Are You Aware of the Times?

Beautiful song. If you could all please be seated. We'll now have the sermon brought to us by our local pastor, Mr. Jim Tuck.

Happy Sabbath! Good to see all of you. Hope you've had a wonderful week. It seems like the weeks are going so rapidly. Any more, it seems like a week is about two days. It's like you're in the Sabbath and then you're at the Sabbath again. But in a way, that's kind of good, isn't it? We're spending a lot of time in God's services and we're learning God's way of life. Or at least it seems that way. But anyway, we've had a wonderful, wonderful week. I did want to make a comment about Janice Foster, a wonderful lady. My wife and I counted Janice, one of our dear friends, and of course Roger. Roger and Janice served in the Phoenix area for a long time. And I know Mr. Foster is having some health issues now and he's with his son, Rod.

But I know he would love dearly to see all of you if he had the chance or the opportunity. And sometimes it seems that people that serve long and hard, like Mr. Foster and Janice, it's hard to believe that you get to the end of your service. It went so fast. It went so quickly. My wife and I are working on, I think, we went into the ministry at 74. And to us, over 40 years have gone by, where did it go? How did it go so quickly? How did you get so old?

And of course, we haven't aged at all. We're about the same. Of course, we think we are, but in reality we are not.

In a time when Saul had been rejected as the king of Israel because of his unwillingness to obey what God had commanded, and David had to begin to reunite Israel under his kingship, there was a curious statement that was made during that period of time. It's in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 32, and it says, And of the children of Issachar, and these were those that banded with David in order to bring Israel together, it says, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.

And I would have to say, by the way, about the fosters, that they were people of understanding that knew at critical times in the history of the church, and they knew what to do, what we ought to do, as God's people. I remember working very closely with the fosters and, of course, the Zimmerman's and others who were in the area back in those days when we had our most greatest trials that we had in the Phoenix area. But they were people of understanding who knew what Israel, spiritual Israel, ought to do. You know, they surveyed, at that time, during the time of David, the children of Issachar surveyed the crazy situation in Israel, and they understood the situation. They grasped it.

I want to talk to you today, brethren, about this. Do you have an awareness of the times that we're living in? Do you know where we are in Bible prophecy? Do you have a grasp of it, like the children of Issachar? And do you know what to do? Are you doing what you really know you ought to do as well?

You know, some have looked at the situation in the world where so many tragedies seem to happen. They look at natural disasters, the fires, the earthquakes, the different things that happen. And there are so many things that have been happening and have happened in the last 20 years, you know, in this country.

Some actually say, well, you know, that's not God sending a message to mankind. Basically, those are just natural disasters that take place. And unfortunately, oftentimes people, when they go through these terrible, horrible ordeals, like the disasters that we've seen that have happened over the last 20 or 30 years, again, they tend to write it off or they are temporarily affected by it. Well, brethren, when we look in the world and we see disasters, and I can promise you they're going to be more ahead of you, and each of us are going to have to probably, somewhere along the line, we're going to be a part of those disasters. How do those things that happen? The cataclysms. How do they apply to us? How do we take them? How do they impact us? And what should we do about them? Now, we know that God does intervene periodically in the world, and He sends a message. That's a fact. That's what the Bible, in fact, shows you as we study it. But consider these questions.

Was Noah's flood a message to the world from God? You think that was a message from God? I think certainly it was. Was Sodom Gomorrah a message from God? I don't think anybody would doubt that was a message from God about the lifestyles that were going on in Sodom Gomorrah.

What about Brother 9-11? Was that a message from God to this nation? When those twin towers fell, the massive towers where people were jumping out of windows and the most horrendous thing that had happened to the United States in a long time, and it seemed like for a period of time it just changed this country. I don't know how long it lasted, maybe it was six months. But it seemed like people were different for a short period of time. It's amazing. When those things happened here in Phoenix, by the way, the attendance in Phoenix went up dramatically.

We had people coming out of the woodwork. You had to start setting up more chairs when things began to happen. But you know, after a period of time, people looked one way or the other and slowly some began to disappear. Was the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which destroyed most of the naval fleet in the United States, a message to America from God?

Was the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius during the time of Pompeii, that destroyed Pompeii? Was that a message from God to those people at that time? Let's go to Luke 13. Jesus Christ cited two tragedies that occurred. Two tragedies here in Luke 13, just the first five verses here we're going to look at. But it says, and there were present at that season some who told them about the Galileans, whose blood pilot had mingled with their sacrifices. So Pilate was this, I guess, bloodthirsty kind of king, and he sent his soldiers up there with spears and short swords, and he hacked those poor people to death.

And notice, though, going on here, Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? And Jesus said, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. We're going to be like everybody else, in other words, in the world that is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we could be there as well. We could be in a situation where our lives could be snuffed out. And so Christ warned them.

He said, You better repent, or that could be you. But going on, are those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelled in Jerusalem? How about the people that were in the Twin Towers that came crashing down, where 3,000 people were exterminated? What if it was your son or daughter that had to leap out of an 80-story window to their death to escape the flames? Were they worse sinners than all else? He says, I tell you no, that unless you repent, you shall likewise perish. So here are these two events, by the way.

One, of course, was an act of violence by Pilate. The other was an accident that occurred. And Jesus said they were not being punished for their sins any more than anybody else that was in Jerusalem. They weren't more of a sinner than anybody else, but the warning He did give on both accounts, whether it was just an accident or whether it was something perpetrated by violence, the warning He gave was repent or perish. That was the warning that He gave at that time.

What are the lessons that we learn, by the way, from these five short verses here? Well, there are five lessons here, and I'll give them to you briefly. Number one, your world can change rapidly and dramatically, is what Jesus Christ was saying here. Your world can change rapidly and dramatically. Number two, your life can end quickly or quickly be affected by a horrendous act that takes place just by chance. What if you were running in the Boston Marathon and you lost your legs?

As some did because of a heinous act of a terrorist. Number three, the message is we ought to be moved to repent and double our efforts to change right now, before we're faced with that kind of situation. Number four, redeem the time in your life. If you haven't been applying yourself, if we haven't been doing those things that we should do, redeem the time, like it says in Ephesians 5. And number five, we need God's protection.

Don't we? I mean, if we don't have God's protection, we're going to be like any other Tom, Dick, or Harry that walks the street. We're going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How many times has God already delivered us? We should pray about that, of course, all the time that God would always be with us. We don't always, brethren, know why calamities occur, but it can be due to sin. But the lesson, brethren, of tragedy, when it strikes and it's going to strike, and I'm no prophet, I'm not up here talking about this as a pre-court cursor to what's going to happen in the very near future. You know this as well as I. The Bible promises us that things are going to happen ahead of us. And your life could be changed quickly by it.

You could wake up tomorrow, brethren, to hear of a big earthquake that impacted California. And we could have a line of cars that are stacked up on the highway 10 over here, heading over this way, that it would be just tragic in itself that people would be trapped out there on the highways. You could be trapped out there on the highways. You could wake up tomorrow and hear that Yellowstone has exploded, a supervolcano that it impacted. And you could see, in fact, some of the results of it outside when you look up into the sky. It could impact a very great area. You could hear about tsunamis, or maybe even, in this day and age, a nuclear exchange that would take place.

We've got a lot of people that have now the capacity to utilize nuclear weapons or dirty bombs. We could be impacted rather than that way, just overnight.

So, brethren, it's important for us to realize again the times that we're living in. Are we aware of those times? Our time is fast-paced. I get that, brethren. It's filled with so many things. Unfortunately, in America, I mean, are we not a people of materialism? We've got a Ged-itis kind of a lifestyle. And we go about our business of accumulating things. I've talked to some people, and they tell me about what some of the family are doing wealth-wise.

They're doing really well in terms of accumulating things. But they're not doing too well in terms of the spiritual. They're not doing too well in that regard. But, brethren, those people oftentimes, and maybe us as well, we don't consider, brethren, what we're doing until the disaster strikes us. It reminds me of the movie I saw with Burt Reynolds many years ago, you know, that he was going to commit suicide because life was just nothing to him.

And you may remember this movie. I can't even remember the title of it or anything. If you don't know anything about it, that's fine. But I'll tell you the story. He was going to kill himself, so he decided he was going to swim out of the ocean and drown. And anyway, he finally figured out when he got out that he didn't want to die. And so all of a sudden he changed his tune, and he was trying to swim back to shore. And you know, he says, God, I promise you I will go to church every Sunday.

You know, this is what you're hearing as he's... And by the time he got into the shore, I mean, he had changed his promise to God a hundred times. You know, pretty soon it was, God, I promise I won't take your name in vain anymore. That's all. He was willing to do. He was going to devote himself to God at all. But when he got into a situation where his life was in the balances, and in that case he had caused it himself, then he made a decision that he wanted to live. Well, brethren, we don't consider ourselves sometimes until tragedy strikes us.

You know, if we're not careful, we could go the way of nations, as this country, again, is so involved and addicted to materialism. And this country, I think, is headed the way all nations have headed, that fell in the past. Frankly, the whole world has been following the pattern of the United States, and that is the accumulation of things.

The world, to a large extent, is gorged on affluence. You know, I've been to Lusaka, Zambia, and if you go downtown Lusaka, you've got people that are on the streets, they've got all kinds of things on their arms. I guess they have really strong arms.

They use their arms as like coat hangers. And they're selling all kinds of wear in Lusaka. The world, it seems, is gorged on physical, material things. And certainly the United States. And we tend to be apathetic about everything. And I think the United States is following the pattern of collapsed nations of the past. You probably have heard the cycle that nations go through. I think probably to agree, this is what churches sometimes go through, that people are in bondage and they go to a special faith.

When they get into a situation of bondage, they develop this special faith. Then from special faith, they go to great courage. Then from great courage, as a people, they go to freedom. I think that's what happened to the United States back in the colonial times. They broke free of the shackles of the British Empire.

Then from freedom to liberty. Aren't we called the bastion of liberty? You know, this country. And then liberty to abundance. Then abundance to selfishness. Then from selfishness to complacency. You have it all, and so you become complacent. Then from complacency to apathy. We have the sixties and the seventies and the marches, and even today we have marches of people that are complacent and apathetic, and they want somebody to take care of them. From apathy, you go to dependency. This nation is a dependent nation.

Who's going to buy my TV? Who's going to buy me my car? Who's going to take care of me? And from dependency, you go right back to bondage again. And that's the way the United States is going right now in that direction. Here in this end of the age, we're heading in that direction. All nations have a shelf life of about 200 years. And we're getting old on the shelf. Let's go to Luke 21. Luke 21 over here.

Luke 21. The disciples wanted to know the sign of the end of the age. But here in Luke 21 and verse 7, notice here it says, So they ask him, same teacher, but when will these things be? He was talking about the destruction of the temple, which was one of the greatest buildings of that time.

It was a formidable building that could be seen 25 miles away. So the walls of the city could be seen that far away. And by the way, at that time, they were like white. They were whiter in look, and they gleamed, as it were. So the temple mount was a beautiful thing. The temple itself was a beautiful thing. But Christ talked about how that was going to be destroyed. And they said, well, when are these things going to be?

And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place? And He said, take heed that you not be deceived. So the first thing He warned them about was, don't be deceived. We live in a world where people are deceiving and they're being deceived. But going on here, for many will come in My name. And it says, saying, I am He. And of course, don't all the religions come in the name of Jesus Christ to tell you about Jesus.

And the time has drawn near, therefore do not go after them. We've had, of course, Jesus Christ arrive a number of times. And last time I heard He was in Britain. I'm not sure where He lives over there. And of course, this particular individual was out of Africa.

But there's always somebody that wants to qualify as Jesus Christ, don't think. But going on, it says, then He said to them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And we've seen that in the world. It's worse, in fact, as we see things begin to coalesce and happen in the world. If you looked at the prophetic times, you know, you see, of course, that China and Russia are beginning to exert themselves.

Interesting, there's a movement in Europe now that Europe has this make Europe great again, like Donald Trump did in his election to the presidency of the United States, and making America great again. Of course, the greatness that Europe is going to have is going to be a far cry different than anybody imagined. That would happen with the emergence of the coming beast power when it comes on the scene.

But going on, it says, do not be... He says, but when you hear wars and commotions, do not be terrified for these things. These things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately. Nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes.

The big one is yet to happen in California over here, in various places, it says, and famines and pestilences, and there would be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. And so, a lot of things are going to happen in the future, and his disciples wanted to know the signs. These are the signs that Jesus Christ gave that we should look for. And of course, we've had these things through the ages, haven't we? But you know, brethren, we have never had them all at the same time.

And that is what is happening now. A lot of these things are happening all at the same time. And you know, Christ, again, gave them things to watch. And so, brethren, we need to keep an eye on these things. Let's go over here now to verse 20. It says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, again, what do you see right now, brethren, in the Middle East? You think that Israel is surrounded right now? I would think so. I mean, they've got an enemy right next door, and Gaza would like to be a launch pad for missiles into Jerusalem. We may see some of that activity this very summer, or sooner, as far as that goes.

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in the Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. In other words, get out of there when you begin to see these things. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. So there's going to be a summation to it all. Now down to verse 25, And there shall be signs in the sun, in the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, the stress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. The sea and the waves roaring. So this is what Jesus said would happen in our time. Now, fully what these things mean, we don't know. What will happen to the sun? I've heard theories about what might happen with the sun, or with the moon, or of course stars, being perhaps asteroids or meteorites, or large ones that would come to the earth and do mass destruction. No, there were meteors that hit over, by the way, in Russia that had a very big impact over there, and these were not all that big. And yet it had a great impact.

What Jesus Christ talked about here, by the way, in the NIV, it says, there will be sign in the sun, moon, and stars, on the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring of the tossing of the sea.

People will be in great fear. They will be perplexed, wondering what is happening in the world, and they'll have to take their heads out of the sand and begin to look when these kinds of events begin to occur and begin to happen.

When it says the roaring of the sea in the NIV, it comes from a word that has the word in the Greek that we use in the English language echo. And that word echo in the Greek is a reverberating sound.

If you've ever lived through, by the way, a tornado or an earthquake or something like that, you know what this is talking about. I don't know how many people have told me that I've lived through tornadoes that it was like a locomotive that was coming. So these are the things that people are going to begin to be distressed about. They're going to hear again these things themselves in some cases, or they're going to hear of them. You know, prophecies in Zechariah and Revelation predict great earthquakes that are going to occur. In events will affect not only, by the way, you know, others in a very small way, but it's going to affect our oceans.

You know, what if a bolide were to come crash it into the atmosphere, you know, of the Earth and hit smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I mean a big one. Where would California be? Where would we be?

If you had a 500-foot wave that sloshed on the shores of California, you know, all of the population basically, whoever lived on that shoreline would be gone. Because of it, the impact would be great even just by a tsunami.

Then your elevation, where you are, might make a difference. You know, flee to the mountains. You're going to get away from that in such cases. But this is what Jesus Christ is talking about. There's going to be the roaring of the seas. There's going to be earthquakes, great earthquakes that are going to take place and happen.

And, brother, we're in that time. I wish it weren't so. I wish we were not in that time. Going on here, let's go down to verse 31 of chapter 21, Luke 21 verse 31. Again, without God's protection, brother, we're going to be up the crick, aren't we?

Jesus said, so you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Do we have that awareness, brother? How near these things could be that we have looked forward to? Of course, we don't look forward to the troubles that will occur before the kingdom of God.

Although I must tell you, I get to the point where I have to admit, when I pray sometimes, God, I know these are the most horrendous times that human beings will ever face. But please, hasten the coming of your kingdom. You see so many people suffering in the world. Their lives mixed up and turned upside down in so many ways, brother. We need the kingdom of God. We need it now, brethren. Despite what might happen in the future. And the old guard needs to be swept aside and Christ's rulership needs to be in place. And that's not just because, brethren, God's servant is going to rule with him.

We really do need Jesus Christ to come so that we can begin to live the purpose for which we've been created and made, all of us as human beings, upon this earth. So when you see these things, Jesus said, no, the kingdom of God is near. Surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass till all these things take place.

He said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. You can bank on that, brethren, that what Jesus Christ has said, it is going to occur. What the Bible has told us is going to happen. But notice going on here what Jesus said, but take heed to yourselves.

You keep an eye on yourself, lest your hearts be weighted down with carousing. You know, we live in, again, a party-oriented society. I think some people, when they think of President-elect Trump being the next president of the United States, they think, happy days are here again. It's like a roaring 20s kind of a mentality. But he said, don't get caught up in that mentality, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. Sometimes people can get so caught up in their day-to-day life, they do not have time to think about God, or at least they convince themselves that they don't have time.

Reminds me, when I was a student in the Roland High School, I think I've told you, haven't I, that I came from Roland, Oklahoma, the culture capital of the world there. It's really one of those high-class places. I think in my graduating class there were 65 that were there.

I remember a speech class I had, and we had at the time, I can't remember his name, but he was a Native American teacher. He talked about, in fact, as a teacher, that he didn't shave. He didn't have to shave. He said, all I do is pluck out the hairs. He was, I think, a Cherokee Indian. But anyway, he was my speech teacher. We had an assignment to give a speech. It was over the weekend that there were a few of the class that were up to give a speech. One of the students was on docket. It was not me, by the way, thankfully.

But anyway, the teacher called his name to go up and give a speech. He said, teacher, I'm not ready. I didn't have time to prepare. To that teacher, he didn't want to hear that. He said right before the whole class, he told him, no young man, he says, you didn't make the time. You didn't make the time. I'll tell you what, he put the fear of God in everybody in that classroom. If there was an assignment to give a speech, you had your speech ready the next time.

Well, brother, the fact of the matter is that when we think we don't have time for God, we didn't make the time. We didn't set aside the time to do what we needed to do. So he says, take heed to yourselves. Don't get caught up again in the cares of life that the day comes on you unexpectedly.

And I think that, brother, there are going to be many people who are part of God's church who are going to be surprised when it all happens, when it all comes down. And Jesus warned, and this is Jesus' own statement, for it will come as a stare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. They'll just be caught in the middle of something that they were not prepared for. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

So, brethren, Christ gave the signs to us, but He said here, most of all, you take heed to yourself. You pay attention to your spiritual condition. You watch, yes, but you be aware. The world today goes its own way. I mean, people go to work, they go to school, they marry, they have children, they go to ball games.

They do all the things that people do in society. But Jesus Christ is speaking to us, brethren. Don't get so caught up, brethren, in the physical pursuits You fail to examine yourself spiritually, and you're ill-prepared. Be alert, brethren. Be aware of the times. And if you're aware of the times, do what you are supposed to do. Be like the children of Issachar.

They do what to do. And, brethren, I think and trust that most of you know what to do. Maybe know what you should be doing if you're not doing it. And I pray that you are. You know, in the model prayer, the first thing we are to pray is, your kingdom come. We want God's kingdom. And this plea, brethren, should be made out of an awareness of the times that we live in, the way things are in the world.

When we see so many, brethren, again, suffering in the world, your relatives, my relatives, you know, some are suffering a great deal. I could give you a list of people that I pray for every single day who are going through recovery from strokes, recovery from cancer, recovery from, you know, childhood problems that have impacted them all of their lives, where it's caused a great deal of consternation, pain for parents.

And the list goes on and on and on. It really does. I don't know about you, but when I pray for people, sometimes the list goes on, and I have to say, God, there's too many. Too many for me to even mention to you that need your intervention, that need your help. So, brethren, we need to be aware of the need for the Kingdom. We need to be aware of the times, brethren, again, how quickly our lives can change, and we need to be prepared for that reality. Let's go to Daniel 5. Daniel 5, over here. In the book of Daniel, Daniel was, he was thrust into a situation he did not want to be in.

While I'm sure there are a lot of people who would love to be, you know, in the position that Daniel was in, I don't think he really cared much for it. It was one of those things that he was thrust into it, but he made the best of it that he could.

But I think at a heartbeat he would have gone back to Jerusalem. He would have been out of Babylon. You know, as a young man he was sent down there. But let's break into the part of what Daniel talks about here. He talks about Belshazzar. It says, Belshazzar, the king, he says, made a great feast. Daniel 5, verse 1, made a great feast for a thousand of his lords. Now this was a pretty big party, and drank wine in the presence of a thousand. And while he was tasting the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. You know, this would of course be sacrilege of these implements that were used in the temple. And they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God, which was in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords and his concubines and wives drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron and wood and stone. And in the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the hand that wrote. And it says, and then the kings counted his chains. All of a sudden it was not a merry time. He was terrified. And his thoughts troubled him, and so that the joints of his hips were loosened, and his knees knocked against each other. Now, the only time that's ever happened to me is when I gave a speech in Ambassador Club, you know, for the first time in Ambassador College. But this man was afraid. And the king cried out to bring in the astrologers and the Chaldeans and the soothsayers, and the king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple, and it will be clothed in royalty, and have a chain of gold around his neck, and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. And of course, as usual, you know, they search for soothsayers or Chaldeans who could give an interpretation as nobody could, and the queen suggested, you know, about Daniel. So is Daniel to the rescue here to help them in this case? Let's go down to verse 18. And so Daniel comes along the scene here as he did for Nebuchadnezzar as well before what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Daniel says to them in verse 18 of chapter 5 of Daniel.

And because of the majesty that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whoever he wished he executed, whoever he wished, he kept alive. Whoever he wished he set up, and whoever he wished he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened and prodded, he deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men. His heart was made like beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. And they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules. And the king of the gods was the king of the gods. The Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints all over it whomever he chooses. So, you know, the concept here is that if we, brethren, don't recognize who is the ruler of all, is that we are nothing more than brute beasts. We don't have an awareness. We don't have an awareness of who's in charge, who has the responsibility.

But you, Daniel says, verse 22, Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, your heart, although you knew all this. See, you knew all this, but you didn't humble yourself. And you lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heavens. And they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, your concubines, have drunk wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver, and the gold and bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see, or hear, or know. And the God who holds your breath in his hand. Quite an interesting way of putting it, isn't it? Hold your breath in his hand. And owns all your ways you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from him, and this writing was written, and this is the inscription that was written, Many, many, tinkle, and farce. And of course, you can take the time to read this further yourself, but basically, what God was telling him, Look, you know, your days are numbered, and you're finished, and your kingdom is going to be given to the Medes and the Persians. And you know what? What Daniel told him went right over his head. Didn't see it at all. Didn't understand it all. Why do I say that? You know why that is? It's because he made Daniel the third ruler of a kingdom that was going to fall, that was going to be destroyed. It went right over his head. He had no awareness of the moment this changes were going to take place. You know, God, brethren, warns every nation before he punishes it, before he carries out his plans to absolve it of nationhood, if I can put it that way. Interestingly, brethren, Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, prophesied the downfall of Babylon 200 years before this happened. 200 years before that. How old is the United States? So 200 years before this, Isaiah had talked about how Babylon was going to fall. And of course, at that time, the one who was going to bring down Babylon was not even around. He was not around. He was an unknown. But, you know, God had foretold again, two millennia before, what was going to happen, that Babylon was going to fall. I'm not going to go over there, but in Isaiah 45, in verses 1-4, it tells how it was going to happen. Not only that, it names the name of the ruler that would be responsible for it. And of course, that was Cyrus, who came in that very night and Babylon fell in 539 BC. It's an exciting story, by the way, of how they dried up the river that ran through Babylon, and they went under the wall. And God had prophesied in Isaiah 45 that the gates would be open, because Babylon was protected by multiple walls. And there were major gates that had to be passed through in order to actually get into Babylon.

But these gates that enabled Cyrus to do this were miraculously left open. Of course, God probably dispatched an angel to take care of that, didn't He? The ancient writer Xenophon, by the way, Herodotus, who wrote Xenophon, says this, quote, Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel and, guided by two deserters, marched by dry bed into the city of, of course, the Babylon, while the Babylonians were carousing at the feast of their gods. In all the gates, Herodotus says, of the palace were mysteriously left open. And Babylon fell that night, that very night, many, many teacom and farce. Now, by the way, brethren, Babylonians could have known through the prophet Daniel what was going to happen, but they were so involved in the good life of materialism that they did not listen. They did not hear. Because Babylon was awash in materialism, frankly, like the United States is awash in materialism. The people of the time of Noah could have known about the flood that was coming because Noah preached for a hundred years. That's quite a word. He preached longer than we have existed as a church. Longer than, in fact, even the worldwide Church of God existed.

They could have known. They could have been aware. But they did not listen to Noah. The reason is, is people scoffed at Noah. They probably made fun of him. You're building this big bowl down here. Where are you going to float it? Where are you going to put it?

But when the water got up about here, all of a sudden what he was saying made sense. We believe you now, Noah! We believe you now. Well, brethren, in our day, in our age, in this age of materialism, when people even today scoff at what we're saying, they want to make fun of us.

Oh, you know, you're talking about the end of the age. Don't be so silly. There is no God. And, of course, they try to put the branch to the nose, as it says in Ezekiel 8. But, brethren, they could know. People in this world could know if they only listened. But, you know, you'd almost have to tie somebody down sometimes to get them to listen.

You'd have to hook their foot around a post about two feet and have to have a megaphone to preach to them before they would listen. And they probably wouldn't listen to them. Let's go to 2 Peter. 2 Peter over here. Brethren, are we aware? Are we aware? Because you don't want to get aware, by the way, when the water is up to your nose. You don't want to get aware of it then. I don't think that counts, does it? It's like a deathbed repentance.

It doesn't count, brethren. I'm sorry it's probably not going to help much. It might be good in the second resurrection. But there again, is that going to allow somebody to be in the first resurrection? The better resurrection. But in 2 Peter chapter 3 over here, let's notice here, it says, Beloved, I now write you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

This is what Peter did. That's what Paul did. He stirred people up. That you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets of the commandment of us, the apostles and of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all these things continued as they were from the beginning of creation. This is called the doctrine of uniformitarianism, by the way. That all things continue as they were. We've always had earthquakes. We've always had these natural disasters that take place in the world. So don't get riled. It's happened before. Happened in the past. But notice going on here, for this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

Talking about the flood. By which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. Now God will never do that again, by the way. He will never destroy the world by water again, as in the days of Noah. But read verse 7. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So in other words, the next flood that will be mankind will be faced with will be a lake of fire that will encompass the entire earth. And of course that's after the Second Resurrection period in the future when the physical elements are going to be melted away.

But brethren, scoffers, doubters in our time, you know, are going to be unprepared like in the days of Noah. They are going to be willfully and voluntarily ignorant. They don't want to know. I know, brethren, watching the world is a depressing thing. But we can fall into a syndrome of being like an ostrich with our heads in the sand, too. That we don't want to hear anything bad, you know. Don't hear anything bad that might happen out there. We want to hear good things.

And why don't you preach to us good things? You know, just let's talk about, you know, loving everybody. You know, let's all, in fact, gather in a huddle and kumbaya, you know. Let's all just hug each other and love each other, and then we go home, you know. Isn't it what happens in the super churches of the world, the big ones? It turns into a Broadway show, you know. They don't have much to say. Let's go to Matthew 24, Matthew 24, Matthew 24, and verse 32.

Jesus tells His disciples over here that they are, again, to be alert, beyond their toes. God has made no promises to us, brethren, that we're going to survive the day. Verse 32 and 33. Now learn the parable. It says, from the fig tree, when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. You ever gone out your front door and you opened the door, and you were shocked to find somebody standing right there? You didn't know they were there, and maybe you were about ready to walk out, and you almost walked right into them? This is the way the time of trouble will be for some people.

They're going to open the door and it's there. You're going to have to deal with it, one way or another. Assurely I say to you that this generation will by no means pass till all these things take place. So our generation is when these things can happen. Now let's go over to verse 43. We don't know the exact time. Nobody does. But in verse 43 it's going to be, Know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

And Jesus says here, Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. And we don't know when Christ is going to come back. The only thing we do know is it'll come at a time when we don't think he's going to come. That's all we know. But even us, brethren, we're to be ready, be prepared. Know the times that we're living in, be prepared. Going on down it says, Who then is a faithful and wise servant?

Whom is master, made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? No, the ministers of the church have a duty to warn, to admonish, to teach, to encourage, of course. But blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods if we're doing what we ought to be doing. But if the evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming. Or I've got a little more time before I really have to straighten up and fly right.

But if the evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants, in other words, creep them in a wrong way, in a wrong manner, and who eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him and in an hour that he's not aware of, and he will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. Therefore, he says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So, brethren, let's realize that some will not be alert. They're going to be like the five unwise virgins. And hopefully, though, brethren, we'll be of the wise virgins that are alert, that are aware. We're keeping the lamps filled with the spiritual oil of God's Spirit. We're keeping on our toes. We're living and doing those things that we ought to be doing because we perceive the times that we're living in. The dividing line, brethren, is where there's someone who is alert and prepared spiritually. So we all got to be spiritual Boy Scouts. We'll always be prepared.

Always be ready. You know, Jacob's trouble, brethren, is going to grow worse. There's just no doubt about it. But what is really important, brethren, are each of us prepared spiritually. Are we like the children of Issachar? Do we know the times that we're living in, and do you know what to do? And are you doing it? These events, brethren, show us how rapidly the world and our personal lives can change, showing us all the more why we need to be prepared and alert at this time in the history of the world.