Now if you would go back to Revelation 13, we'll quickly finish up here.
It says of the false prophet in verse 16, "He causeth all, both small and great, rich
and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads,
and that no man might by or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the
number of his name.
Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the
number of a man and his number is six hundred threescore and six."
So this is of course the famous well-known mark of the beast.
And notice your King James Bible says that it will be located in your right hand or in
your forehead.
All the modern Bibles are changing that to on the hand.
When the Bible says it's in the hand, you know this could be something that's implanted.
You know we don't know exactly what this is going to be, could be like an implantable
chip of some kind.
You know that's speculation but it does say that it's going to be in the forehead or in
the hand and that you're not going to be able to buy or sell unless you have this mark of
the beast in your right hand or in your forehead and then it gives us that number of course
the famous 666.
You know we see the technology in place where this could be implemented tomorrow.
Now it's not going to be implemented tomorrow.
You know there's a whole chain of events that lead up to this that are laid out very clearly
in Matthew 24 but let me say this, this could be sometime in the near future because we
see the technology easily in place to eliminate cash.
See you can't do this in a society where people are using cash or coins because of the fact
that there would be a black market where people are just exchanging money without going through
the proper channels.
You know today there are people who do all kinds of cash transactions and they don't
pay taxes on it and the government doesn't know anything about it, right?
But here we have a government that is able to stop anyone from buying or selling unless
they have this mark.
Basically all of their purchasing is going to be done through this mark.
Now if this were an implantable chip you could easily see how you could maybe go to the store,
pay for things and then just scan to pay and then you've paid.
You could easily see how the money could go electronic.
You know I've noticed more and more that there are places who do not even accept cash.
And I know that I myself rarely even use cash anymore.
You know because a lot of times I'm working and traveling for business and you know it's
just a lot easier to use credit cards and then you can track all your expenses and everything.
And you know it seems like these days less and less people are carrying cash or using
cash and people are moving over to just doing everything as an electronic transaction.
Even on the airplanes now.
You buy a bag of peanuts and you literally scan your credit card on the airplane.
Not only that, coke machines now.
Even a coke, I mean that's when you know they're charging too much for the coke.
You know what I mean?
It used to be like a quarter or two quarters.
Now it's like you're scanning a credit card for a coke.
It's like how many, how much is this thing?
Seven dollars or something?
But anyway, you know we're seeing now that a credit card is being accepted everywhere
and then now they're selling these little things to plug into your smartphone where you can
take credit cards.
Well pretty soon instead of taking a credit card with your smartphone, you'll just scan
the mark or the implantable chip with your, that's the way it's going folks and we can
see this prophecy being fulfilled.
Now here's the thing, paper money, paper money can be worthless tomorrow if they say it's
worthless.
The paper doesn't have any intrinsic value.
Now if we were dealing in gold and silver, okay at least gold and silver have a use.
Paper is just a piece of paper.
And just like the confederate money, as soon as the confederate states of America basically
were defeated, all of a sudden none of their money was worth anything anymore.
So tomorrow if they wanted to they could say all right turn in all your cash, it's not
going to be worth anything after a certain date.
It's all going electronic now.
It's all going to be through cashless means.
And the way they could easily sell this to people is say you know what, we'll get rid
of crime.
No more drug dealing and black market and we'll be safer and it's for the children and
all this.
And they'll eliminate cash and make it to where you must have a mark in your right hand
or in your forehead to buy or sell.
It's around the corner.
You say this is a depressing sermon.
This is not what I wanted to hear on Wednesday night.
Okay, but let me just close on this one thought.
Back up if you would to verse number 10.
This is back where he talked about the Antichrist making war against the saints and overcoming
them.
But look what it says in verse 10, "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity.
He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."
What's God telling us there?
Everybody's going to get what's coming to them in the end.
"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity.
He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword."
Look, we don't have to worry about this and be defeated.
The Bible says, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison."
He said, "Look, bad things are going to happen, but fear none of those things which thou shalt
suffer.
The greater is he that is in you than he is in the world.
We're more than conquerors.
We're on the winning side.
Our patience and our faith is to know that in the end the score will be settled, every
wrong will be righted, and we will be rewarded for whatever we endure for Jesus Christ."
So this isn't anything to be depressed about or upset about, but it is something we should
know about.
And most Christians today don't know about this stuff.
They don't know Revelation 13.
They're not even having this explained to them.
And when their church does touch on Revelation, they just say, "But isn't it great?
We're gonna be gone."
You know, and they give them this false hope and this fairy tale.
Look, it's good to know about it and to understand it going into it so that we will not be perplexed
and confounded.
But let me tell you something, I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight.
This doesn't keep me up at night.
I don't sit around, "Oh man, I don't know if I have enough food stockpiled, you know,
I don't know if I have enough weapons and ammo."
Look, enough weapons and ammo is an oxymoron.
No, I'm just kidding, you know, enough food stored up.
I'm just saying, in the end, Jesus Christ is our hope.
We know that we're saved, we know we're on the winning side.
Look, our hard time's ahead.
You know, this may happen in our lifetime.
It may happen a hundred years from now when we're all gone.
We don't know the timing.
But if it does happen in our lifetime, my attitude is even so, come Lord Jesus.
Bring it on.
You know what?
It'd be great to be in that generation.
If it happens, it happens in our lifetime.
If it doesn't, it doesn't.
Either way we end up in heaven.
Either way we rule and reign with Christ.
And so don't be sad or down or depressed about this or scared all the time.
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of a sound.
I'm not afraid of this.
I want to know about it.
I want to prepare for it mentally, spiritually, physically.
But I'm not scared of it because you know what?
Greater is he that is in me than he that's in the world.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for warning us.
Thank you for giving us a description of what will take place, telling us about this kingdom
that's going to take place, this worldwide kingdom, the man of sin, the son of perdition,
the war with the saints, that he will make war against them and overcome them, kill them,
put them in prison.
There are going to be those that are going to be persecuted.
And Lord, we know that people are being persecuted right now.
"Yea, in all that will of God, the in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
Lord, help us to realize that we're more than conquerors.
And if we do have to face these things, help us to be faithful unto death.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.