Mat 24:3As 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?" 4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 6You 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. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Ever since we have first heard the good news, Christians everywhere have been longing for the return of Christ. We want our glorified bodies, our troubles to end, sickness to vanish....there’ll be no sorrow there....we all are (or should be) anxiously awaiting His return. As a matter of fact, it has been talked abut since Christ was crucified that His return was imminent....the disciples thought it was going to happen when the apostole John was an old man Look at John 21:20Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") 21When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"22 Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." 23Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" Peter thought he had some inside info, didn’t he? He missed the "if" and assumed that when John was an old man that Jesus could return at any moment. Jesus was just making a point here, wasn’t He? In other words Jesus might have said "tend to your business and don’t worry what My plans are with other people....you need to worry about YOU!"
It has become "old hat" for some believers nowdays. They will believe it when they see it (gonna be too late then!)...or they could be from the State of Missouri (Show-me). My wife is from that State, but she only uses that on me!!! She, like me, is looking for His return everyday. I want christians to realize the time is NOW! What a great time to live in.....it is very likely that no one here today will experience earthly death! What a truly blessed generation this is, even with all the troubles we deal with today! It in some ways is the worst of times...but in other ways it is the best of times. That is why I want to look at our text the way we do Bible study on Wed night.....(if you aren’t coming to it, you’re missing out!) verse by verse.
Mat 24:3As 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?" The first thing we need to see here is that even the diciples wanted to know exactly when He was coming......we ALL do. But the Bible says even Jesus doesn’t know the day or the hour. But Jesus DOES know what to look for in this world to know that His return is soon.....and we as christians need to know that too! Notice they still wanted it to be their own little secret (came to Him privately). So how does Jesus ansewr them? 4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. Isn’t this theme found throughout the Bible? What does Satan do best? He is the great deciever, isn’t he? Deception can take many forms....even can cause you to doubt your salvation...or to be decieved that Christ isn’t really coming anytime soon. WATCH OUT! That is a lie from the pits of hell! Matthew 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. The first and most important sign pointing to Christ’s coming is deception. As we move closer and closer to the end, religious deception will be widespread affecting people everywhere. People will be out of control spiritually chasing whatever makes them feel good.
Read on to 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ, and will deceive many. Let me ask a simple question: IS RELIGIOUS DECEPTION ON THE INCREASE IN OUR WORLD TODAY? Absolutely it is! If you have not noticed an increase in deception and false teaching, then pull your head out of the sand and wake up lest you too be deceived! There are all kinds of false doctrine abounding today...you know it....the truth is the same today as it was in Jesus’ time! Society may have changed, the world may have changed, people may have changed..but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
Jesus was so concerned that His followers be prepared for the spiritual deception to come upon the world that He repeats this warning two more times. In verse 11 He says, “Many false prophets will appear AND DECEIVE MANY PEOPLE.” Later in verse 24 He warns, “False Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles TO DECEIVE EVEN THE ELECT—if that were possible.” Here are some disturbing statistics: 59% do not believe in Satan 51% believe praying to dead saints is beneficial 35% believe you can communicate with the dead 50% believe salvation is earned and not a gift (so much for grace) 75% believe people are born neither good nor evil—they make a choice between the two as they mature 44% believe the Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same truth 54% believe truth can only be discovered through logic, human reasoning and personal experience (The George Barna Group)
Who needs the Bible? Not only do a majority of Americans not accept God’s Word as the authority on truth, they add what they want or take out what they don’t want in Gods Holy Word, and increasingly more and more have beliefs that directly contradict what scripture says. And here is the real problem—MANY OF THESE PEOPLE ARE SITTING IN OUR CHURCHES AND SAY THEY ARE CHRISTIANS! Time is running short; the end is near. 2 Tim 3:13 says evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. DON’T BE DECIEVED!
6You 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. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. Is this true for today? Have you been watching the news? Matter of fact, wars and rumors of wars has been going on for some time now, hasn’t it? After WWII, there was a time of peace for a season, wasn’t there? But then the Korean "conflict, the Viet-Nam war, "Desert Storm, and now Iraq! And guess what else....are there any "rumors of war" going on about Iran and Korea? Famine is an epidemic is South Africa and other places and we already saw the great damage done by the Tsunami in 2004 and Katrina last year! And this is just the beginning...
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Did anybody hear the "speech" that the Iranian leader made Thursday? How about Hugo Chavez calling our President "the Devil?" And did you hear the applause that those speeches got....right here in OUR country....paid for by OUR tax dollars!!! (the UN costs America 5 Mil per day). The hostages taken in Iraq are certyainly persecuted and put to death....even on TV and the internet...and certainly, we (christian Americans) are hated by radical Muslims everywhere. They want to kill us. Is that verification of vs 9? I think so. And by the way, when last seen Hugo Chavez was making a speech in......a church (desecration of Gods house?) 2 Tim 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, Illustration: A preacher sat with a young man and talked with him about his personal relationship with Christ. He knew he had backslidden and was not serving God like he should be. When he talked about the time he had served Christ he said, “It was the best years of my life; nothing is better than that.” He said that he would talk with God and sometimes it was just like God was sitting in the seat next to him. His relationship with God was real. He knew that God had not caused the things to happen in his life as they had; he knew that God still loved him and had not forsaken him. Yet when this young man was asked if he wanted to return to Christ and again enjoy a personal relationship with God, he said, “I’m not ready.” He had fallen away from the faith!
How many Christian denominations are there now? Doesn’t it make you sick to hear Christians from one denomination say things against a different denomination because they maybe have "turned from their faith....and hate each other."
11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. There’s another warning on deception! Hold fast to the faith!
12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, People just don’t love and respect God anymore, do they? This world is becoming increasingly wicked and it can cause us to lose hope. A lot of people don’t even acknowledge that there is a God! My Bible says that one day..every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord...and that applies to EVERYONE! I don’t care who you are are how tough you think you are or how independent you are....EVERY knee shall bow before Him!
Here’s good news.....13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
You know the truth...do not be decieved! Stand firm! How do we stand firm? 2 Thes2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. You read your Bible..and you go to church and hear the word. By mouth (preaching and teaching) or by letter (scripture). That is the ONLY way any of us are ever gonna make it!
14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
It had been preached to all nations. Many of them have rejected it....and the end is coming! One more story I want you to hear. There was a girl who had a date. It wasn’t just any date, it was a blind date with someone she was really excited about meeting. She knew of him, but hadn’t met him before. This was going to be an extrodinary date....not dinner and a movie....but a fancy exclusive restuarant and a play. She was VERY excited! Wanting to make a good first impression she had taken the day off work. She cleaned her apartment; she went out that afternoon to have her hair done and get a manicure. When she got home she did her makeup, put on her best dress and was ready for her date’s arrival. His expected arrival came and went, but she continued to wait patiently. Finally after waiting over an hour she decided she had been stood up, so she took off her dress, let down her hair put on her pajamas, gathered all her favorite junk food and sat down to watch TV with her dog. Sometime later there was a knock at the door; it was her date. He looked at her surprised and said, “What I gave you an extra two hours and you’re still not ready to go!”
Jesus is coming again. Will you be ready for His return, or will He catch you unprepared? Have you fallen away? Has your love grown cold? Now is the time more than ever to get right with God. Jesus IS coming soon. Do NOT be decieved!
Romans 13:11And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
