INTRO.- ILL.- The doctor tells his patient: "Well I have good news and bad news..." The patient says, "Lay it on me Doc. What's the bad news?" "You have Alzheimer's disease." "Good heavens! What's the good news?" "You can go home and forget about it!"
The bad news is that we are living in the last days and we can’t go home and forget about it! I know that people would like to forget about it but how can you forget if you’re a Christian?
The last days. Those words don’t sound good but we, as God’s people, know very well that we are living in the last days and perhaps in several ways.
This is God’s last dispensation. We’re living in the Christian dispensation and we’d better be thankful for that! I’d much rather live in this dispensation than the Old Testament dispensation, wouldn’t you?
These are also the last days before Christ will come back and call a halt to this sinful world. Even though God promised to send Christ back over 2000 years ago and this hasn’t happened yet, we know that it could happen at any hour! Preparation is the key for all and no one is prepared without Christ.
And the problem with our text is that it speaks of many people who are not prepared for the return of Christ! Paul said, “There will be terrible times in the last days.” I think he’s right.
Terrible things happen all the time, every day. Watch the TV news. It’s in our faces constantly. Some time back I gave a communion meditation in which I mentioned these things:
- Al and Tipper Gore are divorcing after 40 years of marriage. They claim they have merely drifted apart. After 40 years you'd think they have it together somewhat. Also, they claim to be believers in Christ so how could this happen? It sounds like they are not practicing their faith.
- Actor Dennis Hopper died a while back and admitted to his huge drinking and cocaine habit over the years. He died and met God face to face, whether he was ready or not, I know not.
- Actor Gary Coleman also passed away at the age of 42. They showed a clip on TV of him saying in the past, “I will die when I say I will die.” And I don't think he took his own life. It was accident that he hadn't planned on and this could happen to anyone.
- Ex-governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich went on trial for corruption charges. Elaine said the way things are going that they will need a special prison just for Illinois governors. I read that six Illinois governors have been charged with crimes, either during their administrations or after.
- I read recently that 40 percent of all teens between the ages of 15 and 19 have had sex at least one time.
- Muslims constitute about 21.01% of the world population; thus amounting to 1.42 billions. Islam may well be the fasting growing religion in the world and they don’t teach the truth about God and Christ!
We have some serious problems in these last days.
PROP.- Paul plainly describes the character of people in the last days.
1- Lovers of self
2- Lovers of money
3- Lovers of sinfulness
4- Lovers of pleasure
I. LOVERS OF SELF
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy...
Lovers of themselves or lovers of self. You see it everywhere and it starts early in life.
ILL.- The Toddler Property Laws:
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
8. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
9. If it's yours and I steal it, it's mine.
This is not only the problem for most toddlers but also many adults. We are living in the “It’s all about me” generation.
This generation is characterized by such words as: "Be yourself," "Believe in yourself," “Take care of yourself,” “Watch out for number one,” etc.
ILL.- Here’s just one example of the “me generation” thinker. Alan Chhabra, who is 31 years old and works at a computer-server manufacturer, but he is not the sort of fellow who puts too much stock in old-school notions of corporate protocol.
As he puts it, "I have no problem knocking on the door and walking into the CEO's office or the CTO's (Chief Technology Officer) office on a whim – interrupting their schedule – and saying, 'I need to talk to you.'"
Chhabra says that ever since he was a kid, he has been "knocking heads with basketball teachers, track coaches, teachers, and girlfriends. If I felt that I was right, I wouldn't back down."
It sounds to me like he has a problem with authority and life is full of authority figures to whom we must listen: moms and dads, school teachers, military leaders, bosses, etc. We need to be reminded that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He came to serve, not to be served. He did everything for sake of this lost world.
Even though God gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth, He didn’t throw His weight around. HE WAS A SERVANT TO PEOPLE! Surely, this should tell us something about how we are supposed to live in this world. WE’RE NOT HERE ENTIRELY FOR SELF!
Galatians 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
II. LOVERS OF MONEY
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy.
ILL.- A Sunday School teacher told her class of 2nd graders the story found in Luke 16 of the Rich man and Lazarus. How that when they were here upon the earth the rich man had everything that money could buy and poor Lazarus had to beg for mere crumbs. But when they died, the rich man due to his selfishness went to a place of horrible torment while Lazarus went to a place of paradise.
In conclusion, the teacher asked her students the question: "Now, which man would you rather be, Lazarus or the rich man?
"One little boy’s hand shot up immediately and he said, "Well, while I’m alive I want to live like the rich man, but when I die I want to be like Lazarus."
That sounds like many people, doesn’t it? Give me all the good stuff in this life and let me experience the good life in the next as well.
ILL.- Ex-Fla. lawyer gets 50 years for Ponzi scheme. Jun 9, 2010. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein, whose seemingly unlimited wealth bought palatial homes, exotic cars and mega-yachts, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for operating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme using faked legal settlements.
His taste in fancy Italian sports cars, an 87-foot custom yacht, glittering watches and big cigars made him seem to be a larger-than-life character and a darling of politicians, celebrities and sports stars. In fact, Rothstein told the judge in a letter, it was all a facade to feed his own "ego and greed."
He said, "I did all I could to increase my power, to keep the myth alive, to feed the beast I had created, and to try to keep myself above the law.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
I Timothy 6:9-10 “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Having too much of a good thing can spoil a person. It can do more than that! It can cause some people to lose their faith because they begin focusing on the gifts instead of the giver of the gifts! They think more of the gifts than the Giver!
III. LOVERS OF SINFULNESS
Vs. 1-5 Paul gives a long list of sins and says that this is the way that people will be in the last days. People will love their sins: boastful, proud, unholy, without self-control, brutal, etc.
ILL.- You may have perhaps heard of the young 24 year old actress, Lindsay Lohan. She started out fairly decent in the movie-making business playing in the movie, “THE PARENT TRAP” in 1998 when she was only 11 years old and “Herbie: Fully Loaded" when she was 18 years old, but nowadays it seems like she is constantly in trouble with people and the law.
Lindsay Lohan was scheduled to be released from the Betty Ford rehab center in Palm Springs sometime Monday, only to face an uncertain career and looming legal issues. For months, the 24-year-old actress has been haunted by her inability, or unwillingness, to shake a 3 1/2 year-old drunken driving case that resulted in two rehab stints and two trips to jail in 2010 alone.
And now she also remains under investigation for alleged misdemeanor battery on a Betty Ford worker and needs to satisfy a criminal judge that she's been in compliance with her probation terms during her three-month stint at the Ford center.
It sounds like Lindsay Lohan is a mess. She is living a sinful life and doesn’t seem to care. In and out of rehab. She has no self-control when it comes to drugs, etc. And such is the time in which we’re living. She needs Jesus!
Stories like Lohan's should not surprise us. Why? Because we’re living in a sinful and sin-filled world. We’re living in a time when more and more people are becoming corrupt. And when people don’t know the Lord God things will only get worse!
II Timothy 3:13-14 “Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.”
IV. LOVERS OF PLEASURE
ILL.- A bookseller wrote to a publisher in Chicago asking that a dozen copies of “Seekers After God” be shipped to him at once. Within two days, he received this reply by wire: “No seekers after God in Chicago or New York. Try Philadelphia.”
It makes you wonder some times whether there are any “seekers after God” in our world and country.
4 Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. When people love pleasure more than they love God there will always be problems and a lack of spiritual power in people and countries.
ILL.- In 1942, when London was being blitzed (bombed by Germans), an article appeared in one of the British newspapers, which was widely quoted on this side of the Atlantic.
“We have been a pleasure-loving people, dishonoring God’s day, picnicking and bathing—now the seashore is barred; no picnics, no bathing.
“We have preferred motor travel to church-going—now there is a shortage of motor fuel.
“We have ignored the ringing of church bells calling us to worship—now the bells cannot ring except to warn us of invasion.
“We have left our churches half-empty when they should have been well filled with worshipers—now they are in ruins.
“We would not listen to the way of peace—now we are forced to listen to the way of war.
“The money we would not give to the Lord’s work now is taken from us in higher taxes and high cost of living.
“The food for which we refused to give God thanks—now is unobtainable.
“The service we refused to give God is now conscribed for our country.
“Lives we refused to live under God’s control—now are under the nation’s control.
“Nights we would not spend watching unto prayer—now are spent in anxious air raid precautions.”
Is America any different? Are Americans any different?
If she isn’t, she appears to be heading that way.
I John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[d] is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
CONCLUSION-----------------
Times are tough and they will get tougher, meaner, nastier, uglier, etc. There is only one hope for anyone and that hope is in Christ. To Him we must cling, worship, pray to, praise, and live for!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
