Will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel? Chapter 19; we will be looking at verses 11 through 27. In what will actually be a two-part series on the subject: Kingdom Delay and Future Rewards. May I remind you that we have been in Mark's gospel, but we're taking a little detour in order to maintain both the chronological and thematic flow of Jesus final journey to Jerusalem; his final journey. The leaders of Israel have already officially rejected Him, they are seeking to kill him but now he is going to present himself to basically all of Israel at the Passover feast in Jerusalem. And of course, all of this is leading up to what we call the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. So he's traveling with his disciples and with his pilgrims, and going to the Passover, where he will offer himself as the Lamb of God. And a couple of the incidences that occurred in that trip are not included in Mark's gospel so I wanted to jump over to Luke's gospel, so that you understand the flow.

Now, by way of review, remember that previously, he has encountered a rich, young synagogue ruler. And he has demonstrated through that man's rejection of Christ, that a rich man has a very difficult time entering into the kingdom apart from divine intervention. In fact, Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And they asked, well, who can be saved? And he basically said that, apart from me, nobody can but with God, all things are possible. And then next, we read that He gives sight to some blind men, not only proving his deity, and by the way, this also happened in the region of Jericho, the same region. But this also demonstrated the miracle of regeneration where God gives sight to the spiritually blind. And then, as we studied last week, there was really a juxtaposition between those two incidences when Jesus dealt with another rich man, a rich tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus, who was also spiritually blind. And there we have a picture of God not only giving spiritual sight, to a man that was spiritually blind, but there you might say, we see the camel going through the eye of the needle, by the power of God. And in the context of Zacchaeus' conversion where Jesus is over at his house, others are watching, and so forth, Jesus preaches a sermon that is very important, one that certainly ran contrary to the hopes of the Jewish people. They were hoping that the Messiah had come and he was about to destroy Rome and establish the kingdom that has been promised all through the Old Testament; that he would be the conquering Messiah. But instead, we read that Jesus in Luke 19 and verse 10, is speaking about "the Son of Man who has come to seek and to save that which was lost." And so that was a sermon. We don't have all of the details of all that he said, but it's in the context of that sermon, that we come to verse 11, in Luke 19. "While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they suppose that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, 'A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 minas and said to them, 'do business with us until I come back.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that the slaves to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, 'Master, your mina has made 10 minas more.' And he said to him, 'Well done good slave. Because you have been faithful in a very little thing you were to be in authority over 10 cities.' The second came saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.' Another came saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept but put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, By your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has the 10 minas.' And they said to Him, 'Master, he has 10 minas already.' I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slayed them in my presence.'"

Now there is much historical as well as theological understanding that we have to have in order to clearly see what Jesus is saying in this amazing parable and Lord willing, this parable will be something that will clarify perhaps some theological issues for you, certainly as it relates to eschatology, but it is one that can bring conviction and encouragement, and certainly instruction. And in a world that is rapidly descending into an abyss of evil things that are threatening our livelihoods, our families, even our church, isn't it wonderful to have the word of God, the truth, so that we know how to live? And we know how the story ends up, right? We know that in the end, Jesus will reign supreme. And certainly the goal of my exposition to you this morning, besides helping you just to understand the text, is to apply it in such a way that you will have a clearer understanding of eschatology, the study of end times. And also based upon that, be all the more excited about the fact that Jesus is coming again. I mean, we are a second coming church, we long to see the Lord come and we know according to First John three that, that when he comes, "we shall be like Him, we will be able to see Him as He is." And we are told that everyone who has this hope, fixed on him, purifies himself, even as He is pure. And so that's what we want as we examine this

Now, this idea of a nobleman receiving authority to rule a kingdom was not something foreign to them, it would be to us in our culture, but it was not to them. They were familiar with noblemen going to a far country to receive a kingdom. This happened, for example, with Herod the Great, who had to go to Rome to receive his kingdom from Caesar. At his death in his will he divided his kingdom into into three regions to be ruled by his three sons, and all of them had to make their way to Rome to claim and receive their kingly authority to reign. So they were they were accustomed with this, but Jesus' parable especially resembles the historical account of Herod Archelaus, a ruler despised by the Jews. His father, Herod the Great, along with the army, proclaimed him to be leader prior to receiving the right to reign from Caesar in Rome. And the Jewish historian, Josephus, describes the wickedness of this ruler. I won't go into the details, but he was an evil, evil man. In fact, he slew 3000 of his Jewish subjects at Passover. So the Jewish people hated him. And later when Archelaus traveled to Rome, a deputation of Jews who contested his promotion, followed after him. And they successfully persuaded Caesar to only allow him to rule over half of his father's kingdom, and only with the status of ethnarch, not the status of King. And ethnarch was another word for a governor. And he could become king if he lived up to the kingly traits that were necessary, but he never proved himself worthy. So that's the background here.

And also, it's, it's fascinating to me that the story of Archelaus, according to Josephus, all of that happened primarily in that region of Jericho, because Archelaus built a complex aqueduct system that brought water to that whole 14-mile valley right there in Jericho. And that's where this parable was told. And he also built a magnificent palace in Jericho, probably one of his summer homes. So you can see some of the parallels here between that situation, and the story that Jesus tells in his parable. However, I want to caution you, you don't ever want to press the allegory and a parable too far and try to make it fit some historical context. But there is a loose connection here. And it was, it's certainly important for us to see this because it will help us understand the lens through which the Jewish people would have heard what Jesus was saying.

Now I want to offer some broad observations about this parable. Number one, notice the timing. The Passover season was a reminder of God's deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. And so messianic expectations would always run high during the Passover season, hoping that another deliverance would occur. And certainly they were really excited because of this man, Jesus of Nazareth. They had seen what he could do, they had witnessed his miracles, some of them had even been ones that experienced his miracles.

Secondly, no one, I want you to think about this, no one believed that the kingdom here was some kind of just merely a spiritual kingdom that already existed. Verse 11, "They suppose that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately." Obviously, this is reference to the kingdom of Old Testament prophecy. And also they had no understanding that Jesus came first to seek and to save; they wanted a Messiah that would search and destroy.

Thirdly, no one believed that Israel, as some people believe today, would be permanently disenfranchised and replaced by a new entity called the church. And to be sure, no one believed that the physical and the material blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic and new covenants would somehow become nothing more than mere spiritual blessings to the church. Each of those covenants contain both spiritual as well as physical promises. And both of them coincided with one another, they existed together. In fact, if you go to Deuteronomy 30, verses one through 10, you will see that there are promises both for regeneration, which is the spiritual blessings that God would give to his people, and prosperity in the land, referring to the physical blessings.

Fourthly, the purpose of the parable, as we look at just a broad picture of what Jesus is saying, the purpose of the parable was to correct the erroneous supposition that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately, instead of appearing at a future time; after the nobleman his departure to gain authority, and then to return as king. Now, going from kind of the macro to a little bit more of the micro, I want you to notice some other details of this parable. And again, this will be with limited commentary, we will take up more of that, the next time we are together in part two.

Number one, the nobleman in verse 12, represents Christ who is not reigning, but rather he is going to travel to a quote, "distant country," referring to Heaven, to, quote, "receive a kingdom," in other words, to receive official authority to reign. And then after that, he returns to rule over that kingdom.

Secondly, with respect to the distant country, it must refer to heaven because Jesus' authority is linked to his resurrection and his ascension as we look at the scriptures. For example, in Matthew 28, in verse 18, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven, and on earth." Let me give you some examples of this that we see in Scripture. You will recall the four beasts of Daniel seven, that pictures the Gentile kingdoms that will reign upon the earth, rule the earth, until they are destroyed, ultimately, by the Messiah who will come from heaven after receiving dominion, glory and a kingdom from God, the Father, let me read that to you, Daniel seven, beginning in verse 13, "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, what like a son of man was coming. And 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, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Now, we also see the distant city, referring to heaven or the distant country, referring to heaven, in the tribulation passages that we read in Matthew 24, Jesus describes his second coming in verse 30, and following, "'And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.'"

Christ's earthly kingdom follows a heavenly scene, as well, after the Messiah has been at the right hand of God. We see that in Psalm 110 beginning in verse one, "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.' The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, 'Rule in the midst of Your enemies.' Likewise, in Revelation five, verses four through eight, Jesus describes how he will receive a scroll from the right hand of the Father. And in that scrolls contain the title deed to the earth and the divine judgments that will be meted out upon the ungodly. Those pre kingdom judgments during the time of the tribulation, meted out upon those who reject Christ and in that heavenly scene, the saints and the angels will sing, Revelation five four, 'Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain and purchase for God with Your blood men, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth," in verses nine and 10. Also in Acts three verse 21, we read, heaven must receive Jesus, "until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." So there you get a clear understanding of the nobleman going into heaven. He's receiving authority to be able to come back and to reign.

A third detail as we look at the parable, will you notice that Jesus describes essentially two classes of people, slaves that profess allegiance to the nobleman. In other words, loyal subjects. They are even said to be, quote, "his," that is Christ, in verses 13 and 14. And these, of course, represent all who profess Christ, to profess to be faithful servants of Christ. And as we will see, some truly were, and others truly were not. And then the second group of people are the citizens that hated him. This is primarily a reference to Israel, but it extends to all who hate Christ. And we know that Israel was united and their repudiation of the nobleman’s regal claim to be their Messiah King. Verse 14 again, "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" And we know that in a few days, they would scream, in John 19 verse 15, "'Away with Him, away with Him, crucify him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' And the chief priests answered, 'We have no king, but Caesar.'"

Fourthly, another detail of the parable, will you notice, that he gives an equal amount of money, 10 minas, which will be about three months wages, to each of the 10 slaves. And he commands each of them to, quote, "do business with us until I come back." And of course, a good and faithful steward would manage an estate well, and they would do something with the funds that were entrusted to them, something that would be profitable, something that would be productive, to make a profit on behalf of the nobleman. Will you also notice that each one of them accepted the responsibility. And we know that some of them were loyal, some of them were not. But the loyal ones represent those faithful slaves of Christ, true believers, those who love Christ and want to serve Him, those faithful in proclaiming and living out the gospel of Christ, that they have received so freely. Those that are faithful, and fulfilling the Great Commission, to go and to make disciples and to baptize and to teach others all that Christ is commanded. And the implication is that when the nobleman returns as king, every slave will have to give an account for what he has done with what he was given and be rewarded or punished accordingly.

A fifth detail; after receiving his kingdom authority from heaven, we see that the nobleman returns to a realm. You really can't have a kingdom apart from a realm; apart from a territory, apart from a domain with subjects living in that domain. And this represents Christ's second coming when he returns again in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords and establishes his millennial earthly kingdom that will last for 1000 years, as we're told in Revelation 20. I might add that the term "kingdom" in Hebrew, which is "malku", and "basileia," the word in Greek, includes three things if you look at their biblical usage, you will always see that there is a ruler that has power and authority. Secondly, there is a realm over which the ruler reigns. And then of course, there is rulership. The Kingdom involves the exercise of ruling. Now we get a sense of this in Revelation chapter one, at the very beginning of that magnificent book, beginning in verse four, "Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen." Once again, undeniable parallels of what Jesus is saying in this parable in Luke 19.

Another detail, will you notice, that the king's first regal action, when he comes to take his kingdom, is to judge his slaves who were entrusted with his money in his absence, and reward them according to their faithfulness or judge them. And of course, this represents the eternal rewards for believers, and of course, judgment for unbelievers. I'll talk more about that in a moment. But the application is that every believer should be faithful and making use of the gifts that God has given you; make full use of the opportunities that God has given you, and the resources that God has given you. And of course, those all vary. God doesn't expect us to be successful, he wants us to be faithful. And that's the point.

A seventh detail is that the reward for faithful stewardship of those gifts, those opportunities and resources given, focuses primarily on the authority to reign with the king over a specific region called cities. Later on, in Luke's gospel in chapter 22, beginning in verse 28, Jesus is speaking to his apostles here, he says, "'You are those who have stood by Me and My trials; and just as My father has granted Ma kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.'" Now, of course, this ruling and reigning with the king extends to all believers in his kingdom. First Corinthians six two Paul says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" And Second Timothy 2:12, "If we endure, we also will reign with Him." Revelation two beginning in verse 26, "He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him, I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter and brokens are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My father." Revelation five and verse 10, "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth."

Number eight, as we look at the details, to give you this picture of what Jesus is saying; when the nobleman returns as king, he is also going to execute judgment on both his disloyal slaves, those that profess to be his loyal servants, but weren't, referring to phony Christians, as well as the citizens that hated him. So you have two groups represented here that he is going to judge, the phony pretend Christians who have no love for Christ; it's all show. They're all sizzle and no steak. Churches are filled with them. In fact, we have so called churches today that do nothing more than cater to them. They entertain the goats. They do not shepherd the sheep. And then that judgment will also extend to all of Israel, that will be Daniel's 70th week of judgment during the time of the tribulation, as well as all other unbelievers who reject his sovereign authority to reign over them.

And then number nine, the interval of time think about this, the interval of time between the nobleman's departure and return as king, is unspecified. We don't know how long that will be. And certainly the message is clear, this requires every generation to be watchful. So, there you have a general summary of our Lord's parable. And now I want to examine it more carefully, look into some of the great truths that are there. And we will do so under three headings, we're just going to do the first one here for a few more minutes. Since we have a baptism today, I'm abbreviating all of this, we're gonna look at what the Lord says under three headings, number one, enemies of the king, number two loyal subjects of the king, and number three, disloyal subjects of the king.

So number one, let's look at enemies of the king, verse 14, once again, "'But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" Likewise in verse 27, "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.'" Now, unlike the historical drama of Archelaus, who was a wicked butcher, there is absolutely nothing about Jesus that indicates that the nobleman, that he's describing to be himself, that this nobleman did anything to anyone to warrant such hatred. And certainly this would apply to the Lord Jesus. The same was true of Israel's hatred of Jesus. I mean, he was compassionate, he was kind, they marveled at his teaching. He healed disease, everywhere he went, he fed them, he raised the dead. And we read in John 15, beginning of verse 24. Jesus saying, "They have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'They hated me, without a cause.'" And we read about this in Psalm 69. In that context, David is engulfed in the deep waters of despair and, and he's pleading with God to save him, to rescue him. And in that context, he portrays the reproach that he is experiencing from his enemies. And in verse four of Psalm 69, he says this, "Those who hate me without a cause, are more than the hairs of my head; those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies. What I did not steal, I then have to restore." Which was probably a proverb depicting injustice that they used in that day. Similarly, in Psalm 35, verse 19, we read, "Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me; nor let those who hate me without cause wink, maliciously." So the question comes up, and rightfully so, why would Israel hate Jesus so much? Moreover, let's extend it to the rest of the world. Why does the world hate Jesus like they do? Why do they hate Christ? Well, Jesus answers that in John seven and verse seven. There we read his words, "'The world hates me, because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.'" That's why they hated Christ. That's why they hate him today. I mean, if we're all honest, nobody likes being told that your deeds are evil, right? We don't like to fess up to anything. And all we have to do is look at our culture. I mean, people hate being exposed. As I was reading the headlines, even this last last week, our government and so many other people, they just don't want to admit they're wrong about anything. I've been reading about from these Nobel winners and so many great scientists, they are absolutely disproving this whole manmade global warming thing. It's just embarrassing. I mean, the whole thing has been a hoax. But you're not going to hear anybody say, you know, boy, we were wrong. You know, Al Gore is not going to say yeah, you know what, we really blew it in that movie. I mean, we missed some things. Sorry, folks, and the trillions of dollars that we have spent to pull this thing off that we were wrong. We need to back off. You're not going to hear that, people don't like to be exposed. They've proven now that these COVID lockdowns and the masking and the vaccine safety and its ability to do...all of those things were grossly exaggerated. So much of it's wrong but you're not going to hear anybody saying boy, yeah, you know, we really blew it here. The data is overwhelming that we made a mistake, whether it's abortion, whether it's the LGBTQ perversions, whether it's any of the woke stuff, nobody is going to say, my as we look at this thing playing out, it is an absolute disaster, we are wrong. So naturally, when Jesus comes along, or any preacher of the gospel, and says, Thus saith the Lord, and people in their heart are saying, no, no, they're gonna hate that message. But we need to remember that because of Adam's sin, the entire human race was plunged into sin. Romans five and verse 12. Every individual is conceived in a state of sin, a state of depravity, they're spiritually blind, they're spiritually dead. And apart from regenerating grace, as we look at Scripture, all that man is and all that man does is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. We're in desperate need of something beyond ourselves, not just forgiveness, but a righteousness that is not our own. That can only come through faith in Christ. But people don't want to hear that. The unsaved have no fear of God. Scripture says that they resent God's authority. They're at enmity with God. They walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, and on and on it goes. You will recall what Jesus told the Pharisees, John 8:44, that "You serve your father, the devil." I mean, that's not exactly a seeker sensitive, opening, right? He said, "'You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'" And we know according to First John, five 19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And Second Corinthians four and verse four, we read that "The god of this world," referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving." So unbelievers believe their own lies. They're hopelessly biased in their own favor. They don't want to hear from Jesus. They don't want to hear from the Word of God. So they conjure up their own phony religions create false gods. I was talking with some dear friends this last week who are familiar with what's going on in the military. And they told me that Odinism is really on the rise with a lot of military people. Odinism is a pre-Christian, pagan, polytheistic religion, involving the worship of the Norse and Germanic gods, especially Odin, who is the chief god. Folks, Satan doesn't care what you believe, as long as this is lie, right? And he's got a smorgasbord out there. You can choose whatever you want but people hate the truth. It's part of man's nature. And Jesus especially exposed all of that in apostate Judaism of the first century, where they had developed their own works righteousness system to somehow impress God, so that he would save them. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy. And moreover, he did not fit into their idea of what a Messiah should be. I mean, they, they basically wanted a, I don't know, a Barack Obama, they wanted somebody that was going to give them free stuff, right? And bring in some kind of a utopia, and of course, many other politicians, and, you know, they all kind of try to sell the same thing. And for the most part, we know that America hates biblical Christianity. In fact, I've written a book on that "Why America Hates Biblical Christianity." And fundamentally at the very core, it's because there are two evils in the world. Those evils are human depravity, and satanic deception. And they work together, so that when we hear the truth about who we are and what we need with respect to the Gospel, our immediate knee jerk response is one of disbelief and anger. So like the citizens in Jesus parable, Israel hated Jesus, and they were united in their rejection of his messianic claims. We do not want this man to reign over us. We have no king, but Caesar. And it's fascinating that despite their rejection of Jesus, both Israel and the whole world, you must understand, are ultimately under his sovereign authority. And for this reason, we are called citizens. You see, Jesus created the world. So many passages speak to that. Especially John one and verse three. So everyone is under his authority. And dear friends, please hear this. One day, each one of us will stand before Jesus, actually, we will bow before Jesus. And we will either do that in terror or we will do it in triumph. Philippians two, beginning in verse nine, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Scripture says, "God highly exalted Him," referring to Jesus, "and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Ah, but these enemies of mine in the parable, Jesus says those "who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them in my presence." What a chilling prediction. Make no mistake, dear friends, Jesus has the authority to judge his subjects, as well as to slay them. With respect to his authority, to judge, may I remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" And in verse 41, he says, "'Then He will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.'" In verse 46, we read, "'These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'" And I must also add, that when the King returns, He has promised to slay his enemies. Let me read this to you out of Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11, and with this, we will close this morning, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, He judges and wages war, His eyes are a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems; and he has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed and fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it, He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty, and on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.' Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, 'Come assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings in the flesh of commanders in the flesh, of mighty man and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them in the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves and small and great.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword, which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." There we have a picture of the battle of Armageddon. And yet there will be another judgment, the great white throne judgment where the Lord will cast away all of those who have rejected him. Yes, dear friends, the earthly kingdom has been delayed, but it has not been forfeited. The Lord our God is going to return and he is going to reward those who love and serve Him. And He will judge and slay those who don't. You say, well, yeah, I mean, this is what some people believe. But I don't believe that. Well, I understand. Only the Spirit of God can soften your heart to the truth. But may I remind you that there are over 300 prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled precisely as they were predicted, in fact, 27 prophecies were fulfilled on the day that Jesus died. If you know anything about statistics, you know that there is a very high probability. In fact, on the basis of the Word of God, there is an absolute certainty that what God has promised, will come to pass. So I plead with you if you don't know Christ, oh, dear friend, today is the day of salvation, humble yourself before Him. Trust in him as the only hope of your salvation, and for those of us who know and love him, let's celebrate Amen? Our king is coming, I will be so glad to get away from all of this. I told you how much I hate heat, I hate the world way more than I hate the heat, right? And I know you do, too. We have so much to celebrate. And we're going to do that here in a few minutes as we celebrate what Christ has done in the lives of three young women. Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we thank You for Your Word that brings such clarity to this chaotic world. Truly, it is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. I pray that you will bless each of us that know and love you. May we serve you all the more until that day, when we see you face to face. And Lord, for those that do not know you, especially those that pretend to know you, Oh, Lord, do your work of grace in their heart. Humble them that they might be saved. I ask in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.