Doug Batchelor - The Days of Noah and Lot

it's been 2,000 years since the glorious light of the cross illuminated a world veiled in darkness and confusion about the character of God and still today the greatest need of mankind is a revelation of God's love as revealed in the life of Christ amazing facts presents the everlasting gospel the pastor Doug Batchelor coming to you each week from sacramento central church in sunny california discover hidden treasures in God's Word today Holy Father we come to you in the name of Jesus because we know we're not worthy to come in our own name but he paid the price for everyone within the sound of my voice and I pray in a special way for those church members family and friends that are ill at this time some are suffering from physical illness some from mental some from financial we pray that your healing balm will go out and and heal them and deliver them and that we'll all make our calling and election shore we have a special burden this morning for our children and for our loved ones that are out of the Ark of safety we pray in a special way Lord that you'll help them to redeem the time for the days are evil and that Jesus is coming soon awaken in their hearts the love that they once had for thee bring them back Lord into this message so that they can be saved along with us and many others that we will reach out to be with pastor Doug today pour your spirit out upon him speak through him as never before and those that are discouraged among us help them to leave with a cheerful heart because we asked all this in Jesus name Amen morning I like to wish everybody a happy Sabbath and want to especially extend a welcome to any visitors that might be here our message this morning is dealing with the subject of the days of Noah and lot now I shared something similar to this a couple of years ago and as with many Bible subjects the subject was much bigger than the time allotted and so you could call this part two if you want but I thought it was really relevant for us to consider this very important warning that Jesus gave to the world regarding his second coming and during our scripture reading Christ gave a number of signs and conditions that existed in the days of Noah and lot he said you will see that repeated prior to the second coming I love history one of the only subjects I did well in in school because it's made up of stories and I like the stories I always remember very well in Rome was of course the greatest empire of the world in its glory which was largely during the time of Christ from Julius Caesar through the 40-year reign of Augustus Caesar that was really Roman its Prime in many respects the territory reached through the Mediterranean Spain finally off into Great Britain and and parts of Persia Egypt tremendous Empire we always think of Rome in the decadence of Rome but you know for a while there Rome was a very well-run organized moral culture they called it pox Romana the Roman peace divorce was prohibited greatly frowned upon they respected freedoms especially among Roman citizens there's a lot of morality they the Roman soldiers were the police force and laws were enforced and and freedoms were respected and it was you know for the day in which they existed somewhat of a moral Empire but with success came prosperity and with prosperity slowly the morals began to a road and a lot is said about the fall of Rome because we know that when Babylon fell it fell in a decisive battle with medo-persia we know that when the Persians fell they fell in a decisive battle with Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire fell to the Romans but when Rome fell it's been the subject of a lot of study it was a crumbling it was like an erosion it happened little by little it wasn't one battle where someone came in conquered Rome though many like Hannibal tried they had failed in his classic Edward Gibbon wrote regarding the fall of the Roman Empire he attributes the fall to five things and here's what they are and see if you see any similarity between these things that pre-existed before the fall of Rome and what's happening in our nation and world today the undermining of the dignity and the sanctity of the home does that exist in the world today it seems like instead of parents having the responsibility for the children that's being shunted over to the government in the state the increasing taxes and the spending of public money for bread and circuses this is what was happening in Rome one of our founding fathers I can't remember which one he said that as soon as the people realized they can vote themselves benefits from the National Treasury we're doomed and when the people realize they can vote in people that will give them benefits were doomed I think that they has come point number three Gibbon said in his book the mad craze for pleasure with sports becoming exciting and more brutal of course you know what happened in the Colosseum's were the entertainment and the gladiators and the persecution of the Christians do we have sports becoming more brutal the extremes extreme everything now the building of armaments when the real enemy was the decadence of the people the decay in point number five was the decay of religion with faith fading into mere form but to morality and religion was lost all these things we can see existing in the world today Phillip Myers in his book Rome its rise in its fall he observed speaking of the fall of Rome almost from its beginning the Roman stage was gross in immorality was one of the main agencies to which must be attributed the undermining of the originally sound moral life of Roman society so absorbed did the people become speaking of in the stage in theatrical performances so absorb did people become with DVDs in ancient Rome I'm just wondering if you're listening in the indecent representations of the stage that they lost all thought and care for the affairs of real life people began to live in a fantasy world everything they talked about was entertainment today they wanted to know what's happening in Hollywood and it's like people lived in this fictitious world of what's going on with the stage in the latest performance in the entertainment and the sports and the pleasures and I thought that was interesting because it reminds me of the statements that Jesus makes regarding the last days and by the way Jesus is not the only one second Timothy 3 verse 1 through 5 Paul describes conditions in the world prior to the second coming oh why am i preaching this message it's because I think we're near the end of the world and I want you to think about the signs that the Lord is giving us socially second Timothy 3 verse 1 but this know that in the last days perilous times will come what is the peril men will be lovers of money lovers of themselves lovers of money by the way what is God God is love for others what is sin it's the opposite of God sin is love for self so where you've got a lot of love for self you've got a lot of sin lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving slanderers without self-control brutal despisers of good traders headstrong hottie lovers of pleasure more than lovers of god having a form of godliness but not denying his power they still got the form of religion did the people that crucify Jesus have a form of religion what a religious Rite ceremony ritual but not the power not the power of love and from such turn away I'd like to return to the passage in Luke that we started with and I want to bring to your attention the specifics that Jesus mentions Luke 17 this is one of the places in Luke where Jesus tell us about signs before the second coming it's also in Luke's 21 Luke 17 Luke 21 then of course the other passages are Matthew 24 mark 13 those are the four primary places where Jesus gives signs and conditions in the world prior to the second coming here we are in Luke 17 verse 26 and as it was in the days of Noah so will it be also in the day when the Son of Man is revealed they ate they drank they married wives they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all right up till that time likewise as also it was in the days of lot they ate they drank they bought they sold they planted they built but on the day that lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed and he goes on and says let him who's on his housetop and all those goods in the house let them not come down to take them and likewise if you're in the field don't return back then Jesus utters the shortest verse in the Bible next to Jesus wept remember Lot's wife so Christ is commanding us to understand his return to consider what happened back then because there are many parallels that we can learn from now Peter refers to this also the same two great days of probation closing Peter refers to no and lot notice second Peter chapter 2 verse 4 for if God did not spare the angels who sinned but he cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of Darkness to be reserved for judgment and if he did not spare the ancient world but he saved Noah one of eight people a preacher of righteousness bringing a flood on the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with destruction making them an example to those who should afterward live ungodly and he delivered righteous a lot you notice he says righteous Noah righteous lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds notice lot was grieved he was sighing and crying for the abominations that were done in Sodom that's going to come up later then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation even though lot was surrounded with that he was still delivered the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the Judgment Day everybody here everybody listening there's two choices deliver from temptation reserved for judgment Noah delivered the people in the flood judgment lot delivered the others judgment you can figure out where you're going to be but everybody's going to either be delivered from temptation or reserved for judgment then he identifies some of the characteristics of that day now listen to the specifics I've itemized here eating anything wrong with eating if so try and give it up you got to eat right drinking marriage planting building buying selling oh why would Jesus give those things as a sign of the second coming the Lord is not saying just these events by themselves but these events 2xs these events become the god let's start with eating and drinking and by the way you've heard about the the wild orgies they had in Rome oh that we always think about the immorality or the sexual perversion connected with that but it was often around food they were living for food it was just one never-ending potluck matter of fact and I don't want to gross you out and I don't want to be insensitive but it is a fact of history that the Romans would gorge themselves at these feasts then they had a place where they would go and regurgitate what they'd eaten eaten if they call them vomitorium and then they go eat some more now there's nothing wrong with eating but how many would agree that's eating to a success I mean it's one thing to eat to live it's another thing where you live to eat the purpose in life is just the pleasures the heat hedonistic pursuit of physical pleasure well that's one of the signs of our day eating and drinking listen to what Solomon said Ecclesiastes 10 verse 16 woe to you O land when your king is a child and your prince is feast in the morning blessed are you O land when your king is the son of nobles and your Prince's eat in due season there's a time to eat you don't eat when it's not the time to eat you don't eat all day long for strength and not for drunkenness it is okay to eat for strength but we're not need for drunkenness but in our culture today there are more varieties of things to eat than there ever have been we want more more variety bigger you know you say started out was great when you could go to the convenience store and get a soda but then they got the large soda and I got the jumble then they got the big gulp and now you just about rolling your own 55-gallon drum everything is done to excess just you get a pickup truck just to hold your cup holder now to get programs where people revel in watching others cook I can't believe they get the Food Channel what do you watch I watch the Food Channel I mean it's it's like it's done these like you dfi it notice talking about Sodom and Gomorrah when you think of Sodom and Gomorrah we typically think of the sexual perversion right and the Bible talks about that listen to what Ezekiel says was one of the principle problems in Sodom Gomorrah look this is by the way is he keel 16 verse 49 and 50 look this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom she and her daughter meaning Gomorrah had pride fullness of food you know one of the reasons for that was the Bible tells us that the valley of sodom and gomorrah was like the Garden of God one reason Lott wanted to go there is it was a very fertile area before it was destroyed and it turned into a valley of salt it was like the Garden of God they had an abundance of crops and food and grass and pastures for the Sheep and Locke didn't plan on moving into the cities of Sodom he cast his tent towards Sodom and gradually you know he started out camping outside the city and little by little shopping in the city pretty soon they thought well you know they've actually got so many conveniences in the city and maybe it might have been some him pressure from his wife and children cuz the malls were in Sodom and so pretty soon he was living in the city by the time the Angels came it vexed him though he didn't want to be there so it made you think there must have been some outside pressure but there was an abundance of food that's one of the characteristics do we eat to live or live to eat by the way sometimes admin descriptions are criticized because we talk about the health message and having control over our appetites but we quickly forget that sin entered our world because someone ate something they weren't supposed to eat so it doesn't matter I was reading this article you've seen me quoted before and this is a cover from National Geographic I can't remember I think it's January 2004 we now have more overweight people in the world than hungry ones there are more than a billion overweight over nourished people in the world an 800 million who are undernourished we always heard about all the starving people in the world this is the first time in the history of the world that there have been more people that are actually over nourished than undernourished would you say that we've reached the age where we are eating and drinking in abundance and it goes on there if you keep reading in Ezekiel talking about Sodom if you read in verse 50 and they were haughty and they committed abomination before me therefore I took them away what is the abomination that they committed in Sodom not only the eating and drinking a Nile --mess oh by the way I left out the idleness do we have you know we have more idleness now when America was founded in the 1700s and even if you go back a hundred years eighty percent of people lived on farms they lived in rural communities now because of the mechanization of farming only about 20 percent 20 percent of the people in North America live in rural communities 80 percent live in the cities and the great metropolitan areas there's so many machines that do all the work for us now we've even got robots to do what used to be done in factories and there's a lot more ease in idleness and you know how many people now when advertising portrays the average American worker you know where they are they work in a cubicle at a desk sitting the average American worker is working in a cubicle sitting an abundance of idleness chatting with their friends and other cubicles but one of the sins it says they committed abominations what is that abomination Leviticus 18:22 you shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination the abomination was sexual perversion homosexuality and if you still have any doubts Jew chapter 1 verse 7 Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in similar manner to these having given themselves over they gave up to it sexual immorality and going after strange flesh Romans chapter 1 Paul refers to that as that which is not natural perversion more specifically homosexuality and this is a delicate subject I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it but I think it's an irrefutable sign of the times that was once declared inappropriate and illegal in North America by the word by the way there is a word based on the town Sodom that coins that behavior is now warmly accepted in the general culture and the laws are there to protect I don't know if you've been plugged into what's happening even here in California but there are two or three laws on the books right now that will increase the rights of people that might have alternate sexual preferences would you say that that prophecy is fulfilled as it was in the days of lot yeah I think so sexual perversion I understand that the Episcopal Church and more churches are debating the acceptance of clergy and not to mention members into their fellowship that are practicing homosexuals living with they could be homosexual or lesbian living with lovers and is it the I got to be careful what I say here but I think that I think it is that the one of the leaders of the Episcopal Church left his wife has a partner and they have voted to accept that as appropriate well you got to read a different Bible than I read to come to that conclusion and it's considered you know amazing facts has been taken off some channels in Canada because I make statements like this and it's considered insensitive hate speech if you preach what the Bible says is sin it's called hate speech I think that either God needs to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah or something's going to happen God is just patient and so we presume on his patience another characteristic is the buying and the selling anything wrong with buying and selling how many of you bought or sold anything this week is it a sin to buy and sell but can things be done to excess we're living in an age now where there is more that can be bought and sold than any other time we have channels that are dedicated to buying all the time shopping channels it's not enough that you eventually take your one day we can you go to the store and get your groceries now we got to watch other people shop or you shop without even leaving the house because you watch it on TV you call an order or you go online and you surf for every conceivable product and you know what there are some advantages to buying things online you can sometimes get some good deals but think about the materialism in the age in which we live right now there are more things you can buy or sell now than any other time in the history of the world the essence of the worldly man is someone said he knows the price of everything and the value of nothing the world's motive is profit the Christians desire should be to serve but it's worldly collecting building treasures here on earth James chapter 4 verse 13 and 14 come now you who say tomorrow we will go to such a city and spend a year there and buy and sell and make a profit wherefore you don't know what will happen tomorrow for what is your life it's a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away Jesus specifically warns against materialism in the last days Luke 17 you know what he's talking about Lot's wife that's before he gets there notice what he says in that day he was on his housetop like when Noah was told to enter the ark and lot was told to flee the city he didn't say after you pack your bags flee the city said flee now make haste don't look back Jesus said speaking of the destruction of the world and the destruction of Jerusalem if you're on your housetop and your goods are in the house don't even come down and turn back into the house likewise if you're in the field don't go back to your house run for your life so many people would say I want to go but I've got this stuff in my house my stuff buying and selling it's talking about a love for things we find our value not in that we are made in God's image but in the stuff that we own and let's face it a lot of people feel like you got to keep up with society and you know one of the reasons that we are largely a world in debt right now is because of the pressure to live above the standard of our earning and so we borrow for everything and you're encouraged to do it probably once a day I throw in the garbage another application that I did not ask for for another credit card and it makes me mad because they're so tricky on the envelopes they get me to open them urgent announcement you know something like and you just it's urgent I better look I might be throwing away a you know cheque from Bill Gates or something I don't know what's in there and it's another application or a home they want me to take out a loan on my home that's the other thing just all the time so they're urging you to go into dead aren't they buy and sell buy and sell it's materialism berlin boro lead love of money it's interesting you know when we talk about Sodom and we're going to get to this a little bit when we talk about Noah probation clothes for the people outside the ark probation clothes for the people that were in Sodom am i right and then there's several examples in the Bible of probation closing it closes for individuals King Saul would you say probation closed for him when God wouldn't speak to him anymore Judas went out and it was night Satan entered him probation closed probation might close for a couple Ananias and Sapphira they grieved away the Holy Spirit dropped dead I'd say probation closed it can happen for family probation can closed for a whole family akin they were given several days to confess and maybe even after pay probation close Reagan the family could have said you know our father's the one little by little they cast lots but nobody would nobody they put their family ahead of God and God said you've got to put me first you got to love me more than husband wife child anything right probation clothes for the family vacant probation can close for a city Sodom and Gomorrah you read the prophecies probation clothes for many ancient cities for a nation when Babel and fell happens suddenly the judgment was written on the walls your weight in the balance and found wanting you're going to die tonight probation closed for Belshazzar isn't that right and 34 ad probation clothes for ancient Israel when they plug their ears for a nation there are people in the nation that were saved but they'd lost their their freedom as a nation it was destroyed probation clothes but they went on another forty years as a nation but their purpose it closed and probation closed for a world as it did in the days of Noah and it will happen again of these examples of where probation closed with Judas Ananias and Sapphira and Aiken it was materialism wasn't it when it fell for Babylon they were drinking and eating when probation closed and so there's many examples I could show through the Bible where these are the characteristics then Jesus says they married and they were given in marriage now is there anything wrong with marriage isn't eating and drinking and marriage God's idea so what is it seen why would that be different than any other time God has specified a few things about marriage first of all God hates divorce he says that secondly you're supposed to marry someone in the same faith so when it says married and given in marriage it means they were married repeatedly that means they were divorcing repeatedly and they were marrying outside their faith before the flood what led to the flood you read in Genesis chapter 6 the sons of God those are the descendants of Seth who believed in God Adam who was the son of God remember Luke chapter 3 the descendants of Seth the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and took them wives of all whom they chose and when the children of Seth began to intermarry with the descendants of Cain the daughters of men meant meaning enos mortal carnal the distinction of holiness was lost and then God says right after it says the sons of God began to intermarry with the lost world the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every thought of his heart was only evil continually through these marriages with the unbelievers now I'm going to be sensitive and please forgive me I I remember I've not been in the church that long I guess I have been 30 years now I'm getting old I've been saying it for so long we've finally dawned on me named true anymore anyway but when I joined the church 30 years ago if a person was marrying somebody who is out of the faith that was cause for disfellowshipping from the church they didn't have to drink or smoke or commit adultery just marry someone who is not a member they could be a member of another denomination and you were relieved from your membership now show of hands how many remember that am I the only one that remembers that see and by the way that wasn't just our church that was the Baptist Church the Methodist Church many churches Catholics used to do it you married someone who wasn't a Catholic excommunication but now marrying and giving in marriage it's just like anybody anything that will slow down doesn't matter if it's the same sex or not I think they must have a marriage channel too you know I think it's interesting when Abraham left her it tells about Tara tells about Abraham's brother it tells about Abram and Sarah tells about lot it doesn't say Avery says Abraham and his wife Sarah and a lot his nephew doesn't say Lot's wife which makes you wonder if lot married someone from Canaan which could help understand why she looked back he married a Canaanite which is one reason they wanted to live maybe her family kids got to be by Grandma and Grandpa they're in Sodom I'm speculating now but you can't prove me wrong so I can do it planting so much farming anything wrong with planting this last week we were up in the hills and someone fed me out of their garden it was great heating those fresh picked Tomatoes but now we're living in an age where there's been planting on a scale as never before you fly across North America in a jet and you can just see the the incredible farms from 35,000 feet up in the sky as far as you can see practically in any direction when you're flying over the Midwest it's corn wheat beans and orchards and on a scale and not just planning now we have genetically altered foods genetically altered farms and some of these things are wonders but you know one reason it's saying even these good things don't miss this point I think Jesus is saying when it happens when it happened to the people in Noah's day they were doing all the regular pursuits of life they were still building right up to the end they were still marrying they were still farming they were still eating and drinking in Noah's day in I'm sorry in lot's time in Sodom that morning that very day when the fire was going to come down it was a beautiful day like 9/11 five years ago what a beautiful morning everybody got up and they cooked their coffee went to church went to work rather sorry and they were seemed like a day like every other day right but was it different on the outside looked similar planting I think it's interesting Luke chapter 12 speaking of another man for whom probation clothes he spoke a parable verse 16 unto them the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully you know that parable and he had a bumper crop and he said what will I do with my bumper crop I'm going to pull down my barns and I'll build the bigger barns and there I'll put the crops that I've got Len I'll say so take it easy you've got things laid up you've got goods for many years eat drink and be merry and God said you fool this night your soul is required of you you notice and that one parable it talks about eating drinking building planting and then judgment that one parable Christ is trying to tell us maybe you're not going to get a fax or an email the day the probation closes it could look like a normal day unless you're watching the signs of the Holy Spirit Noah was listening to the Holy Spirit that told him about building the ark a lot listened to the voice of angels that said you better get out of town if we're not plugged into God then we won't even know when probations closed the Holy Spirit was taken away from Samson Samson got up to shake himself and fight the Philistines as other times and he did not know the Lord had left him this is the warning Jesus is giving us are we going to know I'm getting ahead of myself building anything wrong with building I love to build then human like to build building is not a sin but it's talking about a scale of excess unlike any other time in history have we reached that point now now I think one of these pictures is actually China well I've never seen anything like what I saw and I and all over the world when I went to China what was that about a year ago dear Beijing they're getting ready for the Olympics and you look out on the skyline and you will see a virtual forests of cranes raising up buildings in every direction I have never seen I don't believe there's ever been any nation in the world that has grown so rapidly is what's happening in China right now they're flush with money guess where they're getting it if you have any question about where they're getting it look on every product you buy at Walmart see where it's made almost every product gotee say this case a lawyer gets a hold of the tape it's just amazing I went to Costco the other day our VCR broke we have all these tapes everything's DVD now so I needed to get a VCR so I could watch all the old tapes I used to watch so I went through and they still had a few left at Costco Price Club I'm just curious and I flipped over the box of everyone in the aisle made in China made in China made in China made in China Toshiba made in Taiwan which is right near China building like never before and when you fly a small plane just fly over the Sacramento Valley and go fly around Roseville Lincoln it's like a city fell out of the sky when amazing facts put their office there about 12 years ago there were fields around whole fields and all just buildings and cities and all the infrastructure is really nice because it's all brand spankin new but it's like it dropped out of the sky building on a scale like never before are we there now they say the market is cooling off a little bit but it's going to come back again fact is that we're living in an age where they're building and hey today have channels and programs that talk about home makeover buildings and design and are people worshiping their houses the world is preoccupied right now with embellishing their earthly homes to the neglect of their heavenly home we're not sending any materials on ahead because we're preoccupied with this stuff and Jesus said it's all going to burn I've always thought it's okay to be comfortable you spend a lot of time in your house but some folks it's like they live for their home the design now I want you to I want to redirect your attention we looked at some of the criteria that is a prior to the second coming go to Revelation chapter 7 I'm going to talk a little more about what Jesus addresses the close of probation Revelation chapter 7 verse 1 after these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth these winds are winds of strife and trouble tribulation that the wind should not blow on the earth on the sea or any tree trees are symbols of nations sea people then I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the Living God and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea saying do not harm the earth the sea or the trees till we have sealed the servant of our God in their foreheads if we're going to survive the coming judgement there must be a seal that's received on the forehead to understand this it probably would be a good idea reading your Bibles Ezekiel go with me to the Book of Ezekiel chapter 9 this is one of the places where it talks about the seal of God in the Old Testament revelation we just read unless they've got the seal of God these winds of strife will blow upon them why what's holding back right now the winds of strife the judgments from coming by the way those winds of strife you read after chapter 7 and after chapter 14 it's talking to for thousand are in both those chapters the seven last plagues fall those winds of strife are the seven last plagues chapter nine of Ezekiel verse one he's in vision and he calls out in my hearing with a loud voice saying let those who have charged over the city draw near each man with a deadly weapon destroying weapon in his hand we don't know what these weapons were and suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate this takes place around the sanctuary as many of the visions do in the Bible which faces north each with his destroying weapon in his hand and one man among them was clothed with linen and we don't know if this is a seventh individual it's not clear and had a writer's inkhorn at his side and they went in and they stood beside the bronze altar is it clear this is in the temple now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub where it had been and the threshold of the temple and he called to the man clothed within it linen oh by the way when this marking is taking place it says the glory of the Lord of Israel had gone up this is a filling with the spirit that's going to happen on God's people why this marking is happening and he called to the man clothed with linen who had the writers inkhorn at his side angels don't go around with ink horns and feathers and quills it's just saying that some instrument for marking some instrument for destruction we don't have they're not ak-47s we don't know what angels use when there's war in heaven and the Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and his angels I doubt they use swords you agree I mean we don't know what angels used to fight their spiritual beings but he's got this something to make a mark he said go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of the men now wait a second if I were to stop right here and you've not read this before you might think the ones who are getting marked that's bad mark on the forehead mark of the beast know everybody in Revelation is marked you want the right mark these who are marked are saved who is getting this mark in the forehead that saves it's interesting put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and cry over the abominations that are done in the city do you remember reading a few moments ago where Jude said that our Peter said that lot was vexed when he saw the wickedness of what was happening in Sodom vexed his righteous soul sighed and cried when Jesus wept over Jerusalem was his soul vexed over the sin of God's people when we see the condition of the church do you say oh well everyone's doing it or do you look at Jesus and say we need a revival is it does it grieve you the indifference about God and holy things who is going to receive the seal of God those that want the Holy Spirit that want a holy life they sigh and cry they're praying they're not just wringing their hands this sign and crying to sign and crying before God they're praying for revival that needs to be our attitude you know the Lord is telling me to tell you these things this you're hearing the truth today I have absolute confidence you're hearing the truth today I hope you know that and this is something I think the church needs to hear and it may not be popular and some will probably criticize it and some of you will come and go and not even know that God spoke to you but there needs to be a revival in the church and we need to be grieved over sin and not be comfortable with it put a mark on the foreheads of the men and that means the people men and women who sigh and cry over the abominations that are done within it - the others the ones the six you've got the destroying weapons he said go after him through the city and kill do not let your eyes spare it's the kind of judgment that fell on the people in Noah's day and the people in lots today its annihilation utterly slay old and young maids and little children women but do not come near anybody on whom is the mark and begin at my sanctuary that's why Peter says judgment must begin at the house of God begin at my sanctuary and they did this great judgment takes place that's a time when probation closes if we do not have the mark when the marking is happening then it's too late I want to go back to this subject here I'm the seal of God Daniel chapter 12 the close of probation verse 1 how do we know informations closed well you may not know until the plagues start at that time it's too late at that time Michael will stand up the Great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people and there will be a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time your people will be delivered every one who is found written in the book what book is that it's the book of life and then it says that many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake a resurrection takes place is it clear to you that by the time the resurrection takes place probation is closed there is a great time of trouble between the time probation closes and the resurrection takes place that's when the seven last plagues fall out revelation 22 11 Jesus will declare at that time when Michael stands up let the unjust be unjust still let him who's filthy be filthy still let he that is righteous let him be righteous still and let him who is holy be holy still you know one of the things I love about the goodness of God you can read in Ezekiel where he says I believe it's in chapter 20 if the wicked man will forsake I think it's chapter 18 rather if a wicked man forget forsakes all of his wickedness and does what that is right all of his wickedness will be forgotten isn't that good news but if the righteous man forsakes his righteousness all of his righteousness will be forgotten if he does what's wicked right now people can have changes of heart one way or the other people come into the church people go out of the church but when Michael stands up he basically says those that are righteous you're sealed with the Holy Spirit you'll never change again you're locked in those that are wicked the door of mercies forever closed just like the door of the Ark was closed seven days before the rain came we don't know how long lot was out of Sodom before the fire fell but there was a period of time when he was heading for the hills that he was out they were doomed and they didn't know it going around the regular business we're not going to see an acrobatic plane trailing a cloud of smoke writing in the sky probation closes in ten minutes get ready the Lord is telling us that we need to be ready now today and then this ad verse that we read in Hebrews 2 one of the most disturbing verses in the Bible Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation it's through just neglecting it what else can God do if we neglect it which leads me to my next important point God is long-suffering God is not willing that any should perish he is patient he's abounding in mercy but there is a limit to God's patience God has been so patient with me I pray he will not cease to be patient with me I pray that God is patient with me but I know that there's a limit to his patience because I see it biblically it's in history Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 11 because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil in other words because God is patient and he does not sting us with a hot shot as soon as we disobey you ever seen they've got these collars you can put on a dog it's a training collar and it gives them an electric jolt and you got a button and if the dog does something that's not supposed to do when you try to train it you press the button whatever jumps up on you and because sentence is speedy then they they learn very quickly I remember they just have this smoking program where they used to try and help people stop smoking every time they went to put a cigarette term out they give them a little shock and if you remember that I think they stopped doing that because they started having psychotic problems so sorry but God doesn't operate that way does he when you tell a lie there's a bold lightning come down or you think the thought you're not supposed to think you get shocked like that well sorry Lord now there are times sometimes it is immediately you do something wrong and God will get your attention and he you say thank you Lord but it doesn't usually work that because he's so patients so patient with us we abuse his patients we presume on his mercy but there can be a limit to God's patience Genesis 6 verse 3 just before the time of Noah God said my spirit will not always strive with man my spirit will not forever strive with man my spirit strives for a long time matter of fact in this verse it says his days will be a hundred and twenty years Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years to that generation that they might repent God's patient that's more than most of us live I hope he gives me a hundred and twenty years I'd hope it didn't take that long but he was very patient of course they lived nine hundred years back then they needed a little more time Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 30 good verse I hope you're looking some of these up if not write them down yet for many years you had patience with them and testified against them your spirit in your prophets yet they would not listen therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the land they were overcome by their enemies judgment came because they would not listen but he was so patient with him Isaiah 65 verse 12 therefore I will number you for the sword and you'll all bow down to the slaughter judgment will come why because when I called you did not answer when I spoke you did not hear but you did evil before my eyes and chose that in which I do not delight they made wrong choices they heard God and they said no they put him off procrastinated that's why it's so important for us today when we're hearing his voice not to harden our hearts God is pleading with us to listen he wants us to come now I want to close by touching again on Lot's wife the Bible tells us when the angels came to lot it came to pass when they brought him outside they said escape for your life do not look behind you do not look behind you you were stay anywhere in the plane escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed but his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt why did she will look back first of all God is telling us if you choose to follow Christ don't look back if any man puts his hand to the plow and looks back don't look back say I'm going all the way and I'm never going to reconsider I thank the Lord by His grace I bounced from one thing to another all these different religions until I found Christianity and by His grace I have never considered any other religion because there is nothing else and I haven't looked back I've gone up and down a little bit but I've not looked back and we all have our sometimes it's one step forward two steps back three steps forward one step back but I think I'm making progress but I'm not looking back I think part of the reason she looked back she had loved ones in the city some of her kids they mocked a lot when he said flee God's going to destroy this place they mocked their father-in-law she had kids here near that you think that'd be natural but the Lord said you must not love them more don't look back maybe her possessions were there you know you think and go back your house thing is that God says don't look back when you choose to follow him our kingdom needs to be somewhere else it's interesting also in the days of Noah the lost were unwilling to move off of their position there were probably a lot of people watching Noah build the ark and they said you know the world is wicked I'm going to have this plenty of room on that Ark I'll plan on getting on board when I see the clouds gather when the rain starts I'm going to get on board but did it ever happen that way the door was shut by the Lord before the rain ever began they wouldn't move at the right time when they were called Noah made an appeal stood on the door of the Ark is come listen uh skies clear you must be kidding now now and they said no well we'll wait and when we see the water starting to gather then we'll come but God shut the door that was it probation was closed they wouldn't move out of Sodom they just were stuck in the rudders saying well you know one of these days but they waited too long you know I thought it would be healthy to look at the contrast between a lot and Sodom I don't want to be saved like a lot I want to be saved I'm sorry wanton Noah I want to be saved like Noah look at the difference lot was saved by the skin of his teeth Noah was complete cooperation Noah invested all in God's work and had no regrets about his investment it floated during a great economy recession didn't it his investment a lot waited too long and he lost his whole investment lot chose the life of convenience and made no preparation for the future Noah followed a life of hardship and holiness as a result of that his family was saved Noah devoted his life to involving his family in his work and they were saved a lot waited to the end and it's questionable whether even his daughters were saved even though they got out of town with him God is inviting us to build an ark Noah stored away the ark for the flood to come we need to store away food don't we for that time of trouble that flood that's coming those that listened they were preparing an ark we need to be preparing an ark don't we in our families be building in our church isn't our church supposed to be an ark that's why we keep doing evangelism here and I'm glad you folks don't get tired of seeing other people come to the Lord I can just look around see so many of you who come just in the last few years and your lives are changed by the gospel it'll be nice to have more room for people folks end up coming to Central we run out a room and then they transfer to other churches which is okay but we want to be a place where people are coming to the Lord I started talking about Rome I might in talking about Rome I'll never forget when I went to a place called Pompeii I was 16 years old when I was living on that boat that went through the Mediterranean and they showed us the ruins it's now one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy back in 79 AD it was the Sodom of the Roman Empire Pompeii it's where the soldiers went for R&R they can tell from the frescoes that are still on the walls in this ancient city that there was a lot of immorality they even have a bordello there with all the paintings on the wall I can't show you pictures of that but there are they're there and very moral life I also think it's interesting that the same Roman legion that had been under Titus that had destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD were now vacationing in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted violently and the city was suddenly covered by ash and it was an example of a catastrophic judgment that fell on that city you know the Bible tells us that what happened in the days of Noah and what happened in the days of lot are set forth before us an example of how the wicked are going to perish for two choices we are delivered from temptation or reserved for judgment if we choose now to ask God to have complete control of our lives and say Lord deliver us we don't want anything in our lives that comes between you and us he'll do that for us he's calling to us and he wants us to come someday that call will be silent someday the door of the Ark will close probation will cease and that's why it's important for us to accept the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of Jesus now to listen now and you know it's so much easier to get other people in the ark when we're in the Ark it's easier to pull other people on the boat when you're in the boat isn't it but we've got to have our self planted in that Ark of safety let's pray loving father lord we believe that we have heard the gospel truth today Jesus has told us that there is a limited time the doors of Mercy are open now and we must not presume upon salvation to wait for some catastrophe in history or in the sky because when you come it will seem like life is going on as normal when probation closes they'll be building and eating and drinking and planting and marrying I pray Lord that we can hear the host the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us be willing to capitalize on the opportunity we have right now in the blood of Christ to be forgiven to have new hearts I pray that each person here will make that decision be in a special way with those that have come forward set them free help them to experience the righteousness by faith that Jesus offers thank you for your presence here and as we do leave the house of God I pray that your spirit will be with us in Jesus name we pray amen if you've been encouraged by today's message and would like to know more of what God's Word says to you today amazing facts invites you to visit our educational website at www.uvu.edu/library universe calm today expand your universe you

Channel: Amazing Mission

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Keywords: The, Days, of, Noah, and, Lot, An, Overview, Revelation, Apocalypse, Synopsis, Part, Gospel, Church, Christian, good, faith, hope, sin, love, salvation, christianity, philosophy, lecture, bible, coming soon, gospel, review, reviews, Jesus, Christ, angel, lucifer, devil, dragon, 666, john, 144, 000, blood, preaching, inspirational

Id: --vzdKeB96I

Length: 58min 40sec (3520 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 25 2011