(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

There's a song in the air, there's a storm in the sky, there's a whoather's clear air, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, there's a storm in the sky, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, angels from the realms of glory, shepherds in the field of prayer, watching over for the night. God defend His land, defying all nations, right and right, God defend His land, defying all nations, right and right, Sages, people, come to patience, all your patience, people, come, Seek the great news of the nation, all the servants, the children, Come in worship, come in worship, worship the Lord. Saints before thee, come to me, come to me, come to me. God defend His land, defying all nations, right and right, God defend His land, defying all nations, right and right, All right, this time we'll go to our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high until we get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6 30, Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Luke chapter 19. We have the soul winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms across the page there. Oh, and also, if anyone needs to be baptized tonight, we are going to have the baptistry set up and we have change of clothing and towels and everything ready. So if you need to be baptized, just come see us after the service and we'll get that taken care of. Across the page, happy 12 year church anniversary to Faithful Word Baptist Church. Our church actually started on Christmas Day in 2005. So Monday was the exact 12 year anniversary. And thank you to everyone who has stuck with us over the years. Below that is the note about the Christmas cookie bake off. That ship has already sailed. We had a great time with that on Sunday and we had all the winners announced and so forth. First John Chapter five is our Bible memory passage, and the deadline to get that done is this Sunday. If you've not yet received a church yearbook on the back of the bulletin, the 2017 church yearbooks are right here by the organ in a box. So go ahead and help yourself to one of those if you don't have one yet. Or if you see one of us, we can show you where to grab them. And then also we've got the DVD sets of the post trip Bible prophecy conference that are back on the shelf back there. Everything on the back shelf, as always, is free. Normally we say take as many as you want and load up. And that is the case on everything except for the post trip conferences, just because we only have a few left on those to just take one per family on those. But everything else back there, you can load up and fill your arms full and take a bag, either paper or plastic, and take as many as you like with you. Everything's always free here. Below that is the note about the watch night service. This Sunday is New Year's Eve. We'll have our normal Sunday morning service and our normal Sunday evening service. But then after church is dismissed in the evening, you can stick around. We'll have food, games, fellowship all the way until midnight if you want to stick around for that. Please bring a dish for the potluck if you can. So if you can bring some kind of snack or meal or food to contribute to help everybody get the calories that they need to push through all the way until midnight. So that's going to be just a few days away this Sunday. And then other upcoming events listed there below. Do we have any first time visitors tonight? If it's your very first time, go ahead and stand and we'll just get your name and where you're from. Yes? I'm Jeff and this is my family. We're from Verity Baptist Church. Alright, I knew that we'd met before because I recognized you, but I couldn't remember where. Good to have you from Verity Baptist Church. Yes? I'm from Verity Baptist Church in Sweden. Alright, great to have Peter from Sweden. This is my parents, Ray Sr. and Donna. And one of my four younger sisters on the end here is 15 years old. Alright, great to have you. God bless. Yes? I found my dad in a long day and a good morning. Alright, great to have your parents here. God bless you. Anybody else here for the very first time? Alright, be sure to get to know all of our visitors after the service. And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song. We're going to sing off these Christmas sheets here. If you don't have a Christmas sheet, then do we have any extra Christmas sheets? Try to get one from someone around you. If you have an extra Christmas sheet, pass it down. We're a little lean on the Christmas sheets. And we're going to sing Angels We Have Heard on High. Or some of you that are really high tech could probably pull it up on your smartphone. The lyrics online within seconds. So let's sing it out on the first verse. Angels We Have Heard on High. Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Shepherds why this jubilee Why your joyous strains prolong What the glad songs tidings be Which inspire your heavenly song Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Come to Bethlehem and sing Him whose birth the angels sing Commodore on bended knee Christ the Lord the newborn King Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo See within a manger laid Jesus Lord of heaven and earth Mary Joseph led your aid He was your Savior's birth Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles tonight to Luke chapter 19. And actually, let's go ahead and count up the soul winning while we're passing the offering plates around. Let's keep the plates going around and check on the soul winning numbers. So going back to Monday, anything from Monday, Christmas Day, any soul winning? You guys had a group with six with the McPhails, alright. Anything else for Monday? How about Tuesday? Anything from Tuesday? Brother Shelley, anything? Nope, okay. There was one? Okay, one for 5.30, okay. Anything else from Tuesday? And then how about today? I know the church band had a total of four. Anything outside of the church band? One additional over here. Four for Brother Segura's group. Alright, anything else from today? Alright, keep up the great work on soul winning. At this time, Brother Jesse will come and read Luke chapter 19. Follow along silently as he reads. Luke chapter number 19. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be guests with the man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said, Therefore a certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in it very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in a napkin, for I fear thee, because thou art an austere man, thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he said unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury. And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. For I say unto you, Unto every one which shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies which would not, that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. And when he had thus spoken, he went before ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphagee and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you. In the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat. Loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, Why do you loose him? Thus shall you say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosening the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose thee the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to hear him. Brother Kevin, will you pray for us, please? Again, Luke chapter number 19, the Bible reads in verse number 1, And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. Now that's a pretty interesting story, because it's not often that a rich man receives Christ. And so this is noteworthy, but what we need to learn from this is that even though it's very difficult for a rich man to be saved, because it's difficult for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God, and even though the Bible says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved, we need to remember that right after that Jesus said, but with God all things are possible. With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So it is very rare that a rich person would get saved, but sometimes it does happen. This is one of those rare cases where a man, who not only he's a rich man, but he became rich through dishonest gain. Through dishonest gain. He's a chief of the publicans. So he's not out working an honest living to make money, he's working as a publican, he's a government extortioner, and not only that, he even admits a few verses later that he's been ripping people off. It says in verse 6, he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. He received Jesus joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be guests with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. So everybody that he's ripped off and lied and said that they owed money when they didn't, he's going to give back fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation, come to this house, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. So there are a few other things that we can learn from this passage. First of all, we can see right there that Christ's purpose was to seek and to save that which was lost. And that's why he came into this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. He went around spending his ministry doing just that. And we should be doing the same thing, going out and seeking and saving the lost. Notice he didn't wait for the lost to come to him. He went out looking for them, seeking and saving the lost. And that's why the Great Commission starts with the word go. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. That's why the part of the armor of God that has to do with preaching the gospel goes on the feet. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace because we are to take the gospel to them. So it says the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The next thing that we see here is that this guy, by being a son of Abraham, that's not enough for him to be saved. He's still completely lost. And remember this is what John the Baptist preached. Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid under the root of the tree. Therefore every tree which bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And so being a son of Abraham is not enough to get him into heaven. He still needed to be saved. And the Bible said that that day salvation came to his house. Now you'll notice here that when this guy got saved there was a dramatic change in this man right away. Just an outward thing that everybody could just see. Whoa! Here's a guy who's loved money. His life has been characterized by the love of money. He's a rich man. He's ripped people off. He's a publican. Everybody when they see Jesus even going there is surprised that he would even eat at this guy's house. Let alone that Jesus even sought this guy out and said, you know, I must go to your house today. He chose him out. I mean he's up in the tree. He probably didn't even think Jesus would notice him up there. But he picks that guy. Now why did Jesus pick him? Well it could be that Jesus just knew that this guy was ripe unto harvest and that this guy was ready to get saved. But it also could have been the fact that Jesus just liked the fact that the guy went up into the tree. Because the guy is showing that he really desired to know the truth. And the Bible tells us that if we ask, we shall receive. If we seek, we shall find. If we knock, the door shall be opened unto us. And so if people really want to know the truth, God will reveal the truth to them. And so I think because this guy had such a desire to see Christ and to hear the word of God, that he was willing to climb a tree which could have been embarrassing for him. Especially he's a rich man and especially because he's short and he probably felt a little silly having to climb up a tree to see Jesus. But you know Jesus saw that dedication and said, well hey, I'm going to go eat at this guy's house. If he wants to see me that bad, let's talk. And of course Jesus preached to him and so forth. We don't have the record of everything that was said. But what we do see is this dramatic change in Zacchaeus where everybody must have marveled that this great sinner that they've known is all of a sudden now just right away just giving half of his goods to the poor immediately. Taking half of his riches and just giving it to the poor. And then turning around and saying, hey anybody that I've done wrong, I'm going to pay back four fold. Now that's pretty exciting. Now this is what should happen and this is where we need to make sure that we don't get off into false doctrine. This is what should happen when somebody gets saved, right? I mean it's great if somebody gets saved and we can just witness this dramatic change in their life because all of a sudden they start walking in the spirit and they start mortifying the flesh. But where the false doctrine comes in is where people teach that this is always going to happen when somebody gets saved. And that is just simply not true. This is not always going to happen when someone gets saved. Because some people when they get saved, you'll see this kind of a dramatic change in their life and it's exciting. And it's a great testimony to everyone around. And ideally this is what should always be happening. But because human beings are sinners, often this is not going to be the case when someone gets saved. I've known personally many situations where someone got saved and for years their life didn't hardly change at all. You wouldn't even notice a change. And then sometimes years later, they'll get in church and things will start to change. Because the only way that you're going to change is if you walk in the spirit. You see, when you get saved, yes, God creates a new creature. Your spirit is quickened. And the Bible says if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. But notice the word all. All things are become new. Old things are passed away, all things are become new. If I had a nickel for every time somebody told me, well that verse says there's going to be some change. Then I'd be as rich as Zacchaeus right now. Because they say, see, there's got to be some change. That verse doesn't say some change. That verse says all things are become new. So if this were talking about our life, then that would mean that every time somebody gets saved, they would just start living a perfect life. Because all things would become new. I mean they would just be living. And we know that that's not the case. From both scripture and from all the experiences that we've seen in our life to the contrary. So what that's talking about is the new man. God creates a brand new creature known in the Bible as the new man or the inward man, the spiritual man. And the new man is without sin. He cannot sin. He's born of God. And so there is a new Steven Anderson that was created the day that I got saved. The spirit, the resurrected spiritual man, the new man, the inward man. But the old Steven Anderson is still there also. This is known as the flesh. So I can either choose to walk in the flesh or walk in the spirit. If I walk in the flesh, I'm going to be exactly the same as I was before I was saved. Because God does not change the old man. He creates a new man. He does not reform and change the old man. The old man is the same as he was before you were saved. That's why we have to put off the old man and his deeds. That's why we have to walk in the spirit so that we do not obey the lust of the flesh. The Bible says that now that we're saved, the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these two are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. So if a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, two things immediately happen. Number one, their spirit is quickened and a new creature is created, a new man inside of them. And then the second thing that happens is the Holy Ghost comes in and dwells within them. Those are two separate things that happen to them when they get saved. Now, if that person doesn't go to church, doesn't read their Bible, doesn't sing the hymns, and doesn't spend time praying to the Lord, you think they're walking in the spirit or the flesh. They're going to be walking in the flesh. If that person just gets up the next morning and instead of reading their Bible, they turn on the TV. And next Sunday, instead of going to church, they go out with friends, with their unsaved buddies to the lake. Obviously, you're not going to see a dramatic change in that person if they just keep continuing to walk in the flesh. You're only going to see a change when they start to walk in the spirit. You'll see a dramatic change at that point. And it's up to that person each day to choose to walk in the spirit. You know, Paul said, I die daily. Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So, I've seen a lot of situations where a person will get saved, but they'll just continue to walk in the flesh. And so, there won't be some big outward change. Now, things have changed on the inside because we've got the new creature in there now, and we've got the Holy Spirit living inside them now. But, you won't see an outward change if they're continuing to walk as the old man. But then, a lot of times that person may be, let's say in the case of Pastor Donnie Romero. He talks about how he was led to the Lord through door-to-door soul winning, but it was four years that went by before he got in church. Now, during that four years, he continued pretty much on the same path that he was on before, but he knew that he was saved. He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and of course, he's going to be different on the inside. He'll not feel the same way about his sins. He's probably not going to enjoy sinning as much, and there's going to be more of a conscience there, and God's Spirit is going to be working on him. But, it was four years before he got in church. Now, once he got in church, that's where his life started to change more dramatically, because now he's walking in the Spirit. Now, he's getting some spiritual meat, some spiritual food. Same thing with Pastor Dave Berzins. He got saved, and it was nine years before he started coming to our church. And when he started coming to our church, he'd already been saved for nine years, but he was living a sinful life. But, he came to our church, he got baptized, because he hadn't even gotten baptized. He'd been saved, but never got baptized. He got baptized at our church, and within just a few weeks at our church, he started making major changes in his life. He started going out soul-winning, he cleaned up his life, and just a dramatic change there. So, you can't always just expect that change to be immediate. Now, when it's immediate, so much the better, like a Zacchaeus type of a conversion. But, not every person who gets saved is going to be a Zacchaeus. And you know what's so funny about this? Is that the people that would point to this and say, that's what salvation looks like. If you look at their life, they're no Zacchaeus. You know what I mean? I don't see them selling half their stuff and giving it to the poor. You know, oh, you know, there's got to be a change, buddy. Right, but if we were to start scrutinizing their life, I'll bet you we could find a lot of sin in it. You know, if you scrutinize anybody's life, you're going to find a lot of sin in it. Amen? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not, the Bible says. So, you know, but especially these prideful types that would say, well, you know, they're not saved unless they're dramatically different. You know, they got to quit drinking and quit smoking and quit. You know, but what about their sins, right? Not everybody has the same sins. The Bible says, some men's sins are opened beforehand going before the judgment. And some men, they follow after. Likewise, also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. So the Bible tells us that, you know, some sins are more open than others and some good deeds are more open than others. But we don't really necessarily know. And we can look at certain people and we see them smoking the cigarette and we see right away, OK, that guy's got a problem there, right? But what about other sins that could be just as bad, just as damaging, worse even, that are not as public? So what we need to do is just take the Bible's word for it that everybody's a sinner. And understand that everybody's at a different stage of growth. Those who are saved are not all going to be a Zacchaeus. You know, if everybody who got saved were a Zacchaeus, this whole world would be evangelized. You wouldn't have any trouble getting all the saved Christians out so many. If everybody who's saved experiences this dramatic change, then how come most churches can hardly get anybody to go out so many? Wouldn't they just be ready to just pick up the cross and follow Jesus? Because if Jesus said, if you follow me, I'll make you fishers of men, that tells me that anybody who follows Jesus is a fisher of men. So if somebody's not a fisher of men, somebody doesn't lead anyone to the Lord, they're not going soul-winning, but then they're going to talk about, oh, there's got to be a change. Well, how about a change in you, buddy? Why don't you change your laziness, your lack of soul-winning? Why don't you change your dead-as-a-door-nail Christianity? And while we're at it, let's start picking apart all the sins in your life, buddy. And I'm sure we can find a bunch. So be careful that you don't misunderstand this passage. It's a great passage about what God can do and how God can turn somebody's life around and make a dramatic change. Even a rich man can be saved and have a dramatic change. Just don't take it too far where you start saying, hey, I'm going to expect this of everybody that gets saved. Well, start by expecting it of yourself and then we'll talk, right? So we don't want to misconstrue that story. But, you know, when my wife got saved, she was one who had a big change right away. You know, she got saved and it was just a big change right away. But why is that? Because I was right there and we weren't married at the time, obviously, but this is before we were married. But I was right there when she got saved to say, all right, now you read the Bible, you know, and to walk her through that and to disciple her and to ask her, hey, did you read your Bible today? And all right, now we're going to go to church. And so I was there preaching her ear off every day and, you know, having her read the Bible, taking her to church. So, yeah, of course there was a dramatic change in her life where she went back to Germany and everybody was just blown away like she's just a completely different person. But that's because of discipleship. Okay. But not every person, you say, well, why don't we just disciple everybody like that? Because not everybody is willing to be discipled like that. You know, you can take the horse to the water but you can't make him drink. And you can get a guy saved and say, okay, discipleship is tonight at seven at 2741 West Southern Avenue, 7 p.m. All right, let's go to church. It doesn't mean that he's going to go to church. You know, the person has to want to be discipled. They have to want to grow and maybe it'll be years from now. So don't get discouraged if you win somebody the Lord and they don't really seem to change much. You know, you don't know, maybe four years from now, maybe nine years from now, that person will change dramatically. You don't know. So, you know, and either way, even if they never change, they're still saved because the new man's in there somewhere. Amen. But let's go ahead and continue in the chapter here. It says in verse 11, and as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable. Now, when you see that first phrase there, that tells you that God's trying to connect what we just heard with what we're about to hear, right? Because he uses the wording, as they heard these things, he added. So he's adding something to what he just finished saying, right? And what he just finished saying was that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And he also just finished mentioning that this guy also is a son of Abraham being Zacchaeus. Elsewhere, Christ said that he came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which is exactly what Zacchaeus was. Now, let's get into this parable. Why else is he telling the parable? He added it, as they heard these things, for a couple of reasons. Look what it says in verse 11. Because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. Now, parables can often be difficult to understand, and so we've got to make sure that whatever clues God gives us, we should use those clues, right? Because a lot of people, they misunderstand parables, and they get mixed up into false doctrine. So we should always let the Bible tell us what the parables mean. Because the Bible says in Proverbs that as a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. So we want to make sure that we use wisdom interpreting parables. Now, right here, God's doing us a favor by giving us these wonderful clues as to what this parable is about. Hey, I'm giving this parable for two reasons. Number one, because I'm near Jerusalem, right? So we've got to keep that in mind. And number two, because these people think that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. So those are the two things he's dealing with in this parable. Everybody got it? Now let's read the parable. He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, be thou also over five cities. And another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee because thou art an austere man. Thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest thou not my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury. And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. For I say unto you that unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. Now let's dig into the interpretation of this parable. Let's understand this parable. Keep your finger here in Luke. Flip over to Mark 13. Flip over to Mark 13. Mark chapter 13, and we can get a little more insight into this parable from Mark chapter 13. Look what the Bible says in verse 34 of Mark 13. The Bible says, For the Son of Man. Who's the Son of Man? Jesus. That's what he calls himself over and over again. He calls himself that in this chapter and numerous times throughout the New Testament. It's one of the most common ways that he refers to himself. For the Son of Man is as a man, taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for you know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crawling, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. Now right there we see that the man who goes off into a far country is who? It's Jesus, right? Now look at Luke chapter 19. It says in verse 12, He said, Therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. So this is obviously who? It's obviously Jesus Christ is the one who's going to go off into a far country, which is what? Heaven. And then he's going to return. This is about the second coming of Christ. He flat out tells us in Mark 13 it's the Son of Man. Here it's pretty obvious that it's him. So let's stop and look at this carefully. They thought that the kingdom of God was immediately going to appear, which is not true. What's going to happen first? First Jesus Christ had to be rejected of that generation. He had to die on the cross, be buried, rise again, and then go off into a far country, not to return for a long time. So he's basically going to ascend up into heaven, be seated at the right hand of the Father, and thousands of years are going to go by before this kingdom is going to come at the second coming of Jesus Christ. So that makes sense, doesn't it, when he said, hey, he told them this parable because they thought that the kingdom of God would immediately appear. What about being near to Jerusalem? There's some significance in, hey, I think I'm going to tell this parable because I'm near Jerusalem, probably because this parable is going to deal heavily with the Jews. Why? Because the concentration of the Jews is in Judea, and most notably at Jerusalem. Jesus Christ was from Galilee. He did a lot of his great works in Galilee. He preached in Galilee of the Gentiles. There are a lot of Jews up there as well, himself included. But when he's in Jerusalem, he's at the headquarters of Jewry here. And it even talked about how Jesus at certain times in his ministry would not walk in Jewry. That's J-E-W-R-Y. He would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. So instead of being in Judea, he'd go somewhere like Nazareth or be somewhere else, like Galilee. So he's right there in Jewry near Jerusalem. That's when he decides to pull out this parable. So this parable must have something to do with the Jews. Now stop and think about this. He goes off into a far country to receive a kingdom. He called his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto them, Occupy till I come. Now the word Occupy is where we get our word occupation, which is your job. It's what you do for a living. So he's giving them their work to do, and that's very similar to what he had said over in Mark chapter 13 as well. So basically Christ ascended up into heaven and he left his servants with work to do. Right? Now look at the next verse. It says, But, verse 14, his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. Now who are his citizens? These should be the people that are his people, his nationality, his citizens. They hated him and said, We will not have this man to rule over us. Now it's pretty obvious who those people are. It's the Jews. That's why he's telling this parable near Jerusalem. The Bible says he came unto his own and his own received him not. The Jews by and large shouted, Crucify him. What did Pilate say? Shall I crucify your king? What did they say? We have no king but Caesar. I'm free from the blood of this just person. His blood be on us and on our children. Now if that's not hate, I don't know what is. Screaming, Crucify him. Crucify him. His blood be on us and on our children. That's hatred. The Jews rejected Christ and they hated Christ. They killed him. Okay, so this all makes perfect sense, right? And you say, I don't agree with this. You know what? You have some kind of a weird preconceived idea then because this is not up to this point. This parable is pretty simple. Any logical person would interpret it this way in light of comparing scripture with scripture. Some people just have this attitude where the Jews can do no wrong. But they did scream, crucify him. They did say his blood be on us and on our children. They did say we have no king but Caesar. And even when they put on the sign, the king of the Jews, they said, well, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said I'm the king of the Jews. And Pilate said, what I've written, I've written. And he put it there in three languages for everybody to see. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. So, his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. Now, if we pay close attention to this verse, we see that this is even after he's gone. He's already gone into the far country because the Bible says his citizens hated him and sent a message after him. What does after him mean? He already left. So, Christ has already ascended to heaven and they're sending a message after him. We will not have this man to reign over us. He is not our king. So, it's not like, oh, that was just before he died on the cross, but now they love him. You know, now that he's gone, now that they've seen the resurrection, now that the apostles are preaching. Now, as the apostles continued to preach, obviously there were Jews who got saved. There were many Jews who got saved, but the vast majority continued to reject Jesus Christ, right? And they said, hey, we're shaking the dust off our feet and we're going to the Gentiles. That's what Paul said. Many of the other apostles just kept beating their head against the wall trying to reach the Jews, even though Christ was telling them to go into all nations. Many of the apostles were stuck on that, but the apostle Paul got it right. And he went to the Gentiles. He, you know, he kept falling back into this thing of, oh, I got to go back to Jerusalem, though. And the Holy Ghost told him not to do it. You know, he was supposed to be going and teaching all nations, preaching the gospel to everyone. We will not have this man to reign over us. Now, it's pretty easy to see that that's the case today. That the vast majority of Jews not only reject the Lord Jesus Christ, but they also hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not receptive to the gospel. When you knock on their door, they don't listen to the gospel 99% of the time. Now, I've been blessed to be able to win a couple of Jews to the Lord over the last 19 years that I've been consistently soul winning. But out of 19 years of soul winning? Two. Okay. How many Jehovah's Witnesses have I won to the Lord? More than that. How many Mormons? More than that. How many Lutherans? More than that. How many Catholics? More than that. How many Muslims? More than that. They're very difficult. And usually, like for example, Muslims are pretty hard to get saved, but usually a Muslim will listen to the gospel. They just probably won't get saved the first time they hear it. Okay. Hindus are very difficult to get saved, but they will often listen to the gospel. And I've had more Hindus saved, even, than the Jews. The Jews are a pretty tough nut to crack when it comes to the gospel. But, you know, just like Zacchaeus showed that a rich man could be saved, there are Jews that will get saved. It's just a very small percentage that will get saved. But by and large, this is descriptive of his citizens all the way from the Book of Acts, where they were constantly persecuting the apostles, all the way until now that they hated him. I mean, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says that of the Jews, it says, or let's go ahead and turn there because I'm having a brain freeze up here. I'm just going to quote it to you, but let's go and just look at it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says, For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men. I mean, is he making a point here or what? This is a list. They killed Jesus. They killed their own prophets. They persecuted us. Oh, but they please God, right? No, they don't please God. They please not God. Well, certainly, maybe they just don't get along with you. Certainly, there's somebody that they get along with. No, they're contrary to all men. Well, certainly, they must get along with someone. No, no, no, they're contrary to all men. And, well, but, you know, they're minding their own business at least, right? No, no, no, they're forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. To fill up their sins always. Yeah, but, I mean, they're still under the blessing of God, right? For the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. The wrath is on them. What's wrath? Extreme anger. Wrath is intense anger. The wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. So, that makes sense. Everything's making sense in our parable here in Luke 19, isn't it? His citizens hated him. Back to Luke 19. And sent a message after him, after he's already gone, after he's already ascended to heaven. We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants. Now, who were the servants? The servants were not the ones who said, we will not have this man to reign over us. He told the servants, his followers, he told them, occupy till I come, right? The ten servants. That represents, basically, people that are at least claiming to be his servants. Now, one of them's not serving him, but these are the people that are at least showing up for duty and claiming to be his servants. Whereas the citizens are not his servants at all. These are people that hate him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And it's specifically the Jews, because that's the citizens of where Jesus was from. So, he commanded that the servants be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. So, in the parable, it's a guy who gives them money, and he wants them to trade the money and turn it into more money, like an investment broker would do, and turn it into more money. Now, obviously, a parable is an earthly story that has a heavenly meaning here. So, in the, you know, obviously, God didn't give us money. He didn't meet up with the disciples in Matthew 28 and start handing out money. Saying like, alright guys, when I return in a few thousand years, there better be more money than when I left. Now, I think that maybe that's what Kenneth Copeland interpreted it as, but that's not what happened. Maybe Joel Osteen might have got that memo, you know, from the devil. But, he didn't give out money and say, hey, let's have more money when we get back. You know, what does that represent, the talents or the money? You know, God is giving them something, and he wants them to take what they've been given and multiply. What he actually entrusted us with, if you study the New Testament over and over again, that language is used, that we've been put in trust with the gospel. He's entrusted to us the gospel. He's entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what he's committed unto us. The gospel and the ministry of reconciliation. We're supposed to take that gospel and take that ministry of reconciliation or reaching people with the gospel, and we're supposed to multiply that. So that basically, we get the gospel, and we turn around and get that gospel out to a hundred people. And we get that out to thousands of people, and we get that out to tens of thousands, and we let it multiply. Because the kingdom of heaven is like the mustard seed that grows into a great tree and all the fowl of the heaven lodged in the branches thereof. So, that's what this represents here. It's talking about what did they do with the gospel? What did they do with that trust that they were given? Now, we're going to come back to that, but let's realize the timing. It came to pass that when he was returned, so if we pay close attention, was returned, this implies that it's not the second that he returned or the minute that he returned. It doesn't say when he returned, it says when he was returned. Does everybody see the difference there? Meaning like, okay, he's already gotten back. After he's already gotten back, then he calls the servants to him and says, okay, what have you done with what I gave you? And then he rewards them, and the rewards are being put in authority over cities. So, you know, because these are the citizens of a country, and the servants there are given authority to reign in that region in the parable. So, you know, be thou over ten cities, be thou over five cities, et cetera. Okay. Now, we're going to come back to that, but let's just jump down to the very end while we're on the subject of the Jews, the citizens. Because he kind of forgets about them for ten verses, and then he brings them out at the end again. And at the very end, he pulls this out in verse 27. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. Okay. Does everybody get that? So, Jesus Christ leaves this earth. The citizens of the country hated him and said, we won't have this man to reign over us. It's the Jews that rejected him and don't want him to reign over them. Okay. When he returns, he rewards his servants, and then he says, all right, now bring those citizens, the ones that hated me, the ones from verse number 14. He says, now bring them hither and kill them in my presence. Slay them before me. Now, here's what's interesting about that. Your common teaching out there amongst independent Baptists is going to be a teaching that the Jews are God's chosen people. How dare you say the Jews killed Jesus? How dare you say that the wrath of God is on them? If we bless them, God will bless us. If we curse them, God will curse us. They're the seed of Abraham. All nations are blessed through them, and the land belongs to them. It's an unconditional promise to Abraham, which is all false doctrine. And all you got to do is watch that DVD, Marching to Zion, and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself that shall be preached at another time. But that's a typical belief. Well, from that crowd, okay, that has this belief that the Jews are still God's chosen people, and God's not done with the Jews, and they're still blessed, and they're still God's people, which is totally contrary to the whole New Testament, but that's what they believe. They have a belief that says, well, when Christ comes back, they're all going to get saved. That's what they teach. They teach that when Christ comes back, they're all going to get saved. And what they're doing is they're taking a verse from Romans 11 and taking it out of context. There's a verse in Romans 11 that says, all Israel shall be saved. Okay, so they're saying, see right there, all Israel, the nation over in the Middle East filled with white people, is going to be saved. Here's the problem with that. If you actually look at that scripture, the timing of when all Israel is saved is at the beginning of the millennium. Okay, not only that, it says that it's until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, which that time begins at the midpoint of the Daniel 70th week, then Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot for 42 months until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Okay, so the times of the Gentiles from the midpoint to the end of Daniel 70th week ends at the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ. Maybe I'm going a little deep here for tonight's sermon, but the point is that if you study Romans 11, the timing is crystal clear of when all Israel will be saved. It's the beginning of the millennium. There are about three different ways to prove that any way you slice it. That's when that happens. But secondly, you have to take the context of chapters 9, 10, and 11 together, which form sort of a trilogy of chapters, and what does he say in chapter 9? They're not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are of the seed of Abraham are they all children. So he starts out right away in Romans 9, 6 telling us, well everybody's not Israel who's of Israel, meaning the physical descendants. He explains that very clearly in chapter 9, that those who are not saved are not of Israel. Then even in chapter 11 itself, he says, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest are blinded. So the only people of Israel that are the people of God are the election, those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're the chosen, they're the elect. Why? Because they believed on Christ. Okay, so those who believe on Christ are saved. Now look, when Jesus said, hey bring my enemies and slay them, the ones who hated me. Look, whatever citizens in that country that didn't hate him, they're not being slaughtered. Okay, so Jews who received Christ, they're saved. They're God's people. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the Christ rejecting Jews, which is 99% of so-called Jews today. Over 99%. So what we see is that they're twisting Romans 11, taking it out of context. They don't want to talk about chapter 11 verse 7, which says that the elect is different than Israel, which shows that Israel is not the chosen. Okay, they don't want to talk about Romans 9, 6, which says they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. It's the spiritual seed, not the physical seed. But they just rip this verse out of context saying, well all Israel shall be saved. And they think that when Christ returns, that basically, what's this guy who just got exposed in Hollywood? Weinstein? Harvey Weinstein? They think that when Christ comes and clouds Harvey Weinstein, right? And David Lee Roth and William Shatner and Jeff Goldblum and Steven Spielberg and Adam Sandler are going to look up and say, oh we were so wrong. And they're going to get saved. Because the Jews require a sign. But what the Bible actually says in context is that the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. And you know what Jesus told the Jews when they required of him a sign? He said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The only sign the Jews need is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And if they won't accept that, God's not going to give them some special sign so that Adam Sandler can get saved after all. And you say, well you're just picking the most wicked possible Jews. No, that's the way most Jews are. And I'm not saying that there aren't good people that are Jews, and I'm not saying that there aren't saved Christians that are Jews. But in general, the Jews are one of the most wicked nations on the planet. And they have been known as that for a very long time. Oh, you're anti-Semitic? Hey, it's true. It's a fact that they are behind the pornography industry, that they are behind Hollywood, that they run the media. Look, you don't even have to be a Christian or read the Bible to know that. Even anyone in Hollywood will tell you that Hollywood is run by Jews and homos. That's what they'll tell you. We've talked to them. We're working on our movies and we use different people in Hollywood to provide certain technical skills and so forth. They said we can't work with you because everybody in Hollywood is either a Jew or a homo and you've offended both. And you know what? Hollywood is as wicked as hell. Hollywood is perverting not just America but the whole world. And who runs it? The Jews. Who runs the banking industry? The Jews. Who runs the pornography? The human trafficking? The prostitution rings in Los Angeles, California. It's the Jews. You say, well, how dare you? Well, look, the Bible says the wrath of God is on them. The Bible says they hate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why would it surprise you that they would be behind a lot of this wickedness? But if you say that, you know, you're not politically correct or something like that. You're a racist. How can I be racist when I'm white and they're white? We're both white people. Those Jews are as white as snow. They have red-haired freckles. You know, but it's like, oh, you're racist. It's not a race. It's a religion. Sorry, Adolf Hitler. Hitler said it's a race. No, wrong, Hitler. It's a religion. It's not a race. That's a false doctrine. You say, oh, you're like Hitler. Hey, Hitler was a Darwinian evolutionist. For him it was about race. He's not a Christian. Even if publicly he said, God bless Germany, like George Bush or somebody would say, God bless America. If you read his private writings, he hated Christianity. He despised Christianity. He said, I wish we were Muslims. We would have already won the war by now if we were Muslim. He said, Christianity is holding us back. He said that Christianity had held Europe back for thousands of years and that we would have progressed more without it. OK, so he hated Christianity. And the point is that he's the one who put this idea in everybody's head that it's a race. And it's like, why are we listening to him tell us that the Jews are a race? The Bible doesn't teach it's a race. The Bible says it's a religion. That's why it says in Esther chapter 8, many of the people became Jews. How do you become a race? They became Jews. OK, the fear of the Jews fell upon them and they became Jews. They converted to a religion is what that's saying. So this religion is a Christ rejecting, wicked religion. These people are some of the most ungodly, wicked pornographers, just wicked deceivers, financiers of all manner of wickedness and so forth. And so they hated the Lord and when Christ returns, they're not all going to just get saved. You say, well, a lot of them are going to die in the tribulation. That's true. A lot of people of all nations are going to die in the tribulation, right? You say, well, a lot of them are going to die when God pours out his wrath on this earth. Well, that's true. I mean, a lot of people are going to die during that time, but especially Jews will die because the Bible talks about there being a special wrath on Jerusalem at that time in Luke 21. But the Jews who survive, the Christ rejecting Jews, listen to this now. This is what the Bible says. The Christ rejecting Jews who survive the tribulation and survive the wrath of God, when we get to the judgment seat of Christ on this earth, they're all going to be killed. That's what it says right here. What's it going to say? Bring them and slay them before me. Slay them before me. That's what's going to happen. So that's going to be a little disappointment for the independent Baptist dispensationalists who are expecting all the Jews to be saved. You know why it says all Israel shall be saved? It's because all the unsaved ones are going to be dead. And then at that point, all Israel shall be saved. You're going to look at Israel and every single person will be saved. And the Bible says that at that time in the resurrection, that the 12 apostles of the Lamb will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. But those are going to be the saved Israelites, the ones who believe in Jesus, most of whom are going to have been resurrected from the dead. Because that's why it says in the regeneration, in the resurrection, they'll sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes. And by the way, there's not 12 tribes over there. There's one 13th tribe over there, the Ashkenazi tribe, the white tribe. And by the way, the Jews left Palestine brown and they came back white. Alright, so the point is that this verse is just yet another piece of evidence that tells us that in the end times, the Jews are not all going to come flocking to Christ. It's just more evidence that he's done with them because he even says, even at his return, he says, Bring those men that hated me and didn't want me to rule over them. Bring those my citizens that hated me and rejected me and slay them before me. Now, let's talk more about that. And this is a deep subject, so I want to do the best I can to cover it. At this time, known as the judgment seat of Christ, there's a lot of misconceptions about this. The Bible's pretty clear about when the judgment seat of Christ takes place. According to this passage, when does the judgment seat of Christ take place? According to this, that it's when Jesus was returned having received the kingdom. That's when he starts rewarding the servants. Isn't that what it says? So what does that mean? Christ returns to this earth, sets up his millennial kingdom, and then having received the kingdom, he begins to reward the servants. That's what this says. Let's see if that jives with the book of Revelation. Go to Revelation chapter 11 and let's see if that jives. See, once you actually start just reading the Bible and taking it for what it says, it's very consistent and very easy to understand. A lot of the reason why people struggle to understand the book of Revelation, they just can't get these preconceived ideas out of their head. They just have a certain idea and they just get stuck on it and then they can't see how consistent the Bible is. Revelation 11 gives the same timing for the judgment seat of Christ as Luke 19 does. The Bible says in verse number 15, this is the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world were in chapter 11 verse 15 of Revelation. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Now let me ask him, has he received his kingdom? Yeah. So it says right there, okay, he just received his kingdom. Now that the seventh trumpet has sounded, he's received his kingdom. Now look at verse 18. And the nations were angry and thy wrath has come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints and then that fear thy name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. So, what is the Bible saying? After Christ receives the kingdom, now the time has come to reward his servants. Isn't that exactly what it said in Luke 19? Okay, but here's the typical pre-trib Zionist dispensational teaching. There's what they say. You know, that Christ is going to return at any moment for the rapture and all the Christians are going to disappear. It's going to be a pile of clothes. And when you get up to heaven, up in heaven is going to be the marriage supper of the Lamb and the judgment seat of Christ. That's what they claim. Seven year marriage supper of the Lamb and the judgment seat of Christ can take place up in heaven, right? And then it's all, all the rewards are doled out up there. It's where all the rewards are doled out. And then we all come back on the white horses and reign with Christ. Okay, but that is not what the Bible teaches. First of all, the Bible is crystal clear when the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place and it's Revelation 19 after we come on the white horses. We come on the white horses and the marriage supper of the Lamb is on this earth at the beginning of the millennium. The Bible is also crystal clear about when the judgment seat of Christ is going to take place and it's after Revelation 19, after we come on the white horses and it's on this earth. Okay, go to Matthew 25. It doesn't matter what scripture you look up. It all is going to say the same thing, folks. It all gives that same timeline. So where did this timeline come from of, oh well, you know, we're caught up early and then we get our rewards up there. No, wrong. The Bible says that the rewards are doled out after Christ has returned and has received the kingdom. It's what Luke 19 said. It's what Revelation 11 taught. Matthew 25 says the same thing, and I got to hurry because I'm running out of time, but it says in verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come, this is Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats. Does everybody see that? So Christ returns to the earth, sets up his kingdom, sits on the throne of his glory, and all nations are gathered before them. And what does he do with the nation known as the Jews? Slay them before me. Why? They're of the goats in this story, according to Luke 19, which makes perfect sense. So they're in for a real rude awakening there. Go back if you would to Luke 19. So this makes perfect sense because if you think about it, when Christ receives his kingdom, the Bible says the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. So right now we have all these nations of this earth, but Jesus Christ is going to rule over all of them. Now think about this. That's going to take some organization for Jesus to rule the whole earth from Jerusalem. He's going to have to have a lot of authority delegated to a lot of different people, right? There's going to have to be layers of government, you know, rulers of tens, rulers of hundreds, rulers of thousands. So it makes sense that when Jesus Christ wins that battle of Armageddon, sets up the throne of his glory, sets up his kingdom, wouldn't it make sense that the next step is, okay, let's organize the kingdom now. Let's put different people in charge. So that's where the Christians who've been faithful and done a lot are going to be put over a lot of cities, and the Christians who did nothing, their works are wood, hay, and stubble. You know, they shall be saved, yet so is by fire, and they don't get those rewards. They're going to lose rewards. Okay, so what are the rewards? The rewards are that during the millennium, those who served the Lord the most faithfully are going to have the highest ranking positions ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ. They'll be over ten cities. I believe that's even literal. Be thou over ten cities. Be thou over five cities. Be thou over two cities, as opposed to just be thou over this block, you know. Be thou the neighborhood watch. But here's what's interesting, and this is another thing that a lot of people miss. A lot of unsaved people are going to survive the tribulation, right? A lot of unsaved people are going to survive the tribulation, and a lot of unsaved people are going to survive all of God pouring out his wrath. Because even when he wipes out, you know, one-third of the population, you know what that means? Two-thirds is still alive. And when Christ comes at Armageddon, he slays all the armies of the anti-Christ, but he doesn't slay everybody in the whole world. So there's still people all over the world, many of whom are unsaved, that are going to go into the millennium as subjects. See, if we're going to rule and reign with Christ, we're going to rule over somebody. Okay, so we're going to rule over some people that are unsaved and some people that got saved later or whatever. But we're going to rule over a lot of unsaved people as well during that time, and many of them, hopefully, will get saved. But what's interesting about that is that God is going to gather all nations to that judgment seat, according to Matthew 25. And there are going to be some people that have just decided, you guys aren't going into the millennium. Even people that survived the tribulation and survived the wrath, he's just going to kill some of them right then and there. Why? Well, I'll tell you why. Think about this. What if somebody has the mark of the beast? Why keep them around? They're doomed anyway. Right? Once they take the mark of the beast, they're doomed. And don't listen to these dispensationalists like Bill Grady and Andrew Sluder who say, well, you can wash off the mark of the beast. You can wash it off. If you get baptized, it'll wash off. Or they say you could cut off your hand. That doesn't change the fact that you worship the beast and his image. And you received his mark and you're right on your... They say, well, you know, you could cut off your hand or you could cut off that part of your face, they said. Because, you know, if your eye offends, you pluck it out. You know, eye, forehead, what's the difference? It's only a few inches away. You know what? I think that these dispensationalists had part of their forehead removed. I think it's called a lobotomy. Right? A front lobe lobotomy, perhaps? But, you know, they say, oh, you just wash it off. No, you can't wash off the mark of the beast, friend. When you get the mark of the beast, you're doomed. Anybody who takes the mark of the beast... And it's scary today how in the last five years, a whole bunch of famous Bible teachers have come out in the last five years saying, you can take the mark of the beast and still be saved. Yeah. John MacArthur came out and said that. Ken Hovind said that. Take the mark of the beast, you can still get saved. No, friend. It's scary how many just prominent Bible teachers are coming out and saying, you can take the mark of the beast and still be saved. What is up with that? So, once you get it, you're doomed. You know, let's say people have lived through all the carnage, but they got that mark of the beast. I'm pretty sure those people are going to be slaying them before me in that category. Right? Because a lot of people will not have received the mark of the beast because it's only implemented for a short time before all hell breaks loose, literally. So, there are going to be other groups of people that are just Christ-hating types. And look, I know we're focusing on the Jews. Why? Because, well, he's nighing to Jerusalem when he's telling the story. He's applying it to the Jews. Those were the citizens. But, this doesn't just apply, this could also apply to anyone who hates Christ as well. Not just the Jews. It could be other people who hate Jesus Christ. They'll be slain before him at his judgment seat. And, what I would liken this to, and I got to shut down this sermon for sake of time. There's so much to say. The Bible's a fascinating book, isn't it? There's so much information to talk about. But, think about when Solomon got into his kingdom. That's a picture of Christ coming into his kingdom. And, when Solomon came into his kingdom, there were some people that he had to wipe out right away. Remember that? Some kind of scummy people that had carried over from David's day. The first thing he does, if you read those chapters in the beginning of the book of 1 Kings, is he starts killing some bad people that needed to be executed. So, that makes sense that God, specifically Christ, when he sets up his kingdom on this earth, he's going to start by cleaning house on the Jews and other Christ haters. And, then giving authority to his servants so he can set up a kingdom of peace for a thousand years. He's going to need lieutenants and people that are helping him. And, he's also going to need to just wipe out certain people. Just reprobates. All the reprobates. He's cleaning house on the reprobates, folks. And, that means Hollywood, because we're talking Jews and homos. And, look, all Jews are not reprobates. Don't say that I claim that all Jews are reprobates. Like I said, I've won a few Jews to Christ. And, you know what? If I knock on a door, I'll try just as hard to get the Jews saved as the Muslims. You know what I mean? If I knock on a door, look, people try to say I hate Jews. That is a lie. I do hate the ones who are running child trafficking rings. That are kidnapping children and selling them into sex slavery. Yeah, I hate them. Okay. But, I don't hate Jews in general. And, look, if I knock on a door of a Jew, I would love to win them to Christ. The sad thing is most of our Baptist brethren hate Muslims. That's the sad thing. I don't hate Muslims or Jews. I love them both. The sad thing is many of our fellow Christians hate Muslims and wish that they would all die and would like to nuke them all into the stone age. But, I love them and want them to get saved just as much as anybody to get saved. You know, the ones for whom it's not too late. Which there are some out there, the Zacchaeus's, that will get saved. Okay. But, at the end of the day, you know, they're not going to make it unless they get saved. Even if they survive, I don't care what kind of a bunker they go into, they're going to get rounded up by Christ because he's going to gather all nations before him. And, look, and I'll just close on this verse in Luke 19-27. Luke 19-27 says, those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. You know, that's pretty clear. And, it fits in with everything else that we read. And, I'll have to preach the rest of the chapter another time. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and the many things we can learn. Thank you for that great story about Zacchaeus, Lord, that gives us hope that we're not wasting our time giving the gospel to a rich person or a Jew because they might get saved, Lord. You can work miracles in people's hearts and lives. And, Lord, we thank you for the fact that you've given us that ministry, you've committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation to go out and reach people with the gospel, Lord. Help us not to hide it under a bushel, but help us to go out and multiply that gospel, Lord. And, help us to win people of all nations and all religions unto you before it's too late, Lord, because we know that they will be slain if they don't get saved. Before it's eternally too late, they will be slain before you. And, we know that hell is the destiny of all who reject your son. And, it's in his name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing one more song before we go. Let's sing, Within a Crib My Savior Lay, off the back of the Christmas sheets. Within a Crib My Savior Lay. Let's sing it out on that first verse. Within a Crib My Savior Lay. A wooden manger filled with hay. Come down for love on Christmas Day. All glory be to Jesus. Upon a cross my Savior died. Two ransomed sinners crucified. His loving arms still open wide. All glory be to Jesus. A victor's crown my Savior won. His work of love and mercy done. The Father's highest and its Son. All glory be to Jesus. Alright, we're dismissed. Thanks for being here tonight.