Desiring A Better Country

Rev Mar’s May 24 sermon in PDF, please download here:

Desiring A Better Country

John 14:1-3; Hebrews 11:10, 13, 16

Sumainyo ang kapayapaan at biyaya na kaligtasan at buhay na walang hanggan na matatanggap lamang, wala nang iba, kundi mula sa Panginoong Jesucristo, ang Dios Anak na nagkatawang tao, upang akuin Niya ang ating kasalanan at tubusin tayo mula sa ating pagkakasala sa pamamagitan ng pag-aalay Niya ng buhay ng Kaniyang katawang tao hanggang kamatayan, at sa Kaniyang pagkabuhay mula sa mga patay, ang sinomang sumampalataya sa Panginoong Jesucristo nang tuloy, tuwiran, tapat at walang pasubali, at tanggapin Siya na kaniyang lahat sa lahat, itong Panginoong Jesucristo na ito ang kaniyang maging kaligtasan, buhay na walang hanggan at kaluwalhatian magpakailanman.

“ For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb 11:10)

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Heb 11:13)

“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Heb 11:16)

1. In last Sunday’s message, I submitted to you that:
2. All the technologies that the antichrist will use are now in place or some will be ready very soon for use by the antichrist sometime in the middle of the Tribulation period when the false prophet forces everyone, great and small, rich and poor, bond or free, to receive the mark of the antichrist. Technologies like digital ID which is your self-identification to be able to transact daily business like buying or selling or going to work or owning a bank account to credit remuneration for your works and services rendered or to debit for your payables and liabilities, to receive vaccine for disease prevention or to receive medical treatment. The vaccine will be a convenient platform to inject a microchip in the form of micro-needles called quantum dot tattoo to contain information about you. It is also a form of surveillance and controlling people through tracking and tracing technologies. I would like to let you know about the vaccines for corona virus:

1. They claim that the vaccine may be made available after 18 months or about the end of 2021. This is extremely swift. The Dengvaxia vaccine was developed in a period of 20 years by Sanofi-Aventis, one of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical firms. It was used in the Philippines with undue haste to immunize school children of ages 9-16 against Dengue. Despite the long laboratory research and clinical trials and testing, it caused the death of about 600 school children. According to Children’s Health Defense, an American nonprofit advocacy organization, “the epidemiologists who reviewed the data found the trials were riddled with “small inaccuracies, missing data, and uncalculated risks.” Buried in those clinical trials was a disease enhancement safety signal, but the industry and the World Health Organization (WHO) turned a blind eye to the problem, calling it a “theoretical possibility.” Dengvaxia was subsequently administered to thousands of children in the Philippines.” The editorial by the President of the organization had this title “The Dengvaxia Disaster Was Twenty Years in the Making—What Will Happen With a Rushed COVID-19 Vaccine?” In another, article from the same organization, a question was posed to Dr. Fauci, the proponent and exponent of COVID-19 vaccine, “Dr. Fauci and COVID-19 Priorities: Therapeutics Now or Vaccines Later?” Therapeutics that have been tried include Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) and our locally available Fabunan medical treatment, both of which the FDA (US and Philippines) do not recognize.
2. What I am going to say next is not science fiction nor a conspiracy theory. It is real. The Atlantic, in its science section, has this article about DNA Hacking or DNA Altering injections are now available online from Amazon at $169. This is sold as DIY for CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). Scientific American has this title for a similar article “Mail-Order CRISPR Kits Allow Absolutely Anyone to Hack DNA.” CRISPR has given scientists a powerful way to make precise changes to DNA—in microbes, plants, mice, dogs and even in human cells. The technique may help researchers engineer drought-resistant crops, develop better drugs, cure genetic disorders, eradicate infectious diseases and much more. This technology can easily be developed to be used for humans for whatever purpose the government licensed it for. This is the easiest way the antichrist can surveil and control people during his reign by forcing them to receive a DNA altering vaccine or the mark of the beast which is 666 or the number of man.

These are now in play or under swift development. It means that the Tribulation period is very near. And if the Tribulation period is around the corner, it stands to reason that the Rapture is much nearer because the Rapture happens before the start of the Tribulation period when the antichrist will strengthen the peace covenant with many nations.

2. As I have said before, we have already fallen into the slippery slope of ushering in the Tribulation period. Secretary Duque of the DOH rescinded his previous announcement that we are in the second wave of the pandemic. Is that all there is to it if it is really true that we have reached the second wave? One is made to think that his announcements sound arbitrary or whimsical or influenced by outside authorities. While lockdown restrictions continue to be eased around the world, leaders are concerned that a second wave of coronavirus infections could hit as people come into closer contact than they have in weeks. With a second wave, which could be worse than the first, movement restrictions shall be reinstituted as at first. There is a strong suspicion that the globalists will not let this pandemic go away without having instituted their system in place. That is how they will be able to force testing, tracing, isolating and vaccinating which are ways of population surveillance and control.
3. With the looks of it, longing ultimately for our return to “normal” life would be a long shot if ever the pandemic scare will end. There will come a time when we say the proverbial statement, “Those were the days.” This world will get worse. For in the last days, perilous times will come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” ( 2 Timothy 3:1-5) 
4. Let us not, therefore, pin our hope that this world will become better for there is coming a time when this world will see “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2) to a rebellious and unrepentant stiff-necked people. Our blessed hope is the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming to take us away from “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10). It is the will and prayer of the Lord Jesus to the Father that we may be with Jesus where He is that we may behold His glory, which the Father has given Him for the Father loves Him before the foundation of the world (John 17:24; 14:1-3).
5. So, what are we to do in these last days? 

1. While waiting for the coming of Jesus for His church, let us continue to fall on our face and plead with Jesus to let His Holy Spirit rebuke and convict this world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, that many more souls will turn over their lives to Jesus and that He may grant us the grace to overcome the “birth pains” we and this world are going through now and the victory to fight the good fight of faith that we may not forget the wonderful things which the Lord hath prepared for them that love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9) !
2. Second, Paul exhorts in his letter to Timothy to “ Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

6. We are not waiting for the antichrist. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed hope. Tribulation is not what is coming for the Christians; it is the Rapture. But before the start of the Tribulation period, Christians are raptured out of this world into the place prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ for all His believers. The dead in Christ shall be resurrected and given a glorified body and those who are alive when Jesus comes for His church will be caught up with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air. The Bible then say, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
7. These are very comforting words because we are spared of the dreadful and horrific Tribulation period when people of this world are manipulated by the antichrist in view of the DNA altering vaccine which is the mark of the antichrist or the mark of the beast. In the Lord’s day or Tribulation period, we read in the Book of Revelation that people who received the mark of the antichrist will be incorrigible, and say:

1. “ And (they) said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ “ (Revelation 6:16-17). The people are now calling the rocks because they failed to call upon the eternal Rock, the Rock of Ages, when He was still to be found.
2. “ And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” (Revelation 9:6) . “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (Gr, pharmakeia, the use or administering of drugs or vaccines), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” (Rev 9:20-21).
3. “ And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.” (Rev 16:8-11).

Am I trying to scare you? I would rather scare you to heaven than flatter you to hell. 

8. Our home is not this world for it is passing away (Matthew 24:35). The Bible says, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20). The apostle Paul in one of his prison epistles wrote in chapter 3 verse 2 of his letter to the Colossians,  “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21). There is nothing wrong with enjoying the prosperity the Lord has blessed us with. We thank the Lord for them but it would do us good if we hold on to them loosely, otherwise, it hurts when we will leave all of them  behind. The Lord Jesus further said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).  You will leave everything you have. The only thing you can bring is what you are. Paul wrote, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) . In the Bible, dying is  gain if you spent your life for Jesus. Did you live for this world or did you live for Jesus Christ? Therefore, let us loosen our grip on this world and the things of this world; let us not dig our roots too deep in this temporal soil of this earth. (Illustration: The Rich Young Ruler . “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ‘Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ ” [Matthew 19:16–30] .   “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”[1Timothy 6:10] . vs Zacchaeus.  “ And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.’  And Jesus said unto him, ‘This day is salvation come to this house.’ ”  [Luke 19:1-10, esp. 8-9] . )
9. No matter how comfortable this world might be, it is not the place of our true citizenship. This is not our home. We hear this very often, but are we ready to go home? Do we consider ourselves as “strangers and pilgrims” on earth (Hebrews 11:13)? Do we desire a better country, a heavenly country to come (Hebrews 11:16)? Or have we sunk our roots too deep in this temporal world and, by the ease of life here on earth, have forgotten the place promised by the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go, I will come again to receive you unto myself so that where I am, there may you be also.” (John 14:1-3). This is a promise of Jesus and all the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus; they are yea and amen in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20). We are strangers here and our pilgrimage will soon be over; we will soon be home. We are going to that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:10) The good news is that He is coming very soon.
10.  What does the Bible say about heaven? 

1. Heaven is a dwelling place in the Father’s house prepared for us believers in Jesus where He will take believers to be with Him forever (John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:18)
2. Heaven is the paradise where the Lord Jesus took the repentant criminal with Him .  “And he said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.’ ” (Luke 23:42-43).
3. Heaven is the paradise Paul was caught up into where he heard unspeakable words, which  is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Corinthians 12:4). How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
4. John described it as, “The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation 21:2-4).
5. Heaven is a comforting thought to get us through our earthly sufferings.  “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”(Rom 8:18) .
6. Heaven (or the things which God hath prepared for them that love him) is a glorious place that no eye can see nor ear perceive, nor can our hearts understand but God has revealed it to us by the Holy Spirit.   “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:”  (1Corinthians 2:9-10).
7. How do we prepare for heaven?

1. For sure, before the world enters the period of judgment of the Lord and the pouring of His wrath upon an unbelieving world, we shall be out of here. The mark of the antichrist would not be our problem because before the Tribulation starts, we shall be out of here. That is, if you are a committed Christian in faith, hope and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. If not, you will be left behind and you will go through the terrible day of vengeance of God.
2.  “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:10-14)
3. “Say unto them, ‘As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;’ ”.   “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
4. You do not have to go through the dreadful wrath of God during the Tribulation period. Jesus wants you saved. He came to pay for your sins by His substitutionary and sacrificial death of His manhood and wash you white as snow by His precious blood shed upon the cross. You can be saved if you repent by turning from your sinful ways and by faith turn over your life to the Lord Jesus Christ confessing and by believing Jesus as your salvation, everlasting life and eternal glory. Jesus will then give you the right to become a son of God, and by the authority of the word of God, you will be saved and be included in the rapture above and you can enter that better country and that city with foundations whose builder and maker is God.

24 May 2020, the Lord’s Message