The Levee of Grace: Why Free Will Cannot Save

• Identity and Divine Love [00:00:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that humans are God's family, created in His image, and are the only thing God gets out of creation, emphasizing that God adores believers despite their flaws.
• End Times Prophecy [00:00:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker frames current global events (Ukraine, Russia, Israel, China) as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, offering comfort to believers and warning to unbelievers.
• Creation vs. Evolution [00:04:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the biblical account of being made in God's image with evolution, describing the latter as 'hideous satanic teaching' that renders life meaningless.
• Free Will and Consent [00:10:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God values consensual love, using the analogy of robots versus children, and contrasts Jesus as a Shepherd who leads by choice with Satan as a sheep herder who drives by force.
• Free Will and Choice [00:11:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts God's kingdom, which requires voluntary choice and has no addiction, with Satan's kingdom, which is addictive and coercive, using the analogy of a shepherd versus a sheep herder.
• Salvation by Grace [00:12:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reads Ephesians 2 to explain that salvation is a gift of grace, not works, and uses a personal anecdote about smoking to illustrate that salvation is not earned by perfection but by knowing Jesus.
• The Value of Human Life [00:16:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the death of Jesus establishes the infinite value of human life, asking rhetorically if the individual is 'worth' the sacrifice, and answering affirmatively.
• The Mystery of the Bride of Christ [00:16:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the Jewish wedding customs (bride price, building a room, the return) as a metaphor for the Rapture and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, identifying the Church as the bride of Christ.
• Rejection of the Gospel [00:21:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses why people reject Jesus despite the preaching of the gospel, citing John 3 to explain that men love darkness because their deeds are evil and they do not want to be held accountable.
• Human Rejection of Light [00:22:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that people reject Jesus not because of lack of evidence, but because they love darkness and evil deeds, citing John 3.
• Universal Acknowledgment of Christ [00:23:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that every human being, including historical figures like Hitler and bin Laden, will eventually bow the knee and confess Jesus is Lord, though it may be too late for salvation.
• The Rapture and End Times Signs [00:24:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the current era as the 'days of Noah and Lot,' characterized by normalcy (buying, selling, marrying) and wickedness, preceding the sudden return of Jesus.
• Pre-Tribulation Rapture Timing [00:25:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the rapture must occur before the tribulation because the activities described in Luke 17 (building, planting) indicate a future hope that would not exist after the earth is destroyed.
• Practical Christian Living [00:28:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor advises believers to 'plan like Jesus isn't coming back for a hundred years, but live like he's coming back today,' encouraging education, career, and family planning rather than paralysis.

• Sermon Illustration [00:06:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of toddlers, describing them as 'disgusting little creatures' with hideous odors and sticky hands, yet adored by parents simply because they are 'yours' and 'who they are,' to illustrate how God loves believers despite their issues.
• Sermon Illustration [00:11:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts a shepherd, who has a relationship with sheep and leads them by choice, with a sheep herder, who has no relationship and drives them regardless of their wants, to distinguish between Jesus and Satan.
• Sermon Illustration [00:10:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of appliances (microwave, vacuum) to explain that value comes from choice, not function. He then contrasts a shepherd (who leads by relationship and choice) with a sheep herder (who drives by force). He shares a personal story of smoking menthol cigarettes since high school and his addiction, followed by a story of a young woman on his podcast who feared her vaping would prevent her from being raptured, which he used to teach that salvation is by grace, not behavioral perfection.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor details the ancient Jewish wedding custom: the groom pays a bride price, legally betroths the bride with wine, builds a room in his father's house, and returns at midnight with a wedding party to take his bride to the father's house for a seven-day celebration, which he maps to the Rapture and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of Noah building the ark on dry ground: he looked like an idiot while building it, but looked like a genius when the rain started. This illustrates how the world mocks believers now but will recognize their wisdom later.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Lot being a righteous man in Sodom, mocked by his unrighteous neighbors, and being told by angels to leave before judgment fell, illustrating the separation of the righteous remnant from the world.
• Sermon Illustration [00:29:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his granddaughters, who are strong Christians, expressing a desire to have children and get married rather than wanting Jesus to return immediately, validating their feelings while affirming the ultimate joy of seeing Jesus.

• Pastoral Charge [00:15:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > Verbal affirmation of the doctrine of salvation by grace
• Pastoral Charge [00:30:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > Unbelievers are called to prepare their hearts and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] To understand the times that we're living in and to put it in context you have to understand we're God's family the only thing that God gets out of all creation is us and that's good you were created in the image of God to love God and to be loved by God the title of this message is the right side of the levee and related to the end times this picture of a levee breaking or being you know behind a dam that's about to break and that's what's about to happen in the world is we're
[00:00:30] about to see some incredible things take place. But I'll give you some good news. There's the right side of the levy and the wrong side of the levy. And if you're a believer, you're on the
[00:00:39] right side of the levy. And I couldn't have better news for you. This message this morning is a very, very encouraging, comforting message. And that's why I like speaking on the end times because like Pastor Ed last week, when you understand the end times,
[00:00:52] it's comforting. It educates you. It comforts you because you know what's about to happen.
[00:00:57] and it's all good news for believers.
[00:00:59] Now, if you're an unbeliever, I couldn't have worse news for you.
[00:01:02] It's about to get really, really bad.
[00:01:04] So I'm gonna give you the good news today.
[00:01:06] We have a website called endtimes.com and I speak on the End Times constantly.
[00:01:11] It's a subscription site, $7 a month, $77 a year.
[00:01:15] You have a seven-day free trial if you want it.
[00:01:17] The reason I'm saying that is because the Ukraine, Russia, Israel, China, all the things that are happening right now, we've been talking about all week, myself, Mark Hitchcock, Greg Laurie, other guests that we have, they're contributors to the site.
[00:01:30] But if you want to read videos or see videos or read articles, it's on intimes.com. And we'll be talking about it all week this week also. But what's happening right now in the world is very,
[00:01:43] very serious. And it's what the Bible said would happen 2,000, 3,000 years ago. You have the only book in the world in the Bible that predicts the future with accuracy. About a third of the Bible
[00:01:54] is prophecy. And most of that is end time prophecy. The only one who can foretell the future is the one who controls it. And the fact that our Bible tells the future is proof that we have the only
[00:02:05] living God. Hundreds and hundreds of prophecies in the Bible that are being specifically foretold in the days that we're living in. Now we're going to go to the movies this morning.
[00:02:20] We're going to talk about the right side of the levee. If you're a Christian, you're safe, you're on the right side of the levee. We're going to go to a movie. And this movie is called
[00:02:28] The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.
[00:02:31] I wanna tell you the greatest love story, and if you're a believer, you're the subject of this love story.
[00:02:36] We're gonna look at five scenes of history, and we're gonna go from the beginning to the end.
[00:02:42] We're gonna end up where we are right now, in the end times.
[00:02:45] And this is scene one.
[00:02:46] Scene one of the greatest love story of all times is God in paradise with mankind.
[00:02:53] This is how the Bible begins.
[00:02:54] This is Genesis one.
[00:02:55] God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth
[00:03:06] and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
[00:03:08] So God created man in his own image.
[00:03:11] In the image of God, he created him male and female.
[00:03:13] He created them.
[00:03:14] Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.
[00:03:20] Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that lives on the earth.
[00:03:26] Now, to understand the times that we're living in and to put it in context, you have to understand we're God's family.
[00:03:34] God created us.
[00:03:35] You don't see this really played out in the first two chapters of the Bible because it happens so quickly.
[00:03:41] The rise and fall of man happens so quickly.
[00:03:44] We're the only creatures created in God's image and likeness.
[00:03:49] He created us on his level.
[00:03:51] We're not God, but we're close.
[00:03:53] A man named Paul Bilheimer wrote a book called Destined for the Throne and he said if God would have created mankind any higher, he would have breached the Godhead.
[00:04:02] You're divine, you're God's family.
[00:04:07] The only thing that God gets out of all creation is us and that's good, he's good with that.
[00:04:14] You were created in the image of God to love God and to be loved by God.
[00:04:18] Now evolution, this hideous satanic teaching teaches us and our children that we came from an accident, we came from nowhere, we're going nowhere and our lives are meaningless, we're just animals.
[00:04:31] There was the goo and then the zoo and then me and you.
[00:04:35] Have a good day.
[00:04:38] And we're teaching an entire generation those lies.
[00:04:43] I heard someone say one time, it's no surprise that children act like animals when they're taught that's all they are.
[00:04:50] You were made in the image of God and you are God's family.
[00:04:57] You came from God, he lives inside of you and you are going to God.
[00:05:03] Your life could not be more meaningful than it is.
[00:05:06] The first two chapters of the Bible tell us that God created us in his image to live with him in paradise.
[00:05:12] The last two chapters of the Bible say exactly the same thing.
[00:05:15] This is Revelation 21.
[00:05:17] I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed.
[00:05:21] There was no more sea than I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[00:05:30] I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.
[00:05:39] God himself will be with them and be their God and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
[00:05:44] There should be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
[00:05:47] There should be no more pain for the former things have passed away.
[00:05:51] Somebody say amen.
[00:05:53] That's where you're headed.
[00:05:55] That's where we're headed.
[00:05:56] We are going to live in the presence of God.
[00:05:58] The first two chapters are God in paradise with mankind.
[00:06:02] The last two chapters of the Bible are God in paradise with mankind.
[00:06:06] God wants to live with us eternally.
[00:06:09] We are his eternal family.
[00:06:10] And so the only thing that God gets out of all the pain he's been through, no one's been through as much pain as God.
[00:06:16] The death of Jesus proves that.
[00:06:18] The only thing he gets is you.
[00:06:23] And he's good with that.
[00:06:25] That's how valuable you are to God.
[00:06:26] You are his family.
[00:06:28] And so a lot of us, when you say how much God loves us, it's hard to process.
[00:06:34] It's hard because we know all of our stuff.
[00:06:36] You know, we know all the dumb things that we do.
[00:06:38] And so you're thinking, why would God love me so much?
[00:06:40] Let me give you just an example here.
[00:06:43] Toddlers, these little toddlers, these precious little toddlers, they're precious, they're incredible.
[00:06:48] But when you get right down to it, they're pretty disgusting little creatures.
[00:06:53] They produce hideous odors that defy science.
[00:06:57] Their hands are sticky and greasy and they put them on you, you know.
[00:07:00] They're ill-mannered and disobedient.
[00:07:02] And they jump up in your lap in spite of all of their issues, you just adore them.
[00:07:08] You love them.
[00:07:09] And the question is, how could you love somebody like that?
[00:07:16] Because they're yours.
[00:07:18] It's not what's on them.
[00:07:19] It's what's in them.
[00:07:20] It's who they are.
[00:07:21] It's not what they do.
[00:07:23] It's who they are.
[00:07:25] Well, how could God love us so much in spite of our issues?
[00:07:30] It's because we came from him.
[00:07:33] He sees past what's on you.
[00:07:35] He sees what's in you.
[00:07:38] What he put there.
[00:07:39] This is Psalm 139.
[00:07:41] You formed my inward parts.
[00:07:42] You covered me in my mother's womb.
[00:07:44] I will praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
[00:07:47] Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.
[00:07:50] My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[00:07:55] I saw my substance being yet unformed.
[00:07:59] And in your book, they were all written, the day's fashion for me.
[00:08:01] When is that?
[00:08:02] There was none of them.
[00:08:03] How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God.
[00:08:06] How great is the sum of them.
[00:08:08] If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.
[00:08:11] When I awake, I'm still with you.
[00:08:12] See, God created you in your mother's womb.
[00:08:15] He knit you together in your mother's womb.
[00:08:18] You weren't a blob.
[00:08:20] You were a child of God.
[00:08:23] You were a divine product of a divine process.
[00:08:29] God knit you there.
[00:08:30] And it says he has so many thoughts toward you in your mother's womb that couldn't be counted.
[00:08:35] You know something?
[00:08:36] In your mother's womb, God forethought your entire life.
[00:08:39] every detail. You're not an accident. You're not an afterthought. You're the creation of almighty God. That's who you are. So I'm going to make a statement that's going to challenge you.
[00:08:57] And I'm going to prove it to you in the Bible. God adores you more than any human parent who's ever loved a child. There's never been a parent on earth, the greatest mother, the greatest father
[00:09:07] on earth. There's never been a parent on the planet that loved a child as much as God loves you. I'll prove it to you. This is Matthew 7. This is Jesus. If you then being evil know how to give
[00:09:18] good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Jesus is talking to the disciples. If you being evil, and I can just
[00:09:28] imagine them standing there saying, did he just call us? He didn't say we're evil. Compared to God, we're evil. The best father, the best mother on earth, the best one on earth compared to other
[00:09:42] mothers and fathers on the earth is evil compared to God. And Jesus said, if you being fallen, give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give to you?
[00:09:53] There's never been a child loved by a parent as much as God loves you. And the devil attacks us and tells us that we're nobody and we're not important to God and God doesn't love us.
[00:10:05] Nothing could be further from the truth. We are adored by God. We are adored by him. You are adored by him. You can't understand what's happening in the world today until you understand who you are in God. Scene one, God in paradise with mankind. Scene two, mankind rebels.
[00:10:28] Adam and Eve, God created Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, but they rebelled.
[00:10:32] And so God gave us a free will and we can use that free will against him.
[00:10:37] And here's the reason that's important. God only values a consensual relationship.
[00:10:42] God could have made us robots and we could have been programmed by God to worship him and serve him and love him.
[00:10:48] But there's no value in the love of a robot.
[00:10:51] They have no choice.
[00:10:52] You don't praise your washer because it washes.
[00:10:56] You don't praise your microwave because it waves.
[00:10:59] You don't praise your vacuum because it sucks.
[00:11:03] They have to, there's no value in that.
[00:11:05] The value in you being in church right now is you didn't have to be.
[00:11:09] You woke up this morning and your love for God brought you here.
[00:11:15] That's the value.
[00:11:16] Here's an interesting little fact.
[00:11:18] There's nothing addictive in the kingdom of God.
[00:11:22] Nothing in God's kingdom is ever addictive.
[00:11:24] You're never addicted to prayer.
[00:11:27] You're never addicted to worship.
[00:11:29] You're never addicted to church.
[00:11:31] You're never addicted to anything in God because God doesn't value it unless you do it by choice.
[00:11:38] But everything in Satan's kingdom is addictive because he doesn't care anything about you and he doesn't want a relationship with you.
[00:11:46] He just wants to destroy your life.
[00:11:49] There's a difference between a shepherd and a sheep herder.
[00:11:52] A shepherd develops a relationship with the sheep and he knows them and they know him.
[00:11:58] And he gets in front of the sheep and leads and the sheep follow by choice.
[00:12:04] A sheep herder gets behind the sheep, has no relationship with the sheep and drives them regardless of what they want.
[00:12:11] Satan is a sheep herder.
[00:12:12] Jesus is a shepherd.
[00:12:13] I choose Jesus.
[00:12:20] With choice comes consequence.
[00:12:22] God gave us free will.
[00:12:24] And with that free will comes consequence.
[00:12:27] And there's also an eternal consequence of whether we choose Jesus or not.
[00:12:31] But mankind failed.
[00:12:32] God put us in paradise.
[00:12:34] That shows you his intent.
[00:12:35] We're his family.
[00:12:36] He wants to be with us through all of eternity.
[00:12:39] That's his intent.
[00:12:39] But he had to give us free will for there to be a consensual relationship.
[00:12:44] And unfortunately, Adam and Eve used that against him.
[00:12:46] Scene three.
[00:12:47] Jesus redeems mankind and reveals a mystery.
[00:12:50] so in spite of our sins Jesus came to redeem us I told you how much God loves you and how much you mean to God here's Ephesians 2 and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins
[00:13:03] in which you also walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works and the sons of disobedience among whom also we once conducted ourselves
[00:13:15] in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
[00:13:23] But God, who is rich in mercy, listen, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
[00:13:36] By grace you have been saved and raised up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
[00:13:45] and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
[00:13:48] For by grace you have been saved through faith.
[00:13:50] Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
[00:13:52] Not of works, lest anyone should boast.
[00:13:55] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
[00:14:01] And so Jesus came to redeem us.
[00:14:03] When we were dead in our trespasses, he loved us.
[00:14:06] Isn't that wonderful?
[00:14:08] Even when we were against him, he was for us.
[00:14:11] And it says, by grace you have been saved through faith.
[00:14:13] I had a, on the podcast that I do on Tipping Point, I had this young lady a couple weeks ago writing a question and she said, Jimmy, I'm struggling with vaping. And she said, I'm afraid
[00:14:26] that my vaping is going to keep me from being raptured and keep me from going to heaven.
[00:14:32] And so I responded to her question. And what I said is we're saved by grace. It's a free gift.
[00:14:39] You can't earn salvation. And God doesn't want us. I smoked until I was 25. I started smoking, played baseball in high school started smoking before baseball practice salem menthol cigarettes my friend stole them from his mother they made me deathly ill but i hung in there and got addicted
[00:15:00] took a lot of commitment and i used to wake up in the morning and have my quiet time and smoke two or three cigarettes and drink coffee and just talk to jesus you know and one day jesus said to
[00:15:14] me i i can't do what i want to do in your life if you smoke real sweet real gentle you don't want me up here saying, turn to John one, if you would, please. We all have issues. And when Jesus comes,
[00:15:31] we'll all be imperfect. If you know Jesus, you're going to get raptured. If you know Jesus, you're going to heaven. There's only one qualification, knowing Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace, not of ourselves. No one can brag. It is the gift of God. Somebody say amen.
[00:15:53] Jesus redeemed us. So by grace, we could reestablish a relationship with God.
[00:15:59] And this is John three, you know this scripture.
[00:16:01] God so loved the world.
[00:16:04] He didn't just love the world, he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but would have everlasting life.
[00:16:13] For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
[00:16:20] The death of Jesus establishes the value of your life.
[00:16:26] Jesus had you in mind when he died.
[00:16:30] And the question is, are you worth it?
[00:16:32] the most hideous death that any human being has ever died in the history of the world.
[00:16:39] The entire sins of the world were put on him.
[00:16:41] He became the sacrificed lamb.
[00:16:44] And the question before he died is, are you worth it?
[00:16:48] And his answer was, yes.
[00:16:52] The death of Jesus establishes the value of your life.
[00:16:55] It gets even better.
[00:16:56] Jesus reveals a mystery.
[00:16:58] This is John 14.
[00:16:59] Let not your heart be troubled.
[00:17:01] You believe in God, believe also in me.
[00:17:03] In my Father's house are many mansions.
[00:17:05] if it were not so, I would have told you.
[00:17:07] I go to prepare a place for you.
[00:17:08] And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.
[00:17:14] I want you to remember that word receive there.
[00:17:17] It's the Greek word paralambana.
[00:17:18] Remember that word.
[00:17:19] I'll bring it back up in just a minute.
[00:17:21] Now this to the Western mind, to the American mind, this is just like this.
[00:17:25] This is wedding language.
[00:17:27] This is Jewish wedding language.
[00:17:29] And so when a Jewish groom was going to marry a Jewish bride, he left his father's house with a bride price.
[00:17:38] He had to pay for the bride.
[00:17:39] He went to the bride's house and he sat down with the bride's parents.
[00:17:43] And this was typically already agreed upon by the families.
[00:17:46] And he sat down with the bride's parents and he gave them the bride's price.
[00:17:51] And if they received it, they had a glass of wine together.
[00:17:55] And the glass of wine legally betrothed them.
[00:17:59] They were legally betrothed to consummate that about a year later.
[00:18:03] And so at the end of the glass of wine, the groom said to the bride, I will not drink of the fruit of the cup again until I drink it with you in my father's house.
[00:18:11] Remember that last supper?
[00:18:13] That's what Jesus said.
[00:18:15] He then went back to his father's house and he built a hupa, a room or a house on his father's house for he and his bride.
[00:18:22] And it took him about a year typically.
[00:18:24] And after he was finished, he said to his father, father, I'm finished with the room.
[00:18:30] And his father would inspect it and he could not go back and get his bride until his father approved.
[00:18:36] And he would ask his father on a regular basis, is it time?
[00:18:40] And the father would say, it is not time.
[00:18:42] And finally, on the day that he went back to get his bride, the father said, it's time, go get your bride.
[00:18:47] So he would go back with his wedding party and they would come down the street about midnight.
[00:18:51] It was always at an inopportune hour.
[00:18:53] And because of that, the bride had to sleep in her wedding clothes with her makeup on, all that kind of stuff.
[00:18:59] I don't know if they wore makeup back then, but she had to be ready.
[00:19:02] with her lamp lit, and her attendants also had to sleep in their bridal clothes.
[00:19:07] And so they would come down the street blowing trumpets and shouting.
[00:19:12] Pastor Ed's message last week talked about the rapture, the voice of an archangel, shout of God, the trumpet of God.
[00:19:19] And so they came down the street shouting and blowing trumpets, and the bride had to get up and immediately be ready to go.
[00:19:23] She had to be ready when the bridegroom returned.
[00:19:26] And they went back to the father's house, and they had a seven-day wedding.
[00:19:31] The earth is about to go through a seven-year tribulation, which will literally be hell on earth.
[00:19:36] The worst seven years of human history.
[00:19:37] During that time, we'll be at the marriage supper of the lamb, which will be the most exquisite event in the universe.
[00:19:45] And we will marry Jesus for seven years.
[00:19:47] At the end of that time, we'll return with him.
[00:19:50] But Jesus reveals a mystery here.
[00:19:52] We're not just his family, we're his wife.
[00:19:56] We're the bride of Christ, Ephesians 5.
[00:19:59] For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
[00:20:04] This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
[00:20:09] Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife say that she respects her husband.
[00:20:15] This is a great mystery, Paul says.
[00:20:17] We are the wife of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:19] We're his bride now.
[00:20:20] We'll be his wife at the end of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
[00:20:23] And a lot of the guys here, this is tough.
[00:20:25] A lot of the gals here, you watch all the wedding shows, say yes to the dress, all that kind of stuff, y'all.
[00:20:30] Like that.
[00:20:30] while we're watching sports.
[00:20:33] And you're into all this stuff.
[00:20:35] For guys, it's kind of gross.
[00:20:36] It's like, I can't get there.
[00:20:39] Let me just say it to you this way because you have to think about it in much different terms even though marriage is a mirror image of our relationship with God.
[00:20:47] How would you like to be loved and cared for perfectly forever?
[00:20:53] None of us are loved perfectly on this earth.
[00:20:55] None of us are cared for perfectly on this earth.
[00:20:58] Jesus Christ will love us and care for us perfectly for all of eternity.
[00:21:02] His desire is to be our eternal husband and care for us.
[00:21:06] And we are the bride of Jesus Christ.
[00:21:09] Jesus revealed that mystery.
[00:21:10] Here's scene four.
[00:21:12] The gospel is preached around the world and people decide for or against Jesus.
[00:21:15] Jesus came to redeem us of our sins through his death on the cross and also to reveal to us that we are his future bride.
[00:21:23] And now the gospel has been preached for 2,000 years around the world.
[00:21:26] There are 8 billion people in the world today, right at 8 billion, a little under 8 billion, Two billion people in the world today claim to be Christians, but six billion reject Jesus.
[00:21:39] A lot of them will get saved in the future. The tribulation period of time, I believe hundreds of millions, if not billions of people will get saved during the tribulation. The rapture of the church, when we disappear, it will be the greatest evangelistic event in the history of the world.
[00:21:53] And a lot of people will get saved. And most of them will be killed by the Antichrist or die in the judgments. Three-fourths of the earth's population dies during the tribulation. And so you say, well, why would anyone reject Jesus? I mean, the gospel is being preached. People are
[00:22:11] making their decisions. This is what's happening. This is why Jesus is delaying to give people an opportunity to receive him. Jesus answers the question in John 3 of why people reject him.
[00:22:22] John 3, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world,
[00:22:31] but to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe in him is condemned already because he has not
[00:22:41] believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
[00:22:52] for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed but he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen
[00:23:02] that they have been done in God.
[00:23:05] Unfortunately, we have a choice to make.
[00:23:08] Do I come into the light where my morals can be scrutinized, where my behavior can be scrutinized, where I can come under authority and be accountable to the king of kings or I'm gonna stay in darkness?
[00:23:22] The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of rebellion and lawlessness and darkness where men don't want their behavior scrutinized.
[00:23:28] They don't want a higher authority.
[00:23:30] Let me say this, one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
[00:23:36] Some will do it willingly.
[00:23:39] Those of you who are here and you already received Christ, you've already bowed your knee to Jesus.
[00:23:44] But every human being who's ever lived, Adolf Hitler will bow his knee and declare that Jesus is Lord.
[00:23:50] Osama bin Laden will bow his knee and declare that Jesus is Lord.
[00:23:54] Every president of the United States will bow his knee and declare that Jesus is Lord.
[00:23:59] Every single human being, whether it's willing or unwilling, every person will ultimately acknowledge Jesus, but for some it will be too late because they rejected him, they end up going to hell.
[00:24:11] But if you're a believer and you've received Jesus and you've come into the light, it's all good.
[00:24:17] Scene five, Jesus returns for his bride in the midst of an evil generation.
[00:24:22] This brings us current, okay?
[00:24:24] This is where we are today.
[00:24:26] Jesus is about to return for us in the midst of an evil generation.
[00:24:29] Luke 17, this is Jesus.
[00:24:31] His disciples, then he said to the disciples, the days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, you will not see it.
[00:24:38] And they will say to you, look here or look there.
[00:24:40] Do not go after them or follow them.
[00:24:42] For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in his day.
[00:24:50] That's the rapture, the lightning flashing, that's the rapture.
[00:24:53] But he must first suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
[00:24:58] And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the son of man.
[00:25:02] They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
[00:25:09] Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.
[00:25:14] But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroy them all, even so it will be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
[00:25:23] Now, Jesus is talking about one day, a day in history when Noah got on the boat before the flood.
[00:25:29] There was buying, selling, marrying, giving, and marriage.
[00:25:32] The day that Lot went out of Sodom and Gomorrah.
[00:25:35] This is important because we will not be here.
[00:25:37] Jesus will come and take us away before the tribulation begins.
[00:25:42] Buying, selling, marrying, giving, and marriage, planting, building.
[00:25:45] At the end of the tribulation, three, four, some people say, no, we're gonna go through the tribulation. At the end of the tribulation, three-fourths of the world's population is dead and the earth is a smoldering ruin. There's no buying and selling and marrying,
[00:25:57] giving and marriage. You know, if I say to you, hey, the end of the world's coming in about six months, let's build a house. Let's get married. Buying, selling, marrying, giving and marriage, planting, building speaks of hope for the future. In the day that Noah was building a huge ark on
[00:26:11] dry ground and it never rained, there was no trader to tow it to the lake. He looked like a total idiot. And he was being ridiculed by everybody around him. What are you doing, Noah? But on the
[00:26:24] day the rain started, he looked like a genius. Lot was a righteous man in a very unrighteous society. Again, being mocked and ridiculed by the people around him. And the angel said to Lot, you have to get out of here because we can't judge this place until you're gone and you've
[00:26:41] safely arrived at your destination. The judgment of the world will not begin until we're gone and we're out of here. Just as it was, by the way, Noah's day was wickedness and violence and immorality. And Lot's day was rampant immorality and rejection of God's authorities.
[00:26:59] Does that sound like the world we're living in today? But a righteous remnant was obeying God and waiting for God. He said, it'll be just like that. And then let's pick it back up in verse 34.
[00:27:09] I tell you in that night, there will be two people in one bed. And he's describing the rapture, this rapture. In that night, there will be two people in one bed. The one will be taken,
[00:27:17] and the other will be left.
[00:27:18] Two women will be grinding together.
[00:27:20] The one will be taken, the other left.
[00:27:21] Two men will be in the field.
[00:27:23] One will be taken, the other left.
[00:27:25] And they answered and said to him, where, Lord?
[00:27:27] So he said to them, wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
[00:27:30] In other words, in the air, where the eagles are, that's where the bodies will be, up in the air, like the lightning, okay?
[00:27:36] I told you to remember a word, Paralimbano, receive.
[00:27:40] I'm going away to my father's house to prepare a place for you.
[00:27:43] And as surely as I go away, I'm gonna come back and receive you to myself so that where I am, you may be also.
[00:27:50] The word taken, one taken, one left behind.
[00:27:54] The word taken is the word paralimbano.
[00:27:57] It's the same word as the word receive.
[00:27:59] The rapture is Jesus coming from his father's house in heaven to the earth to receive us to himself so he can take us back to the father's house and marry us there.
[00:28:11] The rapture is, that's what we're waiting for.
[00:28:13] This is the next big event that's about to happen.
[00:28:15] and all the mayhem and everything that's happening in the world right now is exactly what the Bible said would happen right before the rapture.
[00:28:22] The days of Noah, the days of Lot, the days of wickedness, the days of rebellion, the days that God is being mocked.
[00:28:28] Jesus said it'll be just like that, the days of Noah and Lot.
[00:28:31] So let me say this, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks to finish this series.
[00:28:36] Pastor, I'll be preaching again next week.
[00:28:39] Don't stop living your life.
[00:28:41] If you believe that Jesus is coming back soon, build a house, get a degree, get your education, plan like Jesus isn't coming back for a hundred years, but live like he's coming back today. The worst thing you can do is just get paralyzed and
[00:29:03] just start, you know, doing this, you know, Jesus come like this and just be worthless.
[00:29:08] We have a lot to do until Jesus comes. Live your life, pray, pray for direction from God and do what you believe that God is telling you what to do with your life. But I'll tell you this,
[00:29:17] Jesus is going to be on time. And the main thing is for us to be ready. If you're saved, you're going to go up in the rapture. Don't let the devil condemn you or convince you that you're not.
[00:29:27] If you're saved, you're going to go up the rapture. In the meantime, before Jesus comes, we just simply need to understand the bride had to be ready. She didn't know exactly when the groom was going to come, but one day soon there's going to be a shout in the trumpet of God.
[00:29:44] And we're going to be instantly caught up in the air to be with Jesus forever.
[00:29:48] Some people, I know sometimes young people say, well, I just don't really want Jesus to come.
[00:29:52] My granddaughters say this.
[00:29:53] And they love Jesus.
[00:29:54] They're all very strong Christians.
[00:29:55] I don't, I wanna have children.
[00:29:57] I want to get married and I wanna, you know, do this.
[00:29:59] And I get that.
[00:30:00] I completely get that.
[00:30:01] I just wanna say to everybody, when Jesus comes, you're not gonna regret it.
[00:30:07] No one will say, gosh, I wish I could go back and go to the prom.
[00:30:13] When you see the face of Jesus, you will be changed eternally.
[00:30:17] Bow your heads with me.
[00:30:18] Lord, we see what's happening in the world today. And it's exactly what your word said would happen. And we thank you for Bible prophecy. We thank you for telling us the future in advance. And Lord, I pray for comfort today. I pray that
[00:30:33] in spite of what's happening in the world, in spite of what's in the news, let our hearts be comforted by the fact that these are your times and that you're in control. And that one day very
[00:30:45] soon you're coming for us and we're going to see your face. Comfort us and for every person who does not know you as their personal Lord and Savior, prepare their heart right now to make you the Lord of their lives.
[00:30:58] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:31:01] God bless you guys.

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