So, but God is good and gracious. Flip over to Matthew 24. We're going to be looking at that again today and move on the passage. All right. First slide. Deception, deceit, falsehood, lying, fraud. Second list, apostates, false prophets, false teachers, heretics, antichrist. What do these have in common? Well, the first five are used by the last five to persuade those who seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ to follow them instead. Those who hate Jesus have always used any means they can, any means possible to lead people astray from actually following the Lord Jesus Christ as described to us in the Scripture as He's revealed Himself there. They want to lead Christians astray. Those who have abandoned Jesus or tried to ignore Him do the same in trying to justify themselves that they won't follow Christ. Well as the culmination of the ages draws closer, well the danger will continue to increase that comes from these false prophets, these false teachers. And as we get closer to that time period often referred to as the time of tribulation, the time of Jacob's troubles, the 70th week of Daniel, the deception of such wicked people is going to reach its peak. I mentioned two weeks ago that prior to the abomination of desolation, which we talked about last week, that happens at the midpoint of the tribulation period. Matthew 24, 11 states this, many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. That's at the beginning of that week. Then after the abomination of desolation, Matthew 24, 24 warns saying this, I want to expand on that this morning both talking about our own time and what is to come. Now apostates, excuse me, apostates have been around since the beginning of human history. Cain was the first apostate. God accepted Abel's offering, the firstlings of his flock, but God rejected Cain's offering. Now perhaps that is because Cain being a tiller of the ground brought produce instead of a blood sacrifice as God had demonstrated from the very first time that atonement was made for man's sin to cover him because animals were killed in order to make clothing for Adam and Eve. But whatever the particulars were of why God did not accept it, he had warned Cain in advance and Cain did not pay attention to it. Cain had a problem that still exists. He should have changed what he was doing to give God an acceptable sacrifice. Instead, he wanted God to change to accept his sacrifice because that's what he wanted. Instead of changing, Cain became angry. He wanted God to accept him on his own terms. That's not how it's done. God accepts us on His terms, not our terms. Our terms are always going to be sinful. And it's only going to be less than what God wants. So Adam's first son killed the second son, committed murder out of jealousy. The human race has not improved any since then. In fact, chapters 4 and 5 just continues even early on. It just got worse and worse. Man still wants to set the standards to gain God's approval instead of meeting the standards that God has already set for us. False prophets and teachers will feed into those lies to lead people astray. Deceptive false prophets existed all throughout Israel's history. God warned the nation about them all the way back in Deuteronomy 18. Expect they are going to come and he even says why. I am going to allow them to be there to test you to see if you love me or not. And it's still true today. Israel's history is filled with examples of those people following false teachers into something else. Usually some sort of synchristic religious expression. A mixture of the paganism that was around them mixed with the proper worship of Yahweh to come up with something different. Which is still false worship. We worship God the way He wants us to worship Him or it's going to be false worship. Paul's teachers existed from the earliest church history as well. The church had only been formed maybe a year or so before. And then Acts 8 records a fellow named Simon who seeks to purchase the ability to distribute the Holy Spirit from the apostles. He was impressed by this. He wanted to be able to do it. He actually offered, I would like to purchase this. He was sternly warned by Peter. But history records that Simon later was known as Simon the Sorcerer, the apostate. Our term simony comes from this idea of buying and selling ecclesiastical privileges. Early on, an apostate. The Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God from which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from, and here's the dangerous part, from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. That's always going to be the mark. How can you tell if someone's true or not? True teachers are going to point to Christ. Follow Christ, even as Paul did. You become imitators of me as I am of Christ. Be an imitator of Christ. False teachers are always going to point to themselves or their little clan as you be like us. Well, I'm going to tell you now, don't be like me. Be like Christ. You only follow me to the degree that I'm actually following Christ. And if I'm straying, please correct me. Because the goal is to follow Christ. That's going to be the big difference between the true and the false. Peter warned a few years later in his second letter that just as there were false prophets in Israel, quote, this is 2 Peter 2, 1-3, there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves, and many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned, and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. That is still so common, especially on Christian media, quote unquote Christian, Christian TV, Christian radio. How many false prophets are out there? My favorite line from them is basically is a word of faith gift to us or a step out in faith. You send us money and God will bless you. If they really believe that, they should say is, tell us where you live, we will send you a check so God will bless us. But they don't do that, do they? I don't think they believe what they're saying. Well, actually, Peter already said that. They fleece the flock. They exploit their people. They talk about how much they're sacrificing for ministry, and then you find out where they live, and the mansions they have, and private planes, and all the rest of it. The Apostle John is actually strong in his warning to the Ephesian church about 40 years after Paul had warned them already of these savage wolves that would come in. They're going to arise among you. He recognized the problem. John calls them, quote, Antichrist. This is what he writes in 1 John 2, 18 and 19. That's in the first century. It continues on, doesn't it? They may walk for a while, but eventually it's gonna come out, they are not actually of us. They are anti-Christ, they're against Christ, they have a different Christ. There are still many false anti-Christs, false teachers anti-Christ. Their writings can be easily found on the internet, bookstores, even Christian ones. a lot of their stuff that they put out is pretty slick, pretty persuasive, looks good. Materials on false religions abound. There's a plethora of materials out there on things like the New Age Movement. The New Age Movement Not so new anymore. I mean, it was new when you and I were young, but that's going back to the 70s. So it's the old New Age movement? Something like that? Well, all it really is is a repackaging of Eastern mysticism. It's Hinduism, it's Buddhism, it's other Eastern religions all blended together with some Christian thought and allegations with other various religions. It's synchristic. And it's amazing how many Christians grab in and believe the stuff that has come out of that. And there's a lot of it. I saw a poll some years ago about how many Christians believe in reincarnation. How can you believe in reincarnation? It's either resurrection or reincarnation. It's one or the other. It can't be both. But a lot of Christians believe in it. Why? Because that's where society has gone. It's just become a common idea. How many Christians have fallen to the idea that yoga is just some sort of exercise? It's not. It is directly out of Hinduism and it is a worship of false gods. The very positions are toward that. But you talk about that in some churches, you're gonna get a fight on your hands. Oh, yoga's just exercise. I'm sorry, if it's just exercise, call it something else. We're gonna all go to the church and we're gonna have a stretching class. Well, why do they call it yoga? Marketing? Do you see how easy this stuff comes in and infiltrates the church? Now that's already present. As we get closer to the time of tribulation, it's going to get worse. And during the tribulation, it's going to get far worse. Christian cults have been very busy in promoting their lives. Their teachings range from bizarre, and some of them are, to distortions of biblical theology. But all cults do include heresy of some type. Most often these are distortions or denials of the nature and the relationship of the eternal Godhead. Some teach that God changes back and forth from Father to Son to Holy Spirit as needed. This is called modalism or Sabellianism. It's a false doctrine. It's a false description of God. It's contrary descriptions. One divine being existing in three different modes. The local church, founded by Witness Lee, espouses a form of this ancient heresy. And they're still active and around. Others teach some form of Unitarianism in which the triune nature of God is denied. Usually it's the deity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are denied with the Holy Spirit presented as a manifestation of God and Jesus presented as an ordinary man filled in some way by God. Now there's variations in this but that's the basic idea. A lot of forms of this particular heresy. Unitarian groups rationalize and they replace all supernaturalism with some result that ends up that God is a mere figurehead in their form of humanism. They're going to deny it. Others, the Way International, Jehovah Witnesses, they deny the deity of Christ and the distinct personhood of the Holy Spirit. For them, Jesus is not God incarnate, but human flesh filled with God, and the Holy Spirit is a force. He's not a person. He's just a power of some sort. Well, Acts 5 tells us that this force was lied to. Anybody ever try to lie to electricity? Does it work? Well, electricity is a force. You lie to a person. Can you grieve gasoline? A lot of power in gasoline, but you can't grieve it. You grieve a person. The Holy Spirit's a person. The Mormons teach that Jesus is the son of Elohim and the brother of Lucifer, the devil. But then they also teach that you are a child of Elohim. And if you follow those teachings, then you too can become a glorified, exalted being like Him. And eventually you get your own planet. And you and your wife, or actually wives, get to populate this planet, because she's eternally going to be generating more children to populate the planet. Okay. Wendy, I know having a child is great. Do you want to go through this constantly? Yeah, like I really love my kids. But it's a lot to go through, right? You know what? Even the men know that when you are giving birth, it's painful. Right? Guys, do you know this? Well, you will know that if you were in the room with her. If you were not in the room and down the hall, you probably still know it. Because you heard it. The Mormons teach that, geez, I just talked about that. The Mormons are actually polytheistic and believe in there are many gods rather than monotheistic. And yet they want to claim that they're Christians just like you. They're not. Totally different. The Mormon idea is not really far away from what is taught by a lot of teachers on Christian radio and TV who advocate what is called the little God's doctrine. give you some example, these are older ones, but they still have a lot of influence. Earl Palk, P-A-U-L-K, he wrote in his book, Satan and Mass, quote, Adam and Eve were placed in the world as the seed and expression of God. And just as dogs have puppies and cats have kittens, so God has little gods. He continues, quote, Robert Tilton, Kenneth Hagen, Kenneth Copeland, their disciples all teach the same thing. Copeland wrote in his book, The Power of the Tongue, and he's still around. He's the guys with those beady eyes that seem real sad. He looks demonic. You know why he looks demonic? He is. He wrote this, quote, This is along the lines of that God spoke and became and you can do the same thing. He said in a sermon titled, The Force of Love, quote, That's blasphemy. Kenneth Hagen has taught that the Christian is, quote, is as much an incarnation of God as is Jesus of Nazareth, unquote. Paul Crouch of TBN fell into the heresy. The late Walter Martin spent about two hours with him discussing it, and Crouch kept defending the doctrine the whole time. No wonder TBN went the direction it went. A fellow named Casey Treed, who was pastor of the Christian Faith Center Seattle, he's taught that Christians are, quote, exact duplicates of God. In one sermon, after he gets the congregation to repeat the blasphemy with him out loud, he goes on to say this, quote, when God looks in the mirror, he sees me. When I look in the mirror, I see God, oh hallelujah. He continued on, you know sometimes people say to me, when they're mad and want to put me down, you just thank your little God. Thank you, hallelujah, you got that right. Who do you think you are, Jesus? Yep, that's utter blasphemy. And yet they present themselves as Christians. With that sort of thinking going on in supposedly Christian churches and being preached on supposedly Christian TV, radio, it's on the internet, then those who claim to be Christ are really not so far-fetched, are they? We'll go back to Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the Moonies, they deny the deity of Jesus. In fact, he says that Jesus failed to complete the work of redemption, so God sent him as the second Messiah to complete the work. I mentioned a couple weeks ago, you can go on Wikipedia and it has a list, a long list of people who've made this kind of claim, 11 of which are still alive claiming that they are Jesus. False teachers, false prophets, apostates, heretics, antichrists, they have been around from the beginning and they are still around. And it's only going to get worse as the time of Jacob's troubles gets nearer. It will reach its peak during the Great Tribulation But what is set up for professing Christians to be deceived and led into this apostasy? What is the setup? Why does that work? How come they can deceive? We don't take seriously the warnings of Scripture. Consider what Paul addressed in his letters to Timothy. Timothy was going to be ministering in the Ephesian church. Paul had been there for quite a while. He had ministered there. Years later, he sends Timothy to get things straightened out. 1 Timothy 4, 1 through 5, Paul writes this, So there is a powerful influence among these people. And that's why I would say, Copeland, it's demonic. Not just someone coming up with something, it's demonic in its origin. Then he goes on, he explains how this works. To summarize, this parallels the heresies of the Judaizers. They substitute an ascetic legalism for true spirituality. It's still out there. Religious dietary restrictions are often part of cult teachings and practices with them appealing then to the Levitical codes. Now I'm making a distinction here. Some of you have dietary restrictions because, well, your body can't handle the stuff you're eating. And so you have a physical dietary restriction because you need to do it. Right? Some of you will restrict yourself from certain things because, well, it just doesn't agree with you very well. There's certain things I avoid. I avoid it because if I ate it, everyone would want to avoid me. All right? So I don't eat those things. These are religious dietary restrictions, i.e., I'm going to do these things to prove how spiritual I am. Many in what is now called the Hebrew Roots Movement include elements of this. They call attention to the fact that Christianity arose from Judaism. In fact, Christianity could properly be called a Jewish sect. That part's good. That's fine. That's the truth. But requiring adherence to the Levitical dietary restrictions is bad. It's a doctrine of demons, as Paul points out here. And when you hear that, you can point it out. That is the doctrine of demons, because Paul said so. 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 4, Paul suddenly charges Timothy to do this, quote, Why? Verse three, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. They will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. This has been going on for a long time too. This actually happened a lot over the last 100 years or so. Well, 130, 140 years, I guess. It's been picking up speed. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was called the modernist controversy. The modernists cast aside the Bibles as the source of truth in favor of literary theories and scientism was coming in. That we can figure everything out. And we're really in the realm of that. Science says this, science says that. Except a lot of these claiming to be following science aren't. They don't follow the scientific method. But they will claim it, I have the Arab authority because of scientism. This began a long time ago. But they cast aside the Bible as a source of truth, and the reason is they desire to be relevant to the hierarchy that's within academia. This was being taught in Germany, and therefore we want to be like the Germans, because they had the epitome at that time of academia. We want to have prestige. It hasn't changed. A lot of people, I want the prestige of those who come from the Ivory League schools. Well, frankly, they don't teach you any better than any other place. If you have the truth, you're going to learn. If you don't have the truth, you're not going to learn. You're going to be taught the wrong thing. Anyways, this begins back in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Now by mid-century, so be this 1940s, 50s, 60s, more into the 60s, the neo-evangelicals were trying to find some way to be less hostile than the fundamentalists and they want to be considered more thoughtful, more intellectual. So neo, new evangelicals, as opposed to what were the evangelicals. Those were the fundamentalists, which was a good term. We went back to the fundamentals, what does scripture say? We're actually gonna follow that. But they wanted to have this dialogue. Well, it's commendable to still try to engage somebody with here's the truth, even if you've gone down a liberal path. Try to persuade them. Problem was, it worked the opposite way. They didn't persuade the liberals, the liberals persuaded them. And in neo-evangelicalism, a whole lot of their doctrines are the same as the errors that were being done in the early 1900s. 1920s, a denial of the authority of scripture, a key one. And so they compromise biblical doctrine in favor of the wisdom of men. Well, along with the church growth movement, that really is 1970s, 80s, 90s, came this quest to be, quote unquote, seeker-sensitive. All right, I think you should be sensitive to non-Christian. But no one seeks after God unless what? Unless God's drawing them. No one seeks after God, we are told that in Psalm 15 and Romans 3. So this whole idea became is, I want to be sensitive to sinners, and make them comfortable in church. So what ends up happening is the gospel is either diminished or it is perverted in order to attract an unbeliever and then avoid offending them. And so those churches steadily move farther and farther away from the truth. Society shifted into the postmodern era in the early 2000s. That's what we're in now. And the pursuit of cultural relevance by some churches moved in what's called the emergent movement. and they lost the ability to discern truth and error. That's the time period we are living in. There are no absolutes. You ever hear that being said? There are no absolutes. When someone says that, asking this question, are you absolutely sure about that? And they'll say yes. I guess there's at least one absolute. That's the way the thing goes. This is when feelings became more important than truth. And so it's however you're feeling emotionally at the moment. And off you go. The emergent church did not have the gospel. They lost the ability to discern truth and error. Now at present, there seems to be a strong movement within what used to be evangelicals or fundamentalists, conservative Christianity, with this whole woke and social justice stuff. Now there's been enough battling against it. It might be diminishing, but groups such as the Southern Baptists, they're still battling it. It's a really grave danger for them. And a lot of their churches have left the denomination over this, which makes the denomination weaker. Again, why? The desire is to have some sort of cultural relevance. But as MacArthur and others have warned, it's leading again to a compromise of the gospel or of a redefinition of it. The reality is that the true church is only culturally relevant when it proclaims, without compromise, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as presented within the Holy Writ. That's the only time we're culturally relevant. No Christian can remain faithful to God when seeking the acceptance and approval of those who reject the Bible as the standard of truth. If you do not know or are not committed to learning the scriptures, you will be led astray by those who are in error by heretical teachers. They're very persuasive. And again, often they're demonically empowered. Now what is bad now and getting worse for professing Christians who want their ears tickled because they're seeking the approval of the world, it is going to become extreme when they enter into that 70th week of Daniel. Gabriel, remember, revealed to Daniel about this whole time period, the true Christians are going to be removed. We call that the rapture. And what's going to be left behind is an apostate church. But God is still gracious. People are going to get saved during that time period. There's still going to be an elect. When we talk about the elect, we're talking about a huge group. Within it are subcategories. The church is a subcategory of all the elect of all the ages. But the church is removed. What is left is an apostate church. And so there's going to be all these claims of Christ, false Christ, false prophets, with all sorts of stuff. Who are they targeting? anyone who would want to follow Christ. Anyone who recognizes the fact that, okay, what I was taught or heard or I saw on something, and frankly part of the reason for this whole series of messages is leave a record. If the rapture happened, well, I really am looking forward to dinner tonight. But if it happened before dinner, I'm good with that. I hope you are too. Alright? But if it happened, I want a record left and some people are going to read this and go or listen to it or something and they're going to start to want to follow Christ. That's their target. They don't want people to believe. Jesus' warning in Matthew 24 about this has application down the future. We who live in the present should not be led astray by false teachers of our own times and those who are in the tribulation period and are saved should not be taken in by the claims of these false Christs. These false prophets that arise and say, Christ has come! Jesus does not return in any secret or hidden manner. Jehovah Witnesses say He came back in 1914, secretly. They had a house for Him in San Diego. But I guess it needed to be occupied because it was secret. They're not the only ones. This is a common kind of thing that happens with these people. It's a secret appearing. He's here secretly. Well, what did Jesus say? Just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of Son of Man be. I didn't have to be looking up the sky to notice when lightning happens. Do you? Do you have to see the bolt to know it was lightning? If you were inside, would you know a bolt of lightning had occurred? Why? Yeah, hear it. Boom! Right? That's not a secret. Anybody ever experience a secret thunderstorm? Okay, that's his point. It is not a secret. When Jesus returns, Revelation 1-7 says, Now despite what Jesus as taught on this subject, there's always been those that cast doubt on the manner of Jesus' return. Or even if he will return at all. And they cause many of the church to be greatly disturbed. Paul had to write the book of second, his second letter to the Thessalonians to correct the problem. And that still corrects people today because they can fall into these several kind of heresies. That Jesus isn't coming. Paul had to address in 1 Corinthians that is there going to be a resurrection? Because false teachers enter in and teach things that are false. Now the Thessalonians were enduring persecution for being Christians at that time. And Paul sought to comfort them. The Lord was coming back and he will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a specific reference. Those who do not know God are the Gentiles. Those who will not obey the gospel are the Jews who just heard the gospel and refuse to obey it. Psalm 1 had been teached in the day the Lord had already come, chapter 2 verse 2, and Paul assures them it had not and would not until certain events took place including the presence of the Antichrist and the great deceptions of that time. And so he writes 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 through 12. That is, the one who is coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Okay? There's one of the first qualifiers for why people are deceived. They don't love the truth. They're not saved. Verse 11, for this reason God will send upon them a diluting influence that they will believe what is false and or that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness. God simply confirms them this is your state, you're staying there. You want to be diluted? You're going to be diluted. In other words, if what happens before Jesus returns is not present, you can be assured Jesus is not here yet. That's the point he's actually making the passage. The statement in 1 Thessalonians 5 too was this, the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Now that confuses some people if they're not paying attention to the context. It's not a reference to Jesus coming in some hidden manner. It's a reference to a sudden and unexpected return. That's the nature of it. You weren't ready for it. You weren't expecting it. The very next verse points this out saying this, 1 Thessalonians 5, 3, And again, every woman here who has born a child knows labor pains come suddenly. And they increase. And actually, you're kind of glad they're increasing because you know the baby's coming. And usually by that ninth month, my observation as a man is that God allows it to go that long so you want the baby out. Because prior to that, it was like pretty cool, right? It was a neat thing to be doing. I got a life inside me. But by the ninth month, you're waddling around, you can't, everything's uncomfortable. It's like, just get this baby out, whatever I need to go through. Right? You're going to come to the end and that's what Paul's referring to here. It may come suddenly and it's going to reach an apex and an end. We saw in our study last week that Jesus points out the events leading up to his physical return will increase in pace and intensity like labor pains and that when he comes everyone will know it. It's not going to be hidden. Anyone that claims that Jesus has or will return in some secret form is a heretic. They're an apostate. Do not listen to them. Matthew 24, 29. We'll continue in this section. There is an outline of the great signs that are going to occur just prior to His return. Okay, don't confuse His return with the appearing of the rapture. They're two different events. Verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, this is talking about what's immediately after the abomination of desolation, he says this, Luke 21, 25, and 26 adds that along with these signs in the heavens, quote, There are many references to these various signs in both Hebrew and Greek scriptures. We've looked at some of these in the past. Isaiah 13, Joel 2, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Revelation 6 and 8 all cover these events. And while it is hard to coordinate the exact time sequence with all the references, because some of this phenomena is going to occur more than once, it's important to know that these things will occur and they will herald Jesus' return, a physical return as promised by the Hebrew prophets. Now the general time sequence here start with the events that were referred to in the early part of Matthew 24 as the beginning of birth pangs, verses 5 through 14. Then comes the abomination of desolation. It is set up, verse 15. This is followed by what he describes as the great tribulation, verse 21. Then there are signs that occur in the sky. Which include a darkened sun and moon along with stars falling. Verse 29. Along with a perplexity of men at the roaring of the sea and the waves. That's in Luke 21, 25-26. It is after those events that the sign of the return of the Son of Man is given. What is the sign? Look at verse 30. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." That's exactly what Jesus had told those who were persecuting Him, those who had Him on trial. This is what you will see. That's the next time you'll see me. Acts 1, 9 through 11 records what happened at Jesus' Ascension. Verse 9, and after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. We call this the ascension. Verse 10, and as they were gazing and tintling the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you've watched him go into heaven. Jesus left in a cloud, he's returning in a cloud. Revelation 1-7 states this, Behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen. Again, the prophecy is Jesus returning in clouds. Coming out of the clouds of the sky with power and great glory, that is the sign of His return. A pretty obvious one, isn't it? And every eye will see it. This is the side that Daniel saw in his vision. That's recorded in Daniel 7. We looked at that, what, a year or two ago when we went through Daniel. Daniel 7, 13 through 14. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. He came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Again, nothing hidden about this. Plain to everyone. So much so, they're going to mourn over it. Because they're going to recognize judgment is now upon them. Now, Jesus began this whole discourse saying, do not be misled. And indeed, no one should be misled by either present or future claims of Christ's return. When He returns, it is obvious. So we should not be misled about any other plain teaching of the Bible simply because God has already told us. It's there, it's in black and white. Printed for us. People fall for the lies of false teachers. for two basic reasons. Number one, they do not know the God who's revealed himself in the Bible and they're not willing to put in the time and effort to find out about him. That's number one. They're ignorant and they want to remain that way. Everything else is more important than knowing the God that created them. And second, this goes back to the idea they want their ears tickled. They like the lies. They prefer the lies over the truth. Don't be like them. Take heed. Pursue truth and wisdom. Avoid the foolishness and its consequences. Now sometimes these lies are pretty deceptive because they seem very pious. One of the greater ones, and it's actually true of every cult and false religion, is this lie that somehow you can earn your way to heaven. Somehow you can be good enough to appease God that He'll accept you for who you are right now, just the way you are, period. That's not true. You have to be perfect for God to accept you. And there's only one way for that to happen. You have to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you so when God looks at you, He's not looking at you. He's looking at Jesus Christ's righteousness given to you. Or as Ed's favorite song, His Robes for Mine. Alright? He put on the filthy garment and was punished for it and I got this clean one. God sees me as clean before Him. It's all based simply on faith. Nothing I have done. But that's the most common lie out there. But that tickles people's ears because people are proud. They want to put God in a position, you have to accept me, look what I've done. I've earned it, I've done all the things you've said. In this county with such a large Catholic influence demographically, that's the majority religion here, that's Catholicism. You earn it by doing the sacraments. That's how you gain quote unquote grace. God has to accept you. No, he doesn't. He only accepts you on one basis, and that's faith in Christ. So don't be like them. Heed, pursue the truth and wisdom. Avoid the foolishness that's out there and its consequences. Now, Jesus finishes this section by revealing what will happen after he returns. He then teaches the meaning and the application of what he revealed. Look at verse 31. So he's coming in the clouds from heaven, 31. He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet. They will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. Mark 13, 27 adds this gathering will be quote, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. So the angels go out throughout the earth to separate the elect from the unrighteous. And he's gonna expand on this in Matthew 25, which we'll get to in a week or two. He is going to explain this division between the sheep and the goat judgment that follows his return. Now there is hope in all of this for the elect who endured through the tribulation period. That's why Luke 21-28 adds this, quote, So for the believer, when they see Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven, it's YES! He's coming! This is wonderful! It's not that way for everybody else. He is going to put an end to the reign of evil that's been on the earth. Revelation 19, 7-10 records John's vision of the marriage of the supper of the Lamb in heaven. That's where those who were believers prior to the tribulation period are going to be. So, we've got something to look forward to. The marriage supper of the Lamb, then followed in verses 11-21 by a vision of the return of Christ to earth to judge and wage war. To summarize this section, Jesus is riding on a white horse wearing a robe dipped in blood and on it is written this, quote, King of kings, Lord of lords. He's also called the one who is faithful and true in the word of God. And with him are coming the armies of heaven that are clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And they also are riding white horses. Now for those of you who are wondering about animals in heaven, well we know at least there's horses because they're coming from heaven. I don't know about any other animals, but there's horses. So equestrian loving people should be very happy about that. He returns and he smites the nations and treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, calling upon the birds to gather together to eat the flesh of their enemies. The beast, the king of the earth, the armies assembled to make war upon him but they're conquered, they're killed. The beast, the false prophet are thrown alive in a lake of fire which burns forever. That will be the return of Messiah. The conquering king whose eyes are a flame of fire. He is going to vanquish all of His enemies. He's going to establish His kingdom as David's greater son. That was the promise of the Hebrew prophets. Now we'll see this in more detail again at the end of Matthew 25. But in brief, there are two gatherings that end up taking place after Jesus returns on the clouds of the sky with power and glory. The exact sequence, that's going to be an educated guess because no single passage gives the detail. But in piecing together, this is reasonable. Jesus appears in the clouds along with his army, which is made up of the saints who are already in heaven. Revelation 19, 11 through 18. Zechariah 14 describes the Lord's return to fight against the nations, those that are opposing him, and then he stands on the Mount of Olives. It splits in the middle from east to west. We looked at that some time ago when we went through Zechariah. It's a physical return with very great physical effects as soon as his feet hit the Mount of Olives. Jesus then conquers his foes. He throws the beast, the false prophet, into the eternal lake of fire. The angels are then sent throughout the earth and they gather the elect, looked at that in Matthew 19, 19-20 and then according to the parable of the tares in Matthew 13, 37-43 and the parable of the dragnet, Matthew 13, 47-50 the angels also gather the stumbling blocks, those who are committing lawlessness and the wicked who will then be cast into the furnace of fire. Now that agrees with Jesus teaching in Matthew 25, 31-46 about the judgment of the sheep and the goats, which we'll get to in a couple weeks. The goats, the unrighteous, are sent away into eternal punishment. The sheep, the righteous, inherit the kingdom and eternal life. So Jesus' reign begins with only righteous people inhabiting the earth since all the unrighteous are removed. That's what's coming in the future. The promise of the return of Jesus Christ should put fear into the hearts of the unrighteous. These things are really going to happen. They need to be reconciled with God before it's too late. Best to do it now as soon as you can because you don't know if you have tomorrow. Best to do it now because you don't want to miss the rapture. Okay? You really don't. Those who hold different positions, whether it's pre-wrath, mid-trib, or post-trib, we end up with interesting discussions. I always tell them, but I know, and you know, you want me to be right. Okay? No one is anxious to go through the tribulation period, much less the great tribulation period. But those who will get saved there, often will be at the cost of their life. He'll be a martyr. But there will be a remnant that's going to live all the way through it. That's going to repopulate the earth. Now that same promise, that's a hope for us as Christians. It's a motivation, Peter even points this out, for us to live in righteousness and holiness. We're always to be ready. And my belief in His coming is motivation to make sure I'm living right now in holiness and righteousness. I want to be ready for His coming. Period. It's not putting it off sometime. I don't know when He's coming. No one does, except the Father. But when He comes for the rapture, nothing's really preceding it. Nothing shows. It's just, pow, there it is. The coming of the Lord, I should say the appearing of Him is going to be without indication. It's just there He is. The coming of the Lord is very precise. Many things coming before His physical return and the eventual setting up of His kingdom. So for Christians, we rejoice. For non-Christians, today is the day of repentance. Talk with me, talk with any of our church leaders. If you're not right with God, get right with God today. Father, thank you for the truth of your word. And Father, I do recognize that many of these things foretold to us about the future actually are meant to create a fear in people, a fear that will motivate them to seek after you, to make sure that they're right with you. I would ask that anybody here that you would be working on their heart even now, convicting them of their sin, that they may turn from it and cast themselves upon your wonderful mercy and grace. And Jesus Christ taking that sin upon himself and paying the penalty that we might be made, as Corinthians tells us, righteous of you in him. Father, for us who are believers, that we may rejoice that we have these absolute promises. And Father, keeping that in mind, live in a different way with eternity in view. Father, that our minds would be set enough on heaven to be heavenly minded that we actually would be some earthly good. In Jesus' name.