End Time Christians Live With An Expectancy Of What Is To Come Series

Series: End Time Christians Live with an Expectancy of What is To Come

Dave Hartson / End Times

Biblical Instruction for End Time Living

Introduction

Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at two men, Enoch and Noah, who lived on the other side of the cross and before the end would come by a great flood. We, who live on this side of the cross, live in a time before the end, the second and final end, but this time the end will come not by a great flood but rather by a consuming fire.

Enoch and Noah as we talked about last week, they walked with God. And as we said that that meant more than merely walking because the evidence reveals that God shared things with them the rest of those living at that time had no knowledge of. So, I made the statement, that these two men had a hunger for the Word of God, and they took it to heart. And we spent the rest of the time in the sermon trying to see what a hunger for God’s Word would look like in our life.

Today, I want us to see that in additional to that hunger for the Word of God, Enoch and Noah lived with an expectancy of what is to come. We know that to be true because Enoch named his first-born child Methuselah which means “when he dies then comes the flood.” He could had named him a name that meant “nothing like living in the present time” or he could have given him that meant “the past, now those were the good old days”. Instead, Enoch looked with expectancy to the coming flood by naming him Methuselah- when he dies then comes the flood.

Noah could have lived in the moment like the rest of the people. The Bible describes the time before the flood as a time of eating and drinking and giving in marriage. Noah could have participated in those events, but rather his expectancy of what was to come drove him to his back yard to work on the Ark as instructed by God.

I think it is fair to say that that both Enoch and Noah lived with an expectancy. And so, I believe that you and I living on this side of the cross should live with that same type of expectancy. You may be saying to yourself; I can understand why they had a great expectancy because there was an upcoming flood staring them in the face. Today, I want to share with you why you and me me as Christians should be living with that same type of expectancy.

And the reason I think we need to be reminded of our need to keep that sense of expectancy is that as we live our life, we tend to forget that life will not keep going like it always has. In 2010, Church Pew Research did a survey, and 46% of American did not believe that Christ would again by 2050. You want to know why we don’t have young adults in church, 54% of them don’t see Christ’s return by 2050. The church has lost its sense of expectancy.

Points

#1

We ought to have an expectancy of Christ’s eminent return because the promise in the Book of Daniel is that in the end times, there will be greater understanding of prophesy.

Daniel 12:4 NKJV

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Daniel 12:9–10 NKJV

And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

We are closer to the return of Christ today than we were yesterday. But you pay attention, and you will notice a silence from the podiums about the return of Christ. In my younger days, the return of Christ was a common theme in a lot of messages, but not any longer. It has been replaced by a request for money, feel good sermons, or a plead to join our fellowship, but seldom is it mentioned in message that Christ is coming soon, and we better be ready. And what makes that even more unbelievable is that God’s promise in the end time we will be given greater understanding of prophecy. Things that people in other other ages could not understand, we who are near the end time can make sense of prophesies that they could not understand.

Let me give you an example. Israel went into Babylonian captivity in 606 B.C and lost their status as an independent nation when the first captives were taken to Babylon. From that time until 1948, Israel was not a nation but a scattered people all over the world. Then in 1948, Israelites came back to their homeland and was recognized as an independent state. Bible prophecy came together for our generation because 5 prophecies were fulfilled when that occured. And it made Bible prophecy much clearer. Let me show you from the Book of Joel.