HoHum:
So aliens come to earth and there's a huge televised event with all the world leaders in attendance. The Pope asks, "Do you know of Jesus Christ?” The aliens say, "Do we Ever? Awesome guy!! Swings by the planet every couple of years to say Hi!” The Pope exclaims, "Every couple of years?? What!!?? We're still waiting for his second coming!” The alien replies, "Maybe he didn't like your chocolate?” The Pope is flabbergasted, "What does chocolate have to do with anything?” The alien says, "Well when he came the first time, we gave him a huge box of chocolates! Why? What did you guys give him?
WBTU:
We cannot look at these signs and say that some of them are faint so the return of Christ is distant, far off. Must always be ready.
Thesis: Some signs of the end of the age
For instances:
1. There will be an increase of knowledge like never before
Daniel is speaking about the resurrection of dead in Daniel 12 and then the HS says this in vs. 4, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” For many years people have thought that the problem of humankind is ignorance. Need more education, need more knowledge and then we will evolve to a higher place where there will no longer be distress and perplexity. Today human knowledge is doubling every 12 hours. Knowledge and education is failing to produce stability and a new world order. Science is increasing our knowledge of our world but failing to produce peace of mind. Wait a minute, doesn’t Hosea 4:6 say, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Yes, but earlier in that same chapter vs. 1 the HS says, “Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.’” This is the problem, we are increasing our knowledge of the world but there is no acknowledgment of God. “I am merely striving to think God's thoughts after Him” (Johann Kepler, early scientist).The Scriptures tell us, in Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and of wisdom. Speaking of people in our day, 2 Timothy 3:7 says, “ always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of truth”
2. There will be a collapse of morals just before Jesus comes
Luke 17:26-30: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” In the days of Noah we find in Genesis 6:5 “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” In regard to the days of Lot living in Sodom we find God talking with Abraham about the situation and the Word says in Genesis 13:14 “Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.” When some men came to visit Lot in Sodom, the men of the town came together and wanted to rape the men (angels). Sexual perversion was rampant. Later on when Isaiah was talking about the sin of the people of Judah he said this in Isaiah 3:9: “The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.” I like what Carmen said in one of his songs, “the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah vex us all; When it gets to the point where people would rather come out of the closet than clean it; It’s the sign that the judgement of God is gonna fall.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.
3. There will be a falling away from faith before Jesus returns
People who were believers will be falling away and false prophets will deceive many. 1 Timothy 4:1-2: The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. The devil is still trying to make us doubt God’s Word. Fewer going to church today than ever before in the history of the US. Hebrews 10:25: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Now some are shut in and not talking about that. The pandemic has given many a convenient excuse. Talking about able bodied people who refuse to come to church. Miss so many things when just watching online. We are passive participants- love to greet each other and have group participation. The singing is not the same because we are separated. The encouragement is lacking online. Also we do not take it as seriously when viewed online. It’s much easier to take something seriously when a lot of people are in attendance and giving their attention to the worship. God made us social creatures. Think about the domino effect when Paul was in Ephesus. As the name of Jesus was extolled (Acts 19:17), many of those who were already believers came, confessing and divulging their practices (v 18). Then those who had “practiced magic arts” burned their occult books, even though those books were very valuable (v 19). And as a result of this, v 20 tells us: the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. When believers in Ephesus took Christ seriously, others took it seriously as well. So it is with worship. The nature of Christian fellowship is such that we tend to take our gatherings more seriously than we do family worship or virtual worship.
4. There will be an increase of lawlessness before Jesus returns
Matthew 24:12-13: Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. It is hard to love the unloveable. Thomas Brooks said, “To render good for evil is divine. To render good for good is human. To render evil for evil is brutish. But to render evil for good is devilish!” Sin really is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” Some say in our day that there is no sin, there is no morality, there is no law. We see the results of prisons overflowing and crimes against humanity increasing, murders and lack of respect for human life. Luke 21:9 says, “When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened.” That word uprisings can also be interpreted as revolts, commotions, tumults, riots and disturbances. This carries with it the idea of rebellion against all authority. Because of the lawlessness we find conditions ripe for the antichrist. William Penn said, “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” In speaking of false teachers, Jude says in vs. 8, “In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.” Reject authority- who said these things are wrong, everything is relative, no absolutes. Bad for everyone, law of the jungle. Cannot hire enough police officers to uphold the law among lawless people. Everyone is talking about world peace but there is no peace apart from Christ. Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
5. There will be a worldwide emphasis on evangelism, on the gospel
Matthew 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. People have access to the gospel today more than ever. For the first time in history the Gospel can be heard all over the world- by radio, by television, by literature, by satellite, in every part of the world. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible is being translated into native languages so that everyone can have access to the Bible, bringing the Bible to the Bibleless. Pioneer Bible Translators- Right now, more than 1,600 language groups are still waiting for God’s Word. But working together, our generation can translate Scripture into every viable language on Earth. I like what B.E. White Jr. said in his book Memories and Meanings (2017), “A preacher once told me that we are living in the last days and the worst time ever in all of human history. I didn’t believe him because I had just finished reading a book on the Civil War in 4 thick volumes, which a member of my church had given me. The books were not only about the bloody battles fought but also about the awful and atrocious things that went on in both the North and South during the worst time in American history. That preacher must have forgotten what Jesus said about the leaven of the gospel, which would permeate society and the world and change things for the better (Luke 13:20-21). And that is what has happened, certainly in our country. The ancient world had no hospitals and hospices available for the aging. There was no humane treatment for criminals and the insane… All of these things and so much more owe their origin to Jesus of Nazareth. So there are people in the world who think that it is getting bader and bader, and there are those who think it is getting gooder and gooder. Could this also be the best of times and the worst of times? Maybe I should have asked that preacher who thought everything was so bad about what he was doing to try to make things better.
So what?
Are these the last days? I don’t know. No matter we should all be ready! Mark 13:32-33 But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
Luke 21:28- When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Redemption Draweth Nigh by Gordon Jensen-Years of time have come and gone since I first heard it told,
How Jesus would come again someday;
If back then it seemed so real,
Then I just can't help but feel,
How much closer, His coming is today.
Signs of the times are everywhere,
There's a brand new feeling in the air;
Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky,
Lift up your heads, redemption draweth nigh!
Wars and strife on every hand and violence fills our land,
Still some people doubt He'll come again;
But the Word of God is true, He'll redeem His chosen few,
Don't lose hope, for soon Christ Jesus will descend.
Signs of the times are everywhere,
There's a brand new feeling in the air;
Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky,
Lift up your heads, redemption draweth nigh!
So keep your eyes upon the eastern sky,
Lift up your heads, redemption draweth nigh!
Draweth nigh!
