Music
Good evening everyone, welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you could all find your seats we'll go ahead and get started.
We're going to start this evening's service off in song number 397, little is much when God is in it.
397, little is much when God is in it.
Song 397, sing it on the first.
Great singing everybody. Let's go ahead and open up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord God, thank you for this church. Thank you for all the people that are gathered here.
Help us to sing under your name, Lord God. Thank you for Pastor Shelley and all his family and everybody.
Thank you for all the people that are gathered here so we can have an edifying sermon.
And let us all live gloriously unto you. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
All right, next up we have song number 392, a soul winner for Jesus.
This might be a little bit new for some of us.
392, a soul winner for Jesus.
Sing it out.
A soul winner for Jesus.
He's done so much for me.
I want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for me to lay my burdens down.
I want to hear and say, sir, I can gather many sheep.
They see us while we crowd.
A soul winner for Jesus.
Oh, let me be saved.
A soul winner for Jesus.
He's done so much for me.
Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist church.
If you didn't already get a bulletin or you would like one, just lift your hand up real high.
Our ushers are going to come down and they'll get you guys a bulletin on the front.
We have our Bible memory passage.
We've been working on Proverbs 31.
And there is a special prize to anybody who can quote the entire chapter.
Word perfect to a non-family member.
We have actually some prizes that we've already been giving out.
Some tumblers and also some gift cards.
So if you're able to do that, we highly encourage you to.
We also have our service and soul winning times.
And then church stats. Please make sure you're turning that into your soul winning captains.
On the right, several ladies are still expecting.
So please be in prayer for all of them.
We also have a prayer list that we like to go over on Wednesday nights.
I'm going to cover our events before we get there.
On the back has our events. April 13th.
And we also have a soul winning marathon.
So we're going to be heading out that way.
We are going to try and caravan here at the church.
Who is planning on carpooling with us here?
Is anybody planning on doing that? Okay, so we've got a few.
We'll definitely be taking the church van. If need be, we might have to take a couple other cars.
If you are planning on doing that, we're meeting at 6 a.m.
It takes about three hours to get out there.
If you are just going to meet us, we sent an email with the instructions of where we're meeting.
But essentially we're meeting at 9 a.m.
And we'll be having just some light coffee and donuts.
And then we'll just start sending people out by the time we get to around 10 a.m.
We'll meet back at that same location for lunch.
And go out soul winning again for a few hours and then head home after that.
If you want to drive, of course, out there and meet us, that's highly encouraged.
I think we have a lot of people signed up.
I know people from Oklahoma City are coming from there.
I know that some of the people in Louisiana have contacted me.
And they have at least 10 people that are coming with them.
So I think we're going to have a pretty big group.
It's definitely exciting to go out there. People always really enjoy this specific soul winning event.
Again, I just remember looking at the poorest cities in America.
And some list that I looked up at one time said that Shreveport was the poorest.
Of course, that can be depended on a lot of different factors.
But it's definitely true. They actually have casinos there.
And the casinos aren't that nice.
But they've sucked out what little money that little city has.
But you know what? It makes it really ripe unto the gospel.
And it's been very fruitful every time we've gone out there.
I expect that it will be very similar again this year.
Even if you're not able to make it, just pray that the trip goes smoothly.
That people are able to travel safely and that we're able to get people saved.
I know Brother Oz is also wanting to do a soul winning time here on that Saturday.
So even if you can't make it, we still have soul winning.
Please try to go out with him and with their group.
Also, preaching class, April 20th, that Saturday, April 29th,
is a homeschool field trip.
And so all families that have at least one child that's being homeschooled
and is five years or older are welcome to participate.
Of course, if you fit in that criteria, your whole family is welcome.
And we will be providing the funds for all of that.
So everything will be paid for.
We just want to limit it to the families that have children who are already homeschooling
and meet the criteria of being five and older.
Also, there is a sign up sheet. Please make sure to sign up.
Because if you don't, we may not be able to organize it as well.
There is going to be a lunch provided.
And so we really need that number to be very accurate
so that way we can make sure everybody is accommodated.
And then also, please make sure that you show up on time to that event.
It should be a lot of fun. We did the same thing last year
and people really enjoyed it.
So I think this year is going to be even better.
Also, we have a baby shower on the 4th for the Hernandez family
and their baby boy, which is really exciting.
Please, if you'd like to show up, RSVP to Ms. Milstead.
It's nursing's only preferred.
You don't have to bring anything, but if you do want to,
you can get them a gift on a baby list.
They're registered there.
As well as also if you would like to bring a dessert or a side dish,
please just communicate that to Ms. Milstead
so she can have everything prepared appropriately.
That's really all I have as far as announcements,
but let's go to our prayer list for a moment.
In our prayer list, we've been praying for Brother Hall for his leg.
We've been praying for the Cooley's for their stepdad,
and it's a praise report because he's now cancer-free.
So praise God on that. That's really exciting.
We've been praying for the Naeem for her grandmother
for vision, health, and salvation.
We've also been praying for the Carlson's mother, Ms. Rebecca,
for her health.
We've been praying for Ms. Miller's friend, Tamara,
who's also dealing with cancer.
We've been praying for Brother Best for his friend, Saul.
We're praying for Brother Alex for a job
and Brother Elijah for health as well.
So a lot of health prayer requests.
We'll say a quick word of prayer now as a church family for all those.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for our church.
Thank you so much for the opportunities for us to go out and preach the gospel.
I pray that you bless our upcoming soul-winding event.
I pray that you would also bless all these expecting ladies.
Please help them during their pregnancy.
I pray that you would help their children's development,
that you would give them peace during this time.
I pray that you would also bless our church family
that needs health or needs healing.
We thank you for those who we've prayed for and have been healed,
and we know that you can do that again,
and we pray that you would just bless these individuals
who are needing recovery.
I pray that you also give them patience during this time of tribulation,
that you give them peace,
that you be with them, you strengthen them.
Please also give favor to our church family
that needs help with their job, with their finances, with traveling.
I pray that you would also help any of those who are temporarily sick
that they could have a speedy recovery
and that we could see them back in church.
And we just thank you so much for all that you've given us,
and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week.
Psalm 67 is in our special handouts.
Psalm 67, sing it out nice and loud.
Alright everybody, that's Psalm 67.
We're going to be merciful unto us and bless us
And cause this day to shine upon us
Let that rain make me young upon earth
By saving us along all nations
Let the people praise me, O God
Let all the people praise me
O, let the nations be glad
And sing for joy
For thou shall judge the people
Righteously and from earth
The nations upon earth
The nations upon earth belong
Let the people praise thee, O God
Let all the people praise thee
O, let the nations be glad
And sing for joy
For thou shall judge the people
Righteously and from earth
God shall bless us
And all the ends of the earth
Shall hear him
Let the people praise thee, O God
Let all the people praise thee
O, let the nations be glad
And sing for joy
Great singing everybody.
The offering plates are going around.
You can turn to Revelation chapter number 20.
Revelation chapter number 20.
The offering plates are going around.
Revelation chapter number 20.
The word of God reads,
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent,
which is the devil and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years
and cast him into the bottomless pit
and shut him up
and set a seal upon him
that he should deceive himself.
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon,
that he should deceive the nations no more
till the thousand years should be fulfilled.
And after that he must be loosed a little season.
And I saw thrones and they sat upon them.
And judgment was given unto them,
and I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus
and for the word of God,
and which had not worshiped the beast,
neither his image,
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads
or in their hands,
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead
the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished this is the
first resurrection blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years and when
thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and
shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the
earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle the number of whom is
as the sand of the sea and they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed
the camp of the Saints about and the beloved city and fire came down from
God out of heaven and devoured them and the devil that deceived them was
cast in the lake of fire and brimstone where the beasts and the
false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and
ever and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them
and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were
opened and another book was opened which was the book of life and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books
according to their works and the sea gave up the dead which were in it
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were
judged every man according to their works and death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire let us
pray Heavenly Father thanks for another day of life Lord and thank
you for allowing us to be gathered here together I just pray that you'd
bless Pastor Shelley and fill in with your Holy Spirit that we would learn
from this chapter and that he would expound the word of God unto us and I
praise in Jesus name Amen Amen here in Revelation chapter 20 we're coming on
the heels of the Battle of Armageddon where the Lord Jesus Christ is just
slain all of the wicked gathered together in a great battle against the
Lord and Jesus Christ has come from heaven down to earth riding on a white
horse with all of the Saints with all of the saved they're coming down and as
they come down the Bible says a sword was proceeding out of the Lord Jesus
Christ's mouth and consumed and destroyed all of his enemies and we
see a lot of different events happening very quickly in a very short space of
time additionally when he comes down this is where we kind of pick up in
verse 1 of chapter 20 says this and I saw an angel come down from heaven
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great shame in his hand and he
laid a hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan
and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and
shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no
more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be
loosed a little season so not only is the Lord Jesus Christ when he
descends out of heaven to the new or not to the new earth but to the
earth is he dealing with the wickedness carnally he's also dealing
with the wickedness spiritually in the sense that he is dealing with the
devil because the devil is not a physical being whom could be destroyed
in the carnal sense therefore he is being cast into hell a lot of people
have this idea that the devil's in hell right now or that the devil is
ruling in hell but the Bible teaches that the devil has never gone
to hell yet the devil in fact is walking about on the earth the Bible
even says that in some cases even goes to heaven as evidenced by the book
of Job so many people are confused about who the devil is or where he's
at the Bible acts as if he's an active agent on the earth it even calls him
the god of this world and when the devil came to tempt the Lord Jesus
Christ he at least talked about himself in a manner as saying that
basically all the kingdoms of the earth were kind of in his power and his
authority and of course the devil is the father of lies there's no truth in
him so you have to take everything the devil says of the grain of salt but I
do believe in a sense that the devil does have a lot of power and authority
in this world and that many of the rulers of this world are minions of
the devil they're under his power and under his authority and control and
it's only that God is allowing the devil to essentially have this
authority that he has so far just like the devil had to ask permission
to afflict job or to do any harm unto him the only authority and power
that really exists is that which God doles out or that God gives but God for
some reason allows the devil to have authority at certain times and in
certain places now he is chained up in hell as the Bible describes for a
thousand years this is what we refer to as the millennial reign of Christ
and we get that term because millennial is in essence a thousand that's what
that root word is describing is a thousand and so when we say
millennial we're saying the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ and during
that thousand years the devil is literally bound in hell and is not
allowed to afflict torment deceive or do anything to any humans during that
1,000 years the Bible talks about it being a time of peace peace that's
never really been experienced on the earth ever book ever like before of
course has been moments of peace we have the reign of King Solomon was kind
of known as a very peaceful time and that was a foreshadowing of what it'll
be like when Jesus Christ is literally ruling and reigning and
sitting on that throne but it won't last only 40 years it will be a
thousand year reign of worldwide peace you know we see you always hear about
those beauty pageant contest individuals saying that they want world peace well
the only way to get that is to bring Jesus Christ back and see them on the
throne okay that's how you get world peace and chaining up the devil in the
bottomless pit that says in verse number three and cast him in the
bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should
deceive the nation's no more notice that the devil is capable of
deceiving many people at one time it says he was deceiving the nation's so
currently the nations of this earth are all being deceived by the devil and
he's thrown into a bottomless pit you know I think that that is an
interesting description but it would make sense if hell as described as
being in the center of the earth would be called a bottomless pit
because think about it from just a gravitational perspective you know and
again I don't know how much gravity or these things you know exist in the
spiritual realm but generally speaking where would be the bottom right if
you're going down into the sphere of the earth if you're going down into
the globe okay well essentially once you get past that middle point you
know you're still just kind of an open space there there really is no
bottom you can just be at the center you can be the heart of the earth you
could be at the center of the earth but there really is no floor the bottom
floor there's no like bottom run whereas these flat earthers they kind of have
like this bottom section of the earth or they say it's on pillars but where
does that lead and you know this this idea of a flat earth is just
nonsensical in every way okay it's not what the Bible teaches people that
usually subscribe to this are very ignorant of the Bible or just really
wicked people sometimes it's even a combination okay so you know that's a
different sermon flat-earthers are either stupid wicked or both okay check
it out all right if you want to be screamed at for an hour go listen to
that sermon right it might have been longer than an hour who knows but
here it's describing hell as a bottomless pit and you know if you
think about falling that's a pretty uncomfortable sensation you know
obviously we like to go on roller coasters and everything but even even
as an adult sometimes you get a little nervous about it if you know that
nothing bad is gonna happen you kind of enjoy it but it's always you know
you're riding on that that roller coaster and just or something's like
makes a weird noise or get that weird jolt and you just kind of
thinking like I hope this thing you know stays on the rails right and it's
not like there haven't been a few accidents everywhere you know every once
in a while and of course they run the most like pothead teenagers running
places or something like that you're just thinking like what's going on I saw
a video online and it was some guy had this cool idea I guess that he would
strap people on to one of these roller coaster rides and it's one where
they like go off the edge or something and what he would do is he
would just like oh no there's something wrong with the harness oh
wait wait and then you hit the button and then they caused them to
fall just to make them feel a little bit even more terrified or whatever you
know that's a really bad idea because you could literally cause someone to have
a heart attack and die you know it's not cool to play a kind of a prank like
that on individuals because falling is a fear of most people most people are
afraid of heights I don't feel that comfortable going really high up
especially if I'm not in a secure you know situation or something like
that there's some guy that like climbs buildings and protests of abortion what
is this guy's name again pro-life spider-man okay there's this guy pro
life spider he like climbs these buildings just like basically this bare
hands and feet almost I mean he might have those rubber things that are on
his feet or something but basically the guy without harnesses just scaling
skyscrapers and tall buildings and stuff like that most people could never
do something like that it would be it would be terrifying these idea of
falling is terrifying you know why the Bible describes hell's a bottomless pit
because everything about hell is terrifying everything you could ever
imagine God has bundled it all together into one terrifying experience
and you know what you never want to go to hell one thing about falling is
the instability of falling you just never have any kind of stability and I
believe that's one of the essences of hell that's there is there's just
never a moment of stability just always in an uncomfortable state of course we
haven't even talked about the burning and the outer darkness aspect but there's
so much to hell that makes it just unbearable and what's interesting to me
is those who are those of us who are saved we hear the most preaching
about hell I mean the people that are not saved are not really hearing about
hell thinking about hell but I think why God wants us to think about hell
is because it's trying to motivate us to save people from going to hell and
frankly I'm never gonna go I'm never gonna experience I've know what a deal
what it's like and I'm not that motivated to pull people out of danger
when I don't think that they're in danger the more that I recognize that
they're in danger the more that I hear about how horrible hell is it
should motivate me to be willing to open my mouth boldly to make known the
mystery of the gospel and sometimes you would think like I don't want to
preach on hell to all these saved people I mean they're already saved but
you know what we're preaching hell to the saved to motivate them to preach
the gospel to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire who is
that preaching for in the book of Jude when it's saying pulling them out
of the fire it was reminding saved people about how bad hell is and what
God really did for you by delivering you from such horrible wrath but you
know what the devil is going to go there he's destined to hell and
unfortunately many people are going there with him the devil knows about
how bad hell is the devil knows what the scripture says about hell but
you know what he's motivated to bring as many people down there with
them as he can and so that's what our true enemy is in this world is the
devil who wants to drag as many people to hell as he can with them and we
are to try and save as many people as we can and we're really in a battle
we're in a fight you know we don't have to fight in the millennial reign
he's bound up but right now he's not bound so don't get the seed and thing
like all the devil's is partying down in hell or go hang out with the
devil in hell no no the devil is actively trying to damn people to hell
so that he'll be having other people there with him but they won't be
enjoying their their little party session or whatever they're having down
there look at what it says in verse 4 the Bible says this and I saw
thrones and they sat upon them notice the plurality of this and I saw thrones
plural and they plural sat upon them plural and judgment was given unto
them plural what are we talking about well if we keep reading says and I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the
Word of God and which had not worshiped the Beast neither his image neither
received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years so notice that there is a reward to
being faithful unto death for the Lord Jesus Christ that many people who
are martyrs in the end times are going to be judges and rulers in the
millennial reign of Christ you say like well I just want to go and hide and
eat Alex Jones storeable food but you know what that person isn't gonna get the
same reward as the person's the faithful martyr or the person that's
willing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to do something for God with
his life you know we should be willing to go out and preach the
gospel and not let anything deter us even the threat of death even the
threat of being beheaded and notice that many people are going to be
ruling and reigning with Christ and notice again a thousand years that's
that millennial reign period where those who are the most faithful
Christians and did the most for God are going to be ruling and reigning
with Christ and they're gonna be rewarded according to what they've done
in this life specifically verse 5 but the rest of the dead live not again
until the thousand years were finished this is the first resurrection
now what you have to understand about some of these words is they have
multiple applications the word dead here is in a sense just referring to
everyone that has died now it can refer to a few different things but in
this context in verse 5 is just talking about everyone who's died
everyone let's just say everyone that's died up to this point well
some of those people were resurrected who are those people that were
resurrected the safe the saved have been resurrected with Christ okay so
they are going to be ruling and reigning with Christ and they're gonna
be coming from heaven and they're going to essentially be in a glorified
state they've been resurrected and they're gonna rule and reign with
Christ the other group of dead people are those who are not saved and
they're in hell and what it says is the rest of the dead live not again
until the thousand years are finished this is the first resurrection okay so I
believe that it could be and most likely referring to the fact that there
is another resurrection of damnation I've heard and I could be wrong but
I've heard some people think that maybe some say people don't get to
participate in the millennial reign of Christ I don't really subscribe to that
interpretation but I have heard that it's out there and they're kind of like
trying to say that this verse would maybe allude to that but I believe it's
trying to reference is the resurrection of the saved and the
resurrection of the damned okay but again logically some of these things
are hard to answer and I don't have all the answers it doesn't really
bother me or make it doesn't mean anything to me you have to ask this
question what happens to people who die after the million rain I don't know
you know you could say that maybe they do go to heaven maybe that's what
it's kind of referring to you know there's a lot of different interpretations
here but for sure one thing is that the those who are unsaved are in hell
and they're not getting out except for in a thousand years but the problem
is when they get out they're not getting resurrected they didn't get off
on good time it's not probation then they're gonna be judged and thrown in
the lake of fire which we see later in this specific specific chapter verse
6 says this blessed and holy is he that have part in the first resurrection on such the
second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall
reign over them a thousand years now this is the verse I feel like I left some things
hanging but this is where I want to kind of nail in what I was saying okay because there
is other interpretations of these verses what I believe it's saying specifically is that
it's talking about the unsaved in verse number five because notice in verse number six it says
blessed as holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death
hath no power what's the second resurrection well again I believe that we're talking about
these things in this context the first resurrection in this context in the second
resurrection in this context the second resurrection in the context of revelation
chapter number 20 is a resurrection of damnation okay look what it says in
verse 12 and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and
another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books according to their works it says and the sea gave up the
dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they
were judged every man according to their works skip to verse 15 and whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire now in verse 14 notice it says
the lake of fire this is the second death so when you get resurrected as a saved believer
you can never go to the lake of fire so everyone that's resurrected in the first
resurrection notice what the Bible says the second death hath no power over them why because
we've already been saved we've already been redeemed there's no chance we could
ever go to the lake of fire that we've saved with a D at the end it's done you
could think about John 5 24 when it talks about shall not come into condemnation but
is passed from death unto life when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you've been passed
from death unto life there's no chance of going to hell or to the lake of fire the
Bible says that we shall not taste of death there's no way we're going to experience death
or see death or have anything to do with death okay but this second resurrection the
resurrection of the damned the resurrection of the unsaved of the dead the second death
does have power on those people and those people are the ones that are going to be thrown
into the lake of fire so again you can interpret these things some different ways and I'm
sure there's other explanations out there but when we look at verses five and six I believe
when we think about this is saying but the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished what is that talking about that's talking about what we
read a little bit further down in verses number 12 and so forth of the unsaved have they're
gonna be resurrected stand before God yet they're gonna be thrown in the lake of fire
now this is interesting because notice did you notice what it said in verse number 12
I'm sorry verse 13 and the sea gave up the dead which were in it that's kind of interesting
isn't it why is why is it bringing up the sea because I believe that this is a physical
resurrection okay and so that's why it's alluding to the sea a lot of people's dead
bodies have been deposited into the sea a lot more pedophiles should be you know filling those
oceans but you know some have and of course many people are just buried in the earth okay
and we get that but also I believe that it's talking about their physical bodies being you
know coming there and they're being resurrected physically and then they're gonna be what thrown
into the lake of fire to resurrect really just kind of at a root level or at a really
basic level means to stand up to stand up something right if I said that we you know
resurrected a building we're trying to say is we're basically you know lifting up the
building and making it stand erect so I believe it's just a simply in reference to the fact
that the dead are going to instead of lying in the grave lying in the sea they're going to
resurrect and they're going to stand again notice the language here in verse number 12
it says and I saw the dead small and great stand before God I don't have the verse reference
I'm just thinking off the top of my head but there's a place in the Bible where Jesus
Christ is talking about not to fear man because after death there's no more that he can do but
fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell now here's the thing about hell
the word hell especially used in the Gospels can refer to what we think of as the current
state of hell or the lake of fire it actually refers to both interchangeably it kind of uses
those in the book of Revelation it often uses the different words to kind of distinguish you
hell and the lake of fire kind of distinguishing these two different things but when Jesus is
quoting there is talking about hell he could very likely be referencing the lake of fire
think about this when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds in verses and chapter 19 what does
the Bible say in verse 20 and the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that
wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the
mark of the beast and then that worshipped his image these both were cast alive into a lake
of fire burning with brimstone that's really interesting why is he throwing people that are
alive into the lake of fire well it's interesting because the next group of people that are going
to be thrown in the lake of fire are also in a sense kind of a lot like they have their
bodies again right they've been resurrected they're standing before God now this is just
my personal opinion but it almost seems like God wants to get rid of everything about these
people I don't even want your dust to remain so I'm gonna gather up everything about you
I'm gonna gather your Jew nose even and I'm gonna throw it into the lake of fire I don't
even want I don't even want that dust to be on the earth anymore you know that that's
just again my personal opinion but I'm just saying like it's interesting how the bees
the false prophet are thrown alive in the lake of fire and then all of these people
are resurrected one time before they're then thrown into the lake of fire whereas
right now if someone dies their physical bodies put in the grave put in the tomb
put in the sea somewhere and their soul descends down into hell just their soul but
we kind of see here a reassembling a resurrection of the damnation resurrected the dam and then
their whole person their body soul and spirit just thrown into the lake of fire for all of
eternity and it's called outer darkness it's just it's weeping and gnashing of teeth it's
a horrible horrible thing so again that's what I believe verses five and six we're kind of
trying to elaborate on verses five and six and maybe get a little bit better understanding
of what this is referring to but I believe again in verse five the rest of the dead lived
not again until the thousand years were finished this is the first resurrection okay
so the first resurrection is in reference to those of us who have been redeemed saved
we were resurrected at the return of Christ and essentially you know this is this is I think
another thing that people get caught up on when it says this is the first resurrection
they're thinking that the event in verse five is talking about that but I believe it's again
it's it's talking about in a conclusion Tori statement this is the first resurrection okay
so what was the first resurrection it's verse number four when essentially those who
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God at which had not
worshiped the beast neither zim is neither had received his mark upon their foreheads
or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years this is the first
resurrection that's what it is it's just that it rolls into that same thought of but
the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years are finished that is that
was kind of concluding but it's not saying that event is the first resurrection the
first resurrection is those who are beheaded for the cause of Christ and I believe that
it's not just limited to them it's all of us okay it's all of us that are saved and
included in that is those who are beheaded for the cause of Christ it's just making
mention of that particular individual verse 6 again blessed and holy is he that a part
in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years now again that's that's
good that he told us that because think about it this way we get another thousand
years live on earth we screwed up the first five years or like we started sinning
when we were four five six seven if you had said like hey you have to go a thousand
years without sinning because then you could go into the lake of fire that would
make me nervous right but he's reassuring us and letting us know hey this salvation
is an eternal salvation you're not just being saved from this experience on earth
and then you got to go through it all again or we're reincarnated or it's due over number
two or something like that or the second Super Bowl or no we've already gotten the victory
we've already been passed from death in a life we've already been redeemed we've already
been saved and in fact after we've been resurrected we will put on immortality as the
Bible says meaning what the death hath no more power of us Oh death where is thy sting Oh grave
where is thy victory it doesn't have any victory anymore we have gotten the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ and we could never die ever so that's what the Bible is
trying to allude to and I'm really grateful that the salvation act of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the eternal salvation I mean and of course then we're described as what priests of
God and of Christ that's another reference to what people call as the priesthood of
believer that those who are saved we're all in the priesthood in a sense now of course
our high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek and so we
follow in that particular model not a Levitical priesthood the Levitical priesthood was a
genetic priesthood the priesthood of Melchizedek is a spiritual priesthood of all believers okay
we're the we're the royal nation we're the chosen seed we are the peculiar people we are
the priesthood of God and we'll get to experience being a priest on this earth with
Christ for a thousand years basically uninterrupted and that'll be a great time period now I want
to go to Isaiah for a moment go to Isaiah chapter 6 keep your finger we're gonna come
back in a minute but you know when we talk about the millennial reign it's really really
difficult to know what's going on and I don't believe that the Bible wants to necessarily
give us a ton of clear verses on this because it doesn't really matter at the end
of the day it's gonna be great but there are some verses that I believe kind of point
to what things may be like or how they're going to be unique during that time period
now what's difficult about Isaiah and this is every part of the Bible but many passages
in Scripture will jump around so you can have a verse that's referencing that time
period and then a reference like a future prophecy and then a reference Christ and then
maybe another one but there's not always necessary a clean perfect pattern to Old Testament
prophecies where it's just always following a specific chronology or specific event
like there's a lot of mixing and matching when it comes to verses and so I believe
when we look at Isaiah you can never just say like well I read this verse therefore
the next verse has to pertain to that exact same context no sometimes the Bible
jumps around I always use Jonah as a perfect example because Jonah always has this like
alternating pattern in chapter 2 where it's kind of like a verse about Jonah and then
it's like a verse about Jesus and then it's like back to Jonah and then back to
Jesus and then like both of them and so it's just kind of like it's constantly
going back and forth I believe Isaiah does the same thing and Isaiah though has many
layers Isaiah is talking about the soon to be future event for them of the destruction
of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity and it's also referring to and alluding to
the restoration of the children of Israel back into the promised land and the rebuilding
of the temple that's going to happen it also is referring to Jesus Christ and that
prophetic event and that particular timeline Isaiah I believe is also referring to the
millennial reign of Christ and I believe that Isaiah also has many verses in here
that are talking about the new heavens and the new earth so we don't want to get this
mindset of I found a verse that's about Jesus so then the next verse has to be about Jesus
now sometimes it's like Jesus millennial reign new heaven and new earth just in the
this and the future both you know there's like all kinds of mixture here and that's
what's really cool about the Bible is how God can make a cohesive narrative have
so much future prophetic significance and so many different ties all over the place and
again I wouldn't be super dogmatic about the things in the millennial reign because
we don't have as much to cross reference but here's some verses I want to go through
and point to I believe that these are picturing for us some of the things of the millennial
reign that I'm just kind of cherry picking out but look at chapter 60 verse 1 arise
shine for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee for behold
the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall
rise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee and the Gentiles shall come to
thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising now of course this verse for
sure appeals to Jesus Christ and how there is darkness on the earth and Jesus Christ
is that light and then a lot of Gentiles ended up getting saved it also references
I believe when they're going to return back to the land and they're going to rebuild
the temple that they brought the light back there was darkness because they went the
battle in captivity then there was the light that came back when they rebuilt the temple
and many Gentiles still sought the Lord through that 500 year time period before
Christ but I also believe it's foreshadowing the millennial reign in a sense that there
was darkness through the Antichrist and the power of darkness but then Christ literally
comes to rule and reign and while Christ is ruling and reigning you have to understand
that the Gentiles are still going to exist and they're going to still come to the Lord
Jesus Christ in Jerusalem so I believe this is again another reference to the
millennial reign look at verse 9 surely the isle shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish
first to bring thy sons from far their silver and their gold with them under the name of
the Lord thy God into the Holy One of Israel because they have glorified thee and the
sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their king shall minister under thee for in
my wrath I smote thee but in my favor have I had mercy on thee now this is interesting
it's talking about Gentiles bringing their riches unto the holy city bringing them under
Jerusalem notice a verse 10 and the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls well
honestly when we look at the second temple it wasn't built by the strangers it was built
by Nehemiah and all of the people that were returning from the king's commandment and many
of the Gentiles were trying to stop the work you had Sanballat and Tobiah and all these guys
trying to stop them they were actually building with a paddle in their hand everybody's building
the wall by their house and it was actually the children of Israel that were building that
wall and kind of rebuilding the temple and rebuilding the city so what I think actually
fits this context though is when we return to the Millennium Run of Christ that we could
literally be hiring out the Gentiles to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and to rebuild that
particular temple in that particular area after all the great earthquakes and all the punishments
and plagues that we've seen verse 11 therefore thy gates shall be opened continually they
should not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and
that their kings may be brought for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish
yea those nations shall be utterly wasted we also see the importance of still serving Christ
at that time and those who don't will be destroyed will still be punished greatly and I
think what's interesting about these verses is what I find really interesting about these
verses is I guarantee that this mindset is trapped into the carnal mind of the modern-day Jew
and that the modern-day Jews today they look at the Gentiles as goyim and as their servants
and to come and serve them and they think they're literally ruling and reigning over them right
now but the problem is they haven't accepted Christ and that people aren't bringing their
riches unto Jerusalem today to glorify the God of the Bible but rather they're rebuilding
that Antichrist temple and that Antichrist spirit yet they have these verses and they
have places in the Bible that talk about and allude to you know the millennial reign of Christ
and the Jews they want that to be their inheritance they want that to be their kingdom
and they want to use the Gentiles as their cattle and as their goyim and of course that is
their mindset that is the mindset of modern-day Judaism today and I just find it
interesting how it's like these verses they're trying to apply and attach to themselves
and they killed the heir because they're afraid that he would seize on their inheritance
they wanted to seize on the inheritance themselves they didn't want it to be for Christ
and they're trying to take it for themselves but you know what the blessing of the Lord's only
going to come with those who have trusted in Christ
look at verse 21 in this chapter and this is an interesting verse thy people also shall be
all righteous well that's how you know we're not talking about the modern state of Israel
that's how you know we're not talking about the Jews of today it says notice again
also shall be all righteous every single person in Israel at this time is going to be righteous
they shall inherit the land forever the branch of my planting the work of my hands
that I may be glorified a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation
I the Lord will hasten it in his time now you you're keeping your finger in a couple places you
got that's why you got five fingers okay keep your finger here go to Romans chapter number
11 go to Romans chapter 11 did you notice though that said the people also shall be all
righteous every single person is righteous well this reminds me of Romans chapter number 11
now notice what it says in verse number 25 for I would not brethren that you should be ignorant
of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in now God is basically
putting Israel on hold for a time period to do what to graft in as many Gentiles as he possibly
can and it's loosely referred to and I believe could be referred to as the times of the
Gentiles now the times of the Gentiles has multiple definitions but I think one aspect would
just be the New Testament because the New Testament is really a time of the Gentile if you look
at the Bible you hold in your hand you'll notice something really important right after the
gospels it's the book of Romans that is the first I'm sorry we have acts but I'm just saying
Romans is basically our first epistle and of course if you go through acts where are they going
to Romans so they're going to Rome they're going to Asia they're going to all over these
Gentile places and the conclusion of the book of acts is that hey the the Jews aren't interested
they've judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life lo we go into the Gentiles hey the
Gentiles are going to receive and then it's Romans Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians
Colossians Thessalonians I mean we're just talking about Greek Greek Greek Greek we're
talking about Gentile Gentile Gentile we get into the book of Revelation it's of the seven
churches which are in Asia so you could really say that it's been the time of the Gentiles
and we haven't had you know especially after 70 AD the children of Israel or the Jews don't
even exist in any sense other than just being a dispersed populace throughout all of the world
intermingling and so you could say that we've been at a period of time where Gentiles are
coming into the fold Jesus Christ said that he had sheep of another fold that he was going to
bring in that is us Gentiles that are being brought in but there's going to be a time when
that kind of is meaning a conclusion there's a conclusion of this particular event where the
fullness of the Gentiles has been come in and when it's full what happens verse 26
and so all Israel shall be saved so after that event then all of a sudden Israel is all going
to be saved again that's significant number one there's never been a time in history where
all of Israel has been saved never been a time there's always been unsaved people mixed in
it's always been a remnant that have been saved but there will be a time when somehow physical
Israel will also be spiritual Israel at the same time there will no there won't be this
mixed multitude there won't be this chasm there won't be this some that believe and some that
don't it'll be everyone believes everyone's saved when is that going to happen in the
millennial reign of Christ and that's what we also have pictured in Isaiah chapter 60 when it
says thy people also shall be all righteous so thinking about that in Romans chapter 11
verse 26 and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion
the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob notice what's being emphasized here
that those who are of Israel have no sin that he's turned away all ungodliness why because
again in Isaiah saying thy people also shall be all righteous those of us that are saved will
never sin again we won't have that old man dragging us down with us we'll only have the new
man and we'll only desire to do that which is right and that which is good
it's like once you've had the Texas brisket you won't desire the other okay anymore and he
says in verse 27 for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins
as concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes but as touching the election
they are beloved for the father's sakes for the gifts and callings of god are without repentance
again I believe when it's talking about here as concerning the gospel they are enemies for
your sake he's just saying in general the children of Israel as a whole the Jews as a whole
are the enemies of the gospel now why would Jesus say that the Jews were the enemies of
the gospel I don't know maybe because the Bible says that the Jews killed Jesus
and what is the gospel the death burial and resurrection the only way to even have the gospel
was for the Jews to kill their messiah because the Romans weren't going to do it
the gentiles weren't going to kill Jesus pilot was trying to go out of his way not to
do anything to Jesus who was it that caused Jesus to die it was the Jews and as concerning
the gospel they're enemies in that sense and I believe you know in this chapter it's pretty
clear God's constantly glumping all of the Jews together I mean it's not just my opinion I don't
want you to turn there but first those in his chapter number two says that the Jews killed
Jesus okay he didn't make a caveat he didn't say like well not literally every single one
he said the Jews killed Jesus now again we understand that Peter didn't want Jesus to die
we understand that John wasn't consenting under the death of Jesus Christ so yeah is there
a caveat to that sure but God just speaks in that generality of hey the Jews killed Jesus
and in here in this verse when it talks about in verse 28 as concerning the gospel
they are enemies for your sakes and and here's the reality the Jews as a whole were the
enemies of the gospel they're the ones following Paul around they're the ones antagonizing
the apostles and disciples they're the ones causing the persecution when it comes to
the gospel itself and that message being delivered it says but as touching the election
they are beloved for the father's sakes you can see this dichotomy with Paul himself
why because the whole chapter starts out with that in verse one I say that have God cast
away his people God forbid you can see in verse one of chapter 10 brethren my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved you can see it in verse not I'm sorry in
chapter nine verse one through three I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also
bearing me witness and the Holy Ghost that I had great heaviness and continual sorrow in
my heart for I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen
according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and
the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises
notice he's saying look we all love the Jews Paul's Paul's saying I love Jews I love Israel
they are beloved what does it say in Romans chapter 11 verse number 28 they are beloved
for the father's sakes why does he love those people because he loves Abraham Isaac and Jacob
right he loves Abraham Isaac and Jacob so much that it just makes him default loving
their children grandchildren and their great-grandchildren I mean think about it this
way you love your kin just because they're your kin you love your brothers and your sisters
and your uncles and even if you had a bad relationship with them even if they did you
wrong even if you know you don't have the closest relationship you still just in your heart
have this like love towards that person just because of that kindred aspect and so what it's
saying is like all these people being a physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they're
beloved in that sense Paul loves them Paul wants to give the gospel Paul goes out of his
way to try and give these people the gospel even under the threat of his own life but it
doesn't say that those people are going to heaven no matter what did you not read chapter 10
verse 1 he wants them to be saved why do they have to be saved because if they don't get saved
they're going to go to hell you know what this when we read this you know what I didn't read
oh Jesus Christ is going to come back in the sky and every Christ rejecting Jew is going to
get saved magically but you know what that's the prevailing teaching in this chapter isn't it
the prevailing teaching in this chapter is that oh all of a sudden Christ is going to come in
the clouds and then just all of the Goldbergs and Weinsteins and whatever are going to drop
their shekels and believe in Christ all of a sudden but you know what that's just not in the
bible that's not what it's saying what it's saying is that coming in the future at the
millennial reign of Christ everyone that's there with Christ is saved and then what it's saying
is that when we look at physical Israel at the time that the apostle Paul's writing this epistle
those people were enemies of the gospel which we very clearly see them constantly attacking
Paul but we see a dichotomy of even though they're an enemy Paul still loves them doesn't he
just like Saul is loved David even though he's his enemy okay and we can see many people we
even see Jesus Christ you know when the young rich ruler came unto Jesus and was saying you
know what good thing shall I do that may inherit eternal life or have everlasting life the bible
says Jesus looked on him and loved him but the guy didn't get saved so you can love
somebody that's your enemy you can love someone that's you you don't like you can even love people
that are going to die and go to hell but that does not mean that they're saved just because
you love them and that's what Romans chapter 11 is saying go back and go to Isaiah chapter 60
go back to Isaiah chapter 60. I think it's good and important to cross-reference some of
these things so we get a better and clearer understanding of some of these more difficult
passages in scripture and the millennial reign is an important subject because it helps us debunk
a really misinterpreted verse in the bible Romans chapter 11 okay Romans chapter 11 is
very often misunderstood and weird applications come from it as a result but look what it said
again in verse 22 a little one shall become a thousand somehow there's going to be something
different people are going to live longer and it kind of makes me think of the beginning of the
bible I mean people were living really long ages in the beginning of scripture Methuselah
almost lived to be a thousand didn't quite I think it's 969 if I remember correctly but
he was pretty close pretty much the oldest man recorded in scripture
and we see here he's saying hey a little one shall become a thousand
also look at chapter 61 verse 5 and strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of
the aliens shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers but you shall be named the priest
of the lord men shall call you the ministers of our god you shall eat the riches of the
gentiles and in their glory shall you boast yourselves again talking about how when we're
ruling and reigning we're going to eat the best of the food we're going to have all the
we're going to have all the riches being brought unto us and of course the modern day
jew loves to apply that to himself today doesn't he you can see how this is interesting how
it's like it's talking about us but then they want to apply it to them every single time
don't they and that's why they think that they're entitled to treat people like dirt
or as inferior verse 10 I will greatly rejoice in the lord my soul shall be joyful in my
god for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the
robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decath herself I'm sorry decath himself
with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels for as the earth bringeth forth
her bud and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth so the
lord god will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations so using
this imagery of a marriage ceremony as being an image of beauty you know there is an aspect of
a marriage that's you know important to make it kind of beautiful right we talk about women
wearing the the white gown and it's a very beautiful dress and the men wearing their best
clothing and and we're taking it seriously you know we're not just acting like marriage is not
a big deal I think we should make marriage a big deal I think that men should take it seriously
you know I'm for things like the engagement ring and spending a sizable amount of money on it
because it shows commitment it shows dedication to the relationship we talk about here in this
verse about the woman she's adoring herself with her jewels that means she's got it how
did she get the jewel right well you can picture the man decorating and adorning his
bride in jewels wanting her to be beautiful well that's kind of illustrated when we think
about the millennial reign of christ as the marriage of the lamb right we have the marriage
supper of the lamb we have the bride of christ and so we're having this picture of that
marriage ceremony it continues here in chapter 62 look at verse 4 thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate but thou shalt be called
heth saba and thy land beulah for the lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be
married for as a young man marry the virgin so shall thy sons marry thee and as the bride
groom rejoices over the bride so shall thy god rejoice over thee so just in the same way
that a strong man rejoices in his bride we see god rejoicing in the bride of christ
and in the saved inheriting jerusalem and no longer is the land going to be forsaken
never again well that can't refer to their return to rebuild the second the second time
you know why because they literally destroy it later and it becomes forsaken again
okay it has the picture something else so what is that second what is it picturing another
time when it's rebuilt which would be in the millennial reign of christ look at verse 11
behold the lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world say ye to the daughter of zion
behold thy salvation cometh behold his reward is with him and his work is before him when we
enter the millennial reign we're going to be rewarded and we're not only rewarded there's work
that we're going to do um there's a lot of verses i'm not even going to go to them for
sake of time but the bible talks about when christ returns his reward is going to be with
him we're going to be rewarded at this time of the millennial reign of christ i believe that
the millennial reign of christ is what we see as the judgment seat of christ and when
people are going to be doled out those specific rewards i kind of referenced that previously
about i believe that's when we see a lot of the rewards it's possible that they've already
been doled out and we're like now getting the manifestation of them like we're now
physically receiving them but i believe that the doling out is here at the millennial reign
of christ i want to go to another few verses though go to chapter 65 and look at verse 19
the bible says and i will rejoice in druslem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying there shall be no more thence an infant
of days nor an old man that have not filled his days for the child shall die and hundred
years old but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed notice again it's
talking about this in a sense that seems different than our current state of events that's why you
know you could interpret that one verse i said earlier about a child turning a thousand like
maybe it's multiplication like children you know having lots of children or something
i think it kind of refers to age here's another verse though that seemed to clearly indicate
something about the age talking about the infant shall uh for the child i'm sorry shall die
and hundred years old and saying that there's no longer going to be an infant of days i believe
that's talking about essentially what we call sids sudden infant death syndrome where little
babies are just dying and it's unexplainable you know why we won't have a bunch of sids
because we won't have any pediatricians doling out vaccines anymore okay so we won't have all
these babies just dying for no reason okay um also it says in verse 21 and they shall build
houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them they shall
not build in another inhabit they should not plant and another eat for as the days of a tree
are the days of my people and my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands you know
trees can live to be hundreds yay even thousands of years old and so i believe he's again alluding
to the idea of how in this peaceful environment ages are going to go even further and people are
going to live longer and we see this even in the bible where even post flood just the most
righteous godly people just live a lot longer than everybody else and so there's some kind of
tie to righteousness and length of life oh yeah that's the first commandment given with promise
to honor thy father thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god
giveth thee meaning when people are actually observing the bible and actually observing god's
commandments and actually obeying mom and dad they're gonna live a lot longer that's what
the bible says you children want to live a long life do everything mom and dad says
you should obey mom and dad days are just melting off some of y'all's kids lives okay
you all need to make sure that you're doing what your mom and dad said
and being obedient children and not being rebellious because that is a promise that
god gives of having a longer life you say i want to live a long life well obey mom and dad
the bible says verse 23 they shall not labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble for
they are the seed of the blessed of the lord and their offspring with them and it shall come
to pass that before they call i will answer and while they are yet speaking i will hear
the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock
and dust shall be the serpent's meat they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountains saith the lord again this is not something that we've seen today we don't see the
lions eating straw we don't see the lamb and the wolf hanging out and being buddies
okay and so this must be a unique thing again where god's cause that where even the animals
are subject and obedient unto christ and we have a truly very peaceful
existence on the earth there's other verses we could go to let's go back to revelation
chapter 20 i believe the bible talks about even children playing with serpents and there's
no hurt they're not going to bite them they're not going to do anything under them
and so really it is going to be a great time i don't know everything about the lunar
rain i believe the bible kind of gives us a vision through a glass darkly on what that's
going to be like but that it's going to be so much better i mean basically everybody's
going to get texas brisket you know i mean it's going to be it's going to be a wonderful
time and we'll get to enjoy and we'll be enjoying even jerusalem itself
now i want to look at verse number seven the bible says and when the thousand years are
expired satan shall be loosed out of his prison so he's in hell for a thousand years
and he didn't get any better folks okay shocker people don't go to hell and get better
and notice the word it uses prison you know it's also a bad idea thinking we can lock people in
prison and they'll somehow be better when they get out that's a whole other sermon but it needs
to be preached it's it's a bad idea prison doesn't really reform people you know they
talk about the prison reform system it doesn't have good stats folks
people need to be punished according to god's punishments you know
uh being beat having to pay things back or put to death all the things that are not fixable
it's like we're going to fix it for you okay and at the end of the day if somebody stole
from me and then had to pay two or three times back you know i wouldn't be that upset
when someone stole from me in fact you might even be thinking like i hope someone steals from me
because i need some extra cash you know you're like that's not that bad a deal right you would
leave the doors unlocked you're like take it you know whatever you're not nearly as worried
about those kind of things okay and when people do things that are wrong and they get a physical
beating you know that can help cause them to reform but you know if they won't listen to
the physical beating there really isn't any other kind of reform that's what the bible emphasizes
spanking your children you know while there's hope we use that corporal punishment to teach
them a lesson but you know into a fool's back you could give him a hundred stripes
and his foolishness many times won't even depart out of him you know there's a lot of
proverbs on that and so you know some people you just can't fix but it doesn't say
lock them up in a cage and now now they're ready to go now they're going to obey now
they're going to do good you know that's just not really a very biblical concept
maybe you could argue like jonah in the whale you know he got his three days or something
like that and i think that there is a case for prison we need to have a temporary holding
spot for individuals until you know judgment is doled out but it's more like jail should exist
what we call prison today should not even exist at all we could have a temporary holding
facility called jail but what we call the the prisons of the day they should be destroyed
we shouldn't have them we don't need them it's just a way for people to make money
amen says in verse eight this is the devil and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in
the four quarters of the earth gog and magog to gather them together to battle the number of
whom is at the sand of the sea this is another sobering verse people are going to live
on the earth where christ is manifest it's not like the idea of christ it's a christ that you
could see it's a christ that you could visit it's a christ that everyone knows about
there's no question of whether christ rules or reigns and yet many people in fact the majority
is still not going to believe in him because people have this idea like oh well christ came
down from heaven then i would believe in him but that's not true because he already did that
and the jews still didn't believe in him he came unto his own and his own received him not
is what the bible says some people have this idea the wrong idea about
how people get saved and they think like they need to see something or a miracle or whatever
but someone that needs that isn't going to get saved it's simple faith in the gospel that saves
and it's not just a current thing it's a future thing it's the everlasting gospel
and the vast majority of people through free will will not choose to believe in jesus that's
a reality of free will a reality of free will is the vast majority of people will not choose
to believe in christ they allow pride to destroy them they allowed the pride of their heart to cause
them to not trust and accept the free gift of salvation and i think what's important about this
concept is once i've explained to somebody and they fully understand and grasp the concept of
the gospel there's not really anything left for me to do this is why i try not to just waste my
time on people that already have it this is why it's not important to waste my time on reprobates
because i'll explain something to you many reprobates if not almost all of them can
articulate to you exactly how to be saved they'll say hey the bible says believe
on the lord jesus christ and you go to heaven it's like you believe that no
christ could come down from heaven and they still wouldn't believe i mean you know though
one rose from the dead they still wouldn't believe they have moses and the prophets
let them hear them salvation is by faith and the sad reality is even experiencing and seeing
jesus christ will cause many people to still not even believe in them they still won't even get
it says in verse number nine and they went up on the breadth of the earth encompassed the camp
of the saints about and the beloved city and fire came down from god out of heaven and
devoured them and the devil that deceived them was cast in the lake of fire and brimstone
where the beasts of the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever
now again we have the battle of gog and magog and we have the fire from heaven and this is
taught in ezekiel chapter 38 for sake of time i'm not going to go there you can look it up
chapter 39 i referenced last week and i kind of explained a little bit about how i believe
that the battle of gog and magog explained in ezekiel is a dual purpose number one is explains
the battle of armageddon and that's the first reference because immediately after
the battle of gog and magog mentioned in ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 it talks about
men being employed for seven months to bury their bodies and to dispose of all the weapons
and and they do that for seven years i think when you talk about the weapons but it's like
maybe seven months they're burying bodies and they're just doing these things for like seven
years in totality well it's like after we've destroyed literally every single person that's
unsaved think about it we're living on the earth all the savior in jerusalem
all the unsaved gather themselves and just died from the fire from heaven what's the point
there really isn't much point anymore there was a point when we talk about
the millennial reign because not everybody was gathered at the battle of armageddon
but essentially here it's like almost everybody just all gathered together
god destroys it in one grand finale well that makes sense to then usher straight into the
great white throne judgment which is exactly how the bible describes it so i believe that
it's a dual prophecy when we use gog and magog the first time around it's armageddon we
talk about the burying we talk about all the events that are going to happen during that
first thousand years and then we have a revisit and in chapter 38 is space specifically how god's
going to destroy them with fire that comes down from heaven so you can study that if you
want to the end part of ezekiel chapter 38 but immediately after destroying them now we have
something different instead of the devil being locked into hell what happens he's thrown into
the lake of fire and it's over for him it's done well if it's done for him then again
what there's not really anything left to do right so then we're ushered into a great
white throne judgment in the great white throne judgment verse 11 i saw a great white throne
sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place
for them well that's different we're not talking like it's over right the heaven and earth are
gone there's something about them that no longer exists in some sense now it says in verse number
12 and i saw the dead small and great stand before god and the books were open and another
book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books according to their works and the sea gave up the dead which were
in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged
every man according to their works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this
is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in
lake of fire so i believe if we think about history we have essentially the garden of eden
sinless adam and eve are there they sin and bring sin into the world we go through six
thousand plus years of human history at some point christ is going to return
and he's going to pour out his wrath on the wicked of that time period and we're going to
enter into a final thousand years of human history as we kind of know it the millennial
reign of christ at the end of the thousand years there will be no longer death ever again
death will have been thrown into the lake of fire so in the million rain there's still death
and we even read in isaiah how a child shall die a hundred years old so there's still an aspect
of death but there will come a time when there is literally no more death and hell and the
lake of fire have you know been basically cast out of sight they're an outer darkness
it's kind of an interesting idea but notice again it says in verse 13 those who are unsaved
were judged every man according to their works how long does this take i have no idea but we
have a whole eternity to do it it's going to be the longest court proceeding ever
because there's some verses in the bible they talk about this it says every idle word that
man shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment in the bible
the bible talks about two different judgments one is the judgment seat of christ which is
that millennial reign time period okay but then there's another judgment called the day of
judgment and only the unsaved will be judged we don't have to be afraid of that particular
judgment go to first john chapter four i want to show you a verse there first john chapter four
but the unsaved are going to be judged according to their works everyone that didn't believe
in jesus you know what they believed in
their works there's only two ways to heaven work salvation and face salvation
and everybody who's not saved they all point to their works if you go soul winning you'll
find out in a hurry be a good person it's how you live your life it's following the
commandments it's doing right and you know what they're gonna get they're gonna get judged
according to their works those that wanted to be judged according their works
are going to get judged by their works but those of us that didn't want to be justified
by our works we want to be justified by the grace of god by the gift of salvation
given to us by jesus christ you know what we don't get judged by our works praise god
you know people might get mad at me about certain words i've used in my life
but i don't have to give an account of those okay you know i don't have all the sins
that i've committed and will commit i don't have to worry about that at that time yeah i
have to worry about it now yeah it could affect my status in the millennial reign
but you know what it won't have any impact at that day i don't have to go through the day
of judgment and in first john chapter four i want to look at verse number 17
here it is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the j of judgment because
as he is so are we in this world now of course i believe in this context it's also referring to
the fact that when you're serving god you have boldness because you're rewarded but there's also
a boldness i believe in the context of hey when we are experiencing the day of judgment we
can know hey i don't have to be judged according to my works because of what jesus
christ has done for me and that's perfect love you know and of course that makes me
appreciate what christ has done even more when i think about that because
if you were just to read my sins from just this week out loud i'll be embarrassed
the sins i committed this year i would be embarrassed the sins of my whole life i mean
let's be real most people probably can't even remember 99 of the sins they've committed in their
life most of the sins that people have committed i mean they probably don't even know i mean
hillary clinton's having a hard time keeping her list straight okay i guarantee there's so
many i mean joe biden doesn't know where he's at he certainly doesn't know where all the sins
that he's committed plus there's a lot of sins that we've committed that we didn't even
know were since i mean the bible says to cleanse me from my secret faults there's going
to be a lot of things that people have to give an account thereof that they didn't even
realize at the time there's a big motivation to get saved folks and we should be trying to
pull as many people out of this fire as possible because the bible does talk about it
i'm not trying to give away the next chapter but the bible talks about how god's gonna wipe
away all tears well there's still tears up to this point and i believe this is my personal
opinion i believe the tears that are mentioned in scripture are us looking at people that we
wish we had gotten saved when we when we look at those whom are not saved and we have to hear
about all the things that they're being judged for you know there's going to be some people
that will have mixed feelings about we're kind of like get them you know it's like
but but i don't think that's the vast majority because the vast majority of the world
that's judged we don't even know them so we wouldn't have all this like vitriol toward
that specific individual plus it's been like a thousand years we may even forget about these
people or not even care and it's just going to be sad to see these people you know being cast in
the lake of fire it's a sad affair it's not going to be a mostly joyous affair it's going
to be a mostly sad affair when you see your cousins and your brothers and your sisters and
your moms and your dads and your grandma and your grandpa and your aunts and your uncles and
your neighbor and your classmates and all these people that you could have possibly given the
gospel to and you didn't and they die and go to hell well i think catholics are saved wrong
you know i saw this post on twitter and it was just like it was ridiculous it was like
catholics are saved protestants are saved presbyterians are saved evangelicals are saved
and it was like even saying like maybe some mormons are saved and things like i was thinking like
no wrong you know that's a bad mindset and people want to think like you're mean for
thinking that catholics aren't saved no no you're mean for not giving them the gospel for
thinking they are saved you're the you're the person that has an attitude issue because you
don't want to care if someone's dying going to hell how how dare you question someone's
salvation well how dare you not question someone's salvation you know we believe in confrontational
soul winning why because we know that hell is a real place we know that the lake of fire is a real
place we know that people are going to be judged according their works and if you've gone soul
winning for any length of time you'll recognize most people aren't saved even baptists it's sad
to say but a lot of baptists aren't even saved and don't take anybody's salvation for granted
you better check every one of your children you better check your spouse you better check
your brother i don't care if you have a siamese twin you check them you make sure that every
single person in your life is saved don't take them any for granted because the sad reality is
most people just are confused on the gospel and i want you to have the least amount of tears
you know in that day and and that you know we don't have to see as many people go to hell
as as possible but rather we save as many as we can i'm not a calvinist i don't believe in this
oh everybody's gonna get saved you're just gonna get saved we don't have to worry about that no no
you worry about that we should worry about that that's our job that's why we're here and it's
cold in this room right now but it's not going to be in hell okay let's call some prayer
thank you heavenly father so much for giving us you know such a great salvation
internal salvation where we'll never go to the lake of fire we'll never go to hell we'll never
taste of death thank you that your son took that punishment for us i pray that we
would be motivated when we read the scriptures and we find out how bad hell is to talk
to our neighbors to our our loved ones our family our friends that we'd open our mouths
boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel we thank you so much for not only being
saved but also the opportunity to earn rewards and i pray that we'll be motivated not just by
the rewards but we motivated by our love for our fellow man to get them saved and to help
them to be pulled out of the fire and i pray that you would keep that that desire
in our hearts burning until we die or christ comes and in jesus name we pray amen
all right for the last song turning to song number one zero two he hideth my soul
song number one zero two
he hideth my soul
song one zero two sing it out
is
and
shout
shadows
and
oh
and
is
great singing everybody you are all dismissed