I'm Coming And Hell's Coming With Me

We are in Revelation 19. I can't believe April marks a year since we have been in Revelation 19. I'm coming and hell's coming with me.

I'm coming and hell's coming with me. Before Wyatt Earp said it, Jesus said it. And last week, I just want to make you aware in case you weren't here, make sure to listen to that message because Oswald Chambers summed it up well.

Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation when you begin to relax spiritually. And I talked about from Revelation 18, come out of her my people.

What does that mean to come out of her my people? Because we live in the world, but of course, we're not of the world. So there's a lot of practical application in that. Revelation 18, we didn't get quite through it.

And that's where we pick up to get right into 19. I'm just wanting to also throw this out now so you are ready. And I don't know when I'm gonna start it, but after Revelation, we've only got what? 20, 21, 22 or so.

New heavens, new earth. It's gonna be great when we get to those parts as well. So probably a month or so.

And then I'm gonna go deep, deep, deep into the book of Acts. I think it's very relevant for where, three people, all right, we're excited. And you know, there's a lot of different opinions on what we should do next.

And of course, just taking it to the Lord and finding out, you know, looking at the early church. Now people say, well, Acts isn't a book about doctrine. True, but it does show what experiences line up with doctrine.

We see the moving of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. We see what the church could face, how to operate, what are the teachings of the disciples and community. And so it's such an important book, especially where we're going into now into this interesting times ahead.

And so I'm not gonna be in a hurry. I don't know how long it will take, but there's so much there. And I wanna encourage you to be at these special services because we're gonna be talking about, especially at the beginning, the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's a topic that conservatives don't wanna talk about and charismatics get too carried away. But it is the power of God in our lives. Remember, it's part of the triune nature of God.

You've got the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And I'm not gonna do it now, but there is a quick way to take a test to see do you have the fullness of the Spirit in your life? Or is there maybe a critical heart? Are you bored during worship, disengaged during worship? You know what the Bible says, you might even be a teacher of the Word, but you're missing that dunamis power, you're missing that joy unspeakable, you're missing that deep work of the Spirit because of that. Something could be hindering that.

And so I'm excited to unpack Acts 1, 2, and 3 as we get into church history as well. And what does it mean for us today? But we're still in Revelation. So that's just a little, and I don't know if it'll be July or September, praying about what month to start it.

So in Revelation 18, what we found out is the great city, we talked about that for a few weeks, Babylon, it fell. And we don't know, many people say it was an actual city, others say the entire world system. You can get my thoughts if you want to go back and listen to next week.

But basically, they glorified herself or she glorified herself and she lived in luxury. And God said, in the same measure, you give her torment and sorrow, for she says in her heart, I sit as queen and I am no widow and I will not see sorrow. And God says, yes, you will.

Yes, you will. And that's the same thought, especially in our culture, the rich and the pompous, you know, that they just, the extreme wealthy now, they think that we're gonna see in our lifetime the first trillionaire. And that's interesting.

But there's wickedness in all areas of life, but somehow money, excessive money makes us think that we are above God. And He can't touch me. And He says, oh, yes, I can.

Her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. And then the world actually mourns Babylon's fall in 18. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, for in one hour, her judgment has come.

So again, my personal take on it is again, depending on your interpretation of Revelation, but it is this world system that falls apart. It finally falls apart. It's at the end here.

And even the wealthy, even those who built bunkers in Hawaii see that things are not going in a good direction, and they begin to see everything is being lost. And all these kings of the earth who were part of this begin to lament and see that everything is coming to an end. Basically, the music ends, trade is stopped, and joy vanishes from the hearts.

And what we, if we're still reading in 18, what it talks about is she guided them by her sorcery. So that's how this world system guided others. Because if you don't have God in your life, you're open to any type of deception.

And so she guided them, the kings, by her sorcery. And sorcery is the guidance of evil spirits, and all the nations were deceived. Okay, this is so important because there's God's Holy Spirit, right? God's Holy Spirit.

And there are demonic spirits according to the Word of God. There's not a group in the middle. So a lot of times people think, okay, you know, I'm not really following God.

I'm not in His Word like I should be. I'm getting kind of drained of church, but I'm still good because I'm in the middle. You're either kind of drifting one way or the other.

We're either open to God's Holy Spirit in our lives and our conviction, or there's deceiving spirits come in and begin to deceive us, probably mainly by planting thoughts, or having others plant thoughts in your mind. You know those people? They're looking forward to knocking you off track. And so we see here that by the deceiving spirits, how else can you explain a lot of the chaos in our country? What is going on? The college campuses right now? Where were all these voices in October when a lot of Jews were slaughtered? Where were they then? And of course, you know, I'm not gonna get into BC, all the tents the same color.

A lot of the people they took into custody aren't actually students. Could this be a big setup? Huh, I mean, you know, but it's deceiving spirits. Deceiving, deception.

Now you can question like how Israel's handling things and what, man, that's a tough situation. That's different than just being completely taken away by these deceptive spirits. And that's why you're seeing a big, a kingdom's colliding right now.

Light and darkness, right and wrong, good and evil are really, it's becoming even more evident. How can people think that you can become a woman if you're a man and be the head of our health department? Like every time I see this person, I just pray for it. It's like, you see mental illness or deception at a very high level.

And it's in all other areas of life. And I sometimes get pushback. Of course, people say, why do you talk about these things? Why do you have to mention that? Why look at three things? Number one, is it true? Am I saying it in love, hopefully? And does it need to be said? So yeah, all three of those things come into play here.

Absolutely. Who told the pulpits to be quiet? Who told us to just stick with the Bible and don't say anything about all these controversial issues? Those are actually deceiving spirits. And deceiving spirits, you have to call out.

You can't negotiate with deception. All right, all right, we'll give you the cross. You can have the cross and Jesus, yeah, but give us this and compromising.

There's no compromise. The truth is not flexible. The truth doesn't bend.

The truth doesn't yield. It's solid. It stands as a lighthouse.

It cannot move. And so we have to call out these deceptive things. And when I talk about these transgender reading to kids and being sexually provocative to five and six and seven-year-olds, where is your righteous indignation, folks? How long are we gonna drink the Kool-Aid? To realize these are deceptive, deceiving spirits that have come into all areas, all facets of life.

And so that's how the world's system guides everyone to hell, basically, by deception. And then Revelation 19, the first eight verses, it talks about glorifying God because of His judgment against Babylon. Glorifying God because of His judgment against Babylon.

And it's interesting, if you start in Genesis, I encourage you to try to read the Bible through every year, you'll see when God says judgment was coming, in many cases, let's say repent or different things, His judgment was certain. It was, hey, Babylon, I'm going to judge you. Hey, Assyrians, I'm going to judge you.

First, I'm gonna use you to judge Israel, but then I'm gonna judge you. God doesn't mess around. That's one thing why staying in the world keeps you fearing God.

I don't have any much wisdom right now. I'm confused. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Fearing the Lord is the beginning of understanding. That fear of God or reverence for God is where everything must begin. That's the end caps there on the bookshelf.

And then verse nine and 19, then He said to me, so again, the angel, or it's not God, He's talking to John right now. He said to John, who's writing the book of Revelation, go ahead and write these things. Write these things.

So we see that God allowed John, obviously, to write the book of Revelation, write it out. Thank God that we have something like the Word of God. So write this, John, make sure people know, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God, and I fell at His feet to worship Him. And I think it's important to talk about the marriage supper of the Lamb for a minute, because many of you who've studied the Bible, you know this, you have to really, really appreciate the Bible. You need to understand the historical background of a lot of the different things, the festivals, the feasts, what did they mean? How was marriage different then than it is today? It's a lot different.

And you look at the historical context, and what was the author saying to them? What is it saying to us? But if you look at this portion of Scripture about marriage, it's interesting. First, there was a contract that the husband-to-be would go and secure the bride. There was a contract.

And then, after it was secured, and you can look, I mean, we can get a little bit deep down a rabbit hole here, but the contract Jesus is shedding of His blood, the contract, the agreement He makes with us. And then the second thing is for the bride to wait for the groom. And they have to be ready because they don't know when He's coming.

Oh, now I'm thinking of a parable of the five virgins who were not ready. And then the final stage of marriage is then the celebration. The celebration of the marriage.

So, most would agree the marriage supper of the Lamb is that final time of celebration. The contract secured us. He has returned.

And then we go and be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. And they celebrate. Obviously, it appears to be in heaven.

So that's what that is about. But we don't want to overlook this part where John fell at the feet of this angel to worship Him. Be very careful.

Who or what are you worshiping? Who or what are you worshiping? Everyone from rock stars to influencers and actors to athletes are worshiped today. How do we know if we're worshiping them? Do you spend a lot of your time watching them? Men, how about sports? And if you ran into your favorite athlete at LAX airport, would you shake and tremble? And, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

How do we spend our time? How do we spend our money? How do we, do we elevate them? Just be careful. Be careful what you worship. Because what happens, what you worship eventually influences you.

So, of course, it's been on all of our social media with Taylor Swift, her new album, all these. The problem, real problem is when kids see that, they put her above God. They put her above their parents.

And now she becomes an influencer. And so now the lyrics influence the person. I want to be like my idol, so I live like my idol.

And that's why it gets dangerous and destructive. And that's why we say things. It's not that we don't love Taylor Swift.

We don't love Katy Perry. We love these people. But what are they ultimately influencing in the next generation? We pray for them.

We hope for them. But that's how idolatry and idol worship works. Actors, what about actors? So just be very careful.

Very careful. But he said to me, hey, I'm just your fellow servant, my translation. So the angel said, hey, get up, John.

I'm just your fellow servant. And I'm of your brethren. You have testimony.

Oh, I'm sorry, let me read that, just exactly how it sounds. See that you do not do that, which is worship me. I am your fellow servant, angels or servants, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus in their heart.

Worship God. So he actually, I don't know if it's obviously for our type of what I'm about to say here or if it's just putting him on the right path. But instead of just saying don't worship me, he then directed him to the correct type of worship.

He said worship God. Worship God. And he called John to do that.

And that's why it's a calling of a church as well to worship God. What does that mean? Worship God means to get your heart right before God. Begin to lift Him up.

Begin to get rid of those negative things in your heart. Begin to just begin to worship Him because He is worthy. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Well, that's kind of interesting. How'd he tuck that one in there? What does that have to do with anything? Well, if I had an hour, we could hit a lot of different angles. But I believe that whole sentence contextually, he's talking about worshiping God.

He's talking about I too have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. So the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

So all prophecy throughout the Bible often points you to Jesus. The spirit of prophecy in two verses that will help. 1 Thessalonians, do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good. And 1 John, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. So basically the testimony of Jesus is behind all legitimate God-given prophecy.

Now we could talk about that for a minute because in the word prophecy, if you study it, there's a foretelling of Scripture. It's often what we do from the pulpit. It's a foretelling of God's Word.

And that's why Paul said, I wish you would prophesy in 1 Corinthians. And we'll get to that when we get to Acts because it's edification for the church. It's prophesying about God's Word.

But then there's something foretelling like the prophets in the Old Testament, they would often foretell of future events because God would place something in their heart and they would foretell what was coming to pass. That's why often a false prophet was someone who said something and it didn't come to pass. So do not despise prophecy, 1 Thessalonians tells us, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good. So if I hear a preacher, I'm gonna test what they say. Test what they say.

Does it line up with the Scriptures? Does it line up with God's Word? And that's why you'll see some of these people, I'm not gonna name them, I have before big names out there, to test what they say. And what is interesting, and I've done this, is you'll, like some of this stuff is right, but some of it's off. Like this one guy gets all fired up and says, I am God.

It's like, oh, did you repent to that? Did you make a YouTube video quick? Why did you allow that in? Why didn't you edit it out? So you really have to look at the whole message of what they're saying. Test the fruit of the entire message of what they teach, of what they believe. Test everything and hold fast to what is good.

But then there's another aspect that we'll get into in the book of Acts, because it happened a lot, is where God, prophecy, you know, boy, oh boy, where did I start? Lord, help me. Because we believe as a church in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are still available. Because especially going through the book of Acts, I'm gonna break down some of the arguments in Acts, that we see it's an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

And you can even look at church fathers, Tertullian, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, that would talk about the continual works of the Holy Spirit. And then of course, there was a time in history where it's hard to record a lot of what happened. But that's not my point right now.

My point is, with that supernatural gifts comes a gift called prophecy. So God can spontaneously give someone something to give to someone else. Now, why doesn't He just tell me? That's what I would like.

And oftentimes, you're reading the Word, okay, the principle's there. And then you have this thought like, God, are you wanting me to do that? Because I don't know about you, but one of the hardest jobs I have is distinguishing what's me and what's God. Even on good things.

You know, it's not bad things. I mean, I hate giving examples, but a lot of you are new. But when we bought the radio station, it popped into my, I'm like, it's like this thought, why don't you buy it? I'm like, what is that? Like, is that me or is that you, Lord? Like, how do you? Because it's a good thing.

Principles are there financially, this. And so, but then God will allow, put this, it's when something spontaneously comes to mind, often in an individual, and that individual is burdened for you, and they're burdened, they'll say, I just, you know, it's been on my heart all week, and I don't know what to do with it, but let me tell you this. And it's a gift of the Holy Spirit to help that person.

Or He might give them a word of wisdom, where you know something. I mean, this has happened a few times where God will spontaneously bring something to your mind that's wise. I remember when my son was, he was only like one years old, he was sick all the time.

We had that humidifier going. I'm like, gosh, I just had this thought, turn that thing off. And I started to research a little bit.

It was keeping all that bacteria and moist atmosphere in his room. As soon as I did that, the next day, he was doing much better. I can tell you so many other stories on God doing that.

Not a lot, I wish He'd do it more. But how that word of wisdom, I just don't know how to handle some things. Anybody else? I mean, I'm like, thank God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you know, because I need to discern what's of me and what's of God.

I have the principles. We have God's Word, it's all we really need. But it's something that God will put on your heart, a word of wisdom.

Maybe it is for someone else. Maybe it is for someone else. Sometimes it's for you.

I remember of all places, of all places, it's good, I'm gonna make it a positive thing. But I happened to go to the Shepherds Conference at John MacArthur's church, probably eight years ago now. And they had the, and I heard this, he was from China and he spoke at a local event here.

One of the professors there, man, just on fire for God. It was this incredible luncheon and he talked about, you know, spending hours in the morning and persecuting China. But anyway, he said something very interesting at the conference to all these pastors.

He said he's riding his bike in China and he had this thought, it was so like, you know, wow, to go and turn the other way, go down a different road. And he missed the police at his house confiscating his Bible and taking his family to prison. So I want to stand up and yell, that's all I'm saying.

That's all I'm saying. It's not bad, it's of God. That's a word of wisdom, that's it, that still happens today.

And so see, that's why, so what has happened is you get a lot of weird things in the church that has given the Holy Spirit a weird name or a bad name. Things that are not good or not godly. Some of these weird prophets out there are not prophets at all.

They might have been sincere initially, but once they got past 100,000 followers, then they started to think they were God's man or God's woman. And everything they say is of God. It's so arrogant, it's so false.

You've got to be very careful on these people. And then there's other people who are very solid and they're humble and God uses them. And that's why we do want to be careful because with these gifts, it's not dispersed equally.

Somebody will have, maybe they'll have that gift and they'll be able to speak more things in the lives of people. Maybe they'll have, I know gift of healing is controversial. Let's say, why don't you just walk into hospitals? That's not the gift of healing because then that makes me God.

Healed, healed, healed, healed, healed, healed, healed, healed then I'm God, it's my sovereignty. But the gift will be, Lord, I want to be used for that. And God puts this burden on your heart.

He gives you that faith to be able to pray for people. And because of His sovereignty, He's equipped you. It's His gifting, you pray and the person's healed.

That's the gift of healing. It's not automated, turn it on, turn it off whenever I want. And so there are people like that who God uses more often.

It's a gift to the body. Now what happens though, I've seen this before and I've had to actually call people out on it before, but because God has used them, now they think almost everything they say is of God. And it's not, you missed it.

You missed it there, you missed it there. I guess, I will just tell you. We had a speaker at our men's event many months ago.

He was there and I told him, there's a friend of mine, but he called a man up and he said, within a year, you guys are gonna be pregnant. I'm like, if that doesn't happen, I'm emailing you. We gotta stop this, I'm tired of games in the church.

It could be legitimate, I hope it is. I pray that it is, I faith that it is. But if not, I will not cower down and we don't wanna stir the pot.

That's the problem in the charismatic churches, nobody's calling it out, very few are. Mario Murillo recently did, thank God for that. Dr. Michael Brown has called him out.

Others have called it out, it's good, we need it. That's healthy. Without accountability, these people, we need, the more we are elevated, actually, the more humble we need to be.

The more likes and followers, the more accountable we need to be. And so that's how this gift is, and so healing, that's how we've seen it work. God will just put something on somebody's heart and they'll pray for people, or maybe sometimes He doesn't, but they have that gift and they're just praying for people.

God, I pray You would heal them, Lord, in Jesus' name, knowing that God is still sovereign. God doesn't always have to heal just because I pray. And if you're interested, you can find on YouTube, I think I said, when God heals and doesn't heal.

And we looked at Scripture, on a Wednesday night, I believe it was. Sometimes there's sin in our life. He's not gonna heal unless repentance takes place.

Sometimes it's a demonic assault, we see that throughout the, that's why I don't know why people get so worked up about demons and demonic, it's in the Bible. Jesus said, you will speak in other tongues, you will heal the sick, He said it, you have a problem with Him, not me. Now, do we have to be careful? Of course, but that's what prophecy, that was the rabbit trail version of my sermon notes.

That's what prophecy is, and to test everything, and to hold fast, and you do call people out. You call people out on certain things. They've said things that weren't true, and I go, that's not true.

You can't just do that. You can't add hamburger helper to the meat. Beloved, do not believe every spirit.

Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. I'm not gonna believe everything somebody tells me. Doesn't line up with Scripture.

Test the spirit. Also, the spirit behind something, where they're trying to draw you in. Maybe they're trying to get you involved in something.

You have to test those spirits. We had something years ago, I don't even know how many years ago it was now, but a JetHawk Stadium, and this person was coming to the church, kind of saying the right things, doing the right things, but then he started to draw people away to his house, and started to say, you know, stadiums really aren't part of, it's not in the Bible, I don't think that's biblical. Really? Hello? So you test the spirit, you could test right away, was he for unity or self-promotion? And you call those things out? That's the hardest thing about shepherding is I have to call these things out.

I met with him, he said, you're sneaky. You are a wolf. Did I want to? No.

No, if Shane Eidelman, if it was just up to me without the Holy Spirit, I would come up here and give you very encouraging, loving messages. I could give Joel Osteen a run for his money. I could.

If it was just encouragement, and guys, you got this. You're the head, not the tail. You're more than conquerors.

God loves you so much that He wants you to be wealthy, and He wants you to, why should you be poor? Poverty is a curse. Guys, you are so loved by God, and you just so, just, just, oh, you just have to understand that God loves you. Speak words that are life.

Don't speak death into your life. Speak financial freedom into, it's easy. Guys, that's not the church of God.

The church of God convicts you. It confronts our sin. And so that's what the prophecy aspect is about.

Don't despise it in the New Testament. Welcome it. That's what He says in Thessalonians.

Do not despise prophecy, but test everything. And I'm gonna read now Revelation 19 verses 11 through 16. We don't have them.

I just want you to listen to what I say as we put this image up. John says, now I saw heaven open. Many of you have heard me quote this many times, and behold, a white horse.

And He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and He makes war. That's Jesus.

Where's the Lamb? Oh, He's coming back as a King. Make no mistake about it. His eyes are like flames of fire.

So His eyes are like flames of fire. This is what John saw. How else do you write this out? How else do you describe this? His eyes are like flames of fire.

And on His head were many crowns saying He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He has a name written that no one knows except Himself and they will know it soon enough. He was clothed with the robe dipped in blood, the blood of us, His saints.

And His name is called the Word of God and the armies in heaven clothed in fighting linen, white and clean followed after Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword and with it He should strike the nations and He Himself will rule the nations with the rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name that is written, let's put it up there for all of us to see, King of kings and Lord of lords. That's the name that is written. It's not tattooed.

It's just a right thigh meaning the strength and power, the right side, the right hand of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords written on the power and authority of His side. So let's do a few takeaways from this.

He came lowly on a donkey and He was portrayed as a lamb, but now all heaven and earth will bow to Him. Revelation 19, finally Satan's rule is over. Satan's rule is over.

Now theologians are divided. I'm not gonna unpack it here, but it appears that this kingdom under God's sovereignty was Satan's. That's why Satan took Jesus up and said, I will give you.

What's He giving Him? All my kingdoms, the prince and power of the air. And we don't quite understand, like, well, God's sovereign. Jesus is still, all we know is what scripture says.

Satan offers, I will give you all the kingdoms of this world if you will bow to me. So that means he had some authority. But then something interesting happens.

Jesus led into the wilderness, fasts for 40 days, comes out, the Bible says, and the power of the Spirit now His ministry starts. And now the devil is not the number one guy. Demons and things.

Now Jesus is casting out demons. And I believe when the Bible talks about when He said, I saw Satan fall like lightning, could have happened sometime during this time or at the cross, the resurrection, because something was broken. The power of hell, death, sin, all that, something was broken.

So it appears, and that's why Jesus said the kingdom of God cannot be seen, it's within you. So there was something significant that happened at Calvary in Jesus' ministry, at Calvary, at the cross, the devil has been defeated, he no longer has the same grip he used to have. But we obviously know he still has some type of influence.

There's still some type of spiritual battle going on. But at this point, it's done, completely done. Satan's rule is over.

That shouldn't say day, that should say say. Some say that this is a raptured church and past saints coming with him. Others say that this is angelic forces.

So when it talks about the armies, you need to understand, when I talk about post-tribulation, mid-tribulation, pre-tribulation, is the church gone before the tribulation? Well, if so, then they would say this is the church, the armies of heaven, following after Jesus. Others would say if Christians are going through the tribulation, and this is Jesus coming, these are angelic forces behind him. That's my thought, is it's angelic forces coming with Jesus, riding on that white horse.

There's no reason to debate it. There's different views. Proponents of the post-tribulation believe that this is the moment they are waiting for since they have not yet been raptured.

And this is it, what we'll read. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God. So there are tribulation saints, there are Christians during the tribulation.

I hope everyone understands that. There are Christians during the tribulation. The question is, is the majority of the church raptured at some point before all the Christians raptured, and then tribulation, then people become believers, and then they're beheaded for their faith? I'll let you think about that.

I've got my opinions that I've shared over the last year or so. But he saw, John saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God. That tells me that things are gonna ramp up.

Things are going to ramp up. And I don't know if we realize how bad things are. I don't wanna be negative Nelly.

And I wanna prepare people, of course. But it's getting where I believe a lot the radical side of things that you're saying, if they could kill Christians, they would. I don't just haphazardly say that.

If it was legal, and they can get away with it? Oh, absolutely. George Soros, for one, would love to take out millions of us. Repeat Hitler's reign.

I have no doubt in my mind. Why? Because it's demonic hatred. And that's the goal of demonic hatred, is to kill those opposing voices, or at least silence them.

So we see people were beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hands. Again, you can go back to a few months ago when I talked about this topic. Nobody really knows exactly.

I mean, if you're a preterist or partial preterist, you believe the book of Revelation has already been fulfilled. For me, there's a lot of questions about that. I still have.

But there's gonna be a choice. And I know when I taught about it, people kind of get a little bit worried and wonder, is it this or this, or how will I know? I mean, it's gonna be, to me, unless, of course, you're a carnal Christian, you don't really love the Lord, and you just wanna, you want self-preservation. I wanna live at all costs, all compromise.

You know, then it might be a little challenging. I don't know, but I do know that it's gonna be clear that, hey, I'm taking this mark, I'm taking this, and I don't know if it's something literally written on the forehead or literally written on the hand. I mean, there's chip now in prints, the things where Amazon, let's say they got that Palm thing now, they asked if I wanna sign up.

Like, no way. No way. And so it could be, so it's, I mean, it's not beyond the scope of reality to think that there'll be, and as things are getting more compressed to say, you know what? What side are you on? If you want the central bank digital dollar, you're gonna have to agree to these things.

You're not gonna say the LGBTQ people are in sin. You're not gonna, you know, show support for Israel, could be one example. You're not going to preach Romans one and the hard things of the Bible.

We've got a Bible that you can preach from. And if you agree to these things, here is your card. I could see that happening.

And at that point, who am I gonna follow? Because what we learned months ago is you won't be able to buy or sell. So it has to be something that is global to where they can shut it down. You've got gold and silver, that's you can still buy and sell.

Or maybe there'll be a mark on you like, okay, I need to see your whatever it is before you can purchase your Trader Joe's groceries. Why don't I have that? Well, sorry. And that's what it looks like it could be going down that path.

And so I know a lot of people like to debate on eschatology, the end times and this. We do know this for certain. I can say this for certain.

Jesus is coming back again. Are you ready? And I don't just mean ready for His return. I want to clarify this.

I mean, are you ready for tribulation? How do we get ready for that? You get ready now, not then. You get ready now in God's Word, loving God's Word, baying God's Word, and you will have the joy in your heart. So it's not some miserable walking around with your AK-47, AR-15.

At least my gun safe is full. I got 1,500 rounds in case they come after me. You can't live like that.

You can't live like that. I'm all for defending our families. Absolutely.

But we have to remember Christ is our defense. And so here's the key. His robe is dipped in blood so yours can be white.

His is dipped in blood so you can be white. But isn't that an awesome image? We don't have to put it back up there, but just, man, our King. Our King coming again for us.

I mean, I get goosebumps. To defeat our enemies. And it's this white robe, but you can see the blood of the saints on it dying for us.

And not just slowly on the horse. Hey guys, can we sit down and have a peace treaty? You cannot describe anything more awesome and radical than eyes with flames of fire coming out of them. Can you? If I saw that, here's G, flames of fire.

That fire that penetrates, that purifies. And that's when we preach, there should be some fire in the preaching as well. Because it convicts, it refines us.

Eyes were like flames of fire. And He had crowns. Nobody is greater than King Jesus.

All other lesser magistrates must bow to King Jesus. And then one of my favorite parts, out of His mouth goes nice, gentle, soft words. This description is just bad in a good way.

Awesome. So John sees this sword, and I guarantee it's a double edge, X caliber, four foot, I don't know just, out of his mouth goes a sword. What's he gonna do with the sword? Strike down.

And then as he's doing it, he's gonna tread the wine press. So it's not just wine in the press that he's stomping on. He's gonna tread the wine press and what that is instead, it's the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Jesus is like He's almost stepping on the souls of men, treading there, judging them. That picture just blows my mind. You better be certain that you know Jesus.

You better be certain that you know Jesus because there will be a point where you cannot return once you pass from here, life to death. And so let's read it so I can get into next week. Oh no, we got a special guest.

We got a guest speaker next week. R.T. Kendall's coming out and talking about an important topic on Mother's Day. And so this will probably be the following one.

We'll get into chapter 20, but let's end so you can hear this is incredible too. So then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather together for the supper of the great God. You may eat the flesh of the kings and the flesh of captains.

Man, God doesn't mess around. God, can you make this G-rated? And so that's why many think there's a physical slaughter. There's a physical battle.

You can put this metaphor, simile, I mean, not simile, but metaphor to, well, it could be spiritual. You know what? Let's just read Scripture. God will figure it out.

And so their flesh is being consumed by the birds of the air. All types of people, free and slaves, small and great, it doesn't matter if you're in your bunker in Hawaii or in the streets of East LA or in the Antelope Valley. There's nothing outside of his jurisdiction.

And then I saw the beast, here we go. The kings of the earth and their armies gather together to make war against him. Good luck.

This doesn't take long. Then the beast was captured. It's about it.

Because I don't really see this battle of, you know how in battles there's sometimes, you know, the side's winning, this side's winning. We got to take this front. We lost this stronghold.

We got to go gain this land again. Now we lost this island and they're battling. It's like they come against Jesus and they're done.

That's it. That's it. Because Jesus, there's not gonna be a pushback.

Jesus is like, oh, you got me on that one. I did not know Russia had all those F-15s. I didn't know about those supersonic submarines that China has.

Wow, that really set us back. They're supersonic, no, missiles, not submarines. They might fire supersonic missiles.

But it's just, he says, here comes this battle. Here it comes. Boom, then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet.

So there's this leader and this false prophet who works signs in the presence of others. And by which they deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Then two of them were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeds from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. What just happened? Unbelievable.

And of course, there's lots of debates on is it an actual fire burning? Who knows? You just don't wanna be there. So I'll leave you with this thought. Consider this.

Consider this if you don't know God. Talking to those maybe here this morning watching online, obviously listening on the radio. Consider this, if you don't know God, in a moment, you will know that everything you believed was a lie.

Is that interesting? As I got to the end of studying this this week, I realized there's gonna be a lot of people in a moment, in a moment, they'll know that everything they believed was a lie. How staggering the results of that. So you have to remember Buddha is dead.

The gods of India are deceiving spirits. Christ saves, not Hare Krishna. Scientologists will find that brotherhood with the universe leads to damnation, not glorification.

Joseph Smith is not ruling heaven with a celestial wife, but weeping in the darkness of eternity. Those who trust in religion and in works will find that all their effort was done in vain. Be clear on this point, the greatest depression a person will ever feel, and I know people deal with depression.

I've dealt with it. We know it can be challenging and life altering and difficult, but nothing, nothing will compare to the depression that mankind will feel on the face of the earth or in the afterlife when they feel now they've been isolated from God for eternity. Nothing will match that depression.

Coming to the realization, everything I believed was a lie. I went through the motions. I prayed three times a day.

I did all these good things. I followed these deceiving spirits. I followed these false prophets and I realized everything was a lie.

So the big takeaway, don't speculate, run to the narrow gate, run to that narrow gate. I had that whole verse in here, but I thought it might be too much. So I'm gonna go off memory here for a minute.

But they came to Jesus and they said, and this is so important, because I get asked this, maybe some of you. They said, Jesus, are there few who are saved? Wanting to know, are there lots of people saved? Are there few who are saved? He didn't say yes. No, he said something very interesting.

He said, strive to be saved. Strive to enter the narrow gate. Strive to enter the narrow gate.

Wait a minute, we're not saved by works. And that word strive, actually, this has been years, but it's where we get our word agonized from, agonizo. And it's almost, if you study, break it down, it's like you've got to fight against everything demonic, you've got to fight against your own impulses and flesh wanting to be God.

You've got to strive, strive to enter the narrow gate. They said something else interesting, because many will seek. Wait, I thought if you seek, you find.

Not this seek, you gotta look up the word definition. This word, many will seek and they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. But this word seek means many will ponder.

I'm here today, I wonder what this guy's saying is true. I don't know, I still wanna have fun. I'll get to that later.

I'll look into it. I'm gonna look into other religions as well. I'm gonna ponder what he said.

That's not salvation. Genuine salvation never ponders, it repents. Once you hear the conviction of the truth, and even if you kind of were like where I was, you saw so much weirdness in the church or you were let down by people, you remember Jesus will never let you down.

Don't look to man to give you a definition of God. Let us point you to Jesus. And I think it's okay to ask, Lord, I want to believe, but help my unbelief.

There's gotta be a God, Lord, I know, but help me. Please show me, God, I'm insincere, I'm honest. Lord, I want to know where you saved me and set me free.

My past is full of regret. I just blew it this weekend. But God, I want to, God will show you.

He's not up in heaven playing games. He wants what? A broken and contrite heart, not an arrogant heart. And that's where the word seek gets interesting.

They ponder, they contemplate, but in their arrogance they reject. So he said, you strive to enter the narrow gate for many will seek to enter and will not be able to. That's the difference between light and darkness, right and wrong.

It could be that you're coming to the Lord for the first time this morning. You're repenting and you believe. The Bible says if you repent and confess that Christ is Lord and you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.