When we see the Lord, we're going to be singing up a storm. Because there's going to be singing on the hills of glory. Amen, amen. All right. If you have your Bible, I want you to turn this morning to the book of Isaiah. All right. Isaiah chapter number 11. Isaiah 11 and verse 1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity of the meek and of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, shall he slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Father, bless your holy word, Lord. Bless your word this morning, and give me unction in Jesus' name, amen. All right, you can be seated. The Bible tells us in the book of Isaiah, chapter number 11, of a time that we've never seen. Right now, this world is headed head over heels into a conflagration, let me put it that way. The nations of the earth are aligning themselves. They're preparing for something. You and I both know this morning that the spirit of the age has completely changed. That we're looking into a time of the unknown. People today are thinking about the unknown. In the Old Testament, the Bible tells us plainly time and again of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tells us of the second coming. And then it tells us of the first coming. And it tells us that he's coming to this earth. And when he comes to this world, he's going to change this world. He came the first time and he brought salvation. He died on a cross and there became the Savior of all mankind. He'll come the second time according to the book of Revelation chapter number 19. I'll read it for you. Revelation chapter number 19 and verse number 1. He says this about him when he comes the second time. Verse 11. It says, And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that whither it should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I love my country, but my country is being reduced every single day. You're watching this country come apart at the seams. The only thing that can pull America back is God. As he mentioned yesterday when they met in Washington, D.C., to pray, that's the best thing they could do, is to seek the face of the Lord. For the Bible tells us the time is going to come when the Lord Jesus does come back and he's going to judge the nations. And he's going to gather the nations according to the scripture. And what's he going to judge them for? Notice this is national judgment, not individual judgment. He's going to judge them as to how they treat Israel. Israel, a little insignificant country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, is the keystone to everything God's going to do to this earth and how they deal with Israel. Over here in the book of Psalm, chapter number 2, the Bible tells us of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us what he's going to do when he comes back to this earth. And it says in the book of Psalm, chapter number 2, that he's going to reign in power and glory and great might. And the glory of the Lord is going to fill the earth. as the waters cover the sea. From sea to shining sea, men are going to know the Lord. The Bible tells us in the book of Jeremiah that God is going to not write in stone, as we have now the Word of God, but it's going to be written in the hearts of men. For the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." It's not there now. I don't know how many people have passed this morning, coming to church, doing everything in the world, except coming before the Lord God. Why? Because their mind is controlled and covered and completely engrossed with what they're doing in the here and in the now. As we read in the book of Genesis, until the flood came and took them all away." That's all they're thinking about, folks. They're thinking about the temporal, the here, and the now. But the Lord Jesus is coming back. He's coming again. He's coming to this earth and he's gonna set up his millennial kingdom. If you'd like the book, turn with me to the book of Revelation, chapter number 20 and verse number one, here's what it says. I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Now let's stop for just a moment. Is this thousand years literal or is this some symbolic period of time? I believe it's literal. Unless I have some reason to believe otherwise, I'm going to take it for what it says. This is a millennium, millenum. Two Latin words. It means a thousand years. So this thousand year period of time, according to Revelation chapter number 20, Satan is going to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season. During this thousand-year period of time, the Bible says the plowman shall overtake the reaper. During this thousand-year period of time, the Bible says he'll send them the former rain and the latter rain. During this thousand-year period of time, the Bible says that they will no longer go with war. They'll beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hips. It's going to be a time of peace, a time of joy, and a time of real prosperity. Isaiah says that the wolf shall lie down with the lamb. It says that the child, a baby, shall put its hand in play over a cockatrice den, and there's nothing to worry about whatsoever. The Bible tells us in this period of time, this thousand years, when Satan is locked up in the bottomless pit, that if you die at a hundred years of age, You're a child. In plainer words, there are going to be people born in the millennium that live for a thousand years on this earth. Can you imagine? Can you imagine a thousand years, save just a few days? Nobody in the Bible has ever lived a complete thousand years. Methuselah in the Old Testament lived 969 years. That's the oldest recorded life. But think about somebody that's all he ever knew. All he ever knew. He was born into a world where the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting in Jerusalem on the throne of David and the joy of the Lord goes out over the face of the earth. Think of that. Think of the joy of the Lord. Think of the Bible talks about how the hills and the mountains are going to clap and they're going to sing for joy at the coming of the Lord for a thousand years. Can you imagine a time like that? Makes you wish you would hear it. Amen? I mean, look where we are now. Would you swap what we're in now for a thousand-year period of glory? And so this period of time, Satan is locked up. And somebody said, you know, preacher, the devil made me do it. No, you did it yourself. Don't go around blaming the devil for all of your problems and for what's happened to you. The Bible said every man sins when he follows his own lust according to the book of James chapter number 1. And he talks about something that's very clear about that. It is the source of your sin comes from within. You need to be changed within. And this is what the Lord said about the millennium. He says that he will come and no longer write the word in stone, but he'll write it in the hearts of men. And the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. So imagine, Imagine a time of joy and prosperity and peace and glory. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ reigning over a world that acknowledges that He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords and He's God Almighty and there is none beside Him. And Satan is locked up in the bottomless pit. Now look what it says in verse 4. Revelation 20, Yet I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, and which had neither his image, and neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. These are the tribulation saints. These are those that are going to be saved when we are called out of this world to meet Christ, to go at what's called the rapture. These are the multitude that is too large that anybody could even number. And they're out there, and they will hear, and the Word of God will be preached. And 7,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel, from each tribe, 12,000 from the 12 tribes, making 144,000, are going to preach the Word of God to the ends of the world. And a multitude is going to be saved. You notice that something is failing now, don't you? You don't see a real revival taking place, do you? You don't see the aisles full of people in the altar getting right with God, do you? No, you don't, but that's going to happen. But it's not going to be in the church, for the church is going to be gone. It's going to revert back to where God gave the original light, and that is through the Jew. So in verse number 4 he said, They neither had received their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Now watch verse 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So we have different resurrections. We have the first resurrection, which is the resurrection of the saved. It is those that are born again. It is the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15, of a new body, to be with Christ. But the wicked dead, he talks about here, The wicked dead. Let me tell you something. There are men that have pastored churches in this country that are Baptists, fundamental Baptists, that have pastored some of the largest churches in America that I firmly believe in my heart are in hell right now. I believe they're in hell. God is no respecter of persons. You don't impress Him by your badges and by your tags and by your accomplishments and your accoutrements and all of that. You don't impress God. He is no respecter of persons. Salvation is for everybody and forgiveness of sin is for all mankind. It doesn't make any difference who you are, where you came from, station in life, how much money you've got. He's willing to forgive you and cleanse you. But I'll tell you something right now, He has no time for a hypocrite. He has no time whatsoever for a hypocrite. God doesn't play with you. He wants you to understand. For you to know Him is a privilege beyond measure. But in verse number 5 it said, The rest of the dead live not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. And blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. The first resurrection has stages. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the first fruits of this resurrection. What does that mean? It means that when the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead, he rose never to die again. We are the first fruits of that resurrection. How so? We are the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, though, that the tribulation saints are part of the first resurrection. Remember that the family of God is part of the first resurrection. But there's a second, or if you want to call it a resurrection, it's not really a resurrection. It's like the Old Testament says, in the earth shall spit out or spew out the dead. He said, the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. They that have done good to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. We're talking about eternal things. These aren't things that just pass away this afternoon and you tune into a new station and watch some new movie. We're talking about eternal things this morning. And I'm dealing with a millennium. A thousand years that Christ is here on this earth among men. Imagine. This thousand-year period of time, all twelve of the tribes of Israel go back to the land of Israel, and they're allotted certain spaces that belong to them. During this thousand-year period of time, you, that if you're born again in the house this morning, you will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. You will be over this earth, reigning on this earth for a thousand years. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come, and according to what the angel said, He's going to sit on the throne of His Father, David, in Jerusalem. The Bible teaches us that when He comes back, He's going to put His feet on the Mount of Olives. And when that second foot touches that Mount of Olives, it'll split right down the middle. And my friend, when it splits right down the middle, the water will start bubbling up from the throne of God. It starts as a trickle and gets deeper as it goes. And it flows down into the Dead Sea. And the Dead Sea will be dead no more because it will give it life. And all along the banks of this river will be life, trees, and everything that you can imagine. And when Lord Jesus Christ comes back and puts His feet on the top of the Mount of Olives, it's going to bust in two. And then He's going to go down into what's called the City of David. And they're in the city of David. Now, I'll tell you right now, they just found the road. They just found the road that leads from the pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount. I can't help but believe that He'll go straight to that road at the pool of Siloam, and He'll ascend to the top of the hill of the Lord. And He'll go up to that mountaintop. And there, who is worthy, that Bible says in the book of Psalm, Who is this that can walk to the top of the mountain of God? There's only one. Because you have to be perfect. You have to be pure. You have to be sinless. And nobody can ever do that. But this one can. And when he walks to the top of that mountain, he will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he will sit down in Jerusalem. And he will reign with a rod of iron for a thousand glorious years. I can't imagine what a thing that's going to be. But I'm going to tell you, you say, Preacher, you're crazy. I'm happy. Amen. For a thousand years he's going to reign and I'm going to be here with him. We're going to see glory. We're going to see holiness. We're going to see purity. We're going to see righteousness. We're going to see everything that God is manifested in one man. The Lord Jesus Christ on top of that Moriah. where Abraham took his son Isaac to offer as a sacrifice to God. Moriah, where God sees and God will be seen. Moriah, the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. Moriah, where the Lord Jesus sits down. But my friend, He's going to come through the eastern gate. He's going to come through the eastern gate as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Now folks, this is the millennium. This is when the Bible says that if you live to be a hundred, if you died a hundred, you're dying as a child. It's a time when a child can put his hand over a deadly viper and not be bothered. When the wolf lies down with the lamb. When the plowman overtakes the reaper. When the field and the desert blossoms like a rose. In plainer words, it's a period of time the earth has never known. The only time you could ever know that anything like that was back in the pristine garden of Eden before sin came on the scene. For everything you see today is the curse of sin. Curse, death, rottenness, thorns. The earth will bring forth thorns and thistles, death and sorrow, suffering and dying. If you lack sin, that's the fruit of sin, death and sorrow, suffering and dying. Fruit and sin pays off in wages. So the Lord Jesus comes back and we've got a millennium. The devil's locked up in the bottomless pit. You're saying, my goodness, preacher, surely after a thousand years of that, men would be singing the glory of God from mountaintop to mountaintop. Yay, all over this earth, men would be singing about praises unto God. Look what your Bible says. In verse number seven, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, together them to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." Battle who? Well, the Bible teaches us that during the millennium there will be those who kiss his feet. There'll be those who curse him when they do kiss his feet. It'll be outward, but it won't be from the heart. They will subject themselves to the rule of the rod of iron. There'll be those on this earth who hate him in their heart. There are people right now you can witness to them, you can preach to them, you can shed your blood for them, and they will never love the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why that Bible teaches, blessed are all of those, maranatha, that love our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you love him this morning? I love him. The more you know about Him, the more you love Him. Everything in the world that love is, He is. If there ever was an object of love worthy of your love, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. If there ever was one that can pick you up, lift you up out of your pit and out of your sorrow, out of your self-pity, it's Christ! Love Him! And if you really love the Lord Jesus Christ, it'll do something to change your life. Paul said, The love of the work constraineth me. No. The love of my church constraineth me. The love of the ministry constraineth me. The love of the brethren and whatever they can hang around my neck constraineth me. The Apostle Paul said the love of Christ constraineth me. And you can't help but love Him. And so for a thousand years they're all told. Everything's done. Now I want you to start thinking this morning. You've got to think sometimes when you get in the Bible. Why is it that we've had all these people born down through all these ages? And I'm folks, I have no doubt, 15, 20 billion to what? I don't have any idea how many people have lived on this earth. And he knows every one of them by name. He knows every hair on their head. He knows everything there is to know about them. This is God. The days will come. As Paul said in the book of Romans, when thou art judged, in other words, God will be judged by his creation. Abraham said to the angels that outside of Sodom shall not the judge of the whole earth do right. Do you want to leave out of this house today? Do you want to walk out of here today and you want to feel in your heart and your soul, the one I serve, he's worthy of my service? He's worthy of my love? Do you want to walk out of here feeling that today? Remember this, the judge of the whole earth will do right. Why would he come here for a thousand years? There's got to be more going on here than the Bible has written out for us. What's going on? Why a thousand years? Why a personal reign of Christ here among men? Why would men reject Him at the end of that period of time? Every work of God, everything He's ever said, all that He is, will one day be manifested to His creation. Amen. And when that day comes, Look what happens. The Bible says in verse nine, and they went up on the breadth of the earth and compass the camp of the saints about and beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are been there a thousand years and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. and ever. Ais ton aionon, ton aionon. As in the Greek it means from ages to ages, from the ages to the ages, to the end of the ages, forever and ever and ever. Aion in Greek is an age, to the ages of the ages, forever and ever. This little fleeting moment of 74 years on this earth is not even a speck to be compared to that one that is from everlasting to everlasting. And yet God has reached down in His mercy and His grace, and He's made me part of His family, saved my soul, wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life, given me the assurance of salvation with a gift of the Holy Ghost, and sealed me until the day of redemption. I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded He's able to keep that which I've committed to Him. Oh, listen! I'll never forget where I came from, but I'm no longer where I came from. I'm not that anymore. I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah to God, folks! For I deserve to be in the pit. If anybody ever deserved to be in the pit, I deserved it. But the grace of God that bringeth salvation reached down one day and took hold of my soul. So what's going on here? What's going on here? Why is it that a man that sees Christ physically, sitting in Jerusalem, will reject him, hate him and deny him. I can't explain that. I have no answer for that. That's a question. Put that out there to you. That's something for you to pray over and dig around about, scratch around and find, see if you come up with an answer to it. You know, I've heard people say, well, you know, if I had lived back in the time of the apostles, I know I'd been a believer because I'd seen him raise the dead and walk on water and heal the sick and cast out devils and all that. Why, there's no way in the world that I wouldn't have been a believer. No, no, no, no, no. You remember the rich man in hell? You remember him? You remember what Abraham said to him? He said, oh, you want to go back and warn them, do you? Or you want Lazarus to go back and warn them. You want somebody to warn them. You want somebody to come in there and an apparition appear. He said this, they have Moses and the prophets. Now please, don't think I'm crazy. That book's alive. It's living. You say, that's weird, preachers. See, this is beautiful. You got Fanny Crosby and all that in here, beautiful. These are beautiful songs. I love them, but that book's not alive. This book's alive. What do you think's gonna happen to you when you pick up something that's living? Well, I've never thought about it like the preacher. Listen, that book reads you. You may pick it up and be illiterate as you can. This book's not illiterate. It'll read you. And then it'll turn around and tell you what you are. What's that, preacher? That's God communicating with you. All He asks you to do is agree with Him. Agree with Him. Agree with Him. Don't put up a shield. Don't hide behind somebody in the church. Don't come out a bunch of junk. Just admit it. That's what I am, Lord. The door swings open wide. And the grace of God will come into your heart and into your soul. Now I'm going to finish with this this morning. We have what's called the judgment of the nations. We find that in Matthew 24. Then shall be brought all the nations. The nations. Why national? Because it's not individual. The nations. In other words, America is going to be judged as a nation. What does that mean? Well, now you know that the President yesterday nominated Amy Coney Barrett is the third Supreme Court Justice since he's been in office. Did you know that Jimmy Carter didn't have one in four years? But this President has had three, and they're conservative Supreme Court Justices? Almost makes you think the Almighty might have had a hand in some of that. That the direction of the Supreme Court now is going to start veering away from liberalism, activism, and all the rest of that. And it's going to start heading to where, Lord, man, I mean, the day may come when they'll overthrow Roe versus Wade and babies will start living. Little babies will be like Ruby back here. They'll get to live. Here's the bottom line. That may be God answering the prayers of many to bring America into the millennium. And for a thousand years, we'll be one of those nations gathered together at his right hand. Maybe. I hope so. I hope so. I hope so. Don't you? I don't want to see America's demise. I want to see it prosper, but it'll never prosper without the Lord. I'm not going to do it. So let's bring it back. Bring it back. If God bring revival, that'd be a wonderful thing. God begin to move in our nation again. Hallelujah! Because we already see the hand of the wicked, don't we? Father, in Jesus' name, bless Your Word. Thank You for being with me this morning. Thank You for the sweet Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord, You'd use what I've said now for the glory of God. And thank you for helping me, Lord. And you know what I mean by that. You know what I mean. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Father, speak to souls in this house. Speak to them in Jesus' name. Heads are bowed this morning. Everybody raise your hands. Say, Preacher Lawson, I'm about to give up hope. I'm depressed. I don't know what to do. The world's changed. I don't see it coming. I don't see it ever going back to the way it used to be. I see all kinds of things that cause alarm in my soul. I want you to pray for me, Preacher. I will. I will. We look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. Remember, none of this, none of this is going to happen, could happen, or will happen. without that being that is eternal allowing it to happen. Would you pray for me, Preacher? Because I'm watching too much of it. God bless you. Anybody else? God bless you. It's just natural, folks. It's just natural. God bless you. Got cable TV and all this stuff 24-7 pumping it right into your home, seeing all these, everything under the sun, riots, and looting, and burning, and killing. And I mean, it's awful. Anybody else, raise your hands. Say, preacher, I want you to pray for me. Pray for me. God bless you. God bless you, my sister. God bless you over here. God bless you. The devil's trying to tear us apart, folks. God will put us back together again. Father, in Jesus' name I pray now, bless your holy word, Lord. I've spoken, but you speak far beyond me and much deeper than I ever could. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.