Just How Much Do You Love God's Law?

Politicians today are very busy, it seems. Writing laws, proposing laws, changing laws. The citizens of this country and many other countries around the world also seem to have a mentality of wanting to change laws, wanting to rewrite laws, or ignore laws and get away without any consequences. The question that the Bible puts forward to you and me, and that God through His Holy Spirit puts forward to you and me every day of our life, is this. How much do you love God's law? How much do you love God's law? Now you might think, well that's just kind of a simple question, and hopefully we're not going to have a whole sermon on how much I love God's law. But let's just stop and think a minute. David said he loved God's law, didn't he? But how often did David love God's law? Did he always love God's law? Or did sometimes he like his own laws? Did he like to bin God's laws? How about you and me? We might say, oh yes, we're people of God and we love God's law, but how often do we love God's law? How much of our daily lives do we really apply the law of God? How much do we really love the law of God? Today I want to explore this topic with you because there is no more important topic for citizens of the end time, which you and I are, than this question of how much do you love the law of God? What would cause you to break the law of God? You ever thought about that?

I think of that quite often. I hope you will meditate and think, what situation could cause me to break God's law? On the other hand, what would you be willing to go through in order to keep God's law? Those are questions that you can pose to yourself, think about, meditate about, try to put yourself into certain situations, and then as you go through your daily life, even in the small situations, you may find the answer to those questions as surprising.

But this is the question of your life and the question of my life. The Bible begins with the law of God. You can go back to the first and second chapters of Genesis, and you can read about God beginning to work with mankind. By the time we get to the fourth chapter of Genesis, the God who became Jesus Christ makes this statement. Genesis 4 and verse 7, If you do well, Now, if you do well isn't sort of by the philosophy that you have in your heart according to your own standards.

If you do well, he says, will you not be accepted by me, by God? So it's God deciding whether or not a person does well or not. And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. Now, what is sin? Sin is the transgression of God's law. So right from the beginning, mankind had the laws of God, and transgressing that would be sin. God tells us something here. Sin's desire is for you. It wants to take you. It wants to have you. But you should rule over it. If we go back to the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 22, we find Jesus Christ making some statements. And it says in verse 14, Blessed, O how supremely blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life.

In between those two passages are commandments, they are defined, they are illustrated by example, they are prophesied as far as the consequences, positive and negative, for the keeping of God's commandments. There are stories that happen from Egypt to Rome, Babylon in between, stories of the revivals of the Babylonian, Roman mentality, culminating with a giant war before the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of God's law forever.

You and I live in a period of time where just ahead there's a showdown, a big showdown. I know what you think about the end time. You think, oh no, end time, problems, fighting, wars, all kinds of terrors, oh, don't want to go there. We tend to look at it through a prophetic lens of events, but we might just miss what it's all about. It's a showdown of showdowns. It's everything the movies, everything entertainment has ever projected the future to be with all the intergalactic wars.

It's a showdown between good and evil, between law and lawlessness. It's a showdown between Satan's system that has ruled this world for 6,000 years and God's system, which will begin a new era at the return of Jesus Christ. And it's a showdown between the two. It's a fight between good and evil. In Matthew 24 and 3, the disciples asked Jesus Christ about the timing and some signs of the end.

Matthew 24 and 3, this question was posed to him. Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? The end of the age of Satan's rule. The end of the age of lawlessness, where mankind will be establishing its laws and then changing laws and seeking to change God's laws. When will the end of that age be? Jesus says several things will happen here. But the important focus of it all is that Satan wants to prevent Christ and the saints from being successful.

And that's what the end time conflict is all about. Good triumphing over evil, but evil doesn't want good to triumph over it. And so all the stops are pulled out. Remember, there's a war against Jesus Christ himself. All the armies are going to fight Christ. But ahead of that, there's a fight against all of those who would assist Jesus Christ and reign and rule with him. Ever since there were righteous people, Satan has gone after them. Just like he went after Job. He tries to discourage and discredit and kill off. He tries to deceive, keep everybody from reaching the goal.

And what's his number one tool? Get them to break the covenant they've made with God. Just like he got them to break the covenant that Israel had with God. If he can break you and me, he'll break it in that covenant.

And the way we break that covenant is to go against the laws of God. And so how can you and I get into the kingdom of God? Well, by retaining our conviction to our covenant, which is to obey God, and he will give us eternal life. That's the new covenant. He's even put his spirit in our hearts. He's written his commandments in our mind. We are all set and committed with this covenant to obey God. And the blessing, the promise of the covenant is eternal life and rulership, replacing Satan the devil. And he hates that, brethren. And he is after you. Just like he's asked for Peter, he's asked for you.

And you and I are in his crosshairs because we obey the laws of God. Matthew 24, Jesus talks about what's coming. Some of the challenges to the successful getting to the return of Jesus Christ successfully, succeeding in that covenant contract, are these.

In verse 5, many will come in my name, saying that I am the Christ, and will deceive many. There are some who are going to come and try to take you out of the way by putting you on a separate track, a false track. It's going to look like, it's going to feel like, it's going to appear like the right track. You'll feel good about this track, but you'll miss salvation. You won't be there to rule.

The number one aim by Satan is to prevent us at all costs by breaking our covenant with God.

First thing he tells us, then, is the false teachers. False teachers of the law, actually. In verse 11, then many false teachers, a prophet in the Greek, is a teacher, can also prophesy.

But it's a teacher, a false teacher, will rise up and deceive many. That's one way of getting a lot of potential candidates who would reign with Christ out of the way. How do you do that? Convince them that the law is dead. Convince them that you don't have to keep the law. Convince them you can't earn salvation. Convince them anything to do with legalism. Get rid of that. Quit keeping the law. It's bad for you. Be more religious than that. Raise up higher.

Well, in verse 12, the result of that, the false prophets notice, and because lawlessness will abound. So you have the false teaching, and the result of the false teaching is lawlessness. People set aside the keeping of the law. That's what this end time is all about. That's what the pressure on the church has always been about.

In verse 24, For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive. If you don't go for the regular false prophets, look at these great signs and wonders. Get you all distracted. Whoo! Power! Whoo! See if that can persuade you to quit keeping the law of God. And it says to deceive, if possible, the very elect. That's one reason, or that's one way, that Satan is trying to disqualify you and disqualify his being unseated by Jesus Christ. In 2 Thessalonians 2 and 3, it says, Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. It says, THE falling away, doesn't it? The falling away. Now, the falling away has got to be a fairly big event. In the church historically, we've called it the Great Falling Away, though the Bible doesn't use that term. It just says, the falling away. So there is going to be a falling away. Whether that's happened in our past, we don't know. But be prepared, as Jesus said, for people to convince you, and then for a lot of people to buy into that deception and fall away.

Some today are ready to succumb to such things by just a nudge. It doesn't take a huge lying deception. It could just be a person by themself and little temptation.

First thing you know, they're breaking the laws of God. If we can't stand strong in days like today, how can we stand against the wiles of the devil with all the pressures that are coming in the future?

So the question again is, how much do you love God's law? How much do you love it every day? How much are you convicted towards obeying it? You teens who are going to camp, think about camp, think about the rules and the laws. Those who go and keep the rules are praised. They're given credit and honor. Those who go and break the rules are criticized. They're corrected. As we grow up in the family of God, a similar thing happens.

If we love and really set our life according to the laws of God, God praises and honors us. But if we don't and we're rule breakers and we're always trying to get away or change the rules or ignore the rules, then God can only correct us and chasten us. The second way that Satan is going to work is found in Matthew 24 and verse 9.

And then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. Persecution. If you can't get it through deception, then we'll put the screws to you. We'll make you fear for your life. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Now, we all like to be liked, it seems. But here, it's the opposite of what you want to feel and the opposite of how you want to feel. So we'll put some of that onto you. Just like Job went through and everybody around him looked down on him. And he was greatly persecuted with boils and affliction.

See if that would make him succumb, which he did not. In verse 10, Then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another. That's a lot of pressure right there. A third way is conformity. People pushing you to conform. Family, friends, society. We read in Luke 12 and verse 49, Jesus said, I came to send a fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. What? Jesus said that? Wait a minute, I thought he came to bring peace on earth.

I thought he came to bring love and fill everybody's heart with warmth. But listen to what he says. I can't wait to get to this battle of good and evil. I can't wait to mix it up with Satan. I can't wait to establish justice and peace and love on this earth.

I just came to send a fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. But, he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with. He had to stop and die for humanity. He had to raise up a church. He had to raise up the church of the firstborn, the firstfruits, and prepare many to reign and rule with him. But he says, and how distressed I am, till it is accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to bring peace on earth? Do you think that I came to bring peace with the current government of Satan?

Do you think we're going to do some co-sharing here? Do you think I'm going to make all this system of greed and killing and strife work? Be in harmony with lawlessness? I tell you not at all, but rather division. I will have nothing to do with him. I will have nothing to do with sin. And he said, you're my friend if you do whatever I command you.

Jesus Christ is all about loss, all about obeying, obeying His Father, all about doing the will of His Father. Verse 52, From now on five and one house will be divided. Three against two, two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father. Mother against daughter, daughter against mother. Mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law. Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. In other words, this will enter into families because commandment keepers will become the targets of those who don't want to keep the commandments. And this is the story of humanity down through time. If you keep the law of God, you have crosshairs on your chest from just about anybody, from Satan right on down through society to your own family members.

A fourth way that Satan will work is through force. Revelation 12, verse 17 says, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, the church, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, note, who keep the commandments. You see how it's always against the law of God, the commandments? The ghost to make war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony, the logos of Jesus Christ. Revelation 13, 7, it was granted to him to make war with the saints.

Who are the saints? The keepers of the law. And to overcome them. Verse 15, he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. This is exactly what happened in Babylon. Remember Daniel? Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Those who would not worship the beast. Those, in other words, who would break the first commandment by, Daniel was told not to pray to God, not put God first.

Those who would worship an image, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told, you cannot worship this image, or you have to worship this image of gold, or in the fire you go. Now, what do you think those examples are there? Just nice stories of the past? That is exactly the situation right here in Revelation that's going to take place again. You either worship this beast's image or die.

The parallels of the Old Testament and what's coming in the future are very strong, and we do have good examples to fall back on. Verse 16, He causes all, both great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their forehead.

Now, the right hand is here when it's talked about a mark on the right hand. That's a bad mark. It's from a bad individual, and it's talking about acts of lawlessness, sinful acts. He's causing people then under pressure to break the law of God. Or the mark is in their foreheads, to be deceived and therefore break the law and the covenant of God. But once again, that's where the pressure is. The mechanics of how that happens, what instruments or laws are passed, you'll have to wait around and see. But what it will be is forcing somebody to break the law of God or die, or forcing them to convert to something other than the covenant that they have made with God.

And therefore, Satan gets them out of being his nemesis, or part of his nemesis. In Daniel 7, verse 25, Daniel 7, 25, we'll read this from the New American Standard Bible, He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints. What are you going to wear down the saints to? You're going to make them tired? How do you wear down a saint? Well, what is a saint? A saint is one who keeps the law of God.

So if you wear down a saint, you wear them down from keeping the law of God. That's a terrible, terrible thing. And he will intend to make alterations in times and in law. See what it's all about? And they will be given into his hand for a time, that's one year, times, two more years, and half a time. Three and a half years. We're talking about the Great Tribulation.

And many will be tested throughout that time who are God saints, and they will be worn down by this continual testing. You will not obey God. You will not obey God. You will not obey God. The question comes back, just how much do you love God's law? That's a great question. It's an important question. It's the question of your life. Without a positive answer to that, without forethought and purpose, without deep conviction, you and I will get knocked off of our throne that God is preparing for us.

We will have the crown knocked off our head. But if we endure to the end, the crown remains. The promise is there. So the question is valid. Just how much do you love God's law? I'm excited to share this with you. I think about this all the time. I think it is so very important. You know, we read the news. We see some of the news behind the news that we get from other individuals, other sources. And it just shows how this world is rapidly deteriorating into what the Bible forecasted to be in time events.

But rather than get it all convoluted in our mind and be fearful, what we must do is stand on the firm principles of the covenant that we have made with God. And if we do so, we're in the right place, no matter what happens. It's that simple.

But rather than just look forward with fear and wonder what we'll do, the question is, do I love God's law today? And just how much? How am I showing that? How am I proving that to myself? How am I proving that to God? Am I waiting for some big event in the future in order to display it? Or am I showing God daily? I think we actually are showing God daily. It's a good time for us during these times of relative ease to be very zealous about this covenant that we've made.

In contrast to these negatives, we can read in Revelation 3, verse 10, to a group that is the Philadelphia church. It says, because you have kept my command to persevere. Now, where in the Bible did Jesus Christ command us to persevere? Well, he did say things like, if he endures to the end, the same will be saved, but I don't remember commandment 11, thou shalt persevere. This wording is a little bit obscure, and in looking at several translations, I'd like to give a little different explanation of this than just pops out.

The new Revised Standard Version says, because you have kept my word. God's word is all about loving God with all your heart, soul, and might, love your neighbor as yourself, the encapsulation of the law of God. And he says, because you have kept my word of, or through, patient endurance. You've kept it through patient or persevering endurance. Now we get to see some individuals. They're keeping the law of God. They're persevering patiently, and they're enduring to the end. And Jesus says, because of this, Adam Clark defines that phrase this way, the doctrine, which is the law, which has been exposed, or which has exposed you to so much trouble and persecution, and required so much patience and magnanimity to bear up under in its trials.

Ah! See, now we get the intent here. This law that you and I keep, that brings us so much pressure, that brings us persecution, that requires endurance to go through. And here's what Jesus is saying, because you have done that, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world. I'll keep you from the Great Tribulation. Most of it, that hour which will test those who dwell on the earth, behold, I am coming quickly.

Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. Hold on to God, His law, His way, His commandments. Hang on to them. Hold on to them tight. Don't be loosely there so that somebody can snatch them away from you, or a little pressure will snatch it away. Be rooted and grounded in love, that agape, which is the fulfilling of the law of God. So it says here there are going to be some very successful saints. Some of them are going to be spared the Great Tribulation. Some of them won't, but they will be successful nevertheless. Talks even about an innumerable multitude, those who can't be numbered, coming through the Great Tribulation and being successful.

Those are people who will love God's law so deeply, their life is insignificant in comparison to living out the covenant that they've made with God. I want to be one of those individuals. I want all of you to be part of those individuals. And we can only do that by being fully committed to the commandments and the laws of God, and not have the mentality of typical humanity that wants to alter rules, bin rules, change rules, or just ignore rules in order to have it our way.

Daniel was given a prophecy in Daniel 12. It says in verse 4 that at the time of the end people would run to and fro upon the earth, but knowledge would increase. And I can't imagine any time, there's never been a time like that, compared to today where travel and knowledge and so much intellect and sharing of knowledge is possible. But he goes into verse 9 of Daniel 12.

The angel said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end. So this prophecy is about the time of the end. Verse 10, Many shall be purified. I want to be purified. I don't want to be purified the hard way. I don't want to be purified. I hope you do. I hope you're praying every day and asking God to show you what's wrong, show you where you're in violation of his laws and help you to change.

Many will be made white. White is righteousness. None of us can earn salvation. None of us can get in the kingdom by keeping the law. None of us can be righteous ourselves. But by desiring righteousness and asking God to help us be righteous and by trying to keep his laws, we demonstrate our love for God's law. And that's what he wants. He wants us to love it in every situation, at every turn, for every reason, for everything and above everything. And if we do that, then he is willing, able, and desirous to give us the kingdom free of charge. Not something we earn at all. But the wicked shall do wickedly. For those who think there is no law, the law is done away.

Here at the end time we have wickedness for some reason. Wickedness can only be sin and the breaking of God's law. And it says, and none of the wicked shall understand. It's a funny thing. Those who say there is no law and say therefore they really don't have any sin because Jesus Christ wiped it all out and took the law with it, don't understand that they really are wicked.

And they get very upset about it when you point this out that the law is still enforced because that makes people feel guilty. And they don't like to feel guilty when they break God's laws. However, the wise shall understand. Who are the wise? How do you get to be wise? How can you understand in this muddle? In Psalm 119, verses 97-100 is the answer to who the wise are here.

The ones who understand. The ones who recognize the situation. Who understand the war and what it's about. Oh, how love I your law. Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, how love I your law! Exclamation point. It is my meditation all the day. Now, David had a busy kingdom to run. Do you think he just stood around all day meditating on the law?

Let me run that by and run that by. Or do you think that he was applying the law all day? Who hears a thought? How should I apply the law to that thought? Who hears an opportunity? How should I apply the law to that opportunity? See, meditating on God's law can be both the thinking about it and filling yourself with it and then the application of it all day long. Both are very, very important. God's law should never leave us.

We shouldn't sort of, well, I did my Bible study, I'll leave that there and I'll be carnal and selfish all day long and won't think about it. No, no, no, it's quite the opposite.

We fill ourselves with God's law and then we take it with us. It's the lamp to our feet as we go through the day. It shows us where to step and where to turn and what to do.

You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies. That's where wisdom comes from.

For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation. Think about what you told me. I understand more than the ancients, the great noble ancients of old, Aristotle, Plato, anybody you can think of, you understand more than them. Why? Because I keep your law, your precepts, your teachings. Those are the wise. The wise will understand, Daniel said, but the wicked won't understand. The wicked will be clueless. This is the lesson of the Bible and there are many examples of that.

It always tells us that God works through those who obey Him, and God does not work through anyone who doesn't obey Him.

Those who are faithful in obeying Him, He hears their prayers, He promotes growth within them, He has eternal promises. But those who do not obey Him, He says, I shut my ears and I don't even hear your prayers.

In 1 John 2, verses 3 and 4, at a time after the Apostle Paul had written and many people had gotten confused, and Apostle Peter had written and tried to clarify things, John made a statement just to clarify this whole issue about law and grace.

That grace does not get rid of law. James had to tackle that as well to add some clarification. The ground swell had already begun and people just got all caught up with a false Christianity that says, I don't have to keep God's law and I can still be saved.

Somehow it makes sense to the carnal mind to say, yes, the God that hates everything of Satan is okay with me being just like Satan.

Isn't that wonderful? He's okay with that now.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does somehow to the carnal mind. Now, by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him.

Those who know God, you see, are those who are thinking like God. We don't know God in the first person. I didn't stop by God's house this morning and have coffee with Him. He didn't send me down here with a message for you. But I know God and you know God to the degree that you think like Him. And I know you and you know me to the degree that you think like me. I know what decision you make at sunset every Friday. I know what you're thinking in your house. I know what you're talking about. I know when somebody comes and presents you with an opportunity to make a bunch of fraudulent money, how you feel about that. And I may not even know your name or have ever seen you before. You may live in Australia. But I know you. And I definitely know God to the degree that I think like God. And we think like God if we keep His laws, His commandments.

And when we really love God's law, then we're attached to it like a rock. And it doesn't matter what winds or floods will blow. It doesn't matter how strong the persecution. It doesn't matter how strong the threats or the temptation. If we're rooted and grounded into rock, we're solid. We really love the law of God to that depth and that degree. And there's no moving. It's just, you know what? I don't care if you throw me in the fiery furnace or not. I'm not breaking the law. And that's that. That's who I am. That's what I've become with the help of God. You can take, you know, you can take me out of the environment of godliness, but you can't take godliness out of me because we've become one and the same.

Hopefully that's how you and I are growing into that rock, Jesus Christ, as we become the children of God.

In Acts 2, verse 17, we find that God is going to use some in the end times to help do His work because they are so strong and they are so resolute.

He's going to do things like He did in the first century. Remember when the Holy Spirit came and they were speaking in tongues and there were people who were preaching and God's Holy Spirit got into individuals like Stephen, who didn't care for his own life but stood up and told it with God's inspiration how it really was.

Events like that are going to happen again, even more so, probably, than in the past. In Acts 2, verse 17, it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall teach. They will prophesy.

Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days.

And they shall teach or prophesy, probably some of both.

And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. Look how God and His church are working together. You have this onslaught by Satan to get rid of the lawful, I'm sorry, to get rid of those who are keeping God's law. And then you have Jesus Christ coming back with inspiration, with miracles of His own, to thwart the false miracles of the great false prophet.

And that's just the beginning of things.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming and awesome and great day of the Lord.

When Jesus Christ returns with the saints and conquers the nations and really gets rid of Satan in this system.

Look at the participation, and you throw in there the two witnesses. With all the lying wonders and deceptions, now you have two witnesses show up. And you can't kill them. Every time you try to kill them, however you try to kill them, you get killed. That gets old fast. Makes a lot of news, too. And you have an angel flying around the world teaching the gospel, the truth of God's law and His way to every human being on the planet. There's a lot of action to and fro.

And we get to participate in that. It's pretty exciting.

Revelation 3, verse 8, Jesus says to the church of Philadelphia, I know your works. The works are acts of righteousness, the keeping of the law.

Faith without works is dead.

These are people who really are riveted to that covenant. See, I have set before you an open door. Only Jesus Christ, He is the door to the kingdom. He is the door to New Jerusalem. He is the king, the mayor, as it were, the king of New Jerusalem. He can open the door and let you in, or shut the door and keep you out. Also, this open door can refer to the work of God and the preaching of the gospel. The two go hand in hand. No one can shut it, for you have a little strength. You can't do this on your own, in other words. Don't think you can buy your way into the kingdom. Don't think you can do the work of God. But you have kept my word, and you have not denied by name. Kept His word. Because, verse 10, you have kept my command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour that will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. It's going to test everybody. It's going to test everybody on earth. And we need to be ready for the test. In Revelation 12, in verses 12 through 14, we see a prophecy about the protection that God is going to give. And once again, it's a duality of a previous prophecy. I don't know about you, but I'd love to go back and see the Exodus, see it actually unfolding there in Egypt. We talk about it every spring, around the spring festival season, how the Israelites came out in this massive troop, and then they got stuck up against the Red Sea, and then the waters opened. But Pharaoh's army came right after them. Oh, this huge army, and the people, oh, you brought us out here to get killed. But somehow, Pharaoh's army goes down in the water and gets obliterated. Well, let's look here. Revelation 12, 12, There rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. For the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows he has a short time. This is the war, the battle of good and evil. And now when the dragon saw they had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the church, the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle. God said to Israel in Egypt, I brought you out of Egypt on eagle's wings. Here to the church, he gives us the wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, one year, times, two more years, and a half a time. Three and a half years, the great tribulation from the presence of the serpent.

God is going to take care of people. He may march them out with a cloud, with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Wouldn't that be interesting? He may open water in the desert from rocks and give them water, literally, out of rocks. He may feed them with manna for three and a half years in the wilderness. We don't know, but one thing we do know, in verse 15, the serpent spewed out water out of his mouth like a flood.

Revelation 17 explains that a flood is an army. So here comes an army, once again, of Satan, chasing the church of God, this time the spiritual church, spiritual Israel, as it's marching. That he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. So here comes the army, and what's going to happen? But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. It could be dirt, it could be water, who knows?

It could be the same route for all I know. But here God is doing something really, really magnificent for some of his people. And he says in Luke 21, verse 36, watch you, therefore. You watch to your spiritual state. You look and see if you are loyal to the covenant, to the law of God. Take a look at yourself.

Look carefully. Examine yourself is what watch means. To be alert, on guard, and pray always. Now if you're alert and on guard and praying always, what are you doing? You're keeping the word of God circumspectly, and you're praying to God. Now if you do those things, he says, and do those things, that, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and stand before the Son of Man.

Now those who are going to be counted worthy are those who are watching, their spiritual state, those who are repenting, overcoming. They are counted worthy by God because of their relationship with God. Through prayer. He doesn't say to just get on your knees and pray that I'll be counted worthy. Oh, count me worthy, count me worthy! No. God doesn't want a bunch of requests and platitudes. He wants us to be genuinely resolved to our covenant and wholehearted about it.

And if so, we may be counted worthy. Matthew 24, verse 12, tells us why some in the church will fail. And certainly, brethren, this should not be any of us. Matthew 24, we've just read before that many false prophets will deceive many. And what's the result of that? Lawlessness will abound. This is in the church, not just in the world. This is in the church. Lawless. People will quit obeying God's law. They will renege on the covenant that they made with God to always obey His law, no matter what.

And it says because of that, because lawlessness will abound, the love, which is the fulfillment of the law, of many, the New International version says, of most, will grow cold. Now, cold isn't lukewarm. Cold isn't just a risky state to be in. Cold is dead cold. You're lawless. It's abounding. The love has gone cold. And that individual is no longer a godly person.

They've abandoned godliness. They've returned to sinning. Now, all humans show love. Everybody shows love. Everybody loves their family, or loves their friends, or loves themselves. And religions, everybody loves their god. If their god does something for them, people like to jump around, oh, Jesus, and sing to Jesus, oh, Jesus, you did something for me, me, me, me, me, me, me, I, me, I, me, me, I, me, me, I, me, I, me, and Jesus. And you get real excited about that if there's something coming in. It reminds me a lot of Let's Make a Deal.

Remember the old TV show Let's Make a Deal? Old Monty Hall was on there. All the women just, oh, they'd scream when Monty Hall came down the aisle. Monty's going to pick out a, okay, over there. Ethel. Yeah, you come, oh, well, she'd come over and hug him, kiss him, oh, you're going to give me something, oh, I'm so excited. Curtin 1, 2, or 3?

I don't know, Monty, I don't know what to do. Okay, 2. Okay, you want a furniture, bedroom furniture set from Broy Hill. Tell him about a J-wall. Oh, Monty, Monty, oh, oh, I'm so excited, okay. Next woman gets up, oh, Monty, I am so excited. Would you like what's in this box here, or what's behind curtain number 2? Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

I don't know, expensive things coming small, but, okay, I'll take the box. Okay, you got a watermelon! It's always funny to watch their expression right about then. No kisses for Monty Hall. You know? It's only when you're getting something you're all emotional and giddy and excited and seeing men kiss him, you know? But not when you got the rabbit, you know? The watermelon, the old bicycle wheel that was flat in the box. And so it is with humanity, you see.

If we're not careful, we can have this passionate love that we see, but it's really not about God and godliness. It's really a self-centered love. People love the deeds of God, and they'll give praise and thanks to God, but do they love God? Do they love the ways of God? Do they love to obey God? In verse 13, But he who endures to the end shall be saved. That's in the covenant of loving God. And this gospel of the kingdom, the law, the gospel of the kingdom is about the law of God. God's way, God's laws, God's mind coming to humanity will be preached in all the world by the saints, by the witnesses, by the angel, as a witness to all nations, and then the end of Satan's age will come.

That's what it's all about. Society cannot see. Only wise people who keep the law can see. The rest are in darkness. It reminds me of the midnight hike. Some of you have been on the midnight hike. It started when I came from a time when I was 15 years old up at camp. I was a staff member, a worker. The only time I ever went to camp as a teen, I went as a worker. And my bunk was about a quarter of a mile from where I had to work, the midnight shift cleaning the kitchen.

And my parents never thought to send me to camp with a flashlight, and they didn't give any flashlights at camp. We'd try to light sticks on fire. That didn't work. I had to walk about a quarter of a mile, bears and everything, through the dark, and you couldn't see a thing. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But I learned that where there were stars, there was a road below, and where there weren't, you're about to hit a tree. And so now, I like to take people out who, like, when we go on church campouts and things, you want to go on a midnight hike?

No flashlights allowed. We just take off through the woods, around logs and dark things and boulders. And somehow, Mr. Elliott magically knows where he's going, you know, in the dark. And people huddle up behind me and say, I'm staying with you.

I'm scared out here. I don't know where we are or where we're going. And pretty soon, it's easy to get lost and disoriented, and you're bumping into things. Nobody realizes, you see, that when it was daytime, I went out and figured out the hike and memorized all the markings and all the logs.

To me, it's just, you know, kind of a walk back through it at nighttime. But society is like that. They can't see. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 4 says, But you, brethren, are not in darkness. We can see. We can see through this mess ahead. We can see the purpose in life. We can see the covenant, the law of God, the plan of God, the reason why we're to keep God's laws.

And the promises that happen to the people who are resolute in the laws of God. You, brethren, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 4, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. We know what it's about now, don't we? It's about good and evil. Pick a side. Be firm.

You are all sons of the light and sons of the day, verse 5. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do. Verse 8, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. Love, remember, fulfilling of the law. And as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to conclude by reading the first three verses of the book of Psalms. Let's do this together. Let's go back to Psalm 1. And just look at the first three verses. This short psalm of David gives us the direction.

It really gives us what we need in life to be successful in being the firstfruits that will reign with Jesus Christ. And notice what it says. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners. There's law. Nor sits in the seat of a scornful, but his delight is in the law of God. Again, just how much do you love the law of God? And in his law he meditates day and night. It's the guide of what we do. It gives us purpose. It gives us direction. It's the light to our feet. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Now in the future, there's a lot of things coming. There's going to be spiritual drought. There's going to be hot, dry winds. There are even going to be spiritual fires blowing around. But you know that tree that's sitting out by the river has deep roots, and they're tapped into the water under that river. And it can ignore drought. It can ignore fire. It can ignore anything, because it is tapped into life. And nothing can take the life from that tree. And so a person who delights in the law of God and establishes himself in the law of God, no matter what comes along, no one can get the life. Because he's planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. It's so important, brethren, that we stop and consider in this life that we've been called to live how much we love the law of God. Because the answer to that question will determine whether or not we endure to the end and live and reign with Jesus Christ forever.