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Lord, we thank for the day. Lord, that's the cry of our heart, Lord, for revival, for true revival, Lord, to come. Lord, to our churches in our land, Lord, we so need a revival of truth, a revival of the the moving and the power of the true Holy Spirit, not all this hyped up, worked up counterfeit mess that's going on out there, Lord. We need a move of the Holy Spirit that exalts the truth of the word of God above all else, that convicts of sin, that brings to repentance, that changes lives, that that produces the fruit of true conversion, that exalts Jesus as Lord and Savior, the only way, the only truth, and the only life. Lord, we need a revival, a true revival of truth and power. In the name of Jesus. Lord, I ask you to bless and touch your people here today. I ask you to move in this place. We pray right now, your kingdom come and your will be done. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hallelujah. We worship the Lord. You know, it's good to have everybody here this morning. We're actually talking about how rare it is to get everybody here at the same time. But, we managed to do it today. Hallelujah. So, that's awesome. Praise God for that. Amen. I want to say, you know, I don't want anyone to think for 1 second that I don't believe that there is going to be a move of God in these last days. I believe the Holy Spirit is going to move and there's going to be another revival in America, a true revival. Now, I don't believe that it's going to save America from judgment. I don't believe that it's going to stop the end time prophecies from coming to pass or the great tribulation or the Antichrist from coming or the mark of the beast and all those things that are coming. They won't stop those things. But in the midst of the years as Habakkuk prayed in Habakkuk 3 and I covered this a few months ago, but he prayed this prayer. He said, "In the midst of the years and he was talking about a judgment, he said to the Lord, he said, "Revive your work in the midst of those years and in wrath remember mercy." And the Lord promised in Isaiah 60, he promised that in the end time and it was Isaiah 60 is about the end, but he promised that that darkness would cover
the earth and gross darkness the people that a time of great darkness would come. And of course, he was talking about spiritual darkness, sin, evil, uh persecution, oppression. And of course, that's the picture that Jesus painted Matthew 24. That's the picture the book of Revelation paints. That's the picture the book of Daniel, the book of Zechariah. I mean, I could go on and on and on is that there will be great darkness. Paul even said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, he said, "The last days perilous times will come." And then he goes down this long list and he says toward the end of that, he said, "Evil will wax worse and worse and evil men and seducers will get worse and worse deceiving and being deceived." And Jesus talked about the darkness coming or the night coming when no man could work. I mean, so the the darkness is is beginning to cover the earth, but the powerful promise of Isaiah 60 is that the Lord would arise upon his people. Amen. His light and glory and power would be seen upon his people. And what I love about that is exactly what the book of Daniel says that in the midst of all that persecution and and judgment and the Antichrist and all the things all the darkness that's going to arise in the earth and cover the earth, the Lord said through Daniel that that God would arise upon his people that his people who knew him. It says those people that do know their God would be strong and do exploits. Says they would turn many to righteousness. So let me just just encourage you this morning. The devil is not going to win every battle. Amen. Not even in these last days is he going to win every battle. And just to share this with you, I do sense in my spirit uh this morning I do sense that there is a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit, a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit coming. And I don't say that lightly. Okay? Because there's a lot of prophets out there that all they ever prophesy is good stuff. You know, it's just this is going to happen, that's going to happen. And I'm not talking about those weirdos out there. I'm just talking about the reality that that if we seek after God, if we get our hearts right, if we get sin out, if we hate sin and love righteousness, God promised to anoint us. God promised that times of refreshing would come come to his people that would repent. And that's people who would turn from sin, turn from worldliness, turn from ungodliness, turn from compromise. He promised that he would bring the times of refreshing would come from his presence. That's Acts chapter 3. Now, I know I'm just kind of throwing some stuff out here this morning and not really turning to it yet, but it's just sharing what's on my heart as we came out of praise and worship. Sorry for the little glitch. We forgot to add a little part to the music there.
When I say we, I mean you. But anyway, I'm pointing at my wife for those of you listening. We're We're have We have a good laugh over it every now and then when there is a glitch in the communication process. But anyway, um I do believe God's in a move. But now, that doesn't mean we sit back and do nothing. Right? It doesn't It doesn't mean we sit back and get lazy and watch TV shows all the time and do you know, do nothing. If we want the kingdom of God and everything that that is with that in our lives and in our homes, then we have to press into it. We have to fight for it. Um there's things we have to be willing to turn loose of. There's friendships, relationships sometimes we have to turn loose of. There's a lot of things you have to turn loose of if you're going to move move forward, but I believe that we've come through as a church here. I believe we've come through some darkness and some attacks and some uh disjointedness, you might say. And I think we're getting we're getting ready uh to move forward and see God do some great things. I'm seeing this already. I shared this on Wednesday night in prayer. Seeing this already on just the impact that um the ministry, the messages, uh and the articles and things that we've put forth on the internet and Facebook and things, the impact that that's making across the country and in nations all over the world. I'm I I had um hits on my my Facebook site this week from Qatar. Um just blowing my mind. Um Albania, uh Germany, um Hong Kong, uh just all over the place and uh people are hungry. They're hungry for the truth about end-time prophecy. They know something's going on. Uh they're hungry for the word. And that's what I'm saying. I know in my spirit that there's a hunger out there that the lukewarm, backslidden, compromised, seeker-sensitive church is not filling that hunger in people's lives. And I'm talking about saved and unsaved. I mean, there's a hunger out there to know the truth. Are we in the last days? Is Is Jesus really who he said he is? Is he really coming back? Is it soon? Um you know, is it Is he still powerful? Does he still Does he still forgive sin? Does he still heal sick bodies? Does he still uh drive out demons? Does Does, you know, what are we going to be about? Amen. Um there's a church world out there that's hungry. And I'm seeing it, folks. I'm seeing uh being contacted from people that are
all different church backgrounds about deliverance and getting free from demonic strongholds they've opened in their in their lives and all kinds of stuff. And uh you know what? I believe many more barriers about to be broken down. Cuz folks, listen, there's no such thing as denominations in heaven. There's folks that believe the Bible is the word of God and believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and they turn from their sin, and they follow him, and they end up in heaven. And the ones who don't, who live lukewarm, backslide, or never accepting, they they don't go there. It's that's real simple. There's no denominations. Right? You either do it or you don't do it. Right? Um I do want you to take your Bibles out. We're going to look at some of this. Um I mean, I know I'm kind of bouncing around a little bit this morning, but um I really believe, and I know some of my preacher colleagues out there don't agree with me about this. Uh but I really believe that part of what will spark this revival that I believe's coming is going to be um the teaching and preaching of of end-time Bible prophecy. It seems to be one of the most neglected subjects um in the church world right now. And listen, I'm hearing this from all over. I'm hearing people uh we have friends now up in Philadelphia and New York and out in California hot even hot in Hollywood that are just saying, you know, nobody preaches on this. Nobody teaches this. And and there's a sense, like I said a moment ago, there's a sense that something is going on. That we as mankind, we're entering into some new season and and it's not good. Right? The majority of it, especially the world system and where the church itself, and I when I say most of the church, I'm talking about the backslidden, lukewarm, watered down, full of false doctrines and false spirits, and counterfeit miracles, and all kinds of stuff. And that goes from the Roman Catholic Church all the way to the non-denominational charismatic church. You know, just this week um or these past couple of weeks, I'm just going to say this, I discovered that one of the largest churches in this area, uh, one of the and and and of a, um, you know, well-established denomination, the pastor of that church, he's been there for many, many years, has been advocating and pushing contemplative prayer for many, many years. And that's, uh, of course, if you don't know what contemplative prayer is, that's prayer that uses either, uh, vain repetitions over and over to create a a blanked-out state of mind or uses
visualization or both to create its own spiritual experiences. Straight out of, you know, straight out of Buddhism and Hinduism with with Christian Christian words on it, it's still, you know, I have a saying, uh, crack rock and Christian crack rock is still crack rock, right? Okay? So, uh, it doesn't matter, you can put Christian names on it, but if you're doing Buddhist and Hindu prayers and visualization, then you are practicing Buddhism and Hinduism with Christian names on it. Roman Catholic Church has been doing it for centuries, and now it's crept into Baptist churches, Methodist churches, charismatic, Pentecostal churches, and I found out that, again, one of the most prominent pastors and prominent churches in this region have now been promoting that and pushing it for years. I just want to say the church is in trouble. The church world out there. Both both denominational and non-denominational. And the only answer is to get back to the word of God. Get the sin out, get the worldliness out, get the compromise out, and yes, get the demons out of you, and get free, and get busy following Jesus. Amen. I like way, uh, you know, it's kind of a rough movie, but it's still a great movie, The Shawkshank Redemption. I remember Morgan Freeman in there, my favorite line, get busy living or get busy dying. Well, that's what the church better do right now, get busy living for Jesus or get busy dying in sin. Right? Let's uh Let's look at this. I want you to go with me to Matthew chapter 24. I'm going to answer a question this morning. Because I'm tired of the skeptics and the critics. I want to answer a question. And there's a lot of you I mean, you need to know the answer to this question. What are we going to look at today? We're going to look at today, are we the last generation? Are we living in the last generation before the second coming of Jesus and does the Bible prove that to be true? Um Now, of course, you guys know I believe that beyond any shadow of a doubt, but we not we you know, you don't need to believe it just because Pastor Dean believes it. And you don't need to believe it because maybe Hal Lindsey says it or you heard it from some other preacher. You need to know for yourself and you need to know from the scriptures, can we can we prove this? Now, I've kind of entitled this and I'm actually writing an article working on this about the rebirth of the nation of Israel and the last generation and the connection between those things. But I want to say this as we get into this right now. I want you to hear me. The Bible is clear. Jesus Christ himself is the one who said it. And the Bible is very clear. Jesus said, and we're going to look at it in Matthew 24, he said, when you would see certain things
begin to come to pass, he said, know that that generation will not end until all is fulfilled. So, you know, people can uh they can get skittish about end time prophecy and eschatology. Well, but let me say this. And I need to quit saying that. But here's the thing. I think a lot of people have shied away from this subject because we've had lunatics and people who didn't have certain Bible knowledge come along and predict when the rapture was going to take place and of course it didn't happen. So, a lot of people took the mentality is, well, you know, you shouldn't try to know the times or seasons. You shouldn't try to to even delve into this subject. It's nothing but confusion. Um, you know, whatever. Others have stayed away from it. Other pastors and ministers have stayed away from it because they went to Bible colleges that had liberal seminary professors or even Roman Catholic Jesuits posing as Protestants that taught them wrong theology when it came to end time events and and have caused a bunch of confusion and a bunch of problems. Okay? But it's really not hard to figure out if we just stick with the Bible and what's actually happening in the world or happened. It's real simple. All right? Are we in the last generation? Now, a generation according to the Bible, according to Psalm 90, is this: 70 years or 80 if you're strong. Right? That's a generation. That's what the Bible calls it. So, that would mean from some point, the last generation would be a last, say, 70-year period. Can we can we pinpoint things down to that? Because see, you you have to understand, I have people all the time who have these say, "Well, it could be it could be another 100 years. It could be a thousand years, it could be you know, nobody knows. Why do you even delve into this? It doesn't matter. Oh, believe me, I hear it. Right? But let me say this, if Jesus if Jesus gave us all these signs God gave us all these signs through the whole Bible. If it wasn't important, why would he do that? Was God wasting his time? Was he wasting his breath? Was he wasting his prophet's time? Was he wasting the apostles' time? It's amazing cuz there's a whole lot about the end in the book. And you know, a lot of people don't like talking about this, and I've had people say, "Don't even tell me." Even younger people, people in their 20s in
particular. "I don't want to know." You know, I want I want to get married, I want to have my kids, I want to do my own thing, I want I don't want to know. Well, you know, I'm sorry to upset your plans. And I'm sorry that the words of God and the the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ upsets you. Just shows me you're a little too attached to this world. Let me tell you something, even if you didn't believe that the second coming of Jesus was near and that we are in the last generation, even if you didn't believe that. You can get in your car at 16 years old 17 years old and that could be your last day on this earth. You're not guaranteed anything. I remember when I was 16 going to three funerals in one day. Three girls killed in a car accident at the same time in the same car. See, I think two of them were 16 and one was 17 or you know. Guess what? Sure they had plans, too. Get married one day, have kids. Get a career. Not wrong to have plans, but my point is especially for Christians as a Christian we're not supposed to be attached to this world. We're not supposed to make this world our everything. And even if you live 70 or 80 years on this planet, that is still a short space compared to eternity and forever and ever and ever. You know, we were singing that song 10,000 reasons a minute ago and the tears came to my eyes because you know what? I want to make it there. I want you to make it there. I want people who hear me preach. I WANT EVERYBODY to make it to heaven because listen, we're just going to be getting started after 10,000 years. You understand? I'm just thinking about that. It's eternal life that Jesus Christ came to purchase for us. Not this temporary world that we live in. This is so temporary. It's so fleeting. IT'S SO PASSING. WHY do we cling to to to the things on this earth? We got TO HAVE A WIFE. We got to have a husband. We got to have children. We got to have money. We got to have this job. We got to have this education. And all those THINGS ARE NOT BAD IN THEMSELVES, BUT THEY BECOME IDOLS. They become more important than Jesus, loving Jesus, and really longing to be with him. I think about the Apostle Paul who said, "I long to be WITH HIM. I LONG to be there with him." He said, but the only thing he He to be here in the body is more profitable for you. He had to be here to help the church grow up.
And write most of the New Testament. He had a job to do. I mean, I wonder how Christians really look at eternity. I think they look at Christianity and they look at their relationship with Jesus as oh, Jesus is just going to help me get what I want while I'm on the earth. I don't really have to sacrifice anything, do a whole lot of anything for him. And I'll go in and spend eternity with him. You know, on the flip side. It's just a nonchalant attitude. No, Jesus talking about losing your life. For his sake, you would find it. Most people just don't have a concept that you everything you got to break free from here. Children can't even be your your own children can't even be an idol to you. Your parents, your spouse, your job, your money, your house. None of that. Do we Do we How do I put it? Are we Are we even earthly I mean, are we even heavenly minded at all? And see, what scares me the most is I think about how wonderful that's going to be. Eternal life with God forever. In a place that it says I have not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those that love him. But Jesus said, guess what? Those that love me will obey me. And Jesus spells out this this this person, this kind of person will make it there. This person will not. I think those things ought to be important to us. That's why I take such a strong stand about once saved, always saved and living in sin. It does matter. And listen, the end times issue matters. The Bible's very clear in the Revelation 14 that if you take the mark of the beast or you worship the image of the beast or you pledge your loyalty to this coming world government or this coming world leader and you take that mark in your right hand or your forehead and you pledge allegiance to that thing, it says you are eternally damned to hell forever. The smoke of your torment will rise up forever and ever. You wonder why it's important to preach that and teach that and to WARN PEOPLE OF THAT? IT'S IT'S ABOUT ETERNITY, MY FRIEND. IT'S ABOUT where you will spend eternity either in heaven with God almighty and the Lord JESUS CHRIST OR BURNING IN THE FLAMES of hell forever and ever. These are SERIOUS MATTERS. I CAN'T believe flippant, criticizing, even mocking Christians AND PREACHERS WHO MOCK PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO THINK IT'S IMPORTANT. OH, I'M SORRY. I JUST THINK THAT THE
words of God are important, all of them. Not just the ones who tickle your fancy. You know, I think of I think of people I'm just going to say this. I think of people all the time that love to pull that proverb, I mean uh Jeremiah 29:11 out. Where the Lord says, "I have plans to prosper you." Everybody loves that one, don't they? They forget that in the context of that it was 70 years of judgment first in Babylonian captivity, most of which people didn't live through, even the invasion. And then they were taken chained as slaves into Babylon for 70 years. And that promise was God said, "I'm going to bring you out at the end of that 70 years." A lot of them didn't make it out. A lot of them died in Babylon. But boy, don't we love to pull verses out of their context so they tick a lot fancy. All right. Break free from this world, folks. Break free from all of the stuff. I want you to do me something. I want you to queue up, just have ready that prophecy from Steve Hill. You know what I'm talking about. Um but let's look at this. Let's answer the question. Are we in the last generation? I had you turn to Matthew 24. Uh let's just read starting at verse three. I'm going to read a little bit to this morning. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Pretty clear question. And Jesus answered and said unto them, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, 'I am Christ,' and shall deceive many. And you shall have wars and rumors of wars, and see that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, and divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, that's the Antichrist. It says, "Whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them be which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let them which is on the house top not come down to take anything out of his house, neither let him that which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child and them that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Why? For then, or after this, shall be great tribulation, great trouble, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. This one's unique. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. And that's very clear that if God didn't stop it after 7 years, it wouldn't no one survive. He says, "Then if any man say unto you, 'Lo, here is Christ or there,' believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." I love this verse 25. Jesus says, "Behold, I have told you before." Why? I'm warning you. I'm showing you what's going to happen, so you will not be deceived. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, "Behold, he is in the desert," go not forth. "Behold, he is in secret chambers," believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So, this is pretty clear, right? Jesus is talking about his second coming. Despite what preterists say, despite what uh the Jehovah Witnesses have said, Jesus didn't come in 1914 spiritually. All right? Remember? They say he's come over here. If they say he's in the desert, you know, that's where the the uh Muslims say that the spiritual 12th Imam is in occultation in a cave or hidden somewhere in the desert. Isn't that interesting? Jesus warned about it 500 years, 600 years or so before Islam ever came into being, right? But look at verse 32 through 35 here. Or 36. We're going to read some more.
This is what I want to focus in on this morning. Now, learn a parable of the fig tree. Now, stop. What does learn mean? If I said, "Hey, learn this." Hm? Mhm. Guess what? What does a teacher do? If a teacher gives you something, says you need to learn this, what does that mean? You got to study it and figure out and be prepared for the test, right? Okay. So, Jesus said, "Learn what this means." This fig tree parable here. All right? I just want to point that out. Now, learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. So, likewise, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But, this is what everybody likes to pull this verse out of context, verse 36. But, of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only. So, they like to pull that one out and say, "No man knows the day of the hour, so quit trying to figure it out." But, I said, you know, every time somebody pulls that verse out, I have to remind them, "Can you back up a verse or two? Can you back up and realize that the context of verse 36 is Jesus giving a whole list of things to look for as signs?" So, it wasn't that he didn't want us to know the season. Let's be specific. He said, "No man will know the day or the hour." That's why Mr. Harold Camping or whatever the the the last goofball that tried to predict the rapture. I'm sitting here going, "The one thing that Jesus said you won't know about the end times is the day or the hour." And this joker's trying to predict the day. Right? I'm like, "Please, come on." The one thing he said. But, see, this is what the devil does. He uses these goofballs who, first of all, the next thing to happen on the prophetic agenda is not the rapture, shocking surprise. Right? They keep trying to predict the rapture is going to happen soon when the rapture is at the end and we can talk about that later. But I'm sitting here going day and hour. Don't try to pick the day and hour. God tried to do that back in back in the '80s. Then another guy in the '90s. Stop it. Right? But it's to deflect us. Let let me let me just say this. This is a good example right here. I think God gave me this yesterday. Just because some idiot got in his car and ran it off the road into a tree doesn't mean that we should stop
trying to drive safely and correctly. Right? Just because some people have gotten off base and taught wrong things concerning end time prophecy does not mean preachers and Christians should stop studying this stuff and learning this stuff or preaching on this stuff. Right? No, I'm still going to drive my car. Okay, how many people wreck their car? Right? But a lot of people, guess what? A lot of ministers, a lot of preachers have stopped preaching, teaching on the second coming of Jesus and here's the thing. They've stopped right at the time it's the closest it's ever been. Right at the time more prophetic events, big ones, are happening. They have truly become the people that Jesus warned about. That there would be faithful servants. This is in Luke 12. He said there'll be faithful servants who say in their heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming." Shall begin to beat the men servants and the maids, mistreat people. And it says in the eat and drink and be drunken. That's to live in sin, live a compromised life. Said the Lord of that servant will come in an hour when he is not looking for him and will cut him off. And will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Oh, boy. It's dangerous to put off this is just a way to put it. It's dangerous to put off or or to think that the coming of Jesus and that these things are going to be far off especially in the season when they are so near. Because there's a deluding factor in there. Remember in in John in 1 John 3, he said he that has this hope in him about the second coming of Jesus about seeing when we will see him face to face. He says he who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. There's a purifying factor when you believe this. Now see, I believe it was for our generation. See, Jesus did tell in Acts chapter 1, he told the disciples it's not given to you know the times and seasons. Why? It's 2,000 plus years away. It's like this is not what I want you to focus on right now. But there would be a generation the last generation that he would want to focus on this and to know because they were the one going to be the ones going through it. And I find it amazing as Peter warned in 2 Peter 3 that when we were approaching that time of the end, he would there would be people say, "Where is the promise of his coming? All things continue as they were."
Right? Jack legs. For you list for those of you listening, it's an Alabama term for a person not really smart as they should be. See how nicely I did that? All right. Let's look at this, verse 32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender and put it forth leaves. You know that summer is nigh. Now I'm just going to say this is very clear to me. There's been prophecy teachers over the years who pointed out and said that they believed that this fig tree represented the nation of Israel and when the nation of Israel was reborn in 1948, that that was the trigger of the last generation, that that marked the last generation. Then there are theologians that came along and said, "No, that Israel was never that the fig tree was never a symbol of Israel and that that wasn't true and that Jesus was just talking about blah blah blah, right?" Here's the thing. The rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 after 1878 years of being scattered to the nations and not being a nation is one of the most significant Bible prophecies and one of the most amazing fulfillments that's ever happened. Okay? Do you know that many preachers and theologians and uh Bible school professors and that looked at Bible prophecy before 1948 actually decided that there wasn't going to be a literal fulfillment of that prophecy of the Israel becoming a nation again, they said it was just going to be an allegory cuz it was just impossible for it to happen. I'd hate to be those guys in May of 1948 when it happened. Don't ever think that you will take sides against God's word or try to dismiss it and come out correct. Right? So, what we have to answer here is are there passages of scripture because what we have to deal with the Bible is we don't have to come up with our own interpretations, our own ideas. We just let the Bible interpret the Bible. That's the first rule of hermeneutics. Amen? For some people. First rule of hermeneutics, that's the the the laws of Bible interpretation. First things, let the Bible interpret the Bible. So, the question you have to ask, okay, let's look at this parable. Jesus said, "Learn this." Right? I've taught you guys about parables before and that what we don't put our own private interpretation on any symbol given in a parable. We let the Bible show us what it's talking about. God is amazing. He set the Bible up in places like a puzzle. Which he talks about a
fig tree here or he might talk about seed here and then we find out that say seed is the representation of the word of God. But we ask ask the question, did God ever refer to the nation of Israel as a fig tree? Yes, he did. All right, let's look at a few verses. All right? Go with me to um Oh, let's see which one we'll do first. Well, first let's go to um Joel chapter 1 verse 7, 6 and 7. Y'all don't mind this, do you? If you learn this, you'll be able to point to somebody and say, "Look, I can tell you beyond any shadow of a doubt we're in the last generation. Everybody there? I got to get there myself. Joel chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. God speaking here to the nation of Israel he talks about he's talking about an army coming against that his people and he says this, "For a nation is come up upon my land strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion and he has the cheek teeth of a great lion, and he hath laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree. He hath made it clean bare and cast it away, the branches thereof are made white." And then he says, "Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of your youth." And he goes on to talk about Israel. Now, he says here I love how he points out and he says "They have laid my vine waste. My vine." Now, one of the things that God called his his nation of Israel his people his vine or his vineyard, right? But he also called him his fig tree here. Notice he didn't say they have laid waste my fig trees, plural, but he said they have laid waste my fig tree, right? And he was talking about the land of Israel, right? Everybody see that? All right, that's just one. All right, let's go to Hosea. Let's see Hosea chapter 9. Are you there? Yes.
Hosea chapter 9 and let's go down here to where are we? Okay. Now, this is actually in context of the last days. Oh, where do I want to start reading? Verse 7, he says, "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come. Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God, but the prophet is a snare and a fowler in all his ways and hatred in the house of his God." And boy, I tell you what, this is a This is kind of a prophetic picture of how bad the prophetic ministry would be in the last days and I'm going to tell you right now, even in America, that the vast majority of the so-called prophetic ministry is off base, bad. So, this is um a clear picture of that. And he goes on to say in verse 9, "They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. Therefore, he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins." Now, look at verse 10. He says, "I I found Israel. Listen, I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree. Right? I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time, but they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves unto shame and their abomination according as they loved." So, here is another reference where God says what? I saw your fathers as the first ripe of the fig tree. Now, what get What makes that interesting right there is Jesus said in the parable of the fig tree concerning the last days and the last generation, he said, "When it puts forth its leaves." Meaning when it first begins to bloom. Right? So, it's interesting the same terminology here. So, have we seen two places where God referred to Israel, his people or the land as a fig tree, right? Have we seen it? Somebody just give me a nod or something. Now, go to Luke 13. Don't you love using the Bible to prove the Bible? It's always good. Luke 13. Here Jesus uses the fig tree as a picture of his ministry to the nation of Israel. Let's look at it. Here's another parable of a fig tree and we're going to get some more information. Luke chapter 13. Let everybody get there. Everybody there?
I love seeing the the younger ones turning in their Bibles. That's awesome. We don't have children's church around here. We have all the younger ones in the service. And they're doing great. All right. Verse six. This is Jesus speaking. He spake also this parable. He said, "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. And he came and sought fruit there on and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, 'Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why encumbereth it the ground? And he answering and said unto him, "Lord, let it alone this year and also until I dig about it and dung it or fertilize it. And if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after that you shall cut it down." Now, this is very specific because Jesus said in in Matthew 15 verse 20, I think it's Matthew 15:24. Let me see here. In Matthew 15, yeah, Matthew 15:24, Jesus said this, that during his earthly ministry, which lasted 3 years, he said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Okay? So, Jesus saying that, he wasn't saying that his his life, his death on the cross, or, you know, the atoning blood was only for Israel, but his 3-year ministry on earth, where he healed the sick and cast out demons and taught them, he said, "I'm I'm really only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Now, after he went to the cross and died for the sins of all mankind and paid that penalty, that opened the door for the Gentiles the to be grafted in, right? But here, this parable about the fig tree and him looking for fruit on it for 3 years is the picture of Jesus coming to the nation of Israel, his own people, and trying to convince them for 3 years that he was their Messiah. And for the most part, the entire nation rejected him. He came looking for fruit on that fig tree and he did not find any. And so, what happened was he was going to, you know, the Father even says that when the when they rejected the son, it says the Father was angry or wrath with them and wanted to destroy and burn up and destroy everything. But what happened? They got a little more time. Cuz Jesus was crucified in about 32 AD, rose from the dead, and then it was 70 AD when the great judgment came. And Israel was cut off from being a nation. Over a million Jews killed, they were scattered to the nations, and they were no longer a nation for 1878 years. So, you see here Jesus uses and I love how it says that he said, "A man, let me tell you this parable, a man had a fig tree
planted in his vineyard." All right? The vineyard, God's vineyard, is the whole world, y'all. But he had a fig tree in it. All right? And he came down as the Messiah, the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh. And for 3 years, he came looking for fruit. And for the most part, the vast majority rejected him as the Messiah and brought great wrath and judgment upon them. That's why he said, if you go to Luke 19, and he said this when he wept over Jerusalem, in Luke 19, he said, he wept over Jerusalem, and he said, "How often would I have gathered you? I wanted to gather you. I wanted you to accept me. And I wanted to gather you under my wings like a like a mother hen does her chicks. I wanted to gather you. I wanted to protect you. I wanted to comfort you, but you would not have it." And so, he says, "Your house is left unto you desolate." And boy, when the judgment came, it was desolate for a long time. So, here's Jesus using this as a fig tree. And I'll just give you another example. Uh you can go to uh Jeremiah 24. But he actually uses them as an example of a basket of good figs and a basket of bad figs. Might as well look at it. Jeremiah 24. I actually preached this one time in a Bible study many, many years ago and some people got saved. I thought, "A strange thing you can preach a message on a basket of good figs and a basket of bad figs and people can get saved." Amen. It's a good thing. Jeremiah 24:1, "The Lord showed me, and behold two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord after that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the carpenters and the smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are the first ripe, and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. And then said the Lord unto me, "What seest thou, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs. The good figs, very good, and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil." And then it says again, "The word of the Lord came unto me saying, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their
good.'" And then he goes on to talk about about them and then he talks about them, "For they shall return to me with their whole heart." And so on. He talks about it there. So that's another example, right? Now go with me to Ezekiel 36. Try to wrap this up here. Ezekiel 36. Ezequiel 2,600 years ago wrote about Israel returning to the land. Are you with me? Ezequiel 36. See, I got asked a question yesterday. I got an email question. Where is it in the Old Testament the prophecies of Israel becoming a nation in the last days and that being a sign of the last generation? I said, well I can answer that but I have to do it with some explanation. Right? One of the main prophecies of this is Ezequiel 36. Let's look at it. Verse 1, also thou son of man prophesy into the mountains of Israel. Now, remember at this point they're in Babylonian captivity. Right? He says, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, you mountains of Israel hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, because the enemy has said against you, aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession. Therefore, prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord God, because they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side that you might be a possession into the residue of the heathen and you are taken up in the lips of talkers and and are an infamy of people. Therefore, you mountains of Israel hear you the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills and to the rivers and to the valleys and to the desolate waste and to the cities that are forsaken which became a prey and a derision to the residue of the heathen round about. Therefore, saith the Lord God, surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen heathen and against all Edomite, which is Edom um which is now the land of Jordan, which I have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart and with the spiteful minds and have cast it for a prey. He says, "Prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, and to the rivers, to the valleys, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the heathen." He says, "Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I have lifted up my hand, surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. But you, oh mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth." Now, look at this. "You shall shoot forth your branches. The same term we see in Matthew 24.
You will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For behold, I am for you and I will turn unto you and you shall be uh you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it, and the city shall be inhabited and the waste places shall be builded and I will multiply you. And then look what he says, "I will multiply upon you man and beast, they shall increase and bring forth. I will settle you after your old estates." Everybody see that? Ezekiel 36:11, "I will settle you after your old estates and I will do better unto you at your than at your beginnings and you will know that I am the Lord." Now, this is the promise that he would bring it back. Now, you you need to hear me on this. Some people say, some theologians, who don't pay attention to the Bible, mind you, they pay attention to their own biases. Some people say that Ezekiel was prophesying about the return of the people from Babylonian captivity because they had yet to return. They returned in five the first group in 536 BC. Okay? 70 years after 606 BC when Nebuchadnezzar took them captive. So, they returned in 70 years, but here's what's interesting. We know that Ezekiel is not referring to the return because he says some things. Let's look down in verse the next few verses from 12 to 15. He says this, "Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel, and they shall possess thee. And thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men. Thus Thus saith the Lord God, because they say unto you, uh thou land devourest up men and hast bereaved thy nations. Therefore, thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations anymore. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen anymore. Neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people anymore. Neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall anymore, saith the Lord." Now, I could keep on reading this, but I want you to see something. He says they're not going to when they come back to the land, they're not going to bear the reproach of the heathen anymore. Okay? That lets you know something. That has to be talking about the end when Jesus comes back and removes all the heathen from the land. All right? And they're allowed there no more. Has that happened now? Up to now? No. See, that's a prophecy that hasn't happened. The heathen are still in the land of Israel. They're called the Palestinians. There's two mosques still on the is the Jewish Temple Mount. The heathen are still there, and Israel is still bearing the reproach of the heathen in their land. Okay? So, God was not referring and even
between the time, even if you don't believe me, after they came back from Babylonian captivity, you have the Greeks coming in and defiling the land, even the tabernacle, Antiochus Epiphanes. Then followed the Greeks, the Romans came in and occupied the land. The Jews have never been free of the reproach of the heathen, even when they were back in the land. Do you hear me? So, this prophecy, I don't have time to spend a lot of time on this, but this prophecy in Ezekiel 36 is about the second time. Now, let me show you. Go to Isaiah chapter 11. If there's any confusion about that. Isaiah 11. Did y'all catch what I was saying there in Ezekiel? You have to look at the details of prophecy. Because sometimes there are dual fulfillments of things. Okay? 70 AD did fulfill some things that Jesus said would happen, but they weren't the complete fulfillment yet of the end times. Right? That's where preterists build everything on 70 AD. Right? But that many things have not happened that Jesus prophesied. So, I don't know where preterists get their goofy ideas that it all happened then. Right? But you have to pay attention. Scripture is is amazing like that. You have to pay attention every word. You can't just jump to conclusions. Some people start reading and say, "Oh, I'm going to bring you back to the land. Oh, Ezekiel was talking about when they came back in in 536 BC in the Babylonian captivity." Well, no, he said when he brought them back, there would be finally where there would be no more reproach of the heathen anymore. Right? So, that had to speak of another time. Well, basically, what Ezekiel was telling us was they're going to come back this time but they're not going to repent. They're going to finally be dispersed again. There'll be another time they're brought back and that time the Messiah will have come and clean it out. Okay? Isaiah even puts that specifics on it and talks about when they're brought back to the land the second time. All right, let's look at Isaiah 11. Verse 10, he says, "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign or a flag, a signal, a sign of the people and it shall it the Gentiles shall seek and his rest shall be glorious." Look at verse 11, "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from
the islands of the sea." All over. God said the second time he's going to set his heart on re-gathering a scattered Israel. The second time. When was the first time? Babylonian captivity. So the second time was 70 AD. So God here is specific, "I'm going to re-gather the children of Israel a second time to their land and I'm going to gather them from all over the Middle East and all over the world. I'm going to gather them." And what's interesting, he uses the term ensign here which means in the Hebrew, it is the word that means a flag. What has flags, folks? Countries, nations. Meaning they're going to raise the flag again, they're going to be a nation again and this will be a signal to the rest of the nations of the world. A signal of what? A signal that we have entered the last generation. Now, let's do a little math, little simple math. If 1948 was the parable of the fig tree that putting forth its leave in Israel being birth as a nation, and I think we've proven that by scripture and it's the second time they're brought back to the land, and it is a signal. If a generation is 70 years or 80, do a little math. 2018 would put us in that generation. Even if you add 10 years to it, 2028. But I think it's 70. Now, I know there's another little caveat that Israel had to get not just become a nation again, but they had to get Jerusalem again. Now, that happened in 1967. All right? But remember, the parable of the fig tree said this, when it first puts forth its leaves. So, the first the rebirth of Israel was May 14th, 1948. Jesus said, "When you see these things, know that it is near, even at the doors, that this generation shall not pass until all things be fulfilled. So hear me skeptics, theologians,
self-made Bible scholars. We are in the last generation. When you put that together with everything else, remember Let's Let's look at one of the signs of Matthew 24. One of the signs he said earthquakes. I love what Luke says cuz Luke gives us a little more information. He says mega quakes. Great earthquakes will be in diverse places, right? Here's just one little sign to add to all this. How shall we know? He said mega quakes. Do this. You can look up on the US Geological Survey and do this for yourself. But look up magnitude eight earthquakes and greater over the last 100 years per decade. Guess what? For decades we averaged about one or two per decade for the last 120 years or so. One magnitude eight or two in a year in a in a in an entire decade. Guess how many there's been from 2000 until 2000 and 13 where we are now. There was just one the other day. 18 of them. 18. Now you have one to two every decade for 120 years. And all of a sudden in a decade plus couple of years, you got 18. Something's happening. You know what God said before he said before right before he would come, he said, "I will rise to shake terribly the earth." Isaiah 13, Isaiah 24. People say, "Oh, there's always been earthquakes." Really? Has there always been this many mega earthquakes? No. Bible's very specific. He said the sea and the waves roaring. Y'all, the 2004 earthquake and tsunami killed 250,000 people. Just the other day, the 8.0 earthquake in the Solomon Islands caused a a 5-ft tsunami that killed people. Y'all mark it down. I believe there's another big one coming. I believe there's an earthquake coming bigger than the Japanese tsunami. I forget now what the total was on the Japanese tsunami
in 2011. How many was it? Do you know? It was a lot. It was into the thousands. I mean, and people, they just won't ever find. They don't They won't have They don't know. They just go on missing. Um But folks, we're there. You couple that with the fact that now we have the technology through the RFID chip that could be implanted in your skin that through satellites and the internet and computers now that they have the ability that the Bible prophesied to control every person on the face of the earth, whether they can buy or sell. Do you know that that technology wasn't even available even in the 1990s? We weren't there yet. We're there now. The Bible talked about, you know, one of the signs, one of the vials talks about that the Euphrates River will be dried up. Well, it wasn't until the 1990s that the Turks built a series of dams called the Ataturk Dams that will stop up the Euphrates River, which they did in 1990 for 30 days. Dried it up. Made everybody downstream really mad. But they were filling up their reservoir. Do you know the Antichrist can give an order to shut the dams off and dry up the Euphrates River so the kings of the east can cross over for the Battle of Armageddon? That's what that's about. Folks, everything is falling into place. And we've got Christians still hooked on this world. We got Christians still skeptical of the time we live in. I mean, I could go down the list, but I'm going to stop. Are we the last generation? Absolutely. There are people say, "Well, Israel doesn't matter, you know." Oh, yeah. Um You know, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter uh Where was I? Oh, yeah. They're like, "Oh, you know, Israel's gone. They don't matter. It's It's the church now. The church replaced Israel." Then you go to Romans 10 and say God didn't forsake his people that he foreknew. People say, "Well, they aren't Aren't the Israel, aren't they full of anti-Jesus?" And you know what? It is not about the people of Israel. God just said, "I'm going to bring them back to their land. I'm going to establish them as a nation again, and it's a sign for the rest of you." And here's what's beautiful. I love the Jewish people. I've been there. I've been to Israel. God promised also that he's going to have a revival
of the Jews, a remnant in the end return. And those who survive everything that happens, it says all of them are going to come to Jesus as their Messiah. He's going to have him a remnant, a revival out of that fig tree. He's going to find some fruit this last go around. Amen? Amen.