Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Yes and Amen

7/19/2021 Jeff Schwarzentraub 49 min read

- Lord Jesus, we just give you praise, glory, and honor for who you are and Lord, we just are so thankful that you've given us your living and active word. We thank you that every time it's opened and we study it, read it, memorize it, or it's faithfully proclaimed that you speak, and so Lord, our invitation is Lord, speak to us through your word. Allow your holy spirit to do a work in and through us today, to transform us into the image of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Lord, we do pray for all of the children, the workers that are gonna be here all week long. There's a myriad of things that we could pray for. We just praying that you would have your way, this week we would see hundreds of kids come to know Jesus Christ, we would see families transformed and we would see your kingdom advance because of what you're gonna do. And now for all who are gathered, who desire to hear the word of the Lord preached, who will believe what He says, and will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me this morning by very loudly saying the word.

- [All] Amen.

- Amen. Have you ever said the words or heard the words, are we there yet? Or, how much longer until we get there?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- I mean, if you have children you know you've heard these words and when you were a kid, you probably said these words, because as a child traveling in a car or a plane or some sort of transportation, even if it's three, four, five hours away, about a half an hour into the trip, what happens? Are we there yet? How much longer till we get there, right? And you can explain it any way you want, you can say, "Well, it's like two hours." And they're like, "Well, how long is that?" "It's like four Curious George episodes. "That's about how long it's gonna be." Or, you know, and then five minutes later, "Are we there yet?" I mean, "How much longer?" In kids, there's this expectation and this yearning for what they're looking forward to.

In the book of Revelation there is the same thing. There are many things that faithful preachers of the word of God have talked about since the time of Christ resurrection from the dead, and we ask, how much longer? When's it gonna be here? How much longer do we have to wait? And faithful pastors will say this. "We don't know the date. "Well, we don't know the hour, but it's coming soon."

As we get into Revelation chapter 20, you're gonna see four certainties, four events that are certainly going to take place that you will see and you will say in your heart, "Yes, and amen." Amen means it's gonna happen, God's gonna do it, yes means I'm exhilarated by it, and three of the four events that you're going to take place, it's going to crescendo 'cause as you see these things happen, you're gonna say, "Yes and amen." By the time we get to the fourth one, it's gonna be so sobering that while you know it needs to be done, and while you know that God needs to do what He needs to do, it's gonna be very sobering for each and every one of us when we get there, but it's important as we traverse through this book that we see what God says and let God speak for what's going to happen so that we can be ready for what happens.

If you have your Bible, I'm encouraging you to open to Revelation chapter 20, and while you're turning there, just as a reminder, as we were in the book of Revelation, the last time I was here preaching. In Revelation chapter 19, what we saw was Jesus Christ in the battle of Armageddon, returning to heaven, grabbing His church and bringing His church back to the planet for the battle, which He himself was going to meet out all justice on the unbelievers at that time. And all we were gonna do is watch. And then we saw the antichrist and we saw the false prophet being thrown into the lake of fire. And unfortunately chapter 20 is an unfortunate chapter break for us, 'cause it really continues on with what is taking place right after the battle of Armageddon and what's taking place there. And because it's 15 verses, I'd like to read it to you so it'll be fresh in your mind, and then we'll take a look at the four events that are gonna happen, you'll see it there right in your text.

It says: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw them into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus. And because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection, over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him a thousand years. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night, forever, and ever. Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence, earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and small standing before the throne and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the dead gave up their dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead, which were in them, and they were judged every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now in Revelation, chapter 20, we see some great events taking place. We see some sobering things happening, but I wanna talk to you that when we see this, you're gonna say, "Yes." It's almost like, finally this is happening. I mean, at very last, like we're there. Yes and amen. And I named it this, so you could say that at the end of each of my points, and each of my four points, when I say my point, you can say, "Yes and amen." And it will crescendo as we give the points. But the first point is this, are you ready? Satan will be bound.

- [All] Yes and amen.

Satan will be bound. There is no doubt about it. Notice what the text says. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, "holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, "and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, "who was the devil and Satan and bound him "for a thousand years."

Now, keep in mind, these chapter breaks are put there by man. It's not necessarily in the original. And so what you've just seen is the doom of the beast and the false prophet. Both were thrown alive into the lake of fire. And then what you see here is there's an angel coming down out of heaven. The Bible doesn't say which angel it is, it could be the angel Michael, it may not be the angel Michael, but whoever has it has the authority because they've been given a key to the abyss.

And remember we talked about the abyss or this bottomless pit. It's a temporary incarceration for demons. In Revelation chapter nine, as the wrath of God was being poured out, we saw an angel open the abyss so that demon hordes could come out and torment the earth.

Here's what we're seeing now. Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years in this abyss. And what we see as an angel coming down with a chain, presumably to chain him in the abyss. And then you're going to see him sealed in the abyss and locked up, and he's not going to be there. Now this is really good news. This is really good news. Do you know why? Because Satan is a pain. And he's real.

He's real. Now it begs the question, you know, in some different theologies and this is not something to break fellowship over, but there are different opinions about how the Bible should be read when you get to Revelation chapter 20. Now six times, you're gonna see the word thousand, okay? You're going to see it. Now you see it in verse two, you see the devil and Satan, and he was bound for how long? How long do you see at the end of verse two? A thousand years.

Now, what does a thousand mean to you? It means a thousand, that's what it means to me, 'cause that's what the word means, right? So when you see this, that's what it means. Now there are different positions. This is where we get into different ideologies.

We get our word millennium from two Latin words, which mean a thousand, a thousand years. So there's a thousand years. Satan is going to be bound for 1,000 years. If you take the simple, plain reading of the text, that's what you're going to see.

Some people are what's called amillennial, or without a millennium. Kind of like there's theists, people who believe in God, and there are atheists people who don't believe in the existence of God. There are some people that are amillennial, and they will say this, a thousand years is just kind of a big number, that just talks about the fact that we're in the millennium now and Satan has already been bound to some extent at the cross, and he's not really roaming around and doing that anymore. So there's really no millennium of a thousand years. The Bible is just using the word thousand just to picture a period of time. Post-millennialists will say this. Yeah, there's going to be a time too where Satan is bound and then what God is gonna do through His church and through His Christian saints is He's gonna bring in a millennium that's gonna be this awesome thousand year perfect on earth. It's gonna be so good and when things get even better then Jesus will come back for His church. Here's the problem I have with that. It's not taking the word of God seriously enough.

Okay, let me just give you some examples just to tell you why I'm landing. I'm, what's called a pre-millennialist, that there will be a thousand, Jesus will come back before the millennium and reign on earth for 1,000 years, because it's exactly what the Bible says He's going to do, all right? So I'm not going to break fellowship over this. There's a lot of strong, solid believers that are amillennialists. There's a lot of strong, solid believers that are post millennialist. They're just wrong. They are, and, because where the Bible says a thousand, it literally means a thousand. I mean, think about the book of Revelation. Every time we talk about numbers, it actually means something. There were seven churches. How many churches do you think there were?

- [Congregation] Seven.

- There were seven. There were seven seals. How many sales do you think we talked about?

- [Congregation] Seven.

- There were seven trumpets. How many trumpets did we talk about? There were seven bowls. How many bowls did we talk about? There were 144,000 Jews that were sealed before the rapture. How many Jews do you think he was talking about? And just to make it clear, he said there were 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes, and if you take 12,000 times 12, you get 144,000, it's amazing.

In Revelation, chapter nine in verse 16, when it talks about the army, it was 200 million people. And he said, "Well, how do you know?" He said, "I heard the number." So how many people in the army do you think there were, there were 200 million. And then we see in different places where he talks about myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. We see the number 1,260 days. We see three and a half years, we see 42 months. They all mean something. There is no number that is verifiably symbolic in the book of Revelation.

So I just take the Bible to say, this is what it says, and this is what it means.

If you remember, we called the series, the Alpha and Omega series, because we started out in the book of Genesis. Do you remember that? And in the book of Genesis numbers seem to be pretty consistent too. I mean, God knows the difference between a thousand years, He knows the difference in a day, He knows the difference between myriads of myriads of people that are caught up, I mean, God knows numbers, and God's word is given as revelation of Himself and what He's going to do. He's not giving us His word to trick us. He's giving us His word because He wants us to know something about His character or His deeds or something that He's done. If you go back to the first chapter in the Bible, we see the same thing. I mean, we see God, that He begins to create. He says, "Let there be light." So God's been working on something. You say, "Well, how long has He been working?" I'm glad you asked 'cause the Bible makes it crystal clear. "God saw that the light was good and God separated "the light from the darkness and God called the light day, "and the darkness night," well, how long did that take? So God's been working and then there was evening and there was morning, one day. So how long did that take?

- [Congregation] A day.

- It took a day, ' cause that's 24 hours and that's what a day is. And in case you're just confused by that, in verse eight, God said there was evening and the morning, a second day and in verse 13, there was evening and morning the third day in verse 19 says there was evening and morning the fourth day, and verse 23 says there was evening the morning of fifth day, and then in Genesis 31, when God saw all that He made. It was very good, and there was evening and morning the sixth day. How many days did it take God to create the earth? Six, 24 hour days. It's pretty simple, if you just take the word seriously.

What we have a tendency to do in our hearts is, it can't be that simple, it's gotta be out there. So maybe he meant by day millions of years, if God meant millions of years or God meant ages, could he not have used that language? Yes. What was God trying to say? "I'm so powerful, I made everything you see "in six literal days." I could have done it just by speaking it, but I was setting up for you what a week look like. And then I rested on the seventh day, meaning I didn't need to take a break, but I was showing you how to rest from your labors as well. I was giving you a model for which to follow.

And there are people that will say, "Well, let's not break fellowship over that." And you don't need to break fellowship over that. Because again, there are several solid people that love Jesus that do not believe in a literal six day creation. Again, they are wrong, they're not taking the Bible seriously enough, but they're Christians and we're gonna spend eternity with them, okay?

The reason I take the Bible literally is because I believe in the authority of God's word. I believe it's true. I believe it true. So when I get to heaven, I'm not gonna stand in a line saying, "Well, God, the scientist said this, "and this person," I'ma say, "Your word said this. "You said you made it in six days, were you lying? "You said it." I believe His word's true. And we're gonna find out every word of His Bible is true.

So when I see a thousand years, six different times in verses two through seven in Revelation 20, you know what I think it means? It means a thousand years. It's pretty simple because it's going to be the timetable for when God does what he's going to do. Satan will be bound at the beginning of the millennium on day one of this thousand years, he's gonna be bound for a thousand years.

Now notice what Satan is described as in Revelation chapter 20, verse two. You see the four pictures he's described as? The dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil, and Satan. Four different names given to his one being, why? Because in the book of Revelation he's referred to as a dragon 12 different times. What's a dragon? A dragon is a cruel, ferocious being that seeks to destroy. Why he recalled the serpent of old? Because back in the garden, that's what he started as. He was used as a small reptile and he's only gotten bigger over time. He's been there, he was created during creation week, and he's going to be bound prior to this millennial reign of Christ.

Notice what else he is. He's referred to as the devil, you know what devil means? It means slanderer or malicious gossip. He is called in the Bible the father of lies. In Revelation chapter 12, he's called the accuser of the brethren. When I listened to amillennialists and post millennialist tell me Satan's already been bound. I think, "What world are you living in?" Like, what world are you living in? "Well, he's kind of been bound a little bit," they say, "he just keeps, you know, he keeps us from, "he's been bound so that we can get the gospel out "to all the nations of the world. "So he's not really deceiving the nations anymore." Have you checked out our nation lately? Is the devil deceiving our nation? Is the devil deceiving people in Washington, DC?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- Is he deceiving people in Hollywood?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- How about Las Vegas?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- How about Denver, Colorado?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- How about your life?

- [Congregation] Yes.

- See, he's the accuser of the brethren, so what he does in your life is accuses you and tries to get you to believe that God really doesn't love you. That's what he does. Especially at times when you sin and you know you sinned, then you hear his voice really loud, and instead of running to God to receive his mercy, you hear him try to isolate you and you hear words like this. "God doesn't love you anymore. "God's disappointed in you. "You knew better, you shouldn't done that. "If God really cared about you, "you wouldn't be having these thoughts of suicide. "The reason you have thoughts of suicide "is because God isn't real and God doesn't love--" You ever heard these words before? Is life really worth it? Should I really continue? You're not gonna get that job. You're not worth getting that job. You're lousy, you're no good. That's what he does all the time.

When you tell me that he's bound, he will never be able to do that again. He will be bound for a thousand years. Now, if I told you this, if I told you this. "Hey, just this week, just so you know, "Satan's gonna be bound this week." About 65 of you're pretty excited about that. I mean, can you imagine what that's like? Your marriage all week long, I mean, perfect. Can you imagine what that's like? Just for one week? Your kids are gonna arise and call you blessed all week long. Your job is gonna go perfect, if it doesn't, people are gonna apologize to you, I mean, you're never gonna wake up and wonder is it worth living 'cause your heart's gonna be so filled with joy all day long that you're just gonna be like, "I'm God's child, and this is the greatest time "I've ever had in my whole life, ain't this awesome?" There's gonna be justice, it's done right every single time. I mean, can you imagine a world like that?

The millenniums coming that's exactly what the world's gonna be like. But in the present age we see scriptures like in Ephesians 6, where it tells us to put on the full armor of God and to stand firm, why? Because our battle is against flesh and blood. You think of the worst things that have ever happened to you and there was an originator behind those things.

I mean, you think about Job and all of the atrocities that he went through, it was Satan coming to God saying, "Hey, I've been looking throughout the world," and God says to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" So Satan goes under God's authority and torments Job. And because Job is righteous and still honoring the Lord, Satan comes back, says, "Can I give them another dose? "I mean, let me attack his body physically "then he'll turn from you." God said, "Go ahead, just don't take his life." Job lives miserably because of what? Satan's involvement, please don't tell me that Satan doesn't exist.

He [satan]  is a real being, he's created by God. He's the prince of the power of the year. We do not need to fear him, but we need to be a aware of him. Not only is he present in your life where you can hear his voice, but he's your adversary, he's your enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 says, that he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Does that sound like someone that's been bound already? If he's bound, I don't care if he's a lion or what he is. If he's a dragon, if he's bound, why would I care? He's not bound, that's why I care.

Or how about in 2 Corinthians 11, where Paul begins to unveil the fact that Satan tries to put some of his greatest servants in churches who masquerade as servants of righteousness. That Satan is active in planting people in churches that don't know Jesus to cause discord and disharmony, and some of his greatest servants are actually pastors. You believe that? I mean, that's going on today. That's been going on every generation. So please don't tell me that Satan's been bound.

As a matter of fact, the Bible makes clear in this timeframe that he will be bound for a thousand years, when? When Jesus comes after the battle of Armageddon with his saints to set up the millennial reign of Christ. He's the devil, he's the slander, he's the father of lies. And what is he saying? He's your adversary, he's your enemy. He comes to seek, to steal, to kill and destroy. He hates you. If you're single, he hates your purity before God, if you're married, he hates your marriage. If you have kids, he hates your kids. If your kids, he hates your parents. If you step forward in ministry, he hates you even more and will oppose you even more. He's your enemy.

So I get this question, I've said this from this pulpit before, should we pray for Satan? No. No, he's never gonna change. The Bible makes it clear, he's never gonna change, but he is gonna be bound. I mean, we see the antichrist and the false prophet. They're thrown alive into the lake of fire. What happens to Satan? He's gonna be bound. He's gonna be bound. "And threw him into the abyss and they shut it "and sealed it over him so that he would not "deceive the nations any longer."

And in case you missed it in verse two, how long is he gonna do it? Until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short time. So at some point in time, he's gonna be released after that thousand year period, for a real short time. Now we didn't get to decide on that. I mean, if we were voting on that, how many would vote that Satan gets to stay there for a long time? He's gonna be released.

Now you're gonna like the fact that he gets released when we get to a later point in this text for one of those certainties that's going to happen, but he's gonna be bound for a thousand years. A week would be great. A thousand years, unbelievable. Unbelievable, to live in a world without the influence of Satan. We don't even know what that would look like. We don't even have a clue what that would look like. The Bible describes it as a time of a thousand years of peace and prosperity. The lion will lay down with the lamb. Your kids can take a lion for a walk and hang out with a snake and it's no big deal. I mean, it's gonna be an awesome time of prosperity. That's what the thousand years are going to be. But make no mistake about it, Satan will be bound. He won't be there, he won't be disruptive, he won't interrupt anybody.

Let me give you a second point. You ready for your yes and amen? You ready?

- [Congregation] Yeah.

- This is awesome. Believers will reign with Christ.

- [Congregation] Yes and amen.

- They'll reign with Christ, we get to reign with Christ. A lot of people are like, "Well, what's my role. "What's heaven gonna be like?" And then people try to come up with their own ideologies of what that's gonna be like, like diving into a big chocolate pit or going fishing all day, or watching sporting events. No, you're gonna reign with Christ. You have responsibility to reign with Christ. It would be like this, if the president United States were elected, and appointed you to his cabinet, that pales in comparison to your level of responsibility in the new heavens and the new earth.

You're gonna reign with Christ. Christ doesn't need you to reign. He's gonna rule with an iron scepter, He's gonna rule with an iron rod, everything in the millennial reign is going to go His way. There won't be any people defecting from what Jesus wants and you get to help keep the peace. Some of you will be politicians and governors and work over cities and help make sure everything is done right and you're gonna get rewarded by your deeds in your body, on the earth for what that's going to look like. And God's already picked the place that He's got your service, and it's go be perfect for you. Believers will reign with Christ.

Listen to the text. "So then I saw thrones and they sat on them "and judgment was given to them." So he sees thrones, and sees some people or someones or some beings sitting on them and judgment was given to them. Well, who are they? We don't know. We don't specifically know. Could it be the 24 elders? Maybe. Could it be some of the spiritual beings around the throne in heaven? Maybe. Could it be us as his saints? I think it's very likely that it is.

And the reason I say that is in 1 Corinthians chapter six, if you wanna hold your finger in the book of Revelation and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter six. In the first three verses, he talks about what our responsibilities are gonna be in the new heavens and the new earth. And he's discouraging lawsuits among Christians. You know, Christians aren't supposed to sue other Christians, did you know that? Because we have God as our father in heaven and we both trust Him so we can let that God help us work whatever out needs to be worked out. Notice what he says, "Does any one of you, "when he has a case against his neighbor dare to go to law "before the unrighteous and not before the saints?" He says, if you're Christians, why would you have unrighteous nonbelievers work out your problems? Have Christians help you work out the problems.

"Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Did you catch that? Who's going to judge the world.

- [Congregation] The saints.

- We are. We're gonna be given mantle of responsibility with Jesus, to judge the world. If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

Go back to creation day, day six. Who's the crown of God's creation, we are. Angels are not higher than you. Angels are stronger than you, Angels are heavenly beings, you're the crown of God's creation, you will judge the angels. You've been given a mantle of responsibility that the enemy does not want you to know that you have. So you feel like, "my life's meaningless, "there's nothing for me." Let me tell you this, regardless what's on your calendar and regardless of what God has planned for you in this life, I have a promise for you, no matter how good or how bad that your life is right now, your best days are ahead of you. Your best days are ahead.

And I think one of the challenges we have is that we don't spend enough time thinking about what's coming. And the fact that we're gonna rule and reign with Jesus, that we're going to help judge the world. Now, all judgment's been entrusted to the Son, He's going to judge the living and the dead and the righteous and the unrighteous. That's all Him, but to some degree, we've been given some responsibility as well. Notice what he sees next second part of verse four. "And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded." And why were they beheaded? Do you see the four reasons they were beheaded? Do you see it in your text? It's right there. I'll give you the four reasons. Because of their testimony of Jesus.

Can we stop there? I need to stop here because I wanna tell you as a church because I love you and I hear too many Christians say this, "I really don't have a testimony." If you're a Christian, you have a testimony. See, most people falsely think a testimony is, "I used to be really, really bad, "and now I'm really, really good." Do you know, there's a lot of people who are not Christian, who used to be really, really bad and now are really, really good, and they're still not Christians? Testimony means this. I was dead and now I'm alive, and Jesus did it.

- [Congregation] Amen

- That's a testimony. The question is, do you have that testimony, right? And for different people, it happens different ways. For some of you it happens young, for some of you, it happens older. Some of you wandered off and did all sorts of things. Some of you were close and came to church. It doesn't matter what your story is prior to your testimony is, I was dead and now I'm alive. If you trusted Christ at four at high five, because you came to know Jesus, you know, you couldn't say, "Well, I mean, I was really living the tough life. "I stole a pencil from a kid "and punched a kid on the playground. "But then I came to Jesus and now it's, "you know, roses and fairies." I mean, you know, I mean, that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about it doesn't matter when you come to Christ, 'cause especially for those of you who came to know Christ when you're young, you start feeling disappointed, when you hear somebody came to know Christ when they're 50, because they live this really bad life and then they came to know Christ. And this thing goes off in your heart 'cause the devil lies to you and said, "Man, they really have a testimony, you don't."

Now here's your testimony, you've been walking with Christ almost your whole life, why can't you testify to that? That's a way better testimony, amen? And if we didn't think that was a better testimony then why wouldn't we just send people out to sin all they want and then hope that they came back? Nobody would do that. Nobody would push for that.

Your testimony is not your behavior. Your testimony is your belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins and was raised from the dead.

So what are we seeing here? We're seeing the souls of those who have been beheaded. They don't have bodies yet, we're seeing souls, because remember at the rapture and the resurrection before that happened, there were 144,000 Jews that were sealed, so nobody could touch them. Then everyone who believed in Christ from all generations were raptured and resurrected prior to the Lord pouring out his wrath on the planet. Presumably there are some people after the rapture, when they see Christ in heaven, and all of us the saints go, that they're gonna believe in Jesus. There's gonna be Jews that do and Gentiles that do. And because of their testimony, because of how they're gonna live with these four things, some of them are going to be martyred. Some of them are going to lose their head. Some of them are gonna be beheaded, and so their souls, to be apart from the body is to be with Christ.

If you die and you know Jesus, your soul immediately goes to be in heaven and your body remains here, you know that. If you die apart from Christ, your soul immediately goes to hell or Hades, the incarceration holding place for right now, and then it will be resurrected later. You'll see where that happens.

Your body stays here. That's why when you go to a funeral or Memorial service and you see the body, you know, it's not really them. They're not really there, no, they're not. They're either in heaven with Jesus forever and ever, or they're in hell awaiting final judgment forever and ever. That's it. There's no intermediary ground for them.

So notice what he saw, they're beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and why? And because of the word of God. Testimony of Jesus is, I was dead and now I'm alive, and the reason I'm alive is I believe Jesus Christ and Him alone died for my sins and rose from the dead. That's my testimony.

What's the word of God? It's this book that reveals the Jesus that you believe in.  "They held firm to the word of God." In a culture and an era where everybody was going the exact opposite direction at light speed. And they were standing up to the leadership in the world, much like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to king Nebuchadnezzar and they were saying, "Oh king, you can do whatever you want, "but I will not reject this book. "And I will not reject my testimony of Jesus. "And I will stand firm on this book.

And I guarantee you this, not one jot or tittle of his book "will ever be changed and in one day you'll know that."

So you can do whatever you want with me, but I'm standing firm on Jesus and on his word and I won't bend in anything that I do. That's standing firm on the word of God.

Do you know those are two things God wants us to do? He wants us to stand firm on our testimony of Jesus, and on the word of God. That's what He wants us to do.

And here's the evidence that they did that. Notice what it says. "And they had not received the mark on their forehead "and on their hand," I'm sorry, before that, "And they had not worshiped the beast or his image." It means they were only worshiping Jesus.

I mean, can you imagine what it's going to be like when every single person in the world and every social media outlet and every newscast is saying, "You must worship the antichrist. "You must worship his image. "The false prophet is gonna make an image to him as well. "And you have to worship that. "And everybody has to worship that and if you're not, "you're gonna get ratted out." I mean, are you really gonna stand firm?

These that were beheaded stood firm. "Well, you can do whatever you want. "We're not gonna stop worshiping Jesus, "and we will not give our allegiance to you. "We will not."

And we live in a world, don't you feel it? Don't you feel the world moving closer and closer towards a one world order and a one world dictator and people even talk about those words, one world order now, is it gonna happen in our lifetime? Maybe, maybe not. Could happen 50 years from now, maybe, maybe not. What about 500 years, maybe, maybe not. It's going to happen and we are moving at a rapid pace where the world is saying, "Would somebody please "show up on the earth and take care of me."

One already came who wants to take care of you, His name is Jesus Christ, you need to give your allegiance to Him.

These who are beheaded from the time of the rapture, until the end of that seven years, they were standing firm in the word. They came to know Jesus, they had a testimony of Jesus, they had the word of God in their hearts and they would not worship the antichrist or his image.

And they, what else? They didn't take the mark on their forehead and on their hand. I mean, in order to buy or sell, we talked about, you're gonna need to take a mark on the back of your right hand or on your forehead. You're gonna have to give allegiance to the antichrist. You're not just going to automatically get the mark. You're gonna have to clamor for it. You're gonna have to say, "I'll worship him." Okay, good, then you can get the mark. If you don't worship him, you can't get it.

And we've already talked about this. We've already talked about this. "Well, how do I know I won't do it? "How do I know I won't take it?" Because if you're God's, He will protect you and He'll bring you through it. He will give you the grace. Now I can't promise you that you won't be martyred, and I can't promise you that you will. We don't know, but what we do know is that if we belong to God, God will give us the grace at a certain time that we need it.

I mean, I'd love to stand here in front of a large crowd and tell you, "Hey, I know if I was faced with death "or, you know, for serving Jesus or life, "I know I would choose death." I say that in my heart, but I've never been faced with that. I would have to trust that by God's grace, He would give me the grace to do that. And we've told you if you, if you endure martyrdom, it's the spiritual gift you only have to endure once. So don't fret, it's okay.

And for my worrywarts in here that are gonna go home and worry, "Is it me, is it me?" First of all, worry is a sin, y'all. Okay, so don't worry about it. Okay, number one, and number two, God will always give you the grace that you need that day. Tomorrow will have enough worries of its own. Don't worry about tomorrow, live for Jesus today, okay?

And notice what happened to these. Those that had been martyred from the time of the rapture until this end time, they came to life and reigned with Christ. How long would you guess they reigned with Christ? Any guesses? A thousand years. I mean, God's trying to make it pretty clear here, right?

So they came to life. So there's a special resurrection so obviously at the time that they're martyred their souls go to be with Jesus, but there's going to be a resurrection for all those who are martyred from the rapture until the end, you know, showing the world, these were the ones that were faithful to me. That's when they'll receive their resurrection bodies. We, as believers will already have ours in the resurrection and through the rapture. We'll have already been raptured into heaven, will be joining with them to start the millennium with all those who knew Christ.

And then I should say this as well, and we'll talk more about this next week, but you know, there were 144,000 Jews that were sealed. Presumably there's some Jews and Gentiles who are converted during that time as well, who aren't martyred, who will enter the millennial reign as human, without their glorified bodies. We'll talk more about that next week so that you don't get confused today and we'll lay out a little bit of timeline, but I want you to get the picture of what's going on here.

Notice what verse five says, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. "This is the first resurrection." Well who's left? I mean, if all the saints had been resurrected and all those who are trusting Christ, who haven't been given glorified bodies are in the millennial reign, then who are the others?  Dead people. It's all the wicked dead. It's all those in every generation who have died apart from Christ.  Now, when are they going to be raised to life? At the end of the thousand years, you'll see it later in our text. 'Cause they're not gonna be part of the millennium, they're going to be in hell awaiting final judgment.

Now it's one thing when you're awaiting judgment as a kid and it sounded like, "Wait until your father gets home" or something like that, and it seems like an eternity. What's it going to be like for a thousand years, when you know that you're going to be thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity? And you just have to wait in hell for that to happen. That's what's gonna happen.

So when it's talking about the first resurrection, it's talking about it in contrast with the second resurrection, which is the resurrection of the wicked dead. Obviously and we know Jesus Christ was the first to rise from the dead who stayed alive. Those who are gonna receive their resurrected bodies at the rapture and second coming of Jesus Christ that will be another resurrection, presumably with the martyrs here, there's another resurrection. And presumably those who died during the millennium, there's going to be another resurrection. So there's several different resurrections.

When we talk about the first resurrection, we're talking about those who have been resurrected with glorified bodies to enter the millennial reign of Christ in peace and prosperity. And notice what he says about this. "Blessed and holy," verse six, "Is the one who has a part "in the first resurrection. "Over these the second death has no power." Meaning if you've been raised with Christ, you don't need to worry about dying. You don't need to worry about hell.

"But they will be priests of God," that means they're gonna minister unto God "And of Christ," and will what? "Reign with Him," Guess for how long you have to reign with him, any guesses today? Okay, I'm just trying to drive a point home that God's trying to make here. You're gonna reign with him for a thousand years. I mean, think about your life. I mean, I don't know what you have planned. I don't know how prosperous God's going to make your life. I hope it's super prosperous, I believe in a prospering God. I think it's great when God heals people, I think it's great when people get married, I think it's great when you get a new job, I think it's great when you do financially better. I think it's great when you set goals and accomplish them. I'm all for that. But let me tell you this. If that's more exciting to you than the millennial reign of Christ and reigning with Him, you don't have a picture of what the millennial reign of Christ looks like. I mean, what's coming is so much better.

And the challenge we have in church, we don't sing a lot of songs about the coming Messiah. We don't sing a lot of songs about what the millennium is gonna be like, or the eternal heavens and the earth. We don't talk about how great it's going to be, and so what we do then is we tell people, "This is as good as it's gonna get. "So I hope God blesses your life now "and makes it really, really good." I hope God blesses your life right now and makes it really, really good. But in this world, you will have tribulation. I promise you that. In the world to come, you won't.

In this life. I mean, if you live to the ripe old age of I don't know, 120, I'm guessing those last 10 years are not gonna be the most fruitful that you've had. In this, you're gonna live with a glorified body for a thousand years before the eternal state even gets started, in perfect harmony with Jesus, reigning with Him. I mean, how better can it get than that? It's gonna be awesome, and it means to this, it means to set your eyes and your mind on the things of God and yearn for that day. If good things happen to you, you should still yearn for that day. When bad things happen to you, you should certainly yearn for that day, and if you're a Christian, I can promise you this, your best days are always ahead.

I mean, think about what Paul said to the Colossian church, in Colossians chapter three, verses one to four. Here's how he described it. He said, "Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, "keep seeking the things above where Christ is, "seated at the right hand of God. "Set your mind on the things above, "not on the things that are on the earth," why? "For you have died and your life is hidden "with Christ in God." That's where your life is. When Christ, who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Keep setting your mind on the fact that you're so significant to God that He's not just taking you to heaven, He's gonna let you reign with Him in heaven.

If you want a scripture, which spells this out specifically, you can write down 2 Timothy chapter two verses 11 and 12. It is a trustworthy statement. I always love it when the Bible says that as if it's not trustworthy enough. "For if we died with Him, we will also live with him, "if we endure, we will also reign with Him." How are we gonna endure? Christ in us the hope of glory will help us to endure till the end. Isn't that awesome? We get to reign with Christ. That's why Paul says, "My citizenship is in heaven." Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior to the Lord, Jesus Christ.

What should you yearn for today? Not your new job, even though it can be a good thing, not getting married, even though that's a good thing, not having your first kid, even though that's a good thing, not getting more money, even though that can be a good thing, you should yearn for what heaven is going to be like. It is gonna be unbelievable, indescribable, in the next couple of weeks, we'll spell out some of the things that the Bible talks about heaven being like, and it will wet your appetite. And you will say, "I can't wait to get there." I mean, if you could see the coming kingdom, and God took you there to look at it for about five minutes, you'd be like, "I'm not coming back. "I'm not coming back for anybody or anything." It's that good? We don't think about heaven like that. We think, well, I'm ready. I don't wanna go yet because I want to, and we fill in the blank. If you saw it, you would not want to come back for any reason that's how good heaven is.

Now point number three, I mean this should pretty much fire you up. Before I give you point number three though, I gotta show you this. Because as I was preparing this message, I was thinking about this coming kingdom, this coming Kingdom, this coming kingdom. Do you know the disciples were asking Jesus the same question. "How long till we get there? "Are we there yet?" I mean, think about this. The disciples spent three years with Jesus, He died on the cross, He rose from the dead, He witnessed to them, even Thomas that didn't believe at first finally said, "I'm not believing until I see Christ." And when he saw Christ, what did Christ tell him? "Put your hands in my hands, put your hand in my side, "stop doubting and believe." And what did Thomas say? My Lord and my God, all of the disciples believed that Jesus was the Christ. They'd all seen Him rise from the dead. Jesus has been on the earth now 40 days, He was getting ready to ascend back into heaven. And what would you as a disciple begin to ask?

I mean, the disciples had a clear question for Jesus. They wanted to know something. They wanted to know, are we there yet. In Acts chapter one, verse six, "So when they had come together, "they were asking Him saying, 'Lord is it at this time, "'you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?'" Is the millennial reign starting now? Is Satan gonna get bound now? Are we gonna experience all the prosperity as a nation now? Is this it? And what did Jesus say? Kinda like you as parents, "It's not for you to know the dates or times, "but you will receive power "when the holy spirit comes upon you "and you will be my witnesses in both Jerusalem "and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." In other words, He says this, "Not yet, but while you're on this planet, "it's your job to populate the kingdom. "As long as you're here, "tell other people about me so that the kingdom can grow. "Add to the population of the kingdom, "preach the word, share the gospel, "invite other people to come, "that's your responsibility," why? 'Cause you're gonna reign with Christ and what you're doing is inviting people to reign with Christ as well, all right?

That's our responsibility here. It's sharing the gospel, that's why it's one of our pillars. And the gospel is this, it's not that I went to church and it's not that I'm a good person, it's not that I'm bad and become better, it's that I was dead and now I'm alive. It's that the Jesus was not my Lord and now He is my Lord. And believers that believe that, will reign with Christ.

Now let me give you point number three. Get ready for your yes and amen really loud and get ready to clap, okay? Satan will be punished. All right, this is my favorite part of the text. I mean, this is awesome. Now, in case you didn't know when it was gonna be, God made it clear in verse seven when the thousand years are completed, okay?

So everything here is in reference to the thousand years. Like when is Satan gonna be bound? At the beginning of the thousand years, for a thousand years. When are believers gonna reign? For a thousand years. When is Satan gonna be punished? After the thousand years. So, after the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. We said that earlier, he's gonna be released for a short period of time. It doesn't sound like a good thing, and it's not. And notice what he's gonna do. What is Satan gonna do? "And he will come out to deceive the nations, "which are in the four corners of the earth, "Gog and Magog to gather them together for the war, "the number of them is like the sand of the seashore."

So what is Satan going to do? Now, keep in mind, the 144,000 Jews that were sealed will enter the millennium as fully human, they won't have their glorified bodies yet. Those who believe in Christ who have not been martyred from the time of the rapture to the end of that seven year period, and who have believed in Christ they will enter the millennial reign as well as human, so you're gonna have Jews and Gentiles that will be repopulating the earth. We started with Adam and Eve, just two people and the earth exploded. You're gonna have minimally 144,000 Jews, and you're gonna have more people than that, that are gonna come to Christ.

So the population is gonna grow rapidly. Now, as this population grows, understand those who still are human will have a sin nature in the millennium. So part of our rule and reign with Christ, He's gonna rule with an iron scepter, meaning that part of our reign will be helping those who aren't glorified yet like we will be, who will know no more sin and won't know how to sin, we will help Jesus and keeping things in line in the communities in which we serve. So there will never be anything that happens that's unjust. You'll never hear of a trial or anything that went bad where justice wasn't handled correctly. Everything will go well to keep the peace for a thousand years. But keep in mind that because the children and the grandchildren and the great grandchildren and the great, great grandchildren will still be born and have a sin nature not all of them will trust Jesus.

And isn't it interesting that you can still on the outside appear to be Christian when deep in your heart you're not? I mean, one of the things for me that stunned me when I read this text, is that Satan goes out to the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog, and let me just stop and talk about Gog and Magog just for a second, we don't have time to dive all into it. There's a prophecy in the book of Ezekiel in chapters, 38 and 39, that talks about this coming war for Gog and Magog. And there's about seven different understandings as to how this happens, there's three main ones. One is this, that this is exactly when it happens. I believe Gog and Magog happens, the battle of Gog and Magog happens at this time. After the thousand years, when Satan is released, he's gonna go to the corners of the earth, and he's gonna begin to whisper to those who truly don't know Jesus, who haven't repented and trusted in Him, that's not us who have been glorified, those are the humans that have needed to repent during the millennium, and he's gonna whisper to them, "Why would you ever serve that Jesus? "He's making you live this way, "He's making you do these things. "Don't you wanna follow me? "We'll set up a new leader."

And in the Bible, Gog always represents a person, and Magog always represents a political or ethnic or people group that are following this geographical group. So Gog and Magog is a way of saying, those who don't know Christ around the world. It'd be similar if I use this, I had this shared in a sermon once I thought it was a pretty good illustration that, if I say the word there are Nazi, they were Nazi. We have an idea as to what that means. I'm not telling you every intricacy about what Nazis did or what each one did or what they individually did I'm talking about a group of people. Gog and Magog represent a leader and that ethnicity.

So what's Satan gonna do? He's gonna go out into all the world and he's gonna deceive all the nations one more time. I believe it happens at the very end. Some people believe this is simultaneously with the battle of Armageddon that we read about at the end of Revelation 20, some think it's a hybrid that says it happened a little bit there, and it's gonna happen a little bit later. You can study it for yourself, you can decide what you believe, I think Gog and Magog is happening at the end of the thousand years, because it aligns clearly with the text as to when it's gonna happen. And he goes and he tries to gather these guys for war. All these men and women, boys, and girls across the planet. And how many of them are there? They're like the sand of the seashore. Myriads, now you might ask the question, how in the world could that happen? How in the world could it be that Adam and Eve who had no sin nature, who had God in their very presence could be deceived into sin? How could that happen?

Have you ever read the old Testament where you've said, "How could Israel be so dumb "as to go through this over and over and over again?" Have you ever read the New Testament where like, how could we be so dumb, to do this over and over and over again? Here's the truth. "The heart of man is deceitful above all things and who can understand it?" It's only the grace of God that can transform who we are, left to our own devices we don't want God ruling over us. We don't want Jesus ruling over us. Even when Jesus was here on the planet, the majority of people didn't want Him ruling and the same people that were praising Him, entering into Jerusalem for healing people and doing great acts of kindness were the same ones a few days later that were yelling, "Crucify Him."

This is exactly what we have in the millennium. You have a group of people, who have not repented of their sins, those that entered into the millennium without their glorified bodies who have not trusted in Christ fully, that Satan is going to deceive and there's myriads of them. And they're gonna stage a war. You think that's a good idea or a bad idea? It's a bad idea.

And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. So Satan's convinced them that they win this battle. So you're gonna come around Jerusalem and there's gonna be this battle. Now, how do you think this battle is gonna go? There's gonna be a big fight, it's gonna last a while, listen to this, "And the fire came down "from heaven and devoured them." 10 words. Voosh! Incinerated, dead. I mean, it's not even a battle. It's fire falling from heaven over myriads of people who thought, once again falsely, "We don't need Jesus "we can take Him out and live our world any way we want." We see it in the garden, we see it in the Tower of Babel, we see it in the old Testament, we see it in the New Testament and we're gonna see one final stand and it's not gonna go well.

But this is where the beauty comes. "And the devil who deceived them," remember I told you every bad thing that happens there's an originator behind it? Satan's been deceiving people for years. He's been deceiving you for years. He's been lying to you for years. He's been telling you how awful you are for years. He's been telling you how worthless you are for years. He's been causing disunity and disharmony in your relationships. Here's what's gonna happen. "And the devil who deceived them was thrown "into the lake of fire and brimstone." Praise God. Praise God. His end is certain.

And notice this, who's gonna be there with him? "Where the beast and the false prophet are also." Now, wait, wait, wait. The beast and the false prophet, those are people, that was the antichrist and the false prophet, those are people, so they probably just burned up, right? I mean, they got thrown to the fire a thousand years earlier, they probably got burned up and now the devil is getting burned up and there's no real eternal punishment, right? "And they will be tormented day and night, "forever and ever."

How long is hell? It's forever and ever. What's day and night mean? That's a metonymy for a day. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and it never ends. I mean, when you get to infinity in hell, you're just getting started. Why? Because you offended an eternal holy righteous God. So how long is the devil gonna be punished? Forever and ever. It never stops. His torment's ongoing. You say, "Well, it doesn't sound fair "that the antichrist and the false prophet "got an extra thousand years," what difference does that make? It's forever.

But Satan will be punished. He will lie to you and tell you, you can get away with things, that you can cheat, you can steal nobody will find out, he's a liar, he is out to destroy your life and one day justice will we meted out on him, and he's no more. He will never, ever be released again. At the end of that thousand years, he's done, no more, hallelujah? Amen.

Now, I have to give you this last point, and honestly, in my heart of hearts, I wish this next few verses wasn't in the Bible, but I'm gonna preach 'em because it is and God wants you to know this, but your yes and amen on this one should be more of a soft whisper than it is a shout, 'cause it should cause you to be sober and it should pain your heart.

"But the unrighteous dead will be sentenced."

The unrighteous dead will be sentenced. He said, "Then I saw a great throne." When did he see the great throne? Well, I'm glad you asked 'cause I wanna make crystal clear on this. Go back to verse five. "The rest of the dead did not come to life "until the thousand years were completed." So when is this? This is after the thousand years. This is after the devil gets thrown into the lake of fire. Now there's gonna be this that takes place, "A great white throne and him who sat upon it "from whose presence, earth and heaven fled away, "and no place was found for them."  God's showing up in all of his glory, and there's nowhere to run, and there's nowhere to hide. And all those things that the wicked dead thought that they could get away from have not escaped God's knowledge.

Do you know God sees everything that you've ever done? He's watched every thought you've ever had? Every motivation that you've ever had? He's seen it all. And what this group of people is, is it's one, it's God's final gathering of every wicked person from every single generation for one final fellowship of judgment. And notice what's gonna happen. I mean, this is sober, I'm just gonna read it for a while. "And I saw the dead, the great, and the small "standing before the throne and the books," that's plural, "Were opened, and another book," that's singular, "Was opened, which is the book of life, "and the dead were judged from the things "which were written in the books," that's plural, "According to their deeds. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, "and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, "and they were judged every one of them, "according to their deeds," okay?

So what you see here is every person in the history of the world that has been unrepentant in their heart and has never trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Now what we like to say from our perspective, because all of us have friends, and family members and acquaintances and neighbors that don't know the Lord, and for some of us, we would say, "They're a pretty good guy. "They're a pretty good girl." And from an earthly perspective, I think we could say, that's right, but here's what you're gonna see. At the final judgment the true heart of every single person is going to come out. And you're gonna realize that every person that's there hates Jesus, has rebelled against Jesus, has not wanted Jesus, even though Jesus' his entire message to them, was that He wanted them. Even though God has been bearing with great patience so that none would perish, but that all would come to know Him and that God's design for every single person ever created was that he could be in relationship with them, make no mistake about it.

God doesn't create people for hell. Matthew 25:41 says, "Hell was created for the devil "and his angels." God did not create the lake of fire for you. God did not create you and say, "I'm gonna send you there." Everybody that's gonna gather for this final fellowship of judgment is somebody that says, "I do not want Jesus in my heart," okay?

Now, keep in mind this. This will be the last time the non-believers ever see other people too. We have a false picture of hell being this community of bad people. There's no community in hell, I mean, community's a gift. Hell's a place of outer darkness. Hell's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. How's a place where you're all alone. This will be the last time, and who's there? The great and the small, what does that mean? Every unrepentant sinner from every generation, the most wicked or the people that just passively said that went to church, "Yeah, I just don't know "if I'm ready to believe yet." They're all there. They're all gathered there, and how are they gonna be judged? Well, there's books and there's a book. There's one book called the book of life. If you're in the book of life, which all of you who are Christians are means you won't even be at this judgment.

The only people gathered are people who are not listed in the book of life. And if your name's not found in the book of life, then what does God use to judge you? Books. Why? Because God keeps record of all your wrongs. Some people there may have a pamphlet. Some people there will have a library, and you will be judged in accordance with your deeds. So there are presumably different levels of hell based upon how you lived your life apart from Christ. And even the person that's sinned the least doesn't wanna go in the lake of fire. 'Cause how long is it?

- [Congregation] Forever.

- It's forever, it's eternal. In every generation, including ours there will always be people that write books and tell you, there's a thing called annihilationism. Don't believe these pastors that teach you about eternal punishment, that's just morbid. God would never do that.

God says he's gonna do that. God's either gonna do that, or God's a liar, and God can't lie. It's a real place where real people are gonna end up. Where are they now? Well, people who don't trust Christ. I've done a lot of funerals, I've seen a lot of bodies in caskets. People that trust Christ their body's in the casket, they're in the presence of Jesus. They're gonna be raptured at the second coming of Christ. And they're gonna have their glorified body with Him forever and ever to be for what the millennial kingdom needs.

Those who don't know Christ their body's in the casket and they're in hell awaiting judgment, this judgment that's gonna come after the thousand years where they're all gonna be gathered as numerous as the sand is on the seashore, and God's gonna judge according to the books, say, "Here's your book, here's your book, "here's your library, here's how I'm gonna judge you." Say, "Well, maybe I'll be lucky enough to die in the sea "and God won't find me." The sea gives up its dead. Death and hell give up it's dead, you can't hide.

And then what happens? "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. "This is the second death, the lake of fire."

Now this is the most sobering passage potentially in the new Testament. But listen to verse 15. Before I read it, I just want you to ask yourself, are you truly a believer? Are you truly a believer? I mean, let the Holy Spirit search your heart. I mean, has there been a time you've turned from your sin and turned to Christ? And if you're sitting there saying, "I hope I did, I'm getting nervous "when you say stuff like that," then make today, your day, like make right now, like settle it, 'cause God's calling you home. He doesn't want any person that's ever been created to experience any of this, because, "If anyone's name "was not found written in the book of life, "he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Now I looked up the word thrown, just so you'd understand what that means. It means to cause to move from one location to another, through the use of a forceful motion. This is not like, "Hey, I'll see you later," This is, "I'm throwing you, depart from me "you worker of iniquity, I never knew you."

Now is that God's desire? No. I tell you on the authority of God's word that you are loved, but I'm also telling you on the authority of God's word, you must repent and trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord. You will know that someday. And for many of you, you come here and you know, I know I'm still sin, I'm not perfect, but I know I'm forgiven and I know Christ is in me and praise God, I'm not gonna be there. But for others of you, you may come here. You may be in a Broomfield Campus, you may be listening online, you may be listening on radio, that would say, "I don't know that I've ever done that. "I don't," you wanna do that right now, like you want to make today, your day. So the way I want to end this service, because these are certainties, right?

I mean, these are total certainties. Satan will be bound, believers will reign with Christ, Satan will be punished, and those who don't know Jesus will end up in the lake of fire.

I'm just telling you, without moving, without going to the exits, I'll make this quick. I wanna just give you an opportunity to respond to Jesus. I wanna give you an opportunity to give your heart and life to him, 'cause if you haven't, make this moment, your time. So if you just bow your head and close your eyes, I just wanna pray. Lord Jesus, we just come before your throne today, we ask you to do your work you've been prompting some here today to give their heart and life to you. Some that if they don't turn from their sin now will stand in the judgment, who'd no longer wanna stand in that judgment. And if that's you and you wanna be released from your sin and you wanna have the fullness of Christ in your life, here's how you can pray. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I stand condemned, but I believe you died for me, and I believe you rose from the dead. Right now, I want to turn from my sin, and I wanna trust you as the Lord of my life. Come into my life and be my Lord and Savior.

For those of you who know the Lord, can you just begin to thank Him in your heart for what He's already done that you'll never experience this. For those of you who just trusted in Christ, would you now on the authority of God's word would you just begin to thank Him that you'll never experience this, and that He loves you, He loves you, He loves you.

And Lord, we give you praise for your word, that you are the God who will bring all things to pass. And Lord, we love you, and we bless you, and we praise you in the mighty and in the matchless name of Jesus, amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his word this morning?