Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
All right, good morning, everyone, and welcome our students this morning, Fire and Grace School of Ministry. We are now into our first classes of the second semester. And so this is block five, and this is eschatology class one. So eschatology class one. And hope everybody can hear, everything's going good out there. We'll give you a second, everything looks good. All right, anyway, we're gonna have, just got a couple of slides this morning, and then we're gonna get into the scriptures and go through this. This will be an introduction to eschatology. And so for those of you who may wonder what that big word is there, there it is, eschatology class one. It just means really kind of the study and the theology of final things. Here's the definition, eschatology noun. And here's the definition that says the branch of theology that is concerned with such final things as death and last judgment, heaven and hell, and the ultimate destiny of humankind or mankind. So let's read that again though, eschatology, the definition so you understand what this class is all about, branch of theology that is concerned with such final things as death, the last judgment, heaven and hell, and the ultimate destiny of mankind. So this is kind of this study of God, not only being a God of mercy and love and forgiveness, but also that He is a God of justice and judgment and that there is a final judgment to everything. There is a heaven, there is a hell, there is a final destiny of mankind. And so this class is going to touch on a little bit of everything. We're gonna mainly deal with Bible prophecy, how the end will come about, but this morning is an introduction. We're just gonna get into just the aspect of the balance of God's character, that He is both a God of love and mercy, and that He is also a God of judgment. He will not tolerate wickedness forever. So we're gonna start in a very familiar place this morning. So let's go to the Gospel of John chapter three, verse 16, John 3.16. So let's read this this morning. So there can be no doubts about how God feels about us, about mankind. He did create us in the beginning, made Adam and Eve, and then we'll get into more about that later, but He blessed them, put them in a wonderful place
in the Garden of Eden. And of course, He gave them some consequences though, if they disobeyed, if they sinned. And so again, even the Garden of Eden shows the balance. But let's read this, probably one of the most famous passages in the Bible. This is Jesus speaking. He said these words here for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I'll just read that again. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, not shall not, but should not perish, but have everlasting life. So just to point out again here, we're gonna look at the nature of God. Does God love everyone? Absolutely. He's loved every person that's ever been born. He loves the people that are alive right now, even the wicked. He loves all of us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. And of course, that whole revelation there is just mainly for us, but we know that the Bible says God became the Son. He became a man so that He could pay the price for our sins by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. So He has shown that He loves us. And so we're gonna go through a few scriptures about that. Let's go to, let's go to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, just to establish this truth. And we'll start reading, oh, let's just start reading from verse one. So this is Romans five, verse one. It says, therefore, being justified or made righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope and the glory of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory, my page turn here, we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation or trouble, trials, tests, work with patience and patience, experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which He has given to us. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God, verse eight there, but God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Now, let's go over, I wanna look at another passage too. Let's go to 2 Peter, chapter three. And this is a good passage here to give the balance here. So we're gonna read, and I'll tell you what, we're just gonna read from verse one. We're just laying the foundation this morning. Again, God is a God of love, but also a God of judgment and justice or consequences, final consequences. And that's what we're talking about the word eschatology, meaning final things, final judgment. All right, so let's read this. This second epistle, beloved now, write I unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye be in mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. So there's always gonna be people who are not gonna believe that there's a final judgment, that there is an end, that there is a day of reckoning or consequences, that the God of love finally turns into the God of wrath and judgment where he is finally done with lukewarmness, sin, wickedness, lies and so forth. But let's keep going, verse five. He says, for this they willingly are ignorant that by the word of God the heavens were of old, the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. So he's talking about the judgment of Noah, that they should know. And we're gonna go back and look at that too in just a minute, but that mankind should know by the flood of Noah that happened, the judgment of God that he will not put up with unbridled wickedness in mankind forever, that he will judge. And that was one of the end things there, the flood was an ending of an era and the beginning of a new one. But anyway, he goes on, verse seven, but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition or the destruction of ungodly men. So here God says the heavens and the earth that are now are kept in store, they're being reserved and that there will be a final day of judgment and wrath
and the destruction of the ungodly men. And he particularly says it won't be by water this next time it's gonna be fire, all right? So again, the warning that there will be an end of things, eschatology, there will be a final judgment, there will be a reckoning day for the wicked. And this is what even most of Christianity wants to ignore now, the weak watered down, lukewarm, megachurch Christianity ignores this. Certainly everybody wants to talk about God being the God of love. And then you got all these fake Christians and all these United Nations people that oh, God is just love, it's all about love, it's all about social justice, it's all about helping your fellow man and blah, blah, blah and it doesn't matter what you believe about Jesus or the Bible or God, whatever God is to you and I mean there's all this stuff because mankind, and again mankind believes is believing the lie of Satan that all of this is gonna create this world peace and utopia and now because of transhumanism and the advances in microchips and biotech and all these nanotechnology and everything else that we're going to and quantum computing that we're gonna, man's gonna figure out how to have eternal life without God, that we're gonna figure that out. And so again, mankind does not want to face or believe or acknowledge that God Almighty of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ, the name above every name, they don't wanna believe that the day of reckoning is coming, they just don't wanna accept it. But the Bible's very clear that it's coming and that's why he says here about this, verse seven, let's read it again, we'll start from verse seven again. But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long suffering, that it means patient, means he puts up with us for a long time. He is not slack though concerning his promise, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now can I pause on that for just a minute? Again, this establishes the balance in the character of Almighty God that he is not willing, he does not desire for us to perish. He doesn't want us to die and go to hell
and be separated from him forever. But again, he will not violate his laws and principles that he has established now of course under the new covenant and he's made it very plain that he will not tolerate practicing, even among believers, he will not tolerate the habitual practice of wickedness, of sin, spelled out in the new covenant. And he spells it out in Galatians 5 and Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, Revelation 21. I mean, it goes down the list, fornication, adultery, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, drunkenness, reveling, partying. I mean, he lays it out. Homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, all the sexual perversions and immorality that's out here. He lays it out. Anyone who practices those things habitually, it's a lifestyle. They don't ever confess them, ask for forgiveness, repents, turn away and stop doing them. He says right there that God's laid out a principle. He will not have the wicked and those who practice wickedness and evil with him for eternity. That he just spelled it out. He said in Galatians 5, if you do these things, practice these things habitually, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. So the Lord says here, look, the Lord is making it plain. I don't want anyone to perish. I don't want anyone to die and then go to hell and spend eternity in the second death, which just means separation from God forever in the torments and the darkness and the evil of hell. I don't want that for anyone, but there has to be repentance. There has to be a change of mind and a change of actions, the change of the way you live because he's not going to tolerate wickedness forever. There is a judgment. There is an end of things. There is a final judgment and part of that will be where you will spend eternity in heaven or in hell with God forever or separated from him forever. And you will live forever in one of those two states. You will live in heaven, paradise and the earthly kingdom as well will have it all as believers who were faithful to the end or we will have hell and eternal damnation and the smoke of our torment will rise day and night forever and we'll live in eternal regret and damnation for our choices. But the Lord does not want that for anyone. So again, this establishes the balance. And any time we get too far to one side, we're in error. If we get too far to God loves everybody and it doesn't matter how you live, that's an error. If we get over here and say, oh, if you do one thing wrong or you mess up one time
or you're just, you know, you fail, there's no hope for you. You're damned, you're going to hell. That's wrong, okay? And we see both sides of that error there. But the Lord is not slack. Verse nine, let's go back to that. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but his long suffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also in the works that are therein shall be burned up. So Peter is clearly declaring by the Holy Spirit, by the gift of prophecy, the spirit of prophecy flowing through him, he is declaring that the day is coming, that everything we see, there's going to be a judgment of fire at the end of this age, at the second coming of Jesus. And he says in verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation? And the word conversation there means behavior. What kind of persons ought you to be in all holy behavior and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, wherefore beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. So what do we see? I mean, it's pretty crystal clear here, isn't it, that we see that God says he doesn't want anyone to perish, he loves us. He came, took on a human body, died on the cross for us, paid the price for our sins so that we could be reconciled to him, our sins could be washed away, we could have peace with God, we could have relationship with him. He made the way for us to escape the final damnation and separation from him called hell and the final judgment, but that's up to us. He said he's patient, he loves us, but we have to repent. Repentance is absolutely required. Repentance and holiness, and let's look at that because there's a verse here that talks about holiness and a lot of people don't like it. Go to Hebrews, go to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. This is a strong verse right here. Hebrews 12, 14, it says, follow peace with all men. Paul said Romans, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men, sometimes it's possible, sometimes it's not. He says try, follow peace with all men
and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now let me tell you something. If you're a Christian that thinks you don't have to live a holy life and stay away from the sins of the flesh, the works of the flesh that I mentioned a minute ago, Galatians five, Ephesians five, Revelation 21, Romans one. If you think you can live in those as a lifestyle, habitually practice those sins and you don't have to be holy, you don't have to repent and separate yourself from those things to the best of your ability and that you should pursue righteousness and holiness and in the new covenant. If you don't believe that, listen, then you are an antinomian. You are against even the very basic new covenant law of Christ. But this verse ought to scare some of that hell out of you because it's pretty clear. Let's put that verse back on the screen for me. This is an important verse here. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So if you don't have holiness in your life, you will not see the Lord. So that's a pretty strong passage there. And that's exactly what Peter's talking about. Let's go back to 2 Peter again. Let's go back to 2 Peter talking about, again, the end, the final judgment. He's warning, just like there was a tremendous severe judgment upon wicked men in the days of Noah. As Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man when he returns. And so Peter's warning here, that day's coming. The day's coming that's going to melt the elements and everything in the earth's going to be burned up and the elements are going to melt with a fervent heat. And the wicked and ungodly men are going to be judged. They're going to be destroyed. They're going to be the destruction of the ungodly and the wicked's coming. Again, God doesn't desire that for them and that's why he's given such warnings for so long and he's been very patient. And then he says here though, but let's read again, let's read verse. I want to read it, I don't know. This is just for some reason important this morning. Back up to verse nine, we're going to read from verse nine again through these because again, that's what this class eschatology is all about. Verse nine, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat and the earth also the works that are there in shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy behavior?
See how that goes along with what we just read a minute ago in Hebrews 12, 14, without holiness, no man will see the Lord. He says, seeing that you know that this judgment is coming, that this end of all things, that this day of reckoning is coming to the earth and the wicked, you ought to consider what it means to live holy and godly. Looking for and hasting unto the coming day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, although what does he mean? We Christians, those of us born again that love Jesus, that surrender to his Lordship, that believe in his atoning death and his resurrection, that have forsaken this world to follow him, taken up our cross to follow him. What does he say? He says, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. What's gonna dwell there? Righteousness, not wickedness, not ungodliness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent, that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. What is without spot and blameless mean? Not living in sin, not living recklessly, carelessly, not living in lusts, truly washing the blood and truly not practicing wickedness. We cannot be practitioners of wickedness sin. You know, Kevin and I were just talking before class started this morning. And one of the things I think that's gonna be a shocker to most, to a lot of Christians, they're gonna find out that, you know, Jesus said you can't serve God and money, mammon. And I mean, he didn't say, you know, I know you're gonna struggle with that. And he said, you cannot do it. And there are a lot of Christians that are gonna stand on Judgment Day. And they're gonna say, Jesus, Lord, Lord, gonna call him Lord. And he's gonna look at him and say, no, no, no, no, no. I was not your Lord. Money was your Lord because you made every decision of your life based on money. You compromised, you didn't, you even persecuted other Christians. You didn't, you betrayed other Christians. You didn't take a stand, you know, when it came down to maybe even losing your job or losing, you know, a contract or whatever, and you had to compromise to keep it, you compromised. Can't serve God and money. Idolatry is one of those sins that are under death. And I'm gonna tell you right now, the greatest idol in the world is money. It's gonna be a rude awakening. That was just a little free addition there.
But, so Peter is saying here, you know, there's gonna be an end. And so, again, let me just reiterate. Peter's message here is beautiful. I mean, it's truly, of course, it was inspired and given to him by the Holy Spirit. And he wrote as the Holy Spirit moved upon him. And that's why it's so beautifully in order. But he's showing God loves us. He's not willing that we perish. But he doesn't pull punches. He doesn't say, it doesn't matter how you live your life. You're once saved always, and you're eternally secure no matter how you live. That's not what he said at all. He said, you know what? There's a day, there's an end, there's a final judgment. There's a heaven, there's a hell. There's a day of the judgment of the wicked and the ungodly. You better make sure that you're living in peace with God, in relationship with God. So again, when you preach about, when you talk about eschatology, you're talking about dealing with these things. Eternity, final judgment. Let's look at just so you see, of course, where Peter says here, you know, the Lord's not slack concerning his promise, but his long suffering. Let's look at an Old Testament passage. Go with me to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 18 is where we'll go next. This just passage just kind of popped in my head this morning as I was getting ready to come up here to the church to do this class. And I know when those verses like that, that I haven't read in a long time, pop up in my mind. I know the Lord is giving them to me. But let's look at verses. So we'll go to Ezekiel 18. We'll just read verse from verse 21. Because again, I think we again, just show the heart of God in this matter of judgment, that his love is there all the time. But again, he's not a God that's going to forever tolerate continual rebellion, wickedness, sin, even in his own people, much less the wicked who deny him. Well, let's read this. This is Ezekiel 18, 21 is where we'll start. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. Now, of course, God's not talking about he would live eternally as a physical human being because no one does that, right? He's talking about eternal life. And of course, prior to the new covenant,
prior to Jesus going to the cross, God just pretty much looked at people as righteous or wicked and if they sought him and tried to live a godly, righteous life, he looked at that as good and he would give them life, even if they weren't perfect. I mean, you look at people like Abraham, he wasn't perfect. And David, Moses, so on and so forth. Moses murdered a man. David committed adultery. I mean, both of those sins under the, if they were strictly under the law at that time would have been, should have been stoned to death, right? But that wasn't the case. God is, still showed mercy, even in the old covenant. But he says there, he says, but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live and he shall not die. And all his transgressions that he has committed shall not be mentioned unto him. Isn't that interesting? The same words of the new covenant, if we're repent and we're forgiven, our sins will not be remembered. Beautiful, right? God is merciful. He doesn't want us to die in our sin. So verse 22, he says, all his transgressions that he has committed shall not be mentioned unto him and in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Look at verse 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, sayeth the Lord God, and not that he should return or repent or turn away from his ways and live? So the Lord's saying there, do I have any pleasure in a person who, you know, do I have any pleasure that, you know, having to judge and make that second death, that eternal separation from me as a person refuses to repent and stop being wicked? Do I, God's saying, I don't have any pleasure that the wicked should die. It's not what I desire. No, that's the, and I'm bringing this out because I want you to see the consistency from the old covenant even into the new. It's the same, God's heart toward people. He, again, he doesn't want any to perish. He doesn't want anyone to die in their sins and experience the second death of being separated from him forever. That in itself, even if there was no punishment or torment to hell, just being separated from your creator who is life forever, you know, because let me tell you, if you've experienced anything about God, you know you felt his peace, his love, his presence. To be separated from that forever, it would be hell. It's enough for me. But of course we know there's much more to hell than that. But just wanted you to see that. Now, of course, mankind, even among the people of God, they get a little, you know, we get attitudes and there's a verse. I want everybody to turn to this. I want you to turn to Ecclesiastes
chapter number eight and verse 11. Now, this is the problem in the world. God has patience. He's long suffering toward us, not letting that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, his patience. Remember it said a day with him. Peter said a day with him is like a thousand years. A thousand years is like a day. God is very patient because time is irrelevant to him. It's not the same to him as it is to us. But mankind many times mistakes his patience and his long suffering and his giving plenty of time to mankind as weakness or as if, oh, God's not going to do anything. Let's read this verse. This is Ecclesiastes 8.11. It says here, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Oh, see he's saying there, God is revealing, speaking through Solomon here, he's revealing that the true nature of mankind that, you know, if God executed his judgment quickly, they'd say, oh, God's impatient. He doesn't love us. He's not loving and kind, right? And they still try to say that now. They talk about, you know, they've got people saying there was a different God in the Old Testament than there is in the New Testament because God was so quick to judge. But really even in the Old Testament, he wasn't that quick to judge. I'm going to show you. But either way, it is amazing. Mankind's heart nature is so wicked and it really doesn't matter which way God goes. If he judged, you know, if the sentence against an evil deed was executed quickly, they would say, well, God's not loving. He's not patient. He's not kind. He's not, you know. But then if he waits, it says here, as this verse says, if the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, then what does men's hearts do? It says the men's hearts, the hearts of the sons of men's fully set in them to do evil. So they think that God is somehow by not judging them or nothing bad happening to them immediately that they're getting away with something. And then they begin to think, well, maybe God's okay with what I'm doing. Like the homosexuals are now or the transgenders or whatever. Maybe God approves of this. You know, the Methodist Church is getting ready to approve all this LGBTQ, TRS 45, 68, 105, you know,
gender thing, I don't know. But you've got these churches now, why? Because look, look, there's been a long time since there was a flood and since there was Sodom and Gomorrah judgments like that. There's been a long time. And so what's happened? The hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil and they've begun to believe, they've begun this thing. Where is the God of judgment? He doesn't really exist. Look at this, let's go to Malachi chapter two. See the Torah heads would say that Pastor Dean hates the Old Testament. I love it. You just have to teach it in context with the new. But there's so much truth and so much revealed about the character and nature of God. We got to take it all. But we got to understand what covenant we live under. That's for sure. But Malachi chapter two, this was dealing with the people of God and it says that Judgment Day was near but they didn't believe it. Let's read this. And I just want to read this one verse at the end of Malachi chapter two verse 17. When he says this here, he says, "'Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, "'yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? "'When you say, everyone that doeth evil "'is good in the sight of the Lord.'" Boy, is that not where we are right now. What was her name? The dagle? What was her name? The singer. Dagle, Lauren Dagle. What is she saying now? Homosexuals are good. Homosexuality's fine. And God says it's an abomination. He hates it. It's sin, it's evil, it's wickedness. And so though he says, "'Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, "'yet you say, wherein have we wearied him? "'When you say, everyone that doeth evil "'is good in the sight of the Lord, "'and he delights in them.'" Or, where is the God of judgment? Oh, where is the God of judgment? See, go back to our verse if you can, in Ecclesiastes. Where is the God of judgment, they say, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil. See, it happened to the Israelites, and guess what? It's happened now in the church. Even the people of God get affected by this.
If God doesn't bring his judgment and wrath and his sentence against evil quickly, seems like people's hearts just get even more set to do evil. So the Lord, I think, he decided some time ago, I'm gonna drop back here, and I'm gonna let this thing just ride itself. Let mankind just take the reins, man. Take the reins, mankind, let's see how you do. Let me tell you how it's gonna end up. Mankind will have a world government, tyranny, an antichrist, the persecution and the murder of Christians, true Christians. They will have a false religion that brings all religions together, but throws out the one that says Jesus Christ is the only true God and the only way to be forgiven of sins and the only way to eternal life and the only way to escape judgment and damnation and the wrath of God. Because when mankind takes the reins and they go any direction away from the creator, the God of the Bible, it's gonna end badly. And you know, really, to tell you the truth, as bad as it can be, when you think about the flood, God wiped out everybody except Noah, his wife, his three sons, their three wives. When you think about that, that sounds horrible, of course, and it is that that had to happen. But what would have happened to mankind had it not happened? Satan would have eventually made normal human beings created in the image of God. He would have made us extinct. And so God had to intervene. So when God does intervene, even though it's bad for the wicked, it's good for those who follow him. Amen? Amen. Now, having said that, let's go back. Let's go look at a few things here. Well, first, I'll tell you what, before we go look at that, I wanna go look at, Dennis, I want us to go to Psalm 50, though. Psalm 50. Psalm 50 is one of those scary Psalms. Let's start reading here. Let's see. Oh, it's almost, it's so good. I hate to even cut it short.
Let's just start at verse 15, though. Keep from reading the whole thing. So the Lord here first is speaking to the righteous. And he says, Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Well, that's a good word right there. Call upon me in the day of trouble. And let me tell you, the day of trouble is coming. The great day of trouble, the great tribulation has come. So the Lord says to the righteous, to those that love him and are following him, that have Jesus truly as Lord of their lives, and have taken up their cross and followed him. He says, Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. But unto the wicked, God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth? Lord's saying to the wicked, how dare you even speak of me if you want to live in sin and wickedness? And yet, how many people though? I mean, we got homosexuals saying, oh, we're gonna go to church. Let's go to church and praise God. Let's go to church and teach Sunday school classes. Let's, oh, here's a better one. Let's become the pastor of a Methodist church, or an Episcopal church, or a Lutheran church, or a Presbyterian church. How dare these wicked people take God's name and his covenant and his words in their mouth? And that's what he's saying here. He's like, oh, let's just read this again, verse 15. He says, Call upon me to the righteous. He says, Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. But unto the wicked, God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or thou shouldst take my covenant in my mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and cast my words behind me. Oh, well, what words? Now, remember, he just got through saying, you take some of my words in your mouth, but some of my words you're casting behind your back. Oh, what does that sound like? That sounds like editing God, doesn't it? Remember I said, you're either a Bible believer and follower, or you're a Bible editor. And so these wicked, oh yeah, they'll take God loves me. They'll take John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loves me, has a wonderful plan for my life. Oh, but you mean I can't be a practice in homosexual and go to heaven? Let me throw that one behind. I don't believe Romans one. Let me throw that behind my back. You know, the Lord, you know, this Psalm was written around 1000 BC. And yet, talking about us today, why is mankind, the nature of man never changes? But he says, again, let's read verse 16.
But under the wicked God said, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes? Thou shouldst take my covenant in my mouth, sing thou hatest instruction and cast my words behind you. When you saw us the thief, then you consented with him. You have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue frameth deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. These things have you done and I kept silence. You thought that I was altogether such as one as yourself, but I will reprove you and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Now I wanna back up here. What God is saying here, you take my words in your mouth, my covenant in your mouth, you talk about me. Now there's certain words in my instruction you throw behind your back. You consent with a thief. You partake with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, deceit and lies. You sit and you slander people. He says, these things you've done and I kept silent. You know what? That's God saying, I'm not gonna say a word. And he said, because I kept silent, see, this is their biggest, this is mankind's, one of mankind's biggest misconceptions of God. He said, you thought I was like you. Oh, no. He is not like us. He does not have weak human emotions. No. See, and this is why he can be perfect in love and mercy as well as he is perfect in justice and judgment and consequences for the wicked. I mean, think about it this way. There's people that don't like to think of God as a judge. But if you think about it this way, the way he thinks about sin. See, we all get in an uproar. We talk about pedophiles, people with molest children. Oh, that's terrible. That's wicked. That's evil. Yes, it is. But to God, fornication is evil and wicked. Adultery is evil and wicked. Homosexuality is evil and wicked. Drunkenness is evil and wicked. So God has his standard and he's not changing about what he calls wickedness, right?
For mankind. Your basic moral morality that he's established. But see, I hear people all the time, what they'll start to say is when you start to preach like, or you start to talk about the final judgment and even that they're gonna be Christians, born again Christians who are gonna hear God say, depart from me, he cursed it into everlasting fire. You're gonna say to the wicked and the lawful servant, you knew, I gave you what you needed. You knew, take from him what he hath, cast him into outer darkness. That would be weeping and asking the team. You see, they knew, right? So but you have Christians and people that say, no, no, no, God, God is like us. Would you ever take your son or your daughter and cast them into outer darkness or into hellfire? And God said, your problem is you think I'm like you. I'm not like you. He is the eternal wise one. He is the one that knows the end from the beginning. He is the one that knows everything you're gonna do and choose to do. So when he judges you, he does it from perfect knowledge of everything you've ever done, thought, said, and what you will do in the future. That's why he is the righteous judge. That's why he's the only one that can judge and determine where a person will spend all of eternity. And he's made it pretty clear in his word what that means. But right here, he says, you know, you did all this. You took my covenant in your mouth. You talked about my covenant. You talked about God loves me. Jesus died for me. My sins are forgiven past, present, and future while you live in adultery, fornication, drunkenness, homosexuality. He said, but certain of my words, yo, you cast them behind your back. And he said, you know, you did all this and I didn't say anything. I just kept silent. I let you think you're getting away with it. And in the process of that, me being silent, the Lord said, you thought I was like you. Wrong. Well, that preach right there, won't it? Don't ever misinterpret the silence of God for his approval, weakness, or weak human emotions. He is going to judge. Now, if you don't think so, let's go look at, I wanna look at a verse. First of all, let's look at 1 Peter chapter four. And can I just say, while we're turning to 1 Peter chapter four,
when you hear a message like this, and we're gonna put this on YouTube later, when you hear a message like this, teaching like this, a lot of people out there, you know, they immediately go, well, you know, that's just too strong. You know, that's just too much. That's just too strong. But what it should produce in you, it should produce a fear of God and a humility, especially if you are living in habitual sins that are unto death, that can separate you from God. That should cause you to follow in your needs trembling and ask God to forgive you and for you to help you repent and turn from that and become a true follower of Jesus Christ. And no longer a lukewarm Christian or a mega church Christian or a Methodist or a Baptist or a Presbyterian or whatever, you call yourself, none of that's gonna work. You're not gonna stand before God and say, I was a Lutheran. I was a Methodist, God. I was a Catholic, a Presbyterian or I was a Pentecostal God. All he's gonna say was, were you following me, walking with me, taking up your cross? Were you trying to live holy and obedient with me? Or were you just living in wickedness thinking that I was like you and I was like some weak human being that's gonna let you get away with it? First Peter chapter four, this is to the Christians first, verse 17, the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Well, these verses right here ought to make you tremble. What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel? I'm telling you the time has come. And the sign that judgment is at the door of the church of the West is the fact that now they're ordaining homosexuals to be pastors. That's your sign right there. Right before Rome was destroyed, the Roman Empire completely collapsed. It was due to the fact homosexuality became rampant. Pedophilia was rampant.
Adultery was rampant. A divorce was rampant. The idolatry of money was rampant. And the Roman Empire, from the strongest and greatest empires the world's ever produced, collapsed under the weight of its own sin. It's coming to the West, to England, France, Germany. And you talk about Denmark, Amsterdam, Sweden, all those countries are just so eaten up with sexual immorality. And don't think I'm pointing the finger because America is just as bad. You go to cities like New York, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta. It's horrible, horrible. But these verses are pretty clear for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it began at us, what shall the end be? What shall the eschatology be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter one. See these things should not be odd to us. Let's read this from verse one. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy under the church of the Thessalonians and God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity or love of every one of you, of you all toward each other abounded. So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense or repay tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all of them that I believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Now you read this right here. In this right here, he's talking to these Christians
in Thessalonica that were being persecuted and suffering under persecution. And he reminds them the Lord's gonna repay trouble to those who are troubling. He says, there's a day coming when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. Oh boy. Now see, we don't like, I'm telling you, 99% of churches, 99% of Torah people, 99% of, hey, don't talk about this kind of stuff. No, no, it's not comfortable. Jesus is coming back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and those who do not obey the gospel. That's pretty strong. There is an end. And that's my point this morning, the beginning of this class introduction, is we're gonna be talking about Bible prophecy and stuff and all the things that the Bible showed through Daniel and Revelation and other prophets and the apostles in the New Testament, the things that would lead up to the final judgment of God, the final big judgment that would precede the second coming of Jesus. And so we're gonna get into that in depth. But today, I just wanted to give this introduction that we need to understand that God is both a God of love and mercy and forgiveness and willing, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, but that He's also the God of judgment. And there is a day where His mercy and patience is over. And sometimes that's in the life of an individual. Sometimes that's in the life of a church. Sometimes the life of a nation. But it is coming now, we're in that time that it's coming for the whole world, for the culmination of this, I guess you would say, this season of world history. And what's shocking is how many people are blind to it. Come on. It's like it's a train just, they're standing on the tracks, man, and it's barreling down the tracks, blowing the horn, and they have earphones on, and they're looking the other direction. No idea what's coming. Now, just to show you this before we close out, I know we're not gonna go too long today in this introduction, but just to show that there's been these seasons, let's go back to Genesis.
Because Jesus said it too. He said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. So let's go look at what it was like in the days of Noah. Go to Genesis chapter six. And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born into them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose, and the Lord said, and this is what I really wanna point out. We'll get onto the subject of the Nephilim, and the Giants, and that whole thing, in more depth in the spiritual warfare block in the days ahead. But I wanted to point out here, more than anything else, this verse three, where the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for he is also flesh, and yet his day shall be 120 years. And let's just skip to verse five. He says, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, remember, again, everybody, it's funny, back 30, 25, and 30 years ago, people didn't talk about the aspect of the Nephilim, the Giants, the hybrids, and stuff like that. They didn't talk about that as being part of the days of Noah, and being part of the days of the end. Now, it's kind of the opposite. That's what you hear a lot about, the Nephilim, and the Giants, and the whole alien deception that's coming, and that's all part of what's happening, and going to happen, but we forget this part, that one of the reasons that God brought this great judgment of the flood upon the world, and listen, the judgment of the flood is in 270 different ancient accounts from different parts of the world, different cultures and groups, Chinese and, I mean, just everything, Native American. I mean, the flood is probably one of the most well-documented things that ever happened, and two, when 70% of the rock that exists was laid down by water and has fossils in it, ought to let us know, right? Fossils in rock are created because of water and sediment settling quick, all right? So the flood is both scientifically, geologically documented that it happened. It's documented in history and cultures. Some of them, almost exactly, eight people, a boat. God was angry with the wicked and brought judgment on wicked mankind that a bird left the boat and came back. I mean, it's amazing how those accounts went down through many, many, you know,
centuries into all those cultures, had stories of this great flood and several, only few people surviving and God being angry and so on and so forth. But the reason for that judgment, that end thing there, to end that season at the start anew with Noah and his family was because God, verse five, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Now think about this, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. I think about right now with pornography being so prevalent and easily accessible that I can tell you that probably most men can't ever think about anything else. And then you have men that are constantly thinking about money or power or whatever. And I just think about where we are. It sounds like the days of Noah, doesn't it? And verse six, it says, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And so the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Jeffeth. And the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence. Through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth, make thee an ark of gopher wood, the brooms thou shalt make in the ark, thou shalt pitch it within him without, and so forth and told him how to make the ark. And then Noah did it, and God brought the animals that he wanted to save, and then the flood came. The windows of heaven were opened, the fountains of the great deep broke up. But between the time that God told Noah this, Noah started building the ark, God yet gave mankind another 120 years to repent. And the Bible says that Noah, and so the book of 2 Peter says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, meaning that Noah preached that 120 years. That Noah spoke and witnessed the mankind around him,
tried to warn them that God was angry, he was tired of the wickedness, the violence, the evil. And they didn't listen. And that's why Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. This is where we are. And Noah's building the ark, and what does the Bible say? They were marrying, giving in marriage, just going on with life as normal. And you gotta remember at that point the Bible says it had never rained. So I guess they were wondering, how in the world, what's this Noah talking about? There's never been a flood. Is he talking about water from the sky, water from the great deep? I don't know if he told them those things or not, but you can imagine again, mankind's another one of mankind's terrible faults is trying to figure out things with their own reasoning. God says he's gonna flood the earth with water. You best be repenting, humbling yourself, dealing with your sin and wickedness, turning back to him, having a respect and fear of God, or you better get to building a boat. I don't know, right? And you know, it wasn't just the boat, folks. I know a lot of people focus on the boat, the ark that saved Noah, but let me tell you, if God didn't hold the ark together and keep it from tipping over and all that stuff, I mean, as David said in one of the Psalms, I can't remember if it's Psalm 31, he said, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety's from the Lord. So I don't know, some wicked people could have built a boat too, but the Lord would have made sure it turned over or sunk, because it was about wickedness and repentance is why the judgment came, not just water. So we see that and we see, of course, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Matter of fact, it's important. Let's turn there. I wanna cover these in my introduction because all of these things, I mean, you think about it, that when we talk about the second coming of Jesus, and we go to Genesis 18, when you talk about the second coming of Jesus, the final judgments, the great tribulation that's coming, all the things we're gonna be talking about in Bible prophecy leading up to the second coming of Jesus, and the judgment and the wrath of God, God mentions, and even the Lord Jesus, when he was doing his earthly ministry, spoke of it being like the days of Noah, and he said also, like the days of Lot, right? And you know what I'm gonna do, I'm just gonna paraphrase this anyway, because you can read, and I want you guys, matter of fact, this will be your assignment tonight, reading Genesis 18 and 19,
and tell me why you thank God that what was the final straw for God to rain fire upon and completely destroy, not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but three other cities of the plain, that whole region there near the Dead Sea. But that's gonna be your homework too. Just write, I don't care if it takes you a paragraph or two or three paragraphs, but tell me why you think, what was the final straw? But you see what happened, I mean, the men were wicked, there was great wickedness, the cry of Sodom went up, and we found out there that there was just great sexual perversion. So homosexuality was rampant, and not just homosexuality, but militant homosexuality. I mean, when the men of the city gather around your house, because they wanna rake two angels that visited you, you got a problem, right? Sodom and Gomorrah had a problem, and that wasn't their only problem, but that was one of them. But you see in that story, the very mercy of God telling Abraham, and Abraham knowing that Lot, his nephew lived there, and his family, and so Abraham, being concerned for his family, begins to pray. Lord, will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? And the Lord was like, well, I'll tell you what, this is the mercy of God and the love of God. Knowing how wicked and terrible Sodom and Gomorrah and those five cities of the plain were, that God said, you know what, if I find 50 righteous in there, I won't destroy the city. Now think about that, right? To me, that's mind-blowing, knowing the great wickedness going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. So God says, I'll tell you what, Abraham, if I find 50, and then of course, you know the rest of the story, well, what if it's 45 or 40? Okay, and of course, Abraham got him down to 10, right, the Lord said, okay, you know what, if I can find 10 righteous in Sodom, I won't destroy it. Now, you know it's bad when you have five cities and you can't find 10 righteous people. That's bad, this is horrible. It's just rampant, evil, wickedness. And finally, the Lord sent the angels in to pull Lot and his family out. His whole family didn't make it out, but he pulled out Lot, and then it says, he rained fire in brimstone and destroyed them all. And then the book of Jude says that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah not only suffered that judgment, but they are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire forever, hell,
because of wickedness, because of evil, because of stubborn wickedness. And listen, they had Lot there. They knew they had a righteous witness. In fact, Lot tried to talk them out of it. Remember, and they were like, shut up, don't tell us how to live. Wouldn't that sound familiar? And Jesus said, just like it was in the days of Lot, the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone and destroyed them all. He said, that's the way it's gonna be in the day the Son of Man comes. The same day Jesus returns and takes his people up, which I believe is the last day, he's gonna rain fire and brimstone and destroy them all. That's gonna be the final day. And that's what's coming. And it's coming whether you believe it or you don't believe it. It's coming because of the testimonies. You know, there's been archeologists that found multiple archeologists that found the site of Sodom and Gomorrah. There's plenty of evidence that it was destroyed by fire. And there's an unusual thing there that they discovered. And there was these little sulfur balls that are 95% pure sulfur. Now, the best sulfur you can get in the world, if you dig up sulfur, the best natural sulfur you can find is like 60%, I think, 50, 60% sulfur. But there's these unusual 95% sulfur balls. Pastor, what are you talking about sulfur for? Because the Bible says that God rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy them. Brimstone is sulfur. So some of the sulfur didn't burn up and was preserved as a witness that God sent down pure sulfur. Not earthly sulfur, pure sulfur from heaven that he made special just for Sodom. And I would say that the 5% of it that's not pure is probably just because it's been sitting there for several thousand years in the dirt, right? But it's still 95% pure versus the normal sulfur that we would dig up being about 60% pure. So we have evidence of Sodom and Gomorrah. We have evidence of the flood and we have a history book that tells us all about it. Tells us that it happened, tells us where it happened. In detail, tells us why it happened. And you know, those are warnings he said. The Word of God said that the flood and the evidence of the flood and the historical record of the flood, not just in the Bible but in these 270 different accounts
of different cultures across the world, the discovery of Sodom and Gomorrah, the site of the five cities of the plain that it was destroyed by fire and there's these unusual pure sulfur balls there. He said these things are testimonies to the truth of the Word of God and what is coming really I believe after studying the Bible for over 30 years that we are in the last of the last days and that that final day of judgment and wrath of God against wickedness and unbelief and evil and rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, God in the flesh, the Lamb of God, the one who died for sin and rose from the dead. That that, those sins, that rejection, that rebellion is becoming so rampant there's such an antichrist spirit growing in the world that the final judgment is very near I believe. The final years of this dispensation, this age of this season, with God an end doesn't mean an end. Like it means an end of something and the beginning of something new and that's why Peter said we who are looking for these things, look for a new heavens and a new earth where in will dwell righteous and so God's going to, he's gonna make a new heavens and a new earth. He's gonna wipe out the wicked in wickedness and evil and he's gonna bring about a new heavens and a new earth and those of us that were faithful to the end, that followed Jesus, believed him and walked with him, we will inherit the heavens and the earth, the new heaven and the new earth. So I hope you were blessed today. Hope you students got this. We're not gonna have a, I'm gonna just end this introduction eschatology class one, a little shorter than normal today but you get a good overview. I think this was a good overview to understand what eschatology means, the study and theology of final judgment, death, heaven and hell, and what's coming and why and that God is both a God of love and mercy but he will not tolerate persistent ongoing wickedness and evil. There has to be humility, repentance and faith in what Jesus did on the cross and a change of life. Repentance is a change of life. I can honestly say and this is the truth, before I repented, I was pretty much an alcoholic. I mean, I drank nearly every day. I did drugs all the time. I was in reveling partying, drunkenness, fornication, you name it. I was practicing those and I was a lifestyle that I lived in. But when I came to understand repentance
and the fear of God and what holiness meant and righteousness meant under the new covenant, I knew I had to repent. I had to walk away from those things. And again, it's not works to stop fornicating. It's not works to stop being a drunkard. I didn't have to, it's not something you, it wouldn't work. And so I remember when that revelation and you know it's a revelation from God when you know you got a fall on your knees, on your face, whatever, and say, God, I've been wicked, I've been a sinner. Even if you're a Christian backslider, you're a prodigal, you were in the father's house but you left and went and lived in the world and the pig pen, the riots is living. That right there, you got to get up and get out of it. I had a discussion the other day with somebody who believes that once saved, always saved. No matter how you live or unconditional eternal security or whatever they call it. And I brought that up. We brought up the prodigal and said, yeah, well, yeah, he started out in the father's house but he went home. I said, yeah, but he had to choose. He had to choose to leave the foreign country, the pig pen. He had to choose to leave his lifestyle of riotous living and go back and humble himself to his father. And so that's what we have to do, whether we're a believer or not, we have to humble ourselves and repent and take God seriously, even if it's a period where he's being patient, even if it's a period where he's not sentencing your evil deeds immediately. Better not take that for granted if he's being patient with you. Now, I know this has been a teaching really for our students, but I can say, we're gonna put this on YouTube because I believe it's important message to get out. But the final judgment is coming. Yes, God is a God of love. He loves you. He doesn't want you to die in your sins and go to hell forever for eternity. He separated from him. That's not his desire, but he is not going to tolerate ongoing, sinful, lustful, worldly behavior forever. You're gonna have to make up your mind what side of the fence you're gonna be on. So anyway, let's pray and we'll close out this first class of eschatology today. Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you, God Almighty, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We thank you that you are merciful. We thank you, Lord, that you are loving, that you love us so much. You've made the way for us to be forgiven and our sins to be washed away. You've even promised to give us your Holy Spirit,
to give us power, to walk obedient and holy lives in this new covenant you've given us through the blood of Jesus. Lord, I ask you, Lord, to help brothers and sisters out there maybe and even unsaid people that are struggling. Maybe a lot of people that think they're Christians because they said the name of Jesus in a prayer one time, but they never truly repented and began to and started a walk and a relationship with you. Obeying the gospel, obeying the new covenant commands the law of Christ. So Lord, I ask you, if there's anybody like that, I don't care if they're prodigals, I don't care if they've never really been saved, that today they will surrender, bow the knee, admit their sins and stop living in lifestyles of wickedness and evil because you are also not just a God of love and mercy and forgiveness, you're a God of judgment and wrath and final destinations, heaven or hell. So Lord, we ask You to make that real to them. And it's not a matter of You trying to be mean or threatening, it's just when this ends, this time period ends, this age, this dispensation, when this ends, we will either be with You and living with You, or we'll be with the enemy and living with Him. And we pray, God, that anybody that hears this will finally bow the knee, confess their sins, ask for forgiveness, repent, turn away from them, surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, let the blood of Jesus wash their sins away and take up their cross and follow You. And I pray this today in Jesus name. God bless you.