Introduction
For the past several weeks, we have been looking at how we are to prepare for the end times considering two men, Enoch and Noah, and how they prepared for the end in their day by a great flood. We, who live on this side of the cross, are preparing for the second end time which will be by fire, and these two Old Testament saints helped to show us how to prepare.
And today we are continuing our study of the end times but from a little different angle. When we talked about Enoch and Noah, we learned how we should be living as the end time approaches. Today, we are going to look at what we should be guarding at all costs as the end times nears. The end times is going to try to steal something from us.
And we need to pay careful attention to this series because it is Jesus, Himself, who tells us what we need to be guarding as the end time approaches. First, let me read to you the Scripture from Luke 18:8.
8 ... when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Jesus is telling you and me that as we approach the time of His return, there will be things on a collision course with our faith, and we better maneuver to avoid the collision. But unfortunately, many Christians will not maneuver, and their faith will be involved in those collisions, and their faith will suffer.
The first one that we are going to look at is the world. The world has run head on into the faith of many Christians, and the world has won. What do we as Christians need to do to avoid those collisions and maintain a rock-solid faith?
Point #1
To avoid a collision with the world, I got to know in my heart that the values of this world do not line up with the values of my faith. So, I need to put the world values in their proper place which is behind my faith values.
(15) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15 - NIV
(33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 - NIV
From these two passages of Scripture, the proper place for the values or things of this world is behind the things of God. The values of this world will never bring you closer to God; they will only push you further away from God. The values of this world may try to disguise themselves as the same as the values of God, but they never are. And these values of the world want to raise their ugly head and come before the things of God. Let me show how the values of the world are trying to take first place.
In the past, you never had kids ball leagues play ball on Wednesday night or Sunday morning, but now Wednesday night and Sunday morning are part of their regular league schedule. The world has set itself on a head on collision with our faith.
In the past, on Sundays they had something called the "blue laws" which restricted businesses from opening on Sunday and prevented patrons from shopping so that the day can be reserved for worship. Today, on Sunday, people can go shopping at Wal Mart, Target, Dollar General until it's time for the department stores to open. The world has set itself on a head on collision with our faith.
With Covid 19, there is another way the world has set itself on a collision course with our faith. Churches started to use Facebook and other means to broadcast messages. People even with the Covid 19 had the opportunity to do church. But, according to Barna Research one out of every three Christians who were attending church prior to Covid 19 are not attending services any longer, not in person, not on Facebook, not anywhere. Covid 19 hit faith head on and in many cases faith lost.
You and I must understand the things of God must come first in our life and then everything else follows. We must ask ourselves is what I am planning to do going to take precedent over my faith, or does my faith win in this situation?
Get mad at me, but faith must always win.
Point #2
I got to know in my heart if I am pursing the values of the world over the values of God that I am chasing after a moving target; but if I am pursing the values of God I am chasing after something that is unchanging.
(9) The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 - NIV
(24) “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24 - NIV
Have you ever bought something that you know when you got that item it will bring you happiness? And it may have for a little while, but that happiness faded, and you had to have something else. With the world value's you are chasing a moving target!
Have you ever gotten to do something that you wanted to do, and you knew that would bring you pure pleasure? And after a while that pleasure wore off and you find yourself looking for something else to do to bring you that pleasure. With the world value's you are chasing a moving target!
I recently read an article by Dawn Rosenberg McKay that says people will change careers as average of three to five times in their lives. I am sure when they landed on each career, they said to themselves this is the one- only to change it sometime later. With the world value's you are chasing a moving target!
Even the wealthy are not satisfied with the amount of wealth they have. There is a story in Luke 12 beginning in verse sixteen about a man who had enough, but he had such a great crop year that he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones instead because enough is never enough. With the world value's you are chasing a moving target!
That is the thing about the values of this world, they are moving targets. You think you got exactly what you needed, only to find out you need something else. If you are chasing after the values of this world, you will never catch them.
I don't know about you, but Christ is all I need. I cannot honestly say that after I came to know Christ in 1976 that I ever thought to myself that He was not enough.
His values for my life are satisfying. On Wednesday night, Bro. Greg preached about the fruit of the spirit. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:22 - NIV
Every one of them are totally satisfying. And they have value to me is this life and the life to come.
Point #3
I got to know in my heart that the values of this world have an enticing quality. They attempt to draw you in and hook you. The values of God are available to me if I choose them.
(16) Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Deuteronomy 11:16 - NIV
(15) But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 - NIV
Have you ever signed something without reading the fine print, and you thought you were getting one of something and instead you were getting a year supply sent monthly? They offer you an exceptionally low price for that first month to entice you but catch it back and more over the next eleven months. My wife got caught on that one time with some kind of cosmetic products. Little did she know that she was going to get cosmetic products every month.
Cable and internet companies they will use that trickery. They will start you out at a low price for maybe three months but then they sock it to you. The rate is going to go up significantly after that.
Every time I go to Belk's and purchase something, the salesclerk tells me I saved X number of dollars today. She doesn't mention that I might have spent over $100.00. Trickery to get me to come back and save again.
If the world is offering you something, you got to ask yourself what is the catch? Just so you know in 2017 telephone scammers raked in ten billion dollars because people didn't ask the question what is the catch?
God, on the other hand is straight forward. He tells what He did for you by sending Jesus to die for you. He tells you what is available to you if you accept his gift of salvation. And He tells us that He will give you the Holy Spirit to assure you that He will fulfill what He has said. But you got to choose Jesus- no trickery involved. That's the Gospel.
But unfortunately, let me tell you the world's values of enticing has creeped into some church houses. You will hear preachers say come to Jesus and all your problems will be solved to draw you out of the seat and up an aisle. God never promised that. He does promise to give you the strength to deal with every problem you face. Being tricked into following Jesus doesn't work. His goodness works.
Application & Conclusion
Watch out! Jesus says when He returns will He find faith on the earth. And the first thing that will try to steal it from us is this world. We need to be on guard because we know the world is going to try to steal our faith from us. It will entice us; it will keep moving the target so that we keep pursing and pursing the world, and it will disguise itself as having the same values as my Christian faith, but it doesn't.
Don't be deceived. Guard your faith. Let us pray!
