TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK
BY BRIAN HANCOCK
TIME: ITS WHAT OUR DAILY SCHEDULES ARE BASED ON. YOU GO TO BED AT A CERTAIN TIME, YOU GET UP AT A CERTAIN TIME. YOU GO TO WORK, SCHOOL, OR AT A FRIENDS HOUSE AT A CERTAIN TIME. YOU CAME HERE THIS MORNING AT A CERTAIN TIME. OUR LIVES ARE BASED AROUND TIME.
THIS FORCE THAT CANNOT BE STOPPED IS SOMETHING THAT ONLY GOD HIMSELF CAN ONLY HALT. THE DAY IS COMING, WHEN TIME WILL MEAN NOTHING. THE DAY IS COMING, WHEN ALL THE SOULS OF MEN (AND WOMEN) WILL BE HALTED AND WILL BE LITERALLY STANDING WHERE TIME HAS DECEASED. YES MY FRIENDS, TIME WILL STOP RUNNING. JUST LIKE THAT CAR OF YOURS, OR THAT BODY OF YOURS, ONE OF THESE DAYS IT WILL STOP. THE QUESTION IS, ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THAT MOMENT? BEING PREPARED OR NOT BEING PREPARED WILL SET THE OUTCOME THAT YOU WILL REEP AFTERWARDS. ARE YOU READY?
(PRAYER)
SO WITH THIS THOUGHT ON OUR MINDS, THAT TIME WILL ONE DAY STOP, LETS LOOK AT SOME OF THE SIGNS CONCERNING THIS DAY THAT THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT SO MUCH. IN YOUR BIBLES TURN TO MATTHEW CHAPTER 24, BEGINNING IN THE 6TH VERSE:
(READ MATTHEW 24:6-12)
NOW THEN. IN THIS PASSAGE, JESUS CHRIST IS TALKING WITH HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT THE END OF DAYS. LOOK AT THE DESCRIPTIONS THAT HE USES. HE TALKS OF WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS, OF NATIONS RISING UP AGAINST NATIONS, AND KINGDOMS AGAINST KINGDOMS. OUR LORD TELLS US RIGHT HERE IN HIS FATHERS WORD ABOUT FAMINES AND EARTHQUAKES DURING THIS TIME OF SEVERE DISTRESS!
NOW LET ME READ YOU VERSE 9 AGAIN:
“THEN YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO BE PERSECUTED AND PUT TO DEATH, AND YOU WILL BE HATED BY ALL THE NATIONS BECAUSE OF ME.”
JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, THE YOU IN THAT PASSAGE IS REFERRING TO ALL THE CHRISTIANS AND OTHERS WHO WALK DILY WITH CHRIST AND HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. MANY OF US IN THIS SANCTUARY FIT INTO THIS CATEGORY. LOOK AT ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT ARE DESCRIBED IN THIS PARTICULAR AREA OF SCRIPTURE.
1) WAR
2) EARTHQUAKES
3) FAMINE
4) NATIONS RISING UP AGAINST THE OTHER NATIONS
5) KINGDOMS AGAINST OTHER KINGDOMS
6) RIGHTEOUS BEING OPRESSED BY THE UNRIGHTEOUS
ALL OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS FALL INTO TODAY’S SOCIETY! YOU MAY SAY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS AREN’T KILLED TODAY! WELL ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT IS WHY DON’T YOU BUY A AIRLINE TICKET TO ANOTHER COUNTRY AND BE SEEN WITH THAT CROSS AROUND YOUR NECK. IF YOU LIVE, YOUR LUCKY!
(WELL WE DON’T HAVE THAT KIND OF STUFF HAPPENING IN AMERICA)! CHRISTIANS ARENT’ BEING KILLED YET BUT IT WILL COME! LOOK FRIENDS! PRAYER IS OUT OF SCHOOLS! CHILDREN ARE BEING ALLOWED TO WHERE COSE OF SEX APPEAL YET PRAYER CAN NOT BE LEAD BY A TEACHER IN THE CLASSROOM ANYMORE! JUST A FEW SHORT MONTHS AGO AN ATHIEST ATTEMPTED TO PULL THE PHRASE “UNDER GOD” OUT OF THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE BECAUSE IT WAS, AND I QUOTE, “UNCONSTITUTIONAL.” BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IT IS COMING. PERSECUTION IS COMING! THE END IS COMING! ARE YOU READY!
LETS CONTINUE READING OUR SCRIPTURE. NOW JESUS HAS DESCRIBED THE SIGNS SURROUNDING THE END. LETS SKIP DOWN TO VERSE 36 IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 24:
(READ MATTHEW 24:36, 40-44)
JESUS TELLS US THAT THE END ISN’T KNOWN BY ANYONE BUT GOD HIMSELF TO KEEP WATCH BECAUSE THE DAY AND THE HOUR IS UNKNOWN. IN THE SAME RESPECT, WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO WATCH AND WAIT BY JESUS CHRIST!
TAKE THIS INTO CONSIDERATION: THE CLOCK IS TICKING. THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN REDEMMED HAVE NOTHING TO DREAD ABOUT. THEY ARE THE RIGHTEOUS. THEY ARE THE SAVED. THEY WILL BE SAVED IN THE END AND WILL LIVE IN THE LAND OF NO TIME! YET THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE THERE HOUSE IN ORDER, WHO DON’T KNOW THIS SAVIOR WHO DIED ON THAT WOODEN CROSS ON CALVARY THAT DAY SOME 2,000 YEARS AGO SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO WAORRY ABOUT. THOSE THAT CANNOT SING AMAZING GRACE TRUTHFULLY “I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW I AM FOUND, WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE!” WILL BE TURNED AWAY BY GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON ON THAT DAY AND WILL BE REWARDED HELL FOR ETERNITY! ARE YOU READY!
IN MATTHEW 7:21-23, JESUS TELLS US THAT:
“NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS TO ME LORD LORD WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. MANY WILL SAY TO ME THAT DAY, “LORD, LORD, DID WE NOT PROPHESY IN YOUR NAME, AND IN YOUR NAME DRIVE OUT DEMONS AND PERFORM MANY MIRACLES?” THEN I WILL TELL THEM PLAINLY, I NEVER KNEW YOU, AWAY FROM ME! YOU EVIL DOERS!”
THOSE THAT ARE LOST, MAYBE SOME ARE UNDER MY VOICE RIGHT NOW, LET ME TELL YOU THIS POINT BLANK: YOU CAN GO AND STUDY THE BIBLE ALL YOUR LIFE AND MEMORIZE FROM FRONT TO BACK, YET IF YOU DO NOT KNOW JESUS CHIRST, THEN YOU KNOW NOTHING! ALL OF THAT TIME, READING THE SCRIPTURES AND ALL THOSE TIME YOU HAVE CAME TO CHURCH AND SAT IN THAT PEW WILL NOT SAVE YOU UNLESS YOU KNOW THE MASTER! ARE YOU READY!
IN CLOSING THIS MORNING, THE SIGNS ARE UPON US. THEY ARE CLEAR AS EVER. WE HAVE DISCOVERED THIS MORNING THAT THE END IS NEAR, AND THAT THE SURVIVORS WILL BE FEW. THE FINAL QUESTION THIS MORNING IS HAVE YOU MADE TIME COUNT? HAVE YOU TAKEN THAT FIRST STEP BY ACDEPTING CHIRIST? HAVE YOU BEEN COMING TO CHURCH AND HAS GOD SPOKEN TO YOU AT THE END OF PAST SERVICES, BUT YOU JUST SAID “LATER” OR “I’LL DO IT NEXT WEEK.” FRIENDS, IF YOU HAVE BEEN COUNTING TIME AND NOT MAKING TIME COUNT I URGE YOU TO STOP COUNTING AND TAKE THAT FIRST STEP THIS MORNING BY COMING DOWN THO THE ALTAR. WHAT A BETTER PLACE TO DO IT THAN IN GOD’S OWN HOUSE.
TICK TOCK TICK TOCK….ONE DAY THE CLOCK WILL CHIME AND THE TIME THAT MANY OF YOU ARE COUNTING WILL STOP. WHAT CAN YOU COUNT ON THEN? QUIT COUNTING TIME, AND MAKE TIME COUNT HERE...NOW! LET US PRAY.
