In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the importance of recognizing the presence of ungodliness in the world. He highlights the prevalence of sin, immorality, and violence in society, emphasizing the need for proper perspective and understanding of the times we live in. The preacher also discusses the future events prophesied in the Bible, such as the translation of the church, the great tribulation, and the second coming of Christ. He emphasizes the establishment of a righteous government during the millennial reign of Christ, offering hope for a better future.

I know many of you couldn't make it last Sunday morning, although our attendance was, I believe, 208, which was very, very good in the morning. Of course, the evening was a little different. But, you know, there's so much to be said in the areas that I'm speaking of, and it just fills my heart so much each week as I study the Word of God that it's hard to pack it all in. It's tremendous, you know. I don't know. I hope your heart really thrills. I don't have to be a preacher to get thrilled, you know. I'm thrilled because my heart is redeemed in the blood of Christ. I'm glad that being a preacher, God demands that I study, and because it's such a great blessing. I hope that I impart to you the desire to study the Word of God, because this is the whole of growing in grace. You can't grow in grace through praying. Praying is communion with God. You grow in grace as you truly study the Word of God. And I pray that you'll really grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, especially as we look to his coming. And I suppose in my own heart as I preach, after all, I've been thinking, you know, one of the men that I highly regarded as a young convert, if I might say, which was 25 years ago this year, that I was converted to Jesus Christ, although I'd been a, you know, a very churchy fellow, but I really didn't know Christ, you see, as my personal Savior. Like someone as well said, walking into a garage doesn't make you a car. Walking in a church doesn't make you a Christian. Right? Walking in a garage doesn't make you a car, no more than walking into a church makes you a Christian. So that when I was converted, when I found Christ as my personal Savior, one of the men who had the greatest effect upon my life after that point was Donald Gray Barnhouse, who was a great teacher of the Word of God and who I studied under for a good six years, fed upon two epistles with him, Romans and Hebrews. And nothing could have been sweeter to my soul than to feed on that for six years with this man. Now, it doesn't mean that he completed his studies in Romans in six years or two years. It took him eight years to complete his studies in Romans. I have often thought that I shall finally do with what I'm dealing with now with what he did in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. When he exposited Romans, he finally said eight volumes later that he had exposited, it would seem to him, the whole Word of God from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. I feel much that way about Hebrews 1, 10 to 12. I started from there. And there, I said, took in the whole course of human history in the church, 10 to 12 in Hebrews 1. And from that, we have stemmed out and we have gone from Romans into Matthew, into Luke, into Acts, into 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and John's epistles, and Jude, and Revelation. And because it all comes out, you see, from this great panoramic view of God of all man's history, eternity to eternity, and God's plan for man. So that when you start out with a premise like this, you have a tremendous labor to be done for the Lord Jesus. Now, as I said last week, and I just say this quickly, there are two great events facing the Christian. Number one is the translation to heaven, spoken of by Paul in his Thessalonians epistle, 1 Thessalonians 4, from the 13th to the 17th verses. And there he speaks of the Lord himself descending from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be, and if you could underline these two words, caught up. For that word in the Latin is rapere, or what we would call the rapture of the church. The taking of the church to be with himself. Caught up. That's where you hear the word rapture. You'll hear the rapture of the church of Jesus Christ. It's taken from the two words caught up. Caught up to be with Christ. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together. Isn't that wonderful? Boy, I could spend a lot of time on that together. I hope you're together when Christ comes. Husband, I hope you're together with your wife when Christ comes. Children, young folks, I hope you're together with the family when Christ comes. Caught up together. Oh, what a moment. I'm so glad my children all know Christ. I don't know about my mother and dad. They died when I was very young. All I know is the Roman background, that's all. I don't know about them. I don't know whether their face was in Jesus as Savior. I have no thoughts about this. All I do know is that my children know Christ as personal Savior. My two sons and my daughter. More than this, I'm so thankful their mates know Jesus. How blessed that is to be the family. Are you praying for your family? You know, it may be that it isn't always that way. But are you praying for the family that when we're caught up, it will be together? To be with the Lord. And then shall we ever be with Him. This is what we're looking to as a church. Franklin Abner Baptist will be long dead through the ages. But beloved, that which we have done here will last eternally. Because souls have found Christ as their personal Savior. Many of you this morning have found Christ as your personal Savior. Here, within the confines of these four walls, you have come to Jesus and found Him. And you rejoiced in it. Many of you were backslidden. Many of you had drifted far off from God. And you've come back to God in this place. Many of you were living in the world as Christians. You weren't sinning deeply as we consider sin deep in the deepest manifestation. But you were worldly in your approach. You've left it. You've come back. You have done what Jesus says. You are separated from the world. You've returned to Him, to the Shepherd of your souls. And you're separated from the things of the world. You're not enamored anymore. You begin to see things in proper perspective. I don't think there's a generation that's ever lived that should have more proper perspective than this one when you look around the world and the conditions you see in it and the problems that are being faced. I don't see, beloved, how any generation has ever had more to say to it about the coming of Christ and what it means to be following after Christ than this generation that you and I are living in. So, we're looking to the translation of the church. That's the number one thing. Number two, after the translation of the church, the great tribulation sets in upon earth. Seven-year period. It's yet to come. Jesus speaks of it in Matthew 24 and 25 and Luke 18. He said, then there shall be great tribulation as never was upon the face of the earth and except those days should be shortened, no flesh should live upon the face of the earth. You don't have to look far beyond your newspapers to get that, do you? No flesh should live unless those days be shortened. So, there's coming that period in there. Then at the end of that time, at the end of the great tribulation is that of which you hear MacArthur and presidents speak, the battle of Armageddon. You hear the big men talking about, we're heading toward the battle of Armageddon. Well, you know, when I look at that and I see it in the newspapers, I think, do you know what you're saying? You know, you feel like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, you'd like to come up beside them and say, listen, President Nixon, do you know what you've said? So many of them use the battle of Armageddon. Now, Johnson, President Johnson said this, lest we're careful, the battle of Armageddon is coming. Of course, it has nothing to do with carefulness. The battle of Armageddon is coming because God spoke of it in His word. Jesus laid it all down so that we know that that battle is coming. But the church will have been translated, caught up to be with Christ, and from the pavilions of heaven, that will be the only place we'll ever see anything of what goes on on earth. And as you remember, when I spoke to you about the seven sealed judgments of God in Revelation, when the first trumpet judgment is opened, it says, and there was silence in heaven for a half hour because of the terrible, terrible trial and terrible judgments that were coming upon the earth from God's own hand because of rebellious man. Look at mankind around the world today. Look at the rebellions. You know, even as a preacher, I shake my head. I can hardly believe when I read the things in the paper about all the rebellions going on, all the terrible problems going on, all the sin that's going on. It's hard for me to hardly conceive of it. I don't know, I guess this was last week. Last Saturday it was. I couldn't help but cut that, at least take that out. Here's the front page of the Long Island Press. Here's three things here. One hundred and eight youngsters arrested in the basement narcotic orgy. One hundred and eight kids in a room 30 by 30, and all you could see when the police entered was the light of marijuana cigarettes, all of the light stock. Here's a raid out at Selden, Long Island. Super party, LSD. This one here was Richmond Hill. And then there's one over here in Hollis where the young folks were smoking marijuana and also had LSD. The thing that shocked me was that 68 of the 108 were 10 to 14 years of age. It's hardly believable. I shake myself, and yet I see every single sign of the complete collapse of mankind. Governmentally, in its magisterial powers, in its lawlessness. As Jesus says, violence shall fill the earth in those last days. And I can't help but see this. So when the church is translated and taken out, then the great tribulation sets in, this time of terrible trial and burden. And then, the second coming of Christ in all of his fullness, with power and glory, the battle of Armageddon, the complete collapse of all men's empires, and the subservience of all the kings of the earth and the president, to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who will establish his throne in Jerusalem, and there occupy the throne of David, and righteousness shall dwell in the earth for one thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ upon this incursed land. Now, this makes life understandable. Otherwise, there'll never be a righteous government. And we're in for a terrible, terrible time with no hope for man. Now, last week I spoke to you about Jude. Would you turn with me to Jude, the epistle of Jude? Because I talked to you about the seven seal judgments. Remember what I told you? There are 21 judgments in Revelation. You will understand from the 6th to the 19th chapter of Revelation. Marvelous! If you just remember, in those chapters there are 21 judgments. Number one, I wonder if you remember, STV. Seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, seven vial judgments. You can't miss, go by the alphabet. STV. Seven seal, seven trumpet, seven vial judgments. After the seven seal judgments, there's silence in heaven before the trumpet judgments break out. I took you back to Jude, the book before the book of Revelation, before this last book of the Bible, because Revelation is the book of the judgments of God, but Jude gives us a marvelous picture of the conditions that exist upon the earth before all the judgments of God break out. Now, Jude is a marvelous epistle. Short one, isn't it? Only 25 verses. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Jude, may I say this so you get a background? Jude is the same as Judah, the name. Isn't it strange? You know, we could look into the Scripture. And, of course, Judas is also part of this. The name means, praise the Lord. Now, this Jew did praise the Lord. When Judah was born in the Old Testament, that's what his mother had said. I will call his name Judah because we praised the Lord. So, the name itself means praise the Lord. And so it is with like many names that you have, you know. Your names have meaning. Mothers at one time used to think about these things. They used to think, you know, what will I name my child because I want to make sure. You know, one time I was preaching here and I remember that I was dealing with some names. And there was one name that I had dealt with quite regularly. I just don't remember the name for the minute. Maybe some of you remember it. But anyway, it was with Timothy and Paul. And who remembers it? Yeah, because there was one woman here who was going to name her child that. And I said, forget it. She's here. Because Aphrodite was such a wonderful Christian, you know. And people used to do this quite regularly. Name their children. And undoubtedly here, when we think of Jude, it's praise the Lord, you see. Now, we take Judas. Has the same name. Praise the Lord. And yet look at Judas, you see. Being the one who came and kissed his Savior. And then they came and they took him and crucified him, you see. They're great deceivers. So, the name itself, the mere giving of a name isn't going to make you holy. Can I say that? And you know, this made me think too. I've never cared if I'm a member of the 400. I guess there's still a 400, isn't there? Or the social register. Boy, I tell you, when you see these big balls they have and the social register and all of them and they'll talk about so-and-so has the rings on her hand that are worth 500,000 bucks. And I keep thinking to myself, I smile at my wife and I say, Honey, you know something? My name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Boy, I'd rather have my name on that Lamb's Book of Life than all the books in the universe. They can put their names on the 400 and they can have their names in the social register. Doesn't make a bit of difference to me. Just get my name in that Lamb's Book of Life. And I'm so thankful God said, Your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. I saw you, Martin, and I knew the day you'd find Christ as your personal Savior. My foreknowledge was there and I put your name right in there. And so, it says, from the foundations of the world, our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I hope your name's there this morning. You know, if you aren't saved, it doesn't mean your name's not there. You may come to Christ this morning. You may accept Him as your personal Savior. And you'll say, Isn't that amazing? God knew it and I didn't. Well, God has to be God. God knows the day when you're coming. God knows the day when the Gospel's going to have an effect upon your heart. It says, He has chosen us in Christ according to His foreknowledge. He knows what we're going to do with the Savior. He forces no man. He won't make you do it. You have to come free will. That's the great thing. Free will. Whosoever cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. So, the name Jude means praise the Lord. And in this case, it truly is praise the Lord. The servants of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. I don't want to speak about this at great length. I spoke last week. Sorry for you folks if that snow tied you up. I can't go over it. But you're preserved in Jesus Christ. Boy, underline that word. I've had you underlining words this morning. Underline it. Preserved in Jesus Christ. You're redeemed. God will keep you. You're called of God. Oh, how important is this call of God. He called you. You listened. You came. You're preserved because you believe that Christ is your Savior. Now, the second verse I didn't speak about. Mercy be unto you and peace. And he adds something that the other epistles don't have. Most of the epistles, if you read Paul's epistles, now, of course, this is Jude. If you read Paul's epistles, most of the time it says, mercy and peace, or mercy, grace, and peace. To all of the saints at Corinth, to all of the saints at Philippi, to all of the saints at the different churches, mercy, grace, and peace be unto you. Here it says, mercy, notice, peace, and love. Notice it. Mercy. Oh, how wonderful. God, you'd have to be merciful to me when I say that. You know what I expect from my people? Everyone to be saying the same thing. God, you have to be merciful to me. You know how Paul puts it in another place? He hath placed the whole world under sin. Notice it. That he might have mercy upon all. Isn't that marvelous? He says, I'm making it just as simple as I can to you. He said, this way none of you will ever have to guess about yourselves. You'll never have to think, well now, how does my life measure up with God? Have I done pretty well? After all, I came up in a good family. You know, we talk about names. I came up in such a good family. My father and my mother were good Christians, and we've been brought up well. I went to Sunday school. I have all the pins for my attendance records, and I have been baptized, and I have done all of this, and you can see all that you can see, after all. But salvation is not of these things. Salvation is of God's mercy. Therefore, he judged the whole world, what, under sin. He said, now children, my creation, created in my image, you'll never have to guess about yourself. In Adam, all die. But in Christ, all shall be made alive. He has concluded the whole world under sin. Why? That he might have mercy upon all. Lord, thank you for your mercy this morning. How merciful you've been to us, we who have sinned so violently against thee. Oh, maybe not publicly, Lord, but if our imaginations had been flashed upon a screen for all the world to see, we would be in jails throughout the world. The jails could not contain us for our imagination. Oh, Father, I'm so glad that you're the only one that ever knew the things I've thought, and the things I've done, and the secret things. Remember what the Scripture says, God hath appointed a day in which he shall judge what? The secrets of all men's hearts. Why do I say that? Because we would judge people by their churchianity. We would judge people by sitting in pews, by coming to church. We would judge people by these things. But God's judgment, in speaking to this congregation on Wednesday night, I had time and again said this to them, Remember, God is not looking down upon you in a pew to judge your righteousness. He's thankful that you worship Him here. But God looks upon you the other 165 or 67 hours a week when you're not in the church of God, and you're not in the pew, and you're not playing the organ or the piano, or you're not in the choir, or you're not director. Here's where God looks upon us, and He sees us there. He sees the man at his desk in his business. He sees the woman in her home. He sees every single little thing. And I want to tell you, God's judgment is not upon you sitting in a pew. God's judgment is upon you in your home, your business, mother, what you really are. You know, I often used to hear that phrase, I think it's on some television advertising, something I just see in an advertisement, and it says, what is Jack Parr really like? Well, let me tell you something, only God knows what Jack Parr is really like. And only God knows who you're really like. This is where God's judgment falls. This is that which judges our hearts. Nothing else. God's mercy, Jude says here, may God's mercy be yours. Why? Because it is the basic. Unless you have received the mercy of God, you're going nowhere. There's no peace. Notice it is mercy and peace. No human being has ultimate, actual peace in their hearts outside of Christ and the forgiveness of sins. Impossible. Why do I know? God wouldn't allow it. If God be God, He'll not allow any peace in the human heart until we have come to Him and sins are forgiven and cleansed away in the blood of Christ. So it's mercy. In Paul's epistles, it's may mercy, grace, and peace. Mercy of God because He loved us so. God so loved the world. Here is His mercy. His grace is unmerited favor, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us. For by grace are ye saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We cannot possibly, by any stretch of our imaginations, work our way into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is God's mercy, God's grace, and God's peace that He gives to us. And so, beloved, here Jude speaks of that. And he's speaking to those in these last days. Notice that 17th and 18th verse. In Jude there, how well he puts it. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. Notice that. The last time. Notice what it's filled with. Will you notice this? Ungodly lusts. Do you notice this? Have any of you noticed how much there is of ungodly lusts today? Have you watched your television sets? Have you seen the write-ups? Have you seen your magazine stands? Have you seen the plays? Have you seen the perversions? Have you seen the sin? Have you seen the immorality? Have you seen the fact that there's a rape every four minutes in the United States? Have you seen the fact that there's a murder every two minutes in the United States? Have you seen the violence? Cannot you see it? There will be mockers in the last time walking after their ungodly lusts. The last day. Do men have an answer? Do you find any man bringing an answer? A lot of political systems armed to the teeth against each other waiting for the pushing of a button even today. Russia's threat on Western Germany is causing fleets to gather and great movements of Russian troops toward the German border. Look at Israel. We see all of these other things. We hear the great affluent society. You know I'm getting sick of the word affluent. Two men spoke to me in the last few days in the church here. One man said to me, that's again, I don't know how long I'll be able to live here. My taxes are now $2400 on my house. The other man told me his were $18. This great affluent society. Listen, back in, well when Alice and I got married, I'm not going to tell you how long, it's way back. When we were married, I was making at that time $26 a week. Now that's not 1890, alright? $26 a week and I bought a Buick for $922. Brand new. This great affluent society. Let me tell you, this great affluent society has forgotten God and placed the dollar in the place and that's all you hear now. Battling for the dollar, more and more money and all we're doing is gathering up until a final collapse of Jesus as of all the nations and all of their systems will be crushed. But I'm so thankful, Jude says, before he starts his whole treatise, mercy, peace, and may I just finish quickly with that last one, and love. And love. It's as though Jude is saying to us, now listen. Notice he said there'll be mockers in the last time walking after their own ungodly lusts. But he said, I have to add something that Paul didn't put in his epistles. I've got to add this word love because it's the last day. And if ever love is to be manifested amongst those who are in the church of Jesus Christ that's in that last day, they must labor as one. They must remember that when they were redeemed, when they came to Christ, they came out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. They became members of His family, of His flesh and of His bones, and members one of another. Whereas on earth, earthly parents, we come from our mother's womb, brothers, sisters, but we have different natures. And brothers and sisters are antagonistic toward each other. Families can't get along together. But God does something else. He says, you are My children. I'm going to do something that no father could ever do. The trouble was that there was a mixture of the two spirits of a mother and a father all involved so that you hardly knew where the children came from. But I'm going to give you My Holy Spirit by faith. And the one Spirit shall dwell in you and in your brother and in your sister so that there will be that spirit of love to fill the heart to overflowing. God says without love in the church, you can't do anything. Hereby they'll know that you belong to Me. You are My disciples in that you love one another. He says mercy and peace. Peace because you're redeemed. And then love for the brethren. Because when you love each other, you can forget everything else and go out and labor for Jesus. You're not involved with your little personality factors. You're not involved with the little things of the world. You're involved in a great love convocation in the family of God. And as those who love each other pure hearts fervently in the Lord, you go forth to labor for Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, that's why Jude puts it here. Because it's the last days. And he says, if ever love better fill your heart for your wife, if ever love better fill your heart for your husband, if ever love better fill your heart for your children and the children for their parents, it's today. You have God's wondrous mercy. He saved you. He's given peace to your soul that passes all understanding. Now, He has one request. Children, love each other for love is of God. And the world will only know that you really know Me in the love you express for each other in your family life. Let me tell you, there's no room for sin, beloved. You better... I don't know. You know, I would pray none of you would be involved in any kind of deep sin, but a church this big, anything can happen. I pray it doesn't. If you're involved in anything that you know is oh so sinful before God, won't you cleanse it away today? Say, God, I've failed You. I'm Your child. Cleanse me, forgive me. And oh, make sure that you're right with Him, with the family you love, with your children, that Christ may be exalted. Peace. Yes. Mercy. Oh, thank You, Lord. Now, abideth these three. Listen, 1 Corinthians 13. Now, abideth these three. Faith, hope, and love. Faith in Christ in the past, He redeemed you. Hope, Christ is coming soon. Love for each other and for Jesus. Then he goes on. He says, Now abideth these three things, faith, hope, and love. Can someone repeat it with me? But the greatest of these is love. All right? Let us pray. Now, Father, we would thank Thee for Thy tender love for us. Lord, I have preached Thy Word. I have not varied from it one iota. And I am thankful, Lord, that You've called me to preach this Word and that the response of this people's heart is yea and amen. We pray, if any have come in without Christ, that they might take Him as personal Savior, that they wouldn't leave here without Jesus. Please, Lord, let no one go without that. If they've never said so, may they say it right now in their heart. Say, Pastor, pray for me. Every head bowed, every eye closed. You're saying that in your heart. Just put your hand up high and say, Pastor, pray for me. Pray for me. I really, I want Jesus in my heart. Anywhere at all. Just put it up quickly. Say, Pastor, pray for me. Here's my hand. Just pray for me. Just a moment, I'm asking. Anyone at all. You'd like to say yes to Jesus this morning. Every eye's closed. No one's watching. It's just between you and God. That's all. Anyone? Quickly. Mother, Dad, boy or girl. Anywhere? Yes. In the balcony. Lord bless you. Anyone else? Put your hand up high. Say, Pastor, pray for me. Here's my hand. I really want Christ in my heart. Anywhere at all. Just a moment and I close. Are you praying, Oh, I know I need that faith. Why not put your hand up? Say, Pastor, pray for me. Yes. God bless you. Father. Anyone else? Yes. Lord bless you. Father. God bless you. Yes. And Lord bless you. Mother. Anybody else? To join these who've raised their hands for Jesus. Anywhere at all. Just as I close. Quickly. Are you saying in your heart, Oh, I should raise my hand. Why don't I have the courage? Take courage, beloved. Jesus says, Whosoever shall confess me before men, in him will I confess before my Father in heaven. Anyone? Just put it up. Pastor, pray for me. Pray for me. I want him in my heart, with all my heart. Anyone? Quickly. Just as I close. One second. Anybody else? Yes, I see that hand. Lord bless you. I don't like to close if any hearts are yet coming to Christ. Oh, beloved, don't leave here without him, please. I say with Paul, I beseech you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Anyone? Quickly. Just put it up so I can see it, and then take it down. Now, Father, we do thank thee for these who've come to Christ this morning and really meant business. We can go to church all our lives, but, Lord, we're so thankful a point comes and we really say yes to Christ. We want Christ in our hearts and we want the Christ life. We want to know what life means and where we're going and why we're here. Lord, we're so thankful you give man a destiny. Father, we pray that you bless them. Feed their hearts upon Christ. Father, we pray that as they receive lessons, those who have come to Christ, that they may study to make themselves servants well approved to God. Touch their hearts this morning, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.