INTRO.- Matthew 24:3-7 “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ, ’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”
ILL.- When Westinghouse first proposed to stop a huge railroad train with air brakes he was not taken seriously. People thought he was crazy and they dismissed his claim. They said it never would happen. But it did!
ILL.- When a man by the name of Edwards first proposed that disease could be prevented through vaccination, most people were skeptical. They said it would never happen. But it did and the smallpox scourge was eliminated.
ILL.- When Alexander Graham Bell suggested that communication over great distances could occur by means of a telephone, people said it would never happen!
ILL.- When Robert Goddard began his pioneer work with rockets he said that man would someday land on the moon. Nobody believed him.
Brothers and sisters, many people in our world do not believe that this world will ever come to an end, but Jesus said it would! Do we dare bet against Him?
Most Christian people are concerned about the signs of the times. They are absolutely convinced because of certain things happening in our world that the return of Christ and the end of the world is near. Indeed, many things, many strange, weird, wild, and evil things are happening in our world.
ILL- Hurricane Charley swept across Florida on Aug. 13, killing 27 people and causing an estimated $7.4 billion in insured damage to homes, businesses and personal possessions.
ILL.- Hurricane Frances completed its two-day assault on Florida, leaving storm-weary residents Tuesday, Sept. 7th, with flooding, frayed nerves and long lines for everyday items such as gas, ice and water. At least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm in Florida and Georgia.
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About 3 million people had no power in Florida and more than 40,000 more were without electricity in Georgia because of winds that downed trees, limbs and power lines. It is estimated that the damage from Frances could be as much as $10 billion.
Now Hurricane Ivan. Over 50 deaths in the US. Blackouts in many states. People devastated. What next? What else?
ILL.- The Sudanese famine. May 24, 2004 The situation in Sudan was grim. About a million people had been displaced and the threat of mass starvation was real.
ILL.- The war in Iraq. A total of over 1000 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003. Over 7,000 other Americans have been wounded. Of those who have died, 97 percent were men; two dozen were women.
ILL.- 9/11/2001 USA. Over 3,000 lives lost in the worst terrorist attack in US history. A day we will never forget.
ILL.- Russian terrorism, Sept. 1, 2004, first day of school year. 1200 people took hostage, mostly children. Around 400 lives were lost.
Don’t all of these strange things point to something? If nothing else they peak loudly that we live in a very messed up, out of kilter, and volatile world. But there is more. Listen.
II Tim. 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. Have nothing to do with them.”
The apostle Paul said that even more things, evil things would happen in the last days before the return of Christ and the end of the world. Basically, he said that people would become very ungodly, even denying God and His power.
Some of the people that Paul wrote about sounds like they could even be church people. “Having a form of godliness but deny its power.”
ILL.- A Baptist preacher friend of mine in southern Illinois wrote me one time about his church. He wrote: “The lack of commitment in the 21st century evangelical church is at an epidemic level. Even with what we are doing, there is an absence of commitment. Our staff does most of the work. I am fortunate to have a good staff. I have 37 deacons and only 2 of them made deacons meeting last night. That is discouraging. We are trying to organize into ministry teams, and get a Baptist Men’s group organized to dovetail with the deacons’ ministry teams, and it is like pulling eye teeth. Our finances sound good, but for a church that averages over 360 in worship we are a long way from where we should be. The minister of music gets discouraged in the summer, because the 35-voice choir doesn’t show up for practice or Sundays. I had 12 in choir Sunday morning. That is pitiful.”
What this brother is facing in his church not only shows a lack of commitment, but could well be just a “form of godliness, but denying the power.”
What should be our attitude about the negative things taking place in our world and in some churches that claim to follow Christ?
ILL.- Dr. Margaret Mead, distinguished anthropologist and author, made a very interesting observation in an address some time ago. She pointed out that for a long time it was the universal custom to say on parting: "Good-bye," which is a shortened form of "God be with you." Today it is quite common instead to say, "Take it easy."
This is also the attitude, the casual attitude that many people have toward what is happening in the world and toward God and Christ. Don’t worry about it. Don’t take it seriously. Just take it easy! Eat, drink and be merry and let the world take care of itself. If it doesn’t affect you personally, don’t sweat it! WRONG! As Christians everything does affect us and we should respond in a Christian manner.
PROP.- Paul’s words in II Timothy chapter three tells us how to respond to these signs of the times.
1- Avoid the ungodly
2- Expect the evil
3- Keep the faith
I. AVOID THE UNGODLY
ILL.- A hillbilly came to town carrying a jug of moonshine in one hand and a shotgun in the other. He stopped a man on the street, saying to him: "Here friend, take a drink outa my jug."
The man protested, saying he never drank. The hillbilly leveled his shotgun at the stranger and commanded: "Drink!"
The stranger drank, shuddered, shook, shivered and coughed. "That’s awful stuff you’ve got there."
"Ain’t it, though?" replied the hillbilly. "Now, you hold the gun on me while I take a swig."
People influence people. For some, it’s called peer pressure. People may not hold a shotgun to your head to get you to do certain things, but they do influence one another.
Prov. 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.” People will entice others to do evil, etc. And not all sinners look like sinners.
II Tim. 3:5 “Having a form of godliness but denying its power. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM.”
There will always be some people who have the appearance of godliness but may not be godly at all. Do you happen to remember Prophet Jim Jones of the Guyana tragedy, Nov. 1978? Here’s some background information on Jim Jones.
ILL.- These words came from the CHRISTIAN STANDARD, April, 1973. “…a minister is reputed to have brought more than forty persons back from the dead. The claim is present literally. The man further claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. He ministers with the Peoples’ Temple in Ukiah, CA. Prophet Jones, as he is called, is said to be handsome, glib, charismatic, part-Cherokee Indian with a current following of more than four thousand. Services usually last 4 or 5 hours.”
According to another article, here is what happened in Guyana. Jones stood before his flock of over 900 in the pavilion and turned on a small tape recorder and began rambling.
"...What’s going to happen here in a matter of a few minutes is that one of those people on the plane is going to shoot the pilot. I know that. I didn’t plan it, but I know it’s going to happen. And we better not have any of our children left when it’s over...
"...So you be kind to the children and be kind to seniors, and take the potion like they used to take in ancient Greece, and step over quietly, because we are not committing suicide -- it’s a revolutionary act...I don’t know who killed the Congressman. But as far as I’m concerned, I killed him...
"...Lay down your life with dignity. Don’t lay down with tears and agony...I don’t care how many screams you hear; death is a million times preferable to spend more days in this life...No more pain. No more pain...That’s what death is, sleep. Have trust. You have to step across. This world was not our home."
The final minutes of that tape-recorded the gruesome sounds of 913 lives being snuffed out -- 276 of them children. The nurses took babies from their mothers and injected a purple concoction into their mouths. Armed guards surrounding the pavilion menaced those who hesitated to dip their cups into vats of cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid. But many Temple members drank willingly. Children screamed in a chaos accented with eerie background music, which slowly faded into a ghastly silence. Like his enemy Leo Ryan, Jim Jones died a violent death. One of the cultists, or Jones himself, fired a pistol into his brain.
What’s the moral of this story? Following certain people could cost you your life and perhaps even your soul!
There are some people that you can’t hang with or associate with and we all need to be wise enough to figure out who these people are.
ILL.- I remember walking out of Safeway one night at 10 p.m. with my manager and several other employees. This was in the 1960’s. The manager had a six-pack of beer in his hands and had opened one and started drinking. He said to me, “Do you want a beer?”
I politely said “no” and that was that. My manager was not the least bit offended that I didn’t take him up on his offer and he never asked me again. However, there will be those in life who will continue to entice us to do evil and it will be far worse than drinking a beer! There are some people we just can’t associate with!
If someone drags you down, then it’s time to stop that friendship. Avoid the ungodly.
I Cor. 15:33 “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.”
II Cor. 6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
II. EXPECT THE EVIL
II Tim. 3:12 “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Expect the evil of persecution.
ILL.- John Wesley was riding along a road one day when it dawned on him that three whole days had passed in which he had suffered no persecution. Not a brick or an egg had been thrown at him for three days.
Alarmed, he stopped his horse, and exclaimed, “Can it be that I have sinned, and I am backslidden?”
Slipping from his horse, Wesley went down on his knees and began interceding with God to show him where, if any, there had been a fault.
A rough fellow, on the other side of the hedge, hearing the prayer, looked across and recognized the preacher. “I’ll fix that Methodist preacher,” he said, picking up a brick and tossing it over at him. It missed its mark, and fell harmlessly beside Wesley. Immediately Wesley leaped to his feet joyfully exclaiming, “Thank God, it’s all right. I still have His presence.”
While most of us don’t expect persecution every day for our Christian faith, nor do we expect to be hit with bricks or eggs, we must expect a certain amount of persecution if we are living a faithful and fruitful Christian life.
What kinds of things can you expect if you are living a faithful Christian life? Verbal abuse is probably the most likely thing. In some extreme cases you could even be fired from a job.
ILL.- Many years ago while preaching in a small Iowa town I worked about 30 hours a week in a Standard Service Station. I fixed flat tires, did oil changes and brake jobs. Most people who came into that station knew that I preached in town. One time two older men came in to have their cars serviced. For some reason, instead of waiting in the waiting area they both came back to the shop where I was servicing cars.
Neither of these two fellows went to church, as far as I remember, but they got into a religious discussion or something about the Bible. I listened to them while I serviced a car. In just a short time these two older men started arguing with one another. It got hot and heavy to the point I really thought they were going to start throwing fists at one another. Finally, both of them just blew up, got in their cars and drove away.
The manager/owner of that service station came back to where I was working and said to me, “I don’t want to hear any more of that religious talk again.” He blamed me for those two older men getting into an argument and then leaving his station. I tried to explain that I had nothing to do with it. I was just a listening ear.
That was a form of persecution; minor as it was, because I didn’t lose my job over it. But in some cases, people have been demoted and/or have lost their jobs over their faith. And if you take a stand for Christ in this world, some people won’t like you. They will make fun of you. They will accuse you falsely. They will try to trip you up. They will try to make you look bad or even do something evil to you.
As this world gets closer to the end, you can expect the evil to continue and some of it will be aimed at you!
II Tim. 3:13 “Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
We must also expect some men to go from bad to worse.
ILL.- Prophet Jim Jones of the Guyana tragedy did not start out as evil as he was later on. It was said that Jones was not some self-proclaimed "prophet.” He was an ordained minister of the Disciples of Christ, a respected mainline denomination. At one point his congregation numbered 8,000. It was composed largely of poor African Americans.
One of Jones’ long time followers Tim Stoen explained, "There wasn’t anything magical about Jim’s power. It was raw politics. He was able to deliver what politicians want, which is power. And how do you get power? By votes. And how do you get votes? With people. Jim Jones could produce 3,000 people at a political event.’’
But it was said that there were other spirits at work in Jim Jones. In 1957 Jones and a busload of church members rode off to Philadelphia to visit an infamous black evangelist called Father Divine. Born George Baker in 1880, Father Divine founded the Peace Mission movement in New York in 1932 -- a spiritual revival that made this son of former slaves a very wealthy man.
Someone said, "When Jimmy come back from seeing Father Divine, he was a changed man. I saw it right away. . . . I sensed the change. After that, it was ’my way or no way.’ It was ’I am He. I’m in control.’ He was not just the pastor in the church. He was The Man. Father Divine convinced him he was The Man -- that he was God."
Max Knight, who knew Jones as a kid growing up in Lynn and later as a reporter working at the Richmond (Ind.) Palladium, a local paper, also blames Father Divine.
"From that moment on, Jim went downhill fast," Knight said. "He got into drugs. He got into sex. You name it. He felt that he was bigger than God himself, and it destroyed him. He became a little god of his own. There is no doubt about it."
II Tim. 3:13 “Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Jim Jones went from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. This world is full of such people and not all of them claim to be prophets of God. Some of them may well be political leaders as well as spiritual leaders. In the last days we must expect the evil to continue and perhaps even get worse.
III. KEEP THE FAITH
II Tim. 3:14-17 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
ILL.- Two politicians got into a friendly discussion on the subject of religion. One said, “I’ll bet you five dollars that you can’t repeat the Lord’s Prayer.” The politician accepted the challenge and both men put up $5. “Now,” said the first politician, “Let’s hear you say it.” The other politician reverently began, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep….” “Well,” said the first politician, “I didn’t think you could do it. Here’s your five dollars.”
Obviously, neither politician knew the Lord’s Prayer, which is not surprising.
ILL.- Joe and Moe had a conversation. Joe said, “What do you believe about God?” Moe, “I believe what my church believes.” Joe, “What does your church believe?” Moe, “My church believes what I believe.” Joe, “What do you and your church believe?” Moe, “WE BOTH BELIEVE THE SAME THING.”
Brothers and sisters, many people claim they know what they believe about God and Christ, but they are not really sure what they believe!
ILL.- Last Tuesday evening two young ladies knocked on my door. I opened the door and found that both of them had Bibles in their hands. One of them wanted to read a Bible verse to me and I said, “I am a preacher of the gospel. I know what I believe.” They quickly closed their Bibles and walked away. They didn’t even give me time to tell that what I believed about God and Christ.
I had an idea of what they believed and they wanted to tell me, but they didn’t want me to share my faith with them.
Do we really know anything about our faith? Do we know enough about our faith in God and Christ and the Bible to share it with others?
II John 7-11 “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”
ILL.- The story is told about a Judge Shepherd, circuit court judge of Nashville, Tennessee, who was a deacon in his church. It was his unvarying custom to attend the services of his church on the Lord’s Day.
One Sunday, his pastor, Dr. Norman W. Cox, noticed that the judge was not sitting in his accustomed place. Someone said, “Where is Judge Shepherd today”
Later Dr. Cox said, “Suddenly I became worried. When there was no answer to the phone call at his home where he lived alone, I went there and found the house locked. I convinced the police that it was unlike the judge not to be at church, and he must be at his home.”
The officers forced the door open. They found him unconscious from gas fumes caused by a faulty heater. Another half hour might have been too late. The judge’s fixed custom to go to the God’s house on the Lord’s Day saved his life.
ARE YOU LISTENING? It was Judge Shepherd’s faith that saved his life. And it is our faith in God as the Creator, Christ as the Savior and the Bible as God’s Word that will save us in this evil and hellish world. OUR FAITH IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL SAVE US! Nothing but our faith can save us.
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
ILL.- Hurricane warnings. Labor Day weekend, 1979 in Miami, Florida. While most of the nation played, the people of Miami watched. Hurricane David was coming their way, leaving a trail of flooded islands and homeless people in the Caribbean.
Floridians were preparing for David’s coming. Windows were taped up, canned goods were bought, flashlights tested.
On the Miami River some single guys were trying to figure out the best way to protect their houseboat. None of them had ever lived on a houseboat before, much less weathered a hurricane.
They were coming to the end of their rope when suddenly a man named Phil showed up. He knew boats. He spoke the lingo and knew the knots. He said to those young men, "Tie her to land and you’ll regret it. Those trees are gonna get eaten by the hurricane. Your only hope is to anchor deep. Place four anchors in four different directions, leave the rope slack, and pray for the best."
YOUR ONLY HOPE IS TO ANCHOR DEEP. Good advice for weathering hurricanes and good advice for weathering life’s hurricanes. The signs of the times point to some difficult days ahead. Our only hope is to anchor deep in the Lord.
