Do You Know the History of the Future?

Our reading this morning comes from the gospel of Luke. The gospel of Luke chapter 21 will read the passages printed in your bullets in this morning. Luke chapter 21 beginning at verse 5, the very words of God. Some of his disciples were remarking about how beautiful the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, as for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another. Every one of them will be thrown down. Teacher they asked, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place? Verse 29, he told them this parable, look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. And so when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away. Be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. The grass, withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God stands forever. Let's return to the passage we read with John just a few moments ago from Luke 21, as we return finally to the gospel according to Luke. For you who are visiting with us this morning, we have been in a study in the gospel according to Luke for over two years looking at the life of Jesus Christ through the physician Luke. But for the last five or so weeks, we have come away from Luke and talked about prayer, talked about a new ministry of which we believe God has called us in this church in outreach and we have had a wonderful time as we have examined our own lives and our own prayer lives and seen and looked honestly at how we might affect the world around us for Jesus Christ through the means that He gives us, not through our might and our strength, the means that He gives. This morning, we're back in Luke 21 and what a chapter some of you came to me and said when we did, by the way, the last Sunday in December, we looked at verses five and six and kind of introduced this subject if you don't remember that and I'm sure everyone here that was here that Sunday, you remember every word of it and you don't need to take but if you weren't here, it would be a good take to get from an introduction today. Some of you came to me and said, John, I know why you took this break. You just don't want to deal with Luke 21 and it is a tough, tough chapter, parallel chapter in the gospel according to Mark, Mark 13, parallel chapter in Matthew, it's Matthew 24 and it's Jesus speaking about the fall of Jerusalem and about his return and the reason it's difficult is sometimes you can't tell in these passages whether he's talking about the fall of Jerusalem or his return. Indeed, there are a group of Christians and teachers and friends of mine that we would call that are called Fraterist and they believe that everything Jesus said in Luke 21 and in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, most everything has already happened. It's all about the fall of Jerusalem. There are some other folks way on the other side of that who go off of the cliff on the other side and say, well, there's a few words here about the fall of Jerusalem but by and large, most of it is about the return of Christ and judgment. Now, I've got to tell you that I spent the last month reading in style and glad we had this break now. I was hoping the Lord would come back or maybe I would die and I wouldn't have to deal with this chapter but I'm glad I had the time because I saw some as always of what I hadn't seen before and enabled me to go back and read and read and read. I have never read a passage over so many times in preparation to preach and I had just a month to read and I read everything that was available. So as we look at this chapter, what I will tell you is this, if you're here this morning and you're visiting and you're from another church, you're from the Episcopal church or Methodist church or Lutheran church or Catholic church, let me tell you that what I'm about to say is not anything new and different. This is historical, classical, Christian theology no matter what church you claim as home. It's in the original 39 articles of the Episcopal church, it's in the Lutheran church, it's in the Catholic church. So don't go from here this morning and say well I heard something strange or different. This is historic, classical Christianity. To those of you who are wondering which one of these I'm going to take, which side I'm going to take, I will tell you this, that most of what I will say is also classical, Christianity, most commentaries by the scholars that we would both respect, most commentaries would take the position and say what I'm about to say this morning. What I've tried to do this morning is simplify this. I ask myself a question, I never asked myself about this passage before and that is, what was Jesus trying to say? What was Jesus, what did he want to get across to his disciples? What did he want them, what did he want to get into their hearts and minds and what did he want to get in the heart and mind of the church? And I believe this morning that we're going to say that Jesus has answered and we'll answer that for us. So let's look at this passage and have some fun, but before we do, let's pray and let's ask the Lord Jesus to speak to each of us where we are. Father in heaven, without the Holy Spirit, we are deaf to anything we hear from your word. Our Father, without the Holy Spirit, I can't say anything that will make any difference in anyone's life. And so we bow before you this morning. We bow in the context of this world and we pray that Jesus Christ will speak these words to us from the context of heaven. Oh Father, may we hear His voice in our hearts for His glory, amen. Do you know the history of the future? Let's begin by putting this chapter in context. Jesus had made an amazing disclosure. The temple would be destroyed. It would be pulled down. Now this was shocking. This temple to that day had been 46 years in the building. Do you know a building that has taken 46 years to build? This was a message. It was a wonder in the ancient world. In Jesus as the disciples marveled at what they saw said, it's coming down, guys, there will not be a stone left upon another stone. Now what would you do if you heard that? You would do what the disciples did. Look and look, the disciples said immediately, when will these things happen? What will be the sign that they are about to take place? They understood that if this was going to happen to the temple, it had to be a part of some major catastrophe. Now we read in Matthew that the disciples responded by asking in Matthew 24-3 as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. And I said they asked immediately, this was a starling thing and they looked at each other. Jesus went out the temple, went out the Eastern gate, down across the Kidron, many of you have been there, and up to the Mount of Olives that looks down on Jerusalem, a marvelous site. And you cannot look at that without seeing the temple. And Jesus was looking down this great temple. And we read as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us they said. When will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Now they probably thought they were asking one question. They probably thought they were saying, when is it Jerusalem going to be destroyed? And that is bound to be when you are returning and so when you are returning and there is judgment and Jerusalem is destroyed, what will be the signs of it? They were really asking two questions. Because when Jerusalem fell, the Lord Jesus didn't return. And that was not the final judgment. So they were asking two questions. Mark, what Mark wrote about this in chapter 13 and he became more specific and he even tells us to whom Jesus was speaking. Listen to this. Mark 13, 3. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, Andrew asked him privately. So Jesus was talking privately to his executive committee, to his inner circle and what a lesson he gave them, gave them a history lesson, not a history that had already happened but a history that looked forward to what hadn't happened to events that had not yet taken place. What would you have done in 1925 that you had known that absolutely sure had known that there was a crash coming in 2019? What would you have done in 1940 if you had known that Pearl Harbor would be attacked on December 7, 1941? What if in February of last year you had known about what would happen on September 11th at the World Trade Center? Jesus gave them a lesson of the future, a history lesson of the future and that is exactly what Jesus has done for us. We know something about the history of the future because what Jesus has told us, do you know the history of the future? Let's look and see. By the way, you'll not get this unless you have your Bible open in front of you. We're going to stay in Luke 21 almost a whole time so you won't have to turn but you really need to have this open to see these verses. Only two points this morning, we're trying to keep it simple. Just don't you see a temporal judgment that foreshadows his final judgment, a temporal judgment that foreshadows his final judgment. As we saw a few minutes ago, Jesus said, this vast and beautiful temple is coming down as we saw in Matthew, the disciples asked, tell us when will this happen? What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Now look at Luke 21 verse 20, Jesus answered. When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that his desolation is near, look at verse 22, for this is the time of punishment, of judgment, in fulfillment of all that has been written. Now those words obviously refer to a temporal judgment soon to come upon Jerusalem, it's obvious. Now go down to verse 25. There will be signs in the sun, moon, stars on the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the rowing and tossing in the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world. For the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the sun of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Look at verse 35, for it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. This is not something that's going to happen just to Jerusalem, it's going to happen all over the earth, all over the world. Verse 36, be always on the watch and pray that you will be able to escape all that is about to happen, that you may be able to stand before the sun of man. Now those words from verse 25 and verses 35 and 36, obviously refer to a judgment coming to the entire world. Obviously refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ. If you want to understand this passage, think in this way, there are two parallel tracks, just like train tracks, two parallel tracks running through this passage. One track is pointing towards the judgment of Jerusalem. The other track is pointing toward the judgment of the world. Jesus meant for the temporal judgment of Jerusalem to foreshadow, to be a sign of the coming judgment on the world. The fall of Jerusalem was a terrifying judgment. In 70 AD, just 36 years after Jesus spoke these words, the Spasian, the Roman general laid siege to Jerusalem. That siege lasted 143 days. During that time, the new row committed suicide and the Spasian was called home to the emperor of Rome. He left his son Titus in charge of the siege. Josephus recorded that 500 Jews were crucified a day outside the city walls during that siege. He said, Josephus said that there were so many crosses and so many bodies that one could not move around outside the wall. Inside the city, famine ravaged the population. Kent Hughes wrote of what was happening in Jerusalem. Listen, the rifts were thrown with famished women with babes and arms and the alleys with corpses of the elderly. Men and people swallowing from starvation roamed like phantoms through the marketplaces and collapse wherever their doom or took them. Jerusalem could not bury all the bodies. They were simply flung over the wall. End quote. Now, if you think that I'm being sensational, I quoted that from Hughes. He's a very conservative and an insane minister. He's not given to any kind of exaggeration. He's a great, great preacher. If I read you what Josephus wrote about the fall of Jerusalem, you would be horrified. It was a terrifying judgment. Jesus was warning his disciples of a temporal judgment that most of them would witness Peter and Andrew and John would see this. He then, after that, told them of even a greater judgment that would come when God called the world into account. What if you had been one of the disciples living in Jerusalem at that time? You would have become terribly interested when Jesus said that temple is going to be torn down and Jerusalem will be levelled. I mean, you're talking about your house and you're hooking down. What if God suddenly came down in this place and started talking about the destruction of Memphis, you would become very, very interested. This was a destruction that was taking place in their lifetime. Jesus was calling upon his people in Jerusalem to prepare. But he was also calling upon the disciples in every age. Since that time, to this present day, he was calling upon the disciples in every age to remember as they looked back at the judgment of Jerusalem to remember that even a greater judgment is coming. The temporal judgment is but a foreshadowing of a final history ending judgment. This week, I was talking to one of our members about this thing of foreshadowing and he gave an interesting analogy. He was talking about how some of the Old Testament foreshadowing is the New Testament. He said, you know, when you're walking down a street and you're coming to a corner, you cannot see around the corner. Someone can be around the corner and be coming and you will not know it. But if the sun is out and you're walking down the corner and you see, you can see a shadow. You can see a shadow of someone coming before they come around the corner and you see their shadow and you know that right around the corner, there's going to be a real person, not a shadow, but a real person. Well, that's exactly what Jesus was saying here. When you look, when you look at the fallen Jerusalem, it's a foreshadowing, a foreshadowing of a coming judgment. There was a certain lawyer in Scotland who was not a credit to his profession. He barred a neighbor's horse and through carelessness had killed the animal. He did not want to pay for the horse and so he devised a plan by which he could avoid payment and still stay legal. He told the owner that he was cash poor at the present time and he asked if he could give him a promissory note and believing that this was an honest man, he said surely and said you can even set the date. I don't want to push you, even set the date when you want to pay this promissory note. Well the lawyer drew a note promising to pay for the horse on judgment day. This was unsuitable and of course it was taken to court. And the judge read the note that they'll do on judgment day. He told the lawyer, the promissory note is perfectly good, sir. And as this is judgment day, I decree you pay. The judge was recognizing a biblical truth. All temporal judgment is a judgment day with a small jade. And it is a shadow, every temporal judgment is a shadow of the judgment day, large j. Jesus will say the judgment of Jerusalem will be a shadow of a much greater judgment. This week I read in USA Today a description of a very large and successful ministry. The description was given by the ministry himself and he said you know in our church we don't talk about judgment. He really said fire and rimstone but we don't talk about judgment in the fire in our church. He said we preach salvation in the love of Jesus. And you also said this is an evangelical church. They say they believe the Bible. I wanted so badly, I almost did this and I hadn't gotten that old and that mean yet. One day I'm going to get this old and this mean. I wanted to call that minister and I said I just read what you said in USA Today and I know you have a tape ministry. Would you please send me a tape of Luke 21 or Matthew 24 or Mark 13. I want to see how you preach those chapters and didn't talk about judgment because Jesus did. Folks wouldn't it be nice to come to church and never hear about judgment and never hear about hell and never hear about sin before holy God. Now it would not be great. It would not be great at all because what this minister does not understand is that if you're going to preach salvation you must preach judgment. We are saved from what we're not saved from tiptoeing through the tulips. We're not saved from afternoon tea. We are saved from the judgment of God because Jesus Christ died and he took our sin. He took that judgment on himself. What did we say in the apostles this morning? We said he descended into hell. What were we saying? We were saying our sins were laid on the end and God was not playing a game. God judged him guilty and our final judgment was laid on 10th. You cannot preach the love of Jesus. If you are liberal here today and you think you're a good person and you think God loves you, you don't even begin to understand the love of God because unless God is a God of judgment, justly, justly, bringing righteous hell on sin if he's not that kind of God. He doesn't love us. That's what the love of God is. That he sent his son to hell for us when we were stealing our sins. People, you cannot preach the love of God. You can't preach salvation unless there is judgment. Look at verse 36. What does this mean? Be always on watch and pray that you'll be able to stand to escape all that is about to happen, that you may be able to stand before the son of man. That's what he's saying. You're going to stand before God one day and we will either stand wrapped in Christ or we will stand clothed in our sin. One of the two, every lie, every piece of gossip, every idolatry, act of idolatry, every lust, you'll be dressed in standing before God. You know today court cases read the people versus Jones or the state of Tennessee versus Smith. On that day the cases will read God versus Jones, God versus Smith, God versus John Sartill. Put your name in there, God versus and you will either stand in Christ or you will stand in your sin.

There was a judgment day for Jerusalem and there's a judgment day for the world. When wrong is done in Memphis, we cry for justice. We have been very careful since September the 11th to say as a nation, our efforts are not about vengeance. Our efforts are about justice. But if that's our modern culture, we say justice is good, justice in Memphis is good, justice in Washington is good, justice over the world is good. How come we laugh at the idea of God's justice? How come we say we don't have a God like that? Let me tell you, if God is not a God of justice, you have a monstrous God. Look in this passage and see a temporal judgment that foreshadows his final judgment. God said I'm going to come and judge Jerusalem and it was judgment on Jerusalem. He's saying, be reminded every time you see it, I'm going to come and judge the world. Secondly, second point. I want you to see historical signs that will warn of Jerusalem's judgment and the final judgment. Historical signs that will warn of Jerusalem's judgment and the final judgment. Look at verse 10. Then he said to them, the nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places and fearful events and great signs from heaven. Now look at verse 20, when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that this desolation is near. Again, Jesus is speaking of historical events that would take place just before the fall of Jerusalem. And his statement was proven to be accurate. Now I know what you do. You do just what I have always done. You read National Rise of the Nation, King of the Kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, pestilences and various places, fearful events, signs in heaven. You say all those are just terms of judgment. You know, those are just those are figurative terms. But those weren't figurative terms. Remember, he was saying, you don't know by these signs. They have to be real signs. Let me tell you about these signs. He says earthquakes. In 63 AD, seven years before the siege, an earthquake wiped out half of Pompeii. The city was never completely rebuilt before another earthquake in and dated the city in 79 AD. In 60 AD, an earthquake completely destroyed Laodicea, just wiped it out, leveled it. Jesus said, Peter, angry. When you see the earthquake in Pompeii, when you see the earthquake in Laodicea, remember, that's a sign. Before Jerusalem falls, there's going to be some earthquakes. Notice that Jesus said there would be, he didn't say famine, singular. He said multiple famines. You need to know that there were famines during the reigns of Claudius and Nero that covered the empire. Listen to Acts 11, 27. During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agavus stood up and through the spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. Judea was where Jerusalem was, the province of Jerusalem. This they did, sending their gifts to the elders by Barnus and Sonsis, there's a famine in Jerusalem. You know, when you see a couple of famines taking place, no judgment of Jerusalem's coming. Great signs from the heavens. Now, you need to know Josephus, the historian, which I referred a moment ago, was not a Christian believer. He was a Jewish historian, but he wasn't living in Jerusalem. He was a Jewish historian who was with the Roman army, and he recorded in great detail the fall of Jerusalem. He wrote that, you know, he didn't know what Luke said here, but he wrote, and I quote, a comment continued the whole year of the siege over the city. And his point was, he was saying that he didn't, you know, he was not about the earthquakes and about the, and not about the earthquakes and the famines because he didn't know Luke could said that, but, or Jesus said that, but, but he just saw, he looked at the, the comment. And even in his mind, he said, I'll be paying attention to this. The actual uprising, you've been said there would, the nation would rising, its nation, the actual, actual uprising against Rome began in Israel in 66 AD. That conflict was constant until the army showed up at the walls of Jerusalem in 70 AD. What was it, Jesus said, when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by the armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Now, what were they supposed to do with this? Was he just saying, hey, I'm going to tell you this so that you can have these big Bible conferences about the fall of Jerusalem and put it all out on the chart? Is that why he said this? Look at verse 21. He meant those who were in Judea flee to the mountains and let those in the city get out and let those in the country not enter the city. What did he say? He was speaking to him. He said, look, I'm telling you these signs so that you will escape the judgment that's going to fall on Jerusalem. You need to know that the Christians followed Jesus' advice. The Christian community as a whole left Jerusalem as all these signs came together. They went to a province called Priya. They went cheaply to a city called Pella. They saw the signs and they knew when to leave. He didn't have a great parallel. God says, it's going to be a judgment in Jerusalem. Here are the signs, Noah's coming so you can get out. He says the parallel track, there's going to be a final judgment also. Know what, know the signs so that you will escape, know that judgment is coming. After Jesus spoke of the complete fall of Jerusalem and the Jewish people being spread through the nations, he spoke of the signs that would proceed his coming in judgment. Look at verse 25, there will be again, look, there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. Only earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing in the sea. Men will think from tear apprehensive of what is coming on the world. For the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And these things happen, excuse me, when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads because your redemption is drawing near. Again, Jesus was telling us the historical, the history of the future before it happens. He's saying this is going to happen, these things are going to take place before Him. Can I tell you what, can I tell you what those signs will be? You better believe it. I've got it right here. If you believe that, I've got a bridge that I want to say you down on the river right after the service. We're going to pay off our building with the money you give. Of course, I don't know what those cosmic signs mean that are listed here. No more than Peter and Andrew knew that the earthquakes would hit layer to sea in Pompeii. No more than they knew the famines would come during the reign of Claudius and Nero. No more than they knew the date of when the Roman army would show up or even the uprising would begin. But when they saw all these things coming together, they knew and there will be a generation, there will be a generation that will see all these things happening at one time on a scale as never before. And they will know just as surely as the Christians knew in Jerusalem, they will know that Christ is coming near. And that's exactly why I gave these signs. You think not? It's not so we can have Bible conference and put up these great charts. Look at verse 29. He told them this parable. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you will know the kingdom of God is near. What's he saying? Do you recognize these signs? I mean, for you to know these signs, I mean, for you to recognize them and be warned. I love stories. You know that. I love to tell stories. And the one I've got to tell you, I've told before, in one of my top three, I absolutely love the story. It was told by a true story and a man named Schilder English related this story. In 1938, there was a man who lived on Long Island who had wanted a barometer. I want a barometer. You know, there are certain things you want and barometer that just has it all. And he had been saving and he felt this barometer that had everything. And it was one of these that was not only a barometer, but it was decorative and beautiful and he had ordered from this catalog and it came in the mail. He pulled it out and it was more beautiful than he even thought, but there was one thing wrong with it. And one of the gauges, the needle pointing toward Hurricane, and he got the barometer, he said, you know, and he looked outside, the guy was clear and he shook it, he did everything he could. He almost took it apart and just moved the needle, but he couldn't do that. He beat it on the floor. He put it on the door. Jam did everything. He could, he got so frustrated that evening he sat down and wrote the company from which he had ordered the barometer, wrote them a scavenging letter about how this dumb barometer didn't work. It's pretty, but it didn't work. He went on his way to his office in New York City the next morning he mailed the letter. That afternoon he came home and his barometer was gone and so was his house. There had been a hurricane. We are so much like that man. We are so much like him when we read passages like this in Scripture. And the signs say, judgment, but we say, that's not like God. That's so abnormal. It just could not be the case. God just doesn't do things like that. Well, you need to know. Now, I spent a lot of time with Josephus in the last few weeks and you need to know that there were people in Jerusalem. The Christians preached and there were people in Jerusalem who had ignored all these signs. They said Jerusalem would never be destroyed. It was the eternal city. Josephus wrote that people stayed in harm's way because there were prophets in Jerusalem. There were prophets in the puppet that said God would never do anything like that. God didn't do things like that. They said peace. There's going to be peace. Everything's going to be fine. This is what the prophets told them. There's nothing new under the sun, is there? I wonder how many puppets are hearing that today across our land. You see, we take the Bible and we like that man with the barometer. We beat it. Shake it and we tear out pages and we try to get rid of it. We try to get that needle off of it. God's not going to move the needle, folks. It doesn't matter what you do with it. When the needle points toward hurricane, there's going to be a hurricane and when the needle points toward judgment, there's going to be judgment. Isaac Newton was one of the fathers of our modern age. He's acknowledged by science as one of the greatest scientific minds in all of history. He was also a Christian. He believed in the return of Christ. He was reading, he read in the book of Daniel and interpreted that last chapter in the book of Daniel as saying that God would bring a great increase in knowledge just before the final resurrection in judgment. He does say something like that and people of Oregon, this is what Newton said about. He said, there's going to be a tremendous increase in knowledge before the Lord returns. In writing about those words, Newton said that there would be such an increase in knowledge that man would learn to travel in excess of 50 miles per hour. Now, Voltaire, the great skeptic, was incredulous. He wrote and I quote. Now, look at the mining mind of Newton who discovered gravitation. When he began to study the book called the Bible, it seems in order to credit his fabulous nonsense, he believed that the knowledge of mankind will be so increased that we shall be able to travel at 50 miles per hour. That poor fool in quote. You know, the whole world is like Voltaire, if I preach this message today about the coming of Christ and about the judgment of God, most of the world would laugh. Why do they have so much trouble believing this? Why do we have so much trouble believing it? Jesus spoke over and over again of his certain, certain personal and cataclysmic return all through the gospels. He got the fall of Jerusalem right. We know these passage words were written before the fall and he got it right. What makes us think he's wrong about his return? Listen, the last word from heaven was this when he ascended. Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way have you seen him going to heaven? Why did we live as if Jesus did not say these things? I believe the reason people laugh at the idea of his return in judgment is that we're so wrapped up and distracted by this physical world that we cannot imagine that it will end in that way. We get in our offices, in our homes and we look out and we see the blue sky, this card will go into dust and in gin or whatever and we've got all these plans in this world has been here and we grew up in it and our grandparents and everything has been the same. Well, it's just going to be like this forever. You know what, that's what Jesus said would happen. Look at verse 34, be careful, or your heart will be weighed down with dissipation. That sounds bad, doesn't sound like a dark thing. Well, no, it's really not. He's saying it will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness in the cares of life and that day will close on you, then that day will come and close on you unexpectedly like a trap. Jesus is saying, be careful that you don't get wrapped up in the fraternity and sorority and the parties and the country club and the good life and that great job in your family and eating and drinking and all the cares of this life and everything that we're so concerned about and you don't get, and you're logged into the thinking, this is all there is. I think that's exactly what's happened to us. We're so caught up in our lives, we cannot imagine it will cease in 1997, I read about a man who was waiting and fishing in a river. He loved fishing more than anything else in life and this particular day he was catching fish. He was above the falls, some high falls, he had fish there before but he had fish there before and he was always very careful but that day he became so caught up in the fish that he was catching that he made two mistakes, one he waited out too far and second that he went too close to the falls. In the swifter waters he suddenly lost his balance, his weight was filled with water and he was swept over the falls. What happened? He became so caught up in the success of the day he fished as if the falls were not there and that's exactly what we did. We get so caught up in our lives that we forget that judgment is there. I don't think it will do any good, I don't want you to walk out of here this morning and trying to say, all right, you know, skies are going to break wide open and what's it going to look like and all this, the trumpets and all that, no, we can't do that anyway, I mean we can't keep that on our minds 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I was talking to a company executive the other day, corporation executive and I asked him how such a large corporation kept the edge and they obviously had an edge and he began to talk about their CEO and he said that he was a very real dynamic type of person. He said, you know, their company spread all over the country and they said that you can be anywhere and you don't know when he's going to show up and you don't know where he's going to show up and everyone has learned to ask one important question, how would what they're doing look to him because you never know when he's going to walk in. You know, I think that's a great question for us, I don't think we need to keep, you know, the trumpets and the sky are ending up, that doesn't matter, but I think we can't ask every day and keep the question before us, what does Jesus think right now about what I'm doing, you know, Newton, Newton did not see the coming of Christ but he lived as if it was a pro-chee and you know, he was right, it is. Our hymn is hymn number 691, hymn number 691 will sing, stanzas 1, 3 and 4.