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God's House Vandalized! - Matthew 24:15

Taught on | Topic: Prophecy | Keywords: end times, prophecy, Abomination of Desolation,

This single verse is pivotal in understanding prophecy. It highlights something that is both historic as well as prophetic. This verse, when tied to its historical roots in the prophet Daniel, will help you understand what John wrote in the book Revelation. But it offers more than just biblical information it provides practical inspiration when properly understood.

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8/27/2006
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God's House Vandalized!
Matthew 24:15
Skip Heitzig
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This single verse is pivotal in understanding prophecy. It highlights something that is both historic as well as prophetic. This verse, when tied to its historical roots in the prophet Daniel, will help you understand what John wrote in the book Revelation. But it offers more than just biblical information it provides practical inspiration when properly understood.
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Rumblings of War and the Prince of Peace

Rumblings of War and the Prince of Peace

For 2,000 years the church has awaited the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For 2,000 years men have tried to predict the exact moment of His return. Though no man knows the exact hour or even the day He will come back, there are signs to indicate His coming is near. In the teaching series Rumblings of War and the Prince of Peace, Skip Heitzig thoroughly expounds upon Matthew 24, explaining prophecy of what must take place and encouraging the church to always be ready.

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I. Destruction in the Past
A. The Appeal to Scripture
B. The Appeal to History

II. Devastation in the Future
A. The Temple Must Stand
B. The Testimony Must be Written

III. Decision in the Present

LIVING IT:
1. What is your own take on the issues in the Middle East today? Do they have any relationship to long standing issues of the past or do you see them as isolated issues?

2. Ponder this statement: It is impossible to accept Jesus Christ's authority without accepting the Scripture's authority. Why is this true or why not?

3. How do you make decisions in Life?
A. By whatever feels right at the time.
B. By what others tell you that you should do.
C. By what society around you does in similar situations.
D. By principles found in God's inerrant, authoritative & eternal Word.

Topic: Prophecy

Keywords: end times, prophecy, Abomination of Desolation,

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God's House Vandalized!

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Good morning. Hey, I got to take something back. Last week, I talked about Life magazine, and then People magazine, and then Us, and then Self. And I said, one of these days they're going to do a Me magazine. Well, I was handed a copy of Me magazine this week. It's here. And so now I've got to revise that whole illustration. Now I'm waiting for I magazine. That'll be the next one.

Hey, this Wednesday night, we do invite you out. It'll be a simple family night. I just would love to sit on a stool, share my heart with you, talk about vision, past, present, future, and have a great time.

This morning, if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24, and I'm going to apologize a little bit in advance for this. You see, verse 15 all the way through 20 is a paragraph. It's a solid string of thoughts. I was unable to make it through all of those verses. So today will be verse 15 only. It's just one of these passages that unless we graph some of these details, it's going to be ambiguous as we move on.

So it'll be a lot of foundation laying this morning in this single verse. There's only 24 words to this verse. But this is the verse we're going to look at only this morning. And we'll develop more as we go along. Let's have a word of prayer.

Lord, thank you for your grace that has brought us here this morning, because we believe that the word of God does the work of God in the lives of the people of God. And we just now give You our hearts and our minds. We pray, Lord, that You would speak, you would stimulate, Lord, our lives to holy, godly living, as we are challenged and instructed from Your word. These things we ask in the name of your son Jesus, amen.

Just a moment ago, we put our hands out to someone, and we shook the hand of a neighbor. We might have hugged them, but typically, we'll shake hands. But do you know where that custom of shaking hands originated from? It was an ancient custom where people would prove to one another that they're not holding a weapon in their hands,

It was originally a sign, not a fellowship or of trust, but of distrust. Show me your hand. Let me grab your hand. Let me see you're not holding a sword or a spear. It means something different today, of course. It's a warm gesture. It's one of fellowship. The right hand of fellowship it's called.

Back in September of 1993, one of the world's most famous handshakes in modern history took place on the White House lawn between former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and former Chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat. They shook hands right there in the White House on international news. It was a gesture of friendship. It was this hope that said there could be peace in the Middle East.

In fact, Prime Minister Rabin on that day said, enough of tears. Enough of blood. Today, we're going to give peace a chance. Great words. Great gesture.

But do you know the story? How long did that peace back in '93 last? Not even a week. Immediately as they heard about it in the Gaza Strip, people took to the streets rioting, saying, never will we have peace with Israel. Iran issued a statement that week, not surprisingly, calling that handshake a treacherous step. So I guess what Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel, once said is correct. You can't shake hands when you have a clenched fist.

So question-- will there ever be peace over in the Middle East? Really, that is the question of modern times. That has been the question of late. And some people would say, no, there can never be peace in the Middle East unless-- unless a strong peace treaty fortified by a strong military leader does it.

A few years ago, an Israeli went on record. I have the quote. He said, I will trust the devil if he can bring peace to the Middle East. That's a frightening thing to say. Especially since Jesus said, I have come in my Father's name, and you didn't receive me. Another will come in His name, Him you will receive.

OK, let's shift from shaking hands to a show of hands. Show of hands-- how many here have ever been broken into or vandalized. Raise your hands up. OK, now keep those hands up, and just look around at how many. That's amazing. You can put your hands down.

I noticed some of you hung your head during that time, and you didn't raise your hand. Maybe you were the ones that broke into--

[LAUGHTER]

Low blow. Strike that.

The first time I was broken into, I was single, living in an apartment. Somebody broke into my apartment and stole my 12-string guitar.

Ooh.

Yeah. Second time I was vandalized was in a house up here in the Northeast Heights. Somebody broke into my garage and stole two mountain bikes. Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

Third time I was vandalized was in Southern California. Not long ago, somebody pulled a prank on my son's car. It went a little too far, damaged the car, damaged our home. Now, those that raised their hands and said it happened to us, how did you feel when you came home?

Violated.

Violated. You felt vulnerable. You felt perhaps sick to your stomach. People have told me that. It was especially hard when the police on one of those occasions said, it seems, by the nature of this crime, that this was done by somebody that knows you. So the thought is, you mean somebody that I shook hands with turned around and use those hands to vandalize?

Well, Jesus, on a couple of occasions, referred to the temple in Jerusalem as my Father's house. And still today, the Jews in Israel called the Temple Mount [NON-ENGLISH] or the mountain of the house, because that was where the house of God stood. That's what they call it.

In verse 15, Jesus predicts a time when his father's house, the temple, will be vandalized. Now, we're going to read that this morning. We're going to look at verse 15. I know it ties to more, and we'll look at that more next week.

But I have a question. Did God ever give us a hint from something that happened historically in the past as a model or template for something that will happen in the future? Remember, Solomon once said, there's nothing new under the sun. Does that also apply to prophecy? That's what we want to see in part this morning. So let's look at Matthew chapter 24, the 15th verse.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Those are 24 English words, 20 words in the original language of Greek. But in that single verse, there are three slices of revelation.

One, Jesus points to the past, the destructions of the past. And then he turns, and looks to the devastation that is coming in the future, while at the same time calling for a decision to be made in the present. Those are the three things we're going to look at this morning.

First of all, Jesus is obviously going back. Because he says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, he's going back and appealing to scripture the Daniel wrote. It's interesting to me that Jesus called Daniel a prophet. I say it's interesting because, today, there is a lot of liberal scholars that say Daniel wasn't a prophet. He was a poser.

Nobody could write in advance the things that Daniel predicted would happen because the sheer odds of that happening, we just don't buy. So there must have been a guy who wrote after all those things were fulfilled, but just said he wrote about it before. So they would call him Daniel the poser. Jesus referred to him as Daniel the prophet, thus authenticating the scripture that Daniel wrote as being the word of God.

Which brings up this issue, and it's very important. What did Jesus think about the Bible? What did Jesus think about Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, all of those books that were penned? Do you think Jesus thought, well, there's just a bunch of old guys that wrote their opinions, and they thought they heard from God. But they're contradictory, and irrelevant, and outdated. Hardly.

Jesus Christ said this in Matthew 5. Don't think that I've come to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy. I came to fulfill. And assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass away, not one jot, not one tittle will pass from the law till all these things are fulfilled. That's what He believed about the Bible.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He didn't say, there is this verse of scripture. I hope it's right. He said, it is written. That's authoritative.

In John chapter 10, He spoke about the revelation given through David. And He said, and the scripture cannot be broken. So Jesus didn't look back at the Old Testament Bible and say, well, it's mystical, and it's mythical, and it's allegorical. He said it's literal, it's historical, and it's reliable.

Several examples of this-- Matthew chapter 19, verse 4 and 5, Jesus affirms the creation account in Genesis with Adam and Eve. In Matthew 24 verse 37 through 39, Jesus affirms a worldwide flood during the time of Noah. In John chapter 6, Jesus speaks of manna coming down from Heaven. He speaks about Sodom and Gomorrah event as a literal event. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks about a guy by the name of Jonah swallowed by a great fish. That's what Jesus said about the Bible.

Here's my point. You cannot take Jesus seriously unless you take the Bible seriously. It is nonsense for someone to say, yeah, Jesus was cool. I like what he had to say. All those red letters are neat. But I don't believe the rest of what all those guys wrote about.

You cannot separate the two. Because you can't say, I embrace Jesus, who embraced all of those things that I deny. You can't do it. Because if Jesus was wrong about Jonah, and Jesus was wrong about the flood, and Jesus was wrong about creation, how can you trust him for anything else?

How are you going to trust him when he says, I can get you from Earth all the way to Heaven if you just trust me? How? You can't.

And if you try to live that way without the authority of the Bible, well, you're going to be like that little village over in Germany. They had a central clock tower called by the Germans glockenspiel. And everybody would set their time by the glockenspiel, the central clock in the middle of town.

Well, one day that glass that housed the clock was broken. And somebody looked at his watch as he walked by, and he said, you know, I think that clock must be wrong. And he changed the glockenspiel. An hour later, a gal walked by and said, hey, my watch is different from that clock. I think that clock must be wrong, and she changed it, and somebody else changed it, and later on, somebody else changed it.

So it was constantly changing, thus, eventually, no one knew the correct time. What happened? The clock lost authority. People didn't know the future. The Bible, the word of God, is appealed to by Jesus as reliable.

So Jesus, looking back at the destruction of the past, which I'll explain in a moment, makes an appeal to scripture. Second, He makes an appeal to history. Notice what He calls it. When you see the abomination of desolation-- what is that?

Well, the abomination of desolation is a term. It's a technical, Old Testament term spoken of by Daniel in three places Daniel chapter 11 verse 31, Daniel chapter 12 verse 11, and Daniel 9 verse 27 all have language about the abomination of desolation.

What does it mean? Well, the word abomination, [NON-ENGLISH] in Greek, originally means to be nauseated, sick to your stomach. Now, that was interesting to me because I did read, and I've heard accounts of people who said, when I was vandalized, and I saw my house, it made me sick to my stomach.

Well, God says there is an event called the abomination, this nauseating event that causes desolation. Something that would happen to God's house that would be an abomination-- usually that refers in the Old Testament to some idolatry, some pagan idolatrous event-- that brings a desolation. In other words, it will empty the temple of true worshipers and make it desolate.

When Daniel spoke about the abomination of desolation from his vantage point, hundreds, thousands of years ago, all of that was yet future to him. He said, there's coming an event called the abomination of desolation, where he said this. The taking away of the daily sacrifices will occur in Jerusalem. That means in the temple, they would have sacrifices. Some abominable event is going to happen that causes the sacrifices to stop, and it'll be replaced by something idolatrous and nauseating.

OK. Did you know that's already happened? It has once. It's going to happen again. But let me tell you the history. Because when Jesus said these words, the disciples, being Jews, knowing their history, would have thought back to this.

A long time ago, there was a guy named Alexander-- thought he was really great.

[LAUGHTER]

He conquered the world. He had a dream that was unfulfilled. His dream was to take the entire conquered world and make them Greek in speech, and Greek and culture, Greek and custom. That part of his dream, he never accomplished. He conquered the world, but he died at age 31, I believe, in Babylon.

And when he died, he decided he would give his four commanding generals control over his world. They divided it up. Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Seleucus. Those are the names of his four generals who took portions of Alexander's empire. That fourth guy, Seleucus, controlled Syria and what was called then Asia.

Now, a whole host of kings came from Seleucus called the Seleucid dynasty or the Syrian dynasty. The eighth Seleucid king was a guy by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, or actually, Antiochus IV, brother of Cleopatra. He thought, I'm going to do what Alexander didn't do. I'm going to finish the task. I'm going to make everyone this beautiful Greek culture, and I'm going to make sure it happens in my neck of the woods.

Well, he gave himself a name. He called himself-- ready? Theos Antiochus Theos Epiphanius, which means, Antiochus the illustrious one, God incarnate. I am God in human flesh. He thought he was the embodiment of Zeus.

Well, he forced people into this system where he was God. But there was one group of people that he could not convince. And who were they? The Jews. When he found out that the people in Jerusalem would not bow to his system, he decided to take 20,000 Syrian troops, surround the city of Jerusalem. He killed 80,000 Jews. He took 40,000 of them captive.

He marched into the temple, stopped the daily sacrifices in Jerusalem, took them away. Dedicated the temple to Zeus. He is now, he said, as the embodiment of Zeus, to be worshipped in Zeus, put up a huge image in the temple, in the holy place, of Zeus.

And then Antiochus took a pig, had its slaughtered on the altar of sacrifice. If you know anything about Judaism, there is one animal they don't handle well, and that's the swine. He knew that. He took a pig and sacrificed it, force the Jewish priest to eat pork, took the juices of the pig, spread them all over the temple, and took the swine's blood, and put it all over the walls of that holy place.

When that happened, the Jews of that era thought of what Daniel wrote about in chapter 11 verse 31, and they said, this is it. This is the abomination that causes desolation. It emptied the temple of all of its true worshipers. And now it's this abominable, pagan place. That happened in 168 BC. Done. It's historic. It was the abomination that causes desolation.

OK, so Jesus is reaching back, appealing to Daniel the prophet, speaking about a finished historical event. But after talking about the destruction of the past, he really is talking about devastation in the future. Because notice the verse is cast more in the present tense or in the future tense.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the house top not go down to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not go back to keep his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

That's future. He's taking a past event and saying, OK, boys, listen, disciples, Jewish men, my followers, listen. This event did happen once, but you know what? It's going to happen again. What happened in the past in a historic sense is a template for what will happen in a prophetic sense. The destruction of the past will be a model for the devastation of the future.

Do you follow so far? OK, now, let me complicate it just a little bit. When Daniel predicted the abomination of desolation, he predicted two, not one. And how do we know this? Well, Daniel chapter 11, the details are such that you could take history under Antiochus Epiphanes, and you could match up piece after piece after piece. It's pretty obvious that that's what it was speaking about in Daniel 11.

However, in Daniel chapter 9 verse 27, something we'll look at more in depth next week to get it, it speaks of something that will happen during that last period of years, a seven-year period, called the 70th week of Daniel. That is yet another event.

So here's Jesus-- let's get it all back in perspective-- standing on the Mount of Olives, saying, Daniel spoke about an abomination of desolation. You guys know what already happened under Antiochus. It's going to happen again. It's going to be far worse in the future.

Now, just in case you're thinking, all right, what Jesus said was going to happen happened in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem-- it's not accurate. What happened in 70 AD, remember, Jesus said this temple is coming down? It happened in 70 AD. That was the destruction of the temple. That was not an abomination of any kind of an image that desolated the temple of its worship. It was a destruction of the temple.

And no, this is not a modern invention or modern philosophy in the last 100 years by a group of dispensationalists. I don't know if you've ever heard any of that, but there is this idea that in the last 100 years, a guy named Darby and a few others came up with this new, weird theology of the rapture of the church, and of the Antichrist, and the great tribulation. And they tried to make it a modern invention. It is not.

You could go all the way back to the second century and read Irenaeus, or to the third century, and read Hillary, or to the 16th century, and read Ferris, and all of these historical theologians will tell you that what Jesus said in Matthew 24 verse 15 is yet to come and will happen with a personal Antichrist to be introduced on the scene just before the end of the world. So it has historic precedent. Jesus is taking something from the past and saying it's going to happen in the future.

OK. That means something now to us. That means that a temple must be standing for verse 15 to happen in the future. How do we know that? Because Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet-- here it is-- standing in the holy place. If you know about the temple, you know that the antechamber to the Holy of Holies was called the holy place. And in the New Testament, the term here [NON-ENGLISH] holy topography has to do with that temple. There has to be a temple.

So here's Jesus predicting an event that's going to come. They already know about it. But He's looking to the future, and He said, the temple's coming down. He already said that. Not one stone is going to be left upon another.

But there's going to be a future event called the abomination of desolation. And when you see it taking place in the holy place, means there's gotta be a temple. Well, we know that's true, because we've read the rest of the New Testament. And Paul added more information. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, fourth verse, he predicts a coming man of sin, the son of perdition, the Antichrist-- and this is Paul's language-- "who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God."

You go, whoa. That sounds a lot like what Antiochus Epiphanes did, but on a bigger scale. This is worldwide. Exactly. That's Paul.

And then John gives us more information. You read the Book of Revelation. He talks about a world ruler who makes a collaborative community of 10 nations on the Earth. He sets himself up as that world monarch. He brings in another cohort called the false prophet. And in symbolic language, Revelation 13, "and he deceives those who dwell on the earth by signs which was granted him to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the Earth to make an image to the beast. He was granted power to give breath to the image, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And a mark was given."

And everyone, it says, on the face of the Earth, rich, poor, small, great, was forced to take a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. In other words, a guy is coming down the pike-- man of sin, son of perdition, Antichrist, you choose the term. There's over 50. This guy is going to reenact in a temple in Jerusalem What Antiochus Epiphanes did in 168 BC.

Question. How many of here have ever been to Israel? Raise your hands. OK, great. That means more of you gotta come next time. You're thinking, not on your life am I going to Israel.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, if you were there, you remember that when you stand on the Mount of Olives and you look toward Jerusalem, it's breathtaking. And you see this huge, flat, 36-acre complex known as the Temple Mount. And there's a golden dome atop of that mount. It not a temple. It's a mosque of sorts.

It's where the Muslims believed Mohammed ascended into heaven, received the Quran, and came back down to the Earth. So it's a holy place to the Muslims. It's also holy to the Jews because the temple once stood there. It's holy to the Christians because part of that same mound to the north is called Calvary, where Jesus died. So it's the most contested, volatile, 36-acre parcel on Earth. But there's no temple on it yet.

Now, did you know that right now in Jerusalem, there's an outfit called the Temple institute. They're making plans to build the temple. Now, they've been doing this for years. But they've got blueprints, electrical diagrams, footings, where they would dig. Everything's there.

They have a Sanhedrin, they call it, a ruling body of elders. They've trained hundreds of young people in the Talmudic schools how to do temple sacrifices, et cetera. They believe it is their God-given right to build the temple on the Temple Mount, and they will do it as soon as they're allowed.

They have built the menorah for the temple. They've built several of the artifacts that will go in the temple. They're ready. They're ready to do exactly what they believe is their right to do.

Now, of course, if you look on the other side, there is a group called Muslims who would not allow that to happen. You just can't march up to the Temple Mount and say, excuse me, we'd like to build a temple here. That would mean World War III potentially. They wouldn't say, sure, go ahead bulldoze the Dome of the Rock, and build your temple. Not going to happen.

Now, let's complicate the issue a little further. Today, on the Temple Mount, the Muslim authorities have recently shut down any Israeli archeological digs under or immediately around the Temple Mount. But instead, they themselves are excavating underneath the Jewish Temple Mount, which is now under Muslim control. And they want to build, they say, underground mosques all underneath the Temple Mount.

What they'd love to do is erase all evidence of a Jewish past completely. They've already bulldozed and taken out 13,000 tons of debris. Think of all the artifacts from the first and second temple period they've just tossed. And they're building these mosques underneath in the area of Solomon's stables today.

Well, that has caused a problem, not only in Israel with the Jewish archeologists who are up in arms. But it's caused a weakening of the infrastructure of the Temple Mount. And authorities say it could collapse at any moment.

Which brings us to another issue. Now, it'll all tie together. Hold on just a moment. Where did the temple stand originally? Answer. Nobody knows. It was so totally destroyed, not one stone was left upon another. There's still debate as to where that temple originally stood.

A lot of people will say, well, it was right there where that golden Dome of the Rock is. Others would say, can't be. Doesn't line up with the rest of the topography.

A few years ago, Dr. Asher Kaufman, who was a physics professor at Hebrew University, did a number of studies. He says, I believe conclusively I can show you the foundation stones of the temple the foundation outcroppings, that the original temple was 26 meters to the north of the present day Muslim Dome of the Rock.

So this is what it means. Technically-- I know not politically yet. But technically, you could have a Jewish temple at the same time a Muslim shrine on the same piece of real estate, just removed 26 meters.

So you've got this mess going down with the excavations of part of the Temple Mount ready to fall. You've got that golden Dome of the Rock. And then you have this potential temple that is being ready to be built. Muslims don't want it.

But could it be that things get so bad in the Middle East coming up, so bad between Jews and Arabs, that somebody is going to say, look, you guys, I got a plan for a peaceful solution. Things are going to have to heat up for that to happen.

But I bring this up because there is an interesting prophecy in Revelation chapter 11, when John is given a measuring stick by an angel to measure the future temple in Jerusalem. But listen to it. The angel said to me, but exclude the outer court. Do not measure it because it has been given to the Gentiles to trample it for 42 months, or 3 and 1/2 years.

Now, if you did build the temple where Kaufman says it stood, and you go 26 meters to the south with the Dome of the Rock is? That places it in the outer court, or the court of the Gentiles. It's just interesting enough to go, hmm. Cool. Wow. It's happening, especially when you realize when John wrote those words in Revelation, it was 95 AD. The temple in Jerusalem had been bulldozed for 25 years. There was no temple. He sees another temple, a future building.

Then look at the tail end of verse 15. Whoever reads, let him understand. Some versions of the Bible have those letters in red, as if Jesus spoke them. Some have them in black and in parentheses as if it's an annotation by Matthew. Doesn't matter either way.

Here's the point. It reinforces the fact that Jesus is not giving this warning to those disciples living at that time or that generation at all, but to a future generation who will not hear, but read in print, something written down in prophetic scripture, and they'll know what to do. And Jesus tells them what to do in the next few versus, which we'll look at next week.

So destruction from the past is a template for devastation in the future. But it brings us to a brief, but third final point, and that is a decision in the present. I draw your attention to the first word of verse 15-- "therefore." And you know the rule by now. Whenever there's a "therefore," you find out what it's there for.

[LAUGHTER]

It's there for a very important reason. It is to take a truth or a piece of information and make personal application. Because you know this is going to happen, therefore, this is what you do because of it.

Here's my point. In any section of biblical truth, we are confronted with a therefore, a point of decision. What am I going to do with this truth. For instance, the book of Romans. For 11 chapters, Paul lays the foundation of here's the wrath of God. Here's the grace of God. Here's the plan of God. Here's the will of God. That's 11 chapters.

Chapter 12, he turns a corner. And he says, I beg you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto God. In other words, I gave you 11 chapters to build a foundation so that your response to that, the therefore, is you give yourselves wholly to God.

You say, OK, well, then, how does verse 15 apply to me? I'm not looking for the Antichrist or for the abomination of desolation. Glad you asked. And here it is. I see what Daniel predicted. What Daniel predicted happened accurately historically. I hear what Jesus predicted. And though it hasn't happened yet, I see enough stuff on the horizon and right now contemporaneously that it could happen soon.

Therefore, therefore, I must decide if I'm going to let biblical truth and biblical principles govern my life or not. Therefore, I'm going to have to decide if I'm willing to trust Jesus Christ and what he said about the future or not. And here's my question to you in closing. A God this accurate and this detailed, can you trust with your life? A God who spoke in such incredible, minute detail, predictive prophecy, and it happened, can you trust with your job, with your spouse, with your children, with your financial situation?

Don't you find it a bit ironic that we Christians sometimes can trust God so much for prophecy, but not for today? God's going to get me to heaven. Prophecy's being fulfilled. I don't think I'm going to make it this week.

[LAUGHTER]

That's kind of weird. If he can control that, the rest is peanuts, duck soup, easy, breezy.

We got to be like a little boy riding that train. It's a summer evening. The train was packed. Thunderheads on the horizon were looming, soon to turn into a violent storm, with rain, and lightning, and thunder. And everybody aboard that train was a little jittery, white-knuckling all the way.

But there was one little boy on that train, calm, whistling, playing with his toys. And a man noticed him and said, we're all nervous because of the weather. You don't seem to be nervous. Don't you think you ought to be? The little boy said, nah, my daddy's the engineer of this train.

It's a good lesson we can learn from that little boy. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea, problems in Europe, Homeland Security elevates-- yellow, orange, red. Harder to fly. There might be cells of terrorists in our country. The borders are weak.

Should we fret? Nah. Our dad's the engineer. Not only did he know it was going to happen, He told us it was going to happen. He wrote about it. We have it right here.

So we can go not [GASPS] but [SIGHS]. God's good. He's got it all in control. And friend, if you haven't trusted Jesus Christ personally, I know of no better time to do it than today. Let's pray.

Our Father, we're amazed at your word. We're amazed at your spirit. The words that were spoken aren't just words that came to one's mind at the time. They're very carefully chosen, inspired. So we see these things happening, either already being fulfilled, or having been fulfilled, or lining up even as we speak.

It brings us to the therefore. Therefore, God's word is accurate. Therefore, those principles will govern my life. Therefore, I must trust a Savior who knows all, and can get me from Earth to Heaven, and take care of me on the way.

Lord, we finally want to pray for anyone who has come this morning, who has not yet personally received Jesus Christ into their lives. They don't know of a time where they consciously, deliberately said to you, Jesus, be my Savior. Be my Lord. I give you my life.

They may be wonderful people, churchgoing people, stalwart people. But you've brought them here this morning to become more than that, not just to have them come to church, but have them come to Christ. We pray that will happen.

And as we're praying right now, if you've gathered with us this morning, and maybe you've never made a personal commitment to Christ-- you might be religious. You might be churchgoing. But you've never personally said, Lord, I need you. I want you to be my Savior, my Lord. I'm giving You my life. Or maybe you made a commitment like that years ago, and it was just something in the passing of childhood or teen years, but it doesn't reflect in your life today.

It has to be your choice. God will never force you. But if you are willing to make that commitment to Christ today, then I want you as we're praying right now to lift your hand up in the air, and I'll acknowledge that hand, and I'll pray for you as we close. Lift it up so I can see it. You're saying, pray for me, Skip. I'm going to give my life to Christ this morning.

God bless you, sir. Right over there. Right up here in the front. Anybody else? Raise it up so I can see it. Right there in the middle. Couple of you right there in the same row. In the back. Way in the back. On the side.

Anybody in the balcony? Raise the hand up. Don't be shy. It's just us. Anybody else in the family room? If you're over in the hub, and you're watching you raise your hub-- your hub. You raise your hand in the hub.

[LAUGHTER]

And somebody there will notice it. Father, I thank You for each person here who's just been honest enough with that raised hand to say, I need Jesus. And Lord, we know You're so willing to reach out to them and save them. We pray. Father, that as they come to Christ, You'd fill them with hope and a level of peace no matter what they're going through that they've never known before. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand.

Now, we're going to sing a final song you're going to be dismissed in a minute, but not yet. But as we sing this final song, if you are one of the folks that raised their hands-- some of you are way in the back, on the sides, in the middle of a row-- doesn't matter. Wherever you were, I'm going to ask you to do something else now.

I'm going to ask you to find the nearest aisle. Come out of where you're standing, and come up to the front where I'm going to lead you in a prayer publicly to receive Jesus as your Savior. If you raised your hand or maybe you almost did, and you thought, oh, he closed it off just in the nick of time. I don't have to do it.

If God is speaking to your heart to do this, you come and join those who raised their hands. Come right now, find an aisle, and just stand right up in the front, right up here. We'll say a word with you.

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(SINGING)

I can't help but imagine that some of those out there watching, these who have come up here, are thinking, I need to do that. I really need to do that. I know in my heart I should be joining them.

Great. We'll give you time. Come on down. It's for you. We'll wait for you.

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(SINGING)

We're all clapping as you came forward. It's because we know what's happening to you right now inside. We've made that decision ourselves. We know what's in store for you. And we're rejoicing with the angels in Heaven, whom the Bible says rejoice when just one person comes to Christ. So all of you constitutes a heavenly party. That's why we're so excited.

[APPLAUSE]

Now, I'd like to leave you in a word of prayer. And what I'm going to ask you to do is you're going to be the ones that ask Jesus into your heart. I'm just going to say a prayer out loud, and I'd like you to say it out loud after me.

Here's why. It's a means by which you can ask Christ to come in your life personally. You mean it from your heart, and God will hear that prayer. He will come inside, and He will change your life. So let's pray out loud together after me.

Lord, I give you my life.

Lord, I give you my life.

I know I'm a sinner.

I know I'm a sinner.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

I believe Jesus--

I believe Jesus--

--died on the cross--

--died on the cross--

--and rose from the dead--

--and rose from the dead--

--for me personally.

--for me personally.

I turn from my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I turn to you.

I turn to you.

As my Savior--

As my Savior--

--as my Lord--

--as my Lord--

--help me--

--help me

--to live for you--

--to live for you--

--today and every day.

--today and every day.

In Jesus' name--

In Jesus' name--

--amen.

--amen.

Hey, congratulations.

[APPLAUSE]

Congratulations and welcome to God's family. You're in God's family now. You're our brother. You're our sister. And we're thrilled that you have come.

And right over here, Neil has his Bible raised. If you'd all follow Neil to our prayer room right here, we want to give you something and explain what to do now in following Christ. Let's all go. God bless you guys.

Additional Messages in this Series

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Date Title   Watch Listen Notes Share Save Buy
10/22/2006
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Caught in the Act!
Matthew 24:45-51
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Every parent remembers walking into their child's room catching them in some act either good or bad. The youngster wasn't expecting you to be there and that child's look tells all, betraying innocence or guilt. The return of Jesus Christ will catch some people off guard while others will be diligently involved in the Master's work. Ever wonder what you'll be up to when Jesus returns: what activities, conversations and thoughts you'll be engaged in? Let's consider two possibilities.
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10/15/2006
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Eat, Drink and Be Judged!
Matthew 24:37-44
Skip Heitzig
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When Noah built his ark, most people thought he was nuts. Only seven others listened to his warning and went with him. Jesus spoke about the fool who thought he was prepared for the future because of his wise investments. This man said to himself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." (Luke 12:19). Jesus also tells us that the world will largely adopt this attitude in the final days of history unaware of what's ahead.
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10/8/2006
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What Angels Want to Know
Matthew 24:36
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Man's knowledge is impressive but it pales next to God's knowledge. The only things we know for certain are the things that God has revealed to us. Some things must be stored in our hearts in the imaginary file marked, "Wait for further information." As we wait for Jesus to come for us, let's consider what we know and what we don't know; in fact let's see what angels don't even know!
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10/1/2006
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The End Times Farmer's Almanac
Matthew 24:32-35
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
For years agrarians have consulted the venerable Farmer's Almanac for predictive signs on what this next season would bring, in terms of weather forecasts, threatening bugs and water table levels. It helps them know how to navigate through the growing year. Jesus gave a story to His disciples on how the future generation can tell when the season of judgment is upon them and how they should live during the last days on earth.
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9/24/2006
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Ready or Not, Here He Comes!
Matthew 24:29-31
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Children love to play games. One of those games is Hide and Seek where a child, after counting to ten, will call out to his friends, "Ready or not, here I come!" One day, after a time of intense distress, Jesus will return to the earth for the second time and many will not be ready for it. Those who survive and are ready will be gathered together with the rest of God's people to be ushered into God's eternal Kingdom. Are you ready or not?
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9/17/2006
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The New Dark Ages
Matthew 24:23-28
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Jesus said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."(John 9:5) and that His followers were to take up the same occupation: "You are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14). But what happens when the light has been extinguished? What happens when spiritual darkness overshadows everything, everywhere? There's an old saying, "It's always darkest just before the dawn." Jesus tells His followers here that just when the world plummets to its darkest moment, He will be returning!
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9/10/2006
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When God Declares War
Matthew 24:21-22
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
War is ugly but sometimes necessary. It's meant to defend the weak and punish deadly aggressors. Jesus' words here depict a time when God wages war on the human race and throws every conceivable judgment to the earth in the Tribulation. These two verses also highlight three prevailing conditions that exist between God and mankind. The first condition has existed since the Fall of Mankind, the second will be a temporary result of the first, and the third condition is rooted in the character of God and takes the edge off of the first two.
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9/3/2006
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Holy Land Tour: CANCELED!
Matthew 24:16-20
Skip Heitzig
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For many Christians, a trip to the Holy Land is a once-in-a-lifetime dream. To see where Jesus walked, taught and spoke prophetically of is thrilling. But trouble is in store for Israel's future, in fact Scripture refers to it as "Jacob's Trouble" (Jer. 30:7). What will be Israel's future and what can we learn about the nature of God in adversity? Moreover, what should a believer's response to catastrophic events be?
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8/20/2006
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Big Mess; Bigger Message
Matthew 24:12-14
Skip Heitzig
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Whenever there's a mess, a messenger with a message is needed. God has always worked that way. In ancient Israel he sent prophets to herald truth to a recalcitrant nation. In church history God raised up evangelists to proclaim the gospel to sin-hardened and cynical generations. The future Tribulation will be the biggest mess ever, yet God will still have his message heard! Lets notice four human conditions that will prevail in the future of earth's most severe time.
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8/13/2006
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When Faith Turns Fatal
Matthew 24:9-11
Skip Heitzig
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The Bible extols the benefits of faith. Faith justifies the sinner, appropriates God's promises for the believer and will bring us into eternal joy. But faith can also be fatal - there are consequences to believing! Faith in God brings us into direct opposition with Satan's worldly system and incurs the wrath and opposition of unbelievers and false believers. What will it be like for those who trust Christ just before His Second Coming?
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8/6/2006
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Why We Can't All Just Get Along
Matthew 24:6-8
Skip Heitzig
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War has always been a part of the regular life of humanity since our beginning. So what makes war a sign that Jesus' return is near? And more importantly, why can't people around the world get along? Why is it that strife, conflict, rivalry, and fighting have so marred God's highest creation? Where will it lead and how can we cope?
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7/30/2006
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Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign
Matthew 24:3-5
Skip Heitzig
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Do you believe signs when you see them? Do you know how to read signs when they are given to you? Jesus, in Matthew 24 tells of His return and the signs we are to look for. If we have a different understanding other than what the bible says then we may miss the greatest happening of all time and be left behind.., the return of Jesus. So, will you read the signs and seek to understand, or will you simply dismiss them and interpret your own signs.
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7/23/2006
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Rumblings of War and the Prince of Peace
Matthew 24:1-3
Skip Heitzig
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When you hear of wars and rumors of war what do you think of? When you see TV news of images of the horrors of evil what do you think? Most of us turn to others for comfort and others turn to the bible for answers but the real question is do you believe in your heart that God is your Father? Matthew tells us of the concerns of the disciples as they heard of Jesus speaking of the end times. The disciples are much like you and I for they asked Jesus and He told them plainly but did they really believe? So are you hearing and believing or are you believing what you think you want to hear? Think about it.
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There are 13 additional messages in this series.
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