Matthew 8, starting at verse 5. Matthew 8, starting at verse 5. When he had entered Capernaum, that's Jesus, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, go, and he goes. To another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let's look to the Lord in prayer before we start. Dear Father, I ask that you would empower me, Lord, to teach these things you've laid upon me that we see in your word. Lord, open your word to us. Teach us these great truths. Give us hearts to believe. and give us wills to respond, Lord, to these great things you've included in your word. And may it all be to the glory of Jesus. For he asked this in his name. Amen. Picture this. Jesus is walking along the road with a crowd behind him of his followers. And up comes this Roman centurion, a pagan, Gentile, Roman officer. The same kind of officers, by the way, in about three years are going to crucify him. And he says, Lord, he calls him Lord. He says, my servant is sick, suffering terribly. Would you please heal him? He knows that Jesus can heal. And so Jesus says, sure, I'll come and heal him. And the guy says, Lord, I'm not worthy to have a guy like you under my roof. That's great faith, Lord. I so honor you and respect you. I know your greatness. Please, I'm not worthy to have you in my home. And I know, Lord, you have that much power. You can just say the word and miles away, my servant will be healed. You know what Jesus does there? It's interesting, in verse 10. When Jesus heard this, he marveled. Jesus is shocked. And I picture him spinning around to the crowd that's following him saying, none of you believe me like this. This pagan Gentile calls me Lord. He knows my power and authority. He's humbled before me. He doesn't want me to come into his home. He doesn't feel worthy of me. He knows I have such God-given authority. I can heal just by a thought from a long distance away. None of you believe me like this. And notice what he says next. Verse 11, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. in the kingdom, while the sons of the kingdom, meaning all you guys, will be thrown into outer darkness. Now get that. Jesus loved to be shocking, you gotta realize that. When you read the stories of Jesus, he loved to be controversial because truth is controversial. He didn't care really who he offended, he just spoke the truth. He said later in Matthew 21, 31, he's talking again to the same crowd with the Pharisees, truly I say to you, Tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you do. You know how shocking that would be? These are the religious elite. These are the guys with the white hats and the robes, the Pharisees and the scribes. He said, I'm telling you, prostitutes and sinners are going to go to heaven long before you guys do. Here he says they're going to come from the east and from the west. Well, east and west of where? Well, Israel. He's saying when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sit down in heaven for that great feast, you know who's gonna be there? Not you guys, people from east and west, Gentiles. What you see here is a shocking thing. Jesus is speaking of a great reversal. I've titled this The Great Reversal. Jesus often does this. And those who thought for sure they were gonna be shoo-ins that go into heaven, are going to find out they're going to be thrown out of this place. They're going to be thrown into hell. And those who they never ever thought had a chance of ever making it to heaven are going to be sitting there with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in heaven. Here's that great reversal. Things are going to turn around in a way that we would never expect. He says, task collectors and prostitutes before you, and you are going to be thrown out. That's shocking, but it's a truth he often taught. They would never expect, remember in Matthew 6, he said, many in that day will come saying, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this, this, and this? Remember what he was gonna say? I never knew you. That's a great, shocking reversal. They thought they were in, only to find out they're thrown out. Let's work through this. This is one of those great themes of the Bible. The Bible has many great themes you can trace out all through its pages. This is a big one. You can trace this idea of a great reversal all through the scripture. It's especially prominent in the New Testament. It's especially prominent in our Lord's teachings. He often spoke of this. Jesus warned us of this all the time. At the end, when Christ returns, so many things are gonna get reversed from the way they are now. There's a great reversal coming. There's many people are gonna be amazingly and horrifyingly surprised when Jesus returns. And there are going to be many, many people who are going to be so overwhelmingly, joyously surprised at what he's going to do. This great reversal is coming. It's all through Scripture. This great reversal is something every Christian is supposed to live for. You and I are supposed to have this firmly in our heads. It's on your verse sheet there. This is to be a central pillar of what it means to be a Christian. This is supposed to be a great source of comfort and strength and joy that not now, but there's coming. a day when there's a great reversal coming. On your sheet there is 1 Peter 1.13. I encourage you to take this seriously. Peter says, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded sets your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now get that. He's saying there, clear your thinking. Focus your minds. Be sober-minded is the actual Greek term here. Be clear in your heads. What you need to do, he says, is fixate, is obsess. I love Rick Paquette's take on it. He calls this a commanded obsession. He says there, fix your hope completely on what? What this world can give you? Your job, your retirement. Fix your hope completely on what? On what's gonna happen when Jesus returns. all those many promises we have in scripture from God himself of what the Christian will inherit. Peter says here, clear your minds, start thinking right, fix your mind completely on that day as your source of hope, as your source of strength, because that day is gonna be such a great reversal of the way things are now. Therefore, have patience. You can wait this out is what he's saying here. Clear your mind, focus your thinking, fix your hope, Not on this world, but on what you've been promised. That's a Christian duty. You can tell the Christians who do this. They have a sense of hope and a sense of joy. They have a sense of patience. The world doesn't. You can also tell Christians who don't do this. They get all worked up and worried and stressed out over the things of this life. Let's work through this. It's saying you're obsessed over your future in Christ. Wait for that great reversal. It's coming. It's not here yet, but wait for it. Remind yourself often, Peter says, that one day this is all gonna get fixed. This is all gonna get reversed. As Jesus said, seek your treasures in heaven. Seek your riches, seek your rewards in heaven, not here. It's coming. Let's work through this, this great biblical theme. I mean, first of all, the Bible clearly teaches there's a great reversal coming for this lost, broken, and sick world. Think about it. Isaiah, in his great prophecy, prophesies in chapter 11, how one day the curse of this earth, remember when the earth fell, when man fell into sin, the earth was cursed. That's why there's sickness and disease and death and suffering. That's why there's earthquakes and volcanoes and tsunamis and all this stuff, because the earth itself has fallen and cursed. Isaiah speaks of a day, as he describes it, when the lion gonna lie down with the lamb. When children are gonna play with snakes at a cobra's den, not get hurt. It even says there, neither hurt nor harm on all my holy mountain. That's a great reversal of what you see now. Romans 8, Paul talks about how this fallen earth is groaning. The sickness and sadness and earthquakes and all this forest fires and all this stuff you see, that's all part of the fall. The earth itself, creation is groaning for the day when that'll all be reversed. How's the verses there in your sheet? Revelation 21. The Bible ends with this prophetic description of the great reversal. And this reversal, I think most of you know well. 21 verse two, Revelation. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for a husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. Does that happen now? God's not among us. That's gonna reverse one day. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Notice this. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. Revelation 22.3 says there will no longer be any curse. All the stuff you see now that we're so sick of is going to get reversed in a major, glorifying, mind-blowing way. Think of it. Aren't you tired of the sadness of this life? There is so much sadness and suffering. Aren't you tired of all the sickness and death that we all experience of us and our loved ones? Aren't you tired of this? Aren't you tired of hospitals and nursing homes and funerals and cemeteries and getting old? Aren't you sick of this? I'm sure you all are in some form or another. Think of it. Because of Jesus, and what he's done, there's a great reversal coming. That's all gonna change. In fact, for all of us, it may not be that long. Those of us who are in Christ, the day your heart stops pumping, your great reversal happens. Even greater than that, one day when Christ returns, and I'm thinking more and more that may be sooner than we think, a great reversal is gonna happen in all these things, a great reversal. He's gonna fix this. And Peter says, set your mind on that. Don't let this stuff get you so down you forget to think about what he's promised he's gonna do. All God's word describes this great reversal that's coming. But if you think about it, often we talk about this idea of now and not yet. This great future promise for the Christian, we've already experienced some of this, haven't we? Think about it. For right now, if you're in Christ, you've already experienced a great reversal, haven't you? Think about it. than now and not yet. We've already experienced some of that great thing that's coming. In Christ, if you're saved, your status has been totally reversed, hasn't it? You're not at all what you were before, are you? Ephesians 2.13, those who were far off, it says, are now near. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, we were far away from God as we could be, through Christ have now been brought near by the blood of Christ. Think of that. That's a great reversal. We couldn't be farther away from God. Now through Christ's blood, we are as near as we could possibly be to God. That's a great reversal, isn't it? Romans 5.10 says, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we're reconciled shall we be saved. We were once his enemies. Now we're his dear friends. Once God looked on us as an adversary, as an enemy. Now, through Christ, we're dear friends, close to God. Ephesians 2.19 says, so that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We were once cast out. We had nothing to do with God's kingdom. We were aliens. We hear a lot today about aliens at our border. We were aliens. We were foreigners. We didn't belong here. But now, because of Christ, we're citizens of heaven. We're citizens of God's kingdom. That's a great reversal you've already experienced if you're in Christ. John 8.36, Jesus himself said, if the sun sets you free, you're free indeed. Every human being is in bondage to sin, to death, to hell, to Satan, but in Christ, We've been set free. I'm no longer a slave. I'm free. If you're in Christ, you're free. You've been set at liberty, as Paul says. That's a great reversal of what you used to be. Romans 5, the verse earlier in the one we saw, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. We were once condemned before God. Our sins pronounced us unclean. Condemned. God must judge us. Now, through Christ, we're not condemned. We're pardoned. We're forgiven. That's a big reversal. We were guilty, condemned, on death row, waiting for the sentence to be carried out. Now in Christ, that's been totally reversed. We're forgiven. We're free of God's wrath. You could go on and on. If you're thinking at all, you could think of many more of these. Ephesians 2.5 says, even we were dead in our trespasses, we're made alive together with Christ. We were dead, spiritually dead, in our coffins, in our graves, dead. But in Christ, he's resurrected us, brought us to life, new life in Christ, born again, as Jesus said. This should go on and on. We were unrighteous. Now we're as righteous as Jesus Christ is. Can you fathom that? We possess the righteousness of God the Son. You can't be any more reversed than that. We were once children of Satan, the Bible says. Now we're actually sons and daughters of God himself. All of that because of Christ. That's a great reversal, isn't it? We've already experienced some of what's coming. We were once very poor, spiritually. Now we're filthy rich. The verse there, I love to quote Proverbs 13, 7. It says, there's one who pretends to be rich, the rich of this world. But if they're without Christ, they have nothing. Yet there are those who pretend to be poor. That's us. But in Christ, we're joiners with the Son of God. You couldn't be any more filthy rich spiritually than you are right now. In Christ, that's a great reversal, isn't it? I hope you think of these things. And of course, I could go on and on. There's many, many other ways this has happened already. You could probably think of some that we're not going to talk about today. Because of the death of Jesus Christ, we who have believed in him have had this complete reversal of our status. We're no longer enemies. We're no longer dead. We're no longer condemned. We're no longer far away. We're brought near. Our standing before God has been completely reversed. It's a great reversal we're talking about. Our future. has been completely reversed. There was a day when I was heading straight for hell, following my heart. So were you. Our futures in Christ are now totally reversed. We're not heading towards hell anymore. We're going to heaven. My future used to be total separation from God forever. Now I'm going to spend eternity with him. That's reversed. That's what Christ did. This great reversal. Once we had no hope in this world. Now the Bible says we have great hope, a wonderful hope, a blessed hope. Once we had no comfort in this world. Look around you. Everybody in the world is so worked up and scared and worried. Now we have great comfort, a great source of comfort we didn't have before. Once we had no wisdom. I was the biggest fool you ever met. Now I've got God's wisdom to walk by. Many, many, many ways this has reversed from condemned to cherished. It's just some of the ways this has happened already. We could spend a lot of time here, but let's move on. Not only has a great reversal already happened to those who are in Christ, but you know where this is going. There's a great reversal coming, a great reversal coming. Jesus spoke of this all the time. In fact, he spoke about it so much, it's actually one of the main themes of his ministry. For example, on your sheet, Matthew 19, 30, Jesus said, but many who are first will be last. And the last will be first. Jesus said that several times in the Gospels. That was one of the main themes of his teaching. Those in the world right now who think they're first are in for a big surprise. And those in the world, people like us, who the world thinks we're nothing. In fact, today we're even becoming illegal. They wanna push Christianity off the planet. They think we're nothing, we're worthless. They're in for a big surprise. A big reversal is coming. And Jesus said that. That's one of his basic truths. Not again. Those who think they're first now, Hollywood, Washington, all these great leaders of the world, the so-called elites, the power ones, the ones who get their faces on TV and on the magazines, they're in for a big surprise. If they don't get saved before they die, they're in for a big surprise. There's a great reversal coming. Remember the rich man, Lazarus? He was rich, filthy rich. He sumptuously ate. Banquets every day, word to find his clothes. The moment his heart stopped, man, he got a big surprise, didn't he? A huge reversal, because he opened his eyes in hell. Think of that. Those today who consider Christians like us to be idiots, we need to be shut down and silenced. We're what's wrong with this country, they'll tell you. They're in for a big surprise. They're going to find out one day what a Christian really is. Revelation says, I'll cause you to stand before your enemies. You know, Psalm, what's wrong with me? Where it says, I'll set a table before your enemies. Think of it. They're in for a big surprise. Jesus said in Matthew 23, 12, another way of saying this, whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself is gonna be exalted. Now think about that. Think what he's saying there. Again, he said this several times. This is something he said a lot. The great celebrities of this earth, the ones that everyone gets their praise, and all the money goes their way, and they're so important, everyone wants to be like them. If they die without Christ, they're in for a big surprise, aren't they? There's a huge reversal coming. All these wicked men and women we see in politics, not just here, but around the world, they're so important, and they're so exalted, and they think they're so much above us. If they die without Christ, man, are they in for a big surprise. There's a huge reversal coming for them, isn't there? Don't hate them, pity them, they don't know. And all those who humble themselves now before God, all those who realize what we truly deserve, all those who humble ourselves before our God and serve him humbly, we're in for a big surprise too, I gotta tell you. When you find yourself highly exalted before the Lord, I can't even get in that picture what that even means. We who deny ourselves now for the sake of the gospel, who work for the gospel, we who just put Christ, try to put Christ first in all we do. Not perfectly, of course, but we humble ourselves. We don't think highly of ourselves. There's a great reversal coming for the Christian church. She's gonna be exalted to the max with Jesus Christ. That's a Christian's hope. And Peter says, you need to fix your mind on this. This is where your mind needs to be. You need to obsess over this. James says in James 1.9, it's on your sheet, Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. He's saying, James is writing to Christians who are running, who are dispersed, who are being persecuted. He says, listen, in this world, you're nothing. But brother, he says, you're exalted. And remember that even though the world says you're nothing, you're only fit to be caught and killed. Brother, you are exalted before God. He says there in James 4.10, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. That's that great reversal. We shouldn't care what the world says about us. They're going to hate us. They're going to try to shut us down. They're going to come after us. That's what Jesus said. But their opinions don't count, do they? There's a great reversal coming when the whole universe is going to see who those who are Christ's are and what they really are in this son. Matthew 23, 11, Jesus says it again. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Think of that. The world never talks like this. Here's another great reversal. Those today who think they're great because they have all their needs met. They're first. They take care of themselves. They have servants. They have all this stuff. Not that it's wrong to be rich. It's not. It's not wrong to be famous. It's not. But those the greatest among you in this world, Jesus said, are the servants. Jesus mentioned in Luke 18, those who thought they were great looked on others with contempt. They looked down on everybody else. Man, they're in for a big surprise, aren't they? Big surprise is coming for them. Those who consider self-sacrifice beneath them. The world today says pamper yourself, seek all the ease and comfort you can, spend every dime you have on yourself. You're what's count, you're first, love yourself. Jesus says the greatest is one who abandons himself in service. Great reversals coming, big surprises are coming. I often think, think of the many hardworking servants of the Lord who never get any applause here. We don't even know half their names. Very few Christian servants that I've met are even paid well in this earth. You don't make any money at this. I mean, some, a few do, but most don't. The hardworking Christian servants in this life seldom get recognized, especially from the world, but even in the churches. Let me give you an example of that. Some of you remember Bill's mom, Shirley Strong. I knew her well. We took care of her, and she's in heaven now. She was this little broken old woman not always clear in her head, said and did silly things sometimes. But I've got to tell you, she was here every time the doors were open. Every time there was anything to do, she was involved. Cleaning, and working, and cooking, and whatever it was. We used to have her come to our house and tell her, Shirley, sit down, because she's out in the kitchen doing dishes. That's the kind of servant she was. But to this world, they'd see her walking down the street and laughing at an old, half-crazy woman like that. I can tell you right now, if you'd see her now, the great reversal that she's received from the Lord because she was a servant. She was a simple woman with a simple mind who loved the Lord and served him. You wouldn't believe it if you saw her now. You wouldn't believe it. That's what we're talking about here. I think of all those hardworking missionaries around the world that we never even hear about. No one cares that they're out there. They're never gonna get on the cover of Newsweek. Who cares what they are? But man, when the great reversal happens. I think, for example, of those Christian moms who are at home with children, raising them for the Lord They're tired every day, and they're suffering. And the hardest job I know, which I've never done, is being a mother. But they do it day in and day out. Those pastors and workers and those small Christian works, no one even looks at. No one notices them. They're never going to get rich. Who cares? When the great reversal comes, you're going to see amazing things come out of this. When Christ returns, you're going to see people greatly honored that you've never heard of. Those who just labored away, doing what they could. They're never going to get rich, they're never going to get honored here, but they will. That shut-in who seldom gets out, but they spend time in prayer. Those prayer warriors who can't do anything else but pray. When the great reversal comes, you're going to see them shining as the stars of heaven. It's coming, my brother, it's coming. Many of those that the world cares nothing about, and the church even hardly notices half the time. In this world's godless system, we're all a bunch of nothing nobodies. That's fine. Let them say what they want. But when the great reversal comes, it's going to be totally the opposite. Make no mistake. This isn't going to be on for long. It's coming. In the world today, the greatest, Jesus said, in this world right now, the greatest are those who are least. Of course, the world says the opposite. In this world now, Jesus says the way up is the way down. Humble yourself. Put yourself aside. Die to yourself. Sacrifice yourself. In the world, Jesus said, the first in this world are truly those who are last, those who are serving everybody else. But in a great reversal, when it comes, the least, the low, the humble, those servants will be stunned at what God, how God honors them. They'll be stunned at what God does with them, just like I mentioned Shirley Strong. They'll be stunned when you see them. Jesus said in Luke chapter 6, blessed are you who weep now. I mean, because of me. Because you're serving me, Christianity is not safe. Many Christians go through a lot of crying and suffering. He said, blessed are you who weep now. Why? Because, man, are you going to laugh. Man, are you going to laugh when that great reversal comes. Blessed, Jesus says, are you who are hungry now. You've lost your job because you will not sign on to a transgendered whatever. You've lost your job because whatever. You're hungry now. Oh, you're going to get fed. When the great reversal comes, then Jesus says, woe to you who laugh now. The world's your friend. You're having a great old time here. You reject Christ. You jump in with the crowd. You do what the world says. You're having a great time. But man, there's a great reversal coming. Great reversal coming. Jesus says, woe to you who are full now. You've got the best the world has to offer. You don't care about Christ. You live for yourself. You live for the world. You live for greed. There is a great reversal coming. You're going to lose all of that. You recall in the Old Testament, Psalm 73, Asaph gets very disillusioned. In fact, he says, my foot almost slipped. Because he looks at the wicked. In fact, it's on your sheet there, Psalm 73. It says, behold. These are the wicked. They're always at ease. They increase in riches. We see, sees the wicked prospering. Lord, why do the wicked prosper? Their children are fat and happy. They have good jobs, nice homes. They drive better cars than I do. They have better bank accounts than I do. They have all this fun. They have all this stuff going on. Yet Asaph says, verse 13, in vain I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long, I've been stricken and rebuked every morning. It sure looks like they've got the best of everything, doesn't it? It sure looks like they're the ones who are on the right side of this. They're fat and happy and rich. They don't have all the guilt conscience we do, and they're living life and they're having a great old time. And Asaph says, my foot almost slipped when I watched them, because I'm serving you, Lord, and I'm getting oppressed and afflicted all day long. But notice the next quote, Psalm 16, he says, When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. This really bothered me, he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, until I went to church. Then I discovered their end. In church, I was reminded about the great reversal that's coming. When I went to church, when I went to the temple, he says, I was reminded again about the great reversal that's coming. He says, truly, you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment. In the house of God, Asaph was reminded again, this isn't permanent. This isn't how it's always going to be. God is going to rise up, and there's a great reversal coming. Don't envy the wicked. Pity them. Pray for them. And Asaph says, because of that, I was able to calm down. And I was able to be patient. I'm waiting on the Lord. Or as Peter says, fix your hope completely on the grace to be revealed to you. when you finally stand in front of Christ. Get your mind on that. Don't worry about the wicked, what they're doing. Christ is gonna take care of that. You fix your mind on Him. You know, a lot of you guys are news hounds like I am. That's not always a good thing. We get so vexed sometimes when you see the wicked of this world seeming to get away with it. These corrupt politicians, you know they're guilty, and they just seem to get away with it. You watch all these horrible things in Hollywood, these degenerate stars making millions and being celebrated. You know, these guys are degenerate, wicked, freak some of these people. And you think, that's not right. It shouldn't be that way. And it sure seems like the wicked, the perverts, the blasphemers are getting along just fine. Not only are they getting along just fine, they're getting rich because of their perversion and celebrated by the world. It's not fair, isn't it? It can really get you upset when you think about that. It can get you vexed. In this life, outwardly, they have it much better than we do. They're loved by their government. They're loved by the world. They get all the perks. And it's easy to think, like Asaph did, Lord, why am I struggling so hard? And I see these wicked people. Why is that? But take comfort, Christian. A great reversal is coming. The Bible's very clear on that. And the one who is coming is the judge of all the universe. Think about it. No one is getting away with anything. No one is going to get away with this wickedness. No one. The sovereign, righteous, omnipotent God is coming as judge. No one gets away with anything. In other words, calm down. Relax. It looks awful now. We think, how can he be like this? Lord, why don't you do something? He's going to. And when he does, it's going to blow your mind. It's coming. Evil will not end in triumph. They won't have the last say. It looks that way now, doesn't it? But it's not going to end this way. Evil will not have the last word. God's promises assure us of that. There's a great reversal coming. So take comfort in that. Calm your souls. First Peter says, fix your minds. on this. Relax. He is coming, and when he comes, he's going to take care of all this. We see so much oppression in the world of the poor and the weak. And you go, Lord, how long, oh Lord? He will deal with this. And they're not getting away with it. We're so, I get so sometimes emotionally vexed over the murdering of millions and millions of babies. Lord, when's this going to stop? But I tell you, they're not getting away with it. It doesn't look that way now, but they're not getting away with it. You think of all of Islam's atrocities. You think, Lord, why don't you stop this? He will. And they're not getting away with it either. The judge of all earth will do right. There's a great reversal coming. We see all these corrupt politicians and the wickedness in Washington and Beijing and London. They're going to have their day in court before the judge who never gets it wrong. Think of that. Proverbs says, don't gloat when your enemy perishes. Pray for these people. They're blind. If they die without Christ, they're in for a great reversal. The author of Hebrews, we're studying Hebrews in Sunday school, he's writing to a small, outnumbered Jewish community of Christians who are being persecuted by their family, persecuted by the state, Nero's on the throne, and it looks bad. The odds are against them surviving. It looks bad. And he writes this, Hebrews 10, it's on your sheet. For you have need of endurance. so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised for yet a little while. And a coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure." In other words, hang in there. Don't get upset at all this stuff. Remember, he's coming. Yeah, it's been a long time, but he's coming. And either way, if he doesn't come in the next 15, 20 years, most of us are going to him anyhow. The great reversal is coming. It's going to be spectacular. Even Satan himself, our greatest enemy, seems like he's ruling the world now, and he is. He's getting away with it. His deceptions are great. It amazes us how the world just falls for his lies and follows him like a pied piper. He corrupts everything. He perverts the gospel. He's a murderer and deceiver. He makes everything filthy. He's ruining everything, but not for long. Not for long, even Satan himself is gonna have a tremendous reversal. It's on your sheet, the verse from Revelation. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beasts and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever. Picture that. That's one enemy you're allowed to gloat over. Won't it be great, won't it be great to stand there with our Lord when he grabs him by the neck and throws him into hell? Won't it be great? Think of all he's done. And finally, that one has his great reversal. I don't have time to go into this, but even the tiny little beleaguered nation of Israel. Right now, she's surrounded by enemies who hate her. One are dead. She's going to go through terrible times in the future. But one day, if you believe your Old Testament, Israel's going to have a great reversal. Boy, it's going to be spectacular. It's coming. These things are promised in scripture. And of course, I'd be incomplete. This message would be incomplete if it didn't exist why this great reversal is coming, why it's going to happen. This great reversal is coming because of the great reversals already happened. God Almighty became a frail human man. Talk about a great reversal. El Shaddai, the Lord of hosts, the captain of the armies of the Lord, was arrested by sinful wicked men. Talk about a great reversal. The purest, most righteous being in the universe was condemned by sinners as a blasphemer. Talk about reversal for him. On the cross, Ephesians 5.21 tells us, he who knew no sin became sin. Can you imagine the reversal A horrifying reversal of that. He who is the highest praise of heaven, the delight of the father, the one who the father says, this is my beloved son, I am well pleased, was cursed by the father. Talk about a reversal. That's why we're gonna have our great reversal. Because our Lord had his. The water of life cried out, I thirst. Who would have thought such a thing? Israel's God and Messiah was rejected and killed by Israel. Talk about a reversal. The Lord of life died. The father who blessed and adored his son, Isaiah said that same father put him to grief, crushed him under the law of God. The greatest reversal you could ever imagine happened in Christ. And that's why Our great reversal is coming, verse 7 of your sheet. God says this, Philippians 2. Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore, because he did that, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that's above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Did you hear that? Because of what Jesus did, because of his great reversal, God says, you are first in everything. And you will be the judge of all. Everything will fall at your feet and acknowledge you as Lord, including Satan himself, including all these wicked, evil politicians, including all these people in Hollywood. If they don't repent before they die, they're all going to bow before him. You are Lord. And he'll make everything right. Think about that. That's our blessed hope. That's what Peter says, fix your mind completely. Don't let this world get you down. Don't let this world get you worked up. We can be so full of bad news, we think, we're not losing. He wins, and we win. Things aren't falling apart in the world, they're falling into place. He makes everything right. And because of this great reversal, because of Jesus' great reversal, we have ours, 2 Corinthians 5 through 1. He made the one who did not know sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's an outstanding reversal. You and I are born in sin, we live in sin, we swim in sin, we are sinful. Yet through Christ, what He did in that cross, you and I in Christ now possess the righteousness of God. You can say without blushing, I'm as righteous as Jesus is in God's sight. Talk about a reversal. That's all because of Him. God came to us so that we could be brought back to him. God humbled himself. Can you imagine that word, what I just said? God humbled himself so he might exalt us. He allowed himself to be bound to set you and me free. He suffered for our sin so we would know the blessedness of true righteousness in Christ. He died in time. so we can live eternally. It's a great reversal in Christ, isn't it? Let me ask you, do you know Jesus as your Savior? Do you? This is such wonderful news, isn't it? What He's done. Do you know Christ as your Savior? Are you hidden in Him? Is this true of you? Has this great reversal happened to you? Are these promises true of you? Have you by faith looked to Christ to be your Savior, to be your Lord? What a great thing. If you're not in Christ, this great reversal is not going to be good for you. If you're not in Christ, your sufferings and problems won't end here. Death won't free you from the troubles of this life. Death will magnify them to an extent we can't even begin to describe. But if you're in Christ, it's already begun. And if you're not in Christ, I encourage you, flee to Christ now. Cry out to him to forgive you of your sins, to be your savior. to be your Lord, repent of your sins, give your life to him. This all becomes true of you only in Christ. And if you're in Christ, this is where you are, and you can have this blessed hope. So let me ask you in closing, Christian, beloved, is this your hope? Do you believe this? It's true. I know it's hard here. This life is tough. This life is... In my experience, there's more sadness and pain here than otherwise. So there are many good things here as well. God is good. God is always good every day. Again, I remind you of what Peter said. Preparing your minds for action, being sober minded, sets your hope fully on the grace that we brought to you when Christ returned. Are you thinking soberly? When you have a problem or a bad day or a sickness or whatever, you hear this bad news, do you know how to run to Christ with it? Lord, this is terrible, but I know when you come, this all gets reversed. You're having a sad day, or you're not feeling well, or whatever the problems are, can you actually encourage your heart in these truths like Asaph did? When you see the wicked running wild, and blaspheming God, and perversion, and getting away with it, can you tell yourself, yeah, but not for long. My Lord's going to make all this right. Can you do that and calm down? Surely you've learned by now there's no lasting hope in this world. There's no lasting comfort in this life. But oh, as Peter says, fix your mind on what's coming. Do you have any idea what's coming? Christian, are you weary? I think if you're honest, most of us are at times. Just weary of this life, weary of these struggles. Has the struggle of this world been hard? It's hard just making a living these days, isn't it? It's tough. Has a battle against sin been hard? Yes. Don't you get tired of this? We struggle and we struggle and we struggle and we have some victories and some setbacks and victories and some setbacks. We're all bruised, we're all broken, we're all wounded over this kind of thing. Aren't you sick of this? Boy, I am. Aren't you tired of this? Has your heart been broken? I bet every one of you knows some kind of heartbreak. I bet every one of you does. That's because you're in this world. Heartbreak. Sadness. People can do terrible things to us and people do sad things. Our heart aches for those we love. Has the wickedness of this world disturbed your peace, like righteous lot was vexed over what he saw going on in Sodom? Yes, it does. As a Christian, I get outraged sometimes, like, oh, Lord, no. You hear some of this news, and I need to turn the news off. This is so horrible, what you hear. And it gets worse every day. You hear these atrocities going on. It's like, you can't believe it. But do these things rob your peace? Do you allow these things to rob your joy? Peter says, clear your minds. Be sober-minded. These things are all true for now. But fix your hope completely in what's coming. Your Lord is coming. He's coming for you. He's coming for all of us one day. And when He does, all of this gets put right. Justice will prevail. This is all temporary. None of this sadness is permanent. I get so tired of sadness. You know, being a pastor, every time the phone rings, it's like, let's see what this is. You never know sometimes. Just don't know. But it won't be long before any one of us in this room are with Jesus, if he tarries. And I'm beginning to think more and more, he's not that far away from coming. Second Corinthians 5.8, Paul says, we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and home with the Lord. The moment a Christian's heart stops, your great reversal hits full force, right in the face. Imagine what it's gonna be like to walk out of this world and walk right into the presence of Jesus. I can't begin to imagine, there's a song that says that. I can't begin to imagine what that's gonna be like. Can't begin. And even greater than this, Christ is, I believe, soon coming for us. So Christian, in obedience to these texts, you and I need to learn how to fix our minds on what's coming. Get your eyes off this world. Things here may not get better for you. We're all getting older, I know that. Dark days may be coming. You can't say, well, don't worry, it's gonna be all right. It may not be all right. Things in this world don't always get better. This country's not healing itself. It's getting worse in many ways. But if you fix your hope on this world and what you can get out of it, you will always be joyless and frustrated. Let me close with two verses. It's on your sheet, Colossians 3. Paul says, so if you've been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above. Note that word seek. Don't just, yeah, I believe those things. He says, seek these things. Long for them. Search for them. Look for them. As Peter says, set your mind on things which are above. Where the Messiah is, seat at the right hand of God. Set your minds, get that, on what is above, not what's on the earth. That's where our minds ought to be. When you have problems and troubles, run to Christ with it. Run to heaven with your mind. Remember these promises. And lastly, First John, the Apostle John said this. Beloved, we are God's children now. Right now, if you're in Christ, you're a son or daughter of the Most High God. He loves you like a son or a daughter. And what we will be has not yet appeared. We don't know how this is going to be. We know it's going to be wonderful. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. And I could add to what Paul says in the First Thessalonians. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Take comfort from them. Comfort one another. This is great truth. There's a great reversal coming. And I don't know about you, but I can't wait. Ironatha, come Lord Jesus, right? Let's close in prayer. Our Father, thank you for rescuing us out of this evil world and all that's in it. Lord, if this world were all we had, as Paul said, we'd be most miserable. But thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ, who was willing to go through with a great reversal of leaving heaven, becoming a man hated, hunted, and then a crucified, dying for us, all the horrors of our sin laid upon his soul. Lord, he was so reversed from what he was, but we thank you, Lord, that he did that for us. And Lord, we thank you. Oh, we thank you for a Savior who has already changed our status. We are now your sons and daughters. We are now beloved. We are now redeemed. We are now safe in the arms of Christ. We now have a blessed future. And Lord, I ask for me and I ask for all of us here, Lord, help us to believe that. Help us, Lord, to get our minds fixed on that day, on the glory to be revealed to us when Jesus Christ comes. Lord, help us to obsess over this. Teach us, Lord, teach me to learn to run to these truths in times of trouble and sadness. Lord, we know this world is tough and the problems these dear ones face, Lord, are real and they're serious. But Lord, you've given us more than enough reason to have hope, to have joy, to know that the day is coming and all of our struggles for you, Lord, are gonna be worth it. Even the little things we do that no one ever sees are gonna be worth it. And Lord, we know the day is coming when you will put down evil finally and once for all, and all will be judged, all will be disclosed. No one, Lord, has gotten away with anything, Lord. Help us to rest in your judgment, in your day. And now, Lord, help us, Lord, just to be preaching the gospel that they can be saved from that day to come. But thank you for what you've done for us. Help us, Lord, to believe this. Help us, Lord, to live as if this were true, because it certainly is. Lord, ask us all for the glory and the worthiness of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray.