Sermon by Mark Rusinko
Well, good afternoon everybody. I think it is afternoon. I don’t know if it’s afternoon where you are or what time zones there are. You know, it’s probably not that much of a difference in time. Just teasing. I want to also talk about Christ returning and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb a little bit too and it’s part of my introduction. It’s great to know the understanding that Pentecost does picture the gathering of the first fruits. A lot of the churches, you know, feel that Trumpets is when that occurs and not just the return of Christ but also the resurrection of the Saints. So, we do have a great, you know, an understanding of that, which is nice to have that we’ll be partaking of the wedding supper as well as discussing with Christ and the Father different things prior to us returning. So, it’s not just a resurrection, then coming back immediately, but a, sort of a debriefing of what is to take place in the future. So, I’m looking forward to that time and I know you are as well. We can sit and talk with the Father and the Son and be able to see what the heavenly is all about.
But I just wanted to continue where Bill left off in Revelations 19 just to talk more about what Christ is going to be doing; and if you turn to chapter 19 verse 14 it says “Then the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses”, it’s of course us, “clothed in fine linen, white. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that it should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw angels standing in the sun, with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together and to the great supper of the Lord; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty men, the flesh of horses that sit upon them, and the flesh of men, both free and bonded, both great and small. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gather together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and His army. And the beast who has taken with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. They were both cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnants were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth, and all the foes were filled with their flesh.
Then, of course, in chapter twenty it talks about Satan being bound a thousand years. So today, and I wanted to go to Luke after that. Luke
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chapter 18:8. Because before Christ left, he asked a question in verse 8, “I tell you, he will event them speedily”, talking a parable he had just given them. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth. And he spoke to his parable that certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
So, today I would like to ask the question for all of us; you know, Christ says, “Will he find faith on the earth?” In this type of society as we have it, there are many things that are taking place, you know, as far as what Bill is mentioning concerning the cares of this world and getting involved in maybe too much materialism and us examining ourselves so that we can become closer to God in the spiritual aspect of things, and not allow the physical to sort of dominate our thinking. There seems to be a lot of, I feel, spirits of deception out there and today I’d like to talk a little bit about that; and I am sure that in your encounters with other groups and other people they have come up with, say, different doctrines that seem to be far out there. But, I myself, am getting a little tired of hearing some of this, you know. I’ve attended different groups, even home groups and people come up with all kinds of things. Recently there is a, you know, it’s happened before, but there was attack on the Holy Days that they are not binding on us today. They are reduced to an Old Testament observance as well as the Sabbath and that we don’t need to keep them.
There is a movement underfoot with that to try to do that and I have a text that I would like to read out that Art McCarroll wrote that sort of signifies some of the things that people have been talking about concerning the Holy Days. He used to be a minister of World Wide a number of years ago and I think he left, but he’s got some books out as far as his understanding is concerned on some doctrines and different things and he quotes Colossians 2:16 verse 17, saying to “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of the holy day or a new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Now, we use that or I use that to support that, you know, we should observe the holy days and we don’t have anybody respect this or disrespect this in that regard; but he looks at it as being, the shadow of things to come, have already occurred and, again, this is another doctrine that’s out there that other people have put forth. It said “The day of the shadow…”, I’ll just read part of what he is saying, is “The shadow of the Sabbath rests of Christ, since Christ is in you which is the mystery then you are ready in God’s rest and have ceased from doing your own righteousness. Therefore, doing away with the actual keeping of the holy day.
Unleavened bread, there is no need to take unleavened bread out of the house since Christ has already made you unleavened. The shadow has
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already happened to Christians. Pentecost, we do not need to keep Pentecost since you already have God’s Holy Spirit. This shadow has already occurred for Christians, but as we know, this also represents the Day of the Gathering of the First Fruit. So, it still needs to take place, and it’s not complete yet. The feast of trumpets we are in today you are already saved in Christ, Christians you do not need to be saved at Trumpets, Christ returns with the Saints to save the world. Atonement, Christians have already received Jesus as their atonement. Again, no need to keep that. In tabernacles, Christ does not need to dwell, we do not need to dwell on temporary booths or tabernacles because the human body is a tabernacle containing the consciousness of the person.
So, we see here that as also the last great day, Christians are not judged in the white throne judgment. There are already spirit beings and are being judged today, but as we know the last day has not occurred yet so it’s still a shadow of things to come. So, people like to say different things and they like to get into, you know, sort of tearing down the doctrines or the scriptures we’ve come to hold to be true.
Recently in discussion with a brother, he feels that Satan is not the god of this world. That the temptation in the wilderness, where it’s in Luke 4, chapter 4 in verse 5, where Satan says, “I will give you all the kingdoms of this world if you will bow down and worship me” is not true, that Satan was lying to Jesus Christ, and therefore, it is not a true statement that Satan is the god of this world. And these are from brethren that are, you know, saying these things. Also, we will be in the Kingdom of God whether we like it or not. There’re people that are saying that, as far as, we don’t need to do the work of salvation, which Paul says, you know, work out your own salvation in addition to having the Holy Spirit we need to put forth effort in working our own salvation out as well.
And, so we have many of these attitudes or, you know, deceptions as I say, that are taking place in our day today. Sort of as a prelude to the type of world that exists in the book of Revelations. Because, I don’t know if you know of Harry Potter and the books, as far as the witchcraft and different things that exist in that whole series and in the movies and everything, and the book of Revelation it’s basically the world of Harry Potter. You know, the people get involved in demonism and witchcraft and there is a lot of things that is going on in the Book of Revelation that are, say, a prelude then to what we have and what we are reading and there are there are brethren that like Harry Potter, that like to read; they feel it’s good literature. We have it in the schools today and there are a lot of influences that are involved when kids are reading that type of literature.
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Let’s turn to Matthew 24, verse 36, “But at that day and hour, knoweth man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also the son of coming of Man shall be. For in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark; and knew not until the flood came and took them away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” So, we see here that, you know, Noah, in the time of Noah, there was violence on the earth, there were many things that were going on. And in Jude 14 we see that the Bible quotes the book of Enoch. You may say, what else was going on at the time of Noah’s day. It says in Jude 14, “And Noah also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. There are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaking great swelling words, having men’s persons and admiration because of advantage. ” So, we see that this type of attitude exists before Christ returns and it also indicates that there was a bad attitude during the time of Noah.
I want to turn to First Peter 3, and verse 19; actually 18; and it says there, “For Christ had also once suffered for sins, the unjust for the…the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit, by which he also went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient, when much the long suffering of God waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was bring prepared. Wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. So, this is an interesting aspect of Christ’s work. I take it to mean that after his resurrection he went to visit the spirits in prison which were disobedient during the times of the flood, and, what were the spirits doing during that time of the flood?
The book of Enoch, which I have, I will read from just to give you an idea of what the book of Enoch does say. Now, a lot of this literature is not in the Bible, but it does refer to the Bible. But it has an interesting take on the Spirit’s involvement, perhaps, in different things, and it says in chapter eight here of Enoch, “And Azazel taught the people the art of making swords and knives, shields and breastplates, and he showed to those chosen ones brackets, decorations, ornamentations, all kinds of priceless stones, all kinds of color rings and alchemy. And there were many wicked ones and they committed adultery and erred and all their conduct became corrupt and they were taught incantations and cutting of roots, resolving of incantations and astrology and a knowledge of signs and taught the seeing of the stars and the course of the moon as well as deception of man. So,
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there is an indication here and I’m not saying that people put Enoch is the scripture, but that there were many things that were happening with the spirit world as well in the time of Noah as it is going to be in the book of Revelations. So, my point there is that we need to be on guard against a lot of these influences in our lives and be able to know, you know, what is happening with those spiritual influences.
In Mark 4, going back to the Parable of the Sower, and it came to pass in verse 4 and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up and some fell on stony ground, where it had much earth. And immediately, it sprang up, it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched, because it had no roots and it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns choked it up, and yielded no fruit. And others fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up in trees and brought forth some thirty, some sixty, and a hundred. And so in verse 14, 15, Christ goes into the explanation of the Parable. And he says, “And these are they by the sower and the word; these are they by the side where the word is sown, when they have heard Satan comes immediately and takes the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they, likewise, which are sown on stony ground, but when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves and so endurith but for a time. Afterward, when affliction of persecution arises, for the words’ sake, immediately are offended and these are they which also are sown among thorns, such as heard the word. And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in chokes the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
So, we can see here this Parable as applies to us today. We have spiritual influences, we also have the cares of this world in verse 19, that if we get, you know, it’s okay to desire these, you know, a house, you want to have a family, you want to do different things, you want to achieve things in life, but we always have to be careful that we don’t get too caught up in these things, and that we have the spiritual perspective on the things that we’re doing so that the deceitfulness of riches as it says and the lust of other things doesn’t enter in and choke the spirituality of the word of God so that we become unfruitful, as it says. And the finally, these are they which are sown on good grounds, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruits, some thirty full, some sixty and some a hundred. So, Christ wants us to be as the Parable that is fruitful and to develop our talents and to be fruitful in that way, and to serve him and to try to develop what we have for his benefit, and not just for our benefit, as far as that is concerned.
In Galatians 5 and 16, we have the war against the flesh. And in context, I am talking about will Christ find faith on the earth when he returns? And,
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you know, we have to become vigilant. We have to constantly be vigilant in our walk in the Spirit. So that we will be there and presence, so that we will have the faith when Christ returns, that he is talking about.
So, In Galatians 5, 16 “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to another so you can not do the things that you would. But if you are lead by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” And so, we see here a admonition, as you know, to walk in the spirit. To be fruitful in the things of God. And to not allow the flesh to begin to dominate us and to begin to, if we have weaknesses, that we will work on them and, you know, fast, pray, study as far as that goes, to be able to mortify the deeds of the flesh because it’s not just a acceptance of Christ and that’s it. Also, it’s also coming into vogue in some of the members I talked to, but working out a salvation, so the fruit of the Spirit, as it says in verse 21, envy, murderers, drunkenness, revelings of such like. I tell you before as I have told you in the past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
So, as Paul was saying as well in other places that he worked on himself that he would not be called a castaway. You know, it shows that Paul himself had to be vigilant about himself and constantly be working on himself and his salvation so that he would make it into the Kingdom of God. And so again, the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith, as well as meekness, temperance, are things that, as you know, we should strive for. And to pray and study that these very desirous attributes are part of our lives and in a daily walk and so that we can exemplify that to others, but so also that we will be able to increase in love, in joy, in peace, in longsuffering and all these good things that are part of the Spirit. And, so again, once again, we could be a good example to others as we walk with them. And, you know, not to judge them at all as well.
In Ezekiel 47 we see here when Christ returns, He will be establishing the temple once again. And the holy days will be established and you know the scripture of Zachariah where it talks about Egypt is going to be punished if they don’t come up to keep the peace. Isaiah 66 talks about all flesh shall come and worship before me, from one new moon to each Sabbath. So the holy days will be part of that whole structure that Christ is going to set up with the temple during the time that He comes back. There’re a lot of things that are happening, of course, when He returns. There are judgments that are going on. The earth’s surface is renewed and rebuilt, and, again the temple is established in Jerusalem, the captives are brought back in to the land. There is a tremendous amount of activity that goes on and a very inspiring amount of activity. But in chapter 47 it talks
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about a special stream that flows out of the temple from the threshold. It says, “Afterward he brought me again into the door of the house, and behold water is issued from under the threshold of the east, of the house eastward, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then he brought me out of the way of the gate north and led me about the way without unto the other gate by the way that looks eastward, behold the ram waters on the side.
So, this river comes out of the throne room of the temple and Ezekiel here talks about just this river going towards the Dead Sea to reliven the dessert, but also to bring life to the Dead Sea. And Zachariah talks about another water issuing from the same location towards the Mediterranean Sea to bring life to that, because I believe that in Revelation it talks about the sea and all things being killed. So the waters of the oceans, all the fish and all the marine life in the ocean will be destroyed. So, that river is going to replenish that particular…the oceans of the world, as well as perhaps all the continents coming together, at that time, you know, to form one land surface. That’s speculation. But this river runs from Jerusalem and then it continues, it says in verse 3, a thousand cubits, and He brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles and He measured a thousand and brought me through the waters in waters to the knees. And He measured a thousand and brought me through the waters were to the loins. Afterward He measured and it was a river that I could not pass, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in – a river that could not easily be passed over. And he said, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and calls me to the brink of the river, and when I returned behold that at the bank of the river were many trees on the one side and on the other. Then He said to me “These waters issue out of these countries and go to the dessert, and into the sea which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.”
Now, if you go to Revelation twenty-two we see that that river has a lot to do or is very much like the river in Revelation; “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river there was a tree of life” (and it could be a plural noun here that there were many trees on each side of this river, not just one) “which bare twelve manner of fruits, yield there her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation and there shall no more be a curse but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be and His servants shall serve Him” So, we see that this Ezekiel’s temple, that river talks about trees on each side of that river that is very similar to what we see in Revelation for the healing of the nations. And why we have to partake of the spiritual leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, I do not know. I don’t know if it’s just symbolic or there’s actually something there to heal
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the nations. But it’s all tied in to, you know, the future and what we are going to be doing with the Father and the Son. And also, this has not been fulfilled yet so there are many things that need to be fulfilled in the holy days, which are an important structure that we, you know, keep and help us to keep close to God. And to keep revealing, you know, new things to us on these days as we focus on the meaning, the particular meaning of each of the holy days. Keeps us close to him and also gives our spirits a boost.
So, what I wanted to bring out in that area of scripture concerning the water is that perhaps we can look at it this way that the Holy Spirit is that water that flows out of New Jerusalem. And that we should be, as Ezekiel was walking through those waters, we should be walking through those waters spiritually, and walking to the place where we’re swimming in that river that Ezekiel was swimming in. In other words, that we are swimming in the Holy Spirit symbolically. That we are completely contained and inspired by God’s Holy Spirit so that He can lead us in a deeper understanding of our lives and what we need to be doing in the future. And also to keep us guarded from the deceptions that are out there; from many of the things the brethren are saying, another one that Christ is a created being because he is the first born of all creation. Another concept that is with some of these people. We need to protect ourselves from these things brethren and to remain faithful and to remain close to God so when he returns, will he find faith on the earth? He will find faith with us and we will be the salt of the earth.