 I have to tell you before we get into this, we're looking at verses 25 through 28 that I'm going to give you a lot of Scripture tonight. I know that you're not used to that. I'm going to give you a lot of Scripture tonight and I'm going to read passages that I think are very important to be able to fill out this particular study that we're looking at because we're looking at an abbreviated study related to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so beginning at verse 25, reading to verse 28, Luke chapter 21, Luke writes, There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them from fear, and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and a great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up, lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Now as we've been looking at Luke chapter 21, those of you who have been with me through this study, we know that we've been looking at the period in history that's called the last days. And so we are now looking at a section of that period that is called the tribulation. And that's what we're looking at here is we're looking at this period called the tribulation, the tribulation being a seven-year period of God pouring out his wrath on unbelieving man. It's a seven-year period that you find in Scripture that relates to God pouring out his judgment. And when you hear of the tribulation, you think of a couple of things. One is you know that the tribulation, this seven-year period, is divided into two sections. You have the first three and a half years that are referred to as tribulation. The last three and a half years Jesus refers to as great tribulation. And so it's a seven-year period of God pouring out his wrath, it's called the wrath of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 6. It's a time that God is pouring out his wrath on the world. And basically there are two purposes in this time called the tribulation. And I want to lay this as a foundation so that we can enter into verse 25 and have a background and understand basically what Jesus is speaking about. So there are two basic purposes of this time period called the tribulation. One, it's for God to judge all who have rejected him and all who have rejected Messiah, all who have rejected Jesus Christ. In Isaiah in chapter 26 verse 21, the writer said, Behold, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her. She will conceal her slain no longer. And so Isaiah tells us very clearly there's a time coming when God is going to come out of his dwelling, come from heaven if you will, and punish the people of the earth for their sins. And that's what you find taking place during this time called the tribulation. You see, instead of worshiping the true God, instead of worshiping the Lamb of God, the world has rejected him. And as we've been looking at this period, and I've shown you a few of these things already in this chapter, we know that they have rejected God, they've rejected Jesus. So what happens during this period called the tribulation is instead of receiving Jesus Christ, they receive someone that we refer to in Scripture as Antichrist. And what happens is the world actually begins to follow after a world leader, a coming world ruler that is called by a variety of names in Scripture, one of them being the Antichrist. And in doing so, they're rejecting God and rejecting Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation in chapter 13 verse 8, all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, and the beast is just another name for the Antichrist, all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. And so the inhabitants of the earth, and he says all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast. There are going to be those who are following after him, wondering after him, and the result of that obviously is their judgment. During this time, spiritual deception is rampant. During this time called the tribulation, there's going to be a commonality of a rejection of Messiah and an openness to spiritual deception. And Jesus had already made that very clear when he was asked what is the sign of his coming and all and he had said be careful and take heed that no one deceives you. They already made it very clear in Matthew chapter 24 that deception was going to be the earmark of that time and that's what's going to happen. The Antichrist is going to make an appearance and as he does so he will deceive the whole world. The whole world will desire this beast and the Lord allows them to pursue them. In Revelation again chapter 13 verses 3 and 4, John writes, all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to make war with him. So this coming world ruler will have the world pursuing him, marveling over him. He'll have a false prophet and the false prophet is going to promote the rejection of God and the acceptance of this one referred to as Antichrist. Again in Revelation 13 verses 11 through 14, John says, I saw another beast coming out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. And so he has a false prophet who promotes worship for the Antichrist, all of this taking place in the last days especially during the tribulation. And so as a result of that judgment falls because the people are willingly doing this. They are willingly rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ and following after him. Now Paul when he was writing to the Thessalonians in chapter 2 in 2 Thessalonians verses 9 through 12 said it this way and again he gives us a name for Antichrist. We've seen Antichrist the beast. He's also referred to as the lawless one and here in 2 Thessalonians 2 9 it says the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. And so what takes place in the influence under the influence of the of the false prophet is the world wonders after the beast they say who can make war with him who is like him and as a result of that God will give them over to their their passions which is to reject him and to accept Antichrist they did not receive and notice with me Paul calls it the love of the truth. It's more than just being an admirer of the truth a philosopher. There needs to be you have to have more than just a liking or a friendship relationship with knowledge and truth you have to love the truth and the world will not receive the love of the truth believers do believers love truth because we know that truth is a person and not just a proposition. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. So we love the truth because Jesus the word of God is taken upon himself human flesh and therefore truth has been incarnated before us and so we love the truth in that we love Jesus and what he has taught us and so one we know that the tribulation is a time where God is going to judge those who have rejected him and Messiah but two we know that the tribulation is intended to prepare Israel to meet and to receive her Messiah. You see during the tribulation period the seven-year period of time God actually purges the nation of Israel of its unbelief. You see that in Isaiah in chapter 13 verses 6 through 11 where Isaiah writes well for the day of the Lord is near it will come like destruction from the Almighty because of this all hands will go limp every man's heart will melt terror will seize them pain and anguish will grip them they will ride like a woman in labor they will look aghast at each other their faces a flame behold the day of the Lord is coming a cruel day with a wrath and fierce anger to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it the stars of heaven in their constellations will not show their light the rising sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light I will punish the world for its evil the wicked for their sins I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless so what happens is the Lord brings his judgment and begins to purge the nation of Israel and he brings about the conversion of a multitude of Jews because this tribulation is actually acting as a refiner's fire and it purges Israel drawing them to their messiah that's what Zechariah 13 9 says when Zechariah the prophet says this third I will bring into the fire I will refine them like silver test them like gold they will call on my name I will answer them I will say they are my people they will say the Lord is our God and so two-thirds it would seem that two-thirds of Israel will perish during the tribulation but one-third will be brought through the refiner's fire and become the children of the Lord so God has these people who are going to be refined now out of that one-third that Zechariah speaks about will be a multitude of evangelists they're going to be Jewish Billy Grahams Jewish Moshe Grahams you know that's what they're going to be in Revelation in chapter 7 verse 4 John says I heard the number of those who were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed these are going to be 144,000 evangelists and according to chapter 14 in the book of Revelation verses 1 through 5 God is going to protect them as they go forth and take his message out now this is all taking place during the period called the tribulation but this is taking place in the first three and a half years now the tribulation when you look at it in the book of Revelation is actually broken down in chapter 6 following to chapter 16 and when you look at that in Revelation and you can actually see it moving on into chapter 19 some ways but most of it takes place in chapter 6 through 16 what you see is you see a progressive escalation of judgment if you were to take the time in other words to to read Revelation and you got to chapter 6 all you need to do is start in chapter 6 and you'll read to chapter 16 and what you see is a description of this period called the tribulation that's being outlined for you and it's really from the beginning to the end that you can see it and what you have is a series of judgments that are outlined for us in those chapters you you have actually basically three judgments that are spoken of you have what are called the seal judgments the trumpet judgments and then you you conclude with what are called the bowl judgments and you see that by going through the book of Revelation and what I'm going to do at this point is just kind of like share with you a little bit about those judgments so they can see what's taking place because all of this is important for us when we look at verse 25 here in Luke chapter 21 and I promise you we will get that within three weeks we will be there actually I'll get there in a few minutes but I wanted to lay this as a foundation so you can know what Jesus is speaking about here in verse 25 so when you look at Revelation Revelation chapter 6 actually gives to us an overview and and some detail concerning the the period called the tribulation so Revelation chapter 6 introduces the seal judgments now Jesus takes a scroll and the seal is broken and when that seal is broken and we believe that that scroll that he holds is the title deed of the earth Jesus now begins to allow judgment to come on the world and all and that's what you see with these seal judgments and what happens is you see a very a variety of things for example when the first seal is broken the antichrist is revealed and his picture is beginning to conquer and he does so initially in a peaceful manner that's how the nation of Israel according to Daniel 9 24 through 27 is going to ultimately have an agreement or a covenant with with the antichrist it's because he doesn't come on and disclose himself for what he is at the beginning so initially as he comes on the scene he's going to begin to conquer but he's going to do it diplomatically but ultimately he he's going to be revealed for who he is so what happens is peace then is taken from the earth that's the second seal and warfare breaks out to consolidate his power and then as a result of war the third seal is broken and famine breaks out then the fourth seal is broken with famine will come pestilence and and the bible says one quarter of the earth will perish then the fifth seal is going to be broken and incredible persecution will strike believers millions will be martyred and then the sixth seal is broken which brings natural disasters including earthquakes and meteorite showers and this is all taking place at the beginning to about the middle of the tribulation so when you get to chapter eight and nine a continuation you have the seventh seal opened when that seventh seal is opened a new series of judgments erupts that are called the trumpet judgments you have the first judgment which is hail and fire mingled with blood thrown to the earth one third of vegetation is gone second you have a giant mountain an asteroid possibly that falls into the Mediterranean sea a third of the sea life dies a third the third seal is opened and a great burning star perhaps a meteorite falls from heaven a third of the water becomes undrinkable then the fourth in the trumpet judgment series occurs in a third of the sun moon and stars are now struck so a third of the day loses light then fifth you have hordes of demons turned loose upon the earth determine its inhabitants then sixth you have a demonically led army of 200 million marching and destroying one third of the inhabitants of the earth now when you you know just reading this to you makes makes me queasy i mean the thought of it i've had people tell me you know this is hard to believe but i've had people tell me i'm going to wait around to see what the tribulation is really all about i i don't get that at all i really i really do not get that mentality too but it's the same kind of mentality that some people have when they say well i'm going to go to hell because all my friends are going to be there and we're just going to party forever it's that same kind of craziness it's just like you're not you're not thinking with both sides of the brain you know you don't want to go to hell and you certainly don't want to be here on the face of the earth when tribulation is hitting if you think it's bad right now with a you know the onset of a recession and losing your your funds in the bank you don't know what you're talking about if you're thinking that you can weather through a period like this with so much cataclysm happening in chapter 11 verse 15 the seventh trumpet sounds and and that is going to be occurring in the last portion of the tribulation and so when when that trumpet is blown the last series of judgments comes which is the bowl judgments so in chapter 16 when the bowl judgments begin to be described you have first foul and loathsome sores coming upon men who receive the mark of the beast and second the the sea turns to blood every living sea creature dies and third fresh water is polluted so no one can drink then fourth the sun no longer is filtered so heat combined with boils and thirst just causes people to be in incredible pain and misery then the fifth judgment is darkness increases then sixth the euphrates river is dried up and an army from the east begins to march and the sixth bowl prepares the way for invasion of the kings from the east so that they with the beast armies might come and ultimately find judgment in a place called armageddon and then seventh the great convulsion completely overthrows the order to fares of man as they experience the fear fierceness of god's wrath i'm going to read that to you out of revelation chapter 16 if you'd like to turn there with me for a moment revelation chapter 16 let me read to you the seventh bowl a great convulsion overthrows the order to fares of man they experience the fierceness of god's wrath seventh bowl revelation chapter 16 verse 17 then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings there was a great earthquake such such a mighty and great earthquake has had not occurred since men were on the earth now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell great babbling was remembered before god to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath then every island fled away and the mountains were not found and great hail from heaven fell upon men each hailstone about the weight of a talent men blasphemed god because of the plague of the hail since the plague was exceedingly great the incredible judgment the experience that they're having the earth is convulsing under the wrath of god and all of this is taking place during this period of time called the tribulation where god is pouring out his wrath on unbelieving man where god is purging the nation of israel because israel has rejected her messiah and so in luke this is basically what jesus is is presenting to us and this is what we're going to look at here in luke chapter 21 as we look at verses 25 through 28 this is what's taking place and so in luke chapter 21 verse 25 jesus says there will be signs in the sun in the moon and in the stars and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken so all of this is taking place before the return of jesus christ this is all taking place at the conclusion of this period called the tribulation it's interesting when jesus is speaking about this and it's recorded in matthew chapter 24 verse 24 now jesus makes it very clear that this this occurs at the conclusion of the tribulation because in matthew 24 24 he said in those days after the tribulation the sun will be darkened so jesus says his return is going to take place after the tribulation so obviously this is the end of the seven-year period called the tribulation he says there will be signs in the sun in the moon and in the stars on the earth you see in this this agrees with the old testament prophecy joel chapter 2 verses 30 and 31 says i will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the lord we've seen that kind of thing take place it could be something like an eclipse it could be a variety of things of course it could be something that is totally supernatural it could also be something that is basically the result of god pouring out judgment because we know that back in the early 90s when when uh when we were there in the in the gulf war and all that some of the oil oil wells had been set on fire and the smoke of the of the burn the burning was so intense and so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face and the the sun actually was blotted out for those who were in that area so we know this is a possibility this doesn't have to be just some kind of picturesque language or some kind of just illustrating using metaphor or or something of that nature this is something that is literal that's what's going to take place in the word of god makes it very clear that that's going to take place isaac in chapter 13 verse 10 said the stars of heaven their constellations will not give their light the sun will be darkened and it's going forth the moon will not cause its light to shine these are the things that are going to take place and as it's happening as this is going on and this distress of nations is occurring and this perplexity and all of the nat nature is in revolt notice verse 26 what happens to man man who at one time is so brave and so arrogant his heart is now failing him from fear he finally wakes up and realizes that he is not the master of his own destiny he's not the captain of his own ship he needs help and he and he begins to be awakened to that but not to a point of repentance but an awareness of of the dangerous times that he's living in the world is in incredible upheaval and great fear will fall upon people i've seen that you know i was in the military and uh i had friends we're we're i was with the 82nd airborne we're we used to jump out of helicopters and planes and things like that and and i had a friend of mine who um his name was danny who really really uh didn't enjoy jumping out of planes and helicopters for some reason he was afraid and so i i had i i liked him an awful lot he's very dear to me but i i really enjoyed watching him because he would do almost anything to to avoid jumping do almost anything uh they misspelled his name his name was ronald roland actually but he looked at the manifest and it said ronald dies and he says my name's not ronald my name's roland so i don't have to jump i mean he is the kind of person we find almost any excuse not to get in the helicopter now on the other hand i i i for some reason i really enjoyed jumping that was just something i really liked doing the very first jump that i ever jumped was out of a c141 jet and i was a fourth or fifth maybe the sixth man in the stick i was a sixth person out the door and i i can still remember the first jump as they open up this wind foil and you're you're only about 1500 feet above the of the ground and you're traveling i forget how fast you're going miles per hour and all but i remember you stand there and you you put your static line on you hook up and you just kind of close ranks and you watch these two lights there's one that's red and there's one that's green and you have a black hat you you jump master who's standing there by the door and and when that door opens up and then that wind foil goes out and you can hear the sound of it and it's just real exciting it's very much of an adrenaline rush you know and then and they close you up and so that you're right next to your buddy so if you don't want to jump you're going out anyway because the people behind you will shove you literally out the door that's how that's going to be so you're going doesn't really matter whether you want to or not and so as we're standing there i can still remember as they say tighten up and we got close to one another and you watch this red light and as you watch the red light you're waiting for the jump master's command and you've been trained for the last two weeks to jump on command and so you're just waiting and you got your eye right on this red light and then the light turns green and when the light goes green you're out the door and you have to you pause for one second in between and so you just somebody pops and then you jump out and then next and and so i was i think around the sixth out the door but i jumped too quickly so the guy in front of me when his shoot popped i landed right on top of his shoot i sat on the very center of it and i still remember that i was just kind of sitting there and and it's like it's all slow motion it's like it really is it's like everything is in slow motion so i landed on his shoot now that's not a good thing for the guy that has the shoot that you're sitting on because it can collapse his shoot if it collapses his shoot i'm fine because my shoot's above his and i'll be okay as he drops but he wasn't real happy and he began to scream you know get off my shoot get off my shoot and i'm still sitting there and this is all within like two seconds three seconds and i'm just sitting there going and i still remember sliding off the edge just kind of pushing like you're on a slide and sliding off the edge and then the shoot pops and then you kind of float down i loved it that was a kind it just i cannot explain the joy and enjoyment of being crazy it's just a good it's a it's a good thing now my friend Danny didn't like that and i can still remember you know he had the bravado and all of that you know the airborne mentality until we were sitting on a helicopter when you're going to helicopter you're 1500 feet and there are three i think three or four of us who who sit across leg at the at the at the edge of the platform there and there's a little strap in front of you and you sit there like this holding your shoot and then they remove that strap and then the black hat will say go and then each one jumps out like that and so i was a second and Danny was the first and i and what they do is you have these helicopter pilots who like to mess with you and so they'll they'll fly and then they'll just dip the helicopter so that you're going like like that going forward and then they'll then they'll dip it so that the other guys i like that i enjoy that kind of thing so for me it's going yeah this is this is this is fun so as we're doing that Danny mr bravado is sitting next to me and i turned him i and i i still remember turning to him saying man Danny isn't this a blast but this boy was praying his eyes were closed his mouth was moving our father who art in heaven how will be thy name you see when everything is peaceful we don't need god when everything's fine we don't need god when everything is working for us in our life we don't need god he's the one we call on only when we're having problems he's the one we call on when we're saying you know it's not happening for me right now i need some help and part of what happens through this tribulation period is the lord wakes people up some people do come to faith in him but the majority do not they do not and so what happens is when they see these terrible things happening in nature listen let's face it you can be the bravest person in the building maybe the baddest person in that bar and you know it and you're in that bar and you look around and you're thinking within yourself i'm young i'm strong i can beat anybody up in this bar i'm not afraid of anyway and then an earthquake happens and you're a little girl running out shoving people out of the way aren't you how bad really are you because you encounter something better than you earthquakes have a tendency of doing that don't they they show you your priorities don't they years ago my babies were very small at the time and uh marie and i were asleep earthquake hit in the middle of the night and i all i know is the bed was moving and then i heard something flying past me it was marie she jumped over me because i have an assigned place you guys have an assigned place i have an assigned place i didn't know i had an assigned place that's part of the marriage contract i didn't read it closely enough you will sleep on this side of the bed for the rest of your life and you will like it it was in the fine print but anyway i was on my side i was on my side of the bed next to the door when i felt something just fly over me and i saw it disappearing down the hall it was my wife and she was getting the babies out of bed get up children get up and she had them all under the door the door jams there and she left me and so she comes to bed because i never got up and i said man i mean you just told me something didn't you said you're out there saving our babies and you left me to die she goes you're a big boy you could get up if you wanted to they're too small i have to get them up but i haven't forgotten what your priorities are really are exposed in the heat of the moment and i haven't forgotten so we can be as bad as you want to be you can talk about how bad you really are and all of that and maybe you are but there's always something better than you are always always there will always be someone better than you always somebody stronger than you and if you are the heavyweight champion of the world eventually you're going to be an old man muhammad al-li is a great example i can beat anybody in the world for a while no more he's just a memory right there's always something better than you there's always something greater than you and when you get down to it god is greater than earthquakes but earthquake seems to serve the purpose of causing men to be greatly afraid because when god allows his nature that he controls just to erupt a little bit well the bible tells us what's going to take place men's hearts will fail them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken and these people are going to have incredible fear and fear will be rampant and then what happens well verse 27 then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory we're all used to be real mad at this passage by the way because he thought it said coming with power and Greg Laurie and that's not what it says it's a he's outcomes gregs gets to come back with jesus now what this says to us is that it's a literal return his return is going to be seen because his return is literal he didn't come invisibly and it's not like his spirit is here right now in an invisible way forever no his return is literal remember in the book of acts in chapter one when the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were speaking to some angels and were concerned because they had watched Jesus as he ascended into heaven but the angel spoke to them and said men of Galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven so his return will be seen because his return is literal that's why revelation 1 7 says behold he comes with clouds every eye shall see him and they also who pierced him all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him now notice when he says all kindreds of the earth will wail because of him Zechariah gives us more insight in Zechariah chapter 12 verses 10 and 11 because there the Lord God says I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication they will look on me the one they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son on that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great and so this speaks of the return of Jesus Christ and what's interesting to me especially when you look at Zechariah 12 10 and 11 how it says they will look on me the one they have pierced and you can ask the question well known Christian evangelist was speaking to the prime minister of visceral many years ago now and brought up Zechariah 12 10 and 11 and asked the question who is speaking when it says they will look on me whom they have pierced and the writer or rather the the prime minister said well that's God speaking and then the next question came when did you pierce your God when did you pierce your God and the answer is when Jesus died on the cross he was pierced for us there and it's very clear here and it says here they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and so there's going to be a sense when the Lord Jesus returns those who have been purged are going to see him and finally understand what happened he says they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory now when it says coming in a cloud in Scripture the image of clouds is used figuratively as well as literally in Psalm 104 verse 3 the psalmist said he makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind but if it's literal it would be speaking of his return with his armies because his armies are given the image of clouds in Jude verse 19 Enoch said behold the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints so he's returning with his armies which are an image of clouds now the multitude that returns includes the angels who did not fall in rebellion 2nd Thessalonians 1 7 following says the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire take inventions on those who know not God and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and be admired in all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day now one thing i'd like to say as a as an aside here in 2nd Thessalonians 1 when he says in flaming fire take inventions on those who know not God and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ one real brief thing Jesus said it this way if you know these things blessed are you if you do them James tells us that we are not to be forgetful hearers of the word of God but we are to be doers because if we're forgetful hearers we ultimately are simply deceiving ourselves and i have to tell you and i'm not sure if this is simply the Holy Spirit working for this moment in my life i've been in the ministry for 35 years i started ministry in the word of God at the age of 23 i'm 58 35 years of my life has been given over to do in what i'm doing right now i've been pastoring this church for over 27 years i've been a pastor for over 29 years 35 years of ministry 29 years as a pastor 27 years as a founding pastor senior pastor of this church i have seen over 35 years thousands and thousands and thousands of people in this church if we were to have a reunion of the people who at one time called this their church and just the hours show up at one time we'd need a building that seats about 30 000 people you can go into the hall and you can look at some of those pictures from 1990 and can see that we were already ministering to 4 000 people during that time and so i say all of that to say this at this period in my ministry i have never had greater concern for the state of the flock than i do right now i have never had greater fear in my heart for people in this church than i do right now i have great concern for my fellowship and i don't know if this is too heavy for you or if you came to hear this forgive me if it's too heavy but this is the truth this is what my heart is right now i know too many people who are aware of bible verses who flat out just don't care what it says they don't read the word most of the time anyway in this church for many in this church i'm sad to report but it's true the only time the bible's opened up is when i say let's turn to luke 21 or when i say let's open our bibles to john 18 it's the only time their bible's been open that week and i know that and so in many ways god's people have a lack of knowledge because they're not in his word because of them the word is not the delight of their eyes it isn't what causes the rejoicing of their heart it's not for them it's it's it's just a book i mean this is interesting it's kind of like science fiction they they grab hold of some things they they like the word grace a lot because for them grace gives them permission to do pretty much anything they want and i can still go to heaven because heaven for them is well pretty much everybody goes there anyway don't they and and you know yes sin is is bad but we all sin i cannot tell you how many discussions i have had over the years with people who minimize sin to give themselves an excuse to continue in it and then if i say but but the word says this which i've done as you can imagine so many times for them to say you're legalistic where's your grace you're not loving me and i think are you kidding me faithful are the wounds of a friend i'm telling you the truth and it'll set you free but how can you continue in sin with full knowledge of what jesus christ did for you how can you continue doing the things that you argue with me and say that's okay i can drink anytime i want to and still go to it how can you do that where is your love for jesus christ see so i have great concern no i'm not saying this to you personally unless it applies to you personally and if it does do something about it change repent because i'm telling you the thing that i am greatly afraid of is the fact that many so-called believers don't really have a grip of what it costs jesus for us to be set free from sin and if i've been set free well jesus said then you're free indeed you are completely free so why do i keep returning to the things that i've been washed from unless i never really repented from those things i'm telling you i know of a pastor he no longer occupies a pulpit hasn't for 15 years who had a seven-year affair seven years and finally was found out and left the ministry thank god but when asked how could you stand up on a sunday morning and preach the holy word of god how could you do that his answer was well every saturday night i repented and i went to the pulpit forgiven is that right listen i was raised in the roman catholic church and as a little boy probably didn't understand what i has taught because i remember being taught if you forget a sin and you go to confession it's forgiven and i had convenient lapses of memory every time i went to the confessional i forgot all kinds of sins but we were given a state of grace for 24 hours so after confession i was in a state of grace which meant that i could go and receive communion the next day so on saturday i would go to confession i'd be in a state of grace i'd go and receive communion and then i'd go and sin like crazy for the next six days and that was my mentality of grace you go and get someone to say it's okay and then you're in grace and you better hope you die in grace because if you don't but for me i was taking my chances as long as i have extreme unction last rites have a good confession and have a wife that'll pray my soul out of purgatory i feel pretty good and that's that's that was my religious background so when i got saved i i i began to learn some things about following god and and over the years finally came to realize that god is a holy god and i'm an unholy man and i need to understand some things i understand i need to understand that that those who are judged are those who do not obey the gospel of our lord jesus christ and it is possible it is entirely possible to self deceive to make myself think that because i said a prayer i went forward i go to church i must be a christian i can deceive myself when i have never actually said god i am a rotten sinner i'm responsible for the death of jesus christ forgive me because i'll i'm telling you i'm telling you there are an awful lot of people who could care less and even right now could care less about what i'm saying huh could care less because that's going to interrupt your party in this weekend if you actually get serious see religion's okay for fanatics like you pastor because that's how you make your living but you don't understand real people real people have to go out into the real world and have real jobs and they really have to do real things and you don't and so that's the excuse we make see pastor you're you're not supposed to fornicate and you're not supposed to go out on your wife you're not supposed to drink and all that because you're a pastor but see i'm just an ordinary sheep i can do what i want when i want and god loves me just as much as he loves you it's all grace i've had lectures on grace from people who don't understand what it is i'm telling you we have to not only hear but the fruit of a real faith is to obey that's why jesus said if you know these things blessed are you if you what if you do them because a man who is building his life on sinking sand and the man who's building his life on a sure foundation both encounter the same kinds of problems storms and waves and destruction but one man's house falls and the other man's house remains and jesus tells us why because one built on the rock he heard and he did see so my exhortation to us is to be careful that we don't deceive ourselves into thinking yeah i'm fine because no wait a minute see i actually review my walk with the lord on a daily basis you know i check my condition before the lord because having preached to others i don't want to find myself a castaway i want to make sure that my walk remains solid so here i shared my heart with you greatly concerned about that greatly concerned because it's very possible guys and you know this to be true you hear a life-changing message and to not be changed by that message to say you know well i'll hear you another time or i'll think about that but you don't understand what is going to cost me you don't know how good looking that girl is on that job site you don't know how easy it is for me to steal from my boss you don't know how depressed i am and how much i need that want you don't know these things what i do know is that god was able to give to me purity and strength and power to overcome i know a god like that and and and maybe you don't and maybe you need to probably do and see that's the whole point the lord is returning and there will be those who reject him but he says in verse 28 when these things begin to happen look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws nigh you see in the book of revelation in chapter six there are the souls of those who have been beheaded for their their faith in jesus christ and and they're crying out underneath the throne of the lord it's found in revelation 610 they're saying how long oh lord holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth while their prayer is finally answered because in the lord's return there's now a time of joy those who are alive and remain who have made it through that tribulation it's time for them to look up to raise their heads and they do so in joy because redemption has now been fully realized because jesus has come to rule and to reign and they now enter into that peace that they so longed for and that they didn't really have in a physical sense throughout that period called the tribulation and so that's why jesus would say when these things begin to happen look up lift up your heads your redemption draws nigh it's something that these who are going through that time will have an opportunity to rejoice because the lord has come and the pain is over