Daniel 11 the prophet Isaiah tells us the Lord speaks in
chapter 46 verse 9 and 10. There God says these things.
He says, remember the things that I have done in the past,
for I alone am God. I am God.
There is none like me. There's no other God, there's
only one God. There are not many roads, too
many gods, there's one God. Jesus said I am the way, the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but
by me. There is no other God but the
God of Israel. There is no other way to God but
through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
He goes on to say in verse 10 of chapter 46, Only I can tell you
the future. Don't believe anybody else.
You want to know what the future holds.
You don't have to go to a psych. What do you call them?
Psychic? Is that what they call something
like that? I make a lot of money out of
poor people anyway. I call them con men, women only.
I can tell you the future only and the future is laid out in
God's word. God's ringing me.
I'll, I'll be, I'll be calling back before it ever happens.
He says. Everything God says I plan will
come to pass everything for I do whatever I wish.
So we learn only God knows the future and he's made it known to
us in the Bible of the word of God.
He made it known to Abraham as he and an Angel came to Abraham
on the plains of memory. They're going on to judge Sodom
and Gomorrah and there before he went in and judge Sodom and
Gomorrah and they rescued Lot because judgement doesn't fall
on the righteous, only on the unrighteous.
So Lord had to be taken out of the city.
Genesis 1817 God said the Lord said should I hide my plan from
Abraham? In other words, I'm going to
tell him what I'm going to do. The Lord asked, but also the
Bible tells you and I revelation chapter one, verse one.
This is a revelation from Jesus Christ which God gave him to
show his servants. That's everyone who's received
Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
By the way, do you know that his servants, you can't, you don't
attend church, you don't attend or hang out at church.
When you become born again, Jesus says you must be born
again. You then change from serving
yourself to serving the Lord. And so I want you to really
think about that 2026 where, what, and how are you going to
be serving the Lord in 2026? This is a revelation from Jesus
Christ which God gave Him to show His servants and servants
do what their master asks or commands.
The events that must soon take place future.
We're living in a time where those who call themselves
Christians proclaim that they are followers of Christ, and
many people do. Every American president has
done for ages are coming to a pivotal junction in the world's
history, biblical history. That is a valley of decision.
Now it says in the prophet Joel verse chapter 3, verse 14,
thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of
decision. There the day of the Lord will
soon arrive. And that's specifically Speaking
of the valley of Jezreel when the Lord returns the battle, the
battle of Armageddon. But you and I today, as
believers, we're in a valley of decision.
And so as 2026 comes up and we sang about it this morning, we
are to make decisions that direct and guide our lives.
And the decision should be, what does the Lord want me to do in
this situation? In Chapter 11, the future is
detailed in Prophetic Information so much that we'll
have to summarise it. We couldn't go through it and
pick every verse. Chapter 10 through to chapter 12
are one prophetic vision that Daniel is receiving.
Remember, he's been praying three weeks, fasting and prayer
and it covers a period of time from King Darius the Maid to the
second coming of Jesus Christ, that period past future, even
our future. So first one also in the first
year of Darius the Mead I even I stood up to confirm and
strengthen him. This is the messenger sent from
God the first day, the first moment that Daniel prayed a
messenger was sent and remember, but it took three weeks to get
there. Why battle in heaven?
Spiritual warfare, The answer was sent.
But there was warfare before. Daniel received this messenger
from God, who now from 10:11 and 12:00 tells him this amazing
vision of future events. And he says this messenger and
now I will tell you the truth. I like that.
Behold, 3 more kings will arise in Persia, and the 4th shall be
far richer than them all by his strength.
Through his riches he shall stir up against the realm of Greece.
Remember we had the Babylonians and the Medes and the Persians
who followed them, the Grecians who followed the Grecians, the
Romans. So I want to ask you, do you
want the truth? You know dogs and cats?
I don't care about the truth. You know when you go and leave
your dog at home and you you come home to the dog and and
he's wagging his tail? He didn't.
He doesn't know. You've been gone for hours.
He's just, you wouldn't have a clue.
He doesn't wear a watch, can't tell the time.
You know you can tell him off because he's been digging holes.
Next minute, he's your best friend again.
You say come in here. He wags his tail.
Everything like cats. They're a little bit different.
Cats don't care. You can go away.
Don't come back. I don't care, but you know you
and I want the truth. When we go to the doctor, we
don't want him to kind of go, well, what's the problem?
What are you going to do about it?
God created us to demand to know the truth.
We need the truth. In Daniel chapter 10 verse 21,
the messenger said to Daniel, I will tell you what is noted in
the scripture of truth. God's Word is the truth.
And now in Daniel Chapter 11 he repeats verse 2 and now I will
tell you the truth. Remember, it was Jesus Christ
Himself who placed His seal on the authenticity of Daniel's
prophecies in Matthew 2415 on the Olivet Discourse when the
disciples said, Jesus, tell us what's going to be the things,
what's going to happen at the end, the end of the age, Matthew
2415, Jesus and part of that discussion said, therefore, when
you see the abomination of desolation spoken of.
And now Jesus says by Daniel the prophet, Jesus says Daniel the
prophet standing in the holy place.
Jesus adds this. Whoever reads Daniel the
prophet, let him understand. You need to know and understand
the prophecies of Daniel the word of God.
In other words, the events that are spoken of here, they're
coming and they're going to happen.
Guaranteed there will be 3 more kings that will rise up in the
Persian Empire. Ahasiris was the first, then
there was Arctic Xerxes, then there's Darius, then a fourth,
the most powerful of all will come his name, Xerxes.
Then another empire that follows is mentioned, The Grecian.
Why are there only two empires mentioned?
Have you ever wondered why he only deals with the the Medes
and the Persians here specifically for Persian and
then the Greeks? You know, why doesn't talk
about, you know, other empires that were going on throughout
the world and there were other empires at that time in the
world. Why, why does the Bible just
mention the Persians and the Grecians?
That's a good question. Because these two empires took
on the nation Israel. Because it's all about Israel
and attempted to annihilate the covenant people of God.
That's why they mentioned the first one.
The Persians attempted to do this initially through the
wicked plot of a fella called Haman.
It's a great story to read your kids.
It's found in the book of Esther.
Haman. Secondly, the Greeks tried to do
the same to the Jews during the reign of a fellow called
Antiochus the 4th. He was king of the Seleucid
Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC.
And it's the period between the end of the Old Testament and the
beginning of the New Testament. And Antiochus tried to make the
Jewish people deny their Jewish character, their heritage during
that period. Verse 3 Then a mighty king.
So we've moved from the Persians, and now we're going to
go to the Grecians Shall arise, who shall rule with great
dominion, and do according to his will.
And when he has arisen, his Kingdom shall be broken up and
divided toward the four. Note that four winds of heaven,
but not among his posterity, not in other words, not his kids.
They're not going to his heirs, they're not going to take over
his Kingdom, nor according to his dominion with which he
ruled. For his Kingdom shall be
uprooted, even for others besides these.
Now, in the middle of the Persian and the Greek Empire,
there arose a mighty king, his name, Alexander the Great.
He defeated the Persians in 332 BC Alexander the Great, however,
died at the age of just 32 years.
He was drinking all night, been raining.
He had a fever, and he died. And as he's dying, they said,
well, who's going to, who's going to rule?
And he said to, to the strongest.
But here's a point. Why do we not hear any more
about Alexander the Great? I mean this mighty man well, and
I recommend you have one in your home.
There's a book called Josephus Jewish Historian, and the Jewish
historian in his book tells us that Alexander the Great arrived
at Jerusalem with his mighty army during his at the height of
his reign. And who met him?
The high priest of Jerusalem met him and asked him to speak with
him. The high priest then showed
Alexander personally the scroll of the Daniel of of the prophet
Daniel that you and I are reading today.
And he told Alexander, this is you here.
This is who Daniel is writing there.
He wrote about you before you came.
This is you on the way, and it's in the antiquities of the Jews.
In the book of Josephus, Chapter 11, verses 8.5, on the way to
Jerusalem, Josephus says that Alexander said, you know, it's
funny you say you've done all this as I'm coming.
I had a dream and I saw you, you the high priest, coming to me.
And so he was so overwhelmed by him being found in Daniel's
prophecy written years before, he offered a sacrifice to the
God of Israel in Jerusalem along with the high priest, and then
he turned and left with his army.
Alexander left Jerusalem alone. In verse 4 it tells us of the
time of Alexander's death and the Grecian empire being divided
up. Remember it says four winds, 4
generals. Now the rest of Chapter 11 deals
greatly with just two of the four generals and their
kingdoms. 2 kingdoms, Syria to the north, Egypt to the South.
We have no dealings in Daniel here with the other two
generals. Again, question.
Well, why? Why aren't they mentioned here?
Because they had no dealings with the people of Israel.
It's all about Israel. Verse 5 Also the king of the
South shall become strong as well as one of his Princess, and
he shall gain power over him and have dominion.
His dominion shall be a great dominion.
The king of the South, who took over during the Grecian reign
after Alexander's death, was a fellow called General Ptolemy.
He was Ptolemy the First of Egypt, the king of the north,
one of the four generals of Alexander.
His name was Seleucis. He took over the dominion of the
region of Syria. So Egypt, Syria, sandwiched in
the middle, Israel, and they were at war with one another.
The rest of Chapter 11 goes into incredible detail.
It speaks of Cleopatra, it speaks of Mark Antony, and all
those things that occurred are found in Chapter 11.
Between the two rules, North and South.
They fought one another back and forth and often the battleground
unfortunately was the land of Israel that separated them both.
I remember our guide telling us when we were at the Jaffa Gate,
the Jaffa Gate in Israel still has all these bullet holes in
it. You know, he was pointing out
what calibre that one is, what calibre that one is, which war
and so forth. And he said, here's the thing,
every time there was a war in in Europe and Asia, everyone went
through Israel on the way to the war or back through Israel on
the way home from the war. The fighting between the two
lasted some 130 years. So between verses 6 and 21, we
have alliances, marriages. They try, you know, married one
another, you know, you marry Cleopatra.
And then there's Marc Anthony, you know, and all this so forth.
Then there's more wars. Then there's victories and
defeats on both sides, victory to the north.
They're occupying the Holy Land that is the Seleucid Empire or
the dynasty of Syria, and then more alliances, more marriages.
So the prophecies are so detailed and written now between
6 and 21, that many Bible, I mean not Bible scholars, but
scholars around the world said it's impossible for this to be
written before the events. It is impossible because the the
events that Daniel has written down, told to him by the
messenger of God are too detailed.
But you know, that's God's word. God's the only one in you.
Which raises a question right now at this time for you and I,
are you troubled by the events of 2025?
I am Gaza, Israel. We're hoping now as we click
over, we'll be putting out our sign up sheet for our trip to
Israel in January 27, which will be months, only months away once
we click over for the first time in three years.
In Bethlehem, they celebrated Christmas safely.
But the events of 2025, Bondi massacre, I mean, it's wicked.
And now are you fearful of what may happen in 2026?
I mean, we have children growing up.
Grandchildren don't be. How can I say that?
Why? Because we serve the Lord who
knows and dictates the future. You see, fear is the opposite to
faith. And God has our lives in His
hand. God knows the future now you
know your past. Can you remember your past?
Oh yeah, I remember I did that. Oh no, I forgot that.
Well, God knows your future, our future, better than you even
know your past. So why is Bible prophecy so
important? Why are we even dealing with
Persians and Grecians now? First, Bible prophecy covers 1/3
of all scripture, so it's pretty much there's no getting around.
Secondly, God shows off through the word of God constantly that
he rules the future. Only he knows the future.
He says for I alone am God, there's no one like me, only I
can tell you the future before it even happens.
This tells you and I this morning and gives us great
evidence in the word of God that it is inspired.
This is not just the book. We gave a book to a kid.
We were living in Bibra Lake one time.
He's nine years old, won't mention his name, but man, he
was like Dennis the Menace. He just annoyed the daylights
out of us. We drive up the driveway and
he'd been on our kids band trampoline, bouncing up and down
and he disappeared as we drive up.
Gary, you even did trampoline. No, no, I haven't been there.
Anyway, we thought we'll try and win him to.
The Lord gave him a Bible. Obviously his mom and dad didn't
like it. So next day he came back and
said here's the Bible. I said, oh, you read it?
Yeah, you read it last night so you can have it back.
Gary, God's word is inspired. Thirdly, God's word is true.
You see, you don't want to waste your time coming here today.
I hate when, you know, as you get older, you really don't like
wasting time. You like to get in.
I mean, how long are we doing this?
You know, you know, you stand in the line at the grocery stores
where it says 12. What do you do?
Count how many they got in their basket.
They got they got 14 in that basket.
And then you go through fast food and they tell you to drive
around to wait till the you mean I got to drive around way out
the front. Now, by the way, don't go to
Hungry Jack's over here The other day I was 30 minutes and I
reversed out in the end, 30 minutes and I had not moved.
Some of the kids here work at Hungry Jack's.
That's really good, isn't it? Just remembered that that went
down. Well, the Bible is true.
It gives us the details, nations, the kings, it names
them, it tells you the years. And fourthly, if all this is
true, you know what then? The truth about our salvation is
real. It means you are saved.
God has saved you. You are saved by his grace.
You are safe in His arms. You were saved through his death
that was prophesied. You were saved by his
resurrection. Jesus said three days, I'll be
back. He did.
And you know what else the Bible says he said he's going to do?
He says I'm coming back. That's as concrete as you can
get. This is why Jesus said to his
disciples on that fateful night, the night of his betrayal and
arrest, He said let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
Why in my Father's house, so many mansions?
If it were not so, I, I would tell you, I go to prepare a
place, a real, tangible, actual existing place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I
will receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be
also where I go, you know, and the way you know.
So God did not just have in Daniel 11 here, just a specific
plan for four generals. And Alexander, the Bible tells
us because of this, that this morning God has a specific
detailed plan for your life, your life.
You're created in his image. He saw you being formed in your
mother's womb. Psalm 139.
He made your heartbeat. He has a plan also.
Many of you are young, newly married.
He has a plan for your marriage. Some of you are been married for
a number of years. He has a plan for your marriage.
It's just not what shall we do now we're married, what shall we
do? No, it's what does God want us
to do? Where does God want us to go?
We can't be selfish. You can't be a believer in
Christ and run your own life. Can't do that.
God has a plan for you. Specific plan.
Here's a plan for your family. How is your family to minister
in the Kingdom of God? Your family.
Here's a plan for your son and your daughter, a specific godly
plan for them. Do you know what it is, Mom and
Dad? Do you pray about it?
Do you seek God about it? No matter who you are, God has a
plan for you. There's a little guy he wanted
to see Jesus, couldn't see Jesus.
He was just small, you know, every time he tried to see, he
couldn't see out of the crowd. So he rushed the head where
Jesus was going to walk, climbed up a tree, and as Jesus came
under the tree, he stopped Zacchaeus, tonight your place,
I'm coming, calling me out by name.
As he left Zacchaeus, Jesus said salvation has come to this
place. He knew Zacchaeus, he knew
Zacchaeus couldn't see, He knew Zacchaeus was up the tree.
And he said, Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your place.
Some insignificant guy, where's Zacchaeus come from, didn't do
any great mighty deeds. And then there was a woman.
She had tried, she'd had broken relationship, one after the
other after the other. And she was with another man,
now the 6th. And there she goes to get water.
All the other women are gone because they just talk about her
all the time. She turns up.
There's just this, there's this guy waiting, He's a Jew.
And he asks, could you get me a drink?
And then the discussion unveils. Jesus has sent his disciples off
Why? He had an appointment with a
woman at a well in Samaria. You see, I want you to realise
you're not just, you're not just somebody that no one knows
about. God has made you and he has a
plan in his Kingdom for you. The trouble is, so few of us are
walking in the footsteps that He's created.
So few of us are walking in the plan.
And you know what that means? That means we're not living in
the glory and the wonder and the joy that God has prepared for
us. We're doing our own thing and
it's miserable. Doesn't work.
Verse 21, We drop down to now, and in this place shall arise A
vile person to whom they will not give the honour of royalty,
but he shall come in notice peaceably.
He's a trickster, he'll seize the Kingdom by intrigue.
This vile person we mentioned again, we've covered him
previously, his name, Antiochus Epiphany in the Grecian Empire,
he gave himself the title of the Epiphanies, which means
illustrious, glorious, he is a God.
The Jews called him Antiochus Epimines, which means he's a
crazy man madman. In verse 22 to 25, Antiochus
tried to make a name for himself, so he sets out to
conquer the Ptolemy Empire of Egypt to the South.
But the Ptolemies do battle with Antiochus, and there's a new kid
on the block. They get some help from some
naval ships from the Romans, and the Romans find their place in
the Middle East for the first time and they defeat Antiochus.
And the Roman leader gets Antiochus on the beach and he
literally draws a ring around him on the beach.
And he says, before you put your foot out of that circle, you got
to promise to stop coming down to take over Egypt before you
put your foot out of that circle.
So Antiochus, he said, OK, Antiochus, at that time, it's
170 BC, he says on verse 28, while returning to his land on
the way back from this defeat with great riches, his heart
shall be moved against the holy covenant.
Who are they? There's only one group of people
who have the holy covenant, the people of Israel.
So he shall do damage and return to his own land on his way back
from fighting. He heads back through Jerusalem
on the way back to Syria in 170 BC.
It says in verse 34 ships from Cyprus shall come against him.
Therefore he shall be grieved and return in Rage Against the
Holy Covenant Israel and do damage.
So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the
Holy Covenant, and forces shall be mustered by Him.
They shall defile the sanctuary, the temple, they shall take away
the daily sacrifices, place there the abomination of
desolation. We've heard that mentioned by
Jesus. Those who do wickedly against
the covenant, He shall corrupt with flattery.
But then there's his verse. But the people who know their
God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.
Antiochus because he's defeated, being humiliated, rage.
He's a crazy man, comes back and does Jerusalem just savages it,
stops everything, stops the worship.
He then goes into the temple and there he erects the image of the
God Zeus in the holy of holies. He then also gets a pig, a sow
and slaughters it on the holy altar and sprinkles sprays pig's
blood all throughout the temple. At the time he slaughters 80,000
Jews, he takes prisoner another 40,000.
He steals from the temple in Jerusalem a billion dollars in
gold. But yeah, we have this.
Then it's also semi colon but the people of God who know their
God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.
It seems like this is a doesn't fit here.
It just pops up amongst this mayhem.
What happened is some Jews sided with Antiochus.
Yeah, he will go along with him during the time because he had
smooth sounding words. He was a conman.
But then there are others who resisted him, who are strong in
their God. In the worst of times, under
Antiochus, there were those in Jerusalem who knew their God and
stood strong in their faith. They didn't bow to him.
There are those who no matter the storm, you and I know some,
maybe you're one of them. No matter the doctor's words,
you have months to live. No matter the heartache that
you've had, the grief that you've lost, when someone has
passed or had, you still stand strong in their faith.
I remember Pastor Greg Laurie from Calvary Chapel of Harvest.
It's called Harvest now. It used to be Riverside.
His son Christopher, he gets a phone call.
His son Christopher, 32, killed on a car crash in California.
So they're wondering what's Greg going to do the Sunday following
the accident, the death of his son.
Greg is devastated. He says he's never wept and been
in pain like that in all his life.
So Greg got up and I remember we watched it and he stood at the
pulpit. He's devastated.
And he said these words I still believe when he sat down.
I still believe you, see you and I can look at this and this is a
message for us this morning. In your darkest hour, you can
serve God idly. We're heading into troubled
waters. With the New year approaching,
persecution to true followers of Christ in Australia is coming.
There will be no exception to those who are true followers who
live the Christian life, not persecution, I believe like we
see in Nigeria or such places as yet, but in your workplace,
you'll be exiled. You have a Bible, everyone which
they knock you, laugh you as you read it during your lunch break.
You don't swear and carry on. You don't tell dirty jokes,
you're ostracised. Better stop talking.
Here comes sunset. I had that, had that for years.
You'll be overlooked in promotion because you're that
weird church girl. You'll be forced into situations
where you either will fold or you'll stand out like a beacon
around the meeting room as discussions going on about
something and something comes up.
What's your opinion on the matter?
And it's something that's really bubbling over at the moment.
What do you say about the matter?
And you either go, oh, or you say, well, I'm a I'm a believer,
so I go along with what the Bible says on the matter.
Oh, you're an idiot. You'll be considered intolerant.
But you love people who Christ died for, but you'll be
considered intolerant. You'll be considered unloving.
Now that no, that's not unloving.
It's actually the one person who tells the truth.
It's actually loving, isn't it? You know what you're doing is
not good for you. Everyone auction just let you go
about and behave like an idiot. But the one person's hey, this
is not right. That's the enemy's plan for us
in 2026. Confusion, 3 CS Confusion,
compromise and casualness. He's bringing to those who are
lukewarm and Australia as churches full of lukewarm
people, casual in their walk with God.
They fit God in when they can and they're going to run into
great confusion because Jesus said on the Mount of Olives
there's going to be people coming up.
Christ. Christ is here, Christ is there.
All new things. Deceivers, you fads.
This is the latest church thing. This is the the new.
This is the new teacher. Oh, Manny, he is.
She's travelling around the world.
The new prophet and Satan will bring in compromise.
You'll have decisions to make serious decisions.
The way you choose, the direction you take that will
affect your walk. You know, adultery, fornication,
cowardly idolaters, unbelieving. Revelation 21 verse 8 says
people who do those things will not get into heaven.
That's not me saying that if people come and go to church,
living in sin, lying, rejecting God, cowardly, and they walk
with God, have idols, they think, well, it's not so we're
not so bad. God will help me through.
It's the great deception. The Bible says you're not going
to get into the Kingdom of God. It's compromise.
It's how you lead your marriage, how you lead your family.
If you're casual with God, Can you imagine being in a marriage
where the person is casual with you?
People have that. They call them open
relationships. You know, they're not, they're
not faithful to one another. They go with others.
They go with others in here and they in and out and I'm not this
and that. We're open.
No, it's sinful. God doesn't have a casual
relationship. He doesn't have an open
relationship. He's a jealous God.
The first commandment is what? Love the Lord your God with
what? All your heart, all your mind,
all your soul and all your strength.
God's not into. I couldn't see it pop in.
Yeah. High 5 See you in six weeks
time. He's not into that.
When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn't a casual thing.
I just bang a nail here and then he gave a whole lot.
This is my body. Communion will celebrate.
This is my body I give for you Broken 2026.
You see, if you're casual, what's going to happen to the
casual? They'll fall away.
In fact, many will fall away in the future.
But this need not be your future.
Today you and we can repent right where you are now.
You can fall before God, call upon him and say, God forgive
me. Let me get my heart right.
Let me live right before you right today.
Now, right now is the time for you to know your God.
Now, right now is not the time to back off, but to press in and
to serve parents with your children.
Don't back off. Don't don't mellow in your Oh
well, others I'll let them just can't do that.
That's child abuse. When you let your kids have
their way. Notice it says but but the
people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great
exploits. In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 19
Paul wrote to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The problem is 2 things one we don't realise how much we be we
have have been forgiven and two we don't realise how much God
loves us. The woman who wept over Jesus
feet loved him much. Why?
Because she had been forgiven much.
You know me, I have been forgiven much much so I love
him, he loves me. She'll keep my commandments.
It's not because I have to. I'm a Christian and I'm a
pastor. I got to do this I desire to.
So now the prophecy in Daniel shifts toward.
The last days Antiochus was a type of foreshadow of the coming
lawless one, the future world leader known as also the
Antichrist. Verse 36 Then the king shall do
according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify
himself. Isn't that what Lucifer said?
I will ascend, I will above every God, shall speak
blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the
wrath has been accomplished. For what has been determined
shall be done. It's specific.
He'll do according to his own will.
He'll be above every God. Only the Antichrist.
Not Antiochus. He was a shadow.
Only the Antichrist. Future fits this passage of
Scripture. Why?
For Antiochus, remember he set up a statue of Zeus in the in
the temple. The Antichrist, he's not putting
up a statue of another God. What's he going to put up?
Second Thessalonians, chapter 2? He's going to put up an image of
himself, and you'll be forced to wear a mark of worship.
The number of a man for Antiochus was the shadow of the
coming Antichrist. It is the Antichrist also who
alone will speak openly, publicly blasphemous against the
one true God. He'll give speeches around the
world. He'll be a great orator.
Daniel has told us already he has a big mouth, and he rides on
a White Horse when he comes bringing peace, and he will woo
the world, but he'll blasphemy God.
I do not believe that, says verse 37.
He shall regard neither the God of his father's, nor the desire
of women, nor regard any God, for he shall exalt himself above
them all notice. But in their place he shall
honour a God of fortresses, that's power, and a God which
his father's did not know, he shall honour with gold and
silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.
Now, there are a couple of ways people read this.
I do not believe this text tells us that the Antichrist will be
one Jewish and two homosexual. Some do that.
I don't go along with that. The God of his father's.
I believe it's just simply saying this.
Whatever God his family served, he ain't serving that.
He's serving no God. He's God.
Secondly, it says about the desire of women.
That means he's going to be a homosexual.
No, not so. That's a term.
It's Jewish. The desire of every young Jewish
woman was what to have the Messiah to bring forth, to birth
the Messiah. It's a Jewish term to be the
chosen mother of the Messiah. Verse 39.
Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a
foreign God which he shall acknowledge and advance its
glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and divine the
divide the land for gain. The God or God of fortresses.
At the moment, and I said it the other week, our world is arming
up, isn't it? Except for Australia, we've got
the submarines. They'll be here in 2475.
Little bloke will come in, a little outboard motor on.
Here's the submarines. Little bloke will get out and,
you know, pull out an air rifle, right?
Who are we taking on? But everywhere else in the world
is loading up. Europe, Taiwan, China,
Auckland's just come back from Samoa.
China's bought after Samoa, by the way.
They're buying all the Polynesian islands.
They're just up the road. Those of you in the Navy here
know that our biggest threat is who China and the world is
reloading and rearming. Trump's just introduced these
new vessels, these new battleships, the Trump class.
They're the most powerful battleships, largest battleships
ever to be built. And the Antichrist, when he
comes into power, will have a massive, powerful military
might. That's how you rule from verse
40 to 45. Notice the wording.
It says at the time of the end there will be wars and
ultimately all the world military might will gather in
one battle. Where's that battle?
The final battle will be in where?
Israel. It's always about Israel.
Verse 45. He shall plant the tents of his
palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountains.
Yet he shall come to his end, the Antichrist, and no one will
help him. The end will come to the
Antichrist is only a set number of days given to him by which
he'll be allowed to rule. Christ will then return at that
very battle, the battle of Armageddon.
Revelation, chapter 19. Israel finally, after that,
we'll finally know the real peace.
But here's the sad part. And we love Israel.
We love Yaniv and his family and the Israelis that we've met over
the years visiting. Anti semitism doesn't finish
until then. It's just going to grow and grow
and grow until all the world has turned its back upon Israel,
until the time of the end. Will the persecution of Israel
cease? In the end, the followers of
Christ, you and I, will bask with our Saviour and his great
victory. But the people who know their
gods shall be strong and carry out great exploits.
I want to ask you today, do you know Jesus Christ as your as
your God? You might know him, you heard
about him, but do you know him as your God, your God?
Do you say when you pray the Lord pray our Father that he is
your Father? When you say Saviour in Jesus
name, you're saying he's your saviour.
Do you know him as your Redeemer?
Keith, what is a Redeemer? Someone who has paid the price
for you. Redeem you brought, brought you
back. Do you know him as your
Redeemer? That's like the woman who wept
over Jesus feet. That's someone who's been
redeemed. Have you been redeemed?
Do you know how much you've been forgiven?
Do you know how much you've been redeemed from and to?
God has a world plan. It's coming to pass.
It's laid out in absolute great detail.
But right now, this morning, you may be in the valley of decision
yourself because you're living kind of cruising.
Which path will you take? Because the Bible says the
future is coming. All this, all these events,
those that were predicted, look back, they all happened.
They all happened just as Jesus, as Daniel said, as God said, so
the events in the future, they're all going to happen.
The Bible tells us at the end of it all, God's plan, God's will
will be done. Jesus said, pray this way.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy
Kingdom come, thy will be done. What on earth as it is in
heaven, it's cometh today for some of you could be the day of
salvation. You've been raised in a
Christian family, you've even attended church, maybe here for
some time, but you have never surrendered all your life to
God. Today's the day.
How hard is it to do that? A young fellow called Charles
Haddon Spurgeon walked into a cold little church, 20 odd
people and the preacher looked at him and said these words, the
scripture, Isaiah 4522. He said look to me young man and
be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is
no other young man. Look to me.
And all Spurgeon had to do was to look to God.
All you have to do right now is look to God.
We're going to close our eyes. We're going to pray as the
worship team comes forward. If you're here today and you've
never surrendered, I mean surrendered your life to God,
what do you have to do? Bible says in Romans chapter 10,
verses 9 and 10. Let's bow our hands, close our
eyes, if you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord with your
mouth, if you believe that in your heart that he is Lord.
Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 says you shall be saved if
you were here today and you've never surrendered your life to
Christ. OK, how?
How long you've been coming to church, how often you've read
the Bible. If you've never surrendered, do
that now. Look to him, the future is
coming. It's certain we're in the end
times, the last days. Receive Christ today, right now,
as your Lord and Saviour. Simply confess and believe in
your heart. Here's your Lord Father.
I pray for any who have prayed that prayer, I pray right now
for the Holy Spirit, Your Holy Spirit, to now take residence
inside them, that they'll leave changed, born again, no longer
in the valley of decision. I pray and ask your blessing
upon them, Jesus name, Amen. Amen.