(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

man the title of the sermon tonight is the 144,000 the 144,000 now this is a group that is mentioned three different times in the book of Revelation they're mentioned in chapter 7 they're mentioned in chapter 9 and then they're mentioned again in chapter 14 there's a lot of confusion about this group of people it's something that can be tough to understand I'll be honest with you I didn't really fully understand this subject until 2012 because of the fact that you grow up with so much false teaching especially in regard with to Israel and the Jews and things like that so I never fully grasped this and if you listen to my sermon from back in 2007 when I was preaching through the book of Revelation when I'm on chapter 7 I kind of just say I don't really know for sure I'm kind of throwing out some theories and I I was a little bit unsure about it but when we did the Revelation series in 2013 I didn't want to have to just kind of gloss it over I really wanted to be thorough in that series so I spent just weeks praying and studying the Bible and just going through the whole book of Revelation every day just agonizing over this and just trying to understand this subject and then God showed it to me and it was just it's one of those things where once you understand it you feel like an idiot afterward because it's just so easy to understand it's so simple it's so clear I don't understand what my problem was but it's just that you get a preconceived idea stuck in your head and it's like you just can't get past that and once I got that preconception out of my mind I looked at it and it was just as plain as the nose on my face and it was so consistent from chapter 7 to chapter 14 and you know what those type of events like that where you you study the Bible and you pray and you ask God to show you and then you read and the Holy Spirit shows you the meaning you know those are really precious times in our lives when when when we have these epiphanies and I'm not talking about some kind of a extra biblical revelation I'm talking about a biblical revelation where where you're reading your Bible and it makes sense and you understand it because the Lord is your teacher and the Bible teaches that we should pray to the Lord and ask him to open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of his law now with the internet it's just too easy to just google the answer right you just google it and you're gonna get all kinds of answers and you figure one of them must be right but what we need to do is not just run to Google when we don't understand something but rather spend time praying and spend time reading the whole Bible cover to cover with that thought in mind and ask God to show us what the answer is and when the answer comes it's a lot sweeter than when you just googled it and it just popped up you know sometimes good to find the answer on your own to things and sometimes people on Google are leading you astray anyway so sometimes not you don't know what you're getting it's a jungle out there amen so in Revelation 7 we find the first mention of this group now I think what the 144,000 are most famous for is that the Jehovah's Witnesses have a really strange doctrine that says that only 144,000 people are going to heaven when you go out soul winning in fact and you run into the Jehovah's Witnesses and you ask them do you know for sure if you died today you go to heaven this is the first thing they bring up oh I'm not going to heaven I don't want to go to heaven that's only the 144,000 I'm just gonna stay here on this earth who's ever gotten an answer like that from Jehovah's Witness out Sony all over the building right that's why if I knock on somebody's door and I know they're a Jehovah's Witness I don't even ask him that question because I don't want to get off on some tangent about the 144,000 so I just say to them do you know 100% sure if you were to die today that you'd have eternal life or that you'd be saved so I just use the term saved or eternal life just to bypass that whole heaven debate because I'd rather get to the gospel you know any and that's true of any religion don't let them get you off on a tangent get the gospel out there that what's the power of God unto salvation is it understanding the 144,000 or is it the gospel of Jesus Christ so keep the emphasis on the gospel and then you can deal with those type of problems at the end but I like to make sure I get the gospel out there first so that's why I don't ask him if they're if they're going to heaven because they just jump on that right away and that's all they want to talk about is is how we're not going to heaven or something like that so what's the truth about the 144,000 who are they well the Bible tells us in Revelation 7 and Revelation 14 and none of this has anything to do with what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach I don't even know where they're getting their doctrine and and I've often at the door with the Jehovah's Witnesses taking them to Revelation 7 and just said let's read the whole thing hey let's go to chapter 14 let's read okay that's it now where is it saying that they're going to heaven and they're the only ones and and they all just kind of threw up their hands and couldn't show me because it isn't there that's why and you want to know what else is funny about the Jehovah's Witnesses isn't it interesting that you never meet one that says I'm gonna be one of those 144,000 because it has to be somebody it's supposedly the 144,000 best Jehovah's Witnesses but every single one that I've ever talked to said like oh I'm not going that's for the 144,000 well you know is there any Jehovah's Witness that has any ambition to be great for the look I mean if I believed in their weird doctrine I'd want to be one of the 144,000 wouldn't you I mean I press toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and so if I believe like them I'd be saying yes yes I'm going to heaven yes I'm gonna be one of the you know at least I'm trying my best I hope so but they're all they've all they've already given up they've already failed in their own minds they're there you know the aim high people good night maybe it's the same reason why the Jehovah's Witnesses walk down the street so slowly that's one that you can always tell the Jehovah's Witnesses they're setting a world land speed record for the slowest walk and there's like 12 of them and then like 10 of them wait at the sidewalk while two of them go to the door it's just a model of inefficiency and whenever I whenever I catch myself out soul winning kind of slowing down a little I always think I don't want to be like the Jehovah's Witnesses got speed up you know I got to be excited about what I'm doing why because we want to be out there we we want to go soul winning we're excited we want to get to that next door we want to do something for the Lord and you know what if there's an elite hundred forty four thousand we'd want to be in it but the bad news is it isn't there okay now let's see what the truth is about the hundred forty four thousand and we all know the the false doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses but let's see what the Bible actually says it says in chapter 7 verse 1 after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads now let's just get our timeline here where are we in the book of Revelation well what just happened at the end of chapter 6 was what's known as the day of the Lord the sun and moon are darkened the stars fall the heavens are rolled back as a scroll when it's rolled together and the great day of his wrath is come it says in verse 17 of chapter 6 and who shall be able to stand so the mighty men of the earth omen are bracing themselves for what the great wrath of God but at the beginning of chapter 7 the instruction is given to these four angels whose job is what their job is to hurt the earth right so God's wrath is about to come and the earth is about to be majorly hurt but he says wait a minute let's not do it until we've sealed the servants of our God and therefore does everybody follow so far because look we're gonna look at everything the Bible says about the 144,000 night there's only there's not much it's only three places let's leave no stone unturned tonight you're gonna walk away being just as sure about the 144,000 as I am because it's just we're just gonna read the Bible and take it for what it says okay so up to this point everything makes sense this is right between the sixth seal in chapter 6 and the seventh seal in chapter 8 right we have this little pause where he says wait a minute before we go any further before the earth or the sea is hurt we've got a seal the servants of our God and therefore it's and I heard the number of them which were sealed and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel the first thing we notice about the hundred forty four thousand is that they come from all the tribes of the children of Israel everybody notice that so what about Gentiles are they included in this group what about the Samaritans or you know no it says they're of the tribes of the children of Israel there's 12,000 of each tribe there's a hundred and forty four thousand and just to make sure that someone doesn't just take a figurative interpretation and think that we're talking about a spiritual Israel because the Bible does talk about spiritual Israel but when we see here that it's 12,000 from each tribe and then he takes the time to list the tribes that should show us right away this is literal I mean this has taken up a big chunk here of several verses to take I mean was it really necessary for God to say of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12,000 the tribe of Gad were sealed 12 he could have just said hey 12,000 from each tribe but the fact that he spells out each tribe with the number he's driving in the fact that it's literal he's driving in the fact that these are actual numbers not just a figurative number because what does this remind you of it reminds you of in the Old Testament when he would count off the tribes and they're gonna go to battle and in the book of Numbers he would go through and say okay this tribe has this many soldiers this tribe has that many soldiers we know that wasn't figurative he's counting the number of those troops and this is reminiscent of that and so that's why because it's literal these are literal 12 tribes of Israel people 12,000 from each tribe now once we go through counting all the numbers in verse 9 we're off the subject of the 144,000 so there's not a lot in chapter 7 is there just seal the servants of God before we hurt the earth and the sea 144,000 it's gonna be 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel then he gets off that subject because in verse 9 he says after this I be able to lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations so this is not children of Israel this is all nations all kindreds people tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hand now if we've been reading the context of Revelation we know that the throne of God and the lamb are located where in heaven because remember John is caught up in spirit in chapter 4 to heaven he beholds that throne he beholds the Lamb of God that's what chapters 4 & 5 are all about so we get to chapter 7 we see the ceiling of the 144,000 and the next thing we know there's a great multitude in heaven of all nations so right away the Jehovah's Witness doctrine has already fallen apart because they said that the 144,000 are the only ones going to heaven but if they would actually turn to the scripture that talks about the 144,000 what would they see in the next verse a great multitude in heaven that no man could number and I've shown this to more Jehovah's Witnesses than I can count I've never had one be able to give me an answer they just say well I don't know I don't know I mean look it's so clear isn't it Jehovah's Witness is a cult they tell their people don't go on the internet unless you're on jw.org don't read any tracks you'll notice that when they when you try to hand them an invite a lot of times they'll hand it right back to you because technically they're not even supposed to receive any literature they don't want their people doing any research because just the least bit of research is going to show how ridiculous their doctrine is and how their so-called translation the New World Translation is not a translation at all it just changes scripture it doesn't match any Greek text it doesn't match any Hebrew text it's from the imagination of the watchtower society so right away we see their doctrine fall apart because they're great multitude in heaven of all types of people now let's go to the next mention of this group revelation chapter 9 so what do we have in chapter 7 we have the 144,000 sealed and then we have the great multitude appearing in heaven out of all nations that's the rapture took place so everybody's been caught up into heaven then in chapters 8 & 9 God begins to pour out his wrath on this earth right because remember he was waiting to hurt the earth and the sea until they were sealed so then once they're sealed in chapter 7 and once the great multitude appears in heaven then he begins to pour out his wrath and the seven trumpets sound and various cataclysms happen whether it's fire and brimstone raining from heaven the water being turned into blood men being scorched with great heat well when we get to chapter 9 there's a judgment that comes on the earth where there are just these locusts from hell the bottomless pits opened and these locusts come up out of hell and they are tormenting the men that dwell on the earth look at verse 4 and it was commanded them commanded to the locusts that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing neither any tree but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads and to them it was given them that they should not kill them but that they should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he strike at the man so the Bible tells us here just a very brief mention of the 144,000 because we know that they were the ones who were sealed in chapter 7 right servants of God were sealed in their forts so in chapter 9 there's a mention of the fact that as people are suffering the plagues of God in the form of the fifth trumpet who is immune to that those who have the seal of God in their foreheads they're immune to that judgment so when the locusts from hell are tormenting everyone they skip the 144,000 they're immune from that judgment that's all we have in chapter 9 now let's flip over to chapter 14 so therefore we understand that while God is pouring out his wrath upon the earth the 144,000 are located where they're located on the earth which is why they needed that seal that they might be immune from the judgments that are happening on the earth they're sealed in chapter 7 and then they're on the earth while God pours out his wrath but they are immune from the judgments so it's actually quite the opposite of what the Jehovah's Witnesses are teaching everybody's in heaven except 144,000 isn't that ironic right because all the saved are caught up to be with the Lord and in chapter 7 they're that great multitude that nobody can number they're up there whereas the 144,000 are actually on the earth while the plagues are happening being immune now chapter 14 is where we get the most information about the 144,000 again there are only three places and this is the third it says in verse 1 and I looked and lo a lamb stood on the Mount Zion and with them a hundred and forty and four thousand having his father's name written in their foreheads now right away the question that we would ask ourselves here when we see the Mount Zion are we talking about a literal Mount Zion on the earth or are we talking about the heavenly Mount Zion in heaven because in the Old Testament the Bible does refer to a physical mountain as Mount Zion in all of the poetry and the Psalms that deal with the nation of Israel and Jerusalem that area around Jerusalem is often referred to as Mount Zion a physical place on this earth right but then also if you want to keep your finger in Revelation 14 and go over to Hebrews chapter 12 the Bible also talks about a heavenly Mount Zion so the Bible says in verse number 22 of Hebrews 12 but year come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels so when we read about Zion in the Old Testament which is a pretty common word that comes up a lot in Psalms Mount Zion was referring to an earthly mountain just like there's an earthly Jerusalem but then in Hebrews chapter 12 the Bible talks about Mount Zion as being equivalent to what the heavenly Jerusalem so it probably makes more sense that Mount Zion would be referring to the heavenly since we're in the New Testament but let's make sure right want to make sure that we're not you know just jumping to conclusions here because there was a physical Mount Zion and there's a heavenly Mount Zion so which one is it let's keep reading and see if we can figure it out it says in verse number one that they're on the Mount Zion with the lamb 144,000 having his father's name written in their foreheads so Jesus's father's name is written in their foreheads look at verse 2 and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their hearts and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth now stop right there who can learn the song that they sing only the hundred forty four thousand can anyone else learn the song they're singing a special song that no one else is able to learn only the hundred forty four thousand can sing this song therefore if we hear the song we know who's singing it's got to be the hundred forty four thousand right ok well think about this and you got to pay attention to what the Bible says here it says in verse 2 and I heard a voice from where heaven and the voice from heaven was as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their hearts and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred forty four thousand which were redeemed from the earth the sound of the song is coming from heaven who's singing the song the hundred forty four thousand and then it even spells out in verse three that they're singing it where before the throne before the four beasts before the elders so therefore we know for a fact here that the Mount Zion being referred to is in heaven why because they're with the Lamb on Mount Zion and they're singing a song that only they can know and the sound of that song is coming from heaven and they're singing the song where before the throne the four beasts and the elders which are all heavenly places yet people will teach this as it's on the earth it's not what it says not only that but it says at the end of verse 3 which were redeemed from the earth why are they from the earth because they're not on earth are they where are they in heaven so there's a lot of evidence here it's it'd be impossible to read this and walk away saying hey I think they're standing on the physical Mount of Jerusalem with Jesus wrong they're up in heaven right here in chapter 14 aren't they and they're singing the song before the four beasts and the elders and so forth look at verse four let's get a little bit more of a clue about who these people are these are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God so what we know about these people is that they're all males it's pretty clear that they're all males because it says that they were virgins because they had not defiled themselves with women that proves that they're all men these are 144,000 men and I've often showed this to the Jehovah's Witnesses and said well if you're a woman you're not even in the running for this because this is only the men they've been not defiled with women for their virgins and it says these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for there without fault before the throne of God now if these were human beings living on the earth in the flesh they wouldn't be without fault would they is there any Israelite that is without fault is there any human being that's without fault there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not the Bible says but the reason why the 144,000 are without fault before the throne of God is that these were saved believers who've already physically died and gone up to heaven right now when we die as believers and go up to heaven we're gonna be without fault the only reason that we sin is because we're in the flesh the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh well once we die we're no longer gonna have the flesh we're gonna be perfect and so that's why they're in heaven and they're perfect okay does everybody follow that so far now it says that they are the they were redeemed from among men now what does it mean that they're redeemed from among men well redemption has to do with salvation so these guys are saved now you don't need to be redeemed if you're not a sinner right a redemption is when someone sins and then they get saved they get redeemed so now they're without fault without guile because they've been saved and they've gone on to heaven and they are perfect and they're in a perfect place now who are these people where are they coming from how did they get there well first of all if we're gonna take a literal interpretation we must come to the conclusion that they are 12,000 from each tribe therefore we must come to the conclusion that these people are not alive right now why because of the fact that there is no such thing as the tribe of Reuben today there's no such thing as the tribe of Gad there's no such thing as the tribe of Asher there's no such thing as the tribe of Zebulun it doesn't exist now we're doing a thorough Bible study tonight aren't we we're looking at each verse we're talking about all the possible meanings we're proving it all we're comparing scripture with scripture and we walk away with an understanding that these people were people who lived on the earth they were redeemed from the earth they were men who got saved they were men who were virgins and they were men of the tribe of Reuben they were men of the tribe of Gad they were men of the tribe of Asher look we're just reading the Bible and taking it literally and just taking it at face value now the common teaching that you'll hear amongst Baptist is just a slipshod sloppy understanding and not only is it sloppy but it's also just wrong and it changes scripture and here's what they say instead instead of actually reading the Bible and going with what it tells us they generalize and this is what they say 144,000 Jews now is that what the Bible said did you see the word Jew anywhere in chapter 14 chapter 9 or chapter 7 no way no that's not what the Bible said because Reubenites are not Jews and never were Jews they never have been and never will be Jews okay why because a Jew is someone from the southern kingdom of Jew duh from Judah all right now go back if you would to 2nd Kings chapter 16 2nd Kings chapter 16 and I will show you why Reuben Gad and Asher and Zebulun and Isaac are can't be called Jews okay go back if you would to 2nd Kings chapter 16 the Bible never mentions the word Jew until 2nd Kings 16 that's pretty interesting isn't it there's no mention of Abraham Isaac and Jacob being Jews there's no mention of Joseph being a Jew there's no mention of Moses being a Jew you know Martin Luther famously said that when he translated the Bible into German he was gonna make Moses sound so German that no one would suspect that he was a Jew well you know sorry Martin Luther but that's easy because Moses wasn't a Jew because Moses lived hundreds and hundreds of years before there was even such thing as a Jew you see you have to get things in their proper time period like for example when you're in the Old Testament place names are gonna be different than in the New Testament like in the Old Testament you have places like Israel and Judah and Ammon and Moab and Edom right but when you get in the New Testament those places have different names you end up with places called not Judah but Judea and you end up with not Israel but Samaria you end up with Galilee Decapolis Berea you end up with all these different place names because the names of places change over time okay well this idea of being a Jew or Jewish is something that does not enter Scripture until 2nd Kings 16 and when God mentions something for the first time he often defines it for us what else is interesting is that the first time we ever see the word Samaritan is in 2nd Kings 17 so isn't that interesting that he rolls out the word Jew in 2nd Kings 16 and the word Samaritan in 2nd Kings 17 why because those two words are used together a lot because we have the Jews versus the Samaritans two different groups of people right in the New Testament these words are familiar to us we have the word Jew over and over again we have the word Samaritan over and over again but these words are first introduced in 2nd Kings 16 and the funniest part about all this is that in 2nd Kings 16 the first time the word Jew is mentioned Israel is fighting against the Jews so how in the world can somebody tell us that oh Israel that's the Jews oh okay the 12 tribes of Israel 12,000 of each tribe oh that's 14 or 144,000 Jews wrong because when we see a Jew it's contrasted with Israel why because a Jew is someone from the southern kingdom of Judah which involves the tribes of Judah Benjamin and Levi okay so I didn't say Jews are all of the tribe of Judah I said Jews are all from the southern kingdom of Judah which involves three tribes Judah Benjamin and Levi but it could also include people of other nationalities it could include black people from Ethiopia it could include Edomites Moabites Ammonites it could include all kinds of people that had eventually converted to being Jews why because in the book of Esther talks about people becoming Jews it says that people became Jews because the fear of Mordecai came upon them so if Jew is just a nationality or it's just an ethnicity or it's a race even then how do you become a Jew why do you become a Jew because a Jew is one from the southern kingdom of Judah that's what the word Jew means and then later the word you came to mean the religion of Judaism so we have two meanings for Jew we have the nationality of being of the southern kingdom of Judah and then we also have the idea of the religion so today we have people becoming Jews now you can become a Jew in the sense that you could join the southern kingdom of Judah just as someone would become an American right could not a person from any nationality become an American just by joining our our nation right now just as any religion you could become a Christian okay so that should help you understand the word you let's look up the first time the word Jew is mentioned look down at your Bible there in second Kings 16 second Kings 16 verse 5 then reason King of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah King of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him so two enemies are coming against Judah are they not they're coming against Jerusalem we've got reason the king of Syria and Pekah the son of the king of Israel right king of Syria is reason king of Israel Pekah they're coming against Jerusalem to war and they besieged Ahaz that's the king of Judah but could not overcome him this is the first time Jew is ever mentioned at that time reason king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria and drave the Jews from Elath and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day so who is it that is driving the Jews from Elath who is it that is fighting against the Jews it's who Syria and Israel have teamed up and drive out the Jews so how can Israel be the Jews it doesn't make any sense why because Israel is referring to the northern kingdom which consists of ten tribes northern kingdom of ten tribes southern kingdom three tribes you say well that's 13 that doesn't make well that's because the fact that Joseph got a double portion so Joseph became two tribes Ephraim and Manasseh so you have actually 13 portions or 13 allotments of land flip over to chapter 17 let's introduce ourselves to the Samaritans chapter 17 verse 24 and the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cutha and from Avon from Hamath and from Sifar bam and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof and so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent lions among them which slew some of them wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria saying the nations which thou has removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the god of the land therefore he had sent lions among them and behold they slay them because they know not the manner of the god of the land then the king of Assyria commanded saying carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence and let them go and dwell there and let them teach them the manner of the god of the land then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord how be it every nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places watch this which the Samaritans had made every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt and the men of Babylon made succoth Benath and the men of Cuth made Nergal and the men of Hamath made Ashima and so forth so why why read all this why show this because in verse 29 it makes it clear that the Samaritans are not the foreigners that came in from other countries but that the Samaritans are the Israelites of those ten tribes why because he uses them in contrast everybody pay attention put on your thinking cap and look at verse 29 how be it every nation made gods of their own ok so every nation who's coming to live there made gods of their own right and what did they do with those gods they put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made who are the Samaritans the people that lived there before them so the people who lived there before them the ten tribes of Israel known as the Samaritans they built high places right well then these new nations move in and what do they do they put their false gods in the house of the high places that who had made that they made know that the Samaritans have made now why are they called Samaritans because the capital city of judo was Jerusalem and the capital city of Israel was Samaria and God often uses the capital city of a place to name that whole place like he'll call it just Babylon or the Babylonians even though Babylon is a city and so here we see that the Samaritans are those people of the ten tribes ok now why is it that those people are not considered Israelites in the New Testament why are they not called Israelite why doesn't Jesus call the the the southern kingdom people Jews and why doesn't he call the northern kingdom people Israelites right wouldn't that make sense in fact he even separates them from Israel in the New Testament why is that because all of these other foreigners were brought in they were scattered all over the place and so what you end up with in that northern kingdom is a mixed group of people right so it's just a mingled group of people it's no longer 10 tribes it's a whole bunch of foreigners mixed with the 10 tribes the 10 tribes mix with each other they mix with the foreigners and they get comes to a place where they have no clue what tribe thereof they have no clue what their lineages and they've been totally intermingled with the heathen and they have a mixed religion and if you read this chapter carefully you see that they're mixing the religion of worshipping the Lord with this other God that frankly just suck it you know the suck-off be enough God in in verse 30 says the men of Babylon made sucketh be enough and the men of cuz made Nergal and the men of Hamath made Ashima so you have these other false gods but they're mixing in the worship of the Lord with that so they're no longer considered Israelites anymore because they've been mingled amongst the heathen to the point where they're unrecognizable are you listening they're unrecognizable as the children of Israel anymore so many foreigners have come in it's all mix it's all mess up and so this is where this group of people becomes just completely separated from those of Judah the Jews of the southern kingdom and going forward they don't really factor into any Bible stories do they in the Old Testament you know we when we read about Ezra and Nehemiah and and coming back to Jerusalem you know these people aren't a factor and when we get to the New Testament the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans do they but the Samaritans they still look to Abraham Isaac and Jacob as their forefathers in the New Testament because what does the woman tell at the well tell Jesus she said well our fathers worshipped in this mountain our father Jacob dug this well so she's looking to Abraham Isaac and Jacob as an ancestor so she's not just some see far bite or some Babylonian or you know she's a mixed person that is still having some relation to Abraham Isaac and Jacob but she's mingled among the heathen to the point where they're just they're not known as Asher Gad Zebulun ribbon they're just known as what just the Samaritans so when is the term Jew rolled out the term Jew is rolled out in chapter 16 of 2nd Kings when there's been a total final and irreconcilable break with the northern kingdom and we're just talking about the southern kingdom that's where we coined the phrase Jews in the Bible and when do we roll out the term Samaritan when the Samaritans had become when the Israelites now being called Samaritans have become so scattered and so mingled and so corrupt that we never see them worshiping the Lord again everybody following so far the history and guess what Jesus tells the woman at the well when she tries to say let's turn there let's go to John chapter 4 this is important John chapter 4 says this this is the the encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well and the woman saith unto him in verse 19 sir I perceive that thou art a prophet so as soon as she figures out that he's a prophet she wants to talk doctrine with him she wants to talk theology with him she's got a religious question for him because she trusts his judgment now because he just told her all things that ever she did the woman saith unto him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet our fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship so she's throwing that out there like well our fathers worshipped here you guys the Jews you're saying to worship in Jerusalem she throws that out there like okay if you're a prophet what's going on Jesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father and watch what he says in verse 22 ye worship ye know not what now look that's a pretty broad statement because he's talking about a whole nation he's not just talking about one woman is he who's he talking about when he uses the plural ye cuz ye you you're in the Bible is plural thee thou thy is singular ye worship ye know not what and by the way if you didn't have a King James you won't even know if it's singular apparel if it just says you ye worship you know not what who's he talking about who doesn't know what they're worshipping so what's he saying he's saying that the religion of the Samaritans is a false religion these people aren't worshipping the Lord at all do they have the same God yeah the God of Jacob no he says you don't even know what you're worshipping that he's basically just writing off the whole Samaritan religion as a false religion ye worship you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews now this is something that the Judaizers love to quote salvation's of the Jews now first of all let's stop and remember salvation's of the Lord Jonah chapter 2 salvation's of the Lord why did Jesus say salvation's of the Jews and here's the thing they don't get the next word what's it say after salvation is of the Jews but salvation's of the Jews but the hour cometh so what's he saying salvation was of the Jews back then but a different hours coming when things are gonna change aren't they so is salvation of the Jews in 2017 no but isn't that what the Hebrew roots people tell you all salvation's of the Jews no wrong salvation was of the Jews when Jesus talked to the woman at the well because he's saying look the Samaritans don't have the right God they don't have the right Bible they don't have the right scriptures the Jews have the Word of God the Jews are worshipping the Lord they know what they worship they're worshipping the Father but he said in verse 21 hey that the hours coming when what you're not gonna worship in this mountain or in Jerusalem you worship you know not what we know what we worship for salvation's of the Jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth the woman said unto him I know that Messiah has cometh which is called Christ he's come he will teach us all things Jesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he amen he's the Messiah he's a Christ so it's pretty clear here that the Samaritans are a group of people that are part of a false religion Jesus Christ did not consider them Israel any longer because they become so corrupted and polluted and that's why in Matthew chapter 10 he says go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel he doesn't consider them the lost sheep of the house of Israel anymore because they become so mingled and mixed and confused with the heathen that they no longer resemble his people anymore so this attitude that says because let's get back to the under forty four thousand you say you know you got off on a rabbit trail but this all is important to understand why because of the fact that this is what people will try to say oh it's 144,000 Jews that's not what it said it said 12,000 of each tribe so then here's what people say well even though the ten tribes have been lost and scattered and mixed and and mingled God still knows who they are right God knows where that DNA is God knows who they are okay now stop and think about that is that how Jesus acted toward the Samaritans they had blood of Jacob in their veins God knew what tribe they are no because they've lost all tribal identity they've even lost their identity as even being Israel anymore he's saying you're you don't even know what you're worshipping you're not my people at all there's no Bible stories about them in a you know after that point because they they stop being God's people at that point they just completely lost the franchise and he's dealing only with the southern kingdom of Judah after that so they say well you know yeah and you know I used to think that to myself like well maybe God just kind of knows what tribe there because the Jews don't know I thought maybe God knows but hold on a second no just because you have a drop of Ruben's blood in your veins it doesn't make you a Ruben I if we actually take a literal interpretation where are we gonna find a real Ruben I'd where do we find one I'll tell you where we got to get in a time machine right we're gonna have to get in the wayback machine and we're gonna have to go back to the Old Testament and are we gonna find Ruben I'ds there lots of Ruben I'ds and they're gonna be real Ruben I'ds bonafide certifiable Ruben I'ds right think about that now okay so why in the world why in the world do we think that the 144,000 is coming from modern times why not just believe that if they're Ruben I'ds and Gad I'ds they must be coming from the Old Testament you say well you're crazy they're alive in the end times hello there's this thing called the resurrection right there's this thing called the regeneration where all the dead are gonna rise so let me ask you this when do the 144,000 come on the scene in the book of Revelation isn't it interesting that they come on the scene at the same time as the rapture in chapter 7 they're being sealed right before the rapture where are they being sealed in heaven right before the rapture how'd they get to heaven before the rapture the same way everybody gets to heaven before the rapture by dying they died in the Old Testament they're in heaven God picks these people up in heaven he makes these groups okay you guys are 12,000 of Judah 12,000 of Old Testament Saints that meet the criteria of being male virgins right why are they sealed because they are gonna go back down to the earth and be on the earth while he pours out his wrath so as we're leaving they arrive which makes sense because who's doing the soul winning now us so who's gonna do the soul winning after we're gone the 144,000 go if you were to Revelation 14 makes perfect sense you know we're pulled out 144,000 are sent in and they're immune from the wrath of God they're immune from the plagues now the timing is perfect in Revelation 7 right at the timing of the rapture that's when the 144,000 come up well in chapter 14 we see the rapture again why because chapters 1 through 11 of Revelation represent chronological story and then it starts over in chapter 12 with the birth of Christ and tells the whole story again so we come to the rapture again in chapter 14 because look at verse 14 of chapter 14 and I look to behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle and he reaps the earth Christ in the cloud reaping the earth that's the rapture so where are they before the rapture in heaven sealed and ready to do what ready to preach the gospel that's why when we finish talking about 144,000 in verses 1 through 5 what do we have in verse 6 and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred and tongue and people so isn't it interesting the 144,000 are sealed up and ready to go they have a special song that only they know how to sing and they're about to go to earth to do what to get the ever to get the everlasting gospel out to all the people on the earth to preach it to everybody which makes perfect sense now there's gonna be a couple other people that are on this earth during that same time of God pouring out his wrath and those are the two witnesses now who are the two witnesses well most people believe that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah okay now let's not debate that for now they could be just two guys that we have no clue who they are but let's just say for a moment that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah come back which is what most Baptists believe it's what most Bible students believe it's what I would believe although I'm not 100% on that that's what I believe I don't think we can know for sure but that is what I believe Scripture indicates that's another sermon okay so if Moses and Elijah are coming back from the Old Testament to be there during that time of God's wrath why is it hard to believe that the 144,000 are coming from the same place actually makes perfect sense now stop and think about this let's pretend for a moment that the Zionist dispensationalists are correct let's pretend that they're right and that it's 144,000 Jews right okay good luck finding 144,000 Jews that are even saved let alone of the tribes that they're not from because Jews are coming from 99% three tribes 99% of Jews are coming from which three tribes Judah Benjamin and Levi most of them can't even tell you that much most of them can't even tell you what tribe they're from if they can tell you it's Judah Benjamin or Levi okay the rest mergers like I don't know I come from the tribe of white people you know Ashkenazi is my tribe which has been known as the 13th tribe by the way the Ashkenazis which which you know who Ashkenaz was one of the sons of Japheth a Gentile there's your clue who the Ashkenazis are they're Gentiles that's why they have white skin and red hair and blue eyes but that's another sermon so where was I I lost my train of thought yeah good luck that's where I was thank you good that's all I needed just that one little cue there good luck trying to find 144,000 Jews they say Jews for Jesus what about the Messianic Jews okay now start asking the Messianic Jews what they believe about salvation it's always works always a works-based salvation good luck finding 144,000 Jews that are not only saved but they're virgins the Jews are some of the most sexually promiscuous people on the planet they don't even believe fornication is wrong you know you go to church and you're a Christian you're a Baptist you're an evangelical and you hear sermons against what premarital intercourse you hear sermons against fornication the Jews don't even teach their kids not to commit for you they don't even think it's wrong they think premarital sex is fine you know just as long as they love each other I mean Jews are some of the most liberal left-wing he said well you know that's just the liberal Jews uh yeah that's ninety nine point nine percent of Jews well but there's these really conservative Jews the Hasidic Jews okay 144,000 of them that are men that are virgins that are gonna receive Christ as Savior come on it's cool it's a crazy theory it's crazy crazy to even think that you're gonna get 144,000 male virgin conservative right-leaning Jews right to receive Christ as Savior because if they're the left-wing kind they've already fornicated in spades okay so not to mention the fact the Bible doesn't say 144,000 Jews in the first place because this was our make-believe time where we made believe that that's what it said it really said 12,000 Gadites didn't say 12,000 Jews said 12,000 of the tribe of Zebulun show me 12,000 people from Zebulun I didn't say Zimbabwe I said Zebulun so it doesn't exist so it's so funny how these pre-tribbers and Zionists they're like we take the Bible literally you spiritualize it no we're the ones taking it literally those 12,000 better come from Gad by Gad right they better come from Gad and I'm not taking God's name in vain I'm taking Gad's name in vain they better come from Asher they better come from Issachar and there's not a Gadite on this planet not even one who can document and verify or even that claims I'm a Gadite unless it's some black Hebrew Israelite or something just throwing that out there I'm of Gad I'm of Asher I'm of Zebulun so that that whole theory is a total twisting of Scripture now with that in mind everybody got that okay well now let this sink in now that we know that there's a difference between just being a Jew and being an Israelite why did God call them Hebrews or Israelites or children of Israel then why did he switch to the word Jew because it's a southern kingdom thing okay well now that we understand all that let this sink in in the whole book of Revelation the word Jew is only used two times and both times it's fake Jews who are actually the synagogue of Satan so let that sink in so if God is telling us in the book of Revelation what we need to know for the end times what's he telling us about the Jews is he praising the Jews to us is he telling us that there is chosen people is he telling us that the tribulation is all about the Jews no actually what he tells us is they say they're Jews and they're not they're the synagogue of Satan and one of the biggest pre tribulation rapture arguments that they'll use is well there's no mention of the church in Revelation chapters 4 through 19 well there's no mention of the Jews either in chapters 4 through 19 well Israel but it doesn't say Jews and then what's funny is they'll say there's no mention of the church from Revelation 4 through 19 and you tell them well yeah but it mentions the Saints who are the Saints Christians the Antichrist is making war with who the Saints so you have the Saints yeah but it doesn't use the word Church okay well it doesn't use the word Jew see how it's a double standard though and by the way I don't base what I believe on what the Bible doesn't say I based it on what it does say and you know what the Bible does say about the Jews in Revelation that they're the synagogue of Satan that he doesn't even recognize them as Jews you know what Jesus Christ looked at the Samaritans he didn't recognize them as Israel even though that's who their father was Jacob he did not recognize that he did not acknowledge that he refused to acknowledge that because they'd become so polluted and corrupted and mingled with the heathen and they no longer even knew what they even worshiped well then why would Jesus look at today's modern state of Israel and consider that the Jews when they don't know what they worship and they've been so mingled with the heathen that they left brown and came back white think about that but it's a Zionist conspiracy tonight it's Zionist propaganda it's dispensational junk from the same people that I rebuke this morning and here's the thing about that our film after the tribulation has been out now for five years coming up on the five-year anniversary of after the tribulation well think about this now in the last five years most Baptists haven't even talked about the film openly like preachers and stuff because they just want to close their eyes ignore and wish it would go away because it's taken them to task I mean it's it's got them running scared but but here's what's interesting though there have been a few preachers who've taken on after the tribulation right there have been some pastors and preachers who've said hey we're not just gonna let Pastor Anderson run roughshod all over our pre-trip doctrine we're gonna strike back we're gonna rebuke after the tribulation but you want to know what's interesting that every single preacher or pastor that I've seen rebuke after the tribulation they all had one thing they all believed in the dispensational salvation from this morning now that now most pre-trippers don't believe in that junk that I preached against this morning most pre-trippers believe that salvation has always been by faith amongst independent Baptists but you know what's funny is that the only ones who've actually taken it upon themselves to try to refute our teaching and to try to actually respond have been the hyper dispensational lists that people who really go out that you know what does that tell you right there it tells you that people with normal theology with the actual normal independent Baptist theology of salvation by faith in all ages can't respond to the film only it only makes sense when you're a ruckmanite the the pre-trip rapture and and and all this stuff so therefore they're the ones who can actually give us a response because they give us their dispensational ruckmanite response so if you stop and think about this okay 144,000 Jews these are all Jews that are gonna get saved in the end times it's unrealistic it's unbiblical it's a super loose and sloppy interpretation of this subject whereas the interpretation that I've presented to you tonight we all looked at it together we all saw it it was all right there and we're taking the passage literally and it leaves not a question mark but a period we don't walk away confused as to you know who are these people but here's the funniest part of all and I'm gonna leave you on this thought right now the funniest part of all is that if these dispensationalist theory is true that God knows who those tribes are right yeah we might not be able to find any rupanites but God knows who the rupanites are let's say that's true for a minute right then who would they be who would most likely be the people who have the most of Ruben's blood in their veins who's got Ruben's blood in their veins the most because God knows who's got Gad's blood in their veins you know who it would be the funniest part is it would be Arabs think about it stop anything about it's not the Jews because the Jews are a mixture of Ashkenaz they're a mixture of the white man plus Judah Benjamin and Levi what about the other ten tribes where did the other ten tribes go they went into Assyria they went into all those nations so the Palestinians today would probably be teeming with that Rubenite blood that Gadite blood the Palestinians would be teeming with what Izzikar's blood Zebulun's blood think about that but you know what's funny is you never hear that preached you know why doesn't somebody rebuke me and say hey pastor Anderson's out to lunch sure the Jews are left wing communist liberals that hate Christ but you know all we need is just Arabs to be saved the Palestinians are gonna be the chosen people you think that they're teaching down at the pre-trip Baptist Church that the Palestinians are God's chosen people down there you think that's what they're teaching it's the people who live in Lebanon in Syria and Jordan you think they're gonna preach that no why because it's a Fox News Christianity it's a Zionist Christianity who hates the Palestinians simply because of their ethnicity and they'd rather support Jews who reject Christ than Palestinian Christians and I realize that most Palestinians are Muslims but there's a large substantial group of Palestinian Christians today okay and and and more so than in Israel there are more Palestinian Christians than there are Israeli Christians tell you that right now and there are Christians in the Arab world there are Christians in Syria Jordan Lebanon Egypt I mean look the the Jews have been in Israel in Egypt before the Israelites that is have excuse me the Israelites have been in Egypt before there's probably some in Egypt now but that's not what these people want to hear because it's not about truth it's not about what the Bible says it's not about DNA it's not about any of that what it's about is just the Jews are God's chosen people because we said so because we're Zionist and because we hate Arabs that's what they're teaching and you know what I don't hate Arabs I love the Arabs and want them to be saved and I don't believe that God has more respect for a Jew or an Israelite more than he does for an Arab because God's not a respecter of persons and God would love just as much to save the Palestinian as he would the Israelite both Jew and Gentile both Israeli Palestinian both Lebanese Syrian they all need Christ we should love them all the same and preach the gospel to them all the same and when it comes to 144,000 those places are already filled those spots are filled nobody who's alive today is gonna be one of those 144,000 they're they're from the Old Testament back when those tribes existed which makes sense because back then there were those tribes had you know altogether millions of people in them over the course of well over a thousand years to draw from now it's a special thing for these guys now look these these guys they're virgins so they missed out on some of what life has to offer they never got to have a wife and they never got to have children but they get to do something pretty cool I need to be pretty cool to be back here on this earth there while when all hell's breaking loose and you're just immune from it talk about a front row seat right and you know there's a there's a lesson there too is that you know what even if maybe God withholds us from something that we think we should have maybe God's got something better for you because we all enjoy our wives and our children but these guys they've got their own cool gig going on my wife's shaking her head you're right baby I'd rather be with you all right let's bow our heads in that word of prayer dear Lord we thank you so much for the truths of your word Lord we thank you for giving us brains to understand Lord and thank you for giving the Holy Spirit to guide us because this is a subject that I struggle to understand for a long time Lord even though it's pretty simple once you once you study it Lord thank you so much for opening my eyes to this and and making it clear I pray that it was clear to everyone tonight Lord and I pray that everyone would go home and and open their Bibles read chapter 7 read chapter 14 of Revelation and and and really nail down their beliefs on these things because we're living in a wicked time where the Antichrist Jews are being exalted and they are perverting Christianity Lord and we need to stand up against it and stand for the truth and so we thank you for a group of people that are not afraid to stand for the truth and we thank you for our church and everything you give us we love you and pray that you'll send us safely on our separate ways in Jesus name we pray amen