When Will the World End?
Sunday September 17, 2000
As we begin our sermon this morning I would like for you to all turn in your bibles to, Matthew the 24th chapter.
I want to take this text this morning and with the help of God answer some of the questions that come up from time to time.
Matthew 24:1-3
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you. There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
I want to stop for just a minute and tell you just a couple of things about this temple.
It was very impressive, it covered about 1/6 of the land area of the ancient city Jerusalem.
It was not one building, but a majestic mixture of porches, colonnades, separate small edifices and courts surrounding the temple proper.
Next to the inner temple, where the sacred objects were kept and the sacrifices offered there was a large area called the Court of the Gentiles ( this was where the money changers and other merchants had there booths ).
Outside these Courts stretched long porches.
Solomon’s porch was 1,562 feet long, and the royal porch was decorated with 160 columns stretching along the 921 foot length.
So you can see that this was not just some building that was being discussed.
This made any of the structures that we think about in todays time seem very small in stature.
In this passage of scripture, the disciples asked Jesus three questions.
You know, way back then, people were wanting to know when the end of the world would come.
The disciples were showing Jesus the temple buildings and while they were looking it over Jesus told them that there was a time coming when the temple would be completely destroyed.
Not even one stone would be left in place.
Then they went and sat on the Mount of Olives and the disciples began to ponder what their Lord had said and to question him.
From this text this morning we want to consider the question:
When Will The World End?
It seems that many would like to know the answer to this question for various reasons.
The righteous would like to know so they would know how much time they have to get their lost families and friends saved.
But do you really feel that it would do any good for you to know?
Do you really feel that even if the friends and loved ones knew when the world was going to end it would make any difference to them?
No one really seems to care anymore they just think that they are going to live to be a ripe old age of 100 and that when they get too old to have fun, then they will give there hearts to God.
You know what they are doing as well as anyone does, so that also should tell us that they are not fooling God.
And you know the way God looks at it He doesn’t want people that only want to use Him as a fire escape!
God only wants people that are willing to give their all to Him, people that put Him first!
People that love Him and that want to live for Him, people that do it because they love Him more than anything else in the world today!
God is not a play toy!
God is not something that you can use when you want to, and put Him away when you are tired of playing the religious game!
God is real! God is alive! God is here in this building right now!
And do you know what?
God is living inside of some of our hearts right this very moment and for those of us that know that He is living in our hearts, we can look up to Him and know that we have done our best and tell Him that we are ready to go to be with Him.
We don’t have that fear of what would happen if He came back right this very moment.
We are not using Him as a fire escape.
We are living for Him because we want to live for Him!
And as we go this, we find that,
The unrighteous would like to know how long they can put off salvation or rather gamble how long they think that they can put off salvation.
My friend Russell thought that he could put it off for just a little longer!
As we approach the turn of the century many will be speculating that the Lord will return and the world will end as the year 2000 comes to an end.
And see here we go again people are looking for the end of the world now just like they were when Jesus Christ was here walking on this earth 2000 years ago!
And every single person that are worrying about the when’s and the if’s and the what ever’s are putting off what they don’t need to be putting off!
So, let us consider what the Bible teaches us about the end.
In answering the disciples questions, the first thing our Lord tells us is:
Matthew 24:4
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Yes, the Lord warns us that many will be working to deceive us.
You who have been here the last few weeks know that we are talking about the antichrist!
Anyone that keeps trying to keep you from giving your heart to God is an antichrist!
Therefore, you need to be careful whom you believe and why you believe what you believe.
Take heed! Be on guard! Stay awake!
Of the three questions that the disciples asked, Jesus is answering the third question first – when shall the end be?
Let no man deceive you!
Matthew 24:5
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Now, we know that most people in our time are smart enough to not claim to be Christ himself.
However, many do claim to be Christians that have received a special message from God.
And, as such they claim to have a particular knowledge of when the world will end.
I am here to tell you this morning that anyone that wastes there time worrying about when the world will come to an end is not doing what the Bible tells us to do!
We are not becoming perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect!
This thing of living for God needs to become a real thing in your life!
There have been, through the ages of history, many deceivers preaching all kinds of events, fears and catastrophes to get a following after themselves.
Deceivers are always working to exalt themselves as some great one who has special connections to God.
They are if fact a form of false Christ’s.
Remember your Lord’s warning "let no man deceive you".
There are many deceivers. How will you protect yourself against deception?
The only way is by seeking the truth of God’s Word out for yourself.
Too many people of our day are too ignorant of God’s Word.
They are as Peter reminded us "willingly ignorant", or in other words they choose to be ignorant.
If you are one who chooses to be ignorant of God’s Word, you set yourself up to be deceived.
Jesus instructed us that God’s word is truth.
He taught us that man should live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Therefore, the Word of God should be precious to you.
You should study and work to learn all about it that you can.
The more you learn the less likely that you will be deceived by any man.
Knowledge and understanding of the Bible is the greatest weakness of our nation today.
Multitudes of professing Christians do not study their Bibles.
They simple take what man teaches them and believe it. It is easy to deceive them, for they have no knowledge or understanding of their own.
In our time it is easy to learn and understand the Bible.
You have available to you many helps such as concordances, dictionaries, Greek and Hebrew dictionaries, books and computer soft ware.
We have Bible teachers and preachers all working together to help you to know and understand what the Bible says.
That is our mission, as The Amarillo Church of God.
We do not try to teach you our special set of beliefs or doctrines or requirements.
We work very hard to teach you what the Bible says.
The reason is we know that if you know the Bible, no man will be able to deceive you.
And we know that if you don’t know the Bible, then most anyone can deceive you.
Remember the words of you Lord – "let no man deceive you".
As we continue to study our lesson in Matt. 24, we see that the Lord continues to address this third question through these next verses,
Matthew 24:6-14
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
In verse 6 the Lord reminds us that wars and rumors of wars will occur, but we should not be troubled for the end is not yet.
There shall be many wars – nations against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines, pestilences (plagues or diseases), earthquakes in different places.
Look at what has been going on right here in the Texas Panhandle, the earthquakes that we have been having!
We have not had any here in a long time.
And do not be disturbed these are just the beginning of sorrows.
Look at what is going on in our schools, our governments, and everything that man puts his hands into!
Now, for people that do not believe the Bible think about what the Lord said.
Is it true? Has it come to pass? Yes, Yes, Yes.
No one can dispute the facts that indeed it has come to pass over and over just like the Lord said it would.
Even though any learned person will agree that there is no need whatever for war and that no war ever settled anything.
No war is of value to any nation.
All wars have been extremely costly and destructive.
And yet, man has not found a way to live without fighting wars.
Why not?
Well, God created man and God knows more about man that man does and He said that there would be wars and rumors of wars and it has been so and continues to be so.
It would appear that in our world today, there are some forty or more nations at war.
As long as sinful man has the opportunity to rule over a people, we can be sure that someone will be fighting wars to expand his domain.
Most of our world leaders have recognized this and know that all nations must be prepared to defend themselves.
Therefore, we maintain a large military force, constantly train and prepare to defend our nation at any time.
We constantly research and work to keep an advance in technology in weapons and equipment for we know that we must be prepared to fight at any time.
Yes, there are wars and rumors of wars just like the Bible tells us there would be.
Another truth our Lord inserted in this prophecy is that pestilences (plagues, diseases) would come.
Has this been true?
One of the latest diseases to become a plague is the virus known as AIDS.
Fifty years ago, no one ever heard of this virus.
The one day it showed up and what a plague it has become.
This is just one more proof that the Word of God is truth.
Who knows what the next plague will be.
Another truth is the fact that there are famines existing in our world all the time.
From time to time we hear of some of the worst of these and we know that there are people starving to death every day somewhere in our world.
Even though we throw away tons of food every day, famines continue to occur and people continue to starve to death on a regular basis.
Why is this?
Well our Lord told us nearly two thousand years ago that it would be this way.
Did He know what he was talking about or what?
Yes, the Bible is true.
In our lesson, the Lord goes on informing us of how Christians would be hated, betrayed and would suffer much.
All this has indeed come to pass.
He told us that this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then the end shall come.
And so we know that all this prophecy has been fulfilled.
Therefore, the end could come at any minute and it could be delayed for thousands of years yet.
In the next several verses, the Lord answers the other questions concerning the destruction of the temple and signs of his coming.
Here again is another proof that the Bible is true.
Jesus said that the temple would be destroyed not leaving even one stone upon another and so it was.
If you will study history, you will learn that in the year 70 A.D. the Roman army captured Jerusalem from the rebel Jews and destroyed the temple.
The reason they destroyed the temple was to get all the gold and silver out of it.
The Jews set it on fire during the siege and the gold and silver melted and ran down through the seams of the rocks.
In order to be sure and get it all, every stone was moved.
Just as the Lord had prophesied it came to pass.
The temple was destroyed and has never been rebuilt.
There is a spiritual significance in this destruction of the temple.
For this was a time of transition from the Old Testament method of worship of God to the New Testament method under Christianity.
The old was done away with to be replaced by the new.
We now have our Lord within us as the temple of God instead of in a building.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
What about the time of the end? When will it be?
Let us continue in our study of Matthew 24:
Matthew 24:35-36
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Yes, Heaven and earth shall pass away.
You can count on it.
It has happened before and it will happen again.
You can be sure because the Bible is true.
But one thing will not pass away and that is the words of our Lord.
As you have heard me say many times before the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever!
They will stand forever. You will meet his words in eternity.
Are you prepared? No man knows the day. No man knows the hour.
Not even the angels know when the world will end.
To think that I know the time would only be to deceive myself.
Jesus clearly states that even he does not know.
This time is knows only by the father.
You and I have no need to know this.
What we need to know is whether we are ready or not.
Now is the time to be ready.
Whether the world stands for another year, ten years, or hundred thousand years will make no difference to us that are ready to go.
We have learned that our final home is not this earth that we live on.
We know that the most precious opportunity to know God exists while we live in this time world.
And we are taking advantage of it to know God and to learn to live and enjoy our life in God.
Matthew 24:37-41
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Here the Lord is reminding us that man will always be the same.
He is interested in this physical life.
He works to eat good things, have a wife and enjoy his life.
And so it has been since the beginning and continues in our time.
Most people of our day are so wrapped up in enjoying their lives that they don’t take time to honor God.
They are spending all their time and energy in pleasing themselves.
It has been that way since the time of Noah and continues to be that way.
Now knowing this we can see that this is no sign of anything.
Sinful man has always been interested in himself and still is.
Since you and I are human beings and since we have been taught this truth by our Lord, then it behooves us to take heed.
Do not get so wrapped up in this physical life that you forget your Lord.
Your Lord wants you to enjoy life and He wants you to enjoy him also.
You can do this if you will put him first in your life.
Matthew 24:42-51
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Since you don’t know when your Lord will return, you are instructed to watch.
Be awake, be on guard.
He will return and we do not know when.
Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week or next month or next year or whenever.
As long as we are ready, it won’t matter.
We will spend our time preparing and being faithful to his calling for us.
Let us do as our Lord has instructed us.
Let us be faithful and wise servants of God.
Let us give His household meat in due season.
Let us feed the church with knowledge and understanding.
Let us encourage and strengthen the people of God.
Let us make the best use of the life that God has given us for there will be no chance to repent after this life is over.
Like you hear me say all of the time, your second coming is the day that you die.
And the day that happens you won’t have another chance, no matter how much you have friends or loved ones left here on earth praying for you.
When it’s over, it’s over!
Now as we go on let’s turn to,
Revelation 22:11-12
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Yes, when your Lord returns for you and takes you through death’s door into eternity, your opportunity to repent will be over.
There will be no opportunity to change after this life.
The Bible is true and it says the filthy will be filthy still, the unjust shall be unjust still and thank God the holy will be holy still.
Now is the time to get ready for the Lord.
His return date is unknown and the end of the world is unknown, but, your exit from this life is certain and your destiny in eternity depends on your choice to live for God in this world.
Yes, He will come quickly and he will reward everyone according to his works.
He will come quickly or in other words life is short.
It will soon be gone and you will soon be in eternity to be rewarded according to the life you lived in this time world.
You have opportunity today to repent of sin and take Jesus as your Lord.
Will you take advantage of this opportunity?
Or will you reject it for the foolishness of trying to live for the physical man only?
Remember, This is the Day that the Lord has made!
The Lord giveth, and the Lord most definitely can take it away.
If you have not already given your heart to God, then please do so this morning.
What I have been going through with my friend dying last week and knowing that he wasn’t ready to meet God has really been a problem for me.
It is not something that I ever want to go through again.
