Ultimate Reality

How do you maintain peace and perspective when political turmoil, cultural shifts, and rising hostility make the world feel entirely out of control?

In this sermon on Daniel 11, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon walks through one of the most detailed and complex prophetic passages in the Bible. Spanning hundreds of years of ancient history, from Persian kings and Alexander the Great to the ruthless reign of Antiochus Epiphanes IV and the future Antichrist, this message reveals how political conflict and human pride ultimately serve God's sovereign plan. Discover how keeping your eyes on ultimate reality rather than temporary circumstances empowers you to stand firm, avoid flattery, and trust the God who holds all of history in His hands.

In this episode, we cover:

• Present Reality vs. Ultimate Reality: Why Christians must guard their minds against being consumed by current political and cultural noise instead of eternal truth.
• The Sovereignty of God Over Evil: Understanding how even the most corrupt leaders and tyrannical rulers operate under divine limits and appointments.
• The Danger of Flattery and Compromise: How cultural pressures tempt believers to abandon their convictions and why genuine faith perseveres through hardship.
• Knowing Your God: Why developing a deep, accurate understanding of God’s character is the key to standing firm when society stumbles.
• The Final Defeat of Wickedness: Finding comfort in the promise that all opposition to God will ultimately be brought to an end in a single moment.

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Transcript

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This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit grandparkway.org.

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Amen. Amen. You can have a seat. If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Daniel chapter 11. If you're a guest, we're preaching through the book of Daniel. And we're up to chapter 11. Actually, the last uh section of Daniel is three chapters, 10, 11, and 12. Chapter 10 is the context where an angel appears and speaks to this guy, Daniel. He gives him the context. Chapter 11, where we'll be today, is the content. And then chapter 12, where we'll finish up, is the conclusion, wraps it all up, okay? And so uh by the way, I'm gonna just begin with a confession. I have friends of mine that listen to our podcast, they're like preachers, and they called me and they're like, hey, what are you gonna do with chapter 11? I see you're getting to Daniel, and I'm going to preach it. One guy said, Hey, that was so hard to follow, I quit at chapter 10. I didn't do it 11 and 12. I just went and preached something else in the New Testament. And I went, that's awesome, okay? So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna read a very involved chapter of the Bible, but I'm gonna break it up into sections because it's like a funnel. It starts up here at the top, and as you go down, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. At the top, the first section in the beginning, he'll talk about uh Persia and Alexander the Great, Greece, and then he gets into this rhythm where you these two kings, king of the north and king of the south, and he talks about it's like Game of Thrones on steroids. If you know what Game of Thrones is, say amen. Yes, sinners with HBO. But anyway, uh see you're in good company, people. Uh so it talks about them, because look at me. Deep in the heart of man, we all think we're smarter than God and we can run the world better than God can. This is why people have conflict, and I brought maps too. I'll show you a map for all you Bible nerds, you'll just geek out over this. Uh and then so it starts with these kings, and then it goes to this individual, Antiochus, Epiphanes IV. Epiphanes means God appearing. This guy was so full of himself, he said to people, When you see me, you see God. Yeah. So, whoo, whoever said, woo, you got it right. Uh, that's incredible. And then it ends with this final person, what the Bible calls the Antichrist. Uh, I'll read each section and I'll stop. The first section is 15 verses. Uh, it covers 330 years, give or take a few years, of Old Testament history, boiled down. The next 15 verses just covers about 12 years of Antichrist Epiphanes, because as you get closer to the funnel, evil manifests even more. And the manifestation of evil in this individual gets us ready for the ultimate manifestation of evil, which is what the Bible calls the Antichrist. Now, if you're in this room and you're not a Christian and you're new to church, you're like, dude, a friend invited me, just relax, because I'm gonna read a section. And then the job of the preacher is to take the Bible and apply it to modern day life. And so after each section, I'll say, here's a couple of takeaways. Here's a couple of things we should notice in the Bible that apply to us in 2021. Does that make sense? Okay. Before I do any of that, though, I want to make four introductory statements or introductory thoughts I just want to put in your head. You you don't you can write them down or you can just take a picture, they'll come up on the screen. First one is this just because the Bible is inspired, that doesn't matter that means breathed out by God, not man's idea. Just because the Bible's inspired, that doesn't mean that every time you read it, you're gonna be inspired. Uh sometimes I read the Bible and I just think, meh, I read that before. Uh I'm gonna pray now and get on with my day. Uh or and so sometimes you're gonna read the Bible, it's not gonna be like, oh my gosh. Uh but it's still inspired. Uh, because the goal of reading scripture is understanding, not inspiration. I don't go to the Bible to feel better about my life. I go to the Bible to understand how my life fits into God's purposes for the world. Okay? Second thing, labor to ensure that your life and thoughts aren't shaped by present realities instead of ultimate realities. Labor, work hard to make sure that your life and thoughts are not shaped by present realities. The border, Biden, the budget, Trump. Uh, those are just present realities. Ultimate reality, which is the one I want to talk to you about, is ultimate reality. Because this vision that this angel gives Daniel kind of says, hey, here's how it's gonna go from the sixth century all the way to the end of the world. Third introductory thought prophecy is not recorded history before it happens. It's not just God's recording history like a history book. Prophecy is the present and future history interpreted from the perspective of the Bible. Here's the last introductory thought. The goal of this vision we're gonna read is to encourage Daniel to prayer. So if we don't walk away from this morning, more oriented towards prayer, then we fail to understand the vision. Because basically, this angel says to Daniel, here I'm gonna pull back the curtain on history, and I want you to see it, and I want that to inform the way you pray. Now, let me start reading. Daniel chapter 11, verse 1. As for me, in the first year of Darius to meet, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. This is what Daniel says. And then verse 2, the angel starts talking. And he says, And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall rise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise. That's Alexander the Great, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. And as soon as he is arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, his kids that he wants to take over for him. Now, according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. Verse 5 says, Then the king of the South shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. After some years they shall make an alliance, and a daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. These guys would give their daughters in marriage to their enemies so they could establish peace, and it never worked. I mean, one of them they gave their daughter, and then he left his wife, and then the ex-wife came back, killed him, the new wife, and their son. I mean, it's just berserko crazy. Uh he says, the king of the north make agreement, but she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, uh, he who fathered her and who supported her in those times. That's what he's talking about. He's just gonna wipe these people out. Verse 7 and from a branch from her roots one shall rise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but shall return to his own land. His son shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming in overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. And then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted. Because when men accomplish great things, they get big-headed, they get cocky, they get arrogant, they look around and like, yo, did you see what I did? Same thing in the Bible. His heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude greater than the first, and after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfil the vision, but they shall fail. Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siege works, and take a well fortified city, and the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him, and he shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in hand. He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of a woman to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. Verse 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall come and put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. And then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found. When it says he turned his face toward the fortresses of his own land, what he would do is to get money to fund his war efforts, he would rob money from the temples. And basically he goes into a temple to rob money, and the people that it's the temple of Zeus, they see him, they're like, hey dude, you're not stealing from us, and they kill the guy. And so basically, it is like a game of uh it is like Game of Thrones. I mean, it's this back and forth war. That's 330 years of Old Testament history, boiled down to 15 verses. This is what I call the section of the kings. Now, notice they mention Alexander the Great, but they don't spend a lot of time talking about him. It's in the Hebrew language, what's the Bible, the Old Testament was originally written in. It's only 24 words are given to the whole life and conquering dominance of Alexander the Great. And then the rest of it is this incredible, all the languages about the king of the north and the king of the south. Now you may be trying, who is that? The north is Syria and the Seleucid Empire, the South is Egypt and the Ptolemaic Empire. I brought you a map to see why they talk more about these people than anything else. And I brought this little thing right here that my cat really loves. And so if you have a cat, I'll own this to you. And so right here is Israel. I want you to see this because you you ever wonder what the big deal is. If you don't believe in God, if you're kind of like, I don't believe in God, I don't believe any of this, one of the things you should ask yourself is how does this little sliver of a nation survive all these years? Because here's the kingdom of the North Syria and the Seleucid Empire. This is a kingdom of the South, the king of the south, Egypt, and the Ptolemaies. And right in between them is this little sliver of land right there called Israel. And these people want to rule Israel, and these people want to rule Israel. And yet Israel survives. It does. It's basically what we just read, all those words, is just it's just three over 300 years of all these people. Now, in case you're wondering, right here in modern day Iraq, this is Babylon. When God took these people, Daniel and his people took him captive, they went to Babylon, which is in modern day Iraq. And so I want you to know things in the Bible happen in real time and in a real place for a real reason. Now, we should ask ourselves, why does this angel feel a need to reveal this stuff to Daniel? Let me give you three takeaways from this first section, okay? The first one is this make sure that what you worship is the one true God. Make sure that what you worship is the one true God. You say, What do you mean? Look at verse 8. It says, He shall also, after he prevails and he and he and he comes against the fortress of this other king, he shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold. If somebody can come and carry your God off, you need a bigger weightier God. That's just free. Now, some of you are like, no, wait a minute, what do you mean? If somebody, if they stole your truck today, they would carry your God off. Uh-oh. You feel that? We done got up in your business here. Some of you, if the market crashed tomorrow, y'all, some of y'all are so excited, it's 34,000. Can you believe this? This is incredible. I don't care who's in the White House, the market is killing it. If that didn't crash tomorrow, you would be they would carry your God off. And so just, I ain't making fun of you, okay? I'm just saying this. Just make sure that you worship the one true God. Here's the second takeaway: be known for what you're for, not just what you're against. Be known what you're for, not just what you're against. I'm not, I'm not saying don't be against anything. Where do you get that? Verse 14, look at it. In those times, many will shall shall rise against the king of the south, and the violet among your own people. That's the Jewish people. There's some Jewish people that are kind of like, hey, you know what? The violet among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. The violet, there's some Jews that are kind of like, you know what, we gotta help God here. Look at me, beloved. God doesn't need our help. He invites and requires our obedience, but he does not need our help. And so be known for what you're for. And when he says the violet among you of your people shall lift themselves up in order to rush the Capitol building. Uh-oh. I just lost all the Fox News crowd right there. See, see, be known for what you're for, not just what you're against. Here's a third takeaway. We can act against injustice in ways that demonstrate that it's all still in God's hands. We can act against injustice in ways that demonstrate that it's all still in God's hands. I had lunch with a friend the other day, and my friend is like a what I call a conspiracy theorist. He's got everything down and Bitcoin and the UN, the Democrat. He tells me all about it and he sends me emails and everything. And hey, look at me. I don't trust any politician, never have, never will. Republican, Democrat, independent, libertarian. I don't care. My hope is not in any of them, okay? So I can talk about any of them. Don't send me emails and say, you know what, I like it when you preach, but when you get political, I'm not getting political. I'm trying to take the Bible and apply it to modern day life. Do you hear the difference? Say amen. And so I haven't lost my friend, and he just said, and he says out loud to me, he goes, you know what? I just wish I could find a preacher that had the courage to talk about these things from the pulpit. And now it's like, oh, wait up. We may have to go outside. I said, wait a minute, I are you let me just clarify, are you talking to me? Because if you're talking to me, I want to know you're talking to me because I can just understand this. He said, Well, no, I think you're very courageous, but you don't talk about all these things that are going on in America. I said, because that's not the gospel. I said, I don't talk about that. It's not the gospel. As a pastor, I'm here to preach the gospel, not talk about the current winds of things. See, ultimate reality is much more sustaining than present reality. Because present reality is going to change in two years or four years or three years or whatever. And he's just like, well, I said, here's the thing. When you lay in bed at night, you lay down, and what brings you comfort is that what you believe and what you stand for, what you fight for is real and valid. When I lay down at night, what brings me comfort is that God is sovereign over all of it. And so I can stand against things, I can act against injustice, and I do in ways that demonstrate that it's all still in God's hands. Well, you say when I say act against injustice, I don't mean I go out and pick at stuff. I think sometimes we gotta stand up and demonstrate. I I'm all for that. Uh but I'm having a conversation this past week with someone uh uh uh uh about uh gender fluidity. Uh and the person said, you know, you you you you you agree, right? Wouldn't you agree? I said, is this a question or an invitation to agree with you? He said, What do you mean? I said, You started the sentence with, wouldn't you agree? I might not agree. Just tell me what you believe, then we can disagree if we need to. He said, Oh, well, uh, and basically, uh, during the conversation, this is for me, this is taking a stand against injustice. I said, I choke on the hypocrisy of your logic. And the person said, What do you mean? And his wife was sitting there and she said, Yeah, what do you mean? And I said, You all basically are saying that gender is fluid and that we should let our kids be born like free-range chickens, just decide if they want to be boys or girls, or I'm a girl, now I'm a boy, and then I'm trans and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, Here's why I choke on the hypocrisy of your logic, okay? You say that the homosexual that you're just born that way. I thank you, Lady Gaga. We're just born that way. That's right, that's right. But you can be born, your sexuality is determined before birth, but your gender can't be. You can't have it both ways. That's a house divided against itself and it will not stand. And they were like, oh, well, that's just hateful. I know, I know when you tell the truth, it sounds hateful, doesn't it? I'm just loving you. I'm taking a stand against injustice. You don't have to be a smart person, you just have to have a brain to go, no, wait a minute, you can't have both of these realities. I said, people that think the way you do, you want to pick and choose where you apply logic. You can't do that. If it's over here, then it's got to be over here. Well, we'll think about this and get back to you. I'm open for lunch next week, too. Now, I'm not being snooty or arrogant or hey, gotcha, put my guns up. But I am willing to sit at lunch with friends whose logic is insufficient and take a stand against that injustice and walk away and believe that it's all in God's hands. Ian Dugood said it like this. He said, the kings of this world often seem overwhelming in their power to accomplish great things. A power that can easily either cow Christians into a state of depressed submission or alternatively seduce them into trying to use the world's power to do God's work. Some Christians seem to believe that they can hasten the coming of God's kingdom by achieving certain political goals. Yet at the end of the story, and for all their vaunted power, the kingdoms of this world can neither destroy God's work nor establish it. They're merely tools in the hands of a sovereign God who's able to declare the end from the beginning because he alone ultimately controls the affairs of men and nations. And this is a beautiful waxy seal over this first little section where he talks about these kings of the north and the kings from the south. The second section is about an individual. It's about a man named Antiochus Epiphanes IV. Epiphanes means God appearing. This guy was so full of himself, he said to people, When you see me, you see God. And just when you think it couldn't get more conceited and wicked and evil, it will. It starts in verse 20. Let's read this section. Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an extractor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom, a tax collector, basically. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Listen for how often the Bible talks about the way flattery is used. Verse 22, armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the Prince of the Covenant. The Prince of the Covenant is the high priest. It's the preacher. When the preacher gets in bed with the politician, nothing good can come of that. Just write it down. Verse 23, and from that time that an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning, he shall come into the richest part of the providence, and he shall do what neither his father's nor his father's fathers have done. Scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall do what he knows is if I give these people stuff, they'll vote for me. Waiting, waiting. Scattering among the people, plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time, and he shall stir up his power in his heart against the king of the south with a great army, and the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand. For plots shall be devised against him, even those who eat his food shall break him, his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil, they shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail. They sit down to negotiate a peace treaty, and they're both lying to each other, so they cannot come to an agreement. For the end is yet to f for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. Verse 28. And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the Holy Covenant, and he shall work his will and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south. But it shall not be this time as it was before. For ships of Katim shall come against him. That's a reference to Rome. And he shall be afraid and withdraw and shall and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the Holy Covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the Holy Covenant. Look at me. What he does is that this is Antiochus. He comes from Syria and excuse me, and he's gonna invade Egypt. And Rome comes along and says, No, you're not. And so what he does, a bully always looks for someone to pick on. And so what Antiochus does is he turns back and he takes it out on the Jewish people. This is what we're fixed to read about. Look what he does. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering. They shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery. There it is again, those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And they shall join themselves to them with flattery. And some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end. For it still awaits the appointed time. Now this is that the first part was like three hundred and I think thirty years. This is twelve years of the rule of a wicked, wicked man named Antiochus. What do we take away from that? A couple of things. Number one is simply this even the wicked are under God's sovereignty. Even the wicked are under God's sovereignty. It's verse 27 and verse 29, verse 35. He uses this phrase, at the appointed time, at the appointed time, at the appointed time. Well, if there's an appointed time, who exists outside of history and appoints the time? See, never fear the person who is at the mercy of ultimate reality. Never fear the politician who occupies office under the auspices of the sovereignty of God. Let me give you an example from real life because I know sometimes that we preachers can talk, and you're kind of like, dude, I'm just here because my wife. So we need to start going to church because you're a knucklehead. This is what I mean. Basically, have you ever gone to one of these go-kart places? Like our church used to go up Highway 6, there was a place, I was still there, but they had indoor, uh, high-speed, quote-unquote go-kart races. Uh, and we would go, and the same two men from our church would win every time. I'm not gonna say any names, but they're Wheeler Bemett and Wade Burgess. Uh and I was like, How in the world are these guys winning? I mean, these guys, and so we're all trying to pick out the fastest one. The next time we race, I want that one, I want that one. And finally, I mean, I am like pushing the thing all the way down. The guy that works there goes, hey, dude, it's got a governor on it, okay? You can mash the gas all you want. It ain't going any faster. I said, Well, theirs goes faster than mine. And then this guy gets personal and says, Well, they weigh less. I see you in the parking lot. I got theirs, and I'm kind of like, and they're like Lewis Hamilton, like in Formula One, and they get it beside me and they wave and they drive off, and I'm like pressing the gas even further. I got my foot out on the pushing the thing. Look at me. Regardless of how much you push the gas, when there's a governor, a governor is not a politician taped to a go-kart. Though that would be a good idea. A governor is a little regulator that uh that says this thing can only go so fast. Look at me. God and his sovereignty, sovereignty means control. Even when wicked people are in charge, they can only go so fast so far. They will go no further and not do more. Yes, thank you, God is right. Then God allows. Now, does that mean God's responsible? No, God allows it to wean us off of our dependence on people. You're gonna give me plunder? You're gonna give me stuff? I just sit here and do nothing. Have you noticed most restaurants you go into, there's a help wanting sign? Yeah, people call the church, hey, I need some money. No, you need a job. Jimmy Johns is hiring. If you buy a sandwich, they give you a card. If you know me looking for a job, we're hiring. We we need help. But see, we give plunder to people, we give the spoils to people. That's why in America, right now, you can make more money on unemployment than you can doing a job. So why work? We just infecting people with the lazy gene. So people call the church and think we're a bunch of idiots down here. Hey, I need some money. No, you need a job. Jimmy Johns is hired. I ain't working with Jimmy Johnson. Hey, if you're really broke, ain't nothing beneath you. Aren't you supposed to help me? I'm helping you by telling you the truth. You should thank me. You should bring me money for loving you enough to tell you this. Click. Then my wife's like, Don't you feel bad? No. No, because that guy's got a phone book out, he's just calling every church on the list. And some non-discerning person, like, yeah, come on down, we'll give your stuff. Uh, here's the point. First takeaway, even wicked rulers are under God's sovereignty, okay? Here's the second takeaway. Some will abandon the faith because of difficulty or desire. Let me say that again. Some people will abandon the faith because of difficulty or desire. What do you mean? Verse 30, look at it. After Rome steps up and says to Antiochus, listen, knucklehead. Matter of fact, the Roman general, uh, he's a man named Gaius, he took a stick and drew a circle around him. He's he's standing in the circle, and he said, You're gonna decide right now that you're not gonna invade Egypt before you step out of this circle. And basically what he was saying was, you step out of the circle, and we're gonna lay it to you right here, my man. And he's like, Okay. He was embarrassed, he was humiliated because men, ladies, look at me. We men, we don't fail very well. I used to bless you. I used to say to my kids, hey, do you want to hear something at dinner? We would sit down and I would say, Y'all wanna hear something dad screwed up today? And they're like, Yes. And I was like, Why do y'all enjoy this? One of my kids said, Dad, I just think, I think you never mess up. Oh, that's not true. I know that's why when you say you want to hear what dad absolutely got wrong, she goes, I get excited because I just think, oh, it's not just me. We don't fail well. And so, but basically, Antiochus is no different. He doesn't like being checked, and so he turns on the Jews and ramps up his wrath against them. And some will abandon the faith because of difficulty or desire. Verse 30, look at it. For the ships of Kidam shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. Here's this next sentence. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Those who forsake the holy covenant are Jews that were like, hey, dude, we don't, we, you know, this God and Jesus thing works for us when it's easy, but when it's difficult, we're with you. And they turned their back and walked away. Now, by the way, this happens a lot these days. I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm fixing to say. Even this week, some famous Christian writer, philosopher, or whatever, announced on Twitter uh that he has left the faith and he posted a picture of himself in his tight t-shirt and his big manly beard, and I'm no longer a Christian. And so I didn't know about this because I don't keep up with that, but someone called me and said, Hey, what do you think about this? And I said, This is not news. I mean, this guy's you you cannot listen carefully, you cannot be a Christian and then announce all of a sudden you're no longer a Christian. All this is is a vain attempt to get more Twitter followers. Like, for example, have you ever remember the book that came out years ago called I Kiss Dating Goodbye? Have you ever heard of that? Say amen. Yeah, a guy named Josh Harris wrote the book. A year or so ago, Josh Harris came out, famous Christian pastor, and said, I'm no longer a Christian. People are like, oh my gosh, I'm the guy in the back going, you never were. Get over yourself. And people were like, oh my gosh, McClendon's like an old man. Listen, if you famous preachers, I'm talking to all of you, all of you little Twitter followers out there, that you you market yourself in your $5,000 tennis shoes, if I was God, we'd hunt you people, okay? Because you're a tick on the body of Christ. You you you're you're pathetic. And then you come out like, oh, well, I I've come to the conclusion that I'm I'm no longer a Christian. I can't be considered a Christian. You never were. Because here's the thing: a genuinely converted person perseveres to the end, okay? If they leave the faith, they were never of the faith, period. That's just the gospel. And all this is is men trolling for the affection of the unconverted. Don't you think I'm really intellectual? No, I think you're pathetic. I think you're a moral coward. I think you probably cheated on your wife, or you've now live an alternative lifestyle, and you have to make some big press relief. No press conference for you. Go away. You were never one. Matter of fact, you probably pastored a church full of non-discerning people that never said, Hey, this guy's not a believer. Now, if you're visiting right now, you're touching your husband going, We're going to First Baptist next week. This man has anger issues and needs decaf. Let me show you in the Bible where I get this, okay? 1 John chapter 2, verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. And if you have heard that Antichrist has come, and so now many Antichrists have come. Antiochus, uh, therefore, we know that it is the last hour. Here's this part. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are all not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all, you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. They went out from us, look at me, because they weren't a part of, I'm not mad. I'm just tired of these so-called famous Christians, which is an oxymoron. These famous Christians who have all this social media following. Oh, I've decided that I disagree with what the Bible teaches about that. You don't get that right. Shut up. Uh I'm no longer a Christian, you never were. Next. Let me bring it down to me. If five years from now you hear, oh, remember that guy's again Parkway? He he opened up an Instagram account and made one post. I'm no longer a Christian. You just look at your wife and go, I knew he didn't believe. Yeah, I believe that about myself. See, because once a person's converted, because this your conversion wasn't your idea. Philippians 1, 6, he who began a good work in you, he God who began a good work in you, will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus. You persevere to the end, not because you're disciplined and you eat keto or whatever, or you work out, blah, blah, blah. Get over yourself. You persevere all the way to the end, come hell or high water, because God's at work in you. That's why you make it. And there's gonna be days where you just look at your wife and you think, Do I have enough money to divorce you and start over? But you persevere. Not because you don't know the name of a good attorney. It's because the Holy Spirit says, Hey, knucklehead, stop being a little baby and man up. And you're like, Yeah, okay. Here's the third takeaway. A right knowledge of God will serve you well. A right knowledge of God will serve you well. It's verse 32. What do you mean? He says, He shall seduce with flattery. See, there's flattery again. The difference in compliments and flattery, compliments are about you. Flattery is about me. Well, I compliment you. I'm just saying, how much you know this about you? Flattery is, I'm saying this because I want something from you. It's about me. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant. But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. This is why I mean when I say a right knowledge of God will serve you well. The people who know their God, you want to be growing in your knowledge of God. You want to go to a church where they teach you what the Bible says about God. Not just what does the Bible say about you and parenting and money and success and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. About God. Stop reading the Bible like your high school yearbook where you open it up and look, what page is my picture on? My high school yearbook. It had a key in the back of it. You could look up your name and it would tell you all the pages your picture was on. That wasn't good. Because that's all we did. Oh man, I've been here five times. Here's the last takeaway of this section. God uses our stumbling. Look at verse 35. And some of the wise shall stumble. Because he starts at verse 33. He said, The wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. Aren't you glad when you stumble, you get a little help? Look around. If people are stumbling around you, don't look at them and go, hey man, you better get together. Get up under them and give them a little help. And some of the, verse 35, and many shall join themselves to them with flattery. There's flattery again, and some of the wise shall stumble so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the end, until the time of the end, for it still waits the appointed time. God, even when you stumble, don't quit. Don't take yourself out of the race because when you stumble, God is coming to help you. He's sending people to help you. If you're stumbling today, I want you to know there's a purpose for it. It doesn't mean you're a bad person, you're never gonna make it. It just means you just need a little bit of help. Here's the last section. You still with me? Y'all got me all worked up there. I got, whoo, I gotta calm down. Uh the last section is just what I call final. Uh remember, it's like a funnel. It starts off with these kings and these countries, then it gets down to an individual, and now the final is what the Bible calls the Antichrist. This is the person that's gonna rise at the end, uh, and he's gonna just oppose everything about God. This is the way the Bible talks about it. Verse 36. And the king shall do as he wills, he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished, but what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the God of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. When the Bible says, or to the one beloved by women, men, that's not a reference to you. It's a reference to the Greek God Adonis. And in the nation of Egypt, a lot of people worship Adonis. And so the Antichrist is like, he doesn't worship anything because he worships himself. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the God of fortresses instead of these. When it says he shall honor the God of fortresses, that means he's committed to war. That's what that's about. He's like, I'm gonna impose my will through flattery or war or whatever necessary. A God whom his fathers uh did not know, he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign God. In other words, he'll appeal to any God that will help him, help him accomplish his goal. Those who acknowledge him, he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and with many ships. He shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land, and tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab, and the main parts of the Ammonites. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with a great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. And hear this after all this build-up, look at me. He is wiped off the face of the earth in one sentence. Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him. Full of, to quote Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. So what do we take away from this final, you know? This present reality versus ultimate reality. Just two takeaways, and I'm done. The existence of evil is not a threat to God's sovereignty. Just because there's evil in the world and it's personified, doesn't mean that God's not in control. Verse 36 says, until the indignation is accomplished, for what is decreed shall be done. Until the indication is accomplished, indignation, excuse me, until the indignation, indignation is this righteous anger towards injustice. And the Bible says that eventually the elevator is going to get to the floor it's destined to, and the bell's gonna go off, ding, and the door's gonna open. And guess what's gonna happen? DMX is gonna come off saying, X's gonna give it to you, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. No yeah, yeah. DMX died this week, people. Come on, show some love for the brother. Yeah, it's like a scene from Fast and Furious 7. They got the soundtrack going, X's gonna give it to you. And God's just gonna wipe all evil off the face of the earth. Said differently, the existence of evil is not a threat to God's sovereignty. Now, some of you are gonna have to go home today and Google, X's gonna give it to you. I recommend the clean version. Here's the last thing the goal of history is to put our lives in perspective. The goal of history is to put my life and your life in perspective. I'm 56. I'll be 57 in June. 28th, to be exact. Write it down. I like savory, not sweet. I'm just saying. The goal of history is to put, I sat at my breakfast table last night and just thought about my life. In light of this, what does this mean? If this is ultimate reality, and it is, what does that mean for your life today? How could you live? How could you talk? How could you engage in how could you fight the good fight? There's some good fights, and that means there's some bad fights. Because the goal of history is to put our life in perspective. Let's pray together. If you're a guest, we like to teach the Bible, then we like to give you some space just to think about it. And so I'll pray a brief prayer and some questions come up on the screen for us to think about. Let me pray. God, thanks for the Bible. It's so thought-provoking. So it kind of stabs us awake. And it reminds and reorients. And now, God, before we bust out of here, we want to be still for a moment and think about what you said to us today. So brood over us, God, and use these questions to stir our head and our heart. God, thank you for the gift of history. It reminds us that preachers nor politicians are in charge of the world. And that's a good thing, God. You're in charge of the world. You're sovereign above it all. And even the wicked you use to accomplish your purposes. Let us live with all our might while we're still alive, so that coming to the place of dying, we realize we never really lived. Let us be wild and free, just the way the Bible intends us to be, just the way you created us to be. And let us be this way for your glory, God, and yet for our pleasure. We pray in Christ's name. And everyone says, Man. Amen. Thank you for being here today. If you're our guest, you're always welcome here, okay? Uh, you may be like, hey, I don't believe this all stuff. You're still welcome here. We believe this that if you'll constantly and consistently expose yourself to the teaching of God's word, that God will reveal Himself to you. Okay? And so that's what we mean when we say you're always welcome. Hopefully, you've had a chance, if you're a guest, to pull one of those guest cards in the seat back pocket in your row. Fill that out if you would before you leave here in just a minute. Just drop it in the wooden box by the door. That's also where we receive our offering for those who consider this your church. So if the day's the day you worship God in that way, that's where you take care of that as well. We have a few things coming up by way of announcements, so give your attention to our video today.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Thank you for joining us today. Here's a few things we want you to know. The Epistle of Jude is one of the shortest books of the Bible, but it is packed with relevant truth for the modern day church. On Tuesday, April 27th, our women's ministry will begin a four-week study of Jude, where our women's pastor, Marcy McClendon, will be teaching. Childcare is available, and the class will meet at 6.30 to 8 p.m. So this is a great opportunity for women in every stage of life. Registration is available online at grandparkway.org slash events. Our women's weekend has over 250 women registered for what will be two soul-filling and God-glorifying days of worship, word, and fellowship. The deadline to sign up is today. You can register in the lobby or online at grandparkway.org slash events. If you're new or you have any questions about what you've heard today, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Two things by way of reminder, ladies, uh there, if you have any questions about women's weekend, there at the kiosk in the live, they can answer that. And then this is for us men. Let's encourage our wives to be a part of the Jude study. Uh there's child care available, but here's the thing if you have a husband, you don't need child care. That's sorry, rascal, doesn't need to be working every night, okay? So you tell your husband, hey, you get these kids up off of me, I'm gonna go hang out with some women and deepen my faith. Uh, men, let's encourage our wives into spiritually formative environments, okay? It's from 6:30 to 8, the Jude study. It starts in a couple weeks. Great opportunity for your wife, not to be a wife or a mother, but to be a woman of faith. When you allow, when you put your wife and you encourage your wife to be a woman of faith, you you get a better wife and a better mother. Okay? That's all you get. Stand to your feet. Let me speak a blessing over you. Hold your hands out. On your worst day, the day you wanted to quit, the day you put in the ditch royally, you stumbled on that day. God did not change his mind about you because he began the work in you, and he who began the good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus. And so depart now and enjoy what God is doing in you and give expression to it out of you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.