Gospel—Mark Rogers
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And learn of the.
That we may rest on day.
To fill.
To come the sword.
Thy mind spell.
Earnest Games.
So only.
Lord only.
If I give you.
Occupy.
Elsewhere.
Amazing.
All right.
Clock stands right behind my head and.
Dinners in 30 minutes. So a short message is, you know, the brethren here have a test, have a concern.
Or a.
Particular soul we do not know that's in this room.
That may not have taken the offer of salvation and This is why a little time slot is given right now to again proclaim the Gospel one more time.
Because very soon this lovely three day weekend is going to wrap up. We've had a lovely time here.
And we are all going to experience something that we have experienced before. It's called separation. We will be separating one from another to depart to our several places.
It reminds me of a story.
Actually an experience I had three weeks ago. I was flying on a flight from Oakland, CA to Salt Lake City through a transfer.
By the way, you show of hands who's flown on an airplane, raise of hands, we got most in the room have flown on an airplane, very good. So we're going to talk about an airplane today. And as I came to the gate, I had bought a ticket.
And in buying the ticket, as we know, when you buy a ticket, you have a price to pay for that ticket. In this instance, I happen to have a manager that was buying part of my ticket. So the ticket didn't cost me everything. And as I'm sitting there at the gate, it's a Friday afternoon. I'm tired, and I'm separated from my family. Why? I'm watching the plane get ready. We've all done that. We've all sat at the window.
Looked out at the plane. The plane is getting prepared for takeoff. You know, inside. There's cleaning attendants going up and down the aisles, cleaning the plane. The gate agents are at the at the door, at the gate there, getting people final checking their responsibilities to check people to that plane. There's someone outside of the fuel tank feeling the plane.
And the pilot and the copilot perhaps are walking around the plane expecting it. That's what we see, is it not?
And then it's a Friday afternoon. I'm tired.
I thought it would sure be nice to be upgraded.
And all of a sudden, I hear this voice. Mr. Rogers, along with a few other names, come to the podium. I come to the podium.
And the gate agent hands me a ticket and it said three CI thought here we go, this is nice. 3C this means I'm up in first class.
00:05:09
So I get back smuggling into my chair and then of course when the boarding call comes, I'm one of the 1St through the gate, through the through the through the door and go and find my my seat on 3C. And as I'm there, of course first class boards first, then everybody's streaming by and a gentleman comes up and says.
3C.
And I hold up my ticket. I say 3C.
And then the attendant comes up and says, may I see your identification, my hand on my driver's license? And she compares it. Mark Rogers.
And then finally she says you have to go out to the gate agent and talk to them.
So I take out my stuff. I walk off the plane, back up the jet, way back to the gate agent.
And now I'd like to pray as we open the Word, our Father, our God, we now ask for help as we open thy precious word, living Word, and we just ask for the souls in this room. Father, they be convicted encouragement for all we love the Lord Jesus and thy name we pray, Amen. Shall we turn to Matthew chapter 25? It's been already.
It's already been given a portion of it in this three day weekend.
Matthew 25 has some of the essence of.
What was going on in verse one It says Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened into 10 virgins, which took their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them are wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them.
But the Wise took oil on their vessels with their lamps, while the bridegroom tarried. They all slumbered and slept, and at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, Go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trim their lamps. And the foolish said in the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the Wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you.
But go you rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.
And then while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other version, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, for you know ye know neither the day nor the hour, when the Son of Man cometh.
Well, we know the story well. I look around the audience, we have seen this story before. We've heard this story. All the versions, the 10 virgins are sitting there and they all look identical and they all slumbered and slept, it says.
And we wouldn't be able to see exactly in their lamps, I don't think, as to whether they had oil or not.
But at the end of the day, while they went to go get their oil, the five foolish, the five were brought in, and the five that came crashing on the door saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
He says I never knew you.
You know, there is a list in some of the when you go to these big events. I've never been to these events, but these political events or big events that are by invitation only, there is a generally a list and then names are being checked off as to who's coming through the door. It's the same thing with an airplane.
And the gate agent is sitting there checking off names.
And here I am back at the gate, agent.
And I find out there are two Mark Rogers on this plane.
And it's not me in 3C after all, I'm back in 21 D or something.
And as I'm standing there.
I'm realizing that I did not deserve that ticket, did I? I paid a fair, cheap fare. This gentleman, the other Mark Rogers, he must be a frequent flyer. He got upgraded and with do do, right? But I, I don't fly enough to get that upgrade.
And so there is a flight manifest on the airlines and every single passenger has to be on the plane.
And they're being double checked and triple checked. Oftentimes you'll see the flight attendant come down on the smaller planes have seen this and they're counting seats to see which seats are open and who's, you know, if there's any seats. They've got 35 seats on a plane and 30 are filled. They know they're missing 5. That's why there's a gossip meeting tonight.
00:10:12
We can't physically count seats tonight. We cannot see inside each and every heart.
But the call goes out. But while I'm out there at the gate, agent, something interesting goes on out there which everybody on the plane doesn't hear.
And that is Mr. So and So, Mrs. So and so. Please come to the gate. This is a final call.
It's a final call.
That door, when that door shuts, that door shuts.
And there's a final call going out one more time.
Because there will be separation, I expect a separation to happen in a couple hours or maybe a day or so. Depends what it is. There is a separation that happens.
And when the plane door shuts, it shuts.
So I got my ticket and I went back on.
Now there's someone that meets me coming through the cabin as they come right through the door.
And you see generally they have three stripes or four stripes on their shoulders. That's going to be the pilot or the copilot.
And I don't remember if this is the pilot or the copilot says. In my 25 years of flying I've never seen this happen before.
So I I go back to my seat. But you know something interesting about about this?
There is a flight manifest with names written in there and it's secure. It knows exactly who the passengers are and knows exactly who the crew are.
But we have the same thing that you and I have not laid physical eyes on. And it happens. This term happens, I believe, six times in the Book of Revelation and one in Philippians. It's called the Book of Life.
And there is a book of life, and I'm not going to turn to all of them, but I'd like to turn to, let's turn to one of the latter parts here in a revelation into revelation here.
Let's do.
Chapter 20. Chapter 20 of Revelation. We'll read two of them here.
The book of life is mentioned like I said six times that I counted in the Book of Revelation in chapter 20 we see this in verse 12 it says and I saw the dead, small and great stand before God 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, verse 15 and whosoever was not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
You know, this is the same thing at the airport is that 30 years ago, before we had all the security measures.
You would see a lot of people coming to the gate. We don't see this anymore because of the security measures. You can see it out there by the gates, by the where people. The curbs are dropping off is there's a mingling of people and you cannot tell who are passengers or who are not passengers.
Only the passengers will have a ticket.
And so it is tonight. We don't know who has a ticket and who doesn't have a ticket. And that's why the gospel message goes forth.
And that's why there's another call that goes out.
A price is paid for every ticket on the airline, right? Someone's got to pay the price. You may get a so-called free ticket, but someone's going to pay for that ticket. Whether it's the airlines going to foot the bill for your part of the gasoline on the OR the fuel on that plane and everything that it takes or someone else is going to pay for the ticket. But the ticket has a price to be paid and a ticket, your ticket for glory.
There's been a price paid for it. Now whether you're going to take the ticket up or take the OfferUp is your decision.
But there is a call coming out from the gate agent last call to board the plane.
Now when I'm on the plane.
It's nice to hear a lot of the announcements going on, but there is one announcement that happens ever so often. You'll hear an announcement. This is your captain speaking.
Everybody generally says want to hear what the captain says. If the captains at the top and he's maybe he's not, the plane isn't departed yet, maybe the captain speaking from the front, everybody wants to hear the captain.
00:15:08
Shall we turn back to the book of Hebrews?
The third chapter of Hebrews.
I'm sorry, the 2nd.
Yeah, second chapter of Hebrews chapter 10. Where became him whom all, whom are, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things? And bringing many sons into glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Now I understand this is an older English term, but if I have the liberty to use the word captain for a moment.
The captain is has the ultimate responsibility for this airplane.
And that's what's beautiful.
Do you hear the voice of the captain?
Because the captain is giving instructions about what the destination looks like, how we're going to get there, how long it's going to take there, what the weather is like, if we have a headwind, tailwind, The captain is generally making those announcements and everybody is listening.
And so I say for those that are already on the plane, if I could use that word, are we hearing the captain's voice?
It's a lovely voice. He's taken us all the way there.
Have you ever been on an airplane?
And the captain comes on and says we're staying at the gate a couple more minutes. We've got a couple passengers transferring from another flight. We're going to wait another minute or two.
And all of a sudden you see a couple people running on the airplane, haggard and frenzied as they've.
Ran across the airport airport to catch their flight on a connection.
And I heard passengers cheer them on as they come on the plane. Now we can go. Glad you can make the flight. You know what it says in Luke 15? There is joy in the presence of the angels for one Sinner that repents.
And so it is with a gospel meaning. So it is with an individual that takes that time to come before hump, before the Lord Jesus who paid the hit the price for that individual. There is joy in the presence of the angels over one Sinner that repents. I always enjoy hearing those clapping of those individuals that make it onto the airplane just before the door shuts.
You know, the interesting thing is too, for those that are out there in the lobby still, so to speak.
We've been talking about this term called separating 2 and separating from.
And there are those that you see out there.
Could be it's not going to be right out the gate. You see them out there beyond where they can't come in and they're hugging each other and they're clasping each other. They know they got to get to the plane, but they can't let go.
And it can make it for a layperson to come to the gate and the door is shut.
Is there somebody or something that you cannot separate from so that you can make the flight?
It's going to be a sad day in eternity to realize, to look back, to realize there was something keeping you from making the flight.
And at the same time if you're on the plane.
And you're listening to the captain ready to go to glory.
Are you peering out the windows wishing you could know about something or rather, or are you looking at the captain? Is all your attention on the captain?
Because we got everything we want right here on this plane with the captain of the airplane.
You know, I've I've looked at this too.
There's also, there's also some other individuals on the airplane. There are what we call flight attendants. And these ones are making our comfort necessary, making sure everything is arranged just right, right. They have a very, very important role. And I'd like to turn to the Gospel of John.
The 14th chapter.
Dear chapters here or the final words of our Lord Jesus are being given to us in John 14.
00:20:02
131415 etc. But let's just look at the 14th chapter and the 16th verse.
John 1416 The Lord Jesus is speaking, and I pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
Let's turn over the 16th chapter. There's more here, but let's just in light of time, the 16th chapter, verse 13. How be it when he the spirit of truth is calm, He will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come. The flight attendants on the plane have a have a very important job because they are talking about the time that if there is a problem.
There's going to be, there's going to be, they're going to guide you and direct you to where you get, you know, get off the plane or they're there for your comfort, right? The the captain will say the flight attendants are here for your comfort.
How beautiful it is to have the Holy Spirit to give us the comfort.
It's a beautiful thing to have the privilege of the comforter that the Lord Jesus speaks about here in these chapters of John. We must recognize that.
So.
Let's turn to Revelation 22 for.
Our final verse, the 22nd chapter of Revelation.
In verse 17 it says.
And the Spirit and the Bride say come.
You know, the very, very end of the Scriptures were given this little statement right here. The Spirit who we talked about earlier, the comforter and the bride say come.
Have you ever been on an airplane where you're going to a destination that is, you know, spring break and there's families on board and they're heading to a particular destination that families go to and there's a buzz on there because they're all going on vacation?
There's a certain buzz and a lot of kids are on there and the flight attendants are making it fun because the families have a destination they want to go to.
Do we realize the destination we're going to?
The splendidness of the one that's taking us there.
It should be a reality. We shouldn't be looking out the windows on the tarmac wondering if I turn the iron off.
We shouldn't be in the lobby trying to ungrasp ourselves from somebody. We should be heading directly to the gate and getting on the plane and that's why we have a gospel meeting as the last call goes out.
So make sure you heed the last call.
If you don't, if you're not certain and look at, you can look it up for yourself. The book of life, you can do a little search for. It happens in Revelation. It's a term that pops up in Revelation. It's very important because God in his, in his ways, is pointing to a fact that there is a reference point that he's working from, not that he needs it, but there's a reference point called the Book of Life. Is your name in the Book of Life or not?
Is your name on the flight manifest?
Or not.
Do you gaze at the captain of your salvation?
And while we're here in this last chapter of Revelation, we cannot end with verse 7. When I was growing up in the meeting room, we had this in Gresham. We had this framed out. I think it's still there today across the top. Behold, I come quickly.
Or behold I am coming quickly verse 12 and behold, I come quickly. This flight is in its last phase for the door to be shut.
And he says he's going to make it happen quickly. And that beautiful.
It's beautiful. It should get everyone joy to know that our captain of our salvation is going to take us. And it says perhaps today.
Perhaps today.
00:25:01
So that's why there is a gospel meeting.
For 20 minutes at the end of a conference, for our last call, for those that are waiting that have not heard, that have not heeded that last call, to make an opportunity to make your way to the gate and to see you, the captain of your salvation.
And for those of us that are already on the plane and have securely got a ticket.
To gaze at our captain of our salvation and not be concerned about if the iron is turned on it back at the house. If I could say it that way, the cares of this world.
It's beautiful to see the captain of our salvation.
So may we commend ourselves.