THE BEGINNING OF THE END

(A Message to the Multitude)

(Preached Sunday Evening, July 19, 2020)

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

(Hebrews 9:27)

The title of this message is, “The Beginning of the End.”

The beginning of the end. What is the beginning of your end? It will occur… three times! The beginning of your end . . . the beginning of your end . . . the beginning of your – end – will occur three times within your eternal, yes, your eternally lived life.

You see, there is a great conspiracy that exists in the world today. You are the primary target of this conspiracy.

As it is written…

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Yes, that’s right. Your mind has been blinded by “the god of this world”; yes, by Satan, the Devil himself. Yes, he and the fallen beings that serve him really exist; and yes, your mind has really been blinded. If you’re asking, “Blinded to what?” then you prove this to be true. Again, we read to you again what was just read to you.

“The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Yes, as if to divert your thoughts from your own particular case, movies, news and even education focus on when life began and when it will end… in general. That’s right! Not on your purpose in the universe or where you wind up in it, but rather on what they ambiguously propose to know about the universe’s purpose and about its end and its beginning.

The universe, they say, began with a “Big Bang”, a gigantic explosion. And so, they say, out of that great rubble, out of that which they themselves imagine as the greatest of all confusion, out of that chaos they say occurred the great order that they themselves now find, through their best magnifications, to exist even within the tiniest of all subatomic particles which with their great wisdom they have named… a “quark.” Yes, a “quark: spelled q-u-a-r-k: quark!

And when do they say that the universe will end? Oh, their magic [oh, excuse me] their science gets even more thrilling here, as their knowledge appears to widen with their speculation; with the time of the end broadly predicted to occur, oh, somewhere between, mmm…, somewhere between 2.8 billion to 22 billion years… from now.

Yes, and with that – the deed is usually done. Your mind is further blinded and instead of focusing on your own life, first and last, your mind is cast back to someone else’s beginning – back, back, back; too too too many years ago to remember. Then, later on in your studies or in your entertainment, your attention is pushed forward into an unnameable future, and into an ethereal mass of numbers too numerous for quantification; and then… here you are: spread out, thinned, antiseptically numbed into never truly dealing with who you are in the universe. (It’s sort of like a child being given an ice cream bar, and then shown the circus for the first time: You see, it’s not until the cream has all dripped out and made a mess all over his or her shoes that he or she realizes, they are standing there holding – an empty stick.)

You? You! You who are listening to this. You out there in the world… do not be deceived. You had a beginning. You have a purpose. And in every stage leading up to your eternity, there will be a beginning of an end: three, to be precise. Three beginnings of three ends.

Come then, if you dare to know the truth. If you dare to let us help you escape from the matrix of this world’s systems; from the continually concocted confusion of a world gone mad – on purpose! And why? Why would you avoid the truth, and live a lie; cloaked in a blanket of deceit; dancing upon the edge of a cliff until you find your feet misplaced three times.

Three times! Three times! Three times! I speak today to warn you of three times – when the beginning of your end shall commence. And then… And then! And then…

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

Yes, “it is appointed unto men once to die.” And you shall see, in a moment, that there is a second death. And you shall see that after each of your two deaths there follows immediately “after this the judgment”; beginning with your first death, with that which is “appointed” for you, as it is for everyone. And what is that? That – is…

THE BEGINNING OF THE END #1: You wake up in Hell.

A. When do you wake up in Hell?

The Bible says…

“Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.” (Psalm 55:15)

B. Why do you wake up in Hell?

The Bible says…

“God … cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” (2 Peter 2:4)

C. Where is Hell?

The Bible says…

“They … went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them.” (Numbers 16:33)
“Let them go down quick into hell.” (Psalm 55:15)
“I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit.” (Ezekiel 31:16)
“They also went down into hell.” (Ezekiel 31:17)
“Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them.” (Amos 9:2)

Ah, but the holding tank of Eternity named Hell must not be and will not be your home always. Yea, although it will be, as outlined elsewhere in Scripture, it will be for at least a thousand years, still… it will eventually, upon a set day and a set time, as the Bible says, it will “give you up.” For what? For…

THE BEGINNING OF THE END #2: You stand at the Last Judgement.

A. When do you stand at the Last Judgement?

The Bible says…

“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” (Revelation 20:13)

B. Why do you stand at the Last Judgement?

The Bible says…

“And the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Revelation 20:12)

C. Who will be judging you?

The Bible says…

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.” (Revelation 20:11-12a)

Judged! Pulled up out of the pit of Hell, not to escape but to be judged. Judged and confirmed in sin in eternity without Christ! Found out, revealed discovered exposed! All of your secrets are shared before all. They were recorded. There then they shall all be revealed. They, all your sins, will be supernaturally . . . permanently . . . imposed upon the mind of everyone, and inescapably upon your mind within your soul; and you shall then be fully ready for what comes next.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END #3: You are cast into the Lake of Fire.

A. When are you cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone?

The Bible says…

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)

B. Why are you cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone?

The Bible says…

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)

C. How long will you be in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone?

The Bible says…

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14)

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

Conclusion

You lived a life of great proportion;

Visited kings and crossed the ocean

But in the end, cremate or bury,

Your just a filed obituary.

Or so you thought but now you stand

And hear the voice of God demand,

“Flesh return and meet desire,

And burn thee in the Lake of Fire!”

To burn a while, to burn forever:

Eternal pain, eternal weather,

Where great and small shall join together

In a never ending scream.

And you who dared to call it fiction

When truth pronounced its benediction,

Horror! Horror upon your path!

This is your final epitaph.

In burning embers, look and see

A thousand wasted vanities.

Eternity! Eternity!

You should have trusted Christ!

No Christ! No Christ! You could have trusted him then. You could have turned away from a life of avoiding him, emraced him and allowed him to embrace you . . . and wash you in his blood . . . and cleanse you from all sin . . . make you set for this life now and for that eternal life which is to come.

The Bible says,

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.” (Hebrews 2:1-3)

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4, ESV)

Therefore you must “pay closer attention” to what you have heard!
Therefore you must not let it “drift away!”
The message declared by the Bible, declared by the prophets, and by the preachers of old has “proved reliable!”
It has come to pass: In every generation, and now in your generation, in your time and with you.
Your every transgression or disobedience shall receive a just retribution, a carrying out of eternal judgement upon your eternal sins.
How shall you escape? How shall you escape?
How shall you escape if you neglect “such a great salvation?
“It was declared at first by the Lord,
“And it was attested to us by those who heard,
“While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

How shall you escape? How shall you escape?

How shall you escape if you neglect “such a great salvation?”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

This is no joke! Hell is no joke! The Last Judgement is no joke! The Lake of Fire is no joke!

As it is written…

You were created in the image of God! You are immortal with the greatest of potential possible.. In Christ alone! You are destined . . . eternally for . . . You choose!