There have been many prestigious people throughout the years who have been atheists, but have come to the Lord and ended up saying and doing great things that helped others see Jesus more clearly.
Malcolm Muggeridge was a British journalist who was an atheist. He was so good, that he was occasionally asked to write the editorial page for Time magazine. And many consider that the crowning point in his life came towards the end of his career when he became a Christian.
He was a once guest at a breakfast in Washington, D.C. where he shared his life story. When he had finished, he made a number of comments about world affairs, all of which were very negative. One of those present told him that he was very negative, and asked if he saw any reason at all to be positive. He replied, “Sir, I am very positive because my sole hope is in Jesus Christ alone.”
Hope. That is what we all desperately need. That is what we all desperately search for in this world. The hope of tomorrow. I said last week that the problem with searching for happiness or peace of mind is that we too often only look in the worldly things for them, and they can only be found in the Lord Jesus.
Hope. We need hope in order to live peaceful and happy lives. The absence of hope for our future will completely destroy the present we live in today. What oxygen is for our lungs, hope is for the very meaning of our lives. If you take oxygen away from us, it will result in our death. And, if you take any hope of our future away from us, we also shall die.
In case you missed it, today we are going to be talking about the future we have as Christians. The future in Jesus Christ, our blessed hope.
TITUS 2:12 tells us that it is the grace of God that enables us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and in VERSE 13, it says we are to do that while we await the blessed hope of the glorious appearing our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, our English language leaves a bit to be desired. When we use the word ‘hope’, we are saying that we look forward to something that might or might not come to pass. For example, we might say that we hope it rains. That means that we want it to, but we are not sure it will. We say that we hope more new visitors come to our church on Sunday, but again, that is our desire, not our guarantee.
In the original Greek, the word ‘hope’ means waiting for something that will definitely come to pass. It means to bide your time in the anticipation of the guarantee of something that is to come.
So, the blessed hope refers to something that we can absolutely count on; something that will certainly happen.
In MATTHEW 24:3, the disciples were sitting on the Mount of Olives with Jesus, and they asked Him what the warning signs would be to announce the Second Coming. Beginning with MATTHEW 24:6, Jesus tells them what will precede His Second Coming.
Let’s take a look at some of those signs.
FAMINES & WARS
In verses 6-7, Jesus said,
‘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 t come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’
I think the closer we get to the His Second Coming, we will see a marked increase in wars, famines, and earthquakes. But, even though we see more and more of these things, we are told to not be afraid.
This world is full of sin, and the return of Jesus will be the greatest spiritual event in history. But it will also be one of the biggest events in spiritual warfare that has ever occurred. It only stands to reason that the enemy is hating the thought of Jesus’ return, and since the devil is a being of hatred and violence anyway, he will make sure that hatred and violence spew over into as much of the world has possible.
In the last 60 years, it is estimated that over 100 million people have been killed by some kind of war. Millions have been killed by their own leaders, just because they were of an ethnic group the leader did not like.
In today’s world, we see a different kind of warfare, don’t we? It is different that any other kind of war that has ever been waged. It is called terrorism, and that name defines it clearly. It is a war waged on terror; on evilness; on hatred; and it is run by the devil against those on the side of Jesus.
There is a war going on in almost every country on earth. Those that are not already in a full-scale war are involved in the war on terrorism. Once quiet nations are now finding themselves being safe havens for, or victims against terrorists.
In spite of the ever-increasing influence of the western civilizations throughout the world; despite the fact that the world is more highly educated that ever before; the peace that is looked for is as elusive as ever. That is because the basic cause of hatred and war are spiritual.
And that is the pit we humans fall into. As we have discussed previously, we humans put ourselves at the center of our universe. Everything is about us. We think we are so great. We have stopped depending on God now and depend on our own great selves for health, food, and everything else we want or need.
We don’t look to God anymore to help us; we look in the world around us. And looking in the world will only let us find our own demise. But, looking to Christ Jesus, will let us find our blessed hope, and with that blessed hope comes peace, joy, and happiness.
Politics and education cannot solve spiritual problems. We see Israel and the Palestinians doing everything they can to come up with a permanent peace agreement. We see leaders all across this globe talking about another chance for permanent peace between these two peoples.
In 2 PETER 3:13, we read
‘But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.’
In case anyone missed it, let me set the record very straight. There will never be any lasting peace on this earth, until Jesus Christ comes back to rule over Jerusalem. And that includes the war between the Israelites and the Palestinians.
Jesus said there would be famines and earthquakes. Whether it is brought about by natural disasters such as drought, or by mankind, such as wars, famines persist, even in this age of plentiful food.
Did you know that millions are dying of starvation in other countries while millions of metric tons of grain are destroyed in America and other industrialized nations so they don’t just sit there and rot? It has been estimated that there is actually enough food in the world to feed everyone so there would be no famine at all. But, because it is too difficult to ship the grain; or too difficult to get it to the people who need it, it is destroyed before it rots.
The names of places like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan are all synonymous with hunger and starvation. In addition millions of people throughout the world are undernourished. It is ironic that famine is increasing at a time when agricultural technology has enabled farmers to grow more food than is needed.
And, as far as earthquakes go, the occurrences of earthquakes have been getting more and more numerous. According to the world almanac, in the hundred years between 1800 and 1900, there were only six sizable earthquakes. From 1900 to 1950, there were 12.
From 1950 to 1976, there were over 50. In 1976 alone, there were 18 quakes alone that registered over 7.0 on the Richter scale. Look at the tsunami that was produced by a quake earlier this year. Just this past Tuesday, a large earthquake off the coast of Japan shook buildings nearly 200 miles away.
I quote these statistics to you so you can believe the biblical claims that there will be earthquakes and famines. But be of good cheer, because war and famine will not continue forever. God is going to step in and when He does, he will end the fighting and the starving once and for all.
ANTI-CHRISTS
In verse 5, Jesus mentions another sign that will precede His coming.
‘For many will come in My name, claiming “I am the Christ”, and will deceive many.’
There are many who have already come, claiming to be the Messiah, like Rev. Moon of the Unification church who said he really is Jesus Christ. But, there will be many more who come between now and then, too.
Why would Jesus tell us about them? Because He wants us to be aware so that we are not caught up in their mindless prattle. So that we can be safe in the true word of God and not be caught off-guard by lies.
These liars will fool people into thinking that they are the way to God and heaven. They will delude many into thinking that they have special spiritual powers and connections with God.
If you listen to them, you will hear them ultimately reject the Gospel of Christ, just as many seminary teachers now reject the virgin birth as being myth. That is one way you can tell that they are false. They will dispute the true Bible and try to explain it away as an allegorical concept or myth. If the Bible is a myth, I am one Christian who is happy to be mythified.
They will dupe people into believing that there are no absolutes. They will fool people into thinking that only they know the real truth. These anti-christs are educators, business leaders and political leaders who deny the deity of Christ.
If you do not think they exist today, look at any state run colleges and see what kind of things they are teaching the youth today. If you knew, you would not just be shocked – you would be horrified!
Look at the leaders in business today. They are going to prison for cheating faster than they can make new leaders. And as far as the politicians – just look at the last election cycle, or even worse, closely follow the next presidential elections. You will be frightened to death. Why? Because it is getting more and more clear as to who they really serve – and it doesn’t seem to be God!
Although interpretations differ from one denomination to another, a large majority of evangelical Christians believe that the presence of these false Christs will culminate in the appearance of the one final Anti-Christ.
In the last days they feel that there will be one bold, arrogant, powerful and persuasive individual leader who will actively promote that which is evil in God’s sight. He is viewed by many as a leader who will masquerade as a prince of peace, a savior of the world.
He will be one who will promise to solve the world’s problems. In warning us of this individual, 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3-4 says,
‘Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.’
Who this Anti-Christ is remains a mystery for now. When he will arrive on the scene we don’t know. When the time is right, he will appear and use his considerable influence and power against the Lord and against those who love the Lord.
But again, be of good cheer, as not long after this wicked man arrives, the Lord will come back after His flock. THAT IS US! There are many out there that will be glad to have us gone, and let me say that I will be just as glad to be gone!
In MATTHEW 24:14 Jesus gives another sign.
‘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.’
God’s Word makes it clear that the gospel will be proclaimed to every nation before the end comes. As a result of our technological explosion, the gospel has, in the last few years, gone forth in an unprecedented manner. Satellites can now beam the message of Christ into every single part of this world.
As a matter of fact, it ahs been said that everything that needs to be in place has already been put in place. There are new and innovative ways of reaching people, too. One of the most effective recently is introducing foreign students to Jesus Christ so that when they graduate and go back to their nations, they go as missionaries of Christ Jesus.
Consequently, the message of Christ is being spread throughout the entire earth. This sign is but another that points to the return of Christ. These signs and their fulfillment remind us of our blessed hope, the return of Christ and the fact that God, after all, is in control of human history.
WILL THE VICTORY SINGERS PLEASE COME BACK ON STAGE?
We are talking about that glorious day when Jesus will come back to call His followers up in the clouds to meet Him. This will be the most important meeting that will have ever taken place. Everyone will want to attend, but I believe that many will be fooled on that day. They will expect to be among the first taken, but they will remain after the last one has disappeared. These men and women are among those going to the house of God every Sunday all over this world.
These men and women profess to be Christians and they are very involved in God’s church, but only while they are here.
They are also very involved in the world, and do not want to put away worldly things because everyone they know is involved in them. These people are referred to as the lukewarm. These are the people who make Jesus sick. These are the people who will be spit out of His mouth because they did not care enough about Jesus to walk away from the world and all of its offerings.
Many today live in the blessed hope of Jesus. But there are many others who only think they live in the blessed hope. These are those people who have not surrendered themselves entirely to Christ. In actuality, these people have no hope.
Do you have hope today, or are you just going through the motions? Does your heart yearn to be with Christ, above everything else? If it does, you have hope. If it doesn’t, you had better get right or you will be left.
God is affording you an opportunity this morning to get right and to receive that blessed hope. The question is, ‘Will you choose to receive it?’
INVITATION
