We're here in Revelation chapter 11, and this is the last chapter, the last sermon on the first half of the book of Revelation.
And then next week we're going to reset to the beginning, like all the way back to the book of Genesis,
because that's what happens in Revelation chapter 12.
And so we're just going to kind of cover up the pieces we didn't finish last week,
because the sermon last week I checked was like 70 minutes on the two witnesses.
So if we covered everything, it would have been like two hours.
And I've never preached a two-hour sermon, and I don't plan to because my voice will only hold up for so long.
So this sermon is probably going to be a little bit shorter,
because we're just kind of putting together the pieces of what we didn't cover last week.
But notice what it says in Revelation 11, verse 1.
It says,
And there has given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood, saying,
Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not.
For it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty in two months.
Now this holy city is referring to Jerusalem, okay?
Now I want you to go to Nehemiah, chapter 11.
Nehemiah, chapter 11.
And you know, you can prove this a lot of different ways throughout the Bible,
but I'll have you turn to Nehemiah, chapter 11.
Nehemiah, chapter 11.
Nehemiah, chapter 11, in verse number 1.
Nehemiah, chapter 11, verse 1.
And it says in Nehemiah, chapter 11, verse 1,
And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem.
The rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city,
and nine parts to dwell in other cities.
So right there you see that Jerusalem is referred to as the holy city.
Now go back to Revelation, chapter 11.
So your first question might be,
Does that mean Jerusalem was just more godly than any other place on the planet?
Well, I mean, you haven't really read your New Testament, if that's what you think.
And when you look at what Jerusalem is today, they might be referred to as the unholy city.
Okay, they're certainly not a godly city.
And so being referred to as the holy city is not indicating that
this was like a godly area where everybody was saved,
and there was all this soul winning taking place.
But this is the city that God chose to use,
and during the end times, it's going to be back in the area of Jerusalem.
It should not be a surprise to us that when you look over at Israel,
there's always all these wars going on, and Israel is always in the news.
There are plenty of nations that are bigger than Israel.
But what you always hear about is, oh, Israel might be destroyed.
And Israel is going to play a significant part during the end times,
during that location where this is taking place.
This is referring to Jerusalem.
It says in verse two, it calls it the holy city.
But go to verse eight, verse eight.
Because a lot of people, a lot of Christians, a lot of Baptists,
they seem to think that Jerusalem literally is very holy,
that Israel is just more godly than anywhere else on the planet.
It's like Tel Aviv might be the sodomite capital of the world.
It's in competition with San Francisco or Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil or Seattle, Washington or Portland.
Look, it's right there with any place on the planet
of being the most sodomite friendly and the big LGBT capital.
There is no way you could look at them today and say,
they're a holy city, they're godly.
And yet many Baptists seem to think that Jews just walk on water, right?
I mean, they seem to think that if you're a Jew,
then, man, you're just something special.
And it's just like, let me just bow down before you.
You've got that special blood in you
that makes you a better person than anybody else.
Look, God was never a racist in the Bible.
And you can see that from Genesis to Revelation.
And look, you know, during the end times,
when we're in the millennial reign and us believers are there,
look, it's not going to matter where you're from,
what country you're born from.
God does not care what your bloodline is, okay?
And so notice what it says in verse eight.
For those that would think, well, you know, Jerusalem is a holy area.
It's the holy city.
Well, notice what it says in verse eight, though.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also our Lord was crucified.
So here, I mean, Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom and Egypt.
Spiritually.
So spiritually was Sodom and Gomorrah a godly area?
I mean, I don't know what the religion was in Sodom and Gomorrah,
but, you know, I'm sure it was, you know, atheism, ungodliness, whatever.
Obviously, they weren't very godly.
What about Egypt?
Look, if you know anything about Egypt and what their religion was,
they would believe that basically, you know,
your possessions you could take to the afterlife.
And you can watch videos where they talk about during the afterlife,
there's going to be a balancing of the good you do and the bad you do.
And if you do more good than bad, then, you know,
you get to go to heaven or whatever they would call that.
And if you do bad, then, you know, you're going to be torment.
Just like every religion in the world says the same thing.
Look, Egypt was not exactly just the beacon of sending missionaries
all over the world in any part of the Bible.
See, in today's world, the United States is a wicked country.
But one thing you can say about the US is they've got a lot of good churches.
They do a lot of soul winning and they do send out missionaries.
You could have never said that about Egypt, though.
You could have never said that about Sodom.
So Jerusalem is referred to as the holy city in verse two.
But that's not indicating that they're a very godly area.
Because if you notice in verse number eight, spiritually,
they're called Sodom and Egypt.
Now go to Revelation 21, Revelation chapter 21.
Now, we do need to have a balanced view on the Jews.
Because especially as I've been memorizing through Romans,
when you get to Romans chapter 11, if you memorize that chapter,
you can't walk away without saying,
man, God is really trying to hammer home.
Don't be racist against Jews.
Because that is what you see in Romans 11.
He says, you know what?
If I chose you, you know, you were the unnatural branches.
You were grafted in.
He's like, I can still graft them in again.
And he's kind of, because there can be this attitude.
The Jews had this attitude.
We're something special.
We're better than everybody else.
The Jews got replaced, but we could have the wrong attitude and say,
well, we're better than them because of the fact we're the ones that are chosen.
And that's what he's actually preaching against in Romans chapter 11.
Okay.
Now look, do most Jews believe on Jesus?
Absolutely not.
Most of them in today's world, they hate the God that we serve.
But you know, a Jew could get saved today.
They could believe on Jesus Christ.
I don't believe most of them are reprobates.
I think they have a very wicked religion.
But look, you could give the gospel to a Jew and they could get saved
and they could end up loving the Lord.
Now, I've never personally seen that happen before, but it could happen.
Actually, there is somebody at Verity Baptist Church that was raised a Jew
and they heard the gospel, they got saved and they left, obviously, Judaism,
which I'm not sure if that's supposed to be an ethnicity or religion or apparently both.
And then they believed on Jesus and they go to Verity Baptist Church and they love the Lord.
So it is definitely possible for that to take place.
Obviously, certain areas of the world are more or less receptive.
I don't think we'd have the greatest soul winning campaign in Israel.
But they could still get saved and end up serving God.
I'm sure there's plenty of Jews.
I mean, if you read the beginning of the New Testament,
isn't it true that people of that heritage, some believed and some didn't?
Now, the religion is very wicked and it's still very wicked today,
but some could still be in that religion or living in that location and grow up.
And then they do want to serve God, even though they don't know who that God is.
And they can hear the gospel and get saved.
And I'm sure it happens today.
Now, Revelation chapter 21, it says in Revelation 21 verse 2,
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So the Bible speaks about New Jerusalem.
It speaks about the holy city.
It's going to come down and be here on Earth.
Now, we're going to talk about more of that when we get to Revelation chapter 21.
But once again, you see here Jerusalem referred to as the holy city.
Now go back to Revelation chapter 11, Revelation 11.
Now, I don't advise to spend a lot of time watching politics
or the news stations or ABS-CBN if you've got like, you know,
recorded tapes before they got shut down or whatever.
I don't suggest watching a lot of tapes of that
and, you know, trying to figure out what's going on with Israel.
In America, on all the news station, it's Israel.
Israel, Israel, Israel.
But that part of the world is going to be a very significant part of the end times.
Okay, now, Revelation chapter 11 verse 14.
Let's look at the third woe the Bible speaks about in Revelation 11.
Actually, look at verse 13.
Revelation 11 verse 13,
And the same hour was there a great earthquake,
and the tenth part of the city fell,
and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand,
and the remnant were frightened and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
So the second woe is gone, and here comes the third woe.
Now, it speaks about a great earthquake before the third woe,
but then the third woe is going to speak about another earthquake,
which is going to be quite a bit greater.
Now, this earthquake that I just mentioned killed seven thousand people,
which obviously that's a lot of people,
but you've had a hundred thousand people plus die in earthquakes before.
It kind of depends on where that earthquake takes place.
If it takes place in the water where tsunami happens,
and a lot of people live right by the water,
you're going to see a lot of people die.
That's what you've seen throughout history.
Whereas if it goes to an area where it's not as populated,
not as many people are going to die.
Go to verse 19.
Verse 19,
And the temple of God was opened in heaven,
and there were seen in his temple the ark of his testament,
and there are lightnings and voices and thunderings,
and an earthquake in great hail.
So when you're reading Revelation 11,
you can almost read past it and not realize that a third woe has taken place,
because the Bible just does not say much about it,
until you go to Revelation chapter 16.
So go to Revelation chapter 16.
All it said in Revelation 11 was,
there's an earthquake and great hail.
Okay, Revelation 16 is going to give us a little bit more detail about that earthquake.
Because look, there's thousands of earthquakes that happen every single day.
Most earthquakes you never even realize happen,
but we have tons of earthquakes that happen in the Philippines every single day,
but they're just so small that you only you don't even really notice it.
Okay, unless it's up to like a probably a 6.0.
Anything below that you're probably not even going to notice.
Okay, I'm not an expert on earthquakes,
but I'm just saying I remember the one last year,
I think was like a 6.4 something like that.
And you know, you felt that one,
but if you're like at five point something,
you're probably not going to feel it.
Okay, so we have a lot of earthquakes that take place.
And so sometimes people look at online when a big earthquake takes place,
and they look up natural disasters,
and they're like, oh, we got a thousand earthquakes happening every day.
It's like it's always been like that.
Okay, it's just most of them aren't big enough to actually really register.
Okay, Revelation 16, notice what it says in verse 17.
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air,
and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne,
saying it is done.
And there are voices and thunderings and lightnings,
and there was a great earthquake,
notice this, such as was not since men were upon the earth,
so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
So what the Bible is saying in Revelation chapter 16,
is this is the greatest earthquake that has ever existed.
Okay, so I did a little bit of research on what are the,
you know, greatest earthquakes or biggest earthquakes that have ever existed.
There's kind of a couple different metrics you could look at.
One could be basically how many deaths take place.
Another could be what's the volume on their scale.
Another one could be how much money is caused and damaged.
So here's a little bit of information.
In 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia
killed 227,000 people, 898.
227,898 people.
That's like a quarter million people.
That's a lot of people to die from one natural disaster.
227,000, almost 228,000 people died in 2008,
and I'm just going back in the last 20 years.
I don't think we necessarily have all the statistics and information
if you go back 70, 80 years.
It's kind of just a major guess.
But in 2008, the Sichuan earthquake in China killed 87,587 people.
So that's a lot of people to die in one event.
Now in Chile, in 1960 was the Valdivia earthquake,
and it was rated as a 9.4 to 9.6 in magnitude.
That's the largest ever recorded.
Now, obviously, we probably don't really have the data from 200 years ago.
So we don't necessarily know if there's an earthquake that was larger than that.
But just in recorded history in 1960, in Chile, it was 9.4 to 9.6.
Now to all of us, including myself, that's just a number
until you compare it to what that means compared to like a 7.0 or a 6.0,
something that we've experienced before.
And so what it says about this earthquake,
the death toll and monetary losses arising from this widespread disaster are not certain.
Various estimates of the total number of fatalities or deaths from the earthquake
and tsunamis have been published ranging between 1,000 to 7,000 people.
So not a whole lot of people died.
1,000 to 7,000 died from this.
But different sources have estimated the monetary cost range
from $400 million to $800 million.
And so I have here, it says, basically around...
That was back then, though.
$400 million back then, which nowadays is $3.5 billion.
$3.5 billion to $7 billion, roughly,
which is $175 billion to $350 billion.
That's a lot of money from one earthquake.
One earthquake caused $300 billion of damage from just one earthquake.
That's their estimate.
The low number is $175 billion.
That's a lot of money from one earthquake.
But the earthquake during the end times is going to be greater than this earthquake
that's a 9.4 to 9.6.
You know, I should have looked this up, but am I wrong?
Is 10.0 the maximum or can it go higher than that?
Does anybody know?
Nobody knows?
Well, obviously, it's never happened before.
You know, maybe it could.
I don't know.
But 9.4 to 9.6.
Now, the biggest earthquake in the history of the Philippines was an 8.3, okay?
It was a Salabes Sea earthquake on August 15, 1918.
And so the offshore shock affected the southern Philippines with high intensity,
shaking in a destructive tsunami that left 52 people dead.
So an 8.3 in the Philippines is the greatest that's ever been recorded.
Now, when you compare that to the 9.4 to 9.6, the 9.4 to 9.6 was 19.95 times as much
as that earthquake in the Philippines.
Even though it's only up by one point, it's 20 times as powerful.
So if you were to look at an earthquake that's a 6.0,
because all of us have experienced a 6.0 earthquake before, right?
Brother Matthias, have you experienced a 6...
No?
Most of us.
Okay, I got my first one last year.
A 6.0 earthquake, okay?
The one in Chile was 3,981 times as much as a 6.0 earthquake.
Now, I don't know about you, but last year when we were in our condo,
it started to shake and everything.
I've never experienced an earthquake.
What in the world is going on?
And you really feel very uncomfortable, especially when you're like...
We were only like seven floors in the air,
but it's just like, you don't really feel that safe, okay?
But a 9.4, 9.6 is 4,000 times as much as a 6.0.
And so, look, the earthquake during the end times is going to be more powerful than that.
I don't know how powerful it's going to be, but it's going to be the most powerful earthquake
that the world has ever seen before, okay?
And so it says in verse 19,
and the great city was divided into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell.
So this earthquake is going to be so big,
mentioned in Revelation 16, verse 19,
that the great city is divided into three parts, okay?
So I kind of pictured that in my head,
like a massive gap as a result of this earthquake.
I don't know how long, like a thousand feet or whatever,
but just due to this one earthquake, it basically splits in three,
and the cities of the nations fell,
and great Babylon came in remembrance before God
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
We believe that Babylon's referring to the United States of America.
We'll talk about that several weeks from now.
But great Babylon comes in remembrance before God,
the Bible says here in Revelation chapter 16.
So verse number 20, as a result of this earthquake,
and every island fled away and the mountains were not found.
And then it says in verse 21,
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven,
every stone about the weight of a talent,
and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail,
for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
And so the Bible speaks about hail that would come down,
it says the weight of a talent.
Now I looked online of how much does a talent weigh,
and there's one million different opinions.
So quite honestly, I don't know,
I saw numbers up to like 150 pounds,
down to like a low amount, so I'm not really sure.
I mean, if it was 150 pounds, that would be pretty massive hail.
You know, I don't think the world's ever really seen that before.
But I gave you a comparison though,
based on the largest hail ever recorded.
I would imagine this is going to be the largest and most destructive hail ever.
But the largest hail ever recorded was 8 inches in diameter or 20 centimeters.
In a weight approximately 1 pound and 15 ounces.
31 ounces, which is 0.88 kilograms.
Now I compare that to baseball,
because if you have a good round shape of a hailstone,
and it's going to come down roughly 100 miles per hour at that size,
that's about how fast people can throw a baseball.
The fastest pitchers can throw it around 100,
and the fastest recorded is 108 miles per hour by Nolan Ryan.
Okay, so that's roughly the same 108 miles per hour versus 100 miles per hour.
Okay, but there's a difference in the size,
because a baseball is a lot less than 31 ounces.
Baseball is about 5 ounces, okay.
So a baseball can be thrown up to 174 kilometers per hour,
is the fastest ever recorded,
and the hail would be at around 161 kilometers per hour.
The difference is the baseball is 5 ounces,
and then the hail would be 31 ounces based on the largest recorded,
which is 6 times the amount of a baseball.
Now I know baseball is not the biggest sport here in the Philippines,
but if you've ever watched before, when they bat, they put a helmet on.
There's a good reason why.
Because if you get hit in the head with a baseball,
you can go into a coma if you get hit really hard.
And look, I used to play baseball growing up,
and it is extremely fun hitting it.
Who's hit a baseball before?
Who's hit a baseball?
A few people.
It's a lot of fun to bat and hit a baseball.
But look, when you're not just having a pitching machine,
and then you actually have a pitcher,
and after they hit you a few times,
you're in the box sometimes,
there's certain pitchers that throw really fast,
and you're like, I hope he doesn't throw it,
because sometimes they just intentionally throw at you,
just to try to intimidate you.
And so force equals mass times acceleration,
and a baseball to the head can kill you if it hits the right spot.
It can put you in a coma or a concussion.
Some of you might have seen highlights online
where a batter hits it right up the middle,
and before the pitcher has time to basically shield himself,
it hits him right on the head,
and they always go immediately out of the game,
and they're just on the ground like they took a punch from Mike Tyson,
or like a larger version of Manny Pacquiao or something like that, right?
And so look, you know, a baseball can be really destructive,
but that's only one-sixth the amount of force
based on 31 ounces coming at you from hail.
And so look, if you get hit with a baseball like in your shin,
I mean, it could break your bone,
but you're going to have a massive bruise the next day and have trouble walking.
Just imagine though hail that's six times as big coming at you just as fast.
Man, I mean, it could easily kill you.
If it hits you in the head, it will kill you, okay?
And so this is going to be basically the most massive hail
that's ever been experienced.
You take a good baseball to your body,
you could cause internal bleeding, massive bruise.
I don't even know with a hailstone, it could probably,
it will probably kill you, okay, if it hits your head at least.
So go back to Revelation chapter 11.
Revelation 11.
Man, at times like these,
I'm glad the Bible teaches a pre-wrath rapture, amen?
We're not going to experience.
I mean, I'll tell you what, baseball is a lot of fun,
but the reason why it's fun is because of the fact
you get to swing back at that baseball.
And I don't think they're going to be swinging back
at those hailstones that are going to be coming from above.
They're going to be coming from all directions
and you're really not going to be able to avoid that.
And so Revelation chapter 11, Revelation chapter 11,
let me show you here,
and this is more a bit of a Bible study here tonight,
but let me show you how the book of Revelation is divided into two halves.
You can see that here in the book of Revelation.
Notice what it says in Revelation 11 verse 15.
Revelation 11 verse 15.
And the seventh angel sounded and there are great voices in heaven saying,
the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.
Now this is an extremely important verse to understanding the book of Revelation
because it says the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord.
What is that referring to?
It's referring to the millennial reign of Christ.
Jesus has now taken the kingdom, okay?
Now the millennial reign of Christ happens at the end of Daniel's 70th week.
So this is at the end, but we're only in Revelation chapter 11,
because when you go to the next chapters,
what you're going to see is we do go back in time, okay?
It said the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.
Now go to second Corinthians chapter four, second Corinthians chapter four.
You see right now today, the kingdoms of this world are not being reigned by Jesus Christ.
See, I mean, the Jews thought in the Old Testament
that when Jesus came he was going to be a conquering hero
and he was going to reign and put in this kingdom.
And the reason why they thought that
is because they looked at Old Testament scriptures that spoke about that.
But what they did not understand was there was a first coming also.
And so they were expecting their Messiah to come.
This is what the Jews are expecting today,
that when he comes, he's going to reign and put them in power.
But when Jesus came the first time, did he reign?
No, I mean, he was crucified to death, okay?
He didn't come as a conquering king.
That was not what his goal was.
That was not his intention the first time.
Now when he comes a second time, he's going to clean house,
pour out his wrath so Jerusalem actually can be the holy city.
Get rid of all the filth of the world, they're going to be destroyed and killed.
And then he is going to reign in the millennial reign of Christ, okay?
Now notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4.
You say, but I mean, isn't Jesus reigning right now?
Well, what does it say in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4?
And whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine onto them.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4,
it refers to Satan as the God of this world.
He is blinding the minds of them which believe not, the Bible says.
So look, if Jesus is reigning today,
why is he allowing all these pedophiles to run on the streets?
Why is he allowing all these murderers to run on the streets?
It's not going to be like that during the millennial reign of Christ.
See, during the millennial reign of Christ,
a book that people really don't like in the Bible, the book of Leviticus,
I mean, that's going to be a pretty important book.
You say, why?
Those are going to be the laws of God.
When he's reigning, it's going to be his laws, okay?
An eye for an eye, guess what?
That's going to be valid.
It's going to be an eye for an eye during the millennial reign of Christ.
Why?
Because Jesus is reigning and it's going to be his rules.
And so when there is wickedness, it's going to be punished and put down.
That's what's going to take place in the millennial reign of Christ.
Because there are going to be unbelievers during the millennial reign of Christ
and eventually after a thousand years, there's going to be that great battle, okay?
So look, during that time period, it's going to be the reign of Jesus
and his rules will be in place.
But are those the rules during this time period?
No.
And remember the Jews tried to bring to him this woman caught in adultery
as if he was going to stone her saying, well, aren't you going to uphold the law?
But look, he didn't come to basically take over the government.
Just like in today's world, you know, a lot of Baptists have this idea,
we got to become the presidents and the senators and the politicians.
It's like, well, you go ahead and do that.
I'm going to focus on what the Bible says of just soul winning and fighting a spiritual,
not a physical battle, okay?
That's what the Bible teaches.
So look, right now, Satan is the God of this world and he is blinding and confusing people.
Turn to Matthew chapter four, Matthew four.
Matthew chapter four.
And in Matthew chapter four, and look, a lot of people get confused on this idea,
you know, why is there all the suffering in this world?
Well, I mean, quite honestly, we're not following the rules of the Bible
and Jesus is not reigning with his laws.
If you had God's laws, everything would work out just fine.
Do you realize that?
If we put the laws of the book of Leviticus, we would not have just this wicked world
and all these murders and rapes and everything taking place.
If we actually followed what God said, you know what?
This world would be a much cleaner place and those of us that do right
and are not out committing adultery and murder and those wicked sins, we would love it.
Be a free place.
It would be a safe place.
I mean, before I was born, when my parents were growing up in the United States,
when you went to bed at night, I mean, you didn't even lock your doors.
There's no need to.
I mean, you don't even have to lock your...
You don't have to even, you know, bring your keys with you in the car.
You just keep the car running as you go into a convenience store.
You walk out and guess what?
Your car is going to be there.
It's not like that anymore.
You come out of that convenience store, out of that 7-Eleven.
It's like, where'd my car go?
I actually experienced this when I was in Utah.
I was helping out a Baptist church in Utah and, you know,
there was a couple other Baptists from Arkansas that were out there.
I was trying to learn about Mormonism and I was helping this church out
and it's not really a church like ours,
but I'd only been saved for like a year.
So I was helping this church out and there's this guy who was from Arkansas
where he said it was pretty safe there.
So he did that.
He went to the church building and he quickly stopped there
because he's going to go out and get supplies, left his keys in the car,
rented the church building that we were building, came back out.
There was no car.
It was gone.
Somebody had stolen.
And then when they actually ended up finding it and when they found it,
there was actually, you know, Spanish or Mexican Christian music on
from the people that stole the vehicle.
It's like you can't even, you cannot even make up these stories, okay?
I couldn't even make up a better story if I tried.
And it's like, but he's like, man, where I'm from, I thought it was safe.
And so he just went to the church building for like two minutes,
comes back out, the car's gone.
And it's just like, look, that's the world we live in today.
It didn't used to be like that.
Now, look, I mean, we talked about it, you know,
yesterday we were talking about how in the US, you know,
most people or half of people have guns for protection purposes,
which is not really common here.
But I want you to realize people didn't really need them 50, 60, 70 years ago.
But in today's world, violence is increasing, rapes are increasing.
And it's like, yeah, you know, you got to be safe now.
It's not the safest thing to be walking around at, you know,
midnight out in the streets anymore.
You don't know what's going to happen.
It's like, that's the world that we're living in today.
And it's only going to go downhill more and more.
And the reason why is because judgment is not being executed swiftly,
as the Bible says.
So the result of it is the people that are wicked,
their hearts are fully set to do evil, the Bible says,
because of the fact they know they're going to get a little slap on the wrist.
I mean, if somebody murders someone,
they're probably not going to get the death penalty.
It's very rare that actually happens.
And so look, even if they're caught red handed
and they're still going to get away with it.
So look, this world's getting more and more wicked.
And the reason why is because we're not being tough enough on crime,
as the Bible says, and not doing God's laws.
Matthew chapter four, verse eight.
Again, the devil taking them up into an exceeding high mountain
and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
And so it says in Matthew chapter four, verse eight,
the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain.
And it says he sees all the kingdoms of the world.
Now, what you have to understand about this story,
if you cross reference with other stories,
this is a bit of a miraculous experience here,
because you're not going to be able to see all the kingdoms of the world at one time.
In another place, it says he saw them all in a moment of time,
basically as if he's seeing kingdom after kingdom after kingdom
in one of the cross references in the other gospel.
The reason why I mention this is because this is one of the big flat earth verses.
They say, well, if the earth is round,
you wouldn't be able to see all the kingdoms of the world.
It's like this story is a bit of a miraculous story as it is anyway,
because can you imagine a mountain high enough
where you're going to be literally be able to see every single kingdom?
I mean, look, your vision is not going to last for that long,
but the devil is showing him every kingdom in a moment of time, the Bible says.
And so, look, what I'm trying to show you though about the story is this.
The devil is basically saying, I can give you these kingdoms
because guess what? I'm the God of this world.
You don't have to wait, Jesus. You don't have to be crucified.
You don't have to die for the sins of the world.
I will give you all the keys to the kingdom right now
if that will fall down and worship me.
Why is this?
Does it look like Jesus is reigning in Matthew chapter four?
He's not reigning.
Okay.
Turn back to revelation chapter 11, revelation chapter 11, revelation 11.
Now, when it comes to the millennial reign of Christ,
you know, most people, I would say, believe in a pre-millennial view.
Okay.
Which means Jesus is coming back before the millennium.
And so when you say you believe in a preacher of rapture,
what you're saying is we believe Jesus is coming back before the millennium
and before the tribulation.
Now, we agree that Jesus is coming back before the millennial reign of Christ.
I mean, have we covered the millennial reign of Christ yet in our revelation series?
No, but we already covered the rapture and the wrath of God.
So obviously Jesus is coming back before the millennial reign of Christ.
But even though this is very obvious and basic in the Bible,
there are alternative views to the millennial reign of Christ.
There's a view called the post-millennial view,
where basically Jesus returns after the millennium.
Even though we saw in revelation chapter seven, there's a great multitude in heaven.
We see God pouring out his wrath.
You have all the places in Matthew 24 and everything like that.
But there's the post-millennial view.
And this view basically says that us as believers, we bring the kingdom in.
And once we clean house, then Jesus is ready to return.
Okay.
Now, how are we going to clean house?
What that view basically is teaching is this,
that the world is going to become more godly to the point where Jesus can return and reign
because we've already cleaned up all the wickedness.
Now, look, just common sense.
Forget about the Bible for a second.
Is this world becoming more godly or less godly?
I mean, I don't know how you could...
Even if you were unsaved and possessed by the devil in a reprobate,
I don't know how you could believe in a post-millennial view
because this world is becoming more and more wicked.
It's not becoming more godly.
But they say, well, he's going to come back after the millennium.
Now, I'm sure one of these days I'll preach a whole sermon on that.
But quite honestly, there's more important stuff in the Book of Revelation to cover
than these crazy oddball theories.
That's one theory, though, is the post-millennial return
that basically we bring in godliness
and then Jesus returns after we've cleaned up house
and, you know, North Korea is serving God
and the Philippines is serving God and every country.
I mean, there's no more LGBT because everyone's so godly.
Once we reach that point, then Jesus will return.
That's ridiculous.
That's not what it teaches.
And you're never going to come to that conclusion
unless you think everything is symbolic.
If you just take Revelation literally, which is not that hard to understand,
you're going to see it's a premillennial return
that Jesus comes back before the millennial reign.
Because remember, it's all the way in Revelation 11
where he says the kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
He already came back before that in the earlier chapters.
Another view on the millennium is this.
It's called the amillennial view or amillennial view,
which means that Jesus is reigning in the hearts of mankind.
Okay, so it's all symbolic.
They say not a literal return.
Now, the problem with that view is there's just not even the book of Revelation,
the book of Isaiah and all throughout the Bible,
there's passage after passage after passage
that talks about a literal return of Jesus Christ to reign.
Okay, and unless you think everything in the Bible is symbolic,
you have to reject that.
That's ridiculous because we're reading about Revelation chapter 11
where he's actually going to reign.
And we're going to talk about that more in the later chapters.
So the Bible teaches a pre-millennial return of Jesus.
That's not the same as a pre-trib.
He does teach a pre-millennial view,
but obviously we teach a post-trib or pre-wrath view
under it being before the millennial reign of Christ.
Revelation 11 verse 16.
Revelation chapter 11 verse 16.
And look, this is why I don't focus most of my sermons
and all these false doctrines because quite honestly,
there's always a new false doctrine out there.
Right.
I mean, and this really doesn't have much to do with the sermon,
but if you were to look at people that are experts in counterfeiting money,
they don't study every false version of money there is out there.
They become an expert at the real money,
where they know what it feels like,
they know what it looks like,
they know the weight of it,
they know the material and everything,
and they know it so well that when a false one comes along,
they spot it like that.
That is how you train someone who's an expert at counterfeiting money.
And when it comes to us,
because a lot of people have this idea,
I've got to study Islam,
I've got to study Hinduism and Buddhism to be able to answer them.
No, you need to study this book.
And if you know this book really well,
when they ask you some strange question,
you're going to be ready to answer it.
And they try to tell you,
well, you know, Jesus is not really God.
You're going to be able to answer it immediately.
Why?
Because you know the real thing.
Okay.
And so look, there's just too many false religions
and false views out there.
You can't waste your time just always studying that.
From time to time, I mentioned it in sermons,
and I'm not saying it's bad to be educated to some degree about this.
But what I'm saying is, you know, most Christians,
and I was like this as well,
I'm going to confess my faults one to another.
When I first got saved, I'm like,
how do you get Mormon saved?
How do you get Jehovah's Witness saved?
It's like, man, I didn't even know how to get someone saved
who bowed down before me and said,
what must I do to be saved?
But I'm trying to study all these calls
and learn all these obscure questions.
It's like, no, just study the real thing.
Okay.
This should be what you study 95% of the time.
And if you do not have time to read the Bible
and learn a little bit about a false religion,
just don't even spend any time on that.
It's a waste of time.
You need to know the real thing.
And in today's world, very few Christians know much about the Bible.
And it's like, unless you've read the Bible several times,
it's like, what's the purpose of reading the Quran?
If you know Jesus is your savior and you know what the truth is,
there's no purpose to do that.
Okay.
Revelation 11, verse 16.
And the four and 20 elders, which sat before God in their seats,
fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying,
We give thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art and wast and art to come,
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned.
Verse 18.
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath has come
in the time of the dead that they should be judged,
and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets,
into the saints and them that fear thy name, small and great.
Now, this is a side point, but notice how it says,
Thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets.
And what's going to take place is,
this is before the millennial reign of Christ,
and the rewards are already given.
So if you go back to 1st, you don't have to go there,
but in 1st Corinthians chapter three,
when God is giving rewards for the service you do,
we see that takes place before the millennial reign of Christ.
And based on what you did is going to affect
how much you rule and reign with Christ.
That's what the Bible speaks about with rewards.
Based on what you do, the more you're going to reign,
the more of responsibility that you have.
So the rewards are actually given before the millennial reign of Christ.
It says you're going to get a reward unto thy servants the prophets,
and based on what you do here on earth,
that is going to determine what kind of reward you have.
Now, we know that in 1st Corinthians three,
but understanding the timing, it's before the millennial reign of Christ,
okay, that we're going to get those rewards.
But notice what it says next.
And it says, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
And shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
And what the Bible says is that God is going to destroy them which destroy the earth, okay?
Who's he referring to?
He's referring to ungodly, wicked people that are destroying the earth, okay?
Go back to Genesis chapter eight, Genesis eight, Genesis chapter eight.
See, there's a very false belief out there.
It's not really a religious belief.
It's more of a governmental political belief that's in a lot of countries in the world
of basically protecting the environment.
This over obsession with we've got to protect the environment.
And if we don't protect the environment, the world's going to be destroyed.
There's a famous politician in America,
and she's going to probably run for president in 10 years.
And she says that if we don't do something about global warming within 10 years,
we're going to be heated off this planet.
It's like within 10 years, I mean, it's like, it's weird.
These people believe the earth is four and a half billion years old,
but in 10 years, it's going to be destroyed.
Now we know the earth is less than 7,000 years old,
but they literally believe it's four and a half billion years old.
And in 10 years, the world's going to be destroyed.
I mean, does that make any sense whatsoever?
It doesn't make any sense, okay?
But they say, well, you know, we're destroying the planet.
We've got to protect it.
Now look, when I have trash, I throw it in the trash can, okay?
I make it a point.
I don't just throw it on the ground.
You know, look at our condo unit,
a lot of people just throw their trash on the ground.
I make sure I place it in the dumpsters, okay?
I'm not trying to make the person's job harder that's going to clean it up.
I do believe we should protect the environment in terms of,
I think it's retarded to trash stuff and to, you know, throw stuff on the ground.
And just, no, I mean, you should throw that stuff away, obviously.
And so there is a shred of truth to what they're saying,
but they go way overboard with it.
Yeah, we should keep this place clean.
I think it's great that they've cleaned up Metro Manila in the last year,
you know, in a couple different ways.
They've cleaned it up, you know, especially they're in Ermita.
They got it a lot cleaner and things such as that.
But look, we are not going to destroy this earth by polluting it.
And that's going to be the end of the world.
We need to understand as Christians,
the end of the world is when the world becomes so wicked
that God comes back to destroy and to basically take power, okay?
And when it says those which destroy the earth,
it's not referring to people that throw a can of Coke on the ground.
Now, look, I'm against throwing a can of Coke on the ground,
you know, put it in the trash can, recycle it or whatever.
But look, the people that are destroying the earth are the LGBT.
Those are the ones destroying the earth.
The same governmental people that say,
we got to protect the environment, you're the ones destroying it.
Because sin is what's destroying this planet, not us polluting it, okay?
There's a shred of truth to us polluting it.
I understand that.
But what's destroying this planet is the sin that's running rampant in this world.
It's not due to pollution.
Notice what it says in Genesis chapter 8.
And one day God is going to destroy them which destroy the earth.
Genesis chapter 8 verse 21.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.
Genesis 8 verse 21.
And the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake.
For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
Neither will I again smite anymore every living thing as I have done.
While the earth remaineth, notice this,
seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease.
It's never going to end, okay?
We will always have heat and cold, summer and winter, day and night.
It's going to always exist till the very end, okay?
This idea of global warming is false because according to the Bible,
we're going to have winter.
According to the Bible, we're going to have cold.
Now maybe not here in the Philippines,
but in countries where they do have a winter and they have snow,
they're going to still have it, okay?
Look, if this earth lasts, you know, 50 more years before the end times,
I could travel to West Virginia where I'm from,
and in December, you know what color the ground is going to be?
White, because there's going to be snow.
Why?
Because summer and winter, day and night, cold and heat,
they're not going to cease according to the Bible, okay?
What's funny about this is that people like us,
and look, we're not perfect,
but in general, people that are soul winners
are not going to have bad habits or commit sins like getting drunk.
And look, I'm sure there's probably people at our church
that smoke from time to time.
It's a bad habit they haven't gotten rid of,
but in general, soul winning Christians
are not going to smoke a lot of cigarettes, right?
I mean, in general, we're actually going to do a pretty good job
keeping the environment clean.
When you go soul winning and knock on people's doors,
and there's someone who's basically drinking alcohol
or they've got a lot of cans of beer outside,
their houses are always garbage, literally.
They're extremely dirty, okay?
So look, the same liberal people that say that we're destroying the planet,
it's the exact opposite.
I mean, literally, we protect the planet better than they do
just from an environmental standpoint, okay?
They're the ones where their sin has a price to it.
And look, getting drunk, and look, when people get drunk,
what happens sometimes?
They puke it out.
Well, look, when I was in college at West Virginia University,
which is every year, at least when I was in the US,
was the number one drinking school in the nation,
look, you know, if you're going downtown to your classes
on a Monday morning, you know what you're going to find?
You're going to find dried puke on the ground, okay?
It's not the Christians that are doing that.
It's the people that are living sinful and wicked lives.
So if they're so worried about protecting our environment,
then why don't you just basically preach godliness and holiness?
Because they're not godly and they're not holy.
And look, I don't know what it's like here in the Philippines.
I didn't go to college here, but that's what it's like in the US.
There's dried puke on the ground that you have to make sure you don't step in, okay?
Why? Because people are getting drunk and they're puking.
That's what it is.
Turn to Genesis chapter 6, Genesis 6.
Look, I know that's not fun to think about,
but you know, when you're talking about sin, it's not going to be fun.
It's going to be disgusting, not just spiritually.
Sin is physically disgusting when you look at it,
both spiritually and physically disgusting, okay?
Now, it's funny because I've mentioned this before,
but in today's world, we're so concerned with global warming.
But I wrote down the year here in 1972 with President Richard Nixon.
If you know who President Richard Nixon was from the United States,
the big scare was global cooling.
And the government had this massive campaign less than 50 years ago.
Oh, we're going to have an ice age within the next 20 years.
We better do something quick.
The next ice age is coming.
And now it's global warming.
And what you're really finding out is the media and the politicians.
They're trying to get you to live a life of fear.
We have to defend on them.
And that's the truth of the matter.
And look, if you actually do your own research
and just look at the average temperature here in the Philippines over the last 50 years,
you know what you're going to find?
Not much of a difference now from 50 years ago.
I don't even have to look that up and I already know that's true
because every place you look at, the temperature hasn't changed much.
Of course, sometimes you have a volcano
and there's volcanic winters for a couple years,
the temperature is a few degrees cooler,
and then it's a few degrees warmer based on various things.
But it's oscillating around the same amount.
You don't see 20 degrees one year,
35 degrees a couple years later is the average temperature.
Now, I mean, the difference is very, very small.
Okay.
So they make a big mountain out of a molehill and they scare people
when in reality the temperature has not changed much.
Okay.
Revelation chapter six, verse 11.
Not revelation.
Genesis chapter six.
My bad.
Genesis chapter six.
I have trouble reading.
Genesis is what this says.
Genesis chapter six.
Genesis six.
We'll close up here in Genesis chapter six.
And so look, Genesis chapter eight is in the midst of the flood.
And in Genesis chapter six, this is beforehand.
And what he says is this in Genesis six, verse 11.
The earth was also corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.
Now, does that sound like our world today?
It's corrupted, filled with violence.
And there's another part in Genesis.
I should have written this down.
I didn't.
But if you remember, I preached this in Bayview Park Hotel during the...
We had like a three part series on Noah's flood.
And I talked about how the wording used somewhere in those chapters is that it was filthy.
And I specifically think the reason why the Bible chose to use the word filthy or why
God chose to use that word is because it was not just spiritually filthy, but physically
because sin is physically filthy, not just spiritually filthy.
And look, before the flood, I promise you is a pretty dirty place in most parts of the
world.
Why?
Because sin is not just spiritually filthy, it's physically filthy as well.
Okay.
That is what the world was like.
So look, when you're looking at sin increasing, it's going to be more filthy and more disgusting.
So people like us, we are the ones protecting the environment, not just in terms of spiritually
so God doesn't judge it, but physically also.
Because when you preach righteousness, it cleans things up both spiritually and physically.
And look, when people think it's no big deal to just go sleep around, which by the way,
that is physically filthy as well.
They're going to think nothing bad about just living in garbage and trash and just throwing
stuff on the ground.
To me, that seems crazy.
It's like, why would you not just throw that in the trash can?
I don't get it.
But you look at this world today and people just, I mean, you can just walk outside.
People just throw their trash in the ground.
I don't get it.
Okay.
And look, I would assume every single one of us, we don't get that either.
Why would you just trash the ground?
And yet the liberal people and the media claiming this big global warming thing, they're the
ones, those people that are living wicked and sinful lives that actually do trash this
place physically as well.
Genesis six, verse 12.
Yeah, Genesis six, verse 12.
And God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled
with violence through them.
And behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
So look, what destroyed the earth before in the book of Genesis?
Sin, wickedness, violence.
What destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?
I mean, when you really look at the LGBT, you could put that down to violence because
of the fact they're molesting people.
It's like, why was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed due to sin, due to wickedness?
Look, it's not going to be, oh, people are throwing Coke bottles on the ground.
Look, I think that's stupid to do.
That's not what's going to destroy this planet.
That's not what's going to cause Jesus to come back with wrath and pour out his judgment.
No, it's going to be sin and wickedness.
So look, one day God will destroy the people that are destroying the earth.
It's not the people that are throwing trash on the ground.
He's referring to the people living a sinful and wicked life, which oftentimes those are
one and the same.
So look, this is our conclusion to the first half of Revelation.
And so, look, I encourage you next week to, before next week, read Revelation chapter
12, and you're going to see, because Revelation 12 is the most confusing chapter, I think,
in the book of Revelation, and it will go back in time to the very beginning.
But I encourage you to read that before next week.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today.
And just all the weeks we studied this book, it's a really fascinating book.
I think we've all learned a lot.
I know I have.
And help us to apply these things to our lives.
God, help us to be knowledgeable about everything the Bible says and help us just to really
know and understand the Bible so well that when anything false comes up or any false
religion or false belief or something ungodly, that we can immediately spot it, even if we've
never heard of it, just because we know God's word so well.
Help us to be a church that not only wins a lot of souls, but also is striving to read
your word and to live godly and separated lives.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.