on our phones flight is
08:10 leaving a little later, 15 minutes later, 20 minutes later,
08:15 half an hour later, hour later, and it kept going. So I walked
08:20 up to the desk and I asked the guy after we got to the airport,
08:23 I said to the ticket agent, I said, do you know what time the
08:26 flight is leaving? I said well it hasn't even arrived yet, so
08:30 whatever time they just announced, that's going to be
08:34 pretty accurate, you can rely on that time. Well, we went away
08:38 to get something to eat and thankfully we came back because
08:43 experience tells us that no one knows when this plane is going
08:46 arrive. So we got there and then I looked at the time of the
08:50 departure and they actually moved it up 20 minutes earlier.
08:53 So good thing we were at the gate, because we've had those
08:56 experiences where... The one thing that we've made an
08:59 appointment, actually we've made an agreement with the airlines
09:02 and they've always honored their agreement. We've said if we're
09:05 not there at the gate when the flight is ready to leave, leave
09:10 without us. Now do you think that's an agreement I've made?
09:16 Is that a fact? That's a fact. If we're not at the gate when
09:22 that plane leaves, it's going to leave without us. And that has
09:27 happened not too many times, because we surely try to make
09:32 sure that we are on time. So we must understand that the coming
09:37 of the Lord is a certainty. The prophet Isaiah says to us: He
09:42 that shall come will come and will not tarry. So what we think
09:47 is a tarry or a wait or a delay is really not a delay. It's just
09:50 that we don't know the day nor the hour so we think that well
09:54 it's a delay, but it's not delayed. There's a day that
09:58 Jesus is coming. Matter of fact I believe it's in Acts 4:17.
10:04 Let's go to Acts chapter 4, is it chapter4? I'm thinking in my
10:07 mind... No, we'll go on. I'll get it in just a minute here.
10:22 It popped in and out of my head. But the day of the Lord, the
10:28 coming of the Lord, is a certainty and we need not be
10:33 concerned about it. We just need to be ready. The Bible says: Be
10:37 ye also ready. Okay. So let's go tonight. We're going to begin
10:41 with question number 6. And by the way, if you have the lesson
10:44 lesson number 44, we will begin with question number 6. And here
10:48 it is:
10:55 How else do we know. Matthew 24 verses 26 and 27, Okay. Matthew
11:08 24:26,27, Okay here I am. We read:
11:46 Now do I need to ask if lightening is visible? No, I
11:49 don't really need to ask that. Let's talk about that's how
11:52 visible the coming of the Lord is going to be. Lightening, the
11:55 brightest light we get outside of the sun during the day is a
11:59 good old flash of lightening. I think somebody once said, it's
12:03 like 55,000 volts in a flash of lightening. Whatever the volt is
12:07 it's visible. So the coming of the Lord is not going to be
12:10 invisible. So if you're writing the answer down. Just go ahead.
12:13 How else do we know that the second coming of Jesus will be
12:15 visible to the world? It's going to be as visible as lightening,
12:22 as lightening. Lightening doesn't need any help. When I
12:25 was young I didn't like lightening. As I got older I
12:28 liked lightening. I like lightening when it flashes but
12:33 I don't like when it flashes near. There are all kinds of
12:37 theories. People say that lightening could not affect you
12:40 if you're in your car because the wheels are rubber. Well
12:44 there are some instances when that doesn't work. Then they say
12:48 that lightening would not affect planes because planes are
12:53 not grounded. Well that's not always the case. So I said all
12:58 that to say this; the only thing that we can really trust is the
13:02 Lord will protect us if anything does happen, and praise God for
13:07 that. So we can place implicit trust in the coming of the Lord
13:11 knowing that it's going to be visible. Now we're talking about
13:16 the manner in which Christ will come. Let us peek down to
13:19 question number 7. Question number 7. All right:
13:33 We're going to go to the book of Psalms. We're going to go to
13:40 Psalm 50 and verse 3. Psalm 50:3. If you can't find Psalms
13:46 find the book of Job and it's right after the book of Job.
13:56 Here it is, Psalm 50:3 Mm and we are told in the Bible by the
14:07 psalmist, it says:
14:10 Our God shall come, and shall not keep what? Silent. Will it
14:19 be audible? Yes. A fire shall devour before him and it shall
14:25 be very tempestuous all around Him.
14:30 So the fire that will accompany His return and the lightening
14:36 and the sound. I'm not exactly sure what the sound will be
14:42 created by, but I believe that Divinity can do anything. The
14:46 Lord is going to create a sound that will be accompanying His
14:50 soon return. Why do you think He's going to use lightening and
14:54 sound and thunder? Why do you think He's going to use that?
15:01 So the whole world can know, exactly. What else, Larry?
15:07 Things we understand. Things we learned. To alert - Another good
15:17 one. So all of those are indicative that He's coming
15:24 again.
15:26 What are you saying? So that it won't be a secret. Have you ever
15:31 been to a secret fireworks show? Shhh, this is just for you
15:36 Pschwwr! There is no such thing. And I like fireworks shows but
15:41 there's no such thing as a secret fireworks show. Maybe
15:45 a private fireworks show, but it's definitely no secret. Why?
15:49 Why is it not secret? People could see it and what else?
15:53 They can hear it, that's right. Matter of fact, here in southern
15:59 Illinois what they often do is whenever July 4 is coming around
16:02 coming around they always put out a bulletin on the news
16:05 that says please keep your dog safe. Bring them inside, put
16:08 them on a chain so the dog won't run away. But I tell you in the
16:12 return of Jesus somebody is going to be running but it's not
16:16 going to be the animals. Let's go to Revelation. Let's see
16:20 what's going to happen. Go to Revelation chapter 6. There is
16:30 going to be some expectation. Revelation chapter 6. The answer
16:38 by the way to question 6: How else do we know that the second
16:44 coming of Jesus will be visible to the whole world. A fire shall
16:50 devour before Him. In what other component does the Bible connect
16:56 to the return of Jesus. Number 7. He will not keep silent. He
17:03 will not keep silent. The whole world is going to know. Okay,
17:09 Revelation chapter 6. Let's look at a scene that has been drawn
17:17 concerning the second coming of Jesus. All right. Starting with
17:25 verse 14: Let's look at it. The Bible says: Then the sky
17:34 did what? receded or departed as a scroll when it is rolled
17:40 up or rolled together. And how many mountains? Every mountain
17:46 and island was moved out of its place. What would have to
17:51 happen for islands and mountains to move? An earthquake, so
17:56 mighty and so great. Wow! Then look at the continuous
18:02 description: And the kings of the earth, that's the leaders of
18:07 nations, the great men, that is those who are very well known.
18:12 Somebody might say, well I know this person, he's dead now but
18:17 people might say well what did Elvis do when he heard the
18:20 sound? He was a great person. People that are well known;
18:23 That's referring to people that are very visible, very front and
18:28 center. The kings of the earth. The great men. The rich men.
18:32 Why the rich men?
18:34 Because rich people often think that they are excluded from
18:37 anything that's dangerous. The rich people. They think that
18:41 somehow their money can buy them exclusion from the second coming
18:44 of Jesus. But the rich men; the commanders. Who are the
18:49 commanders? Yeah, the mighty, yeah the military that's right.
18:55 We have the mighty men but also the commanders. The mighty
19:00 men. Those are the soldiers. Every slave and every free man.
19:05 Even up to the coming of the Lord there will be slavery
19:09 practiced somewhere in the earth What do they do? They hid
19:14 themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and
19:19 said to the mountains and the rocks, let's read that together,
19:24 fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the
19:28 throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Here it is: For the great
19:34 day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand? Wow! And
19:39 all the categories mentioned in verse 15, nobody's going to be
19:43 excluded from it. You know there's no mountain that your
19:47 height is too high on to miss that, because it's going to
19:50 happen from above. There's no underground bungalow or bunker
19:55 that's going to be exempt from that because the earth is going
19:59 be shaken and there are people who are dooms-day preppers.
20:02 Have you heard of the dooms-day preppers, the off-the-grid
20:06 people. You know, they said I want a house. My wife and I like
20:09 the House channel. And there are some people that just want to
20:12 get away from the cities. We watched a program where somebody
20:16 got a house on an island way up in British Columbia. And another
20:20 person got one way down in Tahiti. They have to take a
20:23 plane to the main island, and a boat to a small island then
20:25 another boat to another island in the middle of nowhere and
20:29 they said this is living. We're off the grid; no one will find
20:34 us. Who will find them? There's nobody that can hide from the
20:38 coming of the Lord. Every island every mountain will be moved out
20:44 of its place. What a cataclysmic event is ahead of us. What's the
20:49 only safe thing to do? That's right. The only ones that will
20:54 be able to stand is those who are walking with Christ. And we
20:58 won't be running into the rock. I think we'll be running out
21:02 from the rocks, out from the caves. Matter of fact, go to
21:07 Isaiah 25:9. I think you know where I'm going, but let's see
21:11 the opposite to that, the opposite to what we just read.
21:15 Isaiah 25:9: Hmm. Beautiful text And it will be said in that day,
21:41 Behold this is our God, we have waited for Him and he will do
21:48 what? Save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him, we will
21:56 be what? We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
22:00 They're going to be glad and the others that are going to be
22:03 sad. They're going to be running to Him. There are those that are
22:07 going to be running from Him. They are glad to see Him. Others
22:12 are saying hide us. And who are they asking to be hidden from?
22:18 A lion? Who are they asking to be hidden from? A Lamb.
22:22 Isn't that amazing! One of the most harmless of creatures is
22:28 the very one that they don't want to see because they are at
22:31 odds with the Lamb. You see you'll be able to face the Lamb
22:34 on that day if you behold the Lamb of God in this day.
22:39 That's why John points us to the Lamb and what a day it will be
22:43 when Jesus comes. So what question are we up to now?
22:46 Number 8. Let's go to number 8. Question number 8 and look at
22:53 what the Bible says:
23:04 Go a few chapters forward and we're going to go to the book of
23:07 Jeremiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah and Isaiah are books that will
23:15 swallow us up. They're very deep books when it comes to
23:20 prophecies. Jeremiah chapter 4 and we're going to look together
23:31 at verse... I'll start with verse 23 and then when we get to
23:39 verse 26 you could bring it up on the screen. The Bible speaks
23:44 about the conditions of that day I beheld the earth, verse 23 of
23:50 Jeremiah chapter 4. I beheld the earth and indeed it was without
23:54 form and void. And the heavens, they had what? No light.
24:02 Sounds like the _. I beheld the mountains and
24:05 indeed they trembled and all the hills moved what? Back and forth
24:12 I beheld and indeed there was no man and all the birds of the
24:21 of the heavens had fled, and this is the answer, verse 26:
24:40 But I want to just add verse 27 here. So let's answer to verse
24:43 26. How will Jesus' return affect the cities of the earth?
24:48 What would happen to them? What two words do you see together?
24:52 All the cities were broken down. That's right. I didn't bring it
24:56 up. Sorry about that. All the cities were broken down. Say
25:01 that together, broken down. Now if you're in a city like any
25:05 major city where they pride themselves in building 40
25:09 stories and above. Here in Thompsonville there's not a
25:12 single building's going to fall on us. You just have to walk
25:15 two feet away from the building and we're safe in some respects,
25:19 but if you're not in the Lord, it doesn't really matter how far
25:21 away from the building you are. But if you're in a city like New
25:24 York or Los Angeles or Detroit, Michigan, or Atlanta or just
25:30 pick anything, any major city for buildings that are called
25:34 sky scrapers. I can't even tell you to run cause how can you
25:42 run. For those of us who remember it 9/11: Two 110 story
25:48 buildings came down. Just imagine them all coming down at
25:51 the same time. That's just beyond belief. That's just
25:58 beyond description. I mean, here you are you're standing up on
26:00 the two twin towers. It's a sad reality. I'm not glorying in
26:03 that event at all, but just imagine. The Twin Towers are
26:07 coming down and I used to work in that area and all of a sudden
26:10 the Bankers' Trust is coming down, Merrill Lynch is coming
26:14 down, the phone company building is coming down or all the
26:19 buildings on Wall Street are coming down. Then all of a
26:22 sudden there's somewhat of a ripple effect from downtown to
26:25 uptown. There's a section called I think it's Harold Square.
26:29 Harold Square is a place right by Macy's on 34th street where
26:33 if you stand in the middle there are six different streets. It's
26:36 like an axle and every direction you look, it looks like this
26:40 like you're looking down a pipe because the buildings go like a
26:44 tunnel down that way, a tunnel down that way. Every direction
26:47 you look the buildings are sky scrapers, easily 30, 40 stories
26:52 I mean the short buildings, 30 stories is short for
26:55 Manhattan. That's like maybe an apartment complex. But even
26:59 those are tall. Just imagine all this city being broken down. Why
27:07 do you think they are being broken down? Put on your
27:11 thinking cap. Why do you think they're being broken down?
27:13 Okay great, a very bad earth quake. That'll definitely
27:19 accomplish that. But why do you think they're being broken down?
27:21 The Lord is coming? Okay. Let me pull the answer out. If a fire
27:29 works show is going off and the buildings are around you what do
27:32 people often say? I can't see it The buildings are blocking it.
27:39 What happens when the buildings come down? Their view is clear.
27:44 The Lord doesn't want anybody to miss that event. But the sad
27:48 reality is when buildings like that come down, Oh man! That's
27:52 when the Lord gave signs to the children of Israel about the
27:55 destruction of Jerusalem, He said pray that your flight not
28:00 happen in the winter nor on the Sabbath day. When Jerusalem was
28:03 destroyed the Roman armies had retreated long enough for all
28:06 the Christians to come out of Jerusalem, so when it came down
28:09 and was destroyed not a single Christian lost his or her life.
28:13 I think that's one of the reasons why we're counseled
28:15 to get out of big cities, to not live in big cities. Can you
28:20 imagine if the buildings come down, I'm kind of milking this,
28:23 do you think that the highways are going to stay up? Do you
28:27 think that those expanded road ways that look like spaghetti
28:30 all entwined, what do you think Tracy, are they going to stay up
28:32 The San Francisco earth quake when the Embarcadero freeway
28:37 pancaked, it just came down. And some people survived it,
28:41 others didn't. But you look at some of those cross places like
28:46 Atlanta, where they have those major exchanges like Highway 4,
28:52 Highway 10, they all... And they're one above the next. What
28:58 about the bridges? Let's talk about the bridges. Do you think
29:00 the bridges are still going to be up. I'm trying to magnify
29:03 this picture here. Anything that was built by man what's going to
29:07 happen? It's going to be broken down. It's coming down. The Bay
29:17 Bridge. What'll happen to the... Bay Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge,
29:18 Manhattan Bridge, Verrazano Bridge, the bridge down from
29:21 Miami all the way down to Key West. Any bridge, it's coming
29:26 down. Yes? Anything built on this earth structure-wise is
29:34 going to come down. Except the Lord protects His people we're
29:38 all in a bad way. What a text. And so when we read verses like
29:42 this sometimes get so locked into just this description our
29:48 minds don't expand and begin to see this on a broad scale. But
29:52 the destruction is going to be quite fierce. As a matter of
29:55 fact go to Joel chapter 2. I want you to get another picture
29:59 of this. Joel chapter 2, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, go to the book of
30:06 Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel. Once you see Joel, chapter 2.
30:09 Because the minor and major prophets all contribute to the
30:17 picture that is drawn about the second coming of Jesus and what
30:19 a day it's going to be. Joel 2. I'm going to start with verse 1.
30:27 Remember you know for the great day of the Lord has come,
30:36 remember the great day of wrath has come and who shall be able
30:39 to stand it. Look at Joel 2:1, we are told, and this by the way
30:45 was specifically an event that had to pertain directly to the
30:53 children of Israel, but it has a dual application. Before we read
30:57 verse 1 of chapter 2 just look at verse 15 of chapter 1, just a
31:05 peek at that because I have so much stuff highlighted here.
31:08 Look at verse 15 of chapter 1. It says, Alas, for the day of
31:16 the Lord is where? At hand. It shall come as destruction from
31:23 the Almighty. Truly a tremendous day. Let's begin to see it in an
31:28 expanded view. Chapter 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion and
31:33 sound an alarm in my holy mountain. That means, you know,
31:37 when you hear a trumpet sounding it says let all the inhabitants
31:40 of the land tremble. A trumpet sounds to _ man's urgency.
31:45 For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is where? At hand
31:50 Just what we read in Matthew 24:36-44. Look how it's
31:55 described: A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and
32:01 thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains
32:06 A people come great and strong the like of whom has never been
32:12 nor will there ever be any such after them. At a later date I'll
32:17 explain this further to you. And it says: A fire devours before
32:21 them and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the
32:25 garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate
32:29 wilderness. Surely nothing shall escape them. And then we go to a
32:33 description that's found in Revelation 9 and Ezekiel 2.
32:40 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses and like
32:44 swift steeds so they run with a noise like chariots over
32:48 mountains they leap. Like the noise of a flaming fire that
32:52 devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle
32:57 array. What kind of effect is going to happen. By the way,
32:59 these descriptions, can I just give you a hint at what it is?
33:04 You want a hint? Are you ready for it? Okay. This is a
33:09 description when the Lord removes his restraining power
33:14 from all the angels that are evil and they are loose in the
33:21 land. Because look at the effect When evil angels are released
33:25 look at what verse 6 says. Before them the people writhe
33:34 in pain, all faces are drained of color, they run like mighty
33:39 men, they climb the walls like men of war. Everyone marches in
33:44 formation and they do not break ranks. They do not push one
33:48 another, everyone marches in his own column and when they lunge
33:51 between the weapons they are not cut down. They run to and fro
33:56 in the city, they run on the wall, they climb into the houses
33:59 they enter at the windows like a thief, the earth quakes before
34:06 them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and
34:09 the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice
34:13 before his army, for his camp is very great, for strong is the
34:18 one who executes His word, for the day of the Lord is great and
34:22 very terrible, who can endure it? Now what a picture that's
34:28 coming. When people say... Let me just make a point here and I
34:30 want to emphasize something tonight in our study. When
34:32 people say Well you know okay I'm going to be lost, what's the
34:35 big deal? They have no clue. It's not like missing a car wash
34:41 or missing the premier of the movie that is a blockbuster.
34:44 It's not like missing a plane. Before destruction comes, the
34:50 Bible says this later on, in describing this day, it says men
34:55 will seek death and will not find it. In other words, it's
34:59 going to be of such magnitude... I'm minimizing it actually,
35:04 because you can't really imagine what it's going to be like. It
35:09 men are going to seek death, but they won't find it. And why?
35:14 Because they've turned their backs on the Lord. I want to
35:17 kind of give you a text here. Go with me now. Let me just
35:20 look at this very quickly. I'm going to find it right here.
35:23 Okay. What a day it's going to be. I'm going to find this
35:30 text here for you. Okay, here it is, coming now. Okay, got it.
35:42 Here it is.
35:43 Go to Proverbs 1, okay. Wow! In verse 20 down to verse 23 lays
36:19 a foundation as to the appeal the Lord is making. He's talking
36:25 about wisdom. He's saying we need to be wiser than we are.
36:29 Look at verse 24: Because I have called, and what happened? and
36:38 you refused, I have stretched out my hand and what? no one
36:43 regarded. Because you disdained all my counsel and would have
36:49 none of my reproof. Look at verse 26: I also will laugh your
36:56 calamity will mock when your terror comes. Your terror comes
37:02 like a storm and your destruction comes like a
37:05 whirlwind. When distress and anguish come upon you, they will
37:08 call on me but I will not answer They will seek me diligently but
37:14 they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not
37:18 choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my
37:22 counsel and despised all my reproof. It's a sad day coming.
37:27 My rebuke, is it okay to say that? All the rebuke of the Lord
37:34 they despised them. They don't want to hear it. There is a
37:38 recalcitrance, the word recalcitrant means there's a
37:41 consistent, there's almost a concreting of the human heart.
37:45 People are being appealed to. The Lord is saying this is
37:47 what's coming, this is what's coming. And they hated knowledge
37:52 they despised counsel. I stretched out my hand to save
37:55 them, they said, I don't want it I've heard people say, it's okay if
38:01 I'm lost. I'll just go to hell and I'll be just fine. Well hell
38:04 is not going to be a vacation resort. Yeah. Ronald Reagan
38:11 this is so terrible. I saw this commercial a number of years ago
38:15 and it just popped up recently, he says I'm an unashamed
38:22 athiest whose not afraid to burn in hell. And I thought to myself
38:26 you actually would put that on television and tell the entire
38:29 world that you're an unashamed athiest, not afraid to burn
38:32 in hell. I'm thinking to myself
38:33 you have no clue, he has no idea what's ahead of us. What I'm
38:37 giving you is just a glimpse, I'm telling this to you in a
38:41 perfectly peaceful setting with you all sitting down. The only
38:45 thing you have is your imagination. But pull the
38:48 curtain back and turn on the effects like God has the ability
38:52 to do. What a day. That's why it's important to be ready for
38:55 the coming of
38:57 the Lord. Amen. It's important to be on the right side. Look at
39:01 Question number 9. Is that where we are. Question number 9.
39:16 Let's go to 2 Timothy. We're going to go to 2 Timothy. The
39:22 we're living in a world where there's unrest all over the
39:24 world. There's unrest all over the world. And by the way,
39:29 2 Timothy is a book that cannot be applied to any other
39:35 generation except the last days. This is one of those chapters
39:39 that has been reserved for the last days because it starts that
39:44 way. Okay. I'll go ahead and bring it up on the screen so if
39:50 you don't have a Bible you can see it.
39:54 But know this, that in the last days what kind of times?
39:56 Perilous times will come.
39:59 That means dangerous, stressful, overwhelming. Why?
40:04 For men will be lovers of themselves, what else? lovers of
40:12 money. Okay, not only that, lovers of themselves, lovers of
40:17 money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, what else?
40:22 disobedient to parents, what else? Unthankful, together,
40:28 unholy, unloving, unforgiving, without self-control, slanderers
40:37 that means they just tell lies on folks, they slander people.
40:41 Rather than just telling lies they always think bad about
40:45 people, that person's no good, nothing's ever come out of that
40:51 person that's good, do you see them, look at that. Slanderers,
40:53 just finding
40:55 pleasure in what you call character defamation. It goes on
40:59 Where am I now? Without self- control, brutal, despisers of
41:08 those that are what? Those that are good. Traitors, what else?
41:14 Headstrong, haughty, what a list lovers of pleasure rather than
41:21 what? Lovers of God. You know when you talk about that...
41:25 Having a form of godliness but denying its power, and from
41:29 such people that Bible say do what? Turn away. You know we
41:34 live in a generation where to say you're a Christian is a
41:36 popular thing. Nowadays you can be a Christian by just saying
41:41 you're a Christian. I'm a Christian. But our behavior
41:45 should be evidence of our profession, don't you think. So
41:50 if we say that we're Christian, our behavior should be evidence
41:53 of it. Nowadays, it's sad in our country, Lord save me from
42:02 myself, that the social, moral, political... The climate in our
42:11 world is of such that these things are so in our face that
42:16 there are some people that will see the behavior of a person to
42:19 degrading and they will say well that person said he's a Christian.
42:25 You can't judge them. Now the word judge is a word that we've
42:31 often thrown around so lightly. The Bible says by their blanks
42:38 you will know them. So what's that word. By their fruits. So
42:42 if I walk up to a tree can I judge it, by what? Give me an
42:51 apple, that's an orange tree. Well get me a pear, that's a
42:52 mango tree, you know. And we find that one of the ways we can
42:58 tell what's in a person's heart. Lot of people say, well you
43:01 cannot judge their heart. Well we can't judge a person's heart
43:05 if we don't know what's in it but the Bible does say: For out
43:07 of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So you don't
43:14 have to know what's in a person's heart. I've heard
43:15 somebody once say, listen long enough and you'll find out
43:19 what's in there. Because it comes out. So be careful when
43:22 we just think that people... Nowadays we live in a climate
43:26 where... and I'm praying that people are converted and are
43:32 changed because the Lord gives every one of us an opportunity
43:34 to have our lives turned around. Amen? Nobody could say well that
43:38 person is surely lost, but we must be mindful of where we are
43:43 and how we live and what we say and what we do so that our lives
43:46 won't be while we're looking at somebody else's behavior, our
43:51 lives won't be a castaway. We must know. So now how does the
43:57 Bible describes the social condition that will be
43:59 manifested prior to the return of Jesus? Okay, you want to know
44:03 how to put that in there. Here's the answer: You put a breakdown
44:06 of society. A societal breakdown The other thing you could do is
44:17 just say see 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Just circle the text because the
44:22 description is so amazingly detailed. It's amazingly
44:29 detailed when you look at it. So let me ask you a question.
44:35 Since we're talking about the signs of the coming of the Lord
44:38 Is this sign a reliable one? Say something. Is it yes or no?
44:43 You can see it all around you. Your right. The Lord said to
44:52 Paul, write this down because 1800 years from now they're
44:59 going to need that text. See? That's exactly what's happening
45:06 today. Our world is exactly the way the Lord described it would
45:10 be and amazingly enough when we read that it says, But know this
45:13 that in the last days? what day? Last days. We're living in the
45:20 what? Last days. Yes we are. And the closer we get to the last
45:27 days the last of the last days we are going to see that these
45:31 things are going to intensify amazingly, tremendously,
45:35 amazingly. Okay, now let's go to the next one. What's the next
45:41 question? Question number 10. And here's the question:
45:59 Let's go to the book of Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah is another
46:04 book that will really shake you up. Can I ask you a question?
46:10 Can the world use a good shaking up? And it's going to
46:19 come. The unfortunate thing, it's going to come for some
46:22 people too late... What am I looking for? Isaiah. Why am I
46:27 in the book of Micah. Here I am. I'm talking to myself and
46:31 going in the wrong direction. Isaiah 60 and we're going to
46:37 read verse 2. A condition that we just described in the book of
46:42 Joel. The Bible says, here it is
47:01 So, while the world is physically dark and then there's
47:06 spiritual darkness where will the light of God's glory be seen
47:09 where would it be seen. It'll be seen on us. So there's nothing
47:15 that we have to be worried about Matter of fact, let's talk about
47:17 this, let's just focus on this for a moment. Have you ever gone
47:21 outside at night with a flashlight? Do you think people
47:27 could find you at night if you had a flashlight? What about if
47:31 was a tiny flashlight? Could they still find you. Because the
47:34 darker the surroundings are the brighter and more obvious the
47:39 flashlight seems to be. Am I right? What the Lord is in
47:42 essence saying here, let's look at verse 1 now. So the answer to
47:45 that is Whatever sign that the Bible describes with physical
47:50 and spiritual application? The sign: There is darkness. Put
47:54 that word there, darkness. But I like verse 1. I have really
48:00 enjoyed Isaiah 60:1 and here it is: Let's read the first two
48:05 words together. Arise, shine, for your light has come and the
48:12 glory of the Lord has risen where? Upon you. So right now
48:18 we're seeing in this darkening, in the darkening environment...
48:21 We just not too long ago bought some lights for the front of our
48:26 house and we don't have to turn them off during the day because
48:30 they go off when it gets bright and they come on when it gets
48:33 dark and they are bright. I think if a helicopter flew over
48:40 southern Illinois could find our house. It's bright. And then we
48:45 have these lights that when you drive up, it's four Halogen lights
48:49 that turn on like, it's bright. The beauty of having light at
48:57 night is you can be seen. And the Lord is saying to those of
49:03 us who are in Him, our lights are going to shine. Amen. So
49:09 when the Bible says let your light so shine, that means,
49:11 don't worry about it. You don't have to make your light shine.
49:14 You have to do what? Let the light of God shine from you.
49:18 The timing of this is beautiful because Revelation chapter 14
49:24 talks about fear God and give glory to Him. How can we give
49:27 glory to God in a time of darkness? How can we give glory
49:30 to God at a time of darkness. Say it again. Letting our light
49:38 shine. That's right. And our light shining has a positive
49:43 impact. Look at verse 3. The Gentiles shall come to what?
49:50 To your light and the kings to the brightness of what? Your
49:57 rising. What does the word rising denote? When something
50:05 is rising, it's getting darker or brighter? Is it getting
50:07 brighter.
50:09 So the light of God is getting brighter and brighter and
50:12 brighter on those who are in Him So while the light of God is
50:17 getting brighter on those of us who are in Him, those who are
50:20 not in Him will come to the brightness of our rising.
50:23 They'll see it. That's why verse 4 is so significant. Lift your
50:30 eyes all around and see. They all gather together, they come
50:36 where? To you. Your sons shall come from afar and your
50:41 daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see
50:46 and become what? Radiant and your heart shall swell with joy.
50:53 So the Lord is talking about the blessing of this. There's a
50:54 beauty that's coming out of the light that God gives to us, if
50:57 we allow that light to get brighter and brighter and
51:00 brighter. That's simply allowing the Lord to manifest His glory
51:03 in our lives. So the answer to question number 10: The sign
51:08 that a physical and spiritual what? Darkness. Darkness
51:13 covered the earth and deep darkness the people. And we talked
51:17 about that darkness just a moment ago. All right. Let's
51:21 scoot on down to question number 11. Question number 11.
51:27 And here it is...
51:36 Boy I'll tell you when I saw the news few days ago just recently
51:43 I thought man alive how true this is, how true this is.
51:49 Matthew 24:6-8. Okay, hmm. and we read the following...
52:21 But it goes on. And this we see not only wars and rumors of wars
52:24 but something happening internally... For nation shall
52:29 rise against what? Nation. And kingdom against what? Kingdom
52:32 And there will be what? Famines. What else? Pestilences, that's
52:37 diseases, and earthquakes in various places. And look at how
52:42 Matthew caps this off...
52:47 You know when you see the ocean rising unusually and if you put
52:51 those signs all together, some places are experiencing drought
52:54 that has never been seen before. Some places it's one fire after
53:00 the other after the other after the other, unchecked. Yeah, I
53:06 mean. I had this dream once that I had four or five times and I'm
53:10 just praying that it doesn't come to pass in a negative way.
53:13 But I dreamed we were in a large city and while we were in the
53:18 city just fire just started pouring out of the sky. Water
53:20 started rising above the height of the bridge. And we got
53:25 separated briefly but when we got to the other side of the
53:27 bridge, we were both together. Don't know how that happened,
53:29 but dreams have unexplainable parts to it.
53:32 But the picture that's
53:34 being drawn here, and I'll go back to that in brief moments,
53:37 when it talked about nation rising against nation, we have
53:41 unrest in so many parts of the world that you really can't keep
53:46 track of it. But here's the danger. The danger is getting
53:53 used to it. What is that called when you get used to something
54:00 and it doesn't affect you any more. Complacency, another one
54:07 I heard just a moment ago: Desensitized. One psychologist
54:16 said that children by the time their 18 they've seen so many
54:21 thousands of murders on television that the word murder
54:24 doesn't even move them anymore. They've seen so much bloodshed,
54:28 They've seen so much violence. The story was told about a young
54:33 boy and this story impacted me in a positive way. Talked about
54:38 a young boy whose family lived outside of the city. They
54:43 intentionally kept their children away from all the
54:46 polluting influences of the city They didn't even have a
54:49 television. So when this young boy got older he asked to spend
54:54 the weekend with a good friend of his, a classmate. His mom and
54:57 dad got to the point where they felt they could trust him and he
55:00 went to the house. They were watching a show on television
55:04 and he saw at age 15 he saw his first time a person who got shot
55:12 and killed.
55:14 He saw it on television and he got sick and he started throwing
55:17 up. And his friend said, What's wrong with you. He said they
55:19 just got killed. That's the first time he saw it. It
55:25 affected him so negatively. You know the news will say
55:28 now days this is quite, if you have children, they warn you
55:33 this is quite graphic they tell you and we sit there and we go
55:38 Ho-hum. Then we go to U-tube to look at the unedited version.
55:45 We've become desensitized. Am I right. Come on, can we say amen
55:49 to that. We have become desensitized, because the moment
55:53 they say you might want to turn away, we say what was the name
55:57 of the article? Then we go look up the... It's sad but that's
56:00 what the world has done to us. That's why I can't wait for the
56:03 day for Jesus to come that these things will not even be in our
56:06 presence any longer. Praise God for that. Because when you say
56:10 people are hungry, you say why do you have to bother me for
56:12 food. Can't they go ask some body else. We get desensitized
56:16 to human suffering. That's why whenever I hear mission programs
56:20 whenever we have a mission program on 3ABN it always kind
56:23 of recalibrates me. There was a beautiful story of a homeless
56:29 lady on the news. She was a pharmacist. This is a very
56:32 touching story. It was
56:33 on the news this evening actually before we came here.
56:39 They saw her at a gas station at a carwash and
56:41 all of her belongings
56:42 were on the side outside of her car and she was on a wheelchair
56:46 and she had a blanket wrapped around her. And two ladies
56:49 caught the ladies attention and they came. She had two dogs.
56:53 And they came to here and they said are you okay? Well
56:56 naturally she said I'm fine but they wouldn't take that as an
57:00 answer. They said, no really what's wrong? She said well I
57:03 used to be a pharmacist but I lost my pension, I don't have
57:10 any money, I have no health coverage. I could no longer
57:13 afford to live anywhere. The rent became too much for me
57:19 to even afford, so now I live out of my van. So I'm getting it
57:22 cleaned out and vacuumed out because I have two dogs. Those
57:27 two ladies, these two good Samaritans, they got together
57:30 and started reaching out, put it on social media. They got to
57:35 the place where they got her a brand new apartment, they
57:39 furnished it and they paid for the rent for two years and what
57:44 a touching story that was when I saw that. The two dogs, they fed
57:48 the dogs, they packed that apartment. I'll tell you, there
57:51 are still some good things to look for in the world, right?
57:54 Well you know friends our time is to an end so quickly, it's
57:56 sad. Keep studying God's word because one day it'll come into
57:59 A Sharper Focus. God bless you.


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Revised 2019-12-11