The King Judges Those Left Behind

As world history careens toward its conclusion, there's a time period coming known as the Great Tribulation. This time of trial will encompass the whole world and bring suffering never before seen on this planet.

Jesus spoke of this time, as did the Old Testament prophets. The judgment of God will rain down on the earth, causing people to beg the mountains to fall on them. From Chicago, we welcome you to The Moody Church Hour, a weekly service of worship and teaching under the ministry of Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Today we continue a ten-part look into the future we're calling When He Shall Come.

Later in our broadcast, we'll learn about what happens when he judges those left on earth. Pastor Lutzer comes now to open our service. We're going to pray together now. We're going to seek the Lord together, ask his blessing. But I need to ask you, what burden have you brought with you today that needs to be taken from your shoulders and given to God?

Whatever that burden is, why don't you transfer it to his shoulders while we pray? And even as I'm going to be speaking on the Great Tribulation, a very sobering, sobering message. Ask yourself whether or not you are ready and where you would be if the Lord were to come, but also pray for this planet, the people on this planet. Because when we think of the suffering that this world is yet to endure, it is horrendous. But we who know the Lord rejoice.

Jesus constantly said, let not your heart be troubled because we know the end game. Would you join me as we pray? Father, we want to thank you today for your mercy and for your grace. We thank you that we can call you Father. We thank you that your word says that the very hair of our head is numbered. And if a sparrow falls to the ground, you take note of it.

How much more value are you than they? Jesus said. And so we thank you. And we pray today that you might enable us to give you our burdens.

Among us there are those who are facing great, huge financial challenges. We pray that you will show yourself faithful and give them the confidence that you've not forgotten about them. For those Father who are in transition when it comes to their vocation, they're looking for work. For those Lord going through relational issues in their families.

And the tearing and the rupture of emotions that comes as a result of that. Father, bring healing and bring help. For those who have come with guilt on their consciences, we pray Father that through humble confession and faith you might cleanse them. Cleanse us as a church, we pray. Make us ready for the return of Jesus, we ask.

May we be a bride without spot and without wrinkle or any such thing. Today Lord we call upon you. We ask for the advance of the gospel around the world. There are many Christians who are suffering today because of the gospel.

Give them encouragement, give them hope. Help us to stand with them and even though we cannot fully identify with where they are at, we ask that through our prayers and through the burden that you share with us, that we might be able to intercede for them and see your glory, even in the midst of what appears superficially to be a defeat. And we ask, oh Lord God, for this country. Father, we call upon you and ask that in this place, in this nation, that our leaders shall know that they must turn to you. We pray Father for the entertainment industry that is so filled with impurity. Oh Father, help us as families and as individuals to walk before you and to be holy, even as Jesus is holy.

Teach us how to do that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Amen. Leave us with thy strength and cheer. Leave us with thy strength and cheer. Pray and pray the praise of Jordan, with thy anxious gifts of sight.

There be through the swelling current, and be safe on hidden side. Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to thee. I will ever give to thee. I invite you to follow along with me in your bulletin as we read together a portion of Philippians 3.

Please read aloud with me on the bold print. This is God's holy word. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen. To this passage and I'll follow, though I'm worn. Jesus guide me through the tempest. Keep my spirit safe and sure. When the midnight beats the morning, let me love you even more. May this journey bring the passing and may our eyes on wings of faith and at the end of my heart's testing, with your likeness let me make good the treasures of the trial for within me as I go, let me end up this long passage. Let me begin at your throne. May this journey bring the passing and may our eyes on wings of faith and at the end of my heart's testing, with your likeness let me make Today I'm going to speak about a subject that is awesome.

Awesome because of its reality, awesome because it is going to come. It's a message that will lay a huge burden on your soul. It is a message actually of judgment. Of course, we shall end with grace, which is where we always need to end. But before we get to grace, we have to look at the words of the Lord Jesus Christ about the topic of what we call the Great Tribulation. It's actually what he called it, the Great Tribulation. There are many people today who downplay the tribulation because either they spiritualize it and simply say that it happens somehow spiritually.

Some even believe that it has already happened. And then there are others who minimize it because as far as they are concerned, the Church has always had tribulation. So why the uniqueness of the Great Tribulation? Today as we shall see that while the Church has always had tribulation, it has never had what we're going to be discussing today. You know, in the Old Testament, the Great Tribulation was predicted.

Let me read a few passages before we get to our text. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord God says that he would scatter Israel, then he would bring them together. And in chapter 4, verse 30, he says, When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you in the latter days, notice that, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. All that happens in the latter days. And Israel shall turn to God as we shall see in just a moment. Then you have the book of Daniel. Daniel says this in chapter 12.

Please listen carefully. At that time shall arise Michael the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never have been since.

There has been a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered. That is the Jews, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting shame and contempt. Daniel predicted a time of great tribulation. And there would be those who would be saved whose names were written in the book. Revelation chapter 7 talks about a great multitude.

And we will be mentioning this as we go through this. That came out of the great tribulation. And Jesus spoke of it very clearly. Before we turn to Matthew chapter 24.

And I would encourage you to turn to it right now in fact. Matthew chapter 24. I'm going to begin by giving you some purposes of the great tribulation. Why this great tribulation that Jesus speaks about and the New Testament speaks about in various passages? Why the great tribulation? First of all, the great tribulation is a time when God unleashes his wrath on the earth. It says in the book of Revelation that the great day of his wrath has come.

And who shall be able to stand? In fact, when it comes to the vials and the bowls that are thrown out on the earth, it says, and the cup was filled with the unmixed wrath of God. You say, why is God so angry? He's angry because during this period of time, as we shall see, the Antichrist arises.

Almost all the world, except those who are written in the book, and we'll talk about that, will worship him. It is a time of unparalleled evil and time of unparalleled blasphemy. And God is going to show his indignation to the earth.

You say, well, does the last generation have to be the one to endure this? Well, the fact is that those who have died, if they do have not trusted Christ as Savior, they will be in a place called Hades, which I'm sure will not be better than being in the great tribulation. So in the end, God's justice will be finely tuned and correctly distributed.

But here we see God's anger and wrath against sin. Second reason is to prepare Israel to enter into the kingdom. To prepare Israel to enter into the kingdom. I said a moment ago, as we're reading from the book of Daniel, that the people shall go through this time. And then there will be those who will be resurrected to life. There will also be those who survive the tribulation, who go into what we call the Millennial Kingdom.

In fact, Jeremiah has an interesting prophecy. He says that this period of time, the Great Tribulation, is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. Paul said in Romans, so then all Israel shall be saved. There is going to be a whole generation of Jewish people who are going to see Jesus as the Messiah when he returns, and accept him as their own, and they along with some Gentiles as well, will go into what we call the Millennial Kingdom. So remember, first of all comes the tribulation, then all those Old Testament prophecies and New Testament prophecies regarding a kingdom on earth.

Now you might be gratified to know at this point that I will be preaching an entire message just on the Millennial Kingdom as we go through this series entitled, When He Shall Come. So the second reason is to purify Israel, to save Jews who will become a part of the kingdom so that God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can finally fully be fulfilled. There's a third reason, and that is during this period of Great Tribulation, the human heart is finally revealed in all of its sinfulness. You read the story in the New Testament book of Revelation and the judgments, and even though there are hailstones coming from heaven, the sky is blackened, rivers are being turned into blood. It says that many people still would not repent of their sorceries and of their immorality. You'd think they'd say, wow, in light of this, I'm going to flee to God's grace. Millions will, multiplied millions will not.

The human heart, very interesting and revealed during this period of time. There's a final reason, and that is to show Jesus Christ's total triumph over the devil. When you get to the book of Revelation and you see there the story of the Great Tribulation, Satan no longer is working undercover. Now he is spoken of as the red dragon that has been cast out of heaven, and Satan in his fury is going to do all the damage that he possibly can to God and to God's people, and it will appear at times as if he's winning. But in the end, he loses and is cast into the lake of fire, justly so, where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The end of the day, the contest is not even close. Jesus wins. Amen.

Jesus wins. Now all that is simply my introduction. Our text for today is the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and today we're going to read the scriptures.

I hope that you have one in front of you there. If you're listening by way of radio or internet, find a Bible. Our pew Bibles here, I think it's page 829. Follow along. These are the words of Jesus.

Take it from him. Well, he's with the disciples, and they're overlooking the temple area, and Jesus said, all of these stones that you see here, the beautiful temple that was built, not one stone shall be left upon another that shall be torn down. The disciples ask him, verse 3, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age? Jesus, in effect, ignores their first question about when these things, the destruction of the temple, will take place, and he launches into this discussion of the signs of his coming and the end of the age.

Now it's true there are some parallels between this and the Gospel of Luke where Jesus does talk about the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. But Jesus begins, and he talks about certain signs. So there are two questions we have to answer before we get into the text, namely, where are we as believers during this period of time?

Where do we fit into this? As you know, based on the previous messages that I have given, I believe that we will be raptured up, 1 Thessalonians 4, we will be with the Lord because the coming of Jesus is in two stages. First of all, he comes for his church, and then he comes with the church, with his saints, and today we're talking about that second stage of the great revelation of Jesus. When as we shall see as lightning goes from one end of heaven to the other, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

We're talking about stage number two in his return. So if this scenario is correct and you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, you will be in heaven waiting to return with Christ, but we will be exempt from the wrath to come because this is a time when God's wrath falls upon the earth. There's a second question, and that is that the signs that Jesus talks about, are they signs for today?

Well, not really. They are signs during the tribulation period, during the first half of the tribulation period. They are signs, but their root can be seen today.

Every one of these signs in one way or another is happening today as we get into the signs. By the way, as you read this chapter, do you notice how Jewish it is? It talks about Jerusalem. It talks about, oh, pray that your flight will not be on a Sabbath day, et cetera.

Why is it so Jewish? The best way to view the church is as a parenthesis. Old Testament, God dealt with Israel. Church is inserted into this. Now that the church is taken away, God takes up where he left off to fulfill the Old Testament promises. And that's why you don't see the church here. What you see is a message to Jewish people and Gentiles as well who will be there during the period of the great tribulation. Well, very quickly now, let's look at the signs.

We must hurry on. Jesus said in verse 4, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. Today, we have something like that. We have many different Jesuses. We have a Mormon Jesus. We have a New Age Jesus. We have a do-it-yourself Jesus, a cut-and-paste Jesus. People have different Jesuses. But in that day, many will say, I am the Christ.

Huge worldwide deception. Notice there'll be war. Verse 6, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place.

Years ago, I preached a message on the little word must, things that must take place. But the end is not yet. Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There's going to be world war, and in the period of time known as the Great Tribulation, it's going to end with the Battle of Armageddon. So kingdom will rise against kingdom. There will be famine.

Certainly, we have that today. Earthquakes in various places. The number of earthquakes, I'm told, is increasing. All these are the beginning of birth pangs.

This is just the warm-up. Then they will deliver you up in tribulation and put you to death. You will be hated by all nations for my sake. Widespread persecution that is actually going to result in many people dying and many people being raised as martyrs. And then it says, and many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

This has nothing to do with the issue of eternal personal security. What Jesus is saying is that the person who endures to the end of the tribulation period, after so many millions die, the person who endures to that point will be rescued by Jesus, will be given the opportunity of entering into the kingdom. And so if you endure to the end of the age, the end of the tribulation period, is what Jesus actually is talking about. And then there's another sign. Verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come. At this point in time, we have to say, whoa, stop. Let's think this through. The church is taken away.

The restrainer is taken away. The Holy Spirit is still in the world, but in an Old Testament sense of the word. Antichrist is beginning to mobilize to sign a covenant with Israel, a covenant of peace, evidently. And yet you have all these people saved during the tribulation period.

Where did they come from? If you have your Bibles open, let's turn for a moment to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7, where we see here the story of the 144,000. Chapter 7, verse 1 of Revelation. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on the earth or the sea against any tree.

I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. He called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea. Do not harm the earth and the sea or the trees until we've sealed the servants of God and their foreheads. God is saying, I'm going to restrain my wrath while 144,000 Jews are sealed so that they might not be destroyed during the tribulation. Some people read this and they say, this must be the church.

Well, actually, it actually lists the tribes. And how does God come up with such a neat number, 12,000, 12,000 to make 144,000? Only God can do that. God evidently has chosen some people and he has chosen them and will in the end of time seal them. And they will be converted, perhaps miraculously, something like Saul on the way to Damascus. God may just simply come out of heaven and say, believe on Jesus, be saved, and 144,000 are saved. Now, if you believe that the church is going to go through the tribulation, as many fine Christians do, you still have the question of how the church evangelizing ends up exactly with 12,000 from each of the tribes.

It is a miracle done of God. You say, well, what if that isn't the correct interpretation that these 144,000 become the evangelists? By the way, last part of Revelation 7, it talks about all those who were saved during the tribulation, the great number who evidently die and are beheaded and are now in heaven. But you say, well, how do we know that those folks are going to preach the gospel?

Well, you know, God is never out of ideas. Listen to this from Revelation, chapter 14, verse 6. Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. An angel flies with an eternal gospel to every nation, tribe, language, and people, and he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water. If God wants to evangelize the world, if the gospel is going to go to every nation, he can even use an angel to do it.

We haven't done it as a church. There are many Christians in all the countries of the world, but not that many, and there are huge countries where very few have heard the gospel. God may use even an angel to proclaim it to them, and if an angel proclaims it to them, you can be sure that they would listen. Imagine an angel flying over a nation and saying with a loud voice, this is the gospel. Is it any wonder that many, many do believe? Jesus said this gospel of the kingdom must be spread throughout all the world. What does he say to throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations? Then the end shall come.

Wow. Now we get into some other matters that I hope to make clear to you. You're still with me there out there?

Anybody's with me? I know that this can get a little complicated, but as you listen to this series, and we are like taking pieces of a puzzle and putting it together, it will make sense. I think I can promise that to you, not with the same kind of promise that God gives us eternal life, but I think we can see our way clear as to how this might fit together. Now Jesus said this in verse 15, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. What is Jesus talking about here?

The abomination of desolation. I want you to accept this scenario for now without me taking a lot of time to prove it. And that is that in Daniel chapter nine, you have a man who is known as the prince who shall come, who clearly seems to be the Antichrist. He makes a covenant with Israel that apparently guarantees their peace. At last, we have somebody who can step into the Middle East, and who can say to Israel, war is over because I have enough power to guarantee your existence. So during that period of time, there is a period of relative peace.

Nations begin to come together, and because of his power, there is some stability in the world. During this period of time, there is so much stability that even the temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt. Now if you ask me the question, how can there possibly be a temple in Jerusalem when the Dome of the Rock is standing right there?

How can there be a temple next to it? Well, my answer is that the message that I will give next time may give a plausible explanation to that. And also remember that as we talk about Antichrist, there is a message in this series just on him.

But now let's look at the text. What is the abomination that makes desolate? Well, we discover that in the middle of the tribulation period, the Antichrist finally shows his true colors. He goes to Jerusalem. He goes into that temple. He proclaims himself to be God. An image is set up in the temple that everybody is supposed to worship.

It's really a living image, an image that comes to life. And people all over the world as we shall see wander and say to themselves, look at what this beast has done. And they begin to worship him. And that is the abomination of desolation. That is the ultimate insult to God, that for a little while Satan has what he's always wanted, namely to duplicate God. And now he receives the worship of a great deal of the percentage of the people living on the earth. Some don't.

Many do. And at last, Satan has his place right in the sanctuary of God. That's what Jesus means when he says the abomination of desolation in the holy place. The temple evidently has been rebuilt.

And Paul seems to confirm that in 2 Thessalonians where he says that the Antichrist goes into the temple and proclaims himself to be God. So here we have this abomination of desolation, the ultimate sacrilege. Now Jesus goes on and he says, when this happens, flee. He says, verse 16, Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. Let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. Alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be, and here's the phrase now, great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now and no never will be. What's Jesus saying? He is saying that when Antichrist does that, ground zero of the Holocaust that is about to begin is going to be Jerusalem. Get out of Jerusalem. That's where the persecution is going to be of Antichrist.

That's where the judgments are going to be headed. Flee and do it as quickly as you possibly can. You say, well, if they do it, you know, how are they going to live in the mountains?

You know, don't even take any cloak with you or a coat or don't get your suit. In the book of Revelation chapter 12, there's a very interesting story about Israel. Israel is likened onto a woman and the Bible says that God takes that woman and takes her to the mountains and guards her and keeps her. God in some sense will protect Jewish believers during this period of time and perhaps protecting many members of the Jewish nation as they flee Jerusalem for the hills because the Bible says there in Revelation 12 that he'll do it for three and a half years and so they are to flee. Pray that your flight not be in winter. Pray it not be on the Sabbath because, you see, sacrifices will have begun at this temple which incidentally the Antichrist is going to stop because now there don't have to be any sacrifices.

He is God. And it could be that many Jews who are committed to Judaism because they believe that you shouldn't travel on a Sabbath's day will create a great deal of hindrance for those who want to flee the city. Now, it is during this period of time that you can take all of the judgments of the book of Revelation and you can put them right here during this three and a half year period. All of the things that you read about all happen as far as we know during this period of time. That's why Jesus says so clearly. He says that there will be tribulation such as never been in the world and will never be again and if those days had not been cut short no human being would be saved.

But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. You see, God needs people to go into the millennial kingdom in their earthly bodies. God wants to have people who are saved to the end of time rather than dying. And so the tribulation is cut short because if not, you read Revelation and you're not surprised when Jesus said no human being would be saved unless God intervened. And then Jesus said, if someone says to you, look, here's Christ.

No, there he is. Jesus said, don't believe it. Why do you think there is another emphasis here on false Christs? Well, here's Antichrist who proclaims himself to be God and he has all kinds of emissaries who are running around saying he is God there in the temple but I'm his Christ. And Jesus said, don't believe it.

I love this. He says, if somebody says, well, he's here in the wilderness, don't even go out. If they say, look, he's in an inner room.

Don't believe it. Because this time when Jesus comes, you won't have to look for him. He's coming to you.

Notice what the text says. Verse 27, for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 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 heaven will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another.

Four winds means north, east, south, and west from all the different areas of the world. It takes your breath away, doesn't it? Jesus is going to come. And if I haven't told you this already, as you might guess, a future message in this series is just on this glorious return of Christ.

Because this is only one passage where it is mentioned. And so during this period of time, there is the glorious return of Jesus. What do we make of all of this?

What is the bottom line? What should this spring out into our minds as we read the text of this very solemn message? All this week, I had heaviness in my heart as I was studying this passage.

Because, you know, it's easy to speak about it, but it is difficult if you want to actually take it in and think about the future. So a couple of observations are very necessary. First, the severity. The severity of God's wrath and anger against sin. Even in evangelical circles today, there is this idea that we should just emphasize the positive. How Jesus can make you a better husband, a better father, a better businessman.

How he can partner with you in your vocation. Yeah, he's all that. But we have domesticated God. We have taken God and we have made him into our image. We have made a God that we can live with, who, yeah, he doesn't like sin, but he's not that upset as a result of it. We love grace. And grace is absolutely wonderful.

And some people think it's kind of nice to have it. Please listen to me today when I say that the reason that grace for many people is not very amazing is because God's anger against sin is not very amazing. So if you have a God who's very tolerant of sin, who puts up with it and winks at it, you need grace maybe, but you can probably do without it. You see, the reason that the gospel is so wonderful is because of the fact that Jesus bore the wrath of God for us and God really hates sin and is angry about sin. Old Testament, New Testament, the wrath of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God, and we have made God into somebody who is very happy with the way we are. So something that comes out to me and the extent of human suffering that is going to take place on this planet defies imagination. Simply read the plagues of Revelation. And as Jesus said, tribulation such has never been and never will be on planet earth again.

What a future. And remember, he said this must come to pass. There's a second lesson and that is, this just comes at me as I read the Bible and especially these passages. And that is what I want to call the great separation, the great separation.

The Bible always has the great separation. You go to the Garden of Eden and there are two trees. You find out that there are two sons. One is Jacob, the other is Esau, and they go in different directions. One saved, the other lost. You get to the New Testament and there are two different paths, a narrow path that leads to life and a broad way that leads to judgment.

You find out, as we shall, perhaps have opportunity to comment on in a future message, you have the sheep and you have the goats. And I want to say, where's everybody kind of who fits in the middle? Where's the middle here? You know, where's somebody who, yeah, he's never trusted Christ as Savior, but he's pretty good.

Where does he go? I mean, he's not wicked. And yet you read this and there is no middle. You're either on the side of Jesus because you've trusted him or you're on the other side.

Good though you may be in your own eyes. It's just that clear. The great divide, the great separation. Today, here at The Moody Church, if we could see into your hearts, or if I could see into your heart, if you're listening by some other means, the audience to whom I am speaking is divided and only God knows where the division comes. It's divided between those who will go into everlasting life, the Bible says, and then the others everlasting damnation.

It's one or the other. So I have to ask you today, are you sure that you know that you have believed in Jesus in such a way that indeed he has forgiven your sin, you've come under his protection so that the wrath of God may no longer abide on you. That comes to you from my heart, hopefully to your heart, because we're talking here about very serious matters. Jonathan Edwards is frequently criticized because of his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

In a different context, I quoted most of his sermon to you. I shall not do that today, but I do want to remind you of that story that comes to us from the prairie. You remember the days when prairie fires were devastating to farms and to old homesteads because if the grass went right up to the buildings, it would just burn and everything would burn in its way.

I'm told that what the farmers used to do when the wind was favorable on a nice day, they would actually light all the grass around their buildings and burn it because as long as that grass was burned, they would burn huge patches, they knew that if a prairie fire came, it would stop where the fire had already been. The Bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's fearful. Read Revelation and see how fearful it really is. And the only way we can be exempt is to receive Christ as Savior because when we do and God's wrath begins to come our direction, it is diverted because we have already been exonerated by Christ who bore our wrath for us. That is the gospel. Are you glad for that message of the gospel? So that's all I can say to you today.

What side are you on when these events take place? Let's pray. Father, we can hardly even imagine the regret that many people shall experience when they find themselves, when they see the door to heaven slammed in their faces. We're talking about good people.

But people who are not ready when Jesus came. Grant, oh God, we ask that all who have listened to me right now, if they do not know you as Savior, may they reach out and say, Jesus, today I believe. I receive you as my Savior. You do the work that only you can do, Father. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Life was filled with guns and war And everyone got trampled on the floor I wish we'd all been ready Children died, their days grew cold A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold I wish we'd all been ready There's no time to change your mind The sun has come and you've been left behind A man and wife asleep in bed She hears a noise and turns her head He's gone I wish we'd all been ready Two men walking up a hill One disappears and one's left standing Still, I wish we'd all been ready There's no time to change your mind The sun has come and you've been left behind Life was filled with guns and war And everyone got trampled on the floor I wish we'd all been ready Children died, their days grew cold A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold I wish we'd all been ready There's no time to change your mind How could you have been so blind? There's no time to change your mind The sun has come and you've been left behind You've been left behind I wish we'd all been ready You've been left behind I wish we'd all been ready You've been left behind You've been left behind Tim Stafford wrapping up today's Moody Church Hour during which Erwin Lutzer spoke about when he judges those left on Earth the fifth in a ten-part series on When He Shall Come Next time, an amazing prophecy in Ezekiel and a great battle Don't miss When He Destroys Nations This entire series can be yours on CD as our thank you for your gift of any amount to support The Moody Church Hour Just call us at 1-800-215-5001 When you call, mention the series The King is Coming Call 1-800-215-5001 Or write to us at The Moody Church 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614 Online, go to moodyoffer.com That's moodyoffer.com Join us next week for another Moody Church Hour with Dr. Erwin Lutzer and the Congregation of Historic Moody Church in Chicago This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church