 But that said, we're going to be looking at Revelation chapter 14. We're going to be looking at verses 14 through 20. That's what we're going to be looking at in terms of our study. But I'm going to begin reading to you out of verse 12, because I'm going to go back to verse 12 and highlight a few things that I didn't mention last time when we were together. I realize that some of you are coming here maybe for the first time, and perhaps some of you have never studied through the book of Revelation, and this is a new experience for you. I have a tendency of assuming that everybody knows exactly what I'm trying to say in all, just because everybody I always assume has read this book, perhaps had studies through it. And just the other day, I realized that sometimes I may be saying things that I'm assuming you may know and you may not know. So I want to go over a little bit of what we've already looked at and kind of give a little introduction and to move into chapter 14 verses 14 to the end of the chapter, hopefully give you a little information to help you to get a grip on where we're at at this time. So I'll begin reading at verses 12. I'll read to verse 20, but our actual study will be in verses 14 to the end of the chapter. But beginning at verse 12, Revelation chapter 14. Here is the patience of the saints. There are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Right, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud sat one like the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar who had power over fire. And he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe. So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. So again, I'm going to highlight verses 12 and 13. And as we look at those verses, I begin by noting that John wrote, blessed are the dead who dine the Lord from now on. Now when he said, blessed are the dead, in the Old Testament, the word blessed is used quite a number of times when one source of information pointed out that the word in the Old Testament is used 214 times. And that word blessed means happy, fulfilled, it means joyful. So blessed or blessed speaks of inner contentedness. It speaks of a serenity. It speaks that you have a joy that is complete. Now this complete joy is associated with trusting the Lord and living by His word. Like it says in Psalm 1 verses 1 and 2, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. So this joy is associated with trusting the Lord, living by his word. In Psalm 119 verse 2, how blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. So the blessed man, the blessed person is one who walks in the counsel of God, who stays in his word and trusts him. In the New Testament, the word blessed is used to speak of joy. It speaks of fulfillment and even satisfaction. And it describes the joy that results from having your deepest spiritual needs met. In 1 John 1.4 it says, these things we write to you that your joy may be full. So when you're blessed, your joy is full. You have fulfillment and satisfaction. As a matter of fact, this is a word that was chosen by Jesus to speak of somebody who is a citizen of heaven. It's a word that speaks of what is awaiting faithful believers. In Matthew 25, 21, it says, his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. And then he says, enter into the joy of your Lord. So it speaks of blessedness, a blessedness that is received from the hand of the Lord. And it's what results in, is the result of a relationship of obedience to his directions. And it's interesting how he's using that word here in this verse. Because he's speaking of the blessedness of the one who is having patience and keeps the commandments of God. Notice again in verse 12, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. He says, I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, right blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit that they may rest from the labors and the works follow them. So those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ are going to evidence their faith by living in obedience. The tribulation saints who die are going to die. And there are going to be tribulation saints who die, but they're going to die with assurance because they're holding on to the promises of God. They're going through this period of God pouring out the wrath on an unbelieving world. That is a seven year span of time. It's divided into two aspects. You have what is called the tribulation, the first three and a half years, and then great tribulation, the last three and a half years. And in that time, there are going to be people who commit their hearts to Christ, but they're going to die. But they're going to die in faithful obedience. They're going to die holding fast to eternal life that has been granted to them by faith through Christ. And they're blessed. Again, these are the tribulation saints. These are those who commit their trust to the Lord during the tribulation. Remember that during the tribulation, the seven year period of God pouring out his wrath, during that time the gospel, the message of Christ continues to be proclaimed. The message that speaks of God loving the world and giving his son. The message of Jesus Christ taking upon himself human flesh and dwelling amongst us. The message that he voluntarily laid down his life for us dying on a cross, that he was buried. That message that speaks concerning Jesus Christ, resurrecting from the dead, ascending to heaven, sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within those who by faith receive him. That message of grace that has been shown to us by God through Christ, through his God in the flesh. And we have believed and received and thus we're born again. Well, those people are, many people are going to be hearing this message. We have already looked at the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will be preaching the message of the gospel. We know that there will be two witnesses and they will be preaching the gospel. We know that there are going to be people who are saved under the ministry of the 144,000 as well as those two witnesses and they themselves will begin to preach the gospel. Even an angel is flying over the earth and he's speaking out the everlasting gospel. So the gospel goes out powerfully, it goes out relentlessly. People are hearing it and as they hear it, preach, some are turning to the Lord, but the majority reject the message. And that's like it is today, but even on a larger scale then, but that's like it is today. Many people hear the gospel, but they reject it. Well, during that time in the midst of all of the judgment, all of the plagues, all of the things, the cataclysms that are taking place, in the midst of that, there are going to be some who believe but many of them will not embrace the message. Some will, but the majority rejected. And so those who are saved are going to reveal the genuineness of their salvation in various ways and so you see it in verse two, he speaks of, rather verse 12, he speaks of the patience of the saints. So these people's salvation is evidenced by patience. Patience describes a person who is not swayed, but remains loyal in faith and holiness in the face of the greatest trials and sufferings. They're the ones who hold fast to what is true. Patience can be spoken of as a patient endurance. And Jesus spoke of this in the context of the last days. In Matthew 10, 22, Jesus said, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. It's the patience of the saints. You will be hated by all for my name's sake, but endure. He speaks of the patience of the saints. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 21, verses 16 and 17, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends. And they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he goes on to say in verse 19, by your patience possess ye your souls. So genuine faith in Christ is revealed by patience. It's also revealed by obedience. Because they faithfully keep the commandments of God, even like the church in Philadelphia. In Revelation 3, Jesus said, I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it. For you have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name. And so they hold fast to his faith, to the things he's revealed to them. And genuine faith is always revealed in obedience. In John 14 verse 15, Jesus said it in a simple way. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. In 1 John 2 verses 3 through 5, John said, by this we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments. But he went on to say, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. The truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. And by this we know that we are in him. There are many who profess to be Christian. The United States has filled the people answering surveys when asked, what is your religious faith? They'll say, well, I'm a Christian. There are many who profess to be Christian, but they live like an atheist. That's why in Luke 6, 46, Jesus asked the question, why do you call me Lord, Lord? And do not the things that I say. You see, these tribulation saints have built their lives upon their faith in Christ. And their faith keeps them trusting Jesus, even in the midst of the reign of Antichrist. The tribulation saints who die, die with assurance. They die holding on to the promises of God. They die holding fast to eternal life that's been granted by faith to them. As a result of that is their blessed. And notice again in verse 13 how it says, their labors, their works follow them. Of course, they're not saved. You're not saved. We're not saved by good works. Their salvation prompted them to labor for the Lord. James 2, verse 20 said it like this. Do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead. Anybody who is saved is going to work because we do so in response to what God has done for us. And as we serve him and we work in his name, while the record of our service and the record of their service is honored with reward. That's why Paul in 2 Timothy 4, 7 and 8 could say, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have loved is appearing. And so as we're looking at this that rolls us into verse 14. He's speaking concerning their works following them. But verse 14 gives us more insight where he says, Then I looked and behold, a white cloud. And on the clouds that one, like the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. So he begins to speak concerning this. And he speaks concerning, behold, he noticed this white cloud. So what we have here is we have judgment. And the judgment that is being revealed occurs at the worst point of the tribulation. He says, The Son of Man sitting on a cloud. A cloud is often used as a symbol for the presence of God. In Matthew 24, verse 30, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In Matthew 26, verses 63 and 64, it says, Jesus kept silent. The high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, It is as you said, Nevertheless, I say to you, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power coming on the clouds of heaven. So he's been waiting for the proper time to move and to begin reaping. The time has arrived. And we're going to be seeing a series of judgments that are called the bull judgments. Now, when it speaks in verse 14 of The Son of Man, that's another way of speaking of Messiah. It speaks of Jesus being fully man. It describes his incarnation. Messiah, God in the flesh. In the Gospel of John chapter one, verse one, it says in the beginning was a word. The word was with God and the word was God. In verse 14 of the same chapter, it says, a word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is the word incarnate, the word in human flesh. Son of Man is a way of speaking of Messiah. It speaks of the fact that he is fully man. In Colossians chapter one, verses 18 and 19, it says Jesus is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence for, it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. Jesus Christ is God in human form. So the term Son of Man is used by the prophet Daniel as well as by Jesus when he referred to himself. In Daniel chapter seven, verse 13 and 14, he says, I was watching in the night visions, behold one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days. They brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. His kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed. So this is a picture of Jesus, the Son of Man. Notice in verse 14, he's wearing a crown. This is not the kind of crown a king wears. The word that they would use in the Greek language to speak of a crown of a king is a diadema. That would be a diadem. It would be a king's crown. This is not a king's crown. This is what is called a Stefanos. This is a victor's crown. Usually it was worn. It was given to the victor in a war or in an athletic contest. So it's showing us here when it says the Son of Man on a cloud, the glory of God, he has his head a golden crown. It shows that he's the victor. That's the picture that is given to us here. He's the triumphant conqueror of his enemies. But in his hand, verse 14 says, he has a sharp sickle revealing that he's reaping. He's reaping a final harvest. The final reaping is the seven bold judgments that are followed by his return. Judgment is coming. It's the picture here. Judgment is about to fall. It's going to fall on the demons. It's going to fall on Antichrist. Judgment is falling on the unrepentant wicked. Judgment is falling on Satan. And it's portrayed here as a final reaping that will take place. When you look at the writings of the apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1.6-9, Paul said in his justice, God will punish those who persecute you. God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted. And also for us, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, he will come with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don't know God and on those who refuse to obey the good news of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power, forever separated from God, forever. So this is a picture of Jesus. He's participating in the in-gathering of saints and the final judgment. It's a picture of Jesus coming to establish his kingdom which fulfills Daniel's prophecy. Remember in Matthew 8 verse 20, Jesus said the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. When he was incarnate on earth, he made that statement, foxes have their holes in the ground, birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Well, he said that when he was on earth incarnated, but here we see him take possession of the entire earth. And notice, he has a sickle. He's mowing down his enemies like the harvester cuts down grain. And so in verse 14, you see he has a sickle and he's bringing judgment. In verse 15, another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Now, this angel came out of the temple, according to verse 17, that means he comes from before the throne of God. But notice in verse 15 when he says, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud. His loud voice reveals urgency and authority from the Father. And he says, thrust your sickle and reap. God's message to Jesus is it's time. It's time to move in judgment. The time of God's grace has reached the end. His wrath is being poured out. It's a time where his grace reaches its completeness, his fulfillment, and he now begins to pour out his wrath. And Jesus is bringing judgment. You know, if you look at some of the older pictures of Christ, like from the Middle Ages and all, we see so many pictures of Jesus as he's carrying a lamb or has this very sweet smile. And we have a picture of him in a certain way, and that way is accurate. Of course, he does care. He does love. He is the good shepherd. And we've become comfortable with that image. But an image that we also have in the Bible that we sometimes don't really take into full consideration is the fact that the lion is the lamb, and the lamb is a lion. We don't see that sometimes. We forget of the passages where Jesus with thunder at the Pharisees for the hypocrisy. And he would speak to them face to face, and he would say, you are a brute of vipers. You know, we're not used to hearing things like that. We don't read Matthew 23 very often, perhaps, and we don't realize that Jesus had a righteous indignation over sin and those kinds of things. We forget that Jesus went into a temple twice, and he overthrew the tables of money changers. He drove them out with a whip that he fashioned, and he said, it's written, my father's house shall be a house of prayer. You have made it into a den of thieves. We don't think of him that way. And so as he was here on the face of the earth, and he was showing to us his grace, he also showed us his judgment. While here we see it being poured out now. Jesus is bringing judgment. His father has delegated him to do that. In John 5.27, the father has given him authority to execute judgment also because he's the son of man. In Acts 17.31, it reads, God has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Judgment is coming. Notice in verse 15, the harvest of the earth is ripe. That word ripe in the original language is overripe. It actually carries the connotation of being dried out. It's a picture of something that is ready to burn. It's dry and ready to burn. And when something is dry and ready to burn, it takes only a spark, really, for it to ignite. I was about nine years old, and I became fascinated with fire for some reason. I don't know why, but I did. And I used to carry matches in my pocket. When I went to school, just in case something needed to be burned. True story. And I came home from school one day, and somebody had cut all the grass and had put the clippings in a pile, and it was about three feet high. A big, huge pile of grass clippings that were very dry, very dry. They were so dry, they were crying out, burn me. And so I heard the voice, and it spoke, and said, go, my son, and burn. And so I did. I pulled out the matches, and I lighted it on fire, and I was a little guy. I didn't realize what would really happen. It was right next to the people's garage, and the garage doors were wooden doors. Yeah. And so I lighted it on fire, and then I saw it started to go up. And it was like, it was starting to go up. And I thought, oh, no. I jumped in the middle of the fire, and I tried to stomp it out, obviously unsuccessful. So I just ran home. I mean, who's going to know? And so I ran home. I was in my mom's room. Mom was sitting in her room, and I walked in, you know, and my mom said, hi, son, how are you? I'm doing good, you know. Everything's fine. And then I hear the sound of a truck. And I go, oh, no. And I kind of look out. It's a fire truck. And it pulled up in front of my house. Then you hear the heavy sounds of the boots as the guy's walking up. The firefighter walks up and knocks on the door. And I opened the door, and this eight-foot tall firefighter was there. And he says, young man, is your mother home? And I said, no. I'm taking care of myself. Nobody's watching me. No, I said, yeah. I went and got my mom. And my mom came and had to speak to the firefighter. How I almost burned down that person's house. And then the man and his wife who owned the house came over that night and sat with my mom and my dad and started telling me off. And the woman started wagging her finger at me, like this little boy. Well, you don't do that to my mom's son. My mom was a fighter. So I said, yeah, let's see how far you go with that one. And my mom just let her have it, you know, kicked her out of the house. I got away with it. But anyway, yeah, it was ready to burn. And I'm telling you, I know by personal experience, anything that is dry like that's going to go up. And that's the picture you have right here is something that's going to go up in flame. And it's going to go up in flame in judgment. You see, the unbelievers have reached the point of being prepared for judgment. In Hebrews chapter six, verses seven and eight, it says, the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated receives blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. And that's the picture of the world, rejecting Christ ready for judgment. So in verse 16, so he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, the earth was reaped. God's judgment is described as being executed. Now this judgment is going to be given, will be given more of a picture of this more clearly in chapter 16. This is a picture of the final judgments that are called the bowl judgments. And so we'll see that when we get later on into chapter 16. In verse 17, it says, another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle. And so we continue, this particular angel is assisting Jesus as he brings judgment. This judgment is not one of grain. This is a picture of a grape harvest. It's not referring to the bowl judgments. What it really reveals to us is something we'll see later on, the battle of Armageddon. The picture is a wine press. The wine press represents the wrath of God on unrepentant sinners. And when harvest time comes, the picture will be that God will cut down the ripe grape vines with a sickle but trample the grapes underfoot. Their juices will be squeezed out into vats and poured out. So this is a picture that has inspired people over the centuries. And as I was going through this, when it spoke concerning, notice verse 19, the great wine press of the wrath of God, I began to think of, now where have I heard that? And obviously, grapes of wrath is the name of a book that was written many years ago now. But it was also a picture that I remembered actually of a famous hymn. This passage here inspired a hymn that we know as the battle hymn of the Republic. And that was a song that was written during the Civil War. It was written in November of 1861. And I was reading up on that, and its purpose was to recognize union forces as instruments of divine judgment against Confederate states for persisting in the institution of slavery. Between 1774 and 1804, all slavery had been abolished in the north, but it persisted in the south. And so a woman was inspired to write this hymn in response to the injustice that she saw over slavery. And that's what it's speaking about when it says, my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free while God is marching on. It's a picture of judgment. It's a picture of unrighteousness being dealt with that he'd even inspired people during that horrible era of slavery to speak concerning how unrighteousness needs to be dealt with. Then you have verse 18. Another angel came out from the altar who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle saying thrust in your sharp sickle, gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe. Another angel is mentioned. This is the sixth angel that is mentioned. Notice that this angel came out from the altar. He has power over fire, so that gives us insight. We already saw an altar mentioned in chapter 6 verses 9 through 11, and that altar represented the brazen altar, the brass incense altar. The altar of incense represents prayer. So this is the prayer of the saints as well as the martyrs, and this angel cries out that the prayers are being answered. It's time for judgment. The unrepentant sinners are pictured as clusters of grapes. They're bursting with wickedness as the picture. It's time for their judgment. And so in verse 19, the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. What happens is the enemies of Jesus who survived the bold judgments will be gathered, and their blood will be poured out. And the Old Testament book of Joel, chapter 3 verse 13, it reads, Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow. Their wickedness is great. Their wickedness is great. Notice how it says in verse 20, the wine press was trampled outside the city. Blood came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. That represents 200 miles. When it speaks about blood up to the bridles, that's not a pool of blood or a river or a lake of blood. What it's speaking about is blood that's splattering. That's splattering. And it's throughout the length of the battle. Millions. We'll look at this for a moment. Millions will be engaged in what has been called the Battle of Armageddon. It's actually can be called not simply the Battle of Armageddon is also referred to as the Campaigns of Armageddon. We'll see that when we get to that chapter is a series of battles. But it also speaks of the slaughter of Armageddon for what is going to take place. What happens is the nations are going to gather together in the very end. And they're fighting against the Lord and His Christ. In chapter 19, we will see the return of Christ. And there we'll see the Antichrist, the false prophet, demonic forces, unrepentant people. They're going to be destroyed. Revelation 19 verses 11 through 15 says it like this. I saw heaven opened. Behold a white horse. He who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. And his name is called the word of God. And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword. That with it he should strike the nations. He himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. The angel thrust the sickle in, but Jesus crushes them. And Psalm 2 it reads, Duommage to the Son, that he not become angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all those who take refuge in him. We need to be prepared because Jesus is returning soon. Let me share with you some things. I didn't put these in my notes and so I'm going to just share what's on my heart as I'm about to close. And we've got a few things to say after that. But let me share with you, if I may. This is a very serious passage of Scripture, guys. And I want to treat it with the dignity that it deserves. And as I was reading this and as I'm taking the picture in to my heart, I'm realizing that this is a tremendous warning to those who don't know the Lord. This is a call to the unrepentant, even in our time, to come to faith in God. And this is going to happen. This is what's going to happen. Jesus' return, he had come with peace, but now he comes with wrath. And I believe it's going to be soon. It can be soon, even in our lifetime. And we need to live as if we really believe that. And that's how I was thinking about this. I was thinking about how many people today in our nation have really, really missed the understanding of how the Word of God is true. I was being interviewed just the other day by a man who was going to be broadcasting the interview to a lot of pastors. So I was speaking to pastors throughout the nation as I was being interviewed. So this was for pastors. And this one pastor who was interviewing me asked me, what do you see, David? What do you see today in comparison to when you got saved? What is similar? What is different? What do you see? And the first thing I said to him is this, I'll repeat it to you. I said, well, when I got saved, it was a long time ago, 50 years ago, when I gave my heart to Christ. They said, so I came from a generation of young people who actually believed that the Bible is the Word of God. We may not have done it. We may not have obeyed it, but if you quoted the verse to me, I would say, why would I deny that? That's God's Word. I actually believed that there was a God so powerful that he could preserve his Word. And so it was a very adequate tool to be using for guys like me because I believed the Word of God. I said, so people like me, you could quote the Scripture to me and I would respect you for it because I had been taught this is the very Word of God. I said the difference that I see today is that younger people who are around my age, when I got saved, I was 20, haven't been raised in the same way. They think it's just a book. They think it's a book like any other quote unquote holy book, whether it's the Bhagavad Gita, whether it's the Koran or whatever, they see the Bible as the same as any other book and they're all equal and they're all wrong. That's the difference. I said younger people today will question and argue and all not because they have honest doubts, but simply because they have grown up in an era of unbelief. I said whereas my generation was different, that's why when somebody approached me and opened up the Word and spoke to me, that's why I would listen with respect even if I didn't understand or disagreed with it. I said that is different today. Now if you open it up, people already think that it's an ugly book, doesn't mean anything, we shouldn't really listen to it and what has happened is people have no definition of what is right and what is wrong. So they call bitter sweet and sweet bitter. They call darkness light and light darkness. That's what's happened because they think these things are equal and they're all right and we also have a morality that is based on law. If it's legal, then it's moral and that's how people think. So if it's legal to smoke pot then it's moral to smoke pot. If it's legal to abort a baby, then it's moral to abort a baby and we change the argument. I have a granddaughter, her name is Olivia. She's two years old. She was born a month early, my Olivia, a month early and that meant she had to be taken care of in a special way because she was born early. We weren't able to hold her when she was born. They had to rush her into the NICU and they had her being monitored in everything. I couldn't hold my wife and I, we couldn't hold our granddaughter. Her daddy couldn't hold his baby. Her mama couldn't even hold. She was in that kind of care. But you know the interesting thing and not so much that it's interesting but the fact, when you looked at her at eight months, she was a month early, when you looked at her at eight months, she was fully formed. All the outer appearance is a perfectly formed, beautiful little baby, beautiful little baby. And as I was looking at her, I began to think according to the laws of the United States, this perfectly formed baby could have a needle place in the base of her skull and she could be sliced up and pulled out of that mother's room. This perfectly formed little baby could be aborted in our country. If you don't think evil is here, you're not thinking. Evil is here. It's taking its mask off and it's masquerading as laws. But that's what the United States has done. The United States has legalized what God has forbidden. And you have young people and this is no knock on young people. If you're young, it's no knock on you at all. It's a reality. I was raised in an era as my parents in previous generations where a Bible could actually be on a teacher's table. Could be on a teacher's table. But what we're living in today is get God out of the classroom. That's what we're living under. We're living in a day when over 15,000 older people can die in nursing homes and people are more angry at the governor who sent them back to the nursing homes. They're angrier at that governor for coming on to a woman. That's how screwed up our morality is. Kill the old people but don't be improper to a woman. There's something wrong here, guys. There is something wrong in that kind of thinking because if you don't care about babies in the womb, you are not going to care about old people in a nursing home. So don't tell me that morality is upside down. That's what we're dealing with. If you don't think, and I'm just speaking hypothetically, not you personally, don't get mad, but if you as a person do not think that evil can be welcome, you're not thinking. It is here already and the mask has been pulled off. And this is what's taking place, guys. I'm concerned. Why? Why? Because people don't want to hear the word of God and they will argue out of ignorance because they don't know it. In favor of things that God forbids and bitter has become sweet in this nation. And it's just the beginning. How are people going to accept the antichrist? Because he's going to come in the guise of peace and prosperity. He's going to come in a way that makes people think that he's a mighty manager of world affairs. Who can make war against the beast? Who is like him? He's going to have a religious veneer and he's also going to have an authoritative presence of military strength and he's going to bring these things in and the world is going to follow him. They're going to receive the marks and all of that so they can buy and sell. They're going to do those kinds of things because he will bring in a plan to save the economy. And this is what we're going to deal with. If we don't think that's happening, it is we're being prepared right now. And this to me is of such concern that I'm taking this tone as I speak to you. I'm greatly concerned about this. I'm greatly concerned for my grandchildren. I've got 11 grandchildren soon to have 12. I'm concerned for my grandchildren. I'm concerned for the world that we're living to them, leaving to them. We need to bring Jesus Christ back to this nation and the church has to wake up. We have to wake up. The scripture says, awake. Awake thou that sleepest. Awake thou that sleepest and Christ will shine on you. We have to be aware. We have to be awake. We need to be prepared. This isn't a myth. This isn't a story. This isn't a simple book like other books. This is God's very word. Every word of this is true. Every word of it is pure. And God is warning us. And he will continue doing so until the day that Christ returns and with that sickle in his hand rings judgment. And I'll be honest with you. I believed it when I got saved at the age of 20. And I believe it now even more. That's why I told my parents about Christ. That's why I told my friends about Christ. That's why I started Bible studies. That's how I met my wife who got saved in my Bible study through the ministry of my sister. That's why because this matters. What's going on with our nation right now? What is happening? What is happening with us right now? How is it going to be that people will accept an antichrist? How is it that the climate will make it acceptable? Well, the acceptance of the antichrist is made possible by the rejection of the word of God. Again, the Bible is not trusted as God's word to man and the fruit of carnality. The fruit of this is carnality, a willful rejection of truth. The Apostle Peter gave us insight into the conditions of the last days. He said in Second Peter chapter three verses three and four, he said first, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire. This will be their argument. Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created. So they will have scoffers. The word of God, when preached and taught accurately, is going to be looked at as being harsh and unloving. The person who will actually open and teach the word as it speaks is going to be looking at, looked at as judgmental. So people will begin to collect teachers who tell them what they want to hear. How do I know that? Paul prophesied it. Second Timothy four, three and four, he said, the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine or healthy teaching. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside voluntarily to myths. That's what they're doing right now. What's the fruit of this? A self-absorbed society bent on living the way it wants to. Paul said in Second Timothy three, verse one through five, mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying its power have nothing to do with them. Having a form of godliness so go to church. They'll even tell you that the Christians, they'll even tell you how they pray for you and they pray for that evil orange-haired man which is what they were doing. We pray for them. I pray for them. I have nothing but love in my heart. Really? They're not lovers of good. They're lovers of evil. And that's why faithful teachers are to carefully present the word of God to people. Hebrews three thirteen, exhort one another daily. Well, it's called today. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Just because it's legal doesn't make it moral. Just because some some person who doesn't know God and rejects the Bible and passes the law doesn't make it right. It's interesting how you have to be a certain age to buy alcohol. You even have to be a certain age to join the military. But we have people right now who are trying to pass a law to allow 16 year olds to vote. That's not a wise thing to do. I think most of us would agree unless you forgot what it's like when you were 16. I was pretty stupid. It took years for me to outgrow stupid. It's just the way it is. I raised four kids. And through the 16th year God helped me. And to give them the power of the vote. Why would I do that? They haven't made up their mind what is right and wrong yet. At 16 they're just learning. But here we are in society saying let's do that. We're really going in a direction that is very unwise to say the least and wrong in many ways. Guys we have opportunity to preach the gospel. In Canada recently they just the Canadian authorities just just arrested a pastor put him in jail for preaching. For preaching the word of God. This is happening. And there seems to be a move. I'm not saying there is because I don't know for sure but there seems to be a move in that direction to silence Christians. To look at the Christian message as hate speech and to remove it from all social platforms. They're already doing that. There are already people who are censoring and filtering. Why? Because if they can grab the minds then they grab the person. And that's going on right now. We're aware of it. Some of us perhaps aren't. That's taking place right now. Be aware of that. Speak the truth. Speak the truth of love. The days are evil. But we in Christ are overcomers. And we can speak the truth. And people are being set free. Because where there is darkness the light always can expose what it is and bring the truth. And that's why we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The people who sat in darkness will see a great light. And that light comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Continue to share the faith. Because we're entering into a period of history. In a way I'm blessed to know mom and dad. My mom and dad are in heaven. I'm blessed to know they went home to be with Jesus. Because my mama's heart was broken as she saw the evil. Like just a lot she was grieved and vexed over the evil that she saw in the land. She said this is not the world I grew up in David. It's not the world I grew up in. And when mama went home to be with Jesus I saw that as the mercy of the Lord to remove her from an area that was breaking her heart. As she saw the parades and she saw the laws and she saw the evil and she saw these things. She said, and so when mama went to be with Jesus I didn't grieve as deeply for her as I did when my dad went home. Because mama wanted to be with Jesus and so I bless the Lord that she was able to be with them. But we're still here. Let us be salt. Let us be light. Let us be vocal. Let us live for Jesus Christ. Let us demonstrate the love that we have for God through faith and obedience. Let us love his word and let us preach to the people who have yet to hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that sets the prisoner free. That's the message that God has given to us. Let's make sure that we do that. We used to say when I first got saved get right or get left. I think I can say that again today. Get right or get left.