Don Stewart: "25 Signs That We Are Near The End"

well it's fun to watch you awkwardly tell each other that you love each other all right well we have a privilege this morning to hear from Don Stewart Don has come and spoken several times here at her fellowship and it's always been a privilege he's full he's just an encyclopedia of information and it's always fun to to hear him we do have his books in the back on the table and we had two tables first service we almost sold out and so that's the benefit of being here first service just saying you know there's actually a proverb that says this is proverbs 13 for the soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing and so just saying second service if you had a little bit more faith you could have had something just you know I love to pick on you I love second service you guys are always awake and happy and yeah first services they're just dragging in but in any case you want to hurry and get get the books before they go because he's it's beginning to sell out and you want to check that out especially after days service because he's gonna give you just just a taste of of what's what's in his books it's gonna be really good but Donna I've had the privilege to get to know him over the last couple years and as he's a brilliant guy but what I've loved about getting to know Don is not only does he know the word and so much of it but he genuinely believes it and he lives it and that's what really makes it the whole package deal just is just a blessing to hear from him and as I've got to know he's a very humble guy he doesn't advertise himself and and certainly doesn't boast in any way and so the last time I'd asked him how would you like me to introduce you he's just said Don Stewart so I won't tell you about the 75 books that he's written and I won't tell you how they've been translated into 30 different languages and I won't tell you how he's been all over the world preaching the gospel and been an apologist he's on well I won't tell you how he's on his channel he'll share a little bit about that and how his channel is now reaching to the point of over four hundred and thirty million views and so God is doing a lot of cool things and so I won't tell you any about that I will just introduce them as my friend mr. Don Stewart Thank You mag morning everybody it is nice to be back here and the boy Matt must be really secure insulting you guys like that in a I mean sleeping in early and lazy no I actually you know some people come to church right from work I know that the work all night in that and they get there so anyway it's just nice always to be here you know a couple thing I love coming here because I feel like I know so many of you guys and this is in a sense this is home my my mother and her family's from Yakima so what this is very familiar territory to you my oldest daughter was born in Spokane and so Washington State is like a second home to me I've been here so many times and you people are just very very special and and you know me to say something to your pastor this guy is incredible I mean he is somebody very very very special we've done a few q and A's together you know I do this all the time with various places to go around the world and he's as good as anyone I've seen doing this stuff he is fabulous he really is so you guys are blessed I hope you know that and thankful that you have him there and so uh it's a blessing to be here a blessing to see you guys again and God is so good the last time I was here we had just started doing that mentioned his channel and his channels 24/7 Christian television on the Internet and it's it started out or what about ten years ago or so dennis wick the owner put this little small network together and the lord has blessed it above and beyond anything we could imagine I'm now doing I was doing Monday's from 10:00 to 11:00 the program is called breaking news I'm now doing Monday Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 to 11:00 breaking news where we look at the events that are taking place in the world today how it fits Bible prophecy let me tell you every week I come in with more stories than I can even get I usually end the week with 50 at least 50 stories 5-0 story I don't even get to that have something to do with the last days Bible prophecy setting the stage for the time of the end well the the growth of his channel has really boggled our minds in the last month month before lat when we did the statistics every time someone watches a program on his channel it registers as a pageview in the one month period one month period we had over 438 million pageviews in one month and yeah and this one Dennis says Joe is usually our show us month slowest he said this month is biggest of all and it's like the Lord is just getting his word out to the entire world it's just fabulous it's in fact it's mind-boggling one of the things we like to joke about it's but it's true Fox News actually copies our sets believe it or not because they wonder how come so many people watch this program must be the set that we have so Tucker Carlson took my set about two weeks after we had it there it's the same one seriously and so we've got a new one coming up one or how long before they I'm not even wanted to mention the name of the program yet because we've had a new ones starting out August 21st be an hour on on Tuesday from after the 10:00 to 11:00 hour 11:00 to 12:00 another live program we have five wide programs on now and a four during the week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday from 10 to 11 then world news briefing on Thursday night but we're gonna continue to grow as the Lord blesses dealing with the events that are taking place and just showing how the Word of God is being fulfilled right now in our day and age so it's you know total Christian television we don't do any Shara Thon's or fundraisers and thing like that we just preach the gospel you know and and you know you preach it they will come and Matt reminds me of the story Pastor Chuck Smith told years and years ago about his first time he went to Europe to talk to a group of pastors and he said guys they got to teach and preach the Word of God go through the Bible go through the Bible teach through the Bible and that is what God wants you to do he said he came back the next year and before he got up to speak this German pastor got up and he said you know I came last year and I heard Pastor Chuck talk about preaching through the Bible and start teaching verse by verse through the Bible well I started doing it but it caused a problem at our church and chucks they could oh no I having got up here to speak yet already what I said last year is caused a problem he's thinking all this going to be a tough year then the German pastor went on he said the problem is we don't know where to put all the people that are coming to hear the Bible being taught that's the problem we have and so now great so literally you teach it they will come and that's what happened I remember years and years ago when I was at speaking of Philadelphia Joe foe she told me that after they had a Sunday night service he said seven local pastors came and after they wanted to view what was going on then afterwards they got they got him and they said okay what's the secret why all these people coming he says we teach the Bible you know we know that but what's really this secret we teach the Bible is the Word of God and they didn't get it we just teach it we teach God's Word like Steve does for you guys and people come because they want to hear the truth all right what I'm gonna do this morning is talk about a book written called 25 signs we're near the end basically 25 specific signs that characterized the time at the end that the Bible gives and reason we do this is to show as a couple reasons by the time we are done here if you ever had any doubts if you stick with me during this time you will know that there is a God who exists there is a God who knows the future there is a God who is in control of the future because he has told us certain things that have happened that have happened thousands of years before they came about but but something else here you'll be again thankful that we have a God that not only cares about the world but cares about you and me the same God that made promises to certain people and individuals and nations in the past has made promises to you and promised to me he's a very very very faithful God so it's gonna be very practical to not just you know not just in the head it's gonna also hit the heart too because every time and this is something that hit me as I started doing these talks every time God gave some prediction of the future it was always to meet an immediate need in the hearts of somebody to encourage them to give them hope and that's what the Lord has for each of every one of us hope because there is hope that's something better beyond this life and there is something better and it is true now something else too when we talk about our 25 signs it's not as though there's only 25 points that we mentioned here we're gonna have four major points under the first sign seven under the 600 the second and seven under the third and so by the time we're done 17 specific things that the God of the Bible has predicted that have literally come to pass showing you that he does exist and he is in control of all things one other thing we do here we're gonna mention a couple times the past commentators who have made predictions about the future I when I was putting this book together I decided to buy a bunch of books you can get him now fortunately Amazon these older books on Bible prophecy from people lived anywhere I think the earliest one was from about a hundred years ago to three hundred years ago thirty different authors and they all believed that the Bible was predicting certain specific events that take place in the future they didn't get to see any of the only two of our twenty-five signs they saw our one and two we've seen the other 23 in our day and age but we're gonna go through a few of these this morning to show you and quote some of these people to show you the faith that they had why did they have the faith because they had the book the Bible and they believed the God of the Bible would eventually be proven to be true all right having said all that if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the twelfth chapter of the book of Genesis Genesis chapter 12 and we're gonna read the first three verses here where one of the most important parts of the Bible approximately 2200 years ago or this to take forty two hundred years ago twenty-two hundred years before the time of Christ the Lord now calls out a man named Abram from his country and here's what it says the Lord had said to Abram go from your country your people and your father's household to the land that I will show you I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you all right some specific promises were made Abram first of all God said I'm gonna make a great nation through you now Abram had a wife named Sarah and Abram and Sarah didn't have any children and they began to get older and older and still no children so Abram eventually said Lord let Eliezer my servant be my heir because in that day and age is interesting of the laws at that particular time you could designate your servant even though you had no children to be your heir and that was certainly okay but God said no it's gonna be one of your physical descendants so then Sarah later cuz you know no Aaron showed up well how about taking my handmaid Hagar to have a child through her and that'll be your offspring well they did and Ishmael was born but God said no that's not the one it's gonna be through you and Sarah well eventually Abram got to about be about a hundred years of age and then God came to him again reading not only did he reiterate the promise he did something very special he said your name is no longer Abram it's now Abraham meaning father of a multitude so I often wondered you know after that time when Abraham now formerly Abram is meeting with his friends they're hanging around the tent they say Abram what's new and everyone says funny you should ask no longer you to call me Abram you're to call me Abraham the father of a multitude because my offspring is gonna be like the sand of the seashore like the stars of the sky and my name is gonna be made great through the entire world let me ask you something if you were one of Abrams friends at that time would how did you respond to something like that they probably said Abram get out of the Sun you get in the shade here you don't have any offspring you're a nomad I know you've got some riches in that but your name gonna be made great and all the world is gonna be blessed through you you have no offspring and yet God did fulfill the promises that he made to Abram a great nation came from him through Isaac Jacob and the patriarchs and of course they number in the millions today and so God fulfilled that when the son Isaac was born half after they had reached you know that time where they could literally have children so was miraculous beginning for the nation but there's something else that God promised Abram and that is that his name would be made great Abram or Abraham will have a great name or a pot a powerful name you realize something here we are 2018 and in the area of religion a people who respect the most if we were just counting noses around the world the most respected figure in the area of religion worldwide is the person Abraham more people respect him than any other religious figure you've got Islam Judaism Christianity all looking to Abram Abram Abraham is the father of the faithful the one who left there are the counties to go to the promised land remember Judaism doesn't accept Jesus as the Messiah they reject him so they don't respect him but you have in these three other is two other religions Judaism Christianity and Islam all think Abraham is is the guy and so today for just count noses worldwide he has the most respected name in the entire world in the area of religion I don't know about you I think that's pretty good when he got that promise forty two hundred years ago that his name gonna be made great here we are in 2018 and it's numero uno but there's more than that God also promised his offspring certain other things as the nation grew as they began to enter the promised land that God gave them they turned away from the Lord the north there they first of all divided into two kingdoms the north and south the northern kingdom was taken to captivity about 721 BC by the Assyrians the southern kingdom of Judah lasted a little while longer but God predicted through the Prophet Jeremiah that the southern kingdom would also be taken into captivity now they did not believe Jeremiah they thought no it's not gonna happen to us we're God's people we got his temple you know no way it's gonna happen to us and so what the Lord did he gave this promise to Jeremiah 31 35 to 37 to the people of Judah the southern kingdom the ones that were there in Jerusalem who are about to go into captivity so they would remember to have once they were gone because Jeremiah said you're gonna be they're gonna be 70 years when you go to the Babylon the land of Babylon you know plant fields Mary have children you know do this you can be there for a while but only 70 years video to settle down for a while but in the context of that here's what he said in Jeremiah 31 35 the Lord has made a promise to Israel he promises it as the one who fixed the Sun to give light by day and the moon and the stars to give light by night he promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that it's waves roll he promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all the Lord affirms the descendents of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight this could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me the Lord says I will not reject all the descendants of Israel because of what they have done that can only happen if the heavens above could be measured or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored says the Lord Jeremiah 31 35 to 37 and so basically their promise to still exist and as a distinct people to remain in existence now this is a huge promise because never in the history of the world had a nation been removed from their homeland and ever come back and so they've been removed there in Babylon now and he says no you're coming back because I'm faithful and they did indeed come back after 70 years just like the prophet Jeremiah said so this prophecy was given in a context where they needed hope and they received the hope from the Lord but the point is they're not going to cease to exist now we even go one step further in the Book of Daniel the twelfth chapter the first verse we're told in the last days before the kingdom of God comes to earth and this is one of many passages the Jews will still exist they will continue exist and we have dozens of references to this alright so we read this in Daniel 12:1 at that time Michael the Archangel Daniel who stands guard over your nation which is Israel of course he will arise there's going to be a time of great anguish that has been greater than any nation that's ever come into existence but at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued now notice in this context your nation the Jews your people will be rescued went at that time the time when the kingdom of God comes to earth so there's gonna be a time of great anguish that the Jews will have at the end of time but those who are faithful will be rescued but in other words they're gonna still exist at the time of the end a specific promise of God now something else that's interesting too along that line when Jesus was talking about this time this time of Great Tribulation he said this he said pray when this happens that when you have to leave the city of Jerusalem when you see these events take place when you have to just get out your flight won't be on the Sabbath or in bad weather and he mentioned that because on the Sabbath they were you know they're limited to the amount of time they could walk there you know you're a certain Sabbath day's journey you had certain things if you kept the Sabbath and observed that there's certain things you could not do on the Sabbath so an observance you would not do it so he says pray that this doesn't happen on the Sabbath now this was brought home to me a number of years ago my first trip to Israel in 1976 I was privileged to be part of a Christian film was working with the Christian author Josh McDowell at the time it was my first of 18 trips over there it's my first one I'm just as young kid and I'm enjoying it I'll never forget my first Sabbath day in Israel Sabbath from Friday night to Sunday morning so it's Saturday morning so it's Saturday morning and I'm in the hotel we've got Worth State this hotel at about ten eleven stories we're like on the ninth floor we're way up high so I I go to get in the elevator go down for breakfast I noticed the doors were open but that's kind of odd I guess it let me here I go and so I go in and I get the elevator and I look and the button is pushed for every floor the lights on what the world is this and the door shut so I couldn't get out you know so I'm okay so we go to the eighth floor door opens nobody comes in closes our is fine seventh fourth people get in you say you know Boker Tov you know Hebrew good morning gutentag you know that Bonjour whatever it is you know and closes people get in 6 4/5 all the way down seemed to take forever every floor but the elevator stop I get down to the bottom for it I thought oh no I left something in the room I got to go back up they cannot do the same thing going back up candy there's the elevator yep all the buttons were pushed back up and back down so after about a half-hour for finally getting downstairs I went to the front desk I said couldn't you please tell me what in the world's going on here and they just laughed at me because this happens all the time says will you enter the shabbat elevator the Sabbath elevator I said well what in the world is that well this is the elevator for people who are observant Jews now they are told Bible commands you can't do any work on the Sabbath it's been determined that pushing a button to tell you what for you want to go to constitutes work and so since you can't do any work all the doors or all the buttons are pushed for you so you just get in and it takes you wherever you want to go and they also said if you look a little bit further down the hall you would see another elevator that's for you Gentiles that goes straight down to the bottom and straight back up and so ok thank you well to this day I just love it on all our tours to Israel it is hilarious on the Sabbath when we watch some of our people even though we tell them they get in the Shabbat elevator we say bye see and a half hour you know as they go down and stop at every four but but here's what hit me this is in 1976 I'm thinking wait a minute Jesus said they would be keeping the Sabbath in the last days they're keeping the Sabbath now in Israel thought wow a fulfillment of what he predicted so under this first point the miracle of Israel's survival we see the nation that came from Abraham did indeed become a great nation Abraham's name and did indeed become great that the Jews continue to survive and in space and in particular they survive even in these last days to the place like Jesus predicted they're keeping the Sabbath now as I mentioned earlier in reading these books of these past commentators which were literally incredible I just I would get so much out of them because they didn't have what today they did all this by faith but in looking forward to the Future they saw two things that's my sign one and sign number two and the first was the ear at the miracle of Israel's survival and let me give you one quote I could mention a dozen of these in fact one of my appendices in the book has like a dozen quotes of these people all saying the same thing but I want you to listen to the observations they made and here's what kept him going sermon man named JC rile he's a British author living in the 19th century quote but though Israel has been scattered Israel has not been destroyed for eighteen hundred years the Jews have continued as a separate people without a king without a land without a territory but never lost never absorbed among the nations they've often been trampled underfoot but never shaken from the faith of their fathers they have often been persecuted but never destroyed at this very moment there is distinct and peculiar of people as any people upon the earth an unanswerable argument in the way of the infidel a puzzling difficulty in the way of politicians and a standing lesson to all the world now listen to this next part this is a tremendous observation Romans days Saxons Norman's Belgians French Germans have all in turn settled on British soil all of them in turn have lost their national distinctiveness all in turn have become part and parcel of the English nation after a lapse of a few hundred years but it has never been so with the Jews dispersed as they are there's a principle of cohesion among them which no circumstances have been able to melt scattered as they are there is a national vitality which is stronger than that of any other nation on the earth settle where you please in hot countries or in cold you will find the Jews but go where you will and settle as you please this wonderful people is always the same scattered as they are few in number compared to among those whom they live the Jews are always the Jew 3,000 years ago Balaam said the people shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among other nations we have seen these words made good before our eyes close quote alright here's what they all observed this is like in 1860 he's writing wherever you go in the world then 18th century since they've been left been kicked out of their ancient homeland since you know that the city and temple were destroyed since they've been scattered but wherever you go they're still there but they're always a distinct people they look to say they act the same they keep their same loss they keep to themselves they never become absorbed in the populations anywhere in the world and so what this toll these commentators was this well if that's the case if they've remained a distinct people then maybe someday they will come go back to their ancient homeland and form a modern state just as the Bible said because they haven't lost their national identity compared to all these other people groups such as the Danes Roman Saxons Germans French it all become Britain's now part of the British Empire they've lost that distinctiveness that the Jews haven't so they noticed this and all the commentators one way or another said this in in various ways and so the fact that the miracle of their survival has been something else so a great nation came from Abram his name would be met his name has been made great they are they whilst they do still exist at a distinct people and as one of the signs of the last days the sign they still exist now that's sign number one now the second sign as I mentioned they also had in front of their eyes and that we call this as their enemies have done to Israel so God will do to them as their enemies have done to Israel so God will do to them what we see here in this is that basically the nation of Israel had enemies they but God said I will bless those that bless you but I will curse those that curse you in other words if you're an enemy of Israel you try and thwart that they're gonna do God's gonna judge you and what we find is we read the Old Testament there's five different nations that are tempted to wipe out Israel the Amalekites the Philistines the the Moabites and the ammonites all of them attempted to eradicate Israel all right either on the way to the promised land or in the promised land they tried to thwart them from doing what God had called them to do to go to the promised land each of these five distinct people groups God pronounce judgment against and said you will be no more you will cease to exist because you attempted to wipe out my people Israel okay so you've got the promise of what God gave to Abram I'm gonna bless those that bless that I'm gonna curse those that curse then you got the specific promises to these five nations that God is gonna take them out they will lose their national distinctiveness because of what they've done to Israel in a book written in 1995 called the archeology of society in the Holy Land listen to what the authors say by the time of Roman rule around 63 BC the people of ammon Edom and Moab had lost their national distinctiveness of the distinctive identities and were assimilated into Roman culture close quote in other words you're not gonna meet an ammonite today an Edomite a Philistine an Amalekite a Moabite they don't exist anymore why because the God of the Bible said you're not going to exist if you try to wipe out my people and so the word has been literally fulfilled in these nations that have lost their national distinctiveness now what's also amazing there is another country that gave Israel some problems a country called Egypt but in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Isaiah we're told that Egypt will not only exist in the last days they will thrive and there will be a monument built in Egypt a monument to the Lord so the Egyptians will not cease to exist but these other nations will let me ask you something are there still Egyptians today certainly are and so if my math is right here's what God has set and our first two signs okay number one Israel will exist at the time of the end Egypt will exist at the time of the end whoa a blow Amman eat up Philistia they will seven distinct predictions well from a math writes God's seven four seven-inning exactly right in other words what he predicted has come to pass and again like I said these commentators what they did in the last you know several hundred years as they're looking at the predictions for the future what kept them going is the fact that Israel did exist as a distinctive people group but these other nations cease to exist and they figure this look if god has got this part right the rest is gonna eventually come to pass so they could believe it even though they hadn't seen it which leads us now to something they never saw they predicted what happened but as something we have seen and that is Israel sign number three and this is the biggie will miraculously return to its ancient homeland in the last days against all odds of history they're gonna come back miraculously in the last days all after Jesus week was rejected by Israel we find out in Luke 21 22 24 one of seven predictions we're gonna look at in Scripture was given extra tool it says this to Israel they will fall by the sword they'll be taken prisoners to all the nations Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled so here's the promise Jesus said Israel has rejected me God that is the Messiah but God is not through with him yet not at all they're gonna be brought back someday to their ancient homeland but first they gotta leave first the temples got to be destroyed the cities got to be destroyed God isn't through with them they're gonna be scattered but they will come back and so that there's prediction 1 and 2 God's not through with them although scattered they will return now promise number three is very very exciting particularly for our purposes and that is this the time of their return it's not going to be right away it's not going to be several hundred years after they leave it's only gonna be in the last days right before the kingdom of God comes to earth and this is why this is so exciting when we read this one ezekiel 38:8 says this to this leader named GOG this leader this coalition that will attack Israel in the last days after many days you will be summoned that's Gog this that's the titles I like you know Pharaoh or grand pooh-bah or Caesar or something like that after many days you will be summoned in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins its people were brought out from the peoples and all of them will be living securely ezekiel 38:8 now it's one thing when God says at one time in a verse twice in this verse he says after many days in the latter years in the future years he's making it very clear this is not the ridiculous on Babylon and they've already talked about Jeremiah talked about the return from Babylon to Israel from this one country ok Babylon back to Jerusalem Ezekiel talked about the last days the latter years at the end of time this is another return and he said this is when you're gonna come back into the land return in the last days now not only that we also have in this promise the people have been gathered from many nations many nations see that's why we know he's not talking about the captivity of Babylon because they're all in Babylon now and the Lord is trying to give them hope he's giving them hope about the future of this nation and then they said they're gonna come back from many nations Oh in Babylon they're just in one place they're there in Babylon for 70 years they went back so this is just talking about a different return here and it's also going to be in the last days from many nations one translation says its people have returned from the foreign nations where they once live so many nations now that's that's another specific promise number five they will return to a land that will be desolate a land that would be desolate in other words that's recovered from Wars number six this land that they return to the time of their return will be from a second exile a second exile remember the first verses for 70 years this would be a second exile Isaiah 11 11 and 12 and that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to claim the surviving remnant and he said he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth again not just from Babylon but from everywhere the four quarters of the earth specific prediction a second exile and then a return and finally we have number seven the seventh specific prediction along this time about their return once they are back once they're back they're never going to be removed Amos 9 14 and 15 I will bring back my people Israel it will rebuild the cities lying in rubble and settle down and then he says and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them all right so the prediction is clear once they return in the last days to their ancient homeland that's it never be uprooted so here's what we have in a nutshell 7 predictions of they're scattering return number 1 they'll be scattered number 2 God hasn't rejected them number 3 they will return but it will be in the last days number 4 the return will come from many nations the four corners of the earth but the land they return to number five will be a land devastated by war and number six when they do return this will be a second return a second exile and once they return they'll never be removed these are the predictions the Bible gives now like we mentioned past commentators have predicted these sorts of things I'm gonna give you two examples of this to show you how this is not something we're saying after the fact Ahana in Winchester wrote a book called a course of lectures on prophecies that remain to be fulfilled and in Volume one listen to what he said nothing need to be more plainly declared than this that the Jews shall certainly return to and possess their own land again notwithstanding their long captivity and utter dispersion Moses that great prophet spoke of those events in various places and expressly declared that they should take place in the latter days and he cites Leviticus 26 Deuteronomy 4 and Deuteronomy 29 and 30s and we can cite other passages say the same thing so here's a man that says nothing could be more plainly stating this they're gonna come back to the land but they're gonna possess it again it's gonna take place in the last days alejandra Winchester wrote this in the Year 1700 and 89 1,700 years after the Jews move from their land the city and temple destroyed they're scattered to the four corners of the earth there's not one in sight in the holy land yet he says nothing can be more plainly declare than this they're gonna come back how did he know that he knew it by faith because the Bible said it's gonna happen hundred years after that in 1878 a man named William Blackstone eighteenth centuries after the facts of this but perhaps you say I don't believe the Israelites are to be restored to Canaan and Jerusalem rebuilt dear reader have you read the declarations of God's Word about it surely nothing is more plainly stated in Scripture close quote nothing is more plainly stated in Scripture eighteen hundred years after the fact when there's no nation of Israel no there's a nation in exile but no State of Israel they're gonna come back so these are the predictions well how did God do well looks like he's done really well number one that people were scattered as Jesus predicted city and temple were destroyed within a generation of the rejection of Jesus but God certainly wasn't through with them as we said he's the marvelously survived throughout history and they had a number two they you know against all odds they've they've survived but number three they have returned in the last days the seventh anniversary just took place recently where we saw the anniversary of their modern State of Israel being founded in 1948 seventy years after the founding of Israel May 14th 1948 again a second exile a second return again no other nation once happened had happened - once twice for Israel also - what's amazing they're not all returned in the last days they've come from many different nations number four number five is a mind-boggling one here we're told not only they return in the last days from different nations to a land that's been devastated by war you know what's amazing this is this is literally a mind bug it's been 70 years since this little nation size of New Jersey size of Lake Michigan has come back from nothing that we're going to see in a second I'm going to let you know how the country had been desolated devastated by war this week there's a worldwide survey that was done were you know looking at the nation's the world the nation of Israel is the eighth most powerful nation and the entire world this little tiny nation that's only seventy years of aid was considered to be the eighth most powerful nation in our entire globe is that amazing or what and I'm incredible well anyway and especially with this yeah when we did last year when we were doing that 2017 the doing the breaking news it was a year ago I have so many anniversaries and one of the anniversaries I really didn't know had this impact was the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of a book called the innocents abroad that I've quoted before by Mark Twain I knew about the book and I've quoted but I didn't know what it meant now listen Mark Twain he takes a journey to Israel he's an agnostic goes the Holy Land 1865 1867 excuse me and he writes his book okay and here's how its planes Israel it's a desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds a sign silent mournful expanse a desolation we never saw a human being on the whole route hardly a tree or shrub anywhere even the olive trees and the cactus those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country close quote alright this was what Israel's like he writes this book and what it did I am told 150 years ago it started stirring up within the Jewish people around the world that their country has been judged as God said it's a desolation it's no longer the land of milk and honey and maybe they need to go back there and so that started the ball rolling they they attribute this what got the ball rolling there later tear down Herzl the father of modern Zionism formed the first Zionist Congress in 1897 where he and Herzl was an agnostic he wasn't religious at all because they wanted a homeland where they wouldn't be persecuted so it's non-religious people who got the ball rolling to get them back in the land as what happened in May of 1948 literally literally fulfilled now we talked about their returning from his second exile this is true Isaiah 11 2:12 says that you know what's amazing about the prediction of Isaiah when he wrote in 700 BC it hadn't even gone into the first exile yet they wouldn't go into the first exile until some 130 years later you know basically 606 BC than 587 when the temple was this for about hundred and seventeen years maybe later so he's predicting the return from a second exile that had even the first Exile haven't happened yet and he made it clear this is not the return from Babylon this is from the four corners of the earth Isaiah 11 11 and 12 and so that literally fulfilled the people have returned from a second exile all right and never to be uprooted again never to be up rude again well they have survived three major Wars 48 67 73 I tell you we could go into the stories the miraculous nature of how they've survived these wars is literally mind-boggling there's there's no way they should have survived these literally incredible what's happened story after story the miraculous nature of their survival you know it's just literally mind-boggling now here's what we've told you in this short time three signs 17 separate predictions okay a great nation great name they will exist at the time of the end center stage at the last day five nations are said to not exist any longer as people groups but Egypt will all fulfilled Israel will be scattered it God's gonna be with them and they're being scattered they're gonna return to their homeland but it won't be until the last days they're gonna come from not one nation but many nations the land they go to will not be the land of milk and honey oh and devastated by war this will be their second return and once they return they'll never ever ever be uprooted again all right what does this tell us tells us there's a god that exists a God that knows the future a God who has told us the future a God who is running of the future and in complete control of all things and again these are only three of our signs and we can go on and on some of the other signs that like 810 points 51 of us 15 points under it point is simply this God has predicted all these they've all come to pass just like he said now let's personalize it now the same God who made these predictions about Israel has made predictions and promises to you and to me he said I'm never gonna leave you I'm never gonna forsake you he said I'm gonna be with you to the end of the age he said if you cast all your care upon me do it because I care for you and here's what we need to take home gang is the same God is watching over us just like he's watched over Israel and watching over the world he has a plan and purpose for our life all of us came in here with things we have to deal with his life is full of challenges right but here's what we know God is watching over us and God is putting everything together as he's bringing us from point A to point B and that will be where he wants us in this life life is not simple life is difficult life can be very very difficult but the God of the Bible has made promises to us and he is faithful to keep those promises so I want you to hang on to that and the next time you think maybe I don't know if I can trust just remember what we said today about how God's been faithful to all these promises in the past he's not gonna be any less faithful to you it wasn't silver and gold he gave for your salvation in mine but the precious blood of his son the Lord Jesus Christ that is why we're here that is why we're safe that is why we're Christians right now because of what the God of the Bible has done for us he has done it in such a way where we can be confident today Christians ought to be confident not arrogant but confident because we know who we are we know why we're here we know what's gonna happen to us when we die we know all these things because the Word of God tells us this you know a few months back we lost Franklin's dad Billy Billy Graham and it was 99 years of age billy lived - and he had a impact and probably all of our lives fact one of the things that brought me to Christ was seeing Billy Graham I was living at that time my right out of high school my mother and my brother and I we live in a one-room apartment my dad had abandoned us and my brother and I were as sinful as you can be my mother was you know a good Christian lady and we didn't care less one night you know she left the TV on went to bed I come there's Billy Graham on TV and I sat down and start watching huh it's pretty good I can defy his drunker stars one of the two or maybe both of that time but anyway I'm watching it I'm thinking hey this is this is pretty good and it's a few months later where I came to faith in Christ anyway right after Billy died I got a text from my wife she says you're not gonna believe this I said what well she went out the door of the place where she works and she looked out and on the 10 freeway in Southern California at 10:00 all the freeways are busy there I just took the ten to pick up my car on Friday and it took an hour and something it usually takes 15 20 minutes but anyway thousands of cars go by each day tens of thousands of cars a big billboard on the 10 freeway you know one of these billboards they got the flashing ones now and I just say one thing I know if you got him around here they're starting to show those up you know you get two pizzas for ten bucks and you know we go to so and so's you know car they'll wash your car first anyway all these different advertisements anyway she said I looked out and there was a picture of Billy I said you're kidding she gonna do Billy's all over the Billboard as big as life it's a huge I said did it say anything she said he had two words gone home and I thought wow Billy's still reaching after he's gone he's still evangelizing and what a testimony cuz tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands of people saw that billboard and it was up for about three weeks after Billy's death because he has gone home but anyway at the memory years ago Billy did an interview with a secular reporter and they asked Billy Graham are you an optimist or a pessimist and Billy said I'm an optimist reporter said why look at all the problems the world look at all what's going on how in the world can you as a Christian be an optimist and Billy says really simple he said because I have read the last chapter of the Bible and guess what we win we do indeed all right let's pray Heavenly Father we we thank you that we do win in the end and we know we're all going to win because we're in Christ so I pray for those who are struggling right now feeling like they're down and not winning but we know we're going to win and we know that we have won because of what Jesus has done for us so I pray as we've talked about this this morning about your faithfulness Lord about your faithfulness to your promises not only to the nation Israel to the nations of the world those even who reject you you keep your word to them you keep your word to us and we thank you for that Lord that you do keep your word and the promise you have made are very special and very precious so I pray for each person in here as they think about what we talked about today hopefully taking away any possible doubt that they that God exists or the God the God of the Bible isn't running the show he is he does exist we know that but also Lord too about the faithfulness he is to each and every one of us so I pray that as we leave here and as we think about it we know that there is a God who is the God of all creation the God of all flesh the God who is watching over us that we can leave and think about it today that you know he's with us and we're gonna win someday in the end even though we're falling down in battle maybe we're gonna get up and keep moving forward so I pray this can be an encouragement to each and every one of us and again thank you for building Lord thank you for what he means to us and what he continues to mean and we pray for when Franklin comes here that'll be a tremendous outreach in this area where many souls will come to faith in Christ we thank you and praise you in Jesus precious name amen amen [Applause]

Channel: Calvary Chapel Tri-Cities

Views: 79,396

Rating: 4.7117119 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel, The Bible, Jesus, God, Calvary Chapel, End Times, Don Stewart, Bible Prophecy, Revelation, God Coming Back, God pridicing the future, Furture events in the bible, Pophecy coming true

Id: bfWUiyjLdzs

Length: 48min 4sec (2884 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 09 2018