Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's something remaining. It's ominous. After that, he must be
released for a little while. I don't like that. I
don't like that. After that, he must be released for
a little while. We've read on a number of occasions
(00:23):
about this great battle that is to come about, how
nations are going to be deceived, and as these nations
are deceived, they rise up against God and against the
people of God, and there is this great outpouring of
persecution against God's people. We've seen that on a number
of occasions in revelation. That has not been hidden from us.
(00:45):
John has not hidden that from us. But because we've
read that all these times, when you see this phrase,
it's even more ominous, because you know what he's talking about.
That right now, we're in the midst of that time
where the Gospel is going forth. Right now, we're in
the midst of that time where we're seeing this rule
(01:06):
and reign of Christ and and through his church. Right now,
we're in the midst of that time where entire cultures
have been transformed by the Gospel. Do you realize that
entire cultures, entire parts of the world have been transformed
by the Gospel, and much of it you absolutely take
for granted. But the world has never been the same,
(01:28):
and the spread of the Gospel impacts cultures and has
impacted cultures and continues to impact cultures. We're seeing it
right now, but he must be released for a little while.
It won't always be like this. Before the end of
(01:52):
the age. There will be a great reversal of fortune,
if you will, before the end of the age, that
there will be a rising up against God and God's people.
(02:16):
And yet Jesus reminds us to not lose heart, because
I've overcome the world.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We've seen it before. In fact, John saw it and
has alluded to it earlier. On next week, we're going
to look again at this idea of martyrs and people
who have refused to take the mark. Over the years,
there have been these periods of history where we've seen
(02:48):
little pictures of this, where the people of God have
been persecuted and mass and yet Christ is victorious, and
yet he will have the fullness of the reward for
which he died. So so what do we do with this? First,
(03:14):
we recognize that there is an open door for the
proclamation in advance of the gospel, and we take advantage
of it. There is an open door for the proclamation
and advance of the gospel, and we need to take
advantage of it. The gospel is being preached all over
the world. The gospel is bearing fruit all over the world.
(03:37):
There are countries that never ever would have thought about
being opened to the Gospel that are open to the
Gospel now all over the world. It's happening, and it
oftentimes is accompanied by great persecution. But great persecution doesn't
necessarily mean the Gospel is not flourishing. Sometimes the opposite
(03:59):
is true. Sometimes great persecution is the evidence that the
Gospel is beginning to flourish, and people have to rise
up against him to try to stamp it out by persecution,
which inevitably leads to even greater increase of the effectiveness
of the gospel. As God's people endure hardship. There's a
(04:22):
great open door. Secondly, this door will always be open.
The end is coming, and when Christ returns, he won't
return to bring a great thousand year second chance. When
he returns, he will judge the world in righteousness and
(04:47):
it will be over, which means there needs to be
an urgency about us, an urgency to see the gospel
go forth. Not just amongst those closest to us, but
amongst all those in the world. But by the way,
(05:07):
why why would we do that?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
See?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
The natural tendency is for me to be selfish. The
natural tendency is for me to say I got mine.
But when I understand who Christ is, when I understand
that he is Lord, when I understand that he saved
me in order that He might exercise his reign in
and through me, now all of a sudden I can't
be satisfied with just me being saved. When I realized
(05:36):
that the one who rescued me and saved me is
about the business of rescuing and saving the nations, then
all of a sudden, I too have to be about
the business of proclaiming the Gospel among the nations. Nothing
else makes sense. When I understand this, and here's the
(06:00):
good news, we are guaranteed success.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Why because he will save his people. That's why his
name is Jesus. Amen, you should call his name Jesus.
Why he'll save his people. His name is not Jesus
because he might kind of have a chance to maybe
save some people if that. No, his name is Jesus
because he saves his people. He will save his people.
(06:30):
He will, and he hasn't returned yet, which means he's
still about the business of saving his people.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And the Gospel is still bearing much fruit. So when
we preach the gospel, the gospel will bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Our success is guaranteed. Amen, he may not look like
we wanted to look. That doesn't mean we get everybody
we want, but that means he gets everyone from whom
he died. But there's another thing. This goes straight to
(07:02):
the heart of our own personal holiness. If Christ is
ruling and reigning, you remember how he taught us to
pray our Father in heaven, how be your name your
kingdom come connected that a will be done on earth
(07:25):
as it is in heaven. His kingdom is the place
where He rules and reigns. If I believe that his
kingdom is here, that his kingdom is now. If I
believe that his kingdom is being expressed in and through
his church, that I believe that his rule and his
reign must be expressed in and through his church, which
means that I believe his rule and reign has to
be expressed through me, which means that I seek to
(07:47):
live in obedience to my reigning King, And I ask myself,
am I living like leave Christ is reigning? Forget whether
or not I believe Christ is reigning?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Out there? Do I believe Christ is reigning? And here.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Do I believe that my life? My life will bear
evidence to that effect. Let me say something to those
of you who have loved ones, family members, who are
(08:36):
not saying, that's all of us in this room, that's
every last one of us. There is hope because there
is a gospel to preach, because there is a king
who reigns, because there is a season.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
For the gospel to flourish, and we must hold out hope.
We have to.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We have to because that's the age in which we live.
I don't know who that person is to you. They
may be seated next to you today. My prayer for
you is that you will hold out hope, and that,
more importantly, you will hold out the gospel, because the
Gospel is the power of God and the salvation Christ
(09:32):
will have the fullness of the reward for which He died.
We know that we can hope in that, we can
hold on to that, we can believe that and praise God.
If we open our eyes, we can see that. If
you are here today and you have not come to
(09:56):
repentance and faith in Christ, beseech you buy the need
to Him. If you are here today and you are
depending on something other than the finished work of Christ
to see you through what we're about to look at
(10:17):
in the rest of this chapter, help you. There is
no hope for you apart from Christ. Run to him.
Receive him. Repent of your sin, repent of your independence,
(10:39):
repent of your trust in yourself, Repent of your feeble
attempts to find sufficient righteousness in doing the right thing.
Repent and holding out hope that somehow God will grate
on the curve and that you'll get by because you
(11:01):
are better than somebody.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Repent.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for
the unjust, that He might bring us back to God.
If you believe anything other than that death will suffice
for you, that is blasphemy. Because you believe you can
do a work that is more significant in the sight
of God than the death of his only begotten son.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You know better than that. Turn from that, receive Christ,
Rejoice in Him.
There's something remaining. It's ominous. After that, he must be
released for a little while. I don't like that. I
don't like that. After that, he must be released for
a little while. We've read on a number of occasions
(00:23):
about this great battle that is to come about, how
nations are going to be deceived, and as these nations
are deceived, they rise up against God and against the
people of God, and there is this great outpouring of
persecution against God's people. We've seen that on a number
of occasions in revelation. That has not been hidden from us.
(00:45):
John has not hidden that from us. But because we've
read that all these times, when you see this phrase,
it's even more ominous, because you know what he's talking about.
That right now, we're in the midst of that time
where the Gospel is going forth. Right now, we're in
the midst of that time where we're seeing this rule
(01:06):
and reign of Christ and and through his church. Right now,
we're in the midst of that time where entire cultures
have been transformed by the Gospel. Do you realize that
entire cultures, entire parts of the world have been transformed
by the Gospel, and much of it you absolutely take
for granted. But the world has never been the same,
(01:28):
and the spread of the Gospel impacts cultures and has
impacted cultures and continues to impact cultures. We're seeing it
right now, but he must be released for a little while.
It won't always be like this. Before the end of
(01:52):
the age. There will be a great reversal of fortune,
if you will, before the end of the age, that
there will be a rising up against God and God's people.
(02:16):
And yet Jesus reminds us to not lose heart, because
I've overcome the world.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We've seen it before. In fact, John saw it and
has alluded to it earlier. On next week, we're going
to look again at this idea of martyrs and people
who have refused to take the mark. Over the years,
there have been these periods of history where we've seen
(02:48):
little pictures of this, where the people of God have
been persecuted and mass and yet Christ is victorious, and
yet he will have the fullness of the reward for
which he died. So so what do we do with this? First,
(03:14):
we recognize that there is an open door for the
proclamation in advance of the gospel, and we take advantage
of it. There is an open door for the proclamation
and advance of the gospel, and we need to take
advantage of it. The gospel is being preached all over
the world. The gospel is bearing fruit all over the world.
(03:37):
There are countries that never ever would have thought about
being opened to the Gospel that are open to the
Gospel now all over the world. It's happening, and it
oftentimes is accompanied by great persecution. But great persecution doesn't
necessarily mean the Gospel is not flourishing. Sometimes the opposite
(03:59):
is true. Sometimes great persecution is the evidence that the
Gospel is beginning to flourish, and people have to rise
up against him to try to stamp it out by persecution,
which inevitably leads to even greater increase of the effectiveness
of the gospel. As God's people endure hardship. There's a
(04:22):
great open door. Secondly, this door will always be open.
The end is coming, and when Christ returns, he won't
return to bring a great thousand year second chance. When
he returns, he will judge the world in righteousness and
(04:47):
it will be over, which means there needs to be
an urgency about us, an urgency to see the gospel
go forth. Not just amongst those closest to us, but
amongst all those in the world. But by the way,
(05:07):
why why would we do that?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
See?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
The natural tendency is for me to be selfish. The
natural tendency is for me to say I got mine.
But when I understand who Christ is, when I understand
that he is Lord, when I understand that he saved
me in order that He might exercise his reign in
and through me, now all of a sudden I can't
be satisfied with just me being saved. When I realized
(05:36):
that the one who rescued me and saved me is
about the business of rescuing and saving the nations, then
all of a sudden, I too have to be about
the business of proclaiming the Gospel among the nations. Nothing
else makes sense. When I understand this, and here's the
(06:00):
good news, we are guaranteed success.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Why because he will save his people. That's why his
name is Jesus. Amen, you should call his name Jesus.
Why he'll save his people. His name is not Jesus
because he might kind of have a chance to maybe
save some people if that. No, his name is Jesus
because he saves his people. He will save his people.
(06:30):
He will, and he hasn't returned yet, which means he's
still about the business of saving his people.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And the Gospel is still bearing much fruit. So when
we preach the gospel, the gospel will bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Our success is guaranteed. Amen, he may not look like
we wanted to look. That doesn't mean we get everybody
we want, but that means he gets everyone from whom
he died. But there's another thing. This goes straight to
(07:02):
the heart of our own personal holiness. If Christ is
ruling and reigning, you remember how he taught us to
pray our Father in heaven, how be your name your
kingdom come connected that a will be done on earth
(07:25):
as it is in heaven. His kingdom is the place
where He rules and reigns. If I believe that his
kingdom is here, that his kingdom is now. If I
believe that his kingdom is being expressed in and through
his church, that I believe that his rule and his
reign must be expressed in and through his church, which
means that I believe his rule and reign has to
be expressed through me, which means that I seek to
(07:47):
live in obedience to my reigning King, And I ask myself,
am I living like leave Christ is reigning? Forget whether
or not I believe Christ is reigning?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Out there? Do I believe Christ is reigning? And here.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Do I believe that my life? My life will bear
evidence to that effect. Let me say something to those
of you who have loved ones, family members, who are
(08:36):
not saying, that's all of us in this room, that's
every last one of us. There is hope because there
is a gospel to preach, because there is a king
who reigns, because there is a season.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
For the gospel to flourish, and we must hold out hope.
We have to.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We have to because that's the age in which we live.
I don't know who that person is to you. They
may be seated next to you today. My prayer for
you is that you will hold out hope, and that,
more importantly, you will hold out the gospel, because the
Gospel is the power of God and the salvation Christ
(09:32):
will have the fullness of the reward for which He died.
We know that we can hope in that, we can
hold on to that, we can believe that and praise God.
If we open our eyes, we can see that. If
you are here today and you have not come to
(09:56):
repentance and faith in Christ, beseech you buy the need
to Him. If you are here today and you are
depending on something other than the finished work of Christ
to see you through what we're about to look at
(10:17):
in the rest of this chapter, help you. There is
no hope for you apart from Christ. Run to him.
Receive him. Repent of your sin, repent of your independence,
(10:39):
repent of your trust in yourself, Repent of your feeble
attempts to find sufficient righteousness in doing the right thing.
Repent and holding out hope that somehow God will grate
on the curve and that you'll get by because you
(11:01):
are better than somebody.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Repent.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for
the unjust, that He might bring us back to God.
If you believe anything other than that death will suffice
for you, that is blasphemy. Because you believe you can
do a work that is more significant in the sight
of God than the death of his only begotten son.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You know better than that. Turn from that, receive Christ,
Rejoice in Him.
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