“The End Is Coming”
Mark 13:31-37
Question: How many of you, when you watch movies, you know when it will end?
All of us, right?
Because the movie indicates when it will end
Examples: The boy gets the girl, the hero defeats the villain, the two enemies become friends – it’s a given
The Bible tells us that the end of the world is going to be that way as well
The end of this world is going to have obvious signs
Though no one knows when it will happen, there are some events that will let us know that it’s coming
There are three things I want to share with you tonight that the scripture says will be signs of the end
I. A Global Government
a. Revelation 13:7 “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”
i. The ‘him’ this is referring to is the anti-Christ
ii. This man will be world leader like none before Him
iii. He will be given the power to rule every nation
b. People have argued over the years that this could never be
i. There is no way that two opposing countries could band together
ii. It didn’t make sense
c. But today we see changes
i. We have people who raise the ‘united nations’ above our own government
ii. We even had a man running for President who said to defend ourselves we had to pass a ‘global test’
iii. America has embassies in just about every nation in the world
d. A global government is not a myth dreamed up by Christians, it is where this world is headed
e. If you don’t believe the Bible, just watch CNN
II. A Global Religion
a. Revelation 13:15 “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
i. The anti-Christ needs everyone to worship him as lord
ii. To do so, we must all be acclimated to serving the ‘same god’
b. How many of you have ever heard, ‘all religions lead to the same god?’
i. This is not true according to the words of Jesus
ii. Matthew 7:14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
c. But many religions try to mold all beliefs together
i. The Unitarian church does this by saying that all religions are included
ii. This is, of course, except fundamental Christianity, because we are too exclusive
d. While it is true that there may be ‘beauty’, ‘culture’ and ‘wisdom’ in all religions, not all religions lead to God
e. And anti-Christ will use these inclusive mindsets as the catalyst for his ‘one world religion’
III. A Global Money System
a. Revelation 13:16 “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
i. Money makes the world go around for most people
ii. And the one who controls the money, often controls the people
iii. A one-money system would allow anti-Christ to control money and thus control people
b. How does the control of money control people/
i. Imagine anti-Christ saying, “Do what I tell you to do or you cannot have money to buy food”
ii. You couldn’t even go to the hospital without his say-so
c. The world is moving toward a one world currency
i. Some friends and I were talking about this and one said, “I heard about the euro-dollar’
ii. Another one said that he heard about some other one world money
iii. I took out my wallet and said, “It has already happened”
iv. Remember VISA, it’s everywhere you want to be
v. And it remembers my every purchase
d. I am not saying that credit cards are the one world currency, but they are surely usering in the final ‘one world money system’
CONCLUSION: Illustration: “Let the Credits Roll” Right after a movie ends, what happens? The credits roll. The credits tell what each person is responsible for in the movie.
The Bible tells us that in the end every thing we have ever done is going to come out and we are going to be judged.
Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”
Even the words we speak will be taken into account
Matthew 12:36 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”
And no one will be able to say, “I am guiltless” because the Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
How do you think it will feel to have your life shown to you?
Do you think, “Well I am not bad, so no worries”
But the Bible says God even judges the intentions and thoughts, not just the words and actions
The truth is if you face this judgment from God alone you will receive justice – an eternity in Hell
But God loves us so much that He, in His love, sent us a sacrifice to pay for our sins
Jesus Christ, died on the cross to receive the judgment that we deserved
And having taking the punishment on Himself, we can be found guiltless on the Day of Judgment
The Bible says that to receive Jesus we must receive Him in ‘repentance’ and ‘faith’
Repentance means we have a new attitude toward sin, that we see it as God does and turn from it
Faith means we, don’t just believe in Jesus, but that we trust in Him
Salvation from judgment is based on God’s grace given to those who trust in Him
The end is coming, may it be sooner or later
Are you ready?
(Let us pray)
