What This World Needs Now Is Rescue!

Thank you so very much, Mr. Stuckey, for that beautiful music. It adds to our worship and our desire to glorify the great God.

What this world needs now is rescue. This world's in a mess. God has the perfect rescue plan in place.

Christ said that one of the signs of the end of the age would be wars, rumors of wars.

Christ is coming to put an end. Finally, He will finally put an end to war.

Let's read about this last war here in Revelation. At least, we know about Gog and Magog in the millennium, but at least, with this particular age, Revelation 19th chapter. Let's read part of this here. Verse 11, I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no one knew except himself.

And he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. This is, of course, Jesus Christ.

The armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses, and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron, and he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has, on his robe and on his thigh, a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the rest of this chapter talks about how quickly the end for the rebellious armies to try to fight Jesus Christ, how quickly the end will come. And of course, we know that the beast, the false prophet, will be captured, and it will be cast into the fire of verse 20, burning with brimstone.

So when this happens, when this takes place, then God's great rescue plan, which has been designed from the ancient of ages, is going to take place. It's going to begin in full swing. Now here in this particular world, we know at the human level, we have seen all kinds of dramatic TV on TV rescue scenes.

I think we've all stopped to watch sometimes on TV these daring rescues of firemen climbing up on ladders, maybe 100 feet long, and rescuing people from a burning building. Sometimes those people have to jump a little bit, maybe half of a floor, maybe a floor. But they reach out there and they grab that person and they rescue that person. I do want to go back in time, we have a little PowerPoint here, to show a very captivating rescue scene that took place during the time of Hurricane Katrina. And I just want to show you here, obviously some lives were lost, many lives were lost.

But between the Navy personnel, the Coast Guard, Fire Rescue Operation, National Guard, a lot of people were saved and a lot of dramatic rescues. And so let's go to the first slide here, if we can. The water is rising, please. I think you can all mostly see that. Most of us know, maybe many of us know, that New Orleans, a lot of it is really below sea level.

One time I was in New Orleans and I was walking along kind of a sidewalk and there was a big dike, I think it was Lake Pontchartrain over there, and there was a freighter. The freighter was higher than me. I got to thinking, wait a minute, the water level is above my head, quite a bit above my head. And so when those levees began to break, the water began to rise, trapping people in a very dangerous situation.

So the next slide, please. We see a coast guard men and women, they're in the boat, and another man is walking up on the roof to rescue somebody. I think the man in the bow was pulled off that roof, in the white t-shirt there, and he was pulled off of the roof and they're rescuing these people. That's how high the water was, and even higher than that. So we can go to the next slide, please. So here we have, this is the Navy, and they're rescuing an elderly gentleman. They've plucked him off of a roof or whatever he was, and you can see the pointer there. The rescue man took the elderly gentleman's cane with him. So he's holding the elderly gentleman's cane and bringing him to safety.

So next slide, please. Another dramatic rescue. They're on a cable, and the cable, of course, is connected to a helicopter, which is hovering above the water, and he's rescuing somebody as well. And it's a very dangerous operation. There's nothing safe about that, nothing really guaranteed. Highly skilled men and women taking a chance on their own lives, risking their own lives to rescue people. And so finally we come to the next slide here, and this is probably in a helicopter where a man has rescued an elderly lady, and he has her in a safe place, and you can almost see the drama in her face, the relief, the tension leaving her face as she has been rescued, as she has been saved. And so that's it for this particular...we'll be back to the slides after a while. But we do just see just a little bit of microcosm of a rescue program, and of course when Jesus Christ returns, there's going to be a lot of rescuing to be done. They say right now that there are over 50 million people that are refugees that have been left, that have been kicked out of their homes, and that's a huge number of people, the largest number of people since World War II. A refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. You know, for our young people in the audience, you know, a refugee is a person that has no home. You and I will be blessed with being able to go home after the feast. We'll have a home to go back to. A refugee doesn't have a home. They may be living in a tent. They may be living in a camp. They may be having to drink water that's less than safe and eat rations, eat food that isn't all that tasty. And some people have been refugees for many, many, many years. But Christ is coming, and He's coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He's going to begin the greatest rescue program the world has ever seen.

One of His names...let's read one of His names in Romans 11 and verse 26. Romans 11 and verse 26. One of the names of our great Lord and Savior. Romans 11 and verse 26. And so all Israel will be saved. Romans 11 and 26. The deliverer will come out of Zion. The deliverer, the one who rescues us. That word means to save, to rescue, to deliver, to preserve. That's what Jesus Christ is coming to do. He's going to establish the greatest rescue program the world has ever seen. Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 30. I think many of us are familiar with Jeremiah chapter 30. And we see this great plan that God does have for humanity. Jeremiah 30 and verse 7. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. And it is a time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. He shall be rescued, in other words.

It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. People will be held captive. People will be in slavery. I mean, there are a lot of them already in that condition. But it's going to be into the multiple millions and even billions before the end comes. That I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. Foreigners shall no longer, shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up for them. Therefore do not fear, O my servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar. You know, God can save us and save this world from afar, your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have rest and be quiet. No one shall make him afraid, for I am with you. Verse 11 says the Lord, to save you. Though I make a full end of all nations, or I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. I will correct you in justice, and I will not let you go altogether unpunished. This world and certainly the Western world, the Israelite nations, will have to go through a time of tribulation, great tribulation. We understand that. We see another great scripture here about rescuing. And that's in Jeremiah, I should say, Ezekiel 36. You talk about a wonderful rescue program that God has. This really kind of says it all here. Ezekiel 36, and let's look at verse 24. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land, return you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water on you, God says. And you shall be clean, and I will cleanse you from your filthiness, the filthiness of sin, and from all your idols. And God promises, you talk about a rescue program, this is it. I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. Now, in the New Testament, we know the word flesh means carnality of mind, we understand that. But here in this scripture, the heart of flesh means the tender heart. You know, a tender heart, a soft heart. Not a hard, harsh, stony heart, but a tender heart, a tender heart of flesh. That's what God is going to give. And that's the greatest rescue operation that we can possibly think of. Now, the earth will, as we know, in the next relatively few years, will be devastated from not only the great tribulation that Jesus Christ talked about in Matthew 24, but then there will be the year-long day of the Lord, and people will be looking for places to hide. And some of those places to hide will be under rocks and in caves, because they'll have nowhere else to go. So they'll be hiding in the safest places that they can find.

Isaiah 2, let's look at Isaiah 2 and verse 10. Isaiah 2 and verse 10, Enter into the rock and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord, and the glory of His majesty. And verse 11, The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Mankind worships thousands, whatever, millions of idols, but the day will come when the Lord alone will be exalted. One God exalted. In verse 19 of Isaiah 2, They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord, and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. So people will be hiding in holes and in caves. They'll be scared.

We read this again in Revelation 6. Let's look at Revelation 6 and take a look at verse 15. Revelation 6 and verse 15. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in the caves, in the rocks of the mountains.

And the NIRV, the New International Revised Version, has the great men as the generals. Generals hiding in caves, hiding in the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, verse 16, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him, who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of His wrath has come, who is able to stand? People will be so frightened in that day they will be hiding in caves and rocks. And by the way, you know, we've already seen this take place in a couple of places when chaos breaks out. The top men hide in holes. It happened already. Remember Saddam Hussein? They were looking for him and looking for him. And they figured he was up in Tikrit and they looked and they found a farmhouse, kind of a shack of a farmhouse, and they looked and nobody was there.

And then they found a, I think it was a rug or something, and they trapped door. And then there was a little cave, well actually a little cellar, and down in that cellar was, guess who? Hiding. Saddam Hussein. So this already happened. He had some supplies. And hopefully this lectern will do just fine. Anyway, he had some supplies. He had water, food. He had a briefcase full of, or maybe a suitcase full of $100 bills. U.S. $100 bills. And then a couple years ago, they found Muammar Gaddafi hiding in a drainage pipe.

And that's where they found him. So the point I'm trying to say, though, is that there will be generals, commanders, mighty men, slaves. They will be hiding in caves at this time, and you and I, as part of God's rescue program, will be able to tell them it's okay to come out of these caves.

It's okay to come out from underneath these rocks. They're going to be safe now, because we are going to have an opportunity to be a part of God's great rescue program. Revelation 5 and verse 10 tells us how this is going to happen. This is one of many, many verses that tell us what our role is going to be.

Revelation 5 and verse 10, And it has made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. We shall reign under Jesus Christ. He will be, as we've just read, the King of Kings. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. The world just doesn't recognize it yet. But it will be announced to the world that He will be King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

And we're going to be able to have the opportunity of working under Jesus Christ to be a part of this great rescue program. And we're going to be able to go to the caves and the hills, the hiding places, and tell people, you know what? It's safe to come out now. You're going to be all right. You're going to be taken care of. We're going to be able to offer them food, water, shelter, supplies, and the kingdom of God will begin.

Obadiah 21. Let's turn to Obadiah 21. It tells us Obadiah chapter 1. There's only one chapter. And verse 21 is right before Jonah. Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion, saviors plural, to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. And that word in the margin, if you have a marginal reference, is deliverers. Deliverers. Again, that's going to be you and I working under Jesus Christ.

I do want to make a point about the word savior just briefly, but it is a very, very important point. And that is we must always keep in mind, and I'm sure that we do. I know that we do. There is only one savior of the sins of the world. And that one savior is Jesus Christ. And it's very important that we always remember that in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12.

And I'll read this. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved. So Christ is the savior, and we will work under Him, getting our direction, our instructions from Him as we work under Him in this great program of rescue, this great program of deliverance. What a wonderful opportunity we're going to have to serve Jesus Christ. You know, babies will soon be born. I've wondered, well, Christ says His feet will be on the Mount of Olives, and then He will rule from Jerusalem, but babies will be born. And I've wondered, you know, how long, you know, after the moment Christ's feet touch the Mount of Olives, when will the first baby be born?

You know, I mean, you talk about a millennial baby, you know, the millennials, you know, that's really going to be it. And there will be babies born to mothers in captivity. You know, there were babies born in the concentration camps of World War II. Poland had a lot of the, Germany had a concentration camp, so did Poland. And there were actually babies. I think there's some of them still alive. They were actually born in slavery. They were born to a starving mother, born alive, and somehow miraculously, not all of them, most of them didn't make it. But some few didn't make it. So babies will be born to people in captivity, but babies will be born to people who were dying of, near death, you know, famine and maybe disease, of course. But babies will be born, and you'll be given the opportunity, as a divine child of God, to witness that birth, help that mother, and nurse them both, you know, to good health and strength. Wow! What a blessing! You know, what an opportunity! That's going to be. And the only tears in those days will be, you know, will be tears of joy and relief. God's going to allow you and I to work under Jesus Christ, to bring real relief to these situations. The battle for Jerusalem will be over, and there'll no longer be any crying in Jerusalem. Jeremiah, at least not crying for fear or sorrow, Jeremiah 31, 16. Jeremiah 31 and verse 16, Thus says the Lord, refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their border. You know, you read the, you watch the news, and you, I'm going to take a news vacation. I did last, though, feast, and it was just wonderful. Just take a news vacation, because the news has been, well, it's been horrific. You know, I mean, we do have to watch, understand, we do have to watch, but my, has it been horrible news. But the time is coming, God does say, there is hope in our future, and our children shall come back to their own border. Isaiah 65 and verse 19. Isaiah 65 and verse 19. And we know this specifically is about the new heavens and the new earth, we understand that. But look, just look at verse 19. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. The voice of weeping and the voice of crying will no longer be heard. Isaiah 27 and verse 13. Isaiah 27 and verse 13. It shall come to pass in that day that, well, that's verse 12. Let's go to verse 13.

So shall it be in that day that the great trumpet will be blown, and they will come, all who are about to perish in the land of Assyria. Christ was going to come just in time, just in time, because people were going to perish in the land of Assyria. And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. The Bible plainly says that Christ is going to reign from Jerusalem, and that will be the center of the earth, the headquarters of the earth. And so people who were ready to perish will be, again, rescued. And, brethren, you and I are going to have a part in that.

Isaiah 19, looking at verse 22, the Lord will strike Egypt, and He will strike it and heal it. And they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them. And in that day there will be a highway from Egypt, I should say, from Egypt to Assyria. And the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. And in that day, Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria.

I mean, there used to be, I mean, traditional mortal enemies from millennia, mortal enemies. But they will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land. So, God isn't just going to come. Christ is not going to just return to save the Israelites, to save Israel. God has a great plan of salvation for the Egyptians and the Assyrians. Verse 25, and the whole world, whom the Lord of hosts, verse 25, shall bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt, my people.

Blessed is Egypt, my people. Usually the phrase, my people, we find that with, you know, my people Israel, or Israel, my people. But God's going to say, blessed is Egypt, my people. And Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance. So God is a God of all peoples. And He's got a plan for the Egyptians and the Assyrians as well. Our role is again explained in Revelation, chapter 20.

Revelation, chapter 20, and verse 4, And I saw thrones, and they sat on them. Revelation 24. And judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and they did not receive His mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They didn't go along with the program. They didn't go along with the majority. They stood up for God.

They stood up for Jesus Christ. And they did not receive the mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. We know there's a great white throne judgment time. We understand that. God says this is the first resurrection.

Verse 6, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him a thousand years. Brethren, we are receiving instruction. This festival, this Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures the millennium, it pictures the kingdom of God, it pictures the return of Jesus Christ and his rule on this earth. We're going to be priests of God and of Christ, and we shall reign with him for a thousand years.

Let's turn to Luke, Luke 19, and take a look at verse 17. Luke 19 and verse 17. The first came to the Master and said, Your mina has earned 10 minas. That's verse 16. Christ said, Well done, good servant, because you've been faithful and very little. Have authority over 10 cities.

And the second came to him and said, Master, your mina has earned 5 minas. Likewise, he said to him, you will be also over 5 cities. So the kings and the priests in the world tomorrow, the kingdom of God, will be ruling over cities. And 5 cities, 10 cities, 1 city, who knows, 3 cities? But we'll be ruling over cities. And we will be ruling under Christ with the same spirit and the same attitude as Jesus Christ has. And you don't need to turn to these verses, but I do want to read what Christ's spirit, what will his attitude, what will his approach be in the kingdom?

Psalm 72 and verse 2, He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. So he'll judge with righteousness, he'll judge with judgment and righteousness. That's Psalm 72 verse 2. Psalm 96 and verse 13, Before the Lord, for he cometh, he cometh, I kind of like that King James, for he cometh to judge the earth, and he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. So Christ's spirit and Christ's attitude is one of righteousness and truth. And Psalm 98 and verse 9, Before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness, shall he judge the world and the people with equity and with fairness. People don't get really a fair shake today, but with Jesus Christ, he will rule with equity.

I do want to turn to Isaiah chapter 33. Isaiah 33. And I know for our young people who are in high school, they're learning that there's three branches of government. The judicial, which makes the judgments, the legislative, which makes the laws, and the executive branch, which carries out the laws, executes the laws. And that's the three branches of our government. Well, that's going to be all Jesus Christ.

It says in Isaiah 33.22, For the Lord is our judge, and the Lord is our lawgiver. He spoke already, God's law from Mount Sinai. No, the Ten Commandments. God's law right there. And the Lord is our King. He will save us. Christ is coming with perfect government. He will embody perfect government. And He's coming to save us, coming to save the world. So again, the world definitely needs rescue from its own destructive ways. As kings and priests under Jesus Christ, we will be assisting Him in this great rescue.

Now, what about our children? Will our children be involved in the work of the kingdom? Let's turn to Psalm 45. Psalm 45 and verse 16, Instead of your father shall be your sons. Or, as actually the King James has it, in Isaiah 45.16, Instead of your father shall be your children, whom you make princes in all the earth. Our children, God promises, will be princes in all the earth.

And these princes, that is, our own children, they will not be princes for the purpose of being big shots. They are our princes, or royalty today, and they want to know how many mansions they have, how many cars they own. This man in Hong Kong bought, I think it was 30 Rolls Royces. But they're not just your average, every day, plain Jane Rolls Royce. These are six feet wide, and I think 30 feet long. They're huge! He bought them for his casino.

He has other cars himself. But we won't be interested in how many mansions or how many big fancy cars we have. Our purpose will be to serve the torn and the tattered refugees of this world. Many of us have heard of King Bumapal of Thailand, and he's ailing. He is ailing now, but he is currently the world's longest reigning monarch. And this is what he said at his coronation, I think it was in 1950, so he goes back a ways.

He said this simple, profound statement, We shall reign with righteousness for the benefits and the happiness of the Siamese, or the Thai people. He promised to reign with righteousness for the benefits and the happiness of the Thai people. And that's Christ's promise. He's going to rule with righteousness. And kings, priests, princes, we will be doing that too. We will be looking out for the benefit and the welfare of the people. Let's turn to Psalm 126, verse 5, and verse 6.

Now I want to spend a little bit of time in Isaiah 58, verse 12, In a moment or two I'll be asking Steve to put some things up on the... put some scriptures up on the PowerPoint there, but just in a moment. But let's read this first, Isaiah 58 and verse 12. And we'll read this in the New King James. Those from among you, or our children, our grandchildren, those from among you, shall build the old waste places.

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You should be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of streets to dwell in. Now back in St. Louis area and the Troy area, we've been going through in our Sabbath Bible studies some of the basic booklets of the church. And we've gone through the Who is God? booklet, Jesus Christ? booklet. And now we're working through and almost done with the booklet on the Holy Days. And it worked out just right.

And so we take a chapter by chapter. In this one chapter we studied in Troy was on the Feast of Tabernacles. So what we do, I ask the brethren to read it and I give them a quiz. I email this quiz. We make paper copies. We don't want to leave anybody out. I give them a quiz on the chapter. Okay? And the main question I say is, oh, here's a statement, but where's the Scripture that proves this statement? We want to know what the Scripture says. But I, being the soft-hearted guy that I really am, I give them the answers on pages 3 and 4.

So they get stuck. They can either ask their friendly deacon or they can ask, they can look it up on the answer page. But anyway, Isaiah 58.12 was one of the Scriptures that was discussed in that chapter. And I got thinking about it and I got kind of carried away and I went on one of the websites I won't necessarily mention here. But you can go on various Bible help websites and type in Isaiah 58.12 and you'll get 15, 20 different translations of just this one verse.

It makes for just an exciting study as translators have gone through and they've looked at this, they looked at the Hebrew, and they've made various translations. They all say the same, but they're just, they add a little bit, then they complement each other. And that's what we did. So I have four of these verses here that we need to start with the first one here. Various, like I said, I looked up 20 or more, but I don't want to hold you here that long.

But this is from the complete Jewish Bible. You will rebuild ancient ruins, raise foundations from Asia's past. You will be and be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets to live in. This is God's rescue program. Okay, next slide, please. The ASV. They that come of you, of these, shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up foundations that have remained from generation to generation. And you shall be called the repairer of breaches, the restorer of frequented paths.

Okay, next slide, please. Your sons will rebuild the long-deserted ruins of your cities. You will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities. Okay, final slide. And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places.

You shall raise up foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in. Now, I had to go to the afternoon church that day, so Dale Osborne, our elder, finished out the Bible study. And he mentioned that one of the comments that was made by one of the brethren is that the restoring of the paths is going to be the restoring of God's law.

One of the church members said, you know, you've got to include the restoring, you know, the repairing of the breach and the restoring of the paths, that you've got to include the law of God, because the law of God has been just tossed aside. And so I thought there was a very astute comment made by that church member who said that part of this involves the bringing back of God's law, the bringing back of the Ten Commandments.

Okay, so thank you for that slide. So, again, brethren, to wind this up, and let's turn to Matthew 24. We're beginning to wind it up. You and I, brethren, have the greatest opportunity that we could ever imagine, you know, possible. You know, we have a part, we will have a part to be in the greatest rescue plan the world has ever seen. And so in Matthew 24, this is what we must do. This is what we must do. And whatever time we have left, Matthew 24, 13, But he who endures to the end shall be saved. He who endures to the end shall be saved. And so very briefly, we've heard many sermons on this.

What must we do to endure? Well, prayer. Much, much prayer. Staying on our knees constantly. That's a way to endure. Bible study. Much Bible study. You know, the UCG website is loaded with Bible study material. Loaded with archived Bible studies, you know, from Cincinnati sermons. You name the topic, and there's a study out there. So much Bible study. Fasting is what Christ promised. He told us. He said, my disciples will fast. That's what he told the disciples of John. My disciples will fast. So fasting is a part of enduring to the end. Ongoing repentance and obedience. Never letting up on repenting and obedience and being obedient.

And certainly faith. Maintaining faith. Not letting doubts, unbelief, you know, creep into our minds. You know, fighting the good fight of faith. You know, trusting in God, you know, with all of our heart and soul. And hanging on in faith. It will take a lot of faith to get through to the end of this age. And God is going to be with us absolutely every step of the way. So, brethren, we have a wonderful plan. A wonderful plan of rescue that God has for us. Let's make sure we endure to that point.