The truth is that nowadays we can’t watch television or listen to the radio without hearing mention of distant wars and disasters. We are living in difficult times; we are living in prophetic times. All we have to do is examine the word of God and realize the signs are being given. As I said, we can’t watch television or listen to the radio without hearing that Iraq biological weapons at their disposal, weapons that can cause the death of thousands of people with just one use. We also hear that North Korea, who has broken all the laws between nations, is now developing nuclear bombs, weapons that can also cause the death of thousands with just one use. The world doesn’t realize that we are on the verge of a third world war. I tell you this because when we examine the word of God and compare what it says to world events, you don’t have to be a genius to realize that the situation is grave. Why do I tell you this? Let us go to the word and we shall see if what I am telling you is true.
Matthew 24:3-12 – And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Before we proceed I want to make something very clear, the purpose of this preaching is not to scare or frighten anyone; nor do I claim to know the day or date that the inevitable will happen, that is to say when this evil world will end, when our Lord will return to do justice; this date is only known to God. This is something that is clearly stated by our Lord in Mark 13:32 when we read “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Therefore, the purpose of this preaching is to call believers to repentance; the purpose of this preaching is to call believers into His service. The purpose of this preaching is to awaken those that have fallen asleep in the pews of their churches and are so comfortable that they don’t realize the Lord is at the door. Many think that we have time, many feel that there will be enough time tomorrow to ask for forgiveness of God, that tomorrow they can start a new life, but if this is your way of thinking I am here to tell you that tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone, and that tomorrow may never come for you. This is something clearly stated in James 4:13-15 when we read “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” I know that many must be thinking, all of this is well and good, but how do we apply this warning that Jesus gave to our life today? To determine this, let us examine the key points of this warning a little closer.
First, here we read that the Lord says: “Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many“. I want to stop here a moment and examine this word “Christ.” This word has come to be synonymous with the name of Jesus, but this word has a meaning of its own. This word has its origins in the Greek word “kristos” which means the “anointed one”. Why is it so important that we make this distinction? The reason is simple; we only have to open our eyes and we can see that across history and in our day as well, there has existed, and there still exists numerous persons who claim to be the only ones who know the truth. If we analyze all the different cults and religions that exist in this world we can see that they all claim one thing, and that is that only through their doctrines and theologies can anyone reach God. I don’t want to go too deeply into this subject since doing so would take too much time and our time today is limited, but I know all to well that everyone here today knows exactly what I am speaking of. You know that cults and all types of religions exist that don’t follow the doctrines of Jesus, and that they will never reach God. Confirmation of this statement that I have just made is found in the words of our Lord in John 14:6 when we read “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Therefore, we can clearly see that the warning that Jesus gave us in these verses that we are studying today has come to pass, and is still happening today, because there are many that say that they posses the truth, there are many that claim that only through their religion can you be saved or have eternal life. But the truth of the matter is that you can’t obtain salvation and eternal life because you belong to a particular church or because we are members of a particular council or denomination, salvation comes only through the grace of God, and His son Jesus Christ. This is something very well reflected in Ephesians 2:8-10 when we read “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” As we can clearly see, there is nothing on this earth or anyone on this earth that can save you, there is no institution that can guarantee you eternal life, there is only one and his name is Jesus. This is again clearly stated for us in Acts 4:10-12 when we read “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” But unfortunately, this has not stopped all those that preach a different gospel, that twist scriptures to fit their needs, and that is why Jesus said, “Take heed that no man deceive you”.
Second we read “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows”. Without doubt we have all heard of wars and rumors of wars. Without doubt some of us get worried when we see man made establishments and systems disappear in a twinkling of an eye. Throughout history we have all been able to see how nation has risen against nation; we have seen how thousands of people die daily from hunger, yes you heard right, hunger; we have seen how many have lost their life’s in earthquakes; but none of us have seen how people die of a “plague”. I know we have all studied history in school, I know that we have all read about how a long time ago thousands of people perished as a result of plague and pestilence, but with the advancement of technology and medical science, these occurrences or outbreaks have not existed for a long time. Science and the advances in medicine have eradicated just about all pestilence in the world, but unfortunately this same technology and advances in medicine of today are not always used for the good of mankind, they are also used for evil. The technology of today allows us to have much more than people had long ago or could even have imagined. I am talking about of things that we take for granted such as electricity. How is electricity produced in this country? There are many ways to produce electricity, but the most efficient and cheapest is through nuclear plants. There is also nuclear medicine, these treatments can heal, but more importantly this new type of medicine can diagnose illnesses where before it was not possible. But has man concentrated on this only? Has man used this technology for the good of mankind only? The answer is no! Man has also used this technology to kill man. This is something we have seen in our times, we have seen how man has used nuclear bombs and destroyed entire cities and all the residents therein. There are many nations that have this technology, there are many nations that have never used these types of weapons, but as we know there are many that posses this technology not to help the residents of their country but to be ready for war.
Nations where thousands of inhabitants die daily because of hunger, but yet they spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing nuclear weapons. We also have many nations that use this science, that use the advances in medicine but not to eradicate those infirmities, but to cause infirmities that kill. What do you mean Pastor? This is the irrefutable truth about biological warfare. Man has created in his laboratories deadly diseases, he has created viruses that resist all types of antibiotics and their sole purpose is to kill. I do not pretend to be an expert in these matters, and God knows that I don’t have a degree in biology, but I do understand the way these things work and what they are for. It is not difficult to infect thousands with a deadly virus; it only takes one evil person to accomplish this. Like I said, I am not an expert, but I know that all viruses have an incubation period. This is the time during which the person doesn’t exhibit any symptoms, and does not know they have been infected. Therefore it only takes one person to become infected with this deadly virus and then in turn they infect everyone around them and so on. There are many viruses and they are all transmitted differently; some are ingested, some you breath in; a simple sneeze or cough is all it takes from an infected person. Then what happens? Without knowing what has just happened to us we continue our daily routine, we come in contact with our friends, family and without knowing we have infected them. This is an endless cycle; the end is death to all who have come in contact with you and death to all who came in contact with them. Is biological warfare a defensive weapon? No! It is not a defensive weapon because it kills not only your enemy; it causes the death of all without distinction of who they are. So looking over recent accounts, we can see without a doubt that Jesus’ warning is very timely for our day. All these things that are happening are an indication that His return is not as far as some may think. What is the opinion of most people when they hear about the second coming of Christ. The opinion of most is as we find in 2 Peter 3:4 when we read “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Most people think that nothing will ever change, and most people have become complacent, but I tell you today that the Lord is closer than anyone thinks.
Third, we see that He tells us “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Fortunately, none of us have suffered the tribulation mentioned here; none of the people that we know have been put to death for the cause of Jesus, but I will tell you this doesn’t mean that this has not happened and is still happening. On a daily basis many die in foreign lands because they are followers of Jesus. There are many that are put in jail and are tortured for simply preaching the gospel. These are things that are not publicized in newspapers, or are broadcasted on television, or do we hear of them on the radio, but I tell you they are happening daily. And because these things are happening just like it says in the Word, “the love of many shall wax cold.” This is a great problem in our churches, when our love for God grows cold, when we no longer feel the burning of the Holy Spirit in us, then it becomes easy for us to sin. It becomes easier for us to worry more about the things of this world then to worry about our sisters and brothers and our spiritual life. This is something we have all seen, but it is also something people allow to happen. Many believers allow circumstances and their preoccupation with the things of this world to extinguish the fire of Holy Spirit within them. Many believers permit that lying devil to take control of their life’s; their homes, their families and allow him to destroy all that God had started. The evil in this world is being multiplied more and more; and this is happening because this world does not seek God’s face. That is why I say to you today, it is time to wake up from our slumber, and face the truth. The truth is that the signs are being given, and the prophecies are being fulfilled. Like I told you in the beginning, this is not a preaching to scare or torment anyone; it is a preaching that is calling you to wake up to reality.
To conclude: the Lord told us, “see that ye be not troubled”, but what does this mean? Does this mean we should not be alarmed? Does this mean we should not be paying attention? The answer is NO. What Jesus is saying today is that we should be paying attention but not allow these things that are happening, these things that we cannot control, to deviate us from the path that God has for us. We have to concentrate on the path that is important; we have to concentrate solely on Him. All of us have to do as we find in Isaiah 55:6-7 when we read “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Tell the person next to you, seek God. If people in this world would stop being so worried about earthly things, things that don’t last, and would seek out God more, things would not be as they are. If God’s people would seek Him more, we would not be suffering like we suffer sometimes. The time for God’s return is close, and that is why we cannot allow our faith to weaken, and we cannot allow our hearts to be so troubled that we sin against God. How can we accomplish this? We can achieve this through repentance, we achieve this by making Him our King and our personal Savior, and we achieve this by doing His will. People of God hear His warning today; people of God listen to His voice today; “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20). We cannot let down our guard, we cannot allow our faith to falter because of these things that we are seeing happen today, and we have to persevere at all times. I leave you with these words from our Lord Jesus as we find in “Matthew 24:13 when we read “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
