Signs of The Times
Sunday, April 3, 2011
End-Times Series : Sermon Three
TEXT: 2 Peter 3:3-4
[VIDEO]
INTRODUCTION
For those who may not have been with us the past couple of weeks,
we've already preached Two Messages in this Series on "The End-times"!
Week 1 - "What On Earth Is Going On?"
In light of recent events around the world, there is obviously
a renewed interest in Bible Prophecy...
a) The disaster in Japan
b) The un-rest and turmoil in the Middle East, including the
over-turning of various governments...
In Week 1, we looked extensively at the signs that Jesus
spoke about in Matthew 24 and Luke 21...conditions that He said we would see on this earth in the End-times!
Last week,
Week 2 - "The Rapture"
In that Message, we looked deeper into the next big event
on God's Prophetic Time-table, "The Rapture" of the church...
We looked at "The Parable of the Ten Virgins" in Matthew 25,
and saw a picture of The Church in Jewish Wedding Customs!
[EXPOUND]
Today, I want us to look deeper into "The Signs of the End-times"...
Let me preface everything else we will look at this morning with this:
THE COUNTDOWN TO ARMEGEDDON began on MAY 14, 1948...
Jesus, in "The Parable of the Fig Tree", in Matthew 24:34, said this:
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass
away till all these things take place"
[EXPOUND]
"The Signs of The End-Times", can be basically broken down into Six Categories :
1) The Signs of Nature
2) The Signs of Society
3) The Spiritual Signs
4) The Signs of World Politics
5) The Signs of Technology
6) The Signs of Israel
While Matthew 24:36, lets us know that no one can know the day or the hour of the Lord's Return...
We can certainly know the season...
HOW? Once again, the words of Jesus in Luke 21:28,
"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your
heads, because your redemption draws near"
[EXPOUND]
1) THE SIGNS OF NATURE
Luke 21:11, "...and there will be great earthquakes in various places, and
famines and pestilences, and there will be fearful sights and great
signs from heaven"
Luke 21:25, "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars...the sea and the waves roaring..."
This category is probably the least respected, because there have always been earthquakes, floods, and so forth...
But listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 24:8 - "All these are the beginning of sorrows..."
Here's another interesting reference...
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman..."
Labor Pains, over time, increase in Frequency and Intensity!
[EXPOUND]
That is happening now concerning "signs of nature"...
Increased Frequency and Intensity!
You'll remember the statistics I gave on Earthquakes in the first message...
[EXPOUND]
Here's some other statistics that support what we're saying...
-Between October of 1991 and November 2004, the United States experienced:
* 9 of the 10 largest insurance disasters in history
* 9 of the 10 greatest disasters as ranked by FEMA relief
* 5 of its costliest hurricanes in history (this was before Katrina)
* 3 of its 4 largest tornado swarms in history
Tsunamis...nothing of the likes of what we've seen in the past five years!
2) THE SIGNS OF SOCIETY
[EXPOUND]
There's basically three words that define our Society and Culture today:
1) Humanism
2) Materialism
3) Hedonism
Humanism is essentially "the love of self"..."it's all about me"!
Humanism defined: "A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers itself on humans and their values, capacities, and worth"
[EXPOUND]
Materialism is "the love of money" and things that bring personal pleasure!
1 Timothy 6:10, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil..."
[EXPOUND]
When "Humanism" is your religion, your God will always be money!
Hedonism defined: "the doctrine that moral value can be defined in terms
of pleasure; indulgence in sensual pleasures"
[EXPOUND]
[EXPOUND]
[EXPOUND]
Our society has lost its sense of decency...
Our society has lost its reverence for God...
Our society has lost its sense of reverence and sanctity for human life:
Abortion is a plague of our times...
Life begins at conception...abortion is murder!
Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
Psalm 139:16, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them"
[EXPOUND]
3) THE SPIRITUAL SIGNS
This passage is speaking of a great Apostasy in the Church...
Apostasy defined : "the abandonment of the core principles of faith"
[EXPOUND...goes back to the sinfulness of our society...]
Our society today has a fascination with the Occult...
-Spiritism: Seances, palm reading, fortune tellers...
-Witchcraft: including Quiji boards, tarot cards, etc...
-Satanism
[EXPOUND]
We have a proliferation of Cults in our world today...
Jesus called them "false christs"...
What is a Cult? A religious group that teaches "another Jesus"...not the Jesus of the scriptures...
All Cults have one thing in common: They deny the Deity of Jesus....in other words, that deny that Jesus is God...
Cults of our Day: 1) Mormons
2) Jehovah Witnesses
3) Christian Science
4) The Unity or Unification Church
5) The Baha'i Faith
6) New Age Religions
Zen Buddhism...and many others
[EXPOUND]
Ironically, at the same time we have all this going on, God is pouring His Spirit out on His Church in these last days:
The Prophet Joel, in his prophetic book, speaks of the former rain and the latter rain...
[EXPOUND..."former rain"=Pentecost in Acts; "latter rain"=endtimes]
4) THE SIGNS OF WORLD POLITICS
Matthew 24:6-7, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars...nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom..."
There have always been wars...
What's different now, is the kind of wars and the place of the wars...
KIND? The war on terrorism
PLACE? Concentration in The Middle East
[EXPOUND]
Daniel prophecied about an End-times configuration of nations that we call "The Revived Roman Empire"...
In his Prophetic book, Daniel shares the interpretation of a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed (Daniel 2)
[SHOW SLIDE / Daniel & Nebuchanezzar]
[SHOW SLIDE / IMAGE from The Dream]
Explanation of Picture:
HEAD OF GOD: Babylonian Empire / B.C. 605-539
BREAST OF SILVER: Persian Empire / B.C. 539-331
- (By the way: Persia is modern-day Iran)
THIGHS OF BRASS: Empire of Greece / B.C. 331-168
LEGS OF IRON: The Roman Empire / B.C. 168 - A.D. 476
FEET OF IRON AND CLAY: Represents the Revived Roman Empire of
the End-times
It is known today as "The European Union"!
[SHOW SLIDE / European Union Map]
List of Nations who are part of the E.U. -
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary , Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
Essentially, "The United States of Europe"!
[SHOW SLIDE / European Union Flag]
This alignment is another one of the Un-deniable Signs of the End-times!
Seeing the Revitalization of Russia, the Power of China, and the Power of the Oil-producing nations of the middle-east has to be a concern right now!
[EXPOUND]
5) THE SIGNS OF TECHNOLOGY
What does that have to do with the End-times?
[EXPOUND]
We live in the Nuclear Age...
Never before in history, has mankind had the capability to totally annihilate himself and the earth...
Increased knowledge and Technology has brought us many good things...not only conveniences and advancements in medicine...
But, it has also brought us the capability through the internet and satellites, to cover the earth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
Matthew 24:14, Jesus speaking, says "And 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"
[EXPOUND]
Knowledge and Technology has also brought us things that can destroy civilization as we know it!
[EXPOUND]
6) THE SIGNS OF ISRAEL
Zechariah 12:3, "And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it"
[EXPOUND]
Remember, Israel after non-existence for almost 2,000 years, had to come into existence again before all "these things" could come to pass...
May 14, 1948
[EXPOUND]
[EXPOUND]
HEAR THIS: Israel and Jerusalem will never be taken from the Jews again!
When Jesus comes back to earth at the end of the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation...He will set up His Headquarters in Israel/Jerusalem!
[EXPOUND]
As author and television host David Reagan often says,
"My friend, we are living on borrowed time...Jesus is Coming Soon!"
[SHOW SLIDE of Hour Glass]
"Signs of the times are every where, there's a brand new feeling in air;
Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky; lift up your head, redemption draweth
nigh" (from "Redemption Draweth Nigh" by Gordon Jensen)
[EXPOUND and CONCLUDE]
