Bunbury
Sun am
13/03/11
“A world in travail”
Intro: In light of recent events I think it is fitting that we take time to look at what the Bible has to say about the world we are living in & all that is taking place.
The Bible gives us a pict of the world in which we live.
The things we see happening today are not s surprise to the believer – we have waited for many years for this.
We could look at the world & be frightened by what we see.
But if you know Jesus & are looking for His coming then everything we see only adds excitement to the days in which we live.
We are living in a world that is travailing in the birth pains of a new age that is coming.
I want to address this whole issue of ‘A world in travail’.
Text: Matthew 24:1-8 (NKJV) 1Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
# 1. A world in travail.
A. There’s no doubt about the fact that we are living in a time & in a world of travail.
a. We are seeing things today that ought to both sober & excite us as believers b/c the return of Jesus is near.
i. Jesus indicated that there would some unmistakeable signs that would signal His imminent return.
ii. Jesus began to speak about a world in travail in response to a question by His disciples..... listen to what is said here ......
Vs 3. “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
iii. Here in our text Jesus is drawing back the veil on a time yet to come & saying to His disciples – these are the things that you need to look for.
iv. And these are also the markers that signal certainty about the fact that Jesus is coming again to you & I.
v. Jesus hasn’t left it up to guess work / conjecture but He’s warned us that there will be very distinct / certain signs.
b. So let’s think a little more carefully about what all these signs are.
i. Generally speaking Jesus says what is going to signal my return & the end of the world as we know it is when you see a world in turmoil like never b/4.
ii. Now I know that for our teenagers they have never really seen anything else.
iii. In the past 20 years we have seen the Middle East erupt into an ongoing boiling mass of volatility.
Iraq invading Kuwait triggering a war w/ Iraq & the West
The World Trade Centre, Pentagon bombings
Invasion of Afghanistan / Iraq
Israel & constant conflict w/ her neighbours
iv. Earthquakes, famine, wars, pestilences of every kind ........ all these things flag a world rocketing towards Jesus’ return.
B. Think about the pict Jesus gives us of a world in turmoil.
a. He says that at the time prior to His return it’s going to be like a woman in labour.
i. Now think about this ............ a woman in labour!
ii. Every woman who has ever given birth to a child knows what labour is all about .... it is a time of turmoil in her body.
iii. Those labour pains & the labour experience all point to a life in turmoil, a woman who is focused on one thing only – delivering a new life into the world.
iv. Ask any woman who has given birth & she can tell you that she doesn’t care about anything else while that labour is happening – it’s baby OUT!
v. And as the birth of that baby draws near the intensity of the labour pains & the frequency of the labour pains grows more intense.
b. So what does this mean to us? What is Jesus saying to us in our text?
i. Here’s the thought ...... as this world gives birth to a new phase / season / age things are going to change dramatically.
ii. For one thing ....... there is going to be an intensity in the world that we’ve never seen previously.
iii. Secondly ....... there is going to be an increase in the frequency of these world wide disasters / signs etc.
iv. Just like a woman having her birth pangs every 3 minutes ..... then 2 minutes ......
*** First 12 days of 2011.
*** So far this year ..... just to name a few .... we have seen
- floods here in our own nation that cover 40% of the land area of England.
- floods in Brazil that have claimed 600 lives & triggered landslides.
- a cyclone that has destroyed billions of dollars worth of property & investment in Australia.
- a devastating earthquake in Christchurch reported to cost 11 billion dollars to the nation of NZ.
- Friday – an earthquake that is reported to be the 5th largest in the world’s recorded history.
- a tsunami triggered by that earthquake.
- currently in Hawaii a volcano is erupting (although paused for the moment in its activity) & nobody knows what is going to happen there.... scientists for some time have predicted a volcano there that will destroy a huge swathe of land.
*** Last year we saw the eruption of a volcano that halted flights over most of Europe for several days. The world was again thrown into turmoil w/ the crippling of the airlines unable to fly b/c of the dangerous eruptions.
Vs 6. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
v. Right now as I speak the turmoil of the nations is brewing .......
*** Internal / civil wars are beginning to brew everywhere.
- Kaddafi is bombing his own people
- Egypt has bought down it’s president
- Right now there is trouble brewing in Saudi Arabia / Yemen / Bahrain / Morocco etc.
c. There is another disaster in the making due to all of these signs that are taking place in the world – the financial cost!!!
i. We are already living in a world groaning under the strain of financial ruin.
ii. National economies are on the brink of collapse & we have no certainty of what the future might hold here.
iii. We see entire nations saying they can’t meet the financial responsibilities of loans & failing economies bringing uncertainty.
*** When I was in Zimbabwe in 2008; two weeks b/4 I arrived the government issued a 100 billion dollar note that had a value of roughly $1 US. By the time I left Zimbabwe about a week later the govt announced that it was going to knock 10 zeros off their currency to try to combat the hyperinflation that was running out of control.
*** Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland among others, have all come to verge of financial insolvency nationally in recent months w/ no guarantee that they will remain financially solvent in the future.
The U.S. appears to be on the verge of financial meltdown.
iv. Our own nation has had to pass legislation to have ordinary Australians like us pay for the Queensland disasters.
v. What kind of impact is this latest quake in Japan going to have on the global economy?
# 2. What are you doing about it?
A. At a time when the world is having labour pains & about to birth us all into an irreversible phase what are you doing?
a. We need to recognise that what is happening on the earth is no light thing.
i. We need to treat the birth pains of the world w/ appropriate seriousness ...... u/s that it calls for a soberness of thinking & a soberness of living from the believer.
*** Can you imagine a husband whose wife is in the midst of giving birth to their child & he’s occupied with other things. Sorry honey ...... I’ve got a game of golf scheduled for today, got to be at the course by 9:30am!
*** Or imagine your wife who has faithfully carried your child in her womb for the past nine months saying that baby is coming! I need you to be there / be w/ me through all this.
And to this you respond by saying ...... I can’t stop now! I’m about to enter the next level & I’ll win the whole game!!!
ii. That of course is madness ....... or at least it should be seen as madness & no man in his right mind would think like that.
iii. But what’s clear is that as the world is in labour ..... as we stand on the brink of the Messiah coming triumphantly back to planet earth, men do the same thing.
b. Listen to some of the picts we find in Scripture to describe the way that men will be thinking in our days.
i. Jesus goes on to paint a pict for us of the way in which men will be thinking at the time of His return.
Matthew 24:37-38 (NKJV) 37But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
ii. Jesus goes on to give us parable / stories / picts to warn us of the danger of a life of distraction.
Matthew 25:6-8 (NKJV) 6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom £is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ Foolish virgins
iii. Jesus says that some Christians are going to be so blinded by the cares of this life that they are going to miss out on what God wants to bring them into.
Luke 14:16-18 (NKJV) 16Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
iv. There is a great danger lurking in the heart of every believer in that we have heard for so long & heard so much about the certain return of Jesus that we no longer take it seriously.
1 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV) 1Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
v. This is the foolish approach that men / women will have but the big question is .....
B. What are you going to do about it?
a. How are you going to respond as we see unmistakeable signs that the world is giving birth to the return of Jesus Christ?
i. The remarkable thing is that as men have seen the signs, heard the warnings of God in the past they have done nothing.
ii. It happened in the days of Noah .....
Luke 17:27 (NKJV) 27They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
iii. Lot failed to take the impending judgment of the city of Sodom seriously ....
Genesis 19:15-16 (NKJV) 15When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
b. Paul warns us of the same danger we face as Christians.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NKJV) 2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
i. Think about that ........ a thief!
ii. Robbed! ..... robbed of ..... time / opportunity to work for the kingdom / opportunity to develop & grow / everything that I could have been / what I could have done!
iii. Again Paul speaks when he writes ......
1 Thessalonians 5:4 (NKJV) 4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
# 3. God’s intention is clear!
A. What does all this mean & what are we to make of everything that is taking place?
a. God is not sadistic, what he allows / permits is for a purpose.
i. It is true that God judges the nations .....
Psalms 96:10 (NKJV) 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Psalms 110:6 (NKJV) 6 He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.
Joel 3:12 (NKJV) 12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
ii. But judgment is ultimately bought against people so that he might redeem them & rescue them from greater judgment.
iii. Could it be that what we see happening right now is to awaken the hearts of men who have forgotten God?
b. God’s ultimate desire is that men should come to repentance & know Him.
i. Listen to what the 24th chapter of Matthew goes on to say .....
Matthew 24:14 (NKJV) 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
ii. This is God’s glorious purpose ...... to bring men to a saving knowledge of Himself.
iii. Listen again ......
Vs. 14. ......this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations,
iv. In the midst of a world where nothing is any longer stable God is going to reveal Himself as the only real hope.
v. Jesus wants to awaken the hearts of a sinful generation to reality of a living / forgiving merciful God!
B. God wants you to be a part of a last days harvest.
a. Here were the words of Jesus to His disciples as He looked out over a harvest of souls yet to be reaped.
Matthew 9:37-38 (NKJV) 37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
i. Will you be one of those labourers? Will you give priority of the priority of souls being swept down into eternal destruction.
Isaiah 59:19 (NKJV) 19 ..... When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
*** As footage began to emerge of the phenomenal destruction being caused by the Japanese Tsunami there was a clip of the tsunami racing over kms of land sweeping over the landscape w/ a tide of destruction. As the wave raced over the land there was a man running for his life trying to escape the tsunami. The truth is that he didn’t have a chance & he probably perished right there!
But in the floodtide of events that are signalling the last days, men & women do have a hope – it’s you!
ii. Would you make y/s available as a herald of the soon coming king warning men / women to flee the wrath to come?
*** A Recap of the disasters which occurred within just 12 days of January 2011:
• Earthquake magnitude 6.9 Argentina-January 1
• Earthquake magnitude 5.2 - Southern XinJiang, China-January 1
• Earthquake 7.1 magnitude Chile-January 2
• More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Sky in Arkansas-January 2
• Dead fish cover 20-mile section of Arkansas River-January 2
• Uganda yellow fever outbreak kills more than 40-January 3
• Earthquake Near Japan Triggers Tsunami Warning-January 3
• Powerful earthquake hits south-east Iran-January 3
• Earthquake 7.0 magnitude hits northern Argentina-January 3
• Hundreds of dead blackbirds found in Louisiana-January 3
• 10,000s of Birds found dead in Manitoba-January 3
• Thousands of Birds fall from the sky in South America-January 3
• Major Flood in Rockhampto,Australia-January 3
• Dead Birds Found In Kentucky-January 4
• 100 tons of dead fish wash up on Brazil's shores-January 4
• Hundreds of dead birds found in East Texas-January 5
• Dead birds in Sweden, millions of dead fish in Maryland, Brazil and New Zealand-January 5
• Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport-January 5
• 40,000 crabs found dead on England beaches-January 6
• Heavy floods leave at least 35 dead in Brazil-January 6
• Earthquake 4.5 magnitude in California-January 12
• Huge Waves Destroy Homes in E. Indonesia-January 12
Have we seen so many strange events take place in just 12 days into a new year? The frequency and closeness of these natural disasters tell us that the earth is indeed going through "birth pains". We've had many earthquakes and other disasters in 2010, and 2011 doesn't look much better so far! Keep praying and stay positive. Although these disasters get us down, we have to remember that these signs mean one thing: Jesus is coming soon!
