Rocks Stones and the Lord Jesus

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We greet you once again in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. I want you to take a look at this song. Have you heard about the stone, verse 1, that was hewn out of the mountain? And then look at the chorus, it was Jesus, yes it was, it was Jesus, yes it was. [00:00:35] The title of the message is Rocks, Stones, and the Lord Jesus. Rocks, stones in the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus There tends to be a natural drift from right to left If you know what I'm saying There tends to be a natural drift from right to left I have seen and you have seen church communities that begin fervently [00:01:10] High ideals, what they want for their church, what they want for their goals And you've seen them start firmly and enthusiastically And the years pass and it seems like gradually they lower their standards You've seen that You have seen individuals do the same You notice young Christians, they begin with fire and enthusiasm and zeal and slowly you see them cooling down. [00:01:57] There tends to be a natural drift from right to left. It doesn't have to be. And praise God, there are individuals that have been, the older they get, the more on fire they become for the Lord. But I think the songwriter was honest, and we ought to be honest too about it. The songwriter said, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. The reason there's a shift from right to left is something I think you'd call it in science. [00:02:34] So there's a law of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics, and that is that everything in the created order tends to dissipate. Tends to dissipate. Unite, it tends to scatter rather than unite, tends to scatter, tends to cool, now you take a red hot frying pan, get that thing good and glowing hot, and take that and set that frying pan off of the stove, that thing is hot, that thing is snapping and popping, it's hot [00:03:13] But you take that and set it over on the counter where it's cool and gradually it'll begin to cool off and take the temperature of that around it. That's, someone has called it, the second law of thermodynamics. Did you know the opposite never happens? The opposite never happens. Apart from a conscious effort on someone's part, that pan will never get hot. Energy doesn't gather on its own. It dissipates. It doesn't unite. It scatters. [00:03:53] And that's true, not only of the frying pan, but because of the fall of man, that is our nature to go from right to left. It sets us on a predictable course from right to left. And so I'm telling you that tonight is a warning. Tonight your hearts might be on fire for God. You guard that. You cultivate that. You appreciate that. [00:04:26] You keep it on fire. You keep yourself in the Word of God. Guard that relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that beautiful church in Ephesus that Paul had nothing but good things to say about it? Jesus gave a warning in the book of Revelation. I have somewhat against thee. You've lost your first love. Remember that? [00:05:01] So guard that fire in your heart. The tendency of that fire to dissipate. Now the message tonight is rocks, stones, and Jesus Christ. I love the Lord, and I'm here tonight for the purpose of exalting His name. I'm here tonight, I want to be a cheerleader for the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. I have a great appreciation for his patience and his love and the way he has dealt with me in my life [00:05:35] and the way he has dealt with my wife and I. I have a great appreciation for where we are at tonight. I have the confidence of God that began a good work in us. We'll carry it out if we let him. I want to just exalt the name of the Lord Jesus and this is going to be a very, very simple sermon tonight. It's called Rocks and Stones in the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:06:07] Now we had some friends of ours that took a tour of the Holy Lands and then come home and showed some slides. And I was a bit impressed. In my mind I was thinking of Psalm 23 and I was thinking of green pastures And I was thinking, if Israel was being a place of lush green pastures, it is not. There's a lot of rocks, there's a lot of stones. And I think our Lord Jesus, when He grew up, He knew what rocks and stones looked like. [00:06:41] It's a very rocky, dusty, stony place. Now I'd like to turn to your Bibles, to Daniel, the second chapter. And if you have your Bibles on your lap, it wouldn't hurt you a bit to take that Bible and open it up to Daniel, the second chapter. And we're going to study the book of Daniel, following the book of Ezekiel. So if you're in the book of Ezekiel, you're getting close. Now we're looking at the book of Daniel. Daniel, we're going to take a little tour through the Bible and notice some things about rocks and stones and how they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:07:21] And then that's going to be the message for the evening. Now, Daniel, the second chapter, we're going to read just a few verses. And the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep break from him. And the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams. [00:07:55] And so they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream. And my dream was troubled to know, my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever. Tell thy servants the dream and we will show the interpretation. And the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the thing is gone from me. [00:08:28] If you will not make known unto me the dream with the interpretations thereof, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if you show the dream and the interpretation thereof, you shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. Now, Brother Juan talked about challenges. How would you like this challenge? Now, I don't know if the term that we sometimes find in the workplace come from Daniel, the second chapter. [00:09:08] I don't know. Sometimes I've heard the term, you know, we don't work by the hour, we work by the piece rate. You reckon that's where this comes from? Nebuchadnezzar told his wives, man, we're going to go on piece rate here. Tell me the interpretation or you're going to be cut in pieces. And they said no, you've got it backwards king, you tell us the dream and we'll give you the interpretation He said no, that's not what I'm asking, you tell me the dream and the interpretation [00:09:40] And then he put some teeth to his request, didn't he? They were in danger of losing their lives And so we talked the other night about the difference between separation and isolation And here now we bring Daniel in on the scene in verse 14 and 15 The wise men sought Daniel Isn't that interesting? And Daniel in turn then in verse 17 and 18 informed his friends [00:10:12] And then he asked his friends to pray And Daniel, verse 19, the result of that prayer meeting was in verse 19 that Daniel, it was revealed to Daniel the dream. And Daniel then in verse 20 then praises God. It's a beautiful prayer there in verse 20 to 23 of the thank you prayer, Daniel's thank you prayer. [00:10:44] And then in verse 26, Daniel is taken then before the king. And I very, very much appreciate the integrity and honesty of Daniel. Now here was a place he could have really shown. He could have just really taken some credit here and got a life pension and with free dental care and free medical care for the rest of his life and a gold chain around his neck. [00:11:18] But he said this, he gave credit to whom credit is due. He said in verse 28, but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. And then Daniel tells what the dream was. And let's look at verse 31 to 35. And I have a sketch of this image. I call it Daniel's metallic man. And I have a sketch of Daniel's metallic man. I've done this just in a few minutes this evening. [00:11:58] Made a sketch of a man, and this is somewhat, very crude there, but this is somewhat what Daniel's seen. And I will begin reading at verse 31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. The image's head was made of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. [00:12:35] Thou sawest till that a stone was cut without hands, which smote the image on his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron and clay and the brass and the silver and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. [00:13:07] Now, then he gives the interpretation in verse 36 to 45. Should we read it? I think we should. Thou, O King, art a king of kings. For the King of heaven has given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beast of the field and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given it to thy hand and has made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. [00:13:38] Now see, he's already given part of the interpretation. We don't have to guess who that head of gold was. The head of gold was the Babylonian, what, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon? Alright, thou art this head of gold. So the Babylonian kingdom was the head of gold. He's given us the first one there, we don't have to guess on it. Verse 39, And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, [00:14:11] which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes and part of potter's clay made of iron and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with fiery clay. And the toes of the feet were of part iron, part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. [00:14:48] And whereas, verse 43, thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. [00:15:18] For as much as thou sawest that the stone, remember that song, was cut out of the mountain without hands And that it break in pieces the iron and brass and clay and silver and gold And the great God hath made known to the king what shall come hereafter And the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure Now, let's try to interpret what was seen here. [00:15:54] As I mentioned, the first one, in verse 38, Daniel tells us who the first world kingdom is. And I believe what we're seeing here, even secular historians say that there were four world kingdoms. And I think that's what we're reading of here. The four world kingdoms. The first one was the Babylonian Empire. We read that in verse 38. Following that, the breast and arms of silver was the Mede and the Persian Empire. [00:16:32] Yes, it was founded by Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. Did you know what? Daniel saw this kingdom ushered in. In Daniel 5 verse 28 Now the third world empire with the belly and thighs of brass was the Grecian Empire And that was founded by Alexander, it was a world empire Alexander was a fighter, Alexander loved to fight [00:17:04] But he wept when there was no more worlds to conquer. He sat down and wept. The legs of iron, who were they? I think they were the Roman Empire. They overthrew the Grecian Empire and ruled the world almost 800 years, they're about. And then it talks about not only of the legs of iron, but feet of iron and clay. [00:17:37] Toward the end of the Roman Empire, they began, the Roman Empire had such, had morally dissipated to such an extent that they began rotting from the inside out. And there began to be civil wars among the different of the kings in the Roman Empire Instead of working together, there began to be civil wars And I think this feed of iron and clay toward the latter end is what this is talking about [00:18:11] There was fussing, there was faction Some of these kings were very, very powerful, others were not And they began fragmenting And the Roman Empire began fragmenting and anyway, that's as far as we'll go. This is Daniel's vision, I think, of the four world empires. But of particular interest to me, of particular interest to me, is there in verse 44. [00:18:45] Now Daniel says in verse 44, he foretells that there's going to be a great event that happens on earth And he tells when it's going to begin. He says, during the days of the kings, or during this fourth kingdom, or during Roman rule. Now I have a question. What great event took place upon earth during the Roman world rule? And I give you a hint. Here's how it sounded when it came. [00:19:19] Galatians 4.4 When the fullness of time was come, just at the right time, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman. Luke 2 verse 7 And Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger at just the right time, Paul says in Galatians, in the fullness of time. [00:19:58] Now why? What was it about this time that was unique? And there some of this may be only guesswork. But I believe that God sent the Lord Jesus, it was not an accident, of course it wasn't, when He sent the Lord Jesus to this earth. Here are some things that was a unique time and were in history. First of all, the Romans ruled the world. The Romans liked to build roads. And the Romans had a system of roads like the world had never had before. [00:20:36] The Romans that brought a common language across the world. And so you see, when the Lord Jesus came and gave His life and shed His blood and died for our sins and rose again and gave the Great Commission to the disciples, it was an opportunity that had never been offered before. A road system. The same language could be spoken basically all over the world. [00:21:07] And He said, Go. In the fullness of time, the coming of the Lord Jesus, the coming of this spiritual kingdom, and I love this word picture even though it's a strange, uses some unusual terms. He talks about a stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, without human help. It was God's plan. It was completely of God's plan before the foundation of the earth. [00:21:40] And it says it's going to break in pieces, it's going to consume, it's going to surpass any kingdom that the world has known before. Now we sing a song, another song at home sometime, our young people do. In the cross of Christ I glory. Listen to the words of this. In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time. Think of that, the cross of Christ towering over the Roman Empire, towering over the Grecian Empire, towering over the Medes and Persians. [00:22:21] In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time, all the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime. Now, secular, even secular historians concede that no one or nobody has affected the lives of more people positively over history than this man, God-man, Jesus Christ. [00:22:57] The kingdom of Christ has influenced earth's history more powerfully than any other government. Not just in the magnitude of influence, and that has been tremendous. Not just in the magnitude of influence, but in the quality of the influence. Now there have been men, powerful men come along and have exerted great influence upon this earth. [00:23:29] I'm thinking of Karl Marx. He was a brilliant man and yielded great influence, but what kind of influence, what kind of, it was negative. Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Nietzsche. This terrible thing of communism and how it influenced the earth negatively. But the Lord Jesus Christ has influenced more people. [00:24:00] And for the blessing of mankind, somebody has said if you would take a world globe and the regions that are most civilized, the most enlightened, the most charitable, the most noble, the most moral, These are the areas that Jesus Christ is most honored and recognized. You take the areas of the globe that are darkest, that are the less morally perverse, that are in darkness, [00:24:32] and those are the areas where Christ is not honored and not glorified. Now remember the title, Rocks and Stones in Jesus Christ. And today this is where we get our title. We're reading now about a stone that was cut out of the mountains without hands. And we believe that kingdom is the kingdom of Christ. And it surpasses and it's never going to be destroyed. [00:25:02] It's going to go on and it will stand forever, verse 44. Now in Psalm 118, we're going to look at a verse. Psalm 118, verse 22. Now I'm going to just read this verse. Psalm 118, verse 22. The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. [00:25:35] This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The stone, verse 22, which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Now, this was a favorite quotation, Psalm 118, verse 22, is a favorite quotation of New Testament writers. Did you know that? You can read this very quote right here in Psalm 118, verse 22, in Matthew, and in Mark, and in Luke, and in Acts, and Peter himself quotes this psalm. [00:26:18] Did you know that? The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. Now, Jesus came to his own, and the Jews rejected him. And the word picture that I get is a mason picking up a stone, sizing it up, looking at it, and deciding he didn't want it, chucking it aside. and then another mason picking it up, looking at it and placing it in the corner [00:26:50] and building from and to and upon that corner. Now, Jesus came into his own, the scriptures say. Did the Jews accept him? I wish I could tell you that the Jews, he came to his own and the Jews embraced him and loved him and crowned him, but nothing could be further from the truth. He was rejected. He came into his own and they rejected him. [00:27:28] Now I would like to just, we're going to take a quick trip and just through the Scriptures and notice some Scriptures that have to do with rocks and stones and how they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 7. Some of these are just very, very familiar, and we're going to be reading now at Matthew 7, verse 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [00:28:01] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied thy name, And thy name hath cast out devils, and thy name hath done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built this house upon a rock. And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. [00:28:35] And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Now we have a word picture. Jesus gives an illustration of two men building. One saw a level stretch of sand. He said, hey, that looks like a place to build. And the groundwork's done, and plus it's sandy, it won't take much effort. [00:29:09] And so he begins building. And the rains come, and here he found that he was building in a dry riverbed, and he was swept away. And another one built, and it took considerable effort, and he built upon a rock. And when things got shaky, and the winds blew, and the rains came, it stood firm. And Jesus said that building upon the rock is like building, building everyone that here at these saints, excuse me, verse 25 [00:29:44] And the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock Now we have two builders here Jesus talks about two builders, a foolish builder and a wise builder And tonight, you are either one of the two builders. Every soul that's in here tonight listening, you are either a foolish builder or a wise builder. Now why, let's ask the question, why did these men build and choose so foolishly those who build upon the sand? [00:30:17] Maybe he wanted to avoid toil. That's a very common thing. The sand is easier to dig in. And he just wanted to avoid toil You know it is easier, it is easier, short term, to go the easy route, to go the way of the world, go the way of the flesh It's temporarily easy, it's easy, it's easy to go downstream He was short sighted [00:30:49] He wanted to avoid toil, something else, he was short sighted He wasn't thinking ahead. He wasn't thinking what lays ahead. And I want to encourage everyone in here, all you builders tonight, to think what lays ahead. Are we building on the rock or are we building in sand? You know, in every decision in life, there is a short view and a long view. In every decision, there's a short view and a long view. [00:31:20] Now, we can choose the short view or we can choose the long view. And I like to think of the long view as eternally. We can choose eternally. And happy are you tonight if you choose to make choices, as I mentioned the other night, with eternity in mind. Eternity in mind. The building upon a rock may be temporarily hard. [00:31:53] Hard. It may be going against the flesh. It's going against your will, your self-will. It may, building upon the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ, may have you to stand and make some confessions and some clearing up some things, some apologies, some restitution. But see, when things get shaky, it's the only way. [00:32:27] When this old world starts rocking, it's the only way. Rocks and stones and the Lord Jesus. Well, Matthew 16, 18, we're in Matthew. Let's just look at another one while we're here. Matthew 16, verse 18, we're talking now of rocks and stones and how they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're breaking in here in verse 18 of chapter, the words of Jesus in chapter 16 verse 18 I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church Or upon this, upon the truth, I'm paraphrasing now, upon the truth of the confession that you just made [00:33:04] I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The church of God is the only institution on earth that has this promise that I know of. That the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it. It reminds me of a little boy. He's reading the Bible. He read the last chapter of the Bible. He told his dad, Dad, I read the last chapter of the Bible. [00:33:35] Our side wins. Friends, our side wins. The gates of hell will not prevail against it I will build my church And you see, that tells me it's a conditional promise My church I will build my church And if it's Christ's church, it's going to love what Christ loves It's going to follow what Christ follows It's going to hate what Christ hates It's Christ's church [00:34:05] It's going to adjust its steps to Christ's steps The best that we can I will build my church Thou art Peter and upon this rock or upon this confession that you made The truth of that confession I'm going to build my church Now let's look at his entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19 There we read about rocks there as well Luke 19 I expect you didn't realize how many rocks were in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ [00:34:39] Luke 19 verse 36 And this is the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life And here we are at Luke 19 verse 36 And as they went, they spread clothes As He went, Jesus is speaking of They spread their clothes in the way And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, [00:35:12] saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Isn't that something? The stones would immediately cry out. You know, Jesus was saying that if there would be no praise here, it would create such a vacuum that the stones would be crying out. [00:35:49] Isn't that something? Now, several months ago, our young people gave a singing program in our church. We had a lot of visitors. I ended up way in the back, beside a visiting youth that I knew a little bit, not real, real, real well, but anyway, our youth sang that song, let the hallelujahs roll, that's how the chorus, I don't know, let the hallelujahs roll, and I told this youth beside me, when they're done, let's say hallelujah, and he didn't want to, [00:36:30] And I said, let's say hallelujah when they finish this song Because I was getting goosebumps in my arms And when they finished I said, hallelujah I don't know, somehow I feel that I wouldn't have There would have been a vacuum of praise in my life I would encourage some of you once in a while to say hallelujah Let's do it together right now Hallelujah We can do better now Let's do it again Hallelujah Hallelujah! You know, I was at a preaching service one time at a prison, and we was at this prison, and there was a Pentecostal preacher there, and his name, best I remember, was Mike Humble, a very nice young man, and he got to preaching and he told the prisoners, he said, now I warn you, I'm getting happy. [00:37:16] And finally he said, I'm going to do a little dance before the Lord. And he began marching back and forth and doing a little dance there in a reverent way. And there we sat, we Mennonites. We didn't know what to make out of this thing. But you know what? The Quakers quaked from what they felt was a fear of God and the Shakers shook. And I wish some of us would get a little more shaken by what the Lord has done for us. [00:37:55] Now you go to a volleyball game or a baseball game or a softball game and we can whoop and howl and carry on. And I'm not against that. I think it's alright. As long as we don't overdo it. But I don't think it would hurt us one bit. At least once in a while. If we can't say hallelujah like my buddy beside me that evening. We can at least nod our heads. I know plenty of Mennonites that are shaky in what they believe, but too few of us, too few of us have been shaken by the power of God. [00:38:34] We ought to be, we ought to be. All right, rock, stones, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was nailed to a criminal cross, and on the cross he uttered seven sayings. He said, it is finished, and he gave up the ghost, and the veil of the temple was rent, and not only that, but rocks were rent. Think of that. It was as though that nature was protesting at the injustice to the Son of God. [00:39:05] He was laid in a borrowed tomb. Mark 15, verse 36 says, it was a sepulcher hewn out of, you say it, rock. Rock. Rock, I think it says there. And then a stone was rolled across the opening. On Easter morning, the stone had been rolled away, the three women found, and this was contrary to the Roman authority. [00:39:38] It was contrary to the wishes of his Jewish enemies. Those poor soldiers were given an impossible task. Make that tomb as sure as possible. They were given an impossible task. Poor things. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Praise God. And now we turn. We're not done with this thing yet. Rocks, stones, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter. [00:40:11] There's some, well, I'm not sure. I don't think this one is rocks. I don't think this one says rocks. But I would like to... Hebrews, James, Peter. There it is. 2 Peter 3, verse 10-12. 2 Peter 3, verse 10-12. 2 Peter 3, verse 10-12. And now I read. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, [00:40:41] in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth also and the works that are in shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening into the coming of the day of God Wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. [00:41:15] Elements melting? It says it, doesn't it? All these things shall be dissolved? Elements melting. Now, I have seen there is a large rock quarry in our area. and some of the men were getting lime for a little bit of nothing. This was limestone rock that had been heated to such temperature and beaten with such fervency [00:41:46] that this lime flowed, you had to have almost a watertight container to haul it in because it flowed like water, this limestone rock. It dribbled out of cracks. It blew off. It was almost like water. I thought of that when I seen that limestone. That the element shall melt. I wonder when the Lord comes again, will those limestone rocks, I thought of that. Melting with fervent heat. [00:42:20] Now, where is this heat coming from? Well, let's drop down to verse 7. But the heavens and the earth, which now are by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire until the day of judgment. Now, the fuel that I take from this, that fuel for that great judgment has been reserved or stored up. And there we can read of another judgment. [00:42:51] If you look back of judgment by water that he talks about earlier with the flood. But now we're talking about fuel that has been reserved unto fire to the day of judgment. Let's think about this a minute. What kind of fuel? Think about it. Did you ever think about this stuff that we're breathing tonight? This air. Do you know what it is? In this stuff that we're breathing, it is oxygen and nitrogen. [00:43:30] Did you know that? Oxygen and nitrogen. That's what we're breathing. You know, it could be potentially dangerous. Oxygen is a propellant. You need a propellant if you want a torch, a cutting torch. Oxygen is a propellant. It's needed for combustion. You take a candle and put it in a jar and light that candle. [00:44:01] Look at that thing burn. You screw a lid on there and a few seconds that fire goes out. It has used up the oxygen. It needs oxygen to burn. Oxygen is a propellant. Now what's nitrogen? That's also in this air that we're breathing. Nitrogen, you'll want to quit breathing when we get done with this because it's dangerous. Nitrogen is a base that is used for many explosives. [00:44:33] Did you know that? These, some wacko out in Oklahoma City took a van with diesel fuel and with nitrogen and rammed that thing in the side of that building about, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago and blew out the side of that huge building. It's an explosive and they're together in the air and we're breathing them and it's a miracle that they can dwell together without exploding. [00:45:06] It is a provision of God. And we're breathing it tonight. And that's a fuel. That could be. This is speculating, but I speculate that that could be a fuel for that great judgment day. Now here's another one. And that is water itself. Water is H2O. That means, if I have it right, one part of hydrogen and two of oxygen. And this world is two-thirds water. [00:45:41] And I've already noted that oxygen is a propellant, and what about hydrogen? Hydrogen's not only combustible, but it's explosive. It's explosive. Now, years ago, those dirigibles that they used to fly around, They used to fill them with hydrogen, it's lighter than air, and it, it, it, uh, it, uh, dridgibles, yes, they, they, they, they, they float in the air because it's lighter than air. [00:46:16] Now there again, world two-thirds water, hydrogen, they quit using it in dridgible because, there again, it's explosive. It's explosive. And there are some fires that become so hot that they can't use water to put them out. I believe that water could be, I speculate again, with the way it's comprised, it could very well be one of God's fuels for judgment. [00:46:52] Now we're not even, we're not, there we have the air we breathe and the world two-thirds water. We've not even talked about the atomic energy in the world. I don't know much about it. But I'm saying that I believe that there's going to be plenty of fuel that will heat this old earth, that the elements, the rocks will melt with fervent heat and flow just like that limestone that I've seen in the back of that fertilizer truck. [00:47:28] Rocks, stones, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's another one. Revelation 6. We're almost there. We're in Peter. Now I'm looking at Revelation 6. And here's another one that talks about rocks. Verse 13 to 16. It's talking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus. And the stars of heaven fell upon the earth even as a fig tree Cast us for untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind And the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled together And every mountain and island were moved out of their places [00:47:58] And the kings of the earth and the great men, rich men, chief captains, mighty men And every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of wrath has come and who shall be able to stand? Matthew 21, verse 44. We've got just a couple more and then we're going to close. Matthew 21, verse 44. [00:48:30] Rocks and mountains. Matthew 21 and verse 44. I think we should begin reading verse 42. Jesus saith unto them, Did you never read in the Scriptures Builders, the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. [00:49:02] And whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken. But on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. I believe to fall upon this stone would be to come to the Lord Jesus in faith and fall upon the Lord Jesus in faith and allow that old self-will and that pride and that arrogancy to be broken by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says there that if we do that we'll be broken on whosoever it shall fall [00:49:39] But on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder I believe to reject Christ in this world is to meet him in judgment With our old cold hard wills unbroken and unsaved And those old stony hearts are going to face judgment It's going to grind him to powder And we're going to be thoroughly judged And every sin is going to be thoroughly accounted for Now we come into the kingdom of God by invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. [00:50:16] I stand, Jesus said, at the door and knock. We, he knocks, we must respond. And I told you the other night, I tried to, that God will do everything he can in his power to draw mankind to himself, but he will not violate our free moral agency. He will not take us to heaven if we would rather go to hell. He will not violate our free moral agency. [00:50:48] We must repent of our selfishness, our rebellious and stony heart. That's what Ezekiel 11 verse 19 tells us. By the way, what was the reason for the law, the old law? We're going to sidetrack just a little bit here. What was the reason for the law? I believe that God gave man a system of laws to go by after they sinned for their good. [00:51:23] For their good. It was in His mercy that He didn't let mankind spin out of control, but He gave them a system of laws. to provide order. He gave them a system of sacrifices. When they failed, they were to sacrifice. And you know what? Paul called these laws... We tend to look back at the Old Testament and say, ah. But you know what Paul called this old law? He called it good. [00:51:54] He called it spiritual. He called it holy. And I think it's in Romans, He called it a schoolmaster to bring them to God. Now, what was it about these laws that was a schoolmaster? First of all, when they sinned, if they sinned and when they sinned, they had to make a sacrifice. And so they were being taught and schooled that sin, blood must be shed for sin. [00:52:31] Blood has to be shed. This is serious when I sin. Blood has to be shed. Something else it taught them, that they had a cold, wicked heart. You know, here was the law. I'm going to do right. And they go for a while, and they stumble over the law. And they fall. And they get up. Oh, I failed again. And they go walk a little further, and they stumble over the law. And they fail again. In the Greek, a schoolmaster, it would give this thought, [00:53:07] is one who would take us by the hand and lead us to the next level of learning. And that's what the law was. It took mankind by the hand, a schoolmaster, and led him step by step to the next level of learning. Now I'd like to do a little dramatizing tonight. Y'all don't believe in drama, but just permit me this a little bit. I suppose now that we go to the doctor and we've got some problems with our tongue [00:53:38] and we go to, we ask around, somebody says we ought to go, there's a doctor in town, his name is Dr. Law. You ought to go see Dr. Law, he's a good doctor, he's stern, he's a good doctor, he's awful stern, but maybe he can help you. And you go to Dr. Law, you make an appointment, you go to Dr. Law and you sit down and you say, what's the matter? And he says, Dr. Law, I've got a problem with my tongue. [00:54:12] Well, what's the matter with your tongue? Well, this tongue of mine craves cigarettes. And this tongue of mine craves beer, Bud Light. This tongue of mine, it likes to say, it just forms itself and says cuss words and vile words whenever I smack my finger. Dr. Law, I need help for my tongue. He said, stick it out. So you stick your tongue out. He said, there's nothing wrong with your tongue. You've got heart problems. [00:54:48] He said, Dr. Law, I know better than that. It's my tongue that's giving me problems. And you turn around and leave in a huff. But before long, your hand starts bothering you, giving you trouble until you make another appointment with that fellow. You don't like him very good, but you make an appointment with him. There's something about him that's compelling. And so you make an appointment and you meet Dr. Law. Dr. Law, something's wrong with my hand. What's it doing? Well, my hand just likes to reach for other women. [00:55:23] And this hand of mine, it kind of likes to go around the beer bottle. And whenever I get mad, for some reason, this hand, something bad wrong with it, it kind of goes into a fist and draws back. He said, Dr. Law, something wrong with my hand. He said, stick your hand down. There's nothing wrong with your hand. It's your heart problem. Dr. Law, somehow everything goes back to the heart. [00:55:54] He said, yeah, it's your heart. You've got a heart problem. That's why a few weeks ago your tongue gave you a problem. That's why your hand gives you a problem. A few more weeks passed, and then your mind starts doing funny things. And you make another point with Dr. Law. Dr. Law, this mind of mine, it just keeps spinning, and I keep, what's the path that it takes? [00:56:26] Dr. Law, I keep thinking of pornography, dwelling on that stuff, and I just like that stuff, and something's wrong with my mind, and could you give me some pills to take care of this mind stuff? Dr. Law said again, it's not your mind, son, it's your heart. It's your heart. And you can go down the line with several other things. [00:57:00] But finally, you come to your senses. You say, Dr. Law, I've tried everything. I've tried, I've failed. I've tried, I've failed. Dr. Law, what's going to be the end of me? And Dr. Law writes something on a paper, hands it to me. Death. Death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Dr. Law, is there no hope? [00:57:36] No. There's no hope. No hope. Romans says we are without hope. Dr. Law, is there anything? How can you help me? Can you help me in any way, Dr. Law? Dr. Law says, no, I can't help you. I only diagnose. And that's what the law did. It only diagnosed. [00:58:07] But he said, now I know of another man that I think could help you if you'll let him. But you're going to need to cooperate with him. I'm going to send you to another clinic. I only diagnose here. Dr. Law is all, I only, but I'm going to send you to another clinic. It's called the Clinic of Mercy. And there's a surgeon there that I think can help you. And you know His name. [00:58:40] You know His name. It's the Lord Jesus. And He can help you. But you're going to have to cooperate with Him. And you're going to have to follow His way and His prescription. And it's a straight way. It's a narrow way. But you can be healed, and you can be freed, and you'll have strength, and you'll have power, and you'll be able, some reason, strangely, you'll have power to, that hand will be victorious, and that old tongue will be victorious, if you let him, if you let Dr. the Lord Jesus Christ get a hold of you. [00:59:32] You see, he'll do some surgery. He'll take that old, cold, stony, rebellious heart and he'll replace it, like Ezekiel says, with a soft heart. A heart of flesh. A heart that responds to the Lord God. And that's called the new birth. The Lord Jesus tonight, if you don't mind me using that little dramatizing there, [01:00:10] the Lord Jesus tonight can help us, can heal us. He can take us and set our feet upon a rock and establish our goings. And He can put a song in our hearts. And He can give us victory. And there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are Romans 8. [01:00:45] I want to look at that. But first I'm going to do a little more artwork here on the board. You see, here's some tulips here. Here's some tulips growing beside the sidewalk. You and your son are walking out down the sidewalk, and your son asks you, Daddy, what is gravity? [01:01:18] And you tell son, gravity is a force that pulls things down. I don't understand what gravity is. But son, it just pulls things downward, downward, downward. Daddy, if the law of gravity is pulling everything downward, what about these tulips here that are growing beside the sidewalk? [01:01:51] Daddy, if the law of gravity is so sure and so strong, look at those tulips standing up straight and tall and beautiful. Daddy, how do you explain that? Daddy thinks a little bit and Daddy says, well, son, the law of gravity is a very sure law. But you see, there's another law here that's at work. And this is called the law of life. [01:02:24] There's another law at work, and it's the law of life. And there's life flowing into those tulips. And as long as that law of life is flowing in those tulips, it stands true and tall and beautiful. And it supersedes the law of gravity. And there they stand in their beauty. Romans 8. for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus [01:02:54] has made me free from the law of sin and death. I'm not denying tonight the law of gravity, the law of death. It's around us. It's here. But there's another law that is at work in our members tonight. And it's the law of life. And we find that life only in the Lord Jesus Christ. I present him to you tonight. He is the rock. Have you heard about the stone, the songwriter says, that was hewn out of the mountain? Have you heard about the stone that came rolling through Babylon? Have you heard about the stone that was hewn out of the mountain, that came down through the kingdoms of the world? It was Jesus. [01:03:46] Jesus. Tonight, if you're not a Christian, I recommend the Lord Jesus to you. Tonight, if you are here and you have made a commitment, but you have fallen and you are living tonight in victory, you are not standing true and tall like those tulips, I recommend again the Lord Jesus, the Rock of Ages, to you. Now, I would like to read to you a writing that came from a black preacher, and I'd like to read this to you. [01:04:23] This black preacher preached this sermon, and I'd like to read it to you. This is the last, this is the closing of this sermon. My King Jesus is a sevenfold King. He's the King of Israel. He's the King of righteousness. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of heaven. He's the King of glory. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. And I wonder tonight, do you know Him? David said, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. No telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His supply. [01:05:07] No barrier can hinder him from pouring out his blessing. He's eternally strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially possible. He's impartially merciful. I wonder, do you know him? He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is God's son. He is a sinner's savior. He's a centerpiece of civilization. He stands in solitude of himself and he's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's the loftiest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's a supreme problem in criticism. He's a fundamental doctrine of theology. He's a miracle of the ages. [01:06:01] and I wonder tonight, do you know him? He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and proud. He sympathizes, he saves, he sustains, he guards, he guides and he heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meager. Do you know Him? [01:06:36] My King is the key of knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway to glory. I ask again, do you know Him? I wish I could describe him to you, but he's indescribable He's incomprehensible He's invincible He's irresistible You can't get him off your mind [01:07:07] And you can't get him off your hands You can't outlive him And you can't live without him The Pharisees couldn't stop him Herod couldn't kill him Death couldn't handle him And the grave couldn't hold him That is my king I think that deserves a hallelujah all together. Hallelujah! Let's pray.