|
THE
END RESULT
Three
weeks ago, I started this series on End Time Prophecy to bring us
all a little closer to being comfortable with such a little known
subject. I pray that
you are curious enough now to be able to go in and discover some
previously hidden information for yourself regarding End Times.
I
began by asking the question: ‘Is
America Found in the End Time Prophesies?’
I answered that by saying, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’:
‘No’, because there is no direct reference to anything
that can be clearly construed as America in Scripture, and ‘Yes’
because I believe we are the new workers in God’s vineyards.
Today,
I would like to bring this series to a close, and to leave you with
some knowledge that, perhaps, you did not have before; and to leave
you with enough curiosity to continue studying End Time events on
your own.
The
twenty-four thousand dollar question is, ‘When will Jesus return
to Rapture His church?’ Of
course, the answer to that is, ‘We aren’t supposed to know.’
But that hasn’t stopped every generation since Jesus from
expecting it during their lifetime. And we expect that, too, don’t we?
But
there is a difference now. Things are finally falling into place, and now all we are
waiting for is His return. So,
let’s spend a few moments and see what Jesus says how we can tell
when the time gets close to His return.
1.
JESUS GAVE US FOUR SIGNS
In
Matthew
24:3 Jesus’ disciples asked Him,
‘Tell
us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your
coming, and the end of the age?’
In
MATTHEW 11:5, he went a step further.
‘Watch
out that no one deceives you. For
many false prophets will come in my name.
Saying, I am the Christ, and they will mislead many.
Then, many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.’
false
teachers and prophets
There
has always been false teachers, but who can deny that everywhere we
look today, we find lies and deceit becoming more pronounced with
each passing day? If
Satan cannot get people to outright rebel against God like he did,
he will then get them interested in some kind of false doctrine to
lure them away from God.
It
has been said that a new cult, or new religious belief, springs up
every month in the United States, and people are so hungry for
spiritual needs, no matter how fantastic and fanciful the cult’s
teaching may be, there are always some who are willing to be
deceived.
WARS
AND RUMORS OF WARS
In
MATTHEW 24:6-7, Jesus gave another hint at when He will
return.
‘You
will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not
alarmed. Such things
must happen before he end comes.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.’
Thanks
to today’s media, we know the exact moment something happens
across the globe. There
are several wars going on at this very moment, and even more wars
are on the horizon. We
are fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq; Russia invaded
Georgia and has been talking about the possibility of going to war
with America; Venezuela threatens its neighbors; and on and on it
goes.
FAMINES
MATTHEW
24:7 also tells us,
‘There
will be famines ...'
Jesus
tells us that we will see many people going without food.
We have seen more famines in the last 30 years than at any
other time in modern history, and the number grows with each passing
year. Tens of thousands
have starved to death Darfur and in other parts of Africa.
EARTHQUAKES
And
in Jesus ends Verse 7 by saying,
‘There
will be earthquakes in various places.’
We
have more earthquakes with each passing year, also.
There were over 800 earthquakes reported in California and
Nevada since the beginning of the year.
Now they were not major, but they are expecting a major one
in California at any time. Also, Memphis and St. Louis sits atop a major fault that is
on the timetable to occur at any time.
And there are even more earthquakes overseas on a regular
basis. Jesus said we
would see a drastic increase in all these things just before He
returns.
Jesus
was giving us prophetic promises.
He loves us enough to tell us before hand what will happen
and how we can get ready for them.
So,
Jesus gave us four signs to let us know when the time would be
getting close at hand. And
later …
2.
the Apostle Paul gave
us two more signs
Godlessness
In
1
Timothy 3:1-5 & 7, Paul writes,
‘But
know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control,
brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but
denying its power…’
In
the last days, people will not care about others because they will
be focused only on what they want.
We will be greedy and proud, not caring who we put down or
how we do it. We will
be disobedient in every way and we will think nothing of lying
whenever it strikes our fancy.
We will have a form of Godliness, but it will only look like
we are, because it will not be focused on God, but on our own
selfish desires to make us feel good.
Can
we see these things happening around us today?
For
anyone who has watched television newscast or read a newspaper,
it’s obvious this prophecy has been totally fulfilled in our
generation. Our leaders
are often corrupt; our society is filled with crime, and we glorify
the very name of ‘abortion.’
I
know several people who claim to be Christians and they go to church
regularly, but the one thing missing in their lives is the Bible.
There are so many people who read all kinds of books ABOUT
the Bible, but do not read the Bible.
This is a form of Godliness that has no real power.
Paul
also talks a great deal about …
THE
APOSTATE CHURCH
1
TIMOTHY 4:1-2
reads,
‘The
Spirit clearly says that in the later times, some will abandon the
faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose
consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.’
When
we talk about the Apostate church, we are talking about apostasy to
Christ. That means a
falling away from the truth to pursue the untruth.
And when we do that, we fall away from God altogether.
The
Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the most influential leaders in
England, has publically said that there was no virgin birth and
there was no resurrection of Jesus.
He says these things are ‘symbols’ to help us understand
the concepts of God. Talk
about apostasy to the faith of Jesus Christ!
In
the Church of Scotland more than 30% of their leaders also deny the
virgin birth. The second highest leader in the Church of England
said that England is no longer a Christian nation, as it is led by a
diversity of beliefs.
Denominations
across America are rushing to allow homosexual preachers to be in
charge of their churches. Now
the very moment a church body thinks it is okay to twist the message
of God as it appears in the Bible to suit man rather than please
God, that body is guilty of apostasy, or purposely walking away from
the teachings of Jesus Christ.
More
and more churches today are finding it much easier to embrace the
New Age beliefs of the world around them to the exclusion of
remaining true to their faith in Christ.
They are the Apostate Churches that Paul talks about.
They
spend so much time teaching people to be politically correct and
accept absolute diversity among beliefs, that they are starting to
teach and preach things that are outright lies and that are in total
opposition to what the Bible says.
One example is that they teach there are many roads to
heaven, and everyone will eventually go there – as long as they
truly believe in ‘something.’
And
they do this in under the guise of being politically correct.
They apparently think it is better to tell a lie than it is
to upset somebody with God’s truth!
And people follow them to hell by the millions!
By
now we should all realize that God gave us biblical prophecy for a
specific reason; to let us know what lies ahead and how to get ready
for it. We also know, even though Jesus didn’t tell us exactly
when, He did tell us what to look for so we could know when it was
getting close. And we
read where the Apostle Paul gave us two additional signs on top of
what Jesus gave us.
So
we are to take all of this information and learn what it means to us
as Christians. And to
do this, I would like to focus in on the very reason we have
prophecy; to focus on the bottom line of what it means to be a
Christian; and on exactly what is going to happen to us the moment
Jesus comes in the clouds.
While
on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Ernest Shackleton left
a few men there while he went back to South America to restock his
ship. He told the men
he would be back in due time to pick them up, and for them to
explore until he got back.
It
took two months before he could come back, and when he did, he found
that large icebergs had totally blocked any entrance to get his men.
He waited in the water for nearly a month, and then all of a
sudden, the icebergs drifted away from one another and opened up a
channel big enough for him to sail in and collect his men.
When
he got there, they were all packed and ready to go!
When he got on board, he told them it was a good thing they
had been ready. They
replied that they got ready every day, in case it would be the day
the ship arrived.
No
sooner did they sail back out to sea, the icebergs once again
drifted together to block any entry.
This
illustration is an excellent picture of what I want to talk about
next. I want to talk to you about the rapture of the church.
Now, this is alien territory for many Christians because they
have never been exposed to this subject in their churches. In
the last couple weeks, I have tried to open this door to
understanding the End Times just enough to peak your curiosity and
desire to know more.
Let’s
spend a few minutes talking about …
3.
THE END RESULT
There
are many instances in Scripture reminding us that our walk with
Christ is similar to a foot race that is ran by men.
Corinthians
9:24
’Do
you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets
the prize? Run in such
a way as to get the prize.’
A
track star keeps his focus on winning the race at all costs.
Christians are called to do the same.
We run our race as best we can, walking with Jesus on a daily
basis, but unlike the foot race, if we do not finish first, at least
we finish, and the prize is still Heaven.
But
all too often, we let the world steal our focus away.
Something comes up and our attention is ripped away from
following Jesus and changed to wanting whatever it is we see in the
world. We are warned
about this, too.
Galatians
5:7
’You
were running a good race. Who
cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?’
What
I am trying to point out is that everything we do, as Christians,
should be geared toward our eventual meeting with Jesus Christ. And
every one of us is going to meet Him, to be sure. It will either be when we die and go before Him in judgment,
or when He comes back and raptures the church out of the world.
I
have said many times that no matter which way we meet Him, very few
of us will really be totally ready for that meeting.
Most of us will want a little more time to ‘finally get
ready.’ The problem is we will not be given more time, as we will
have had our whole lives to prepare for Him.
Since
we have been discussing the Rapture of the church, we should
understand exactly what it is.
To put it in simple terms, the rapture of the church is when
believers will be taken out of the world to meet their Lord and
Savior in the air. It
is when Jesus comes to take His faithful home.
In the twinkling of an eye, all born again Christians will
suddenly be transformed out of our human bodies and will rise up
into the air to join Jesus Christ.
With
the sound of a heavenly trumpet, the Lord will descend with a shout. So I think we will hear both the trumpet and our Savior’s
voice calling to us. Who
will hear this? Will
every human on earth hear this, and just the believers will
understand it, or will only believers hear it?
All I can say is that we will know for sure when it happens.
In
1 THESSALONIANS 5:28, Paul tells us,
‘After
that, we who are still will be caught up together in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And
we will be with the Lord forever.’
Notice
two very important things Paul says in this verse.
He says we will be caught up in the air to meet Jesus.
And then he says we will then be with Jesus forever!
I
explained last week that the Rapture is about seven years before His
Second Coming. In the
Rapture, Jesus will not come to earth.
He will call us up to Him.
At the Second Coming, He will descend to earth on the Mount
of Olives. This is when
He will defeat the enemy and regain total control of His throne.
We
rejoice at that, because we will be with Him, but there should also
be a great sadness and burden on our hearts, too.
We should rejoice at the fact we will go with Jesus, but we
should mourn at the fact that many of our loved ones will not go
with Him. And that
should urge us all the more to start taking their eternity seriously
and start preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
My
belief is that Christians would have it made in the shade if they
could just get over two problems.
The first problem is how easily we get distracted from Jesus
and onto the world, either through ‘stuff’ or ‘other
people’. The second
problem we have is that we do everything we can to NOT tell others
about Jesus.
We
are so afraid of offending them that we end up disobeying God’s
command to go and tell. We
make up reasons to justify our fear, too.
We say that if we talk to them, we might get them mad and
then they will never be willing to hear about Jesus.
Well, may I say, “Duh?’
If we aren’t telling them now, what makes you think they
will wake up some morning and run to somebody to hear about Jesus?
There
is the story of a woman who felt compelled to tell a coworker about
Jesus, but she was always a little scared to do it.
She thought she might get in trouble for talking about Jesus
during work hours, or she might get the woman mad, or she kept
telling herself she’d do it when she had more time.
She
did the same thing we do, didn’t she?
She made up excuses to keep from doing what she knew she
should do.
Well,
on her way to work one morning, she vowed that she would talk to her
and tell her about Jesus. She
got to work, but didn’t see the lady that morning.
At lunchtime, she asked the boss if that lady had called in
sick that day. The boss said she hadn’t called in sick – she died the
evening before.
Can
you imagine how this lady felt?
She knew God wanted her to talk to the woman, but she also
realized that she had coped out of it.
I urge you to talk to those you love, even if they get mad at
you. And if they do,
talk to them again later. Never
shove Jesus down other people’s throats, but never shy away from
urging them to get to church, either.
In other words, don’t let them control your life; let Jesus
control it by being obedient to Him.
So,
once again, let me explain that the Rapture is when Jesus calls us
up out of the earth to meet Him in the sky.
And then we shall all go home with Him to be with Him
forever.
Seven
years later, He comes back to the earth and defeats Satan and all
the evil forces in the Battle of Armageddon, or the very last war.
Once He wins, Jesus will enter Jerusalem through the Eastern
Gate and reclaim His rightful throne.
From that point on, every knee shall bow and every tongue
will confess that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Every government will bow down to His authority.
You
might be wondering why Jesus would go to all the trouble to Rapture
us. Let me give you a few explanations as found in Scripture.
REVELATION
3:10,
'Because
you have kept my command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour
of trial which shall come upon the whole world.’
1
Thessalonians 1:10,
‘…Jesus,
who rescues us from the coming wrath.’
Romans
5:9,
‘…
having been justified by His blood, He will save us from the wrath
of God.’
And
finally, 1
Thessalonians 5:4-9,
‘For
you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come
just like a thief in the night.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who dies for us, that
whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.’
My
God is a very loving and patient God, and He does not want anyone to
perish or spend eternity separated from Him.
But He is also a righteous and just God who will bring
judgment upon those who have been so hard hearted that they have
rejected His Son.
But
just as He has promised to judge those who have rejected Him, He has
also promised to save those who have accepted Him. He does this because He loves us.
He loves us enough to give us several promises.
-
He
promises to forgive our sins and make us as white as snow.
-
He
promises to give much needed rest to the weary, or to the
sinner.
-
He
promises to make a place for us in Heaven, and to take us there.
And
He tells us He is coming quickly.
So we had better make our selves right with Him, for when He
comes, most will have waited too long to get ready.
And
He gives us one final promise; He says, ‘Come’, because His most
pressing desire is to love you and have you love Him.
As
we go into this time of invitation this morning, won’t you come?
Won’t you come to the altar and receive your Jesus?
INVITATION
|
