Transcription
It's not going to be an effort. Let's stand right now. Only two verses to read tonight as we get into Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 tonight. And, um, we're looking at a message this evening titled, "We're Leaving Now." And boy, I hope that's prophetic. I hope we're leaving now, like, any minute. But, um, "We're Leaving Now," and you're going to see why it's, it's titled that, uh, starting tonight.
But, uh, Hebrews, uh, 12:1 and 2. I'll do verse one if you'll do verse two. By the way, I want to thank all of you. On Sunday, I was joking around, but it, it worked. I, I told you guys, I'll read verse one on Sunday and you read verse two, and read it like, uh, read it so, uh, Washington and Sacramento could hear it. And you did. And, uh, and they did. We, um, we know that they heard it. Uh, by the way, if you did, apparently God used Sunday's message. If you missed it, and it has been now on, uh, five different news publications, secular as well. So, some good, some bad, but all of the reporting was really accurate, actually. Even the bad reporting, I think. I'm not, I think it was either MSNBC or or NPR, I don't remember who it was. Even what they said, they were making fun of, uh, Christians voting. Wow. And I thought, that's awesome. Well, listen, the reason why they're making fun of Christians voting is because they're concerned that Christians might vote. Wow. All right, let's not disappoint them.
Verse one. Verse one. "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." And all God's people said, "Amen." You may be seated.
That is an awesome start to Hebrews chapter 12. Listen, imagine with me, based on our ID, "We're Leaving Now." Imagine with me, if you would, if you were planning a trip. We've all planned some sort of a trip. And there's natural questions. I don't know about you, but when we do a trip, uh, it's usually, uh, with our family members. Lisa and I just recently had a four-day trip for the first time in a long time that didn't include anybody else. And it was awesome. I mean, we love you, and we love our family, but boy, we loved being alone as well. It was like, great, right? But even in that kind of getaway, we would call it, think about this. If you are going to, imagine with me about planning a trip, these are maybe some of the things that at least our home is accustomed to. Questions like this: Where are we going? Where are we going? And how do we pack? Right? Because that matters. It, uh, I've learned that having a wife, it matters, guys. We just throw stuff into a black trash bag and, and we start driving. Who's going with us? Is a question that comes to my mind. And, um, how long will it take for us to get there? Is that tremendous question? And then, when do we leave? When are we leaving for this trip? And, um, it doesn't matter that no matter how much you've planned. Are you guys like us? We get in the car and we pull about three feet out of the driveway, and I pause. I've learned to pause. And I start going through the pre-flight checklist. Does everybody have their ID? Especially if we're flying, right? Do you have your ID? Okay. Do you have the tickets? Uh, do you have your wallet? I want to see it. Pull it. Pull that. Let me see your ID. Show me your wallet. Show me your prayers. Right? There's got to be proof. There's got to be evidence for us to keep going. And even still, after you, after you leave, it kind of looks like I'm doing the Macarena. Um, I'm checking my phone, checking my wallet. Where is my ID? Do I have my passport or the ticket or whatever it might be? And, um, and you leave, and you're on your journey. And, um, when we begin to do that, by the way, we say certain things like, before we jump in the car, now, go to the bathroom, right? Go to the bathroom. And, um, then let's go. And so we get going, and we've made all of the checks and all of the run-through the house, and this room, and that room, and we're ready to go. But sometimes it always feels like you're missing something.
And regarding the Christian life, we're going to be looking at chapter 12, and it is going to be very, very refreshing because God is going to lead us through this chapter whereby we are going to be called to check the bases and check the rooms and check the ID and make sure that everything is set because we're about to leave. And you say, "Well, Jack, what do you, what do you mean by that?" Well, I, I could mean several things by that. That we are about to leave. We're about to leave because, first of all, life is not long. Those of you who are young, you think life is just dragging on, it's taking forever. And then those of you who are caught up in the, the midlife of your world, it's like, man, things are just moving. Couldn't be better. And then you're older, or more mature, as I, and people like me, and time, correct me if I'm wrong, uh, my senior seniors, um, but you blink now, and a month goes by. And people will ask me, and I'm not joking, people will ask me a question, and I'll say, "Yeah, you know, we just did that a few days ago." "No, Pastor Jack, that was three weeks ago." It's not that I'm losing my mind. I, well, I could be losing my mind, but we're all living at such a fast pace and moving so much that we could lose our identity in Christ. We could forget what we have. We've got a passport into eternity. And, uh, it's, it's, it's think about the one that you have now in this world, or your ID. It allows you certain privileges. If that's true in a little world like this, imagine your eternal passport with God. Absolutely amazing.
And, uh, it's just thrilling to me. I was reminded today, putting this message together, that Lisa had told me this story years ago, and then I wound up calling her up and said, "Hey, tell me that story again. Is this right? Do I have this right?" So, check this out. You don't ever want to have this happen. So, you want to make sure that you're a Christian. So, Lisa, her and her family, they were going on vacation, and they were driving to, I think, uh, Yellowstone. And, um, she was little. My, my, uh, wife is, uh, the baby of seven. And then her mother died. And then so her dad married another woman, and she had two kids. So, Lisa quickly became the baby of nine kids. But, uh, the number five kid. Here's the deal about number five. Is they were driving, and they pulled over at a desert gas station somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. And, uh, they all had to go to the bathroom. And so they all did their, their duty. And, uh, when that was all done, they got in the car because they had to get to Yellowstone. And so they took off driving. And they were driving close to an hour when behind them, the sheriff, lights were on, and pulls them over. And, "What's going on? What's going on? What happened? What happened?" And the sheriff says, "You left your kid back at the gas station. He was in the bathroom." And you left. "Well, I thought you had him." "No, I thought you had him." And that was Jerry. He was a child number five. They left number five in the bathroom. And they thought everybody had everybody. Let's go. It's time to go. And they took off. And they, they would have gotten to Yellowstone, but thank God for that sheriff. But the, the gas station attendant, he saw what happened and took Jerry and set him on the counter and gave him a, a Pepsi or a Coke or whatever, and called the sheriff's department. And you got to, this is the description of the car. They left without him. And, could you imagine driving and saying, "We do, we have everybody?" "Yeah, we're all here." That would be the sad part is that the whole family looks around and says, "Yeah, we're all here."
But, listen, God doesn't work that way. God does not work that way. You will not be left behind. You will not be abandoned. You will not be, uh, left, uh, to yourself with the Lord. He's faithful. The Bible tells us that He's faithful to finish what He has started. And we'll look in more of that in the, in the next few weeks to come. But, uh, let's look at it this way, and by way of introduction, mark this down, uh, regarding the fact that, uh, Christ is, uh, speaking to us, that we always need to be ready. We need to be ready to leave. And that, at, at any moment. At any moment. On a more weighty side, uh, a friend of ours this week, um, appeared to have, out of nowhere, suddenly a stroke and was hospitalized. And in the exam, immediately they found out that there were numerous tumors on the brain. And within hours, within hours, within a couple of days, home on hospice, ready to die. When I say ready to die, he is ready to die. Loves the Lord Jesus. But it was so sudden. And you don't know. And so you need to be ready. You and I need to be ready.
But listen, that's in the context of death. You and I need to be ready to live life. And how much so? John chapter 14. You know it well. But this is part of our introduction to this wonderful chapter of Hebrews 12. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me." By the way, that one verse alone would get Jesus stoned by the Pharisees. That is illegal. You can't talk like that unless you are God. Verse one, John 14. Jesus equated Himself to be equal with God. That's what that verse means. If anybody ever challenges His deity. "In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Isn't that awesome? Jesus is saying, "Hey, guys, I'm going away back to My Father's house." And, "Oh, by the way, I'm going to go prepare a place for you." What a statement to make of assurance, of comfort. "I'm going back to heaven where I belong, where I've come from." And, "Oh, by the way, cheer up. I'm going to prepare a place for you." I like that. "And if I go away," verse three, "and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."
Now, yeah, you, you got to clap for that. Because listen, I got to tell you right now, there are people who, I, I assume they're born again, and I'm sure they're, you know, most of them are fine. But there's people who want to argue this verse. "Jesus never said He was going to take us to heaven. We're going to have to go through all of this stuff, the tribulation period. We're going to get killed here, beheaded, and all that stuff. And then He's going to come back, resurrect us, and we're going to live into the millennial kingdom." Listen, how is that the blessed hope? But I'll tell you this, you're going to have to take scissors and cut those three verses right out of John. Jesus said, "I'm going back to My Father's house." That's in heaven. That's not on Earth. And I'm going to prepare a place for you. And He's a contractor. He's, He's a contractor. It's going to be amazing. Yeah. By the way, the word "mansions," the translators, they don't, they scarcely know what to do with the Greek word that appears there that Jesus spoke. It means a dwelling place. It means, listen, collectively, but individually, you and I will have a dwelling place of incredible opulence, glory, and beauty. And we're all going to be together. I don't know how that's going to work out. I mean, I want my own room, at least. Somehow, we will not be disappointed. No one's going to be up there moaning about it. It's going to be amazing. And He says, "Where I'm going, there you will be."
Next verse. For comfort, this is, by the way, remember, location, location, location is everything. Revelation, the book of Revelation 5:8. It says, "Now when He had taken the scroll" – that's Jesus. Book of Revelation. "the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, representing the church, by the way, fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints." So John is looking into heaven in this grand vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And they sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Wow. Think of that. That's Gentile. It's certainly would include believing Jews, but that is a gigantic statement of Christ saving the Gentile nation or people or tongue or tribe that believe in Him. Verse 10. "And have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth." That's a reference to the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ when He returns in the second coming. John said, "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne." Can you imagine? "The living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands." That's how the English translators translate the Greek word, innumerable amounts. You cannot number them. And this is what was said with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." Your residence in heaven matters, and it's real, and it's coming. And the challenge to us is, are you ready to leave? Are you ready to live?
You must be ready to leave. All of God's children, I believe, are ready to leave. Listen, even if your life is messed up as a believer, and maybe you're, uh, got yourself off course, but you're a true born-again believer. The Bible calls the true born-again believer that's off course a backslider. People always want to debate about a backslider. They'll always write me letters. "I heard you say in a Wednesday night message that a backslider can go to heaven." Friends, you have to have gone forward to go back. Backsliding is only referring to a believer, not an nonbeliever. If you're an nonbeliever, you're lost. If you're a believer and you're not walking right with God, you're backslidden, and God is calling you to come back to your first love. But if the Lord were to come back for your life tonight, or for all of us together, you'd go to heaven. Your entrance into heaven is not based on your faithfulness. It's based on His faithfulness. Make sure you understand that. Make sure you're ready to go. Make sure you're ready to leave.
I'm going to give you this string of five arguments that you're going to want to write down. These are very, very important. Number one, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. This is very cool because there's five chapters in 1st. Are you guys listening? There's five chapters to 1 Thessalonians, and each of the chapters, there is a promise of Him coming to take us away without any warning. The doctrine of imminency, which is completely different than the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is after all of the great events of the seven-year tribulation period. You must know the difference. So, number one, listen to this and mark it down and circle it and put your initials. Or you can do this. This is what I do. Remember, I've told you guys before, rig your Bible. Rig it, meaning this, at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10, as you're there, get ready to write the next verse right there that we're going to quote. We're going to give all five of them. So just write the reference down so you only have to remember one of these addresses. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10. "Wait for His Son from heaven." Where's He coming from? Church, say it. Where's He coming from? Heaven. He's coming from heaven. And the Bible says, "Wait for Him." He's coming from heaven. This is not open for debate. He's coming from heaven. It's right in front of you. "Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the..." What's the word? See the word "wrath." It's not the word "hell." It's not the word, uh, uh, "flames." Abusocarer is gehenna. It's not. It has no reference to hell whatsoever. Do you know what the wrath is? The wrath is the indignation or the judgment of God upon the earth. Every Bible student, first year, knows the meaning of this. It's, do you believe it? Don't let some denominational persuasion mess you up and rob you of your joy. Listen, He has promised us. By the way, if you belong to Him, you are waiting for Him.
Listen, I, I, I don't want to belabor this, but I must. I must touch on this. Number one, children who are born into your family. Have you noticed how they take on certain attributes of Mom and Dad? I got news for you. We have an adopted child in our home. And I got to tell, in our family, and I got to tell you, I don't know how this, I don't know how this happens. God is so amazing that even the adopted child, from birth, right, has taken on attributes that are ours. And it's so cool now because, uh, our granddaughter will say something or do something, and that's exactly what I did when I was 12, 13, or 14 years old. It's just amazing. Why does that happen? Family. It's a family thing. And when we look at this, the beautiful announcement is this, that God is saying regarding these kids, "We will wait for His Son from heaven." We're in a state of waiting. Can we go now? Wait. Are we leaving soon? Wait. The believer is to be in an mood or an atmosphere of waiting, but it's an eager waiting. It's an active waiting. We are waiting upon the Lord. We have rest and peace in our souls. And the whole world around us could be on fire and going nuts, but on the inside, there's rest. You think about that for a moment. We're coming up on the most significant election in American history, no doubt, because of what's at stake and the particular worldviews of either candidate, socialism or constitution. Whatever the decision of that election comes out to be, I may or may not like the results, but I will have peace because, listen, my God is on His throne, and I'm waiting for Him. I may die of old age, but I'm waiting for Him.
Next verse. Next verse. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 19. Watch this. Every chapter's got a promise for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing. This is Paul speaking. "Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" Hey, Paul, what, what is it that you're living for? "That everybody I preach and minister to is ready to meet Christ when He comes." That's my joy. What a, if I, if the world, if the church in the world had pastors like that on the wall, where you're reading that, "What's your hope, Pastor?" "Oh, that the people I minister to, they're ready to meet the Lord." What a healthy church the church would be in our world.
1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Look at this. Verse 13. "May He establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His Saints." Listen, in John 14, that is a reference to the Rapture. But what about those believers who have died? Well, you're going to get the answer. Are you ready for it? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. "But I do not want you to be ignorant," the word means uninformed, "Brethren, concerning those who have died, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope." He's talking about believers who have died, and they were all excited about Christ coming back. So what happens to them? "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him" – that's those saints who sleep or died in Jesus. "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive." You know what blows my mind? Paul said, "we who are alive." He didn't say, "those who are alive." You got everybody? Get that? Yeah. Paul said, "But if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep or died in Jesus." When the word "sleep" here, it's the reference to the body, not the soul. Because the Bible tells us to be absent from the body is to be what? With the Lord. Present with the Lord. If you drop dead tonight in church, please don't. It's a big distraction. Uh, we're glad for you, but then we got to clean up the mess. Um, you're, you're instantly in glory. We may bury you at Forest Lawn, but you could care less. You're having a great time. You, listen, everybody we know in Jesus, they're having a great night tonight or a great day. Just, uh, remember that. So when He comes to pick up that generation that will see the Rapture, He's going to bring them with Him. So it says, verse 15, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede or go up, precede those who are asleep or dead. We're not going up before them. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout" – kind of sounds like John 14, right? "I'm coming back to pick you up" – "with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first." That's their bodies. "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up" – that's the word Rapture in Latin – "together with them in the clouds." Don't think it's going to have to happen on a cloudy day. It has nothing to do with the meteorological conditions. Jesus is going to bring His own cloud. It's a vast, vast host, angels, no doubt included, the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Listen to this, "And thus we shall always be with the Lord." Sounds like John 14. Therefore, argue, get angry, debate? No. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. He's coming back. And listen, we're going to meet those that died before us. Their bodies are going to come out of the ground, glorified. That's going to be awesome. We're going to meet them in the atmosphere. Christ is going to appear. He's going to take us to Himself, and He's going to fulfill John 14, and He's going to show us all the dwelling places He has built for us. And it's going to be awesome. And by the way, there's a lot we can't do it tonight, but there's a lot of awesome evidence in scripture that as we're there, the wrath of God is being poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world. And the Jewish people who are now filled with the Spirit are the evangelists of the world, starting with 144,000 men. They are men. I know it's tough to take in this day and age, but they're actually male men, men who are males, not male men, but men who are males. And they're evangelists, and they're virgins. They speak Hebrew and they proclaim the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit. 144,000 of them, 12,000 from each tribe. They're all listed. And when they preach, can you imagine? Can you imagine having 144,000 Paul the Apostles turned loose on the earth? I mean, one was enough. Imagine having 144,000 Billy Graham types let loose all at once. And I don't know if technology is going to be involved or not. Could you imagine if they all had a Facebook page or X? They won't need it, but wow. And then listen, chapter 5. Final one. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 9. We're in the book of Hebrews, by the way. Romans, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 12. We haven't even started yet. We're still in the introduction. "For God did not appoint us to what..." I'm going to let that settle in. God did not give you or give me or give us the church an appointment regarding His wrath. His wrath is for an unbelieving, Christ-rejecting world. This is amazing. You got to just highlight that in your Bible. "But to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." The word "to obtain salvation" is a reference to the totality of our redemption. Friends, listen up. The atonement of Christ, listen, saved your spirit. You were born again. And your soul, which is your psychology, the mind. Our minds are being renewed in the word of God. The only thing that's left is our bodies. The full doctrine of what is known as soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, will truly be complete when our bodies are transformed. When we are delivered from these bodies that get us in trouble. Wow. I can't wait. There's a lot to live for, everybody.
Are you ready? Book of Revelation 3:10. How excited can we get about this? I say, very. "Because you have kept My command to persevere." Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia, "Hang in there. You're going to be living at a really woke time of life. You're going to be living at a time when My word is going to be denied, and people will reject My name. But you have not rejected My word, and you have not rejected My name." And He tells them in verse 10, "Because you have kept My commandment to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon a part of the world, the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." Church family, this is good, good stuff and exciting for us to be thrilled about.
One more time. Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21:34. "Be careful," Jesus said, "because your hearts." He's talking about those in the last days, maybe these days, huh? "Be careful because your hearts could be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, or this life, and that day will close in on you unexpectedly like a trap." For it will come upon. Listen, if I just read verse 34 and said, "Good night, God bless, thanks for coming," you'd walk out here like, "Oh, man, yikes." Thank God there's a verse 35. He's describing people who are not careful are going to get sucked up into this world because they're going to be distracted. Dissipation is they're going to lose power. They're going to lose. It's not that they had. Listen, there's no understanding of verse 34 that they had salvation. It doesn't say that they lose their salvation. It just simply means that they're acquainted with the things of God. It doesn't mean that they, they, uh, trust Christ. They might be able to preach a sermon. They might be able to evangelize. They might be able to do miracles. Those things don't save an individual. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? And does He know you in that relationship? Like any other relationship, you would know it or not. Drunkenness. Those of the world are consumed by anxieties, worry regarding this life. And notice what He says, if that's going on in your life, "that day will close in on you unexpectedly like a trap." But look at verse 35. Thank God for it. "It will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth." Verse 36 gets sweeter. "Be always on the watch and pray that you may escape all all that is about to happen, that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
Um, right under on the screen, right below, uh, verse 36, the actual number 36. See the word "escape." You have a problem with that? No. Is everybody, you guys, you okay? See the word "escape." You Christians, you just want Jesus to come back so you escape everything. Yes. What are you crazy? I'd love for Him to come back now. I don't even want to see the election results. Really? Come on. Which one would you pick? Well, I'd kind of like to hang around, see how it goes, then go ahead and get all anxious about it. I'll see you later, 'cause let's go. I'm ready to leave. Are you ready to leave? Hey, where, where we're going, it is awesome. It is awesome. It's thrilling. God's goodness to us. And again, remember, if your heart and understanding is in heaven above, location, location, location is everything. You know, that's your real estate term. And, um, I don't understand California, although the weather, uh, it's a little too dry for me. I like hot, humid, sticky weather. This is too dry for me. But, um, it's not a bad day when you can see from the top of Strawberry Peak or Mount Baldy to San Clemente Island or even Catalina. Of course, it's almost a, what, 75 miles, maybe more, but the naked eye, beautiful, nice. Yeah, I understand all that. But the fact of the matter is, church, whatever this world can give us in this world now, the bottom line is location. This is a nice place to live. And I think in light of our politics, we put up with politics to live here. When you see a place that's 800 square feet, you know, in Corona del Mar, and it's $2.3 million, that tells you something. Can you imagine if man can do this on Earth, what has Jesus prepared for those? Can't wait. I, I can't wait either.
So here we go. Uh, "We're Leaving Now." Now that we're ready to say goodnight to you, um, it's, this, write it down if, if you would. "We're Leaving Now" is the title. But point number one to this in verse one is because we're leaving together. We are leaving together according to God. And it's because that there's a unity among God's people. The verse, or the argument starts out this way in verse one. It says, "Therefore we also." When he says "therefore," just write it in your notes. It means everything I just told you in chapter 11 applies to now, where we're going. All of the arguments of the great men and women of faith, and all the, the things that they saw in life, they saw God do, and all of the great works that God did through them. In light of all of that, here's the, here's the deal. Here's, here's the thing. The Old Testament saints, all those that you and I read about out there, there's going to be a grand reunion someday with the people of God. And I'm going to ask you to write this down. And I'm going to tell you right now, it's no secret. It's just never mentioned. There are three divisions of the people of God. Get ready to write this down. You'll be smarter than all of your Christian friends. There are three divisions to the, to the people of God from, from Genesis to Revelation. Number one, there are the Old Testament Saints. And they're amazing to me. I'll tell you why in a second. Number two, there's the Church Age Saints. Old Testament Saints, the Church Age Saints. And then the third group is what the Bible calls the Tribulation Saints. You got that? They're all called saints, by the way. Don't get all uppity about the word "saint." The word "saint" is simply those that are set aside, that God has set them aside to, to Himself. They're His. It doesn't mean that they walk on water or that the Vatican and said so. Has nothing to do with that stuff. Trusting in Jesus Christ as your crucified Savior and resurrected Lord. Trusting in Him to take away, listen, your sin, your guilt, your shame. He did all that for you to go free. You believe Him, you trust Him. In that, the Bible says, by the way, the word in Greek, if I remember it, is hagios. H-A-G-I-O-S. Okay? That's the word saint. Hagios. Maybe this is TMI, I don't know. We'll see. If you take the "I" out of the word hagios, H-A-G-O-S, that is the word for being condemned. Were we not condemned before we met the Great I Am? And the "I" is right in the middle of that word, hagios, which means one that is condemned to one that is a saint. Same person, by the way. All by putting your faith in Christ Jesus. Because remember, the strength is not in your faith. It's in the, it's in the object of your faith. But we're going to be United. And I want you to see that, uh, the word "since." This is, this is very important. Kai is the word "sense," and it means this: to be one with or united together, to accompany, to be included, to be the same as. God is going to bring His people together someday. And the, the verse told us in Hebrews 11, look back in your Bible, look at verse 39. Hebrews 11:39. This is who we're going to be united to because of Jesus. "And all these," having, He's talking about Old Testament Saints, "all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise." They weren't supposed to receive the promise. They couldn't receive the fulfillment of it all. "You had to come along. God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made complete or perfect apart from us." God is going to someday bring all of God's people together in heaven above. And that's a very exciting thing. They can't be, listen, the Old Testament Saints cannot be complete without us. Isn't it amazing? Some of you need to hear this tonight, feeling a feeling a little low, little down. First of all, can I say this? I don't know about you, but, um, I work hard in my life to not pay attention to my feelings. Amen. And I, I'm, I'm going to just, just try it. I'm going to encourage you to do the same. Don't take yourself so seriously. "I can't take it anymore. I'm going to kill myself." What's wrong? "My computer won't start." But my relationship, this sickness, this trial, this difficulty. Listen, I can't explain it except that God knows exactly what's best for us, and we're living it right now. And if it's so horrible, all I can tell you is that He's working something out that when that horrible situation is answered later, because the horrible situations in my past, God answered later. His answer is greater than the trouble you're going through now. Be patient. Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't, [Applause] stop. And we're going to be united with all of these greats that have gone before us. It's going to be tremendous.
And then the next thing is this. It continues on in verse one. "There is glory ahead of us." Glory. We read about that tonight in verse one. It goes on, uh, to tell us, "So we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Mark this down. We can have some fun with this before we say goodnight. And that is, first of all, the word "surround" or "surrounded." Look at this meaning according to the Bible. Remember, He's talking to us about Old Testament Saints. Comes out of chapter 11 and announces to us that we are connected with them in unity. And the Bible tells us that right here, right now. What time is it? It's 23 minutes after the hour. According to the scripture, you and I are surrounded right now by a horde of heaven's witnesses. There is, I, I don't want to upset anybody, but there is no evidence in the Bible that tells us that they can see us or talk to us or, and or you can talk to them. I know people meanwhile when they say, "I know that my good friend is looking down upon us." And that's emotion speaking. There's no theological evidence of that. Besides, if they were up there and they saw you, it wouldn't be heaven. Surrounded to be encompassed. Listen, when's the last time you heard the word "ensconced"? Man, that is an old English word, and it means wrapped up. Man, you are just to be wearing the same uniform as an identifier in battle. That's amazing. In battle, imagine being in battle and the confusion of war and battle. And according to this verse, there's a heavenly host that associates with us in unity, and all for the glory of God. You and I are living with an incredible end in sight. And right now, we're in a battle. Christians, just wake up. Listen, things could get really tough. We could all, I, we don't know what's going to happen. What if the dollar is replaced with a global currency? These things are no longer theoretical. There are people who want this to happen. What does that mean? They talked about it. They said to make all everyone this to start man over under a new government of man. Everybody will have the same wealth. All the wealth will come together, and then those great brilliant, whoever they are, will disseminate and distribute the wealth to all other human beings exactly the same. That's the plan. That is the World Economic Forum. And there's a lot of people that you know by name who are involved in that thing. What if that happens? Well, eventually, someday, I guess it's going to happen. But just know this, you, you and I are in a battle right now between falsehood and truth. And we're in the battle right now for people's souls. Let's be honest. We're in a battle for souls. Well, finally, that pastor said it, "They're after my soul." Of course, we're after your soul. We want you to meet Jesus so you don't go to hell. What's wrong with that? Maybe you don't want to go. You don't want to go. You don't want to go. But we'd like to. We, we'd like to have you to go. So I don't believe in hell. Well, you will. But it's interesting to me that this word "surrounded." We are surrounded by a heavenly host. The word implies militant. We're the ones, though. Listen, the old Puritans used to say it this way: there's the church triumphant and the church militant. That's what the Puritans used to say. What does that mean? That there's the church that finished their race and they went to heaven, and they're triumphant. And then all of us are down here still fighting the fight. We're in the battle. But the Bible says, "Cheer up. There's a heavenly host that's ahead of us. They made it, and you will too, in Christ." But I love the fact that it implies that we're in a battle, and our team, our army, wears the same uniform, and we can identify them in battle. I think that's happening today in our world. I'm personally believing that the way I see things going on in ministry, with people's lives, the word also means to recognize a fellow warrior or team member on the field. Can you imagine if, uh, two NFL teams went out onto the field and they didn't have uniforms on? Actually, let's be honest, if you're in the military, you're wearing a uniform. But if you're the Rams running around playing the Lions, you're wearing costumes. Now, let's be serious. I don't mean to demean anybody that plays in, in the, but it's a costume. What are you? "I'm a Ram." You're, it's a costume. It's not a uniform. A real uniform. A, listen, the police wear uniforms. The military wears uniforms. Okay? Somebody running around like a, a chief, that's a, that's a costume. I just, we just lost all of our NFL. But do you hear what I'm saying? It's so vitally important. We're in this entire battle, and we identify each other. Did you know that the Continental Army was so poor that Washington, by the way, Washington, George Washington, and John Hancock, both of them were writing checks to fund the army out of their own personal accounts because, honestly, because Congress couldn't come to an agreement. And nothing, some things never change. But they were paying for it themselves. John Hancock and George Washington were considered the two richest men in the colonies, and they were funding the war effort. But listen, there were those from Connecticut, they had a certain look. There were those from Virginia, they had a certain look. And there a lot of them were farmers that had no look at all. And I just read this the other day that Washington ordered that all the Continental Army soldiers take a green sprig. He called it, "Break off some green branch and stick it in your hat, and we'll know that you're on our side." That's how tough things were. So you would identify your brother in battle. Church family, we need to be able to identify our brothers and sisters in battle today like never before. Who's with us? Who's against us? Listen, even in a Wednesday night, not, listen, not all of us are friendly here tonight. That happens every week. We know this. There's cults that come here faithfully trying to pick people off on their way to the cars after the Bible study. Did you know that? And we've got people out there watching and like good sheepdogs taking care of the wolves. Think about it. If God's doing a work, you read your Bible. If God's doing a work, doesn't the enemy always show up? Say, "Whoa, God's really moving here." We can sense the Spirit of God when we pull in the parking lot. That's awesome, and we praise the Lord for that. You think Satan's okay with that? There's no way. But friends, there's a glory ahead of us that's coming. And listen, you need to make sure that you experience that glory. It's not, um, it's not theory. It's real. And I want to encourage you to get closer to Him, especially at a time like this. You know, if you choose tonight to, you say, "Well, Jack, I can't fast from food. I have a blood disorder." Whatever. That's great. Fast from technology. If you want to find out how addicted you are. Seriously. It's an actual addiction. The dopamine that a device brings. It's a, it's a scientific, scientific, neurological, not only fact, but it's a, it's now a great danger. Can you actually turn? Can you actually do without your device for 72 hours? What if, what if you spent that time and every time you had an urge to click or to go or to call or to see the text or what's happening, you took that and prayed, "Dear God, help me. I can't believe how hooked I am on looking at my screen." Pick it up and look. Set it down. Pick it up. I can't believe it. And because of that, Lord, I'm asking you right now. I'm going to pray for the church and for America and for my friends and for my family. And try and see what happens. Man up, woman up. It's not easy. You want to, it's not easy. The flesh will scream, but the spirit will rise within you. Listen, you will walk. I promise you. Do you know those little things? And we'll talk about it next week in detail. But you know those little things that trip you up, that ensnare you? The things everybody's got something that causes them if they're not careful. It's, it's like a little trip string. It's nothing monumental. It's not an elephant, but you always seem to have this, this moment where your temper flares up in this area, or you've got this bad thought or whatever. Did you know, listen, when you seek Him like that, you will leap for joy when that temptation comes, and you can laugh at it. Are you hearing me? Seriously. Listen, I promise you. I don't believe it. Of course, you don't believe it because you've never seen it happen in your life. I'm inviting you to get ready for glory. There's something about sensing the separation between your spirit and your body. Because right now, listen, normally our body is saying, "Hey, let's do this. Hey, let's do that." And then, listen, because the body starts to be neglected and it goes through its panic, and the spirit man within you, the born again you, begins to take its rightful place and say things like, "Body, be quiet. Body, sit down. Body, you're not eating." And you're all hungry and freaking out, and your body's going, "We're going to die." And, and try, I'm telling you, it's amazing. If you've never experienced this, it's like, "Wow, I didn't know there was so much of me inside." And you'll get in an argument with yourself. "I want this." "You can't have that." Just don't say it out loud in public. But listen, all this, all this is part of the Christian walk with Jesus. And listen, it's worth it because we're going to glory. He's uniting us by the truth of God, and He is bringing forth His glory out of our lives every day. It's His desire that you and I become more like Jesus. And that means sometimes we have really rough days. Things happen, and we say, "Lord, I'm trying to get close to You, and this stuff's happening." And the Lord says, "You said you wanted to get close to Me. This is how it happens." "Well, that's no fun." "Well, that's okay. That's what heaven's for. You want to have fun? Go to Disneyland. You want to go to heaven? Come to Jesus." You know, think about that.
Father, we pray tonight, Lord, that Your gospel truth would permeate our hearts. Father, it may be that all of us here are born again. We know it. Those who are born again, the Bible says, "Your Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Friends, listen, while we pray right now, uh, I don't know how else to say it but to just say it straight up. That verse in the Book of Romans, "His Spirit bears witness with our spirit," means that God testifies that He knows you, and you can testify that you know Him. And it's called a relationship. And listen, it's not that you, listen, you don't doubt it. You have it. The relationship is sometimes strong and sometimes not so strong, but you have it. "These things have been written that you might know that you have eternal life." Do you know that? The Bible says that.
Well, heads are bowed and eyes are closed tonight. Maybe you would say to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, "Lord Jesus, I'm coming to You tonight. I'm asking You to forgive me of my sins and to cause me tonight to receive Your forgiveness and Your grace and Your mercy and to wash away all my sins and to make me a brand new person. I choose tonight to follow You." Friends, if you've prayed that prayer tonight, you, you can go back to the prayer room to your left after this service, get a Bible, talk to pastors that will be back there. But if you meant that, Christ heard you. He died for you, and He rose again from the grave, and He's coming back. We could technically say any day now. Any day now. We may say that for a week. We may say that for a month. We might say it for 10 years, or for 35, or for 100 years. Any day now. But listen, it is a fact. He could come any day now. I pray He comes tonight, and I pray that you're ready.