Will You Heed God’s Prophetic Warning?

If you've noticed, you probably have, and Scripture verifies it, that there have always been people who believe that God exists, but choose not to obey Him, choose not to obey His instruction. And of course, you don't have to go too deep in the Bible. No, it's been that way since the very beginning, since the time of Eden. But those who do claim to believe and to obey God should know better than to reject God's instruction and to disregard His warnings to repent of their sins. Whoever claims to know God, they would know you have to do what God says. You need to repent of your way and go God's way. And those who claim to worship God should also not ignore or discount the importance of His prophecies. And they should not trick themselves—these same people, that should know better—these same people should not trick themselves into believing that God's warnings do not apply to them. And so Paul warns us—and you can jot this scripture down. I'm going to refer to it off and on. In Galatians 6 verse 7, I'll read it to you. I think it's partly for these basic but valuable and important principles. Paul warns us in Galatians 6 verse 7, he's speaking to members of God's church, he says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Well, we'd say, well, it's a very basic principle. But do we live by it? And so those who scoff at or refuse to heed God's instruction and warnings, God tells us in His word, they will suffer the dire consequences of their self-willed attitudes and ways. Either go God's way or you don't. And so as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be asking ourselves, are we truly listening to God in His warning prophecies, as His faithful followers should do?

Are we rising to the occasion of our calling? Are we heeding God's warnings? And so the title of today's sermon, we're going to talk a bit about prophecy today, the title of today's sermon is, Will You Heed God's Prophetic Warning? Will You Heed God's Prophetic Warning?

Now, I should quickly add, there are many prophetic warnings in Scripture. We're going to be looking at a more narrowed one for today's message. Will you heed God's prophetic warning? So again, those who claim to know and worship God should therefore know not to ignore, not to disbelieve God's instructions and warnings. And so over and over again in Scripture, we hear this phrase about the fear of God. And that's what we all need to have and maintain. The fear of God is that sincere and true reverence and respect for God, a sincere and true reverence and respect for God. And that, along with God's Holy Spirit, as we heard about today, that coupled with our desires should help motivate us into doing what God says.

Now, the first four commandments of God's eternal law broadly define the sort of relationship we are to establish and develop with God. I'm not going to rehearse those four commandments today, but I'll suffice it to say that those commandments tell us that God wants a relationship, God wants a relationship with humanity, his relationship with them, and it requires sincere devotion.

It requires respect and willing submission. It requires love. It almost sounds like marriage, but then we add this other quality. It requires worship. We have to worship God. Again, devotion, respect, willing submission, love, and worship. That's really what those first four commandments are. You can boil it down to. Now, in contrast, let's talk about a relationship that is not right with God. In contrast, a relationship of disrespect, of ridicule, of contempt and rebellion toward God, that is not a relationship God wants, and that is not a relationship God will allow. Remember, God is not mocked. God is not mocked. Who would ridicule him in his ways, who would disrespect him, rebel against his ways, that is to mock God, and God will not allow it.

And those with such irreverence towards God will reap the consequences of their irreverent ways. Let's turn over to Proverbs chapter 1. For if we go back in the Old Testament and read Proverbs chapter 1, we will find here early on in Scripture, and we believe, according to Scripture, what it reveals, that these Proverbs were written by Solomon.

And this first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs is sort of a we can look at as a father's discourse or monologue towards his son. And it's addressed to his son and children. And of course, on another level, we can understand it as being God the Father, speaking to us, his begotten children, and ultimately all children, all people. And so when you read Proverbs 1 verse 24 through 22, we find that in these verses, verses 24 through 32, we actually find this very warning, this warning about a right relationship with God. It's a warning not to despise God, not to despise God's ways. This set of verses is fundamental to how all people need to live their lives in their relationship with God.

So here we find, as we begin reading verse 24, we find here the voice, the persona of wisdom. And Proverbs, wisdom is depicted as a woman. But as we read this, if you don't know that, you start reading this, and you're thinking, this sounds like the voice of God. Well, it is. Ultimately, it is. God is the author of all scripture. And so we find the voice of wisdom in wisdom, and it's talking about wisdom from above. This is not the voice of earthly wisdom, this is the voice of the wisdom from above.

You can jot down James 3, 15 through 17 if you want to know a little bit more about that earthly wisdom, James 3, 15 through 17. And so as we read, Godly wisdom speaking here is going to urge the foolish among mankind to neither fear nor revere God to change their ways. It's a call for repentance. It's a call to enjoy the blessings of true wisdom. In the words of wisdom, as we go in, you will see here that they are also a prophecy. These verses are also prophetic. They're prophesying doom, judgment, God's judgment, which will befall upon those on anyone who would mock or ridicule God and refuse his law and way of life.

Let's read a little bit then, and I guess I'll actually begin Proverbs 1 verse 22. I noted to myself. Yes, wisdom cries out. She says, how long you simple ones, meaning you naive and immature ones, how long will you love simplicity? For sconers delight in their scorning. In other words, for scorners could be mockers. For sconers delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke. That's a call for repentance. Turn your direction, and surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. And because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke.

This is wisdom, heavenly wisdom from above. Look what is said next. Verse 26. I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes. And when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, well then they, you, will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel, and despise my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, the fruit of their own way. And that's talking about, this is what they produce.

It goes back to Galatians 6-7. You reap what you sow. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies, which are not really that great. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But look at verse 33. When God, in His word, when He offers a warning, when He condemns wrong behavior, so often you will also see another hand offering hope and encouragement.

Verse 33, But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil. And so if you look back over this set of verses I just read, you'll see certain words repeated. Certain words are contrary to the sort of relationship God wants to have with this. Verse 25 has the word, uh, disdained. Earlier we were reading about sconers. Verse 22. Verse 30 talks about how they despise my every rebuke and complacency.

These are all attitudes that are contrary to the sort of attitude God wants us to have in our relationship with Him. And so again, these verses are warning. They're rather prophetic in what will happen. They may clear the fate of those who despise God's instruction. And unless they repent of their sin, they will suffer, and they will die in their sin. And wisdom's prophetic warning to turn to God is for every human being.

She's speaking this voice of wisdom. It's crying out to all the simple, all people. It's a universal message to every man, to every man, every woman, every child, to heed the word of God. And we might also want to jot down 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. With this call of wisdom, we might remember what Paul tells us here in 1 Corinthians 1, 30. He says that Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, became for us wisdom, wisdom from God. Jesus Christ became wisdom from God. He teaches the truth of God and the way of life.

He is the exemplar, the example for us all. And so again, God's wisdom is for everyone. And so we have this warning from Proverbs. And as we move on to other places in Scripture, we'll see examples that can back up what we've just read here in Proverbs 1, 22 through 33.

What we find is that Scripture often reveals how God's chosen people, in this case we're going to look at the children of Israel. How God's chosen people, despite being called of God and being given instruction in God's commandments and having prophets and good teachers to show them the way and God himself watching out for them and to protect them, the children of Israel, his chosen people historically, time and again, would tend to ignore God. They'd ignore his instruction. They'd constantly doubt and question his warnings. Let's turn to Habakkuk chapter 1. Let's consider an example of what happened back during the time of Habakkuk and Jeremiah. They are contemporary prophets. Let's go to Habakkuk chapter 1. It's easy to locate. It's right before Zephaniah. Zephaniah is towards the end. It's like the fourth book from the end of the Old Testament.

I made a comment like that once at a feast site years ago, and it's easy to find. It's right between Joel and something, and that became the joke for the whole feast. Oh, it's easy to find. Well, anyway, let's look at Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 5. Now, the content of this book does suggest that Habakkuk and Jeremiah were contemporaries. Prior to Judah's captivity and Jerusalem's destruction at the hand of the Babylonians, God had both prophets witness the injustice and witness the wickedness of the people, and he had them preach warning to the nation of Judah, to the people of Jerusalem, its kings and leaders, to change their ways. He's been doing it for centuries, but it's coming to a point where God can no longer abide by it. He can no longer let it continue. And so both preach God's prophetic warnings, warnings to repent, warnings of approaching an imminent judgment. The people refused to listen. They would not listen. Let's look at Habakkuk 1. We'll actually begin verse 2. Habakkuk 1, verse 2. Habakkuk cries out to God, he says, O Lord, how long shall I cry in you not here? Even to cry out to you violence, to get your attention, what he sees. And you will not save, you will not intervene. Why do you show me iniquity, the sins of the people, in other words, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me, their strife and contention arises. And therefore, because of this, the law, the law is powerless. The people are rejecting God's law. It's having no effect because they're rejecting it. And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, and therefore perverse judgment proceeds. This perverse judgment is not from God. This perverse judgment is from the people who are rejecting to follow and abide by God's law. And then we get to verse 5. In verse 5, God responds to Habakkuk's prayer. He responds to his prayer with this prophecy about a coming Babylonian invasion. Verse 5, God tells Habakkuk, he says, look among the nations and watch. That's what prophets do. They're watchmen. They do watch. And he says, Habakkuk, be utterly astounded. For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. And so this is going to be what God is about to reveal is going to be very shocking. It's going to seem very incredible to Habakkuk that this is going to happen. And we can notice God's emphasis on that event. How shocking it's going to be. Verse 6. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. They are a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful. And of course, historically, all the nations by that time had heard about the Chaldeans. They were terrified when they would come nearer to any of them.

But now if we turn to Habakkuk 12, look at verse 12. Verse 12. And so although God revealed that he would soon bring about an astounding punishment to Judah unlike anything they'd experienced before, Habakkuk yet knew God. He knew God because he had a right relationship with God. He knew God and he trusted that God would not utterly destroy his people. And so if you look at verse 12, after God describes more about the horrendous terrible things the Chaldeans and Babylonians are going to do, Habakkuk says verse 12 to God, he says, Are you God not from everlasting? O Lord, my God, my holy one. He trusts God. My God, he calls him. We shall not die. We shall not die. Now he doesn't mean that none of them are going to die, none of them in Jerusalem or Judah are going to die. What does he mean? He means that we shall not be annihilated. The people, the nation, will not be annihilated. Because God is God, we can be sure that Habakkuk knew about all the other prophecies, the prophecies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, about that seed that would be a blessing to all the world. All nations would be blessed. So Habakkuk knew the larger picture. He knew that God would not destroy them, but he recognized there would be terrible times coming. And if we turn back now to Habakkuk chapter 3, the very end of the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3. And when we read here a conclusion, Habakkuk writes a song, a psalm to God about his trust in God, and then he concludes his book with these verses, verse 17. And here the prophet again affirms his absolute faith and trust in God. Even though terrible times like never before in Judah are going to happen, he can yet stand firm in his faith with God. He's not shaken. Verse 17, he says, that is an incredibly powerful statement. Habakkuk's conviction and faith in God is a tremendous example for us as followers of Jesus Christ. The prophecy was staggering. It was grim. It was certain to come. And yes, we're going to talk about a prophecy that is yet to come in our lives. And it too is staggering and grim and certain to come. And yet, Habakkuk stayed firm in God. He trusted in God. And so can we. And so will we, if we stay close to God. But not everyone so readily believed and accepted God's prophecy. They didn't like what they heard. They didn't like that sort of bad news. They wanted to hear good things. Someone asked me for services if I was going to give, what did you say, fire and brimstone? I said, I don't talk like that, but sometimes Scripture does.

Let's look at the book of Jeremiah now. Let's go to the book of Jeremiah. Not everybody liked the message that God had given to his prophets, but in the book of Jeremiah, Habakkuk's contemporary, we find more details, especially about how the people of Judah responded to God's warning about this coming Babylonian invasion, about their need to turn and repent. We already have Habakkuk's. He accepts it. He trusts God as doing the right thing. How do the other people, how do the other citizens of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah respond? Well, let's go to Jeremiah 5. Let's look at a little bit here. Just a few examples. You find these. I'm just going to give you a few examples of what you can find, really, throughout the book of Jeremiah. But Jeremiah 5, verse 11 through 13, I want to begin here. Let's look at what God says. And by listening to what God says, we can hear what God has heard the people saying. We get insight in what the people are saying about this prophecy and this warning to repent. Jeremiah 5, verse 11. This is God's words. He says, For the house of Judah, excuse me, in the house of Israel, in the house of Judah, they have dealt very treacherously with me, says the Lord. Verse 12, they have lied about the Lord. They've lied about me, God says, and said, It is not he, and neither will evil come upon us. They're saying, God's not really going to do it. That's not our God would never treat us like that. Our God loves us. He loves us as people. We got his temple. He's not going to beat us up like that. It is not he. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or family, and the prophets become wind. They're just a lot of hot air. For the word they claim is not in them, and thus shall it be done to them. So God's going to turn it all back on those bad prophets of God, the true God. Now this is God's reporting, you see. This is what God sees.

And from this we can tell that the people showed no real fear, no true fear of God. They're denying the message, and they not only denied that God was actually speaking through his prophets through time over and over again, the miracles and things that came true. They said came true. They knew, if they really wanted to listen, that they were true prophets. But instead they mocked God's prophets, and in doing so they blatantly rejected God and treated his warning message with scorn. They're doing exactly, what did we hear in Proverbs 1? They're doing exactly what followers of God, people of God, should not do. They were doing it. They were doing it. Now we find more evidence of their contempt for God in his message. Let's look at verse 21, verse 21 and 25. Again, God is speaking to his people, and he's blunt. He says, verse 21, Hear this now, O foolish people, just like the ones you read about Proverbs chapter 1. You are without understanding people, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not. Do you not fear me, says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand as a bound of the sea by perpetual decree that it cannot be passed beyond it? At that point, God begins to list, he might say, and he's given his credentials. That makes sense to you? I'm the one that made the boundary of the ocean. I'm the one that put the stars in the sky. I'm the one. Yes, I'm that God. I'm not this false God that you've wrongly worshiped, these idols. God is identifying himself to them. This is your creator speaking.

And their response? They don't care. That's my summation. They don't care because they have rejected him. They don't listen to him anymore. And God knows it. Verse 23, But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart. They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, you know, this is the right approach. Again, God's very clear. He always sets us, points us to the right direction. They do not say in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God who gives reign, both to the former, both the former and the latter, in its seasons. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. They're forgetting who blesses them with their very livelihoods, their food, their very lives. In verse 25, God says, verse 25, Your iniquities have turned these things away. All the blessings you look forward to have harvest. They're gone now. In your sins, he adds, your sins have withheld good from you.

Of course, they've been complaining, well, God's not blessing us. So they're going to other gods. And it's not God's fault, is it? It's their fault. They've broken the relationship because of their sin. So God is telling them, you've rejected and despised God. And what do we know about God? He is not mocked. You do not treat God in these ways. Maybe if we get nothing else from the sermon today, remember that. We do not mock God. We do not play games with God. We do not pretend that we didn't understand what we're supposed to do and then do the sin anyway. And we can go on. We can make a list. I'm not going to do that today.

But we don't play games with God. God is not mocked. And because God is not mocked, they're going to sow the consequences of their sins. They're going to reap what they've been doing. Let's look in Jeremiah 6. Next chapter is Jeremiah 6, 16-23. And we again find God's judgment upon them. You can read more about this. I'm kind of skipping the places where he describes what the Babylonians are like. We read a little bit in a back-up about them. I'm focusing on the response of the nation of Judah. And so here again we find God's judgment upon them for the contempt they have for him and his prophets and the refusal to turn and repent. Jeremiah 6 verse 16, thus says, The Lord, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is.

What are the old paths? Well, God did take them on a path through the wilderness. He did take them out of Egypt. He did teach them the right way. And he says, and walk in it, and then you will find rest for your souls. Just go back to what I wanted you to do. Again, it's a call to go back and repent.

And then you will find rest for your lives, for your souls. But they said—this is God's word. I'm going to trust what he says here. He says, they said, we will not walk in it. We will not walk in it. Also, I said, watchmen. Watchmen like prophets. Prophets like a backook in Jeremiah. I said, watchmen over you saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet. The trumpet is their warning messages to repent, to repent or suffer the consequences. But they said, we will not listen. Sounds like defiance to me. And now God declares to the world the consequences of his people's rejection, of him and his warnings, and the right way to live. Verse 18. Therefore, hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, the fruit of their thoughts. The NIV says, the fruit of their schemes. Schemes makes it sound much sneakier and conniving. I will bring calamity on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded my words. They have not heeded my words. It means to listen and do. Nor have they heeded my law, but rejected it. And so because they mocked and ridiculed God, God himself has provided us the evidence, and they had instruction. They had those first four of God's Ten Commandments. They had Proverbs 1 we read. I mean, they knew. Somewhere down the line they knew. But they got off track a long time ago. Because they mocked and ridiculed God and his prophets, and refused his warnings to repent, they would reap the fruit of their ways. Now, if we turn...

let's turn to 2 Chronicles. Let's turn to 2 Chronicles, and if you just went the wrong direction like me, it's right there before Psalms, Job in that area. 2 Chronicles 36, verse 15 through 17.

2 Chronicles 36, verses 15 through 17. What is written here was written many years later. This has been written after the Judo was taken to captivity in exile in Babylon, and they had begun the return, and 70 years had passed as had been prophesied. 70 years Sabbath had been prophesied through Jeremiah. In 2 Chronicles 36, 15 through 17, we are here many years later. And God has inspired the writers to record this. And some scholars point this out that the whole book of Chronicles... it was one whole book, but they sliced it in two parts centuries ago. But God, in other words, inspired what some scholars call this divine editorial. So they're going back, and in some ways you might think, oh, this is the same thing we read about in Kings, first, second Kings. No, this is more of a spiritual overlook. This is looking at through the lens of of God's Spirit, God's of a spiritual evaluation, if you will.

And so this is God's divine editorial, and it was written about the fall of the kingdom of Judah. Verse 15, "...and the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending them, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place." Well, it's talking about the temple there in Jerusalem. And verse 16, again, this is editorial, divine editorial, you could call it. Verse 16, "...but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. And therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans." And then it continues on in a summery fashion describing what happened under the hands of Chaldeans. It's interesting, it said, "...until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people," verse 16, "...till there was no remedy." Remedy can also be translated as there's no healing, there's no cure. They were so far gone spiritually in the wrong direction, there's nothing more God could do to heal them of that. He had to let the next step occur.

The doom, long foretold, came upon them.

And again, I go back to a point that the people should have known. The people should have known better than to despise and mock God.

But of course, what people do depends on what they're taught. It depends on whether the priests had taught them, whether the families kept teaching their children, and their children's children, and their children's children's children. And I've talked about that in recent times. Families are responsible for teaching God's way of life and for correcting their children always in love and compassion. Not all correction needs to be.

What do we call it? Corporal punishment. Always makes me think of firing squad. I've never imagined that. But, you know, sometimes God has to get heavy-handed. And he does. We've just read about that today. But God, they should have known. But the people failed. The priests failed. The kings failed. The government failed. The people failed. They didn't do their part. And God is not mocked. Those who scoff had to refuse to eat God's warnings. Again, we see suffer dire consequences. And it's because of their self-willed attitudes and ways.

By now, you should begin deforming some lessons we need to be drawing from this in our own lives. Let's turn to the New Testament. You see, now we need to ask ourselves, what about us? What about you? What about me? What about the Church of God in this day and age? You know, not necessarily referring to the United Church of God. I'm talking about the Church of God, that spirit, that spiritual organism. What about the Church of God? Have we received a warning prophecy from God that God's people must be heating today? Of course, it's a message God would love all people to heed. And yes, there is a prophecy. And that prophecy concerns the time of the end and the return of Jesus Christ. So let's turn then to Matthew chapter 24. We're not going to cover every detail of this profound prophecy of Christ. It's often called the Olivet prophecy. We're just going to hit some highlights here, tying it with what we've covered so far.

Let's start in Matthew 24 verse 14. And here's part of the prophecy that is very important to us. It's part of our mission, the mission of the Church of God. And the United Church of God has its part in it. And you and I, all of us as individuals, have our little part in it too. In verse 14, Jesus said, a part of his prophecy, in this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. And so you can imagine, starting back in that first Pentecost nearly 2,000 years ago, this message of being preached to all nations, and some nations, probably same territory over and over again. It's a message that keeps going out, because we're not done yet. Christ hasn't returned yet. And so the United Church of God does have its part, and individually we do. And Scripture also tells us that during the Great Tribulation, somebody else is going to be involved in preaching this gospel. It tells us about the two witnesses. There are going to be two witnesses, two mighty prophets of God, who will preach the gospel and warn the world of the impending judgment, because the world is going to refuse to repent. The world, it's going to be a little deja vu with what happened back in the times anciently of Judah, and what we just read about recently here.

And this will be an impending judgment up to this terrible tribulation. And then Jesus Christ makes his return, and they'll still be in great trouble. Let's read verse 21. And so what we know and what can frighten us at times and intimidate us and scare us, it was a vehicle by which I think God worked with me in my calling. And I was concerned I wanted to be on the good guy side, right? I didn't want to be on the side that was going to be tortured and destroyed forever. Some of you maybe may have been that way too. Verse 21 tells us, here's the prophecy we're concerned about, part of it. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. That's a parallel I thought we read in the Old Testament. But this is going to be unlike anything ever or ever again. Verse 22, and unless Jesus says, unless those days were shortened, no flesh will be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man, that's Jesus Christ, coming on in the clouds, coming on the clouds of heaven and with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. The first fruits of salvation will be resurrected, and they'll be gathered together. They have God's Holy Spirit in them, and they keep it. They will continue once you get God's Holy Spirit. I'll tell you what we heard in the sermon today. It's ours to keep, or it's ours to lose.

We have to keep using it and making right choices and being led by it, as we heard in the sermonette. And for that, you can jot down Romans 8, 9, and verse 14. I'm not going to turn there today. Romans 8, verse 9, and verse 14. And so those who have God's Spirit in them, those preceding us, those who will come after us, they and we must continue in repentance and faith in Christ until the end. The end meaning we are transformed. We are transformed.

And these prophesied events will surely occur. This is what was prophesied of Babylonians anciently. It's prophesied it will happen now unless suddenly humanity does a great about-face.

The evidence I see with my little eyes and ears is I don't think we're making that kind of change in direction. It seems like the change in direction is going in the wrong way, the way of despising God and mocking God, being obstinate, disdainful. Verse 35, heaven and earth will pass away. It's going to be gone one day, but my words, Jesus said, will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows. Don't be fooled by people telling you, oh, Christ is returning next year at the feast.

When I first came in the church, I was told the fall of 82, Mr. Armstrong might announce that this is the day we go to a place of safety. I'm going, what's a place of safety?

I got left behind. I didn't know about the feast yet. I came in late during the year, you know. We meant well, but for ever reasons we were wrong, and we have abundantly admitted that through the years. We live and learn, don't we, all of us? But of that day and hour no one knows, Jesus said, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. I believe when the time is right, it is right. But we have to be ready whenever that time is. We might die tonight. We better get ready today. Just saying, as we say vernacularly, in the vernacular, yeah.

And so it's certain to happen, and yet despite the fact that the gospel will go out to all the nations—and I'm going to go back to what people that should know better—despite the fact that the gospel, by that time, at the end time, will have gone out to all nations. In the warning of God's prophets, those two witnesses, that Jesus foretells it about all mankind, when we look at the Scriptures for this prophecy, we're going to see evidence that all mankind will not have changed the vast majority by and large. They will still despise God's prophets. They will still despise God's message, even though it will have been taught to them then for quite a long time—three and a half years, it seems. Look at verse 35. Jesus foretells that mankind will still despise God's warnings. Look at what's being said here. Verse 37, he adds here, after we're told that only the Father knows the time of his return. Verse 37, but as the days of Noah were, also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. It doesn't sound like they were wearing sackcloth to me, right? It doesn't sound like they were down on their knees and begging for forgiveness and help. They're enjoying life. Verse 39, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming, so also will the coming of Man be, the Son of Man be. And so again, mankind by and large will express no repentance. They'll express no reverence for God. In fact, let's turn now to Revelation 11. Let's turn back to Revelation 11, verse 8 through 13. Revelation 8, excuse me, Revelation 11, verse 8 through 13, foretells that the nations will be celebrating the death of God's two witnesses, those two prophets. Revelation 11, verse 8. And here, they've already been killed, and their bodies have been in the streets for a long time. Pick it up there. And their dead bodies of the two witnesses, their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom in Egypt. In case you're wondering where is that? Where also our Lord was crucified. So this is in Jerusalem. And then those from the peoples, it's not just a little group of people around Jerusalem celebrating this. Then those from the peoples or nations, the tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and will not allow their dead bodies to be put into the graves.

And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, send gifts to one another. They're going to party, celebrate. Because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

Look at verse 11, though. Now after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear, great dread, fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven, saying to them, Come up here. And they ascended to heaven, and a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

Well, this is the time of Christ's return. This is when all the faithful who have God's Spirit in them, they will be lifted up. They will be gathered by the angels. We just read that earlier, Jesus said. God is not mocked. You've got to like, in a reverent way, how God handles the wicked. He makes it clear. And we need to read this as if it is, in a sense, as if it's happened. It's that assured. This is going to happen. Verse 13, in the same hour there's a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake, seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. Perhaps that's a little bit of deathbed repentance. Let's look at Revelation 6, verse 14 through 17. And once again, we see just how God is not mocked. As mankind is sown, we'll have sown at that time, so shall it reap. Revelation 6, 14 through 17. And then the sky receded as a scroll when it rolled, when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

The whole earth is going to shift off its axis, it sounds. Verse 15, in the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men. Think of all the mighty men of, mighty men and women of this world today, the corporate world, all these people. Every slave and every free man as well, they hid themselves in the caves, in the rocks, in the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. How do they know who it is? They did hear a little bit about the prophet's message, it seems, didn't they? And they say, verse 17, For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?

And again, these events are certain. God's church must remain faithful.

Now, as decades later, after Jesus Christ's death, decades after the Allvitt prophecy, and of course, we've just been reading from Revelation, which would come after Peter had died. But let's turn to 2 Peter, verse 3. Let's look at 2 Peter, verse 3.

Peter wrote this letter to the brethren of his time, and this is now Peter's writing decades after Christ's death. And the church was still watching. We're always supposed to watch. Yes, watch events, but especially watch your hearts. Watch your attitudes. Are you remaining in an attitude of heating God and doing what he says? They've been waiting for near—they've been waiting a long time, and Christ hadn't come back yet. And here we are, nearly 2,000 years. And what are we doing? We're waiting. We're watching.

2 Peter 3—did I tell you that part? 2 Peter 3, verse 3 through 5. 2 Peter 3, 3 through 5.

Peter addresses the concerns of those who wait for Jesus Christ's return. Specifically, what does he warn them of? He's warning them of scoffers. Beware of scoffers, mockers.

Verse 3, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust, their own desires, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? Why hasn't he come back yet? Where is he? Now, they're doing that after a few decades.

Can you translate this in today's terms? You begin to understand why so many people, maybe, have turned away from God. Even traditional Christianity is—their pews are not being filled.

People have gotten tired of waiting. They begin to think. They're listening to their own hearts. They're listening to other scoffers, saying, it's not real. It's not true.

All that we are taught in the Bible is not true.

We're going to go party now. And that's what some people do. Do not do it.

Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. And that's your excuse. Nothing's changed. So this is all faults that we've heard. But Peter, again, he offers the real meaning, the real picture. Verse 5, 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, and he continues to explain. A little bit summarizing, the Creator God and his intervention. It's the same God. He hasn't gone anywhere. And he's reminding the people, even as Jeremiah did, you know, this is the God. This is your God, the Creator. God was reminding them through Jeremiah, I am your creator. I haven't gone anywhere. I do things according to my schedule. I will tell you when the time is right, and then my son Jesus Christ will come. Don't worry! He's coming. He's coming.

They should never doubt, and we should never doubt, that Jesus Christ will return. He will, but only the Father knows when. Some will choose to disbelieve God in his word of truth, and they'll start following their own lust and desires. But we must choose to hold firm to God.

Now, scoffers and mockers of God and his truth may be more prevalent today. I really don't have a way to gauge that, because I wasn't around a few thousand years ago. And I have to admit that sometimes their media tends to focus on the most horrendous, obnoxious cases. Correct?

But I believe, partly because I do believe we are in the end times, that scoffers are increasing. There is more mocking of God. Now, some scoffers, to bring it up to the here and now, some scoffers are rather easy to detect. I'm talking about scoffers of God and his truth.

Scoffers nowadays, some of them are really easy to detect. Perhaps you've noticed that it's the loudest ones, it's the loudest ones, most obnoxious ones, that tend to force themselves into the public spaces. They're in the media, they're in Facebook, they're on the internet, and they also force themselves into our faces at times. And they're pushing what? They're pushing an anti-God agenda. They say that the Bible is archaic. It's an overrated book. It's just full of superstitions created by men. They say that God's commandments and sin, good and evil, salvation, the authority of Jesus Christ and his church, all of that, all are patriarchal, ancient patriarchal constructs meant to subjugate or dominate women, people of color, genderfluid people, minority culture groups, and freedom-loving peoples everywhere. That is not a quotation. That's my attempt at a summation of what I've been hearing. And not liking what I hear. Now, some scoffers wear emblems. Some scoffers wear emblems of the rainbow to express their pride in their sexual identities, and at the same time, they're contempt from God, whose rainbow they appropriated to their own use on purpose, knowing it would cause offense of God's faithful. Of course, we remembered that God set the rainbow. He established it as a sign of his covenant with man, with all humanity. It was a sign of his love, his promise, that he would never again destroy the earth with the flood. Go back and read Genesis 9 if you haven't been there for a while. And still, other scoffers wear tattoos or tats. Tats are very popular right now. Not me. Others wear tattoos on their bodies with demonic images and designs intended to show their disdain for God in order. There are many scoffers, but there are all types, you see.

And we have to be aware of this. There are many scoffers who are very quiet. There are many scoffers who quietly and privately live out their lives. Some of these scoffers do believe in God. They do believe that God exists. And they may even go to church. Not saying our church, but possibly our church. Yes, possibly our church, too. The Church of God. But they don't believe. But they don't believe. They don't believe that God requires much of them, you see. They don't believe that they need to keep God's commandments. They don't believe that.

They just need to believe, they believe. They just need to believe in Jesus Christ. Believe in Christ. Say, I believe. You're sorry. And then do whatever they think is pleasing to God. Do you notice the difference? Did you catch that? They decide what pleases God. That's not the way the Bible puts it.

Scripture also warns us that scoffers will be within the church.

You might want to go back and read Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13, you'll find—and I'm not going to go back and read it today—but back in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares. Remember that? T-a-r-e-s, tares. A type of weed. It looks very similar to wheat with the untrained eye. And he also explains the meaning of the wheat and the tares, the meaning of that parable. Jesus, in explaining the meaning of this parable, he equated the tares, symbolically equates the tares with the sons of the wicked one. That's verse 38. And with those who practice lawlessness. Verse 41. And in his parable, he explains that the tares coexist among the wheat.

The wheat is God's people, the church. But the tares, you see, the tares allowed to coexist with the wheat because to take out the tares would cause such destruction. And God says, it will keep. It will keep. To the time is right. But make no mistake, Jesus is clear in saying the tares are not committed to God. They are not committed to Jesus Christ. They may look like wheat, but they are sons of the wicked one. They are among those who practice lawlessness. Now, we all sin. That's not what he means. It's a practice. They willingly and willfully practice sin while perhaps looking like they don't practice sin. The real irony of it all is God knows.

Sometimes human beings are very childish. We think we're getting away with something. But what do I keep saying? God's not mocked. God is not fooled. God does not play games. He will not play games with those who openly defy him, and he will not play games with those who pretend or attempt to deceive that they actually follow him. Now, about the tares, ultimately, verse 42 tells us, Matthew 13, 42 tells us that ultimately the angels will gather up the tares. And these would be the unrepentant ones. These would be the tares among those that refuse to repent, quite possibly it seems, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. And that represents, in other words, the lake of fire, representing the second death. The second death is for those that absolutely refuse to change, refuse to repent, despite God's love and compassion. Need I say, we do not want to be a terror. We do not want to be a terror. But it's up to you, it's up to me, isn't it? It's our choice.

And the message I'm sharing with you today from Scripture is, we need to be aware, we need to take the warning seriously. These prophecies, sometimes we think they don't really meant for us, but they most certainly are. You just have to look to see how they apply. And so Scripture, rather, Scripture makes clear that those who scoff or refuse to heed God's instruction and warnings will suffer. They will suffer the dire consequences of their self-willed attitudes and ways. That's what it says. And why is it? Because God is not mocked. God will not allow himself to be scoffed at. He will not allow himself to be treated with disrespect, nor allow his ways to be rejected. There are consequences for all of that.

If we truly want to heed God and do what he says—and I know we do, we do, don't we? We want to heed God. We want to do what he says, because that's what his faithful followers do. And we all, every one of us here, listening in, we all want to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I recommend we do three things. And this is a short list. Three things. Here's what we need to do to heed God and be faithful followers. Number one, do not despise God's instruction to repent of our sins.

Do not despise God's instruction to repent of our sins. Don't grouse about your natural self-will, but you go ahead and do it anyway, because it's God telling us. Number two, do not doubt the vital importance of God's prophecies personally to you and to me. It's hard to write that always with us. Do not doubt the vital importance of God's prophecies personally to you. And you can even put it personally to you, the life of your spouse, to the life of your children, your grandchildren. You see, you have a chance to impact that. We all have a chance to impact that, don't we? Number three. Number three, do not deceive ourselves into believing that God's warnings do not apply to us. Do not deceive ourselves into believing that God's warnings do not apply to us. We're prone to do that. Oh, he needs to work on that. She needs to work on that. No. You, me, I, we need to work on it. So those three things, brethren. If we could be working on these things now and always, we'll become very good at heating God. We will not worry, need to worry about our relationship in jeopardy with God. But we've got to keep watching. We have to keep paying attention to ourselves, examining ourselves.

And God is so compassionate. God will help us all. He helps us to repent. He helps us become more like Him. Whatever it takes, He wants us to become like Him. And so, no matter what happens in our lives, brethren, no matter what happens in our lives, no matter what happens to us, to those around us, through faith in God and Christ, let us have the attitude of Habakkuk.

Let us always rejoice in our relationship with God. Let us joy in the God of our salvation.