Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Turning the World Right-Side Up Msg 915 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Turning the World Right-Side Up Msg 915 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In your worship folder, you will find an outline for
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Speaker 1: the morning message, which we will turn to Revelation 20
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Speaker 1: to find the basis of that message. And as you
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Speaker 1: do that, you might place the outline here in the
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Speaker 1: crease of your Bible as we complete our reading. Revelation
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Speaker 1: 20 introduces to us the coming kingdom age. I'll be
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Speaker 1: reading for you the first 10 verses. Then I saw
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Speaker 1: an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of
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Speaker 1: the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And
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Speaker 1: he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old,
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Speaker 1: who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for
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Speaker 1: a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss
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Speaker 1: and shut it and sealed it over him so that
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Speaker 1: he would not deceive the nations any longer until the
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Speaker 1: thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be
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Speaker 1: released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and
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Speaker 1: they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.
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Speaker 1: And I saw the souls of those who had been
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Speaker 1: beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of
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Speaker 1: the word of God, and those who had not worshipped
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Speaker 1: the beast or his image and had not received the
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Speaker 1: mark on their forehead. and on their hand. And they
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Speaker 1: came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
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Speaker 1: The rest of the dead did not come to life
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Speaker 1: until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
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Speaker 1: Blessed and holy is the one who has a part
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Speaker 1: in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has
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Speaker 1: no power, but they will be priests of God and
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Speaker 1: of Christ and will reign with him For a thousand years.
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Speaker 1: When the thousand years are completed. Satan will be released
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Speaker 1: from his prison. And will come out to deceive the nations.
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Speaker 1: Which are in the four corners of the earth. Gog
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Speaker 1: and Magog. To gather them together for the war. The
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Speaker 1: number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
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Speaker 1: And they came up on the broad plain of the earth.
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Speaker 1: And surrounded the camp of the saints. and the beloved city,
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Speaker 1: and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And
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Speaker 1: the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake
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Speaker 1: of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
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Speaker 1: prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and
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Speaker 1: night forever and ever. I'd like us to join our
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Speaker 1: hearts in prayer together. If you will bow for just
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Speaker 1: a few moments, please. This is your opportunity to bring
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Speaker 1: before the Lord whatever it may be that weighs heavily
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Speaker 1: upon you, could interrupt your time of worship. It could
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Speaker 1: be stealing from you the impact of the next few
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Speaker 1: minutes we're going to be spending together. Psalmist writes, cast
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Speaker 1: your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you.
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Speaker 1: He will never cause the righteous to be moved. So
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Speaker 1: do that now. Our Father, in a world that is
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Speaker 1: not as it should be, or as we would long
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Speaker 1: for it to be, we find ourselves embedded It's impossible
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Speaker 1: to live a life and not live it on this planet,
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Speaker 1: in a culture that is moving in the opposite direction
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Speaker 1: of your holiness and truth, in a world that is
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Speaker 1: fraught with wars and the rumors of such, in a
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Speaker 1: world where pain and heartache, affliction, grief and death plague us,
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Speaker 1: we find ourselves today. It seems as though there's always
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Speaker 1: something to deal with. And we who gather are no exception.
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Speaker 1: Some come in the backwash of a deep time of sorrow,
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Speaker 1: perhaps even tragedy, a Heartaches have a way of siphoning
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Speaker 1: our concentration and interrupting our best thoughts. Help us, our Father,
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Speaker 1: to draw upon you in the next few moments for relief.
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Speaker 1: Give us courage to face the week that will unfold,
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Speaker 1: bringing surprises, the unexpected events that are sure to impact us.
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Speaker 1: We come as mere people, just human beings. Though we
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Speaker 1: are in your family, many of us, we are nevertheless
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Speaker 1: very human, subject to failure, disappointment. And as a result,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we bring all that with us today. We
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Speaker 1: pray that you would therefore minister greatly Bring us fresh hope,
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Speaker 1: especially those who have lost their hope. We thank you
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Speaker 1: today for one another. We sit shoulder to shoulder in
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Speaker 1: this place, one of the few places on earth where
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Speaker 1: there is really no status, no rank, no place for
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Speaker 1: sophistication or pride. All ground is level at the foot
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Speaker 1: of the cross. That's where we are today. Our Father,
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Speaker 1: and as we will hear from our orchestra, we know
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Speaker 1: that we're all prone to wander and prone to leave
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Speaker 1: the God we love. And so, our Father, until your
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Speaker 1: Son returns as reigning King, hold us close, keep us strong,
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Speaker 1: give us calm in the midst of the storm and encouragement,
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Speaker 1: though many things around us could steal that from us. Now, Lord,
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Speaker 1: you've given us our work, our occupation, and from that
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Speaker 1: we've earned a wage. And from that wage, we now
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Speaker 1: have the pleasure of giving to your work. We ask
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Speaker 1: for you to be honored in our gifts and the
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Speaker 1: reasons for it as we express our worship in this
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Speaker 1: tangible way today. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
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Speaker 1: Everyone said. What in the world is wrong? Why is
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Speaker 1: it always something? How come things aren't like they ought
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Speaker 1: to be? Remember when you were younger and you were thinking,
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Speaker 1: when I get older, they'll be like I want them
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Speaker 1: to be, rather than the way I have to accept
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Speaker 1: them living in this home. And you only made it worse.
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Speaker 1: Or we all have. There's just something really wrong with
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Speaker 1: the whole mess. And at the risk of sounding pretty
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Speaker 1: oversimplified in my analysis, what's wrong is sin. Sin spoils everything.
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Speaker 1: Everything around us, everything inside us, everything about us. Sin
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Speaker 1: spoils everything. That's what's wrong. Sin pollutes our skies. Sin
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Speaker 1: adulterates an otherwise great marriage. Sin makes us physically ill
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Speaker 1: and emotionally weak. Sin causes sewage to be dumped into
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Speaker 1: otherwise beautiful streams and rivers. Sin brings wars and rumors
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Speaker 1: of war. Sin creates and cultivates corporate greed. Sin uses
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Speaker 1: an excellent mind to devise an ingenious tax fraud. Sin
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Speaker 1: prompts darling little children to disobey. Sin corrupts the legal system,
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Speaker 1: prompting courts to make wrong and sometimes outrageous decisions. That
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Speaker 1: when we sit at home and read about the decisions
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Speaker 1: in our newspapers, we shake our heads and cluck our tongues.
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Speaker 1: What's wrong? How come stuff like that happens? Why is
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Speaker 1: it so messy? Why is it always something? Well, if
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Speaker 1: we just boil it down, to simple answers set forth
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Speaker 1: in the Bible, which I know, I know, is not
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Speaker 1: acknowledged and not recognized by this crazy world we live in.
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Speaker 1: If you boil it all down, there are three answers. First,
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Speaker 1: Satan is alive and well on the planet. We believe,
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Speaker 1: according to the scriptures, that he is a real being.
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Speaker 1: He's not a figment of imagination. He is a living being, supernatural,
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Speaker 1: created originally by God as the highest of God's creations. Lucifer,
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Speaker 1: son of the morning, who out of pride... overthrew or
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Speaker 1: attempted to overthrow the authority of God, and he was
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Speaker 1: cast out of heaven before there ever was an earth,
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Speaker 1: and with him came a third of the angelic beings
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Speaker 1: who then became his emissaries or demons. So we believe
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Speaker 1: there is a devil, and we believe he has his demons,
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Speaker 1: and we believe that the whole world lies in the
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Speaker 1: lap of the wicked one. 1 John 5, 19 says,
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Speaker 1: Calls it power. The whole world lies in the power
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Speaker 1: of the evil one. Lies in the grip of the
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Speaker 1: evil one. Everything about us is tainted by the touch
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Speaker 1: of Satan. The culture, the direction, the system, the thinking,
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Speaker 1: the actions, the motives. Satan touches these areas because he
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Speaker 1: is alive and well on the planet. He may be invisible,
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Speaker 1: but he is very influential. He is very persuasive, and
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Speaker 1: he is very effective, winning more often than he loses
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Speaker 1: for the time being. Second, things are like they are
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Speaker 1: because Jesus is not in authority on the earth. Remember that.
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Speaker 1: He may reign over all things, but he has relinquished.
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Speaker 1: He has allowed Satan to have his way in many
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Speaker 1: ways on this earth, so much so that Paul calls
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Speaker 1: Satan the god of this age in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
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Speaker 1: I think James Russell Lowell is correct when he said,
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Speaker 1: truth is forever on the scaffold, wrong is forever on
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Speaker 1: the throne. Because Jesus is not enthroned, mere human beings
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Speaker 1: who don't know Jesus are, and when that happens, power corrupts,
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Speaker 1: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jesus isn't in charge, and because
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Speaker 1: he's not, the world is upside down. Third, because unrighteous
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Speaker 1: people are in the majority and usually in authority. Unrighteous
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Speaker 1: men and women are in the majority and often in authority.
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Speaker 1: I did not say ignorant people. Many of them are
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Speaker 1: very bright, very well educated, very competent people. As far
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Speaker 1: as the system of the world is concerned. I did
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Speaker 1: not say insincere people. Most of them are very sincere.
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Speaker 1: I didn't say inexperienced people. Those in authority are often
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Speaker 1: broadly experienced, widely traveled, and lettered women and men. I
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Speaker 1: didn't say lazy people. They're often diligent, hardworking, determined, driven even.
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Speaker 1: I said unrighteous. Their hearts have not been changed. Proverbs
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Speaker 1: is an interesting book. When you look up the word righteous,
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Speaker 1: you will find it mentioned dozens of times. Proverbs 12.5 says,
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Speaker 1: The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the counsels
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Speaker 1: of the wicked are deceitful. Here's another one, 29.2. When
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Speaker 1: the righteous increase, the people rejoice. But when a wicked
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Speaker 1: man rules, people rejoice. Example, Iraq. Classic example of an
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Speaker 1: unregenerate man in charge of a country and the people
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Speaker 1: have been groaning for years under that regime. Before the
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Speaker 1: world can be turned right side up, the righteous must
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Speaker 1: somehow become the majority and Be in authority. All of
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Speaker 1: this to say. As you turn with me to. Revelation
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Speaker 1: chapter 20. That is exactly what will occur. In the
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Speaker 1: future kingdom age. Commonly called by theologians. The millennium. M-I-L-L-E
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Speaker 1: is the Latin word for thousand years. Annum is the
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Speaker 1: word for year. Put the words together, millennium, thousand year.
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Speaker 1: The reign of Christ, which will come immediately after he
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Speaker 1: has returned to this earth, judged the wicked and introduced
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Speaker 1: the golden age. The golden age. Military forces will be disbanded.
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Speaker 1: All armaments and the machinery of warfare will be melted
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Speaker 1: down and turned into implements of peace. Poverty will end.
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Speaker 1: Prosperity will be the watchword. Across every continent there will
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Speaker 1: be peace. Wrong will no longer rule the land. Justice
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Speaker 1: will no longer be asleep or ignored. That's the golden age.
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Speaker 1: It's the age that poets write about and prophets predict.
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Speaker 1: It will not happen in our age, but it will
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Speaker 1: happen after the tribulation, the time of judgment on the earth.
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Speaker 1: Let me clarify something. When you and I as Christians
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Speaker 1: are taken off the earth at the rapture, it leaves
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Speaker 1: only unsaved on the earth. Make sense? They're left behind,
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Speaker 1: as you've read in the popular series of books. Left
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Speaker 1: behind with believers gone to be with the Lord. Many
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Speaker 1: of these unbelievers will come to know Christ. And they
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Speaker 1: will begin to live their lives. And it will be
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Speaker 1: dreadfully difficult for them to carry out their life of Christ.
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Speaker 1: Under the regime of the one who will be in
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Speaker 1: charge of the world. Called the beast and the false prophet.
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Speaker 1: Now at the beginning of the tribulation will be only unsaved.
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Speaker 1: Some of whom will come to Christ. When Christ returns
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Speaker 1: to the earth, he will judge all of the unsaved
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Speaker 1: and remove them, leaving only believers to start the millennium.
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Speaker 1: Got it? So at the beginning of the tribulation, only
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Speaker 1: the lost, some of whom come to Christ. At the
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Speaker 1: beginning of the kingdom age, only believers, many of whom
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Speaker 1: later who will be born to those believers, will turn
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Speaker 1: against the Lord. But that's later on in my message.
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Speaker 1: Let's not jump there. Before we develop the thought of
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Speaker 1: the golden age. Now what's needed for this to happen?
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Speaker 1: What kind of world do we. What kind of equation
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Speaker 1: do we need to have a world at peace? First
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Speaker 1: of all we need Satan bound and removed. Second we
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Speaker 1: need Jesus reigning as the supreme monarch. Third we need
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Speaker 1: the righteous. God's righteous people who are in a glorified
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Speaker 1: state without a sin nature. Ruling over sin. The cities,
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Speaker 1: the counties, the states, the countries, the continents of the world.
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Speaker 1: And that's exactly what will happen in this golden age
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Speaker 1: yet future. And we're going to read of all three
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Speaker 1: right here. And first, in the focus of John's camera lens,
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Speaker 1: is Satan. John says, I saw an angel, chapter 20,
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Speaker 1: verse 1. The angel is not named, but he has
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Speaker 1: the responsibility of carrying the key to the abyss. The
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Speaker 1: abyss is a temporary place of incarceration of the demons.
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Speaker 1: In the abyss, which we visited earlier in our study
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Speaker 1: of Revelation, we saw demons coming out. Here, this angel
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Speaker 1: comes with the key, so apparently there is a There
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Speaker 1: is a ceiling of it open only by the use
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Speaker 1: of this key, if you will. And he has the
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Speaker 1: key in his hand and he has a great chain
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Speaker 1: in his hand. Now the chain obviously is symbolic because
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Speaker 1: you don't chain a spirit being. But it's the picture
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Speaker 1: of being bound. Verse 2, he, the angel, laid hold
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Speaker 1: of the dragon, the serpent, the devil, even Satan. Now
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Speaker 1: the binding is real. Satan will be bound. He will
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Speaker 1: no longer have influence over the world. the earth as
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Speaker 1: he has had throughout our lifetime and the lifetimes of
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Speaker 1: our parents and ever since Adam and Eve fell in
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Speaker 1: the garden. Now, the angel is said to lay hold
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Speaker 1: of the dragon. This is one who has a beast-like nature,
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Speaker 1: pictured in Revelation 12 times as a dragon. And in
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Speaker 1: case you don't know who that is, he then says
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Speaker 1: he's the serpent. That would take you to Genesis 3,
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Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden, where Satan first appeared to Eve
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Speaker 1: and Adam, remember? And he didn't first appear as a
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Speaker 1: snake on his belly. The crawling on the belly was
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Speaker 1: the result of the curse. There was something attractive, dazzling,
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Speaker 1: and beautiful as Lucifer made himself into a very attractive
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Speaker 1: being that would cause Eve to be curious and to
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Speaker 1: listen to his appealing words as he encouraged her to
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Speaker 1: eat of the forbidden fruit. The word serpent takes us
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Speaker 1: all the way back to Genesis 3. Deceitful, tempting. The
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Speaker 1: third word, which is his title, is the devil. The
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Speaker 1: word means slanderer or accuser. He's been doing that as
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Speaker 1: long as there have been believers on the earth. So
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Speaker 1: this angel lays hold of the slanderer even more. Satan.
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Speaker 1: 53 times in the scriptures, this evil one is called Satan.
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Speaker 1: It means adversary, one who opposes. And please observe the
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Speaker 1: angel without a fight, without any wrestling, without any struggle,
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Speaker 1: simply seizes him and binds him for a thousand years.
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Speaker 1: Notice what he does with it. Verse 3. The angel
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Speaker 1: threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed
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Speaker 1: it over him. Why? So that he would not deceive
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Speaker 1: the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed.
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Speaker 1: And John adds, and we'll develop it at verse 7
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Speaker 1: through 9, after these things he must be released for
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Speaker 1: a short time. But let's not go there yet. Not
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Speaker 1: unlike Saddam Hussein, who, after reigning as the dictator over
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Speaker 1: the country of Iraq, was found later in a spider
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Speaker 1: hole and finally was incarcerated and placed in a cell.
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Speaker 1: Satan will be removed from his role of authority and
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Speaker 1: will be reduced to a prisoner in the abyss For
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Speaker 1: this period of time. There will be as a result.
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Speaker 1: The reigning of Christ on the earth. Notice the end
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Speaker 1: of verse 4. They came to life and reigned with
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Speaker 1: Christ for a thousand years. End of verse 6. They
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Speaker 1: will be priests of God and of Christ. And will
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Speaker 1: reign with him for a thousand years. Now I come
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Speaker 1: to those reigning third. But let me just deal with
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Speaker 1: Jesus reign second here. First and foremost, that is in
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Speaker 1: chapter order, is the binding of Satan. So he's removed.
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Speaker 1: To turn the world right side up, you've got to
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Speaker 1: have his influence off the earth. Second, you've got to
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Speaker 1: have Jesus reigning. And he will literally reign in bodily
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Speaker 1: form and his throne, his place of authority, will be
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Speaker 1: the city of Jerusalem. The focus of the world will
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Speaker 1: again return to the Holy Land. Jesus will reign as
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Speaker 1: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We'll not take
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Speaker 1: the time to turn now, but the prophets of the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament are full of comments regarding this age that
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Speaker 1: is yet to come. There will be international peace. There
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Speaker 1: will be a productive earth, agriculturally. There will be health.
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Speaker 1: There will be relief. There will be prosperity. There will
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Speaker 1: be a longer span of life as people exist in this, quote,
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Speaker 1: perfect environment. John Phillips, in his book Exploring Revelation, writes this.
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Speaker 1: Every man will have all that his heart can desire.
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Speaker 1: There will be no prisons, no hospitals, no mental institutions,
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Speaker 1: no barracks, no saloons, no houses of ill repute. no
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Speaker 1: gambling dens, no homes for the aged and infirm. Such
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Speaker 1: things belong to a past and lesser age. The bloom
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Speaker 1: of youth is on everyone's cheek, for one will be
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Speaker 1: a stripling at the age of a hundred years. Cemeteries
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Speaker 1: will crumble as relics of the past, and tears will
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Speaker 1: be few. The wolf and the lamb, the calf and
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Speaker 1: the lion, the cow and the bear, the child and
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Speaker 1: the scorpion, Are all at peace. Jesus has come. And
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Speaker 1: the millennium is here. The golden age. So frequently heralded
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Speaker 1: by prophets. Of Israel's past. Has dawned at last. And
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Speaker 1: the earth is filled with the knowledge of God. Jesus
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Speaker 1: is Lord. And he rules the nations with a rod
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Speaker 1: of iron. His reign is righteous. And the nations. obey.
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Speaker 1: Phillips has a little fun as he concludes, one can
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Speaker 1: picture a schoolboy reading an ancient book sometime during the
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Speaker 1: second half of the millennium. Say, Dad, he asks, what
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Speaker 1: is an intercontinental ballistic missile? To which Dad replies, go
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Speaker 1: ask your mother. Some things never change, do they? The
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Speaker 1: mother being questioned, We'll answer, I don't know, some kind
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Speaker 1: of cabbage, maybe. Go and ask your dad. What a
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Speaker 1: day that will be. To us, it seems fantasy land.
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Speaker 1: Almost to the edge of foolishness. Our life is shaped
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Speaker 1: by war, fighting, infighting, struggles, grudges, revenge, road rage. Flying
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Speaker 1: off at the handle. Turning against the things that are right.
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Speaker 1: Frivolous lawsuits and on and on. It's gotten to the
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Speaker 1: place where we're hardly surprised. In that day, there will
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Speaker 1: be none of that. Legal corruption will be unheard of.
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Speaker 1: It will be swift and fair as Jesus rules with
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Speaker 1: a rod of iron. Sexual perversion will be a thing
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Speaker 1: of Of the past. Physical afflictions. No longer a plague.
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Speaker 1: National and civil rebellion. Even personal prejudice. And emotional conflicts.
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Speaker 1: Will be faded memories. But keep in mind. I remind
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Speaker 1: you of this. You'll need to remember it later. The heart.
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Speaker 1: Of those children. Born to the believers. Will not be redeemed.
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Speaker 1: And there will apparently be large families and the pleasantries
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Speaker 1: of home life as families grow and learn together. Remember,
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Speaker 1: Satan may be gone, Jesus may be reigning, but the
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Speaker 1: heart of humanity is not changed, even in a perfect environment.
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Speaker 1: We'll see that in spades in a moment. Let me
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Speaker 1: give you the third factor for this golden age factor.
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Speaker 1: To be complete. Satan is bound. Jesus reigns. And now
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Speaker 1: the righteous rule. Under Jesus authority. John now sees a
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Speaker 1: panorama of God's resurrected saints. From this era yet future.
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Speaker 1: You and I will be reigning with Christ. We are
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Speaker 1: the armies who return with him. Chapter 19 verse 14.
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Speaker 1: And that seems to be the antecedent to chapter 20,
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Speaker 1: verse 4, they will reign. Notice verse 4, I saw
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Speaker 1: thrones and they sat on them. Best to connect that
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Speaker 1: back to the believers who returned with Christ at his
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Speaker 1: second coming. We will be glorified. We will have new natures.
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Speaker 1: We will be without an old sin nature. We will
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Speaker 1: have access to heaven and earth, just as Jesus did.
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Speaker 1: in his post-resurrection body, we will be able to see
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Speaker 1: as he sees, judge as he would judge. We will
29:05
Speaker 1: be obedient to the nth degree. There will not even
29:08
Speaker 1: be in us who have been glorified by then the
29:12
Speaker 1: possibility of disobedience. So our reign with him and our
29:16
Speaker 1: rulership will be fair and just, just as his is.
29:21
Speaker 1: You see, the important thing to remember is that the
29:23
Speaker 1: curse over the earth is now removed as the earth
29:29
Speaker 1: will blossom like a rose. Even the desert will be
29:33
Speaker 1: green again. The nation Israel will be fully restored to
29:37
Speaker 1: her land. And Gentile nations will again worship the king
29:41
Speaker 1: of kings. And physical, emotional well-being will lead to a
29:45
Speaker 1: happier existence. And longer life. 1 Corinthians 6 says we
29:50
Speaker 1: in fact will rule. Yet future. So we are the
29:55
Speaker 1: ones pictured in verse 4 along with the tribulation saints.
29:59
Speaker 1: who have been resurrected. Follow it along. I saw the
30:02
Speaker 1: souls who had been beheaded, verse 4, because of the
30:05
Speaker 1: testimony of Jesus and the word of God, those who
30:08
Speaker 1: had not worshipped the beast or his image and had
30:11
Speaker 1: not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand.
30:13
Speaker 1: They came to life and reigned with Christ for a
30:17
Speaker 1: thousand years. So it'll be us, we're the they in
30:20
Speaker 1: verse 4, and it'll be the tribulation saints. By the way,
30:24
Speaker 1: the end of verse 5 tells us that this is
30:27
Speaker 1: the first resurrection. The coming back to life of those
30:32
Speaker 1: who have been killed during the time of the tribulation.
30:37
Speaker 1: There's even a blessing offered. Verse 6. Blessed and holy
30:41
Speaker 1: is the one who has part in the first resurrection.
30:45
Speaker 1: Over these the second death has no power. You see
30:48
Speaker 1: when you're in a glorified state there's no more death.
30:51
Speaker 1: No such thing as death in heaven. But they will
30:54
Speaker 1: be priests of God and of Christ and they will
30:56
Speaker 1: reign with him for a thousand years. Now. You've listened
31:01
Speaker 1: very faithfully, and you look interested. So I'm going to
31:05
Speaker 1: continue for just a little while longer here. Will this
31:09
Speaker 1: last forever? This golden age sounds like the kind of
31:12
Speaker 1: thing we would want to go on forever and ever. Obviously, no.
31:17
Speaker 1: The reason is that six times in seven verses, the
31:21
Speaker 1: words the thousand years appear. Look closely. End of verse two,
31:26
Speaker 1: a thousand years. Same at the end of verse three.
31:31
Speaker 1: Until the thousand years were completed. End of verse 4.
31:35
Speaker 1: Reign with Christ. A thousand years. Middle of verse 5.
31:40
Speaker 1: Thousand years. End of verse 6. Beginning of verse 7.
31:46
Speaker 1: But would you believe that many. I'm going to dare
31:48
Speaker 1: say most. Reject the thought of a literal thousand year
31:53
Speaker 1: reign of Christ. Uh. I happen to believe it means
31:59
Speaker 1: a thousand years. But as I say, among ministers today,
32:05
Speaker 1: I'm in the minority, believe it or not. I was
32:09
Speaker 1: so intrigued by that, I decided to write down some
32:12
Speaker 1: answers that came from very fine authors who otherwise have
32:17
Speaker 1: pretty good insight. But when they get to this, it's
32:19
Speaker 1: like there's no way that could mean a thousand years.
32:24
Speaker 1: So here are the creative answers they offered. This really
32:29
Speaker 1: is the period of time between Jesus' first and second advent.
32:34
Speaker 1: Bethlehem and the second advent. Well, they may be fair theologians,
32:39
Speaker 1: but they're bad mathematicians because as I add that up,
32:42
Speaker 1: that's over 2,000 years and some change. Another one, the
32:48
Speaker 1: entire book of Revelation is filled with symbolism. Therefore, any
32:53
Speaker 1: doctrine based on insisting upon a literal 1,000-year period Is
32:58
Speaker 1: building on a weak foundation. Okay. Here's the third. In
33:05
Speaker 1: Revelation the idea thousand is never taken literally. Really. So
33:13
Speaker 1: I checked and this is the only place thousand appears
33:17
Speaker 1: in the book of Revelation. It's never used alone anywhere
33:20
Speaker 1: else in the book. Here's another. These thousand years extend
33:26
Speaker 1: from the incarnation to Satan's final plunge into hell. Again,
33:32
Speaker 1: the math is bad. Another. Most amazing of all, I found,
33:35
Speaker 1: the thousand years express no period of time. Oh, okay.
33:46
Speaker 1: So we can't count on numbers because they're all symbolic.
33:51
Speaker 1: Will you allow me to flesh that out? What about
33:53
Speaker 1: the 144,000 in Revelation 7-4? What about the 12,000 in
33:56
Speaker 1: Revelation 7-5? What about the five months mentioned in Revelation 9-5?
34:00
Speaker 1: Or the 42 months mentioned in Revelation 11-2? Or the
34:03
Speaker 1: 1260 days mentioned in Revelation 11-3? What about the number of... Elders, 24.
34:23
Speaker 1: Maybe there were 30. Or maybe there were nine, since
34:28
Speaker 1: it's all symbolic. Maybe there weren't seven churches in Revelation
34:32
Speaker 1: 2 and 3. Maybe there were 70 or three. I
34:43
Speaker 1: find it absurd... When you get to a passage that
34:48
Speaker 1: mentions the number six times in seven verses, first of all,
34:54
Speaker 1: to deny it or to explain it away or to
34:57
Speaker 1: spiritualize it. In fact, I have a fine set of
35:02
Speaker 1: commentaries that are excellent from Genesis to Jude, but there
35:08
Speaker 1: is no commentary on Revelation offered by this particular passage.
35:14
Speaker 1: Brilliant scholar, and I mean brilliant. Because you get to Revelation,
35:20
Speaker 1: you're forced to deal with this kind of information, and
35:24
Speaker 1: I suggest it's best taken as it appears, rather than
35:30
Speaker 1: to try to turn it into some kind of symbol. So, no,
35:35
Speaker 1: this golden age will not last forever. In fact, we're
35:39
Speaker 1: told what will happen at the end of it. Verse
35:42
Speaker 1: 3 concludes, after these things, Satan is released for a
35:47
Speaker 1: short time. And in verse 7, lest you missed it
35:51
Speaker 1: in verse 3, the writer says, when the thousand years
35:55
Speaker 1: are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. So
36:00
Speaker 1: that's the abyss. Somehow the lid will be opened and
36:04
Speaker 1: the key will be inserted and relieve him of his incarceration.
36:09
Speaker 1: And what will happen? He will come out. Notice right away.
36:13
Speaker 1: He will deceive the nations which are in the four
36:16
Speaker 1: corners of the earth, meaning all over the world. Gog
36:20
Speaker 1: and Magog seems to be a prophetic language for worldwide
36:24
Speaker 1: enemies of Christ. And they will gather together for the war.
36:29
Speaker 1: And the number of those that gather, hold on, is
36:33
Speaker 1: like the sand of the seashore. Isn't that amazing? I'm always...
36:39
Speaker 1: I always smile when I come to that, at the
36:41
Speaker 1: amazement of it. Satan has been gone for a thousand years,
36:46
Speaker 1: but the old nature hasn't improved one bit. And as
36:50
Speaker 1: soon as the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren are born
36:55
Speaker 1: to these believers who have had these homes and families
36:58
Speaker 1: and lived their lives in the golden age, as soon
37:01
Speaker 1: as they have a chance to follow a deceiver, they
37:04
Speaker 1: will gather together. To such a number that it can't
37:08
Speaker 1: be counted. It's like the sand of the seashore. Which
37:12
Speaker 1: tells us what? Tells us that the total incorrigibility of
37:16
Speaker 1: Satan is in place. Not even a thousand years being
37:21
Speaker 1: bound changes his nature. And the total depravity of humanity
37:26
Speaker 1: is still in place. Not even a thousand years of
37:30
Speaker 1: peace causes mankind to behave himself. to believe what's right,
37:37
Speaker 1: to follow deeply the things of the Lord. Well, I
37:43
Speaker 1: read in verse 9 that they will come up on
37:45
Speaker 1: the broad plain of the earth and surround the camp
37:48
Speaker 1: of the saints, and the beloved city is no doubt
37:51
Speaker 1: a reference to Jerusalem. And notice, it doesn't last very long.
37:54
Speaker 1: Fire comes down from heaven and devours them. And in
37:58
Speaker 1: case you're haunted with thoughts of the enemy, Satan, please
38:02
Speaker 1: observe his ultimate doom, the devil who deceived them was
38:07
Speaker 1: thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone this is
38:10
Speaker 1: different from the abyss this is the permanent abode of
38:15
Speaker 1: satan and his demons along with those that follow him
38:19
Speaker 1: and all who do not know christ at death this
38:22
Speaker 1: is where the beast and the false prophet are also
38:25
Speaker 1: notice present tense they're still alive so the whole thought
38:30
Speaker 1: of annihilation is overcome by the word they are also
38:34
Speaker 1: They're still alive. They've been there tormented for a thousand years.
38:38
Speaker 1: And he, they together will be tormented day and night
38:42
Speaker 1: forever and ever. Matthew 25 verse 41 states that the
38:49
Speaker 1: lake of fire was originally created for the devil and
38:52
Speaker 1: his angels. So it gets its due. The lake of
38:57
Speaker 1: fire now has as the first inhabitants the devil, his demons,
39:02
Speaker 1: and his the beast and the false prophet. Now then,
39:07
Speaker 1: I can just hear a few, especially teenagers who've been listening, say,
39:13
Speaker 1: so what? What does this have to do with anything?
39:19
Speaker 1: How does this help me live in a world that's
39:21
Speaker 1: not like this and is light years from this? What
39:27
Speaker 1: can I learn from things like this? So let me
39:31
Speaker 1: give a couple of very practical words of application. First,
39:38
Speaker 1: live consistently and realistically while things are upside down. As
39:45
Speaker 1: long as the earth is not what it ought to
39:47
Speaker 1: be and isn't what we want it to be, the
39:50
Speaker 1: best thing you and I can do is live a
39:53
Speaker 1: consistent and realistic life. You and I know the most
39:58
Speaker 1: powerful message for Christ is a consistent life lived for him.
40:05
Speaker 1: The most powerful message anyone can read or witness is,
40:11
Speaker 1: is a life lived devoted to Christ. And by the way,
40:14
Speaker 1: it's a life of realism. The government sells a stamp
40:20
Speaker 1: now that is marked very clearly, pray for peace. Well,
40:26
Speaker 1: I don't buy that stamp for one reason. I don't
40:29
Speaker 1: think you can get peace in a world that's got
40:33
Speaker 1: the devil in charge, Jesus no longer in authority, and
40:38
Speaker 1: the righteous not in rule. So I think it's a
40:41
Speaker 1: great hope. It's a dream. Every president promises it and
40:45
Speaker 1: then can't deliver it because we got people who are
40:49
Speaker 1: depraved trying to live it out. So live realistically. Don't
40:54
Speaker 1: let your kids play with scorpions yet, okay? Don't bring
41:00
Speaker 1: a lion in with your dog or you'll have a
41:05
Speaker 1: lion that's just had a nice supper if he gets hungry. P.T. Barnum,
41:10
Speaker 1: the famous showman, used to delight in showing to visiting
41:15
Speaker 1: clergymen an exhibit that Barnum called the Happy Family, in
41:20
Speaker 1: which lions, tigers, and panthers squatted around a lamb without
41:26
Speaker 1: a predatory smack of the lips. Dexter Fellows, the Barnum
41:34
Speaker 1: press agent, declared that when a minister asked Barnum if
41:38
Speaker 1: the group ever gave any trouble, the showman replied, apart
41:44
Speaker 1: from replenishing the lamb now and then, they get along
41:50
Speaker 1: real well. Of course. You've got to live realistically. Sorry
42:02
Speaker 1: if this doesn't sound very spiritual, but you better know
42:04
Speaker 1: a good attorney You're going to need one from time
42:11
Speaker 1: to time. You better lock your doors at night because
42:16
Speaker 1: if you don't, you're going to get robbed. You better
42:21
Speaker 1: lock your doors on your car and roll your windows
42:24
Speaker 1: up because if you don't, you're going to lose your
42:27
Speaker 1: car and maybe your life. I like the old American
42:33
Speaker 1: Revolution motto. Trust in God, but keep your powder dry.
42:41
Speaker 1: Not a bad idea to own a gun. Boy, wait
42:46
Speaker 1: till I get the letters this week. Do I care?
42:52
Speaker 1: You know by now I don't care. You better learn
42:56
Speaker 1: how to defend yourself. You better carry that can of mace.
43:00
Speaker 1: You better not be out late at night where it's dark.
43:03
Speaker 1: That's not godly. That's foolish. We don't live in a
43:07
Speaker 1: golden age. We live in a wicked age where the
43:13
Speaker 1: depraved are more in number than the righteous. Wake up. Consistently,
43:22
Speaker 1: realistically live your life. Second, witness faithfully and fervently. I mean,
43:30
Speaker 1: a world that's lost its way like ours, my goodness,
43:33
Speaker 1: what a magnificent opportunity to make Christ known. Witness fervently
43:39
Speaker 1: and faithfully. I mean, if not even a perfect environment
43:44
Speaker 1: is enough to make people right, as soon as they
43:48
Speaker 1: have an evil leader show up, they're ready to follow him.
43:51
Speaker 1: I just imagine the lostness of our world today. You
43:56
Speaker 1: have no idea the misery of those who work around
44:00
Speaker 1: you who don't know the Savior. They're not going to
44:02
Speaker 1: walk up and tell you This is a world where
44:05
Speaker 1: you fake that kind of thing, or you drink it away,
44:08
Speaker 1: or you drug it away. You do something to take
44:11
Speaker 1: the edge off. How marvelous to be around folks who
44:16
Speaker 1: very graciously offer the deep answer, such as knowing Christ personally.
44:27
Speaker 1: Chuck Colson tells an interesting story. He visited a number
44:31
Speaker 1: of years ago a model correctional institution in Europe. That's
44:36
Speaker 1: all in quotes. The psychiatrist explained that 71% of the
44:42
Speaker 1: inmates had been classified as mentally abnormal since they had
44:47
Speaker 1: committed particularly heinous crimes. Since people are inherently good, she said,
44:55
Speaker 1: Anyone who does evil must be mentally ill. So inmates
45:01
Speaker 1: with this illness were sent to her institution to be cured.
45:06
Speaker 1: A few days after Colson's visit, a convicted rapist was
45:12
Speaker 1: given permission for a short furlough under the escort of
45:16
Speaker 1: a 26-year-old female guard. Part of his therapy was to
45:23
Speaker 1: attend a movie with a woman A step on his
45:28
Speaker 1: road to normalcy, as the doctor put it. Not far
45:32
Speaker 1: from those prison gates, the inmate battered and then brutally
45:37
Speaker 1: murdered the young woman. Coulson concluded, violent tendencies are not
45:45
Speaker 1: an illness. Criminal behaviors are not symptoms of a disease.
45:53
Speaker 1: We cannot explain away awful acts through sociological factors or
45:58
Speaker 1: odd chromosomes or poverty or germs or drugs. While these
46:05
Speaker 1: surely can be factors in criminal behavior, the root cause
46:09
Speaker 1: of crime has not changed since Cain. It is sin.
46:18
Speaker 1: Sin spoils everything. He adds, the Bible teaches that men
46:27
Speaker 1: and women's natures are inherently depraved. Without restraints, sin will
46:33
Speaker 1: emerge and wreak its havoc on whatever crosses its path.
46:41
Speaker 1: That is why our job as good parents is to
46:47
Speaker 1: help our children understand authority and obedience. And the consequences
46:57
Speaker 1: of doing wrong. That's why that's so valuable. I know
47:03
Speaker 1: they're all adorable. When they're born. I understand that. I
47:12
Speaker 1: just used to hold our little babies and just with
47:14
Speaker 1: each one, I just hug them and kiss them and
47:18
Speaker 1: tell them how great they were. And I was working
47:20
Speaker 1: for a fellow minister much older than I used to.
47:24
Speaker 1: used to watch me do that he'd say just remember
47:28
Speaker 1: they're dirty rotten sinners I know I know that's not
47:37
Speaker 1: the liberal message but that's the biblical message I wish
47:43
Speaker 1: they weren't but of course I wish you didn't have
47:45
Speaker 1: to put acid in a swimming pool and I I
47:48
Speaker 1: wish you didn't have to drive the speed limit and
47:50
Speaker 1: I I don't always do that either, by the way.
47:53
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about that. I wish that everybody would
47:58
Speaker 1: behave themselves. I wish that all neighbors would be good.
48:01
Speaker 1: I really wish that good stuff. I wish nobody would
48:03
Speaker 1: come in a house that wasn't locked. But all that
48:07
Speaker 1: wishing is golden age wish because Jesus isn't reigning and
48:13
Speaker 1: Satan is alive and well and the unrighteous. So wake up.
48:23
Speaker 1: The only deep, lasting answer that will not only help
48:28
Speaker 1: you go through time, but it will keep you out
48:30
Speaker 1: of the lake that never stops burning is Christ. I'll
48:38
Speaker 1: tell you, I sleep so good every night knowing I've
48:43
Speaker 1: told you the truth. I sleep so good. Now it's
48:48
Speaker 1: in the Lord's hand. to work with each one of
48:52
Speaker 1: you to act on what you've heard. So let's bow together.
48:58
Speaker 1: Just close your eyes for a few moments. You may
49:01
Speaker 1: know the Lord, but the person sitting right behind you
49:04
Speaker 1: or in front of you or next to you may
49:06
Speaker 1: not know the Lord. You may not remember her name
49:11
Speaker 1: or his name, but it's a good time for you
49:13
Speaker 1: to pray for the person you shook hands with earlier.
49:19
Speaker 1: Pray the Lord will speak in a special way. If
49:28
Speaker 1: you're that person, I invite you to Christ. If there
49:32
Speaker 1: were a better offer, I'd offer that. There were a
49:36
Speaker 1: solution that would solve your deep, deep continuing struggles, then
49:45
Speaker 1: that's what I'd be preaching. But there's no other offer.
49:49
Speaker 1: There's no other answer. Come to him now. Just come
49:55
Speaker 1: to him now by faith. It's like a child walking
49:59
Speaker 1: up to a parent. Just put your hand in his.
50:03
Speaker 1: Put your heart in his. Take Christ's righteousness. In place
50:11
Speaker 1: of your unrighteousness. We're grateful, our Father, for your word
50:20
Speaker 1: that helps us cut through the garbage of our times.
50:25
Speaker 1: All the fog and nonsense and double talk and gobbledygook
50:32
Speaker 1: of the stuff we have to wade through. Thank you
50:35
Speaker 1: for telling it straight. For making it clear. For leaving
50:40
Speaker 1: that responsibility with us. To come to terms with what
50:45
Speaker 1: you said. May your spirit not give any relief or
50:51
Speaker 1: release to anyone. Who's not ready to die. I pray
50:56
Speaker 1: in Jesus name. Everybody said. Amen.