(The Last Days) How God Will End Everything by Zac Poonen

the last time we were studying what Jesus said that before a baby is born a mother goes through travail or birth pangs and it's only after that the baby is born jesus said that in John 16 and verse 21 he was talking about his return he said in a little while verse 19 of John 16 John 16 19 and a little while I will be gone from you and a little while again you'll see me again that little while of course is extended 2000 years and then he said one day your sorrow will be turned into joy but until then until that day you will weep and lament verse 20 but the world will rejoice now the Bible says that Christians must rejoice in the Lord always so how does that agree with what Jesus said you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice obviously the world's joy is going to be external superficial which depends on circumstances and when things go right but the Christians joy is completely independent of circumstances it doesn't matter what's happening in the world round because he's not rejoicing in his circumstances he's rejoicing in the Lord the world is full of people who either rejoice in the Lord or rejoice in their circumstances and you know which category you belong to the Lord never changes and if you rejoice in the Lord you will never be depressed at any time in your life no matter what happens but people in the world they find their joy in circumstances so when circumstances are good they rejoice certainly the bad they are unhappy and if you find yourself like that in your life you need to wake up and say well I'm not finding my joy in the Lord at all you don't have to be like the rest of the world the world rejoices externally superficially but the Christian and it says you'll weep and lament means the Christian may go through a lot of suffering Jesus spoke a lot about that he said look at me I mean look at Jesus own example he had so much joy on the day before his crucifixion that he could share his joy with others he's my joy I give unto you that your joy may be full at the same time he was known as the man of sorrows externally he went through a lot of suffering and pain but inwardly it never took away his joy he's a foreigner it has it says in Hebrews to a let us run the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross he didn't enjoy the cross were not asked to enjoy the cross we endure it because there's a joy set before us the joy of fellowship with the father so in this connection he says you're one day when he's when you see me again your sorrow will be turned into permanent joy they'll beam almost suffering and he says a woman is in travail when she's in travel she as sorrow the period of difficulty verse 21 because there are has come but when she gives birth she completely forgets about her pain because the joy of a baby being born and Jesus also said that he said that twice once there and the other is in Matthew 24 we saw that too where when he spoke about wars and rumors of wars and Matthew 24 verse 9 they'll deliver you to tribulation and kill you and all he called it all verse 8 the beginning of birth pangs that means it's about time for the baby to be born a picture of his about time for Christ to come now why is it that in the Old Testament if you look at the Old Testament as far as I know the word tribulation never comes in the Old Testament and even persecution they persecuted me is found only mostly in the sounds you know these people are persecuting me etc a lot of Psalms are like that but otherwise persecution and tribulation are hardly ever found in the Old Testament in the Old Testament the words are prosperity and you will rule over the nation's and then I'll give you this land from here to here and your enemies your earthly enemies will be repeated so in the New Testament however jesus said in the world you will have tribulation John 16:33 in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world now if you don't understand this significant difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant what will happen is you will open your heart to an Old Covenant message and if you look at Christendom today I can say broadly speaking there are two types of preachers they're preachers were preaching Old Covenant gospel and there are preachers are preaching a new covenant gospel the old covenant gospel is God will make you healthy God will give you houses and lands and he'll make you very rich but they won't tell you one word about God will give you victory over your anger and your lust in with your eyes and your love of money and your anxiety and no I won't be speak a word about all that the New Covenant preacher does not tell you about prosperity and help the New Covenant preacher says in the kingdom if you seek the kingdom of God God will give you enough for your earthly needs enough health and enough well he's not going to make you rich but he'll give you enough you won't starve he won't leave you out in the streets but that's not the primary thing the New Covenant life is one where we know God personally and we are saved from our sins because Jesus came for that so you know naturally worldly believers would rather listen to an Old Covenant gospel why has God allowed both these Gospels to be preached in the world today in a way because he's testing all believers to see which one will they respond to where are their hearts set jesus said where your treasure is there your heart will be also so when these two Gospels go forth one preaching earthly prosperity and physical health and a lot of earthly blessings and other gospel preaching overcoming sin and pleasing God and denying yourself and following Jesus as you hear these two messages without your knowing it God tests you to see why where your heart is that's what God wants to find out is your heart on earth or is your heart in heaven where your treasure is there your heart will be also nothing we're being tested many of you watch Christian television you're tested all the time and you come here and hear this message - and many people try to mix the two I hope you can do it Jesus never did it that is why I say read the Gospels and see what Jesus taught and be clear about the gospel that Jesus preached and like I said in the last time if you don't read the Gospels you don't read the New Testament you deserve to be deceived because you despise God's Word and choose the word of men anyone who chooses the word of men above the word of God deserves to be deceived thoroughly because the Bible says in 2nd Thessalonians in chapter 2 see this is we must whenever you read a verse you must see it in its context okay like when you read a letter you don't just read one sentence in the middle of page three or page five you read the whole paragraph so what is second Thessalonians two talking about we request you brethren verse one in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him that's the subject the coming of Christ and our being taken up to be with him raptured we're gonna be raptured we're gonna be taken up to be with him and he said something about that in the previous chapter we'll come to that but he said when when don't be shaken from your composure or disturbed by someone claiming to speak in the spirit or claiming that a message has come or a letter from the Apostle Paul you know those days somebody could send a fake letter and say Paul wrote this is it gonna be disturbed by that telling you that the day of the Lord has already come that means ah but somebody some believer says what do you mean the day of the Lord has already come didn't Jesus say that as the Lightning shines from the east to the west so will it be when the Son of Man comes ah but somebody will say no he came secretly he came secretly and took some people don't be disturbed by all this teaching let no one deceive you for that day will not come until first as a great falling away apostasy that day will not come until the man of sin the Antichrist is Ravi I mean I can't think that anything could be plainer than that in Scripture the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above everything and he'll sit in the temple of God displaying himself as being God the New Testament teaches that some person will arise was going to be a sort of a world ruler and Christ will not come till that man arises so though it's a very nice thing to believe that Jesus may come tonight or Jesus may come tomorrow morning to tell you frankly I don't believe it because I believe Scripture there are many areas in our mind where we in our life where we have to change our way of thinking because from childhood we were taught certain things for example in baptism I was baptized as a little baby one day I grew up and I am 21 years old I discovered as I studied the Bible that's not according to scripture so I changed my view I change my view on many things because I decided that Scripture is God's Word and the rest is a teaching of man in fact even when Jesus was on earth this was his problem a lot of people believe the traditions of men and his greatest battle was with people who believed the traditions of men and were completely unwilling to change it and then he says in verse if I don't you remember that when I was with you I was telling you all these things so why you fellas disturbed by all this type of teaching but you know what restrains him so that in his time he will be revealed that means the Holy Spirit was restraining the force of the Antichrist to allow the Antichrist come forth because it's a particular time God is destined meanwhile the mystery of sin lawlessness is already at work and I think the mystery of lawlessness what is a mystery of sin I don't know what it is but I can make a guess my guess is the mystery of lawlessness is the message that tells believers it doesn't matter if you sin it doesn't matter because remember you accepted Christ a few years ago so it doesn't matter if you sin we're in the Bible do you find the Holy Spirit saying it doesn't matter if you sin you're okay I know who said that the devil told e yeah it doesn't matter if you just disobey God here but do you know the number of believers who've been given some brainwashing in their head saying once you're saved you're always saved now it doesn't matter if you sin a number of people have been deceived by that teaching into living in sin some mystery of lawlessness mystery means as you know it's like how in the world could a holy God tell people it doesn't matter if you sin why didn't the why in the world did he give his Commandments but it's very easy for believers to be deceived but then that lawless one will and II Christ whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth at at his appearance and this person his coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with power signs and wonders false wonders now do you know that Satan when he wants to manifest himself he's going to manifest himself with signs and miracles and false wonders the number of times that comes in Scripture now many people don't think that because many people if they see a miracle done in the name of Jesus say oh it's a man of God I don't say that so soon I want to see his life because Jesus said not you will not know them by their gifts you'll know them by their fruit so I look for fruit I want to see this preacher is free from the love of money I want to see if this preacher has got a he's got humility and if it's a woman preacher I want to see if she's got a meek and white spirit I don't care for doctrine alone because the wolf will come with the sheep's clothing' sheep's clothing' means correct doctrine but I don't want to be fooled by that the wolf is interested in the sheep's money uh-huh then I'm not going to be fooled by the sheep's clothing I hope you won't be fooled then he goes on to say he's not only going to come with power and say you know this is the last days remember he's talking about the coming of the Lord and that this see we know that the Antichrist is finally going to come but let me just turn you to a verse before I come back to 2nd Thessalonians 2 and that's in 1 John chapter 2 John says children verse 18 1 John 2:18 it is the last hour in 95 ad when John wrote his first letter the clock was already 11:00 p.m. it was 11:00 p.m. in 95 ad where do you think we are today 11:59 plus I don't know how many seconds but anyway in those days it was the last hour and as you have heard 1 John 2:18 that the Antichrist is coming the Antichrist that says one world ruler is coming even now many little little antichrists have arisen preparing the way so there were little Antichrist that arose at 11:00 p.m. can you imagine how many more little antichrists there will be by 11:59 when we are living now and where are these little little antichrists that's important we got to locate them where are they verse 19 they were in our midst in the church and they went out from our midst if they were really belonged to us then they would have been with us but when they went out who these little little antichrists it was so that it might be shown that they don't belong to us why did they leave a church where John was preaching why would you leave a church where the Apostle John is preaching you would think that no Christian would leave a church with the Apostle John was preaching today everybody respects the Apostle but remember when the apostles were on earth they were treated like scum today all Christians be hope all Peter John it's very easy to respect a man of God after he's dead and gone the history of 2,000 years of Christianity teaches one thing that a man of God in an apostle is usually not respected or recognized in his lifetime after he's dead and gone then his value will be recognized do you know how they treated John Wesley in England they treated him like scum today they revere him you know they treated William Booth and all these great men of God in their lifetime like scum but today people respect him it's like that so when John was on earth he didn't have the respect we give him today why would they not why would they not stay in a church where John was preaching let's ask ourselves what was John preaching in this church you want to know just read 1 John you read 1 John that was is what he was preaching in his church and they got offended and left because so in other words you preach the subjects mentioned in 1 John people get offended and go away because John doesn't say a word about speaking in tongues John has been speaking in tongues for 65 years from the day of Pentecost he's not against it but he doesn't preach on that that's not his main thing he doesn't preach about healing I'm sure God healed him in many ways to live up to the age of 95 in those difficult days God took care of him but that was not his subject he didn't preach one word about prosperity even though some people try to court 3rd John verse 2 and say oh yes he did you know it's not easy to miss go to verse where John said to somebody I hope everything's going well through your help you're brought spring like your soul is it take that one worse because about the only worse they can find in the New Testament to try and preach that God wants you to be materially prosperous and amazing how and I believe God has put that verse just to lead people astray who don't love the truth it's true if all your doctrine is based on half of verse and not the other thousands of verses in the New Testament you deserve to be deceived and a lot of people are so John says they went out from among us because they didn't like the message John preached walk in the light my little children chapter 2 verse 1 I'm writing these things to you that you don't sin that's what they didn't like love your brothers if you don't love your brother 1 John 4 you're a liar you're not a believer you know Jesus called John a son of thunder you remember in the Gospels he was an apostle of love but it was fervent love for God and all the other things he mentioned their obedience to His commandments people didn't like that they went out from among us Antichrist means against Christ which means against the message that Christ preached Christ came to save people from their sins if you're not interested in that there's a little bit of the spirit of the Antichrist in you and you will not stay in a church that preaches against sin you will go to a church that teaches you how to be rich in the world even if you are defeated by sin come back to second Thessalonians 2 so you see we are going to have as we approach the end of time many of these little little antichrists now we think of Antichrist or some horrible evil man ante means against that's all it means against Christ now I'll give you one example do you know the number of times where Jesus lifted up people who were paralyzed and lying down on the ground did he do that no when you lift people up from the ground what is the opposite of that pushing them down what would you call that against Christ I never see Jesus pushing anybody down but do you know the number of believers who sit with mouths open and say ha this is the manifestation of God I'd say it's the manifestation of God is the man overcomes his anger at the end of it and overcomes his lusting with his eyes and overcomes the love of money and overcomes bitterness and jealousy and loves his enemies and speaks the truth always then I would say is the manifestation of God otherwise if he gets up and lives in the same old sinful life it's the greatest deception of the devil it is to do the opposite of what Jesus did I want to do what Jesus did not the opposite of what Jesus did I don't find Jesus condemning sinners he condemns hypocrites and Pharisees he was ruthless against people who made money in the name of religion in the temple when you are not ruthless against people who make money in the name of Christ in the church you are Anti Christ Christ never made money through preaching so if we do the opposite of Christ that means you make money through preaching and nuts bring people to a godly life that's the opposite of Christ Jesus came to save people from their sins so there I'm the spirit of Antichrist is rampant in Christendom today and hardly anybody preaches about it and there are powers in 2nd Thessalonians 2 there's powers and signs and false wonders you say why does God allow all this why did God allow Satan to get into the Garden of Eden first of all let's ask that question what is the answer couldn't God have stopped him when Satan was coming into the serpent in the Garden of Eden do you think God was asleep you think God didn't know what was happening and while Satan was talking to Eve you think God did not know what was happening there why didn't he suddenly send an angel there immediately when he saw Eve about to reach out her hand to take the fruit why didn't God send an angel he knew what was happening you know why he allowed Satan to enter the Garden of Eden he because he was testing man I have given them my word God says I've given Adam and Eve my word it's clear they're not stupid people they understand what I say now let me see whether they will keep my word in exactly the same way today God says I have given all these Christians the word in their own language let's see whether they read it let's see whether they keep it or let's see whether they'll be deceived by the powers and signs and false wonders that they see around them and if they don't care for God's Word even though this warnings are there then God says they deserve to be deceived because they don't love the truth that's what's happening today the Antichrist comes with a not only powers and signs and wonders but with deception verse 10 but whom does he deceive those verse 10 there's a particular category of people who are deceived by the Spirit the Antichrist even in the world today those who do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved those who do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved if you can honestly say I am completely open to God's truth I love the truth because I want to be saved from my sin I guarantee you you'll never be deceived but if you don't love the truth what do I mean by the truth first of all the truth about yourself in some particular situation if the your conscient the Holy Spirit tells you is true your conscience there you were selfish maybe something the way you behaved towards your wife or some neighbor or anybody you were just downright selfish that's not the way all the way you rudely spoke to a beggar or somebody else and this Holy Spirit says Jesus wouldn't have spoken like that and you don't accept it and or when you're sitting at home gossiping gossiping gossiping about somebody and the Holy Spirit says would you be talking like that if Jesus was sitting in this room no but you won't accept it you don't love the truth about yourself you don't repent you don't confess it you don't say Lord I'm sorry I did that I slipped up there these are the people who don't love the truth the second thing is truth is in Scripture first the truth about ourselves and the Holy Spirit shows us some selfishness or some pride you know when somebody praises you and you little puffed up and the holy spirit says what are you proud about who gave you that ability which these people are appreciating wasn't it God do you give God the credit for it or do you take the credit for you're a smart guy you know how many people robbed god of the creditor just due to him if somebody made a cake and I went around distributing it and I gave you the impression when you appreciated the cake that I made it wouldn't I be a liar wouldn't I be a liar if I took the credit the cake was made by somebody else and what God gives you an ability which you use and somebody praises you that's ok but you don't give the glory to God at least secretly the Holy Spirit says you're a sinner dine is the kingdom the power and the glory that's how Jesus taught us to end our prayer so little little things like this particularly selfishness and pride and the Lord shows you there the Lord is there you just love money that is the clear proof that you still love money and you don't face up to that truth then you don't love the truth about yourself and the second thing is truth in scriptures for example you have held a certain doctrine for 25 years and then as you read scripture study scripture you hear scripture you hear it talk clearly verse by verse and you say hey I believe something else 25 years but I'm too proud to admit that I was wrong for 25 years and I manipulate the verse and try and twist it and squeeze it to fit into this mold which I already have got this is the right doctrine this is the people who don't love the truth about themselves or when they see some truth in Scripture I decided when I was converted more than nearly 49 years ago that if I ever saw truth in scripture on any subject which is contrary to what I'd always believed I would accept it so this remember is all referring to the last days and for these people who don't love the truth what is the punishment God gives them or what is the what they suffer as a consequence what do they reap here it is for this reason verse 11 God will send upon them a deceiving influence God himself is going to deceive now I'll tell you the things that the Bible says deceive us Jeremiah 17 says the heart is deceitful above all things in the parable of the sower in mark chapter 4 Jesus spoke about the deceitfulness of riches money deceives a lot of people and we saw number of verses about deceiving evil spirits The Devil's a deceiver so here are the forces they're trying to deceive us first of all our own heart the heart is deceitful above all things money which you're handling all the time is deceiving us the devil is deceiving us on top of all this if God also deceives us brother there's no hope for you our only hope is if God at least is on our side and says I won't deceive you I'll protect you from all this deception but here it says God Himself will send a deceiving influence on people in the last days as it days we're living in on whom not on every believer those who don't receive the love of the truth so as to be saved and you know the times in your life when the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about sin in your life and you justify yourself blame your wife or blame somebody else that's the time when you're in danger of being deceived by God because not because you're a great sinner that doesn't matter God can protect sinners but those who don't accept the truth about themselves or you read something in Scripture you hear a teaching about Scripture and you are so unwilling to give up what you have believed for so many years in order see the love of the truth then you are in danger of God himself allowing you to be deceived and not only that listen to this God will allow such people to believe what is false verse 11 imagine God allowing you to believe what is false boy I don't want to be there that means God will allow some people to believe that they are saved born again when they are not born again do you know the number of people I have met well I don't believe they are born again at all but they think they are God allows them to believe that to believe what is false do you know that thousands of people I have met in my life who believe they are filled with the Holy Spirit when all they did was speak in tongues they are not filled with the Holy Spirit they are not holy but God allows them to believe what is false isn't it a terrific danger to believe that I am born again when I'm not born again to believe that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit when and not fill the Holy Spirit just because I babble something in tongues why does God do it he only does it to those who don't receive the love of the truth to be saved from sin I remember years ago when I was saying Lord how can I protect myself young man that I am from the deception of Christendom the Lord said love the truth about yourself to be saved from sin to be saved from everything of Adam that is still left in you I say God I want it my dad I want it I want to be saved from everything of Adam that's left in me everything on Christ like and the Lord says you'll never be deceived then never I thank God with all my heart for light God has given me on his word life God has given me on myself in fact if you ask me today brother Zack what is the mark of God's blessing in your life I'll tell you he gives me light on myself in the areas where I'm on Christ like that is the mark of God's blessing on my life and then he works in me in that area to make me christ-like I won't say prosperity I won't say houses or lands not even health even though God's given me very good health all these nearly 69 years that's not that's just a bonus it's not the salary it's not the mark of God's blessing the mark of God's blessing is he shows me where I'm on Christ like day by day and I can repent of it the Holy Spirit makes me like Christ so if you don't look at it like that God allow you to be deluded God Himself will allow you to believe what is false so that one day worst well they might all be judged so we don't want to be in that category so remember that you will never be deceived concerning anything in the last days if you just love the truth so as to be saved from sin and that's my preach we preach on being saved from sin from this pulpit I preach on it every single time I get out because that is the main thing why Jesus came and also because that's hardly ever preached anywhere else now why is it that God has allowed just like I told you God has allowed a lot of deception why is it he allowed so much persecution the devil comes as a serpent deceiving he comes as a lion persecuting why did he allow the early apostles to be killed to be beheaded to be crucified they were so faithful they were filled with the Holy Spirit yet one of them except John was killed some of them were killed when they were very young like James he was about 30 years old or 32 or something and he got killed for preaching the gospel why has God allowed all his apostles to suffer so much even John I mean tradition tells us they tried to put him into a cauldron of boiling oil somehow he escaped I don't know how they really suffered where wasn't God and I haven't able to protect them in the Old Testament how many cases he protected his people but the reason for persecution is tribulation why does God allow tribulation to come into the life of a believer I want you to see a verse in Romans chapter 5 Romans chapter 5 it says we are justified by faith verse 1 and now we have peace with God and we stand with him we have obtained our introduction by faith verse 2 into this grace in which we stand and we exult exult is more than rejoice we sort of get excited and rejoice in hope of the glory of God that's going to be ours but meanwhile not only that we exult in tribulations how many of you know how to exalt in hope of the glory of God I think all of us okay that means you pass the kindergarten let's go to the next class how many of you know how to exalt in tribulations are you failing in that subject all the time you know people who fail in mathematics and first standard again and again and again and again again again [Music] well your Heavenly Father wants you to pause it's the same scripture which says we exult in hope of the glory of God and we exult in tribulations why not because of the tribulation itself but because tribulation brings perseverance and perseverance produces proven character a lot of us have got character but it's not proven character you know when you see a newly married couple who love one another on their wedding day that's great but it's not proven love I want to see them party years later that's proven love because they've been through many many ups and downs you know the difference in in love and proven love character and proven character character you know you brought up in a good god-fearing way and as a little boy you're a nice boy and you're a nice 18 year old chap because you brought up in a god-fearing family but then you go out into the world and by the time you're 40 45 if you're still the same you got proven character what you had first was character now you're proven character because you've gone through so many situations and you held true to the truth tribulation produces proven character and that's God's God's aim James says turn to James chapter 1 verse 2 consider it all joy my brothers on some translations says consider it only joy when you encounter various trials or when you go through tribulation that is God's method of producing character in us testing trial opposition persecution but he's and he says again he says the reason knowing that the testing of your faith you know in tribulation and trial your faith is tested you really believe all that the Bible says do you really believe all that you heard in the church on Sunday morning now it is Tuesday afternoon if you're facing a trial in your office or in your factory or shop or hospital or college or some situation or in a bus or on the road your faith is tested faith is not tested when we are sitting listening nodding our heads here on Sunday morning oh no it's tested out there in our difficult situations the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have a perfect result the end result will be you will be perfect and complete lacking in nothing you'll be totally like Christ but it is through trial it's through tribulation that's the way all the Apostles went turn to second Corinthians chapter 1 Paul says God comforts us verse 4 he comforts us in all our afflictions and one reason is so that we can comfort other people when they are in a flexion with the same comfort we received from God do you know that in the New Testament ministry comes through trial and tribulation Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and he went into 40 days of temptation and three and a half years of trial and that's how a ministry came forth from him the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not enough to produce an anointed ministry along with the baptism in the Holy Spirit you need to go through many many trials and any man of God that's worth his salt that's ever been in Christendom in 2,000 years you can be pretty sure they've gone through many trials they won't tell you all about it Jesus didn't tell us what all he went through in 30 years you got a guess but there's never a man in the history of the church who is that an anointed ministry was not gone through some type of trials in secret some of it you may know most of it you won't know he says because in those afflictions Paul says we got some strength from God and that's the strength we give to other people in our ministry and just like verse 5 the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance so also our comfort or strengthening is abundant the reason why many many Christians never become strong and never have a powerful anointed ministry is they've been unfaithful in temptation they sit like holy people in the meeting we're out there in the time of trial they compromise because they love money or they seek their own or there's something they're interested in for their own gain and they compromise and then they come next Sunday and sit like only people in the church again if 50 years will go by they'll be just the same sitting in the kindergarden forever because you are not faithful in private I want to tell you it's a comfort the Bible says this wonderful verse in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability when we think of difficulty suffering persecution tribulation I have one comfort if it were not for that I would be scared I'm like you maybe you're bolder than me I'm humanly speaking a coward that's why cling close to my heavenly father and if I cling close to my only father I'm perfectly safe the fellow who things aren't very bold I can handle everything he doesn't get close to the Father he's the fellow who's gonna fall are you a coward by yourself acknowledge it say Laura I'm gonna cling to you I'm gonna cling to you I'm not strong I'm weak that's why I need you it's like the branch saying I can't produce any fruit I have to depend on the tree all the time that's Christianity Christianity is not the branch moving out and say I can do all myself now I can't do anything without me you can do nothing my comfort and confidence is this the 1 Corinthians 10:13 then tomorrow next year 20 years from now 30 years from now God will never never never allow me to face one trial for a single day which is too much for me he will regulate it he is the one who controlled how much Satan could trouble Jo he controlled it he decided when Paul should die he decided when James should die he decides when I'm going to die because I want to do his will and if you want to do his will alone Jesus will determine when you die nobody else but if you don't want to do his will alone you got your own private plans then I don't know when you'll die you may die many years before his time or with all these electronic gadgets medical gadgets live longer than God wants you to live on the earth I don't want either if you're determined to do God's will alone and you have no other ambition in life except to do the will of God I can give you a written guarantee you'll never die one day before God's time no cancer no road accident nothing what a wonderful way to live why not live doing the will of God he who does the will of God remains forever the Bible says the world is passing away but he who does the will of God will abide forever 1 John 2 so let me turn now to Revelation in the book of Revelation we read about Satan being cast down to the earth three and a half years before the second coming of Christ that is the period when the Antichrist is going to rule the earth now I said the other day another study that if a person wants to live a holy life because he's scared that Jesus may come tomorrow hmm that's not the best way to be holy in fact you're unfaithful you're a harlot if you're engaged to a man who's in another country and you keep fooling around with somebody else here because you know he won't come for another six months what are you you don't deserve to be engaged to that righteous man your attachment to that man is not because huh he may come tomorrow I don't want him to catch me with somebody else is that the only reason then you're a harlot so a lot of people I tried to scare people saying Christ will come so be careful don't sin I see that's not the reason for not sinning it's a harlot who avoids him because he's a thing Christ will come any moment a virgin he doesn't supposing the Lord says I'm gonna wait another 50 years before I come she'll be faithful to him for 50 years it's not the fear that he may catch me suddenly that makes me holy what about you is there any part of your holiness is there something you do say oh Christ may comes I don't want to do it no supposing he's not coming for another fifty years would you do it I still want to do it I don't want to do it if it displeases my my beloved bridegroom there also God is sifting people so we read here about a time when there's a war in heaven revelation 12 verse 7 and the dragon and his angels were not strong enough and no place was found for them verse 8 in heaven revelation 12 8 and the devil was thrown down to the earth verse 9 I want you to see the stages of Satan's fall many years ago we read in Isaiah 14 he was thrown out of God's presence the third heaven [Music] he didn't go to hell do you know that Satan has never been in Hell till today and do you know even something more amazing Satan will never be in Hell these are all people who haven't read the scriptures who believe all these all this rubbish what do you know about say it makes it what's in the Bible nowhere in the bible does it say that Satan is in hell no where does it say he will be in hell where did you get these ideas just another one of those traditions of men Isaiah 14 says he was thrown out of the third heaven and he came to the second heavens the first heaven is what we see the space between space and God's third heaven we read about a third heaven in 2nd Corinthians 12 he's the second heaven now what Ephesians 6:12 calls the heavenlies and when you are filled of the spirit you become aware of spirit beings in the heavenly realm with whom you battle you're not fill to the spirit you'll be ignorant of it but there is a battle in the heavenlies in the second heaven one day three-and-a-half years before Christ coming Satan is going to be thrown down from the second heaven to the earth and he won't be able to go even to the second heaven after that now he can wander around the earth like in job's time but he's not here permanently he's going to be thrown down to this earth for three and a half years and he's going to persecute the Saints like anything through the Antichrist I believe he's going to personally end well the Antichrist many people are possessed by demons but Satan himself in dwells certain special people there may have been one or two in the history of humanity whom he personally in dwelled he didn't give that job to a junior demon one was Judas Iscariot you read in John 13 Satan came in to him he will also be in the Antichrist and he may have been in one or two big figures in history who persecuted some of God's people but he will be in the Antichrist and at the end of three and a half years Christ will return and we'll be on earth we'll be true to Jesus guile we won't read aloud we will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability the Antichrist will be here we refuse to receive his mark we be true and faithful to him to Jesus and the Lord will test us and isn't it wonderful I think it's a be a tremendous honor in the hour of the Christ's last battle that he's got some faithful soldiers who don't want to run away but who want to fight for the Lord and stand for him do you want to be there do you want to be one of those soldiers who you see I'm scared I'm scared too but he give me grace he'll give me grace otherwise none of us can stand but I think it'll be a tremendous honor to be martyred boy isn't that the best way to die you want to die of cancer road accidents or to be martyred for Christ huh I can't imagine a better way to go and that'll happen a lot of saints are going to be killed but it's going to be the preparation for the birth pangs and then Christ will come in the as he comes it says let's see how he comes 1 Thessalonians 4 the Lord will descend verse 16 with a shout from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air thus we will always be with the Lord so this is how it's going to be they'll be a trumpet the Archangel angels Jesus coming in the clouds the dead raised up from the cemeteries around the world him those are buried in the sea wherever they are and we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air to welcome him down to the earth it's like a father has been away for a long time the children run out of the gate to welcome dad was so glad to see you again come home well it's a welcoming committee going up to bring Jesus down to the earth I think the whole process would probably take maybe we've gone to meet him in the air and we gathered there and probably within 24 hours we'll be down on this earth jesus said in relation to that don't you believe all these people who say he's coming secretly he's coming here and he's coming there he said in Matthew 24 don't believe those who say verse 23 he's here he's there don't believe them because verse 27 Matthew 24 as the lightning flashes so will the coming of the Son of Man be and that will be verse 29 after the tribulation after the tribulation the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky verse 30 and every eye will see him he will come in the clouds the same thing we read in 1 Thessalonians 4 the angels the trumpet and the elect will be gathered to meet him in the air that's how it's going to be and he's going to destroy the Antichrist it's going to be a great battle called the battle of our Meggitt on the plains of israel we read in Ezekiel chapter 38 that Russia and other nations will come against Israel in that in that last day the Lord will come down and smite his enemies you read about in Revelation 19 how he comes with his Saints you know they've been raptured up he come down with him and then we read he's going to set his foot upon the Mount of Olives we saw that the other day and established his kingdom in Jerusalem and bring peace on the earth for 1,000 years and during those 1,000 years we read in Revelation 20 Satan verse 2 revelation 22 Satan would be bound in a bottomless pit now he's not bound you know a lot of people who say Satan I bind you you can't bind Satan we can never say that and we can bind his activities but you can't bind Satan you can't bind a demon there are Christians who don't read the Bible who tried to bind Satan you know the number of thousands of Christians whom I've heard say Satan I bind you well how is he loose than tomorrow if you bound it holy jesus is going to bind it one day Satan will be bound so don't try to do it you can bind these activities on earth but you can't bind him because that's going to happen when Christ comes again the number of unscriptural practices and words of Christians who don't read the Bible it's amazing he's going to be bounded because they picked it up from somewhere they heard in some Pentecostal church some pastor said ah good thing to say sounds very impressive no say it might bind you nothing happens he's going to be bound one day for a thousand years and then after the thousand years are over he'll be released chapter 20 verse 7 revelation and he will come out and for maybe another 24 hours a short period he's going to deceive people again and the Lord will come down and judge him and then he will be cast verse 10 not into hell into the lake of fire and hell is like a small pond of fire the pond of fire will be thrown into the lake of fire that's why I said Satan never goes to hell he goes to the lake of fire from third heaven to second heaven to the earth to the bottomless pit to the lake of fire that's Satan's journey and then after the thousand years are over God's going to set up his throne verse 11 where all the people in that ever lived from the time of Adam those whose names are not in the book of life they will all be there and they would be judged according to their works to show everybody there will be a video tape of all their entire life thought word deed everything will be shown to prove to people these people deserve to go to hell and then will be established a new heavens and a new earth in chapter 21 the important thing is to be ready even if we don't understand everything it's a wonderful hope we have it'll be worth it all when we see Jesus life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ that's how it's going to be brothers and sisters and we look forward to his coming we want to show you one last verse 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 we are already children of God but we don't know what it's going to be like when he appears we know one thing we have a body just like his which cannot be hindered by wolves which cannot be hindered by distance which can move from Earth to heaven in a fraction of a second we're going to have a body just like his which is not going to be pulled down by gravity but more than all those physical things we shall be like him our nature will be totally christ-like and if you have this hope verse 3 you will purify yourself until you reach his standard of purity I want to be in a church that encourages me to purify myself every day until I become like Christ that is the person who's ready for Christ's coming are you purifying yourself are you cleansing yourself from the type of television programs you watch and that you encourage your children to watch are you destroying your children you know just give them a few drops of poison every day be wise give them a hunger and a thirst for God we're approaching difficult times are you careful about the type of books you read and things like that may God help us let's pray Heavenly Father help us to be ready for your coming we don't know when it'll be we know it's near we want to be faithful we want to be prepared for the birth pangs that will come upon this earth we look forward to seeing your face to face help us to purify ourselves in the meanwhile to encourage one another to build one another up we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 104,680

Rating: 4.8098416 out of 5

Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: Ys88IckmpeE

Length: 59min 6sec (3546 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 21 2009