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Man, Luke 21, the Bible reads in verse 1, And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all. For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God. But she of her penury, penury means poverty, hath cast in all the living that she had. Now if you remember, in chapter 20 last week, Jesus ended the chapter by rebuking strongly the people that he had been sort of verbally sparring with the entire chapter, which were the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. And so what we take away from chapters 20 and 21 here, is that God is not impressed with the people of this world that we lift up and put on a pedestal. Whether that be a scribe, an elder, a chief priest, or whether it be those who are financially wealthy. God is simply not impressed. He says go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh that were fire. He says you've heaped treasure together for the last days. I mean there are many rebukes, even in the book of Luke chapter 6 where he says woe unto you rich. Blessed are ye poor. And so the Bible is clear that he's not a respecter of persons. That's why the Bible tells us that if they're come unto your assembly, a poor man in vile raiment, right? And then they're come in the one in the goodly apparel with the gold ring, we should not prefer the one before another. That's meaningless in the sight of God. So here he shows that he's not impressed by rich people with their big donations. And usually rich people when they make a donation, they like to make a big deal out of it. Instead of just quietly putting their money in the offering or just making a quiet anonymous donation or just giving something out of their heart, they usually like to have their name engraved somewhere as a memento of what they gave. And God says that our giving is not measured by how much we give, but it's measured by how much we have left when we're done giving, right? So someone who has a huge abundance and they give a huge amount, that's not as impressive as this woman who actually gave all that she had. She gave everything. So if you're giving 100%, then no one could out give you. So these rich men did not out give her because they didn't give 100% and she did. So God has great respect for the poor. The Bible rebukes us also for despising the poor. He says, do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which you're called? But he said, but you've despised the poor. So blessed are the poor, the Bible tells us. You say, well, it's blessed are the poor in spirit, but it's also blessed are the poor. It's two different verses. He says both. So that's a great example there of this woman who gave everything and Christ had great respect for her. And there's a symbolism there too of us just giving what we have unto the Lord, not just monetarily but also when it comes to our talents and abilities. Maybe we don't have great talent or ability, but if we give what we have, if we give the talent and ability that we have, maybe we don't have a lot of time. But if we give the time that we have and the energy that we have, God looks at that and he's pleased with that because when it comes to giving, it's accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not. God doesn't expect us to give what we don't have. But when we give what we do have, that's pleasing in the sight of God. It says in verse 5, and as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, as for these things which ye behold, the days will come in which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down, verse 6. So not only was he not impressed by the rich men giving their large offerings, he wasn't impressed by the richness of a physical building either because of the fact that what was inside that physical building was rotten spiritually. The people who were running the temple at that time were rotten spiritually. They were not following the word of God. They perverted the religion that the Lord gave them in the Old Testament. And so he wasn't impressed by those goodly stones. He said, it's all going to be destroyed. And it was his will that it be destroyed. He's the one who destroyed it because the Bible gives so many parables about how he would send forth his armies and destroy their city, Matthew 21, I believe, verse 40. And so when the Romans came in and destroyed Jerusalem, that was the Lord's doing. That was a fulfillment of his will on the disobedient Jews of that period. And so he caused it to be destroyed. Now look if you would at verse 6, as for these things which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And by the way, that's the current condition of the temple right now. There's not even one stone of it. That wall that they cry at is not part of the temple. It's a, it's just a totally unrelated wall. This is in the vicinity. They don't even claim it's part of the temple, but a lot of people have a misconception that it's part of the temple. And they asked him saying, master, but when shall these things be? And what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And then he goes into a long dissertation here. Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and the time draweth near. Go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by. The word by, the term by and by, I've often misunderstood this in my earlier days. The word by and by means actually immediately, because if we were to just guess at the meaning, we might think it by and by, it might take a while, but actually by and by is synonymous with straightway, anon, or immediately. It's something that's happening right away. So he's saying the end is not going to happen right away when you hear of wars and commotions and so forth. Now let me just stop and talk about Luke 21 in general for a moment. We talk about this as a parallel passage with Matthew 24 and Mark 13, but we need to understand what we mean by parallel passage. Some people misunderstand what is meant by that term parallel passage. Obviously this is very familiar if you know Matthew 24 pretty well. You're already seeing phrases and sentences that look almost identical, and as we go through the chapter, there's a lot more that's parallel with Matthew 24, but what we want to make sure that we understand is that a parallel passage doesn't necessarily mean that this is the exact same sermon preached by Jesus at the exact same time. We say that the sermon on the mount, Matthew chapter 5, Matthew 5 through 7, is a parallel passage with Luke chapter 6, but it's not the exact same sermon. One was preached on a mount, one was preached on a plane. And actually, if you read this carefully, you'll find that this is a different sermon than the one in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, but it is still a parallel passage. We call 2 Peter 2 and the book of Jude a parallel passage because they cover the same topics in the same order. Obviously they're not the same epistle. Obviously they weren't written at the same time or even by the same author. But parallel passages are passages that can be put side by side. They can be compared because they cover the same subject matter in the same order. And we call the passage in Matthew 24 the Olivet Discourse. Mark 13 is also the Olivet Discourse. Luke 21 is parallel with the Olivet Discourse, but it is a little bit different. So what do we mean by it's a little bit different? Keep your finger in Luke 21 and flip back to Matthew 24 because this is pretty important when it comes to understanding Matthew 24, just realizing that this is not the exact same sermon and it's not preached to the same audience. And that is significant and I'm going to show you why. Matthew 24 verse 1 says this, And as Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple, sound familiar? And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Now that's exactly the same as in Luke 21, right? But look what it says in verse 3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately. This is the key. They came unto him privately saying, Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? Now the differences between this and Luke 21 are that this conversation is private to the disciples and it regards primarily the question, what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world, right? Flip over to Mark 13. And where does it take place? The Bible tells us it takes place in the Mount of Olives, which is why we call it the Olivet Discourse. And you'll find that Mark 13 is at the exact same time as Matthew 24. It's the same sermon. It says in Mark 13, As he went out of the temple, one of the disciples saith unto him, verse 1, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And Jesus answered and said unto him, See as thou these great buildings, there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him what privately tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled. And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed, thus saying, Amen, deceive you, and on and on. Go back to Luke 21. Now let me show you the difference. Here's why this matters, because when we study the Book of Luke, there's something that I've been reminding you of over and over again in the Book of Luke, and that is this theme in the Book of Luke, where Jesus will often say something to the multitudes that's very cryptic, that they struggle to understand, and that confuses them, and that does not really give them a straight answer to the question that they ask. Then his disciples ask him privately, and he makes things very clear. He's very explicit, and he's very easy to understand. And if you've been with us for the last 20 weeks of the Book of Luke, we've seen that over and over and over again. That's a very strong pattern in the four gospels in general, but especially in the Book of Luke. I mean, there were many times when the disciples asked Jesus, Why do you do that? Why do you speak clearly unto us, but you speak to them in parables? And he said that seeing they would see not, that hearing they would hear not. What you say, Why would he not want them to understand? He said, Their eyes are darkened, their heart is hardened, their ears have waxed dull of hearing. And he said basically, Blessed are your eyes that they see. What he's kind of saying in those passages is, They're not worthy to know what I'm showing you. Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to them it is not given, that seeing they might see not, and not understand, and so forth. So I don't want to re-preach all that. I've shown all those scriptures and gone through that in great detail. But if you remember that, then you'll understand that in Luke 21, this is not Jesus privately in the Mount of Olives. Because if you look at it carefully, it just says in verse 7, And they asked him, saying, Master, when shall these things be, and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he starts to preach the sermon. There's no mention of going to the Mount of Olives. And in fact, when you get all the way to the end of the teaching, it says in verse 37, In the daytime he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and abode in a mount that is called the Mount of Olives. That's when he gives the second sermon, where he makes things clearer in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, privately with the disciples that evening, because they were excited, you know. I mean, this is a pretty cool chapter. So if you heard Jesus preach on this stuff, you'd be pretty curious, you'd be pretty intrigued. People like to learn about Bible prophecy. And so when they heard him teaching this at the temple, they got with him privately and said, hey, tell us more about this, you know, second coming thing. And they got more teaching on it that night. And that's why Matthew 24 and Mark 13 are in lockstep, but Luke 21 is a little bit different. And Luke 21 is a little more difficult to understand. It's a little bit more cryptic than the other two. Which is why most of our preaching on end times is out of Matthew 24 and Mark 13, just because that's the low-hanging fruit. It's just an easier chapter, right? So let's get into this. And as I get into this, I'm going to rebuke a false doctrine that's known as Preterism. Now Preterism, this is kind of the big chapter for Preterists. Luke 21 is where they head. You know, they don't head to the clear teaching in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. They head to the one that's a little bit darker that he gives to the crowds in the temple in Luke 21, as false teachers will always take the unclear over the clear. When in reality, we should use the clear to interpret the unclear and then believe both. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, I've never really heard you preach much against Preterism. And it's true, I've rarely preached against Preterism. And here's why I rarely talk about it, because I don't think it's even relevant to talk about. And the reason why I say that is that I have been a Bible-believing Christian since I was six years old. I've been an independent, fundamental Baptist my entire life. And I have never met anybody who was a King James, soul-winning, Bible-believing Christian who believed in Preterism ever. Now I'm not saying it's not out there. I'm sure people are going to comment on YouTube, well, I am one. But I'm telling you what, I've been a Baptist my whole life. I've been in numerous Baptist churches. I've talked prophecy. I've listened to hundreds of prophecy sermons. I've been around soul-winning Christians and Baptists and fundamental Baptists and even more liberal kinds of Baptists. I have never actually in real life talked to somebody who believed in Preterism who wasn't just a total, unsaved heretic. Now I'm sure that there are saved people that could get mixed up in this, maybe, I don't know. But they'd have to be a babe in Christ, in my opinion. And that's why I don't talk about Preterism that much because it's so far out in left field that it's not worth discussing. But I do want to mention it here because we're in Luke 21, I want to touch on it. Here's the thing that Preterism is teaching that basically all this stuff was already fulfilled in 70 AD. Most of the book of Revelation was already fulfilled in 70 AD. So when we talk about the tribulation, when we talk about God's wrath, when we talk about all these different things, it all already happened. That's called Preterism. You know, when you learn English, you use the word preterite sometimes, especially if you're learning Spanish, you learn about the imperfect versus the preterite. Who knows what I'm talking about, the preterite. So the preterite's a past tense, right? So that's why they call it Preterism. It's saying, hey, this stuff's all in the past. That's crazy because you basically just have to deny, in a sense, the second coming of Christ as it's laid out in scripture because the stuff that goes along with the second coming of Christ consistently is the tribulation, the trumpet sounds, Christ comes in the clouds, the elect are gathered, God's wrath is poured out. I mean, to just sit there and say, oh yeah, tribulation already happened, that was 70 AD, Daniel's 70th week already happened, it's so far away from taking the Bible for what it actually says, and it's so far from what the Holy Spirit would lead somebody who's saved to in just the reading of the New Testament, and you say, prove it. Well, okay, how about just the fact that every King James Bible believing, soul winning Baptist church that I've ever seen in the whole world is not Preterist. They're all futurist. So, you know, something's wrong with this doctrine because nobody believes in it. You say, well, what about, they're all pre-trib. They're not all pre-trib. Look, before there ever was a Pastor Steve Anderson and before there ever was an after the tribulation film, there were people in every church virtually in America that didn't believe in the pre-trib rapture amongst independent fundamental Baptist because a plain reading of scripture tells you that the rapture is after the tribulation. And I didn't believe in it even though I was in a pre-trib church as a teenager and I constantly ran into other people who didn't believe in it. And anybody who's been around Baptist churches knows that there's always been people who didn't believe in that. Now, there is a strong push for the pre-trib rapture in the 20th century, but, you know, the pre-trib rapture is not as far in left field as preterism is. I mean, the pre-trib rapture is pretty unbiblical, but it's not as unbiblical as preterism. Preterism is like a whole another level of stupid as far as I'm concerned. In fact, I was even, I was talking to a guy in Tempe here and he was actually a member of James White's church. And usually it's these Calvinist types who believe in preterism, okay? The reformed theology, maybe the reformed, and, you know, same people are using the wrong Bible version, not the King James Bible. They don't believe in the same plan of salvation that we believe in. They've got a perverted gospel. That's why I'm saying it's hard for me to take this doctrine seriously when it's coming from unsaved people every time. And so I'm talking to this guy and he's telling me all his preterist spiel. And I just told him, I just said, just stop for a second. I said, don't you think that the world is heading toward a one world government? Isn't that kind of obvious? And isn't it kind of an evil government that it's heading toward? So isn't that getting it ready for the antichrist? So what do you mean it all already happened? And he's like, yeah, actually, now that you say that, it's like, put all your arguments aside. Open your eyes. It's happening. Well, this already happened. Hello, it's happening now. I'm not saying we're in the tribulation now, but we're not in the tribulation now decidedly because one of the first things that happens in the tribulation is the whole world's going to be at war. But I'll say this. You can see it happening that the nations are being gathered together into a one world government. And it's going to be an evil one world government. It's not of Christ. It's not the millennial kingdom that's coming. It's something wicked. I'm like, don't you think that there's going to be a mark of the beast where people can't buy or sell without having that mark and they're right in, they're forward? Can't you see all that happening? He had to admit, he said, that's a really good point. You're making a lot of sense with that because I guess we do see that because I said, otherwise, how's it all going to end? And he couldn't articulate that to me, how it's going to end. Preterists love to, oh, yeah, I already have, okay, how's it going to end? They can't give you an answer that makes sense about what's actually going. They can tell you what already happened, but they have a hard time telling you what's going to happen. Okay. Now, if all this happened in 70 AD, now what did happen in 70 AD? The temple was destroyed, okay? I get that. And were the Jews scattered into all nations in 70 AD? Yes, they were. Not ultimately really until 135 AD, but yeah, in that period, they were destroyed, they were scattered and everything. But here's what didn't happen in 70 AD. There wasn't any water turned into blood. There was no fire raining down from the sky. Christ did not come in the clouds with the sound of a trumpet. The believers were not caught up to ever be with the Lord. The dead in Christ did not rise first. I mean, there's just a whole bunch of stuff that didn't happen in 70 AD. So the resurrection didn't happen, the rapture didn't happen, the second coming of Christ didn't happen. The kingdoms of this world did not become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. One third of the oceans didn't turn into blood and kill all the sea life. There wasn't an earthquake such as never was since the beginning of the world to that time. That's why I say I don't spend a lot of time talking about it because it's stupid. Because there's just hundreds of things the Bible talks about happening that didn't happen in 70 AD. So whether you're a partial preterist or a full preterist or whatever, it's nonsense. You have to just completely be in another dimension of reality to even believe in this stuff. They'll say things like, well, isn't Christ ruling and reigning right now? Uh, no. I mean, he's at the right hand of the Father. He may rule in our hearts if we let him. But let me tell you something, if he's running this world, he's messing it up. No, the devil's known as the God of this world. You know, it's the devil that's running the corrupt governments of this world. It's not Jesus Christ that's responsible for all the warfare and the abortion and the perversion that's going on in this world. You know, that's the heathen, that's the wicked, and they are going to get worse and worse until the end comes. And then Christ is going to return and straighten it out and rule it with a rod of iron. So we believe in a literal second coming of Christ, a literal fulfillment of the tribulation, God's wrath, and a literal thousand year reign of Christ on this earth. Now where they're getting preterism from this is that Jesus in Luke 21 is prophesying that the destruction of the temple, but often, prophesies in the Bible have a dual fulfillment. I mean, so many times in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, there's a fulfillment right now, and then there's a later, more distant fulfillment. Even when they talk about the day of the Lord, there's a day of the Lord back then, like a miniature day of the Lord, and then they're also looking forward to the big day of the Lord, when the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall and all that. So, just as Old Testament scriptures that talk about the coming of Christ, they often have a dual fulfillment of the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. I mean, this is Bible prophecy 101. Impossible to ignore that things that were fulfilled back then, the apostles still talk about them in the New Testament, that they're going to still happen in the future, the bigger fulfillment. So that's what's going on in Luke 21. Now Matthew 24 and Mark 13 make that clearer. In Luke 21, it's less clear the distinction between stuff that's going to happen back then and stuff that's going to happen in the future. It's a little harder to distinguish in Luke 21, but that's why we have the book of Revelation, and when we put this next to the book of Revelation, and when we put it next to Matthew 24 and Mark 13, it all begins to make sense. Keep your finger in Luke 21. We're going to dig into it, but I just want to show you one more scripture, Daniel, chapter 12. Daniel chapter number 12. Daniel chapter number 12, the Bible talks about Daniel getting these prophecies, and he doesn't understand what they are. It says in verse 8, I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? Daniel chapter 12, verse 9, and he said, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. So Daniel says, I don't understand any of this. I'm going to write it down, but I don't understand what it means. And he says, basically, don't worry about it. You're not going to understand it because it's sealed up until the end. It's not for you in this generation to understand. It's for the future. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly. Watch this. Daniel chapter 12 says, none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Now let me ask this, did Daniel understand? No. But he says at the time of the end, none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand at the time of the end. If we go to Revelation, don't turn there now for the sake of time. Go to Luke 21. But in Revelation, it says the opposite of what it says in Daniel. Daniel 12 says, seal up the sayings of the prophecy of this book. It's for the last days. The end of Revelation says, seal not the sayings of the book of this prophecy, for the time is at hand. So we're living in a time when we can understand because we have the book of Revelation, which reveals or lays these things bare and plain so that we can understand Bible prophecy. But the Bible says, none of the wicked shall understand. So that's why unsaved people come up with stupid doctrines like preterism and post-millennialism and amillennialism and these just way off the deep end. You know, when you talk to actual Bible believing Christians, yeah, there are those who believe in a pre-trib rapture, post-trib rapture, post-trib pre-wrath or people who even have like a post-wrath view. But at the end of the day, they all believe in a second coming of Christ and they all believe that this stuff's actually going to happen at least, even if they get the timing wrong. But none of the wicked understand this stuff. So why would I let some ESV preaching, whiskey drinking Calvinist, you know, explain end times prophecy to me? He may not have even been sober when he was studying it. And so we need to listen to preachers that are actually saved, amen. Isn't that a good place to start? You know, the Holy Ghost is what teaches us these things. Now look at Luke chapter 21. The Bible says, take heed that you be not deceived for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and the time draweth near. Go ye not therefore after them. So there are going to be a lot of false messiahs. And even today we see this all over the world in Russia, South America, Mexico, Florida. There are men claiming to be Jesus Christ, claiming to be the second coming that literally have thousands of followers, huge followings. There are going to be a lot of people like that. Don't go after them. When you shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by or it's not happening right now. Then said he unto them, nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, meaning places that don't normally get an earthquake in various places and famines, that's when people are starving to death and pestilences, that's disease or outbreak of germs and fearful sites and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say nor resist. You know what that tells me? That we as preachers, we don't need to be so scripted. Some preachers are just really scripted. Everything is just memorized or read off of a script and they're very careful what they say when they do these TV interviews and radio interviews that they don't step on anybody's toes or offend anybody and they try to say things in a way to keep everybody happy. We shouldn't put that much thought into what we say as preachers because of the fact that we should just be studying the Bible and filled with the Holy Spirit and just let God lead us to speak the truth from the heart. Just speak from the heart. Just speak the truth. If I do interviews on the radio or interviews on TV, I don't prepare a bunch of talking points. I don't have any notes or anything. I just answer the questions. They ask me a question, I just answer and I try to quote scripture and show something from the Bible or give a clear answer but I don't really worry that much about it because I'm just kind of relying on God to give me wisdom in that moment. The reason why some people have to be super scripted is because they're not telling the truth or they're trying to hold back on truth or censor the truth. You see these guys, they pray at a presidential prayer breakfast. They read it off of paper, literally. That's not praying. Praying should come from the heart. God's saying here we speak from the heart, the Lord leads us, the Holy Spirit leads us and so forth. The Bible tells us here that take no thought, don't meditate what you shall answer. God will give us a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries should not be able to gain, say, nor resist. Verse 16, and you shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kin's folks and friends and some of you they shall cause to be put to death and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but there shall not an hair of your head perish. That seems like a little bit of contradiction on the surface because he says at the end of verse 16, some of you shall they cause to be put to death and then two verse later he says not a hair of your head is going to perish. I think what he's saying there is that even if you're physically killed, it's not over. You're not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. You're going to be resurrected. You're going to have a full head of hair. I believe that even you bald guys, I believe that your hair will be coming back in the resurrection. That's the best news you've heard all day. No, I'm just kidding. So anyway, it's all going to come back. It's going to come back thick and great. Not an hair of your head will perish. Now it might perish now. Some of you it's perishing. And when you shall see Jerusalem compass with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Now here's the thing about that. Back then, 70 A.D., 135 A.D., Jerusalem was compass with armies and Jerusalem was destroyed. But there's going to be a future time that the Bible tells in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, Romans 11 deals with this. There's going to be a time in the midst of Daniel's 70th week where the temple and Jerusalem are going to be desolate and they're going to stay that way for 42 months the Bible tells us. Now look, if the preterists are right, how come it wasn't desolate for only 42 months? It's been desolate for how long now? You know, thousands of years, okay? So what we're talking about here is in the end times where the temple is where the abomination of desolation is set up in the end times and where Jerusalem is destroyed at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week. Now people say that a preterist, you know, how dare you put a gap between the 69th week of Daniel and the 70th week of Daniel? Where do you get off putting that gap? We're not the ones who put that gap there. God put the gap there. By the way, I got news for you. There's a gap between week 62 and week 63 also because he said there's going to be 62 weeks, then there's going to be seven weeks, and then there's going to be one week. So those are three periods and if it was just 70 weeks, then why did he break it into those three fragments? Because there's a gap between 62 and 63 and there's a gap between 69 and 67. I don't have time to go into that in the scope of this sermon, but I'll preach about it another time. Here we see that Jerusalem's desolation is going to be nigh when it's surrounded with armies. Yes, that happened in the past. That will happen again in the future in the end times. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. That's directly from Matthew 24, Mark 13 in regard to the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. When he says, let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. So we're clearly talking about the end times here. For these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Guess what? In 78 AD, all things which were written were not fulfilled. It's still coming. But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days for they shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. What I want to point out to you is that people often talk about the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 as well as being written to the Jews. When you try to show them the clear scripture in Matthew 24, 29 about the rapture coming after the tribulation, they say, oh, that's talking to the Jews. That's just written to the Jews. If we had a nickel for every time we heard that, we'd be very wealthy as preachers. Here's why that's ridiculous. As you read this chapter, when he talks about the Jews, he's the third person. When he talks to Christians, he says you, ye, your. When he talks about the Jews, it's like they, them. What does he say here? He says there shall be wrath upon you guys. Is that what he says? He says there's going to be wrath on you. No. There's going to be wrath on this people. Which people? The people in Judea, the Jews. He says there's going to be wrath upon this people, and he says and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, not you. He already talked about how you're going to be persecuted and some of you shall be killed when he's talking to Christians, but now he's talking about the Jews, he says they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down to the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled and there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth the stress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. This is clearly parallel with Matthew 24 with the sun and moon being darkened, the stars falling under the earth as a fig tree cast at their untimely figs, and then when it says that the waves and the sea roaring, there's a great earthquake when the sun and moon are darkened on the day of the Lord and earthquakes cause a seismic sea wave or a tsunami, a tidal wave. So when those great earthquakes happen, giant tidal waves are going to be crashing into coastal cities. Think about the destruction that they've done in the past when we think of especially Japan, Fukushima and so forth. There are going to be massive tsunamis coming in and wreaking havoc on the day of the Lord. He says men's hearts failing them for fear and people are going to be having a heart attack because they're panicking and they're scared and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. That did not happen in 70 AD. Did you need me to tell you that though? And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. Whoa, where's the pre-trib rapture? Where's the pre-trib rapture? There's no pre-trib rapture here. No, what does he say? He says first they're going to persecute you, they're going to kill some of you, you're going to see Jerusalem destroyed, that's the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week. He talks about how there's going to be the sun and moon, the signs associated with the heavenly bodies and then you're going to see great earthquakes, tidal waves, men's hearts failing them for fear. They're going to be wailing and calling to the mountains and rocks to follow on them. Then when you see those things begin to come to pass, what things? How about verse 27? The son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable, behold the fig tree in all trees. When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. Likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. And the fig tree is symbolic, the Bible tells us that it's symbolic of when the stars fall from heaven like a fig tree casteth or untimely figs. Now a lot of people will tell you, oh the fig tree, that's Israel. The budding of the fig tree back in 1947, you know the budding of the fig tree, now they're saying 48 because they say, you know, a generation is 70 years, which is not true. A generation is not 70 years. A generation could be thought of as 20, 30 or 40 years perhaps but certainly not 70 years. They're mixing up the lifespan with a generation. But even if you went by that, they said, well 70 years, that's why Christ is going to return in 2017. Didn't happen. Well, I know Israel was kind of founded in 47 but it wasn't really founded until 48. So now this year, people are all coming unglued about the second coming of Christ happening on September 23rd, 2018 because it didn't happen on September 23rd, 2017. All the fools and the date setters are coming out with all their false alarms about how Christ is coming in 2018 and all the Zionists are just coming unglued. I mean, they're just in ecstasy right now because not only are we at the 70-year anniversary of Israel becoming a nation but also Trump has declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. It's all happening right now, right? And they even say Trump is the last Trump. The Trump shall sound, even. That's what people are saying. The last Trump, amen? It's all right here in scripture. That's what they teach. But you know what? That kind of stuff sells. I mean, that kind of stuff gets you viewers. I mean, if I came out and started preaching, hey, Donald Trump is the last Trump, I'd get a lot of subscribers but a lot of them would probably be flat earthers and a lot of other goofy kind of people. So that's what's out there, folks, right? That's the teaching. It's all a bunch of false alarms to wear people out so that they'll start saying, where is the promise of his coming? Yeah, you guys keep saying Jesus is coming back. Where is he? So they're trying to wear you out with all these false alarms and false hopes. It's like the boy who cried wolf and then nobody's going to want to listen to him ever again because he had so many false alarms. So this year, I'm sure the Zionists are just going to go berserk all year making predictions and getting excited about Trump declaring. I mean, all he did was he just said, all right, let's make Jerusalem the capital. It's still not the capital. They said, well, I think it'll be several years from now. They're going to move the US embassy, maybe. But then what happens if Trump is replaced with a different president that's like, I changed my mind. It's not Jerusalem. Now look, maybe it will be Jerusalem. I don't know. But that's not really what I'm looking for is a sign because that's not the sign that Christ gave. Christ did not say, hey, the sign is when Jerusalem's the care of the capital of Israel. When you see that, then you'll look up and know that your redemption draweth nigh. No, he told us to look for all these other things. We need to look for a world war. We need to look for the sun and moon being darkened, look for Christ coming in the clouds, look for the mark of the beast. Look for all these other things that he told us, not this fig tree stuff. You know, Israel is represented by a fig tree, the one that Jesus cursed and said it would never bring forth fruit again. That's Israel because they're cursed and will never bring forth fruit again. You say, do they play a part in the end times? Yeah, they get wiped out halfway through the Daniel 70th week, right? When the armies are going to compass it and it's going to be desolate and they're going to be wiped out and slaughtered and scattered and everything else. Yeah, they have a part. The Jews have a part in the end times. They're going to be on the receiving end of God's wrath. There shall be great wrath upon this people, he said, of the Jews, but they don't play a positive role. In the end time, we're the good guys, the Christians. The Jews are the bad guys, the villains. They're the ones who help get the antichrist into power and then the antichrist double crosses them and starts wiping them out. Why? Because they're wicked and they deserve to be wiped out by God. That's why he's going to wipe them out like he said he was going to wipe them out right here. Why? Because his wrath is on them. Why? Because they reject the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. So it says here, when they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. So this is where they're getting their 70 year thing. So they're saying, well, you know, the budding of the fig tree, this generation shall not pass away. But I guarantee you what they're going to say after 2018 goes, because I promise you Christ will not return in 2018 or 2019 or 2020. I promise you that. The soonest he could possibly return is 2021 and I don't even think it's happening then. Why? Because there are, there's at least three and a half years of events that haven't even started yet. Okay. But here's what they're going to say, well, it's not 70 years because if by reason of strength they before score, right? So then it'll be all about 2027, 2028, October 23rd, September 23rd. Okay. Then you know what they're going to say next? They're going to be like, well, some people live past 80. It will literally not be until the last person who was like born in 1947 dies, right? So they're going to be like, well, some people live to be 120, 119. That's the world record, right? So literally we're going to have to hear about this junk. You know, if the Lord tarries, we're going to hear about this junk until literally 2066 or seven before we finally have to stop hearing about the nation of Israel becoming a nation in 1947. Now maybe Christ's second coming will happen before that, but that's what, if it doesn't happen, they're going to push it all the way to 2066. I promise you that. You know they will. And then they're, and then they're, by then, you know, they'll just be like, wow, we never said that or whatever. That's not what we meant. They never admit it. They make a false prediction and they never admit it, that they were wrong, right? So what it's really saying is that when you see actually these things like, you know, the final events, that that generation is not going to pass away until it's all fulfilled. Okay. Abomination of desolation and all that, then you'll know it's going to happen then and there. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away and take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life. So that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man. And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple and at night he went out and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives and all the people came early in the morning to hear him in the temple for to hear him, came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him. So this last part here is pretty interesting. He says here don't get carried away with the partying and the drunkenness and stuff like that, because you don't want this to come upon you unawares. You want to be ready for it. Now how are we ready for it? One of the things the Bible tells us is that we should watch. And what does watch mean? To stay awake. And that's a theme in 1 Thessalonians 5, watch. Luke chapter 12 told us to watch. And I covered this in a lot, I covered this exact scripture, verses 34 through 38. I covered this in more depth. I'm not going to cover it again tonight, because I covered it in depth on my sermon on Luke 12. And also on the sermon that I preached up at Word of Truth Baptist, I did a very detailed sermon on Luke 21 that was completely different from what I talked about tonight. I kind of hit it from a different angle. So if you want to listen to that sermon called The Destruction of Jerusalem that I did up at Word of Truth, or you can go back and listen to Luke 12 sermon if you really want to dig deep into this passage. But let me just briefly touch on it in the time that we have right now is that what it's saying here is that to be prepared we watch, which means to be awake, and I proved that in those other sermons with lots of scripture, paying attention, seeing the signs, not what the Zionists tell you the sign is, or the TV preachers, but what the Bible told us the signs are. Watch for the biblical signs, not watch every move that Trump makes necessarily, but watch for the biblical signs, be awake, and pray always. Now why pray? He says pray that you'll be kind of worthy to escape all these things that should come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Now look, if being saved causes you to just go up in a pre-trib rapture, then why would you need to always pray to escape these things if you're automatically escaping them anyway via the pre-trib rapture? Here's why, because there is no pre-trib rapture, because the rapture comes after the tribulation but before God's wrath. So the reason that you pray to escape these things is you pray that you don't get killed. Okay, now, you don't want to get killed during the tribulation in a shameful way. Now it's okay to get killed as a martyr. Now if we were to be martyred for Christ in the tribulation, then that would be glorious. You know, I mean, if that's what God has planned for us, it's not going to be everybody. He said some of you, what did he say in verse number 16b there? And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. Some people will be put to death. There's nothing to fear. The Bible says fear none of those things which thou shall suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. So if we end up during the time of the tribulation going to prison, amen, if we end up being killed for the cause of Christ, amen, you say, well, it's just such a shame because if we're killed, we're going to miss you and everything like that. You're going to see me in like a year or a couple months. We're all going to be at the rapture anyway. Like what you see in a month, right? Like it's not a big deal whether you, whether you make it all the way to the end or whether you're martyred for Christ, you're both going up in the rapture. You're not going to miss the rapture. You're like, man, I want to be alive so I can be there for the rapture. Be dead and be there for the rapture. You're going to be there for the rapture either way. So yeah, you get to rise first, you know, you get to go the first wave. So it's, who cares if you, if to live is Christ, it'd be cool to be alive and remain. To die is gain. You say, okay, well then why would I pray to escape these things? Because what you don't want to be is drunk, partying, not paying attention and killed for your wickedness. Because there are a lot of ways to die in the tribulation. Everybody just thinks like, I don't know, man, am I going to, am I going to die for Christ or am I going to go up in the rapture? You know, and then they're storing food and they've got a bunker and they're ready to, you know, to make it all the way to the end. Look, why would you wait in a bunker for Christ to come back? You're going to all go to the same place anyway. Why would you waste the last month when you could be doing something for the Lord? I mean, look, you only can earn the rewards in this life. So why would you waste your last four weeks on some radical camping trip? Right? Shouldn't you be soul winning and preaching? Look, I'm not, I'm not going to go hide in the woods. I'm not getting a bunker. I'm not. I'm going to preach to the bitter end. You say, well, you're going to be the first one they kill, Pastor Anderson. They're going to behead you right here. You know what? I don't know the future, but if this happens in our lifetime, if I had to guess, I say I'm surviving. That would be my guess that I survive. Why? Just to confound all the people who say, oh, that guy may be the first one to go. You know, you know what? If I were God, and obviously God and his wisdom, my thoughts are not his thoughts, my ways are not his ways, but if I were God, I'd make all the liberal preachers get wiped out and let pastors, pastors who preach hard, I'd let them survive to the end. Show them, you know, down at the, you know, down at the, at the community church, heads are going to roll before they roll here in my, in my opinion, because look how many prophets in the Bible where God protected them and God kept them safe. But look, if, if, if I end up dying for Jesus Christ or going to prison for Jesus Christ, then you know what? So be it. You know, I obviously in my flesh, I don't desire that, but I'm okay with that. But I know I'm not going to hide though, because I might as well just keep working. Otherwise what's the point of even living? Just one last camping trip. We can camp in the millennium, friend. Let's have one last hurrah of soul winning. One last hurrah of preaching the word of God. Okay. So a lot of people make fun of the post-trib pre-wrath rapture by saying, oh, you know, you're just a bunch of preppers and so forth. Well, yes, I'm a spiritual prepper, praying, watching, learning the Bible, you know, doing works, trying to earn rewards. That's the prepping. Okay. Why? Because it, you know, I want to escape all these things. What are the things I want to escape? It's not that I just really want to escape being martyred, because if that's God's plan for my life, even so, amen. You know what I want to escape? You know what I want to escape? Famine. You know what I want to escape? Pestilence. Because, you know what, if God looks down at you in the end times and you're drunk and you're partying and you're a fornicator and you're covetous and you're lazy and you're not in church, you know, you might just pick up some of that pestilence. You might just have a bomb fall on your house. You just might be the one who slowly starves to death, and that's the worst of all worlds. You don't get to be alive and remain for Christ's coming, and you don't get to be a martyr. You just died in a stupid way, because you were an idiot and God punished you. I mean, there's no glory in that. So look, we need to clean up our lives, watch and pray so that it doesn't come upon us unawares. We're ready for it, ready to do what? Ready to excel, so that God looks down and is pleased with us and rewards us with one of two things. You know who he's going to reward us with? A martyr's death or being alive and remaining under the coming of the Lord. That's the reward, right? Or just, you know, dying in a good old age. You know, some of you older people can just aspire to that, so, you know, if it doesn't happen in your lifetime. So, you know, that's good too. I wouldn't mind living to be 120, you know? So seeing my great-great-grandkids, all 10,000 of them. So the point is that, you know, we should be praying always. Now look, the pre-tribbers have never prayed this prayer in their life. Because they don't even know what this means. Because they think they're just going to escape, period. They think it might come tonight. And they just escape. Especially with what Trump said lately, amen? So, you know, I mean that's the handwriting on the wall right there, buddy. So the bottom line is that we, yeah we're prepping, spiritually, yeah we're praying and we're sharpening up the sword so that we can do great exploits for the Lord in the last days. That's what it's all about. You know, and that's what we need to grasp here. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord. And it's a difficult chapter in some ways, Lord. But as long as we compare it with Matthew 24, Mark 13, Revelation 6, then it all makes sense, Lord. And so thank you for giving us the complete Bible in our language, 66 books, that we can compare scripture with scripture, Lord. And I just pray that you'd open the eyes of some people out there that are pretty deceived. They think that none of this stuff is going to happen because they've been taught preterism, Lord. First of all, help them to get a King James Version Bible. And then, Lord, help them to realize that these things are starting to happen around us not because Trump declared Jerusalem the capital, but because of the fact that we see a one-world government metastasizing, Lord. Help us to pray always and to watch and be awake as a church, Lord. And Lord, I pray that our church would be spared, Lord. I pray that we would be spared. If it happens in our lifetime, Lord, I pray that you would spare us from the pestilence, from the famine, and from the warfare of that time, Lord. Spare us from the earthquake and the destruction, Lord. And help us, Lord, to be blessed and bless our families and our church. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.