The End

The End

How To Prepare

Matthew 24:1-51

True or false: spiritually and morally ... Things are worse today. than they have probably ever been!

Probably 99.99% of you would say ... True!

True or false: When our grandparents established a home it was more secure with a better chance oflasting. TRUE!

I hate to burst the balloon of the blind optimist or of the humanist who believes that things will get better and better... they will get worse and worse!

Scripture tells us that it will.

Even Jesus himself taught that in Matthew 24.

As he sat down on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him and asked him, "What will be the signs of the end?"

Many people have asked this question before of many people.

Jesus was the ONLY one who knew for sure, first hand, and could give the 100% true answer.

I am jealous of the disciples .. not because they could get it straight from the source ... but because they sat beside, touched, talked to, and knew intimately ... my Lord.

Jesus' answer is recorded in chapter 24 ... read vv. 3-12.

Will things get better and better? NO! ... worse and worse.

We should expect ...

conditions will worsen

homes will weaken

morals will wane.

1. Conditions will worsen

Jesus said that on the world scene, conditions will worsen ... get worse than they are.

Wars and dissentions will increase, divisions will multiply and become non-negotiable and

irreconcilable.

Dean Rusk was in the Cabinet of Nixon, and he said, "We negotiate with the Russians eyeball to eyeball, and both sides are afraid to blink." 1

Bosnia, Chechnya, Israel, South Africa, Haiti, Iraq,

There will be worldwide hunger ... look at the exploding number of homeless and poor.

Look at 2/3 of the world where malnutrition and hunger are killing children, old persons, and even young adults by the thousands every day.

The natural world will be in chaos ... with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, fires.

Where is this not in evidence today.

I am not saying that we are living in the end times... I hope we are... because they are terrible now and if they continue they will continue to get worse and worse.

You cannot point to anything in this world where it naturally gets better.

Everything ages, rots, rusts, deteriorates, etc.

As sure as heat rises ... this world is going to worsen, deteriorate, and rot.

Morally, spiritually, educationally, physically, socially ... in every way!'!

There is a movement and you can see billboards, bumper stickers, stamps, etc. that say

"Pray for peace. "

I believe in prayer ... but some things are not open to prayer... God's will and plan are

not.

God has already told us ... things will get worse and worse until they will reach such a state of rottenness that verse 22 says that God will have to step into the world and take evasive action ... he will have to step in and call "Time Out."

The scripture tells that if he didn't, "no one would survive."

You may think that is an unrealistic picture... if so, just get a video of the L. A. Riots ... they will show you how passionately and how quickly man can lose control and the depths to which he can sink.

Look at events like children burning one another. ...

children killing parents ...

parents killing kids ...

persons killing indiscriminately ...

mass murderers who eat victims

and you will see that animalistic behavior is becoming more and more commonplace.

Look at the Nazi holocaust and see how nation can turn against nation and how unspeakable horror can be perpetrated and even condoned.

Technical knowledge will also abound and increase… we will be able to help people live

longer and longer. .. but will they want to?

2. Homes will weaken

There is not one person here today that does not know anyone who is divorced.

There are few here that do not know of anyone who has been abused.

In fact, many, many of you even have to say .. It has even crushed my family.

Many of you are afraid today of what the divorce will do to your grandchildren.

3. Morals will wain

"What once made us blush we now watch with ease."

What once was banned from the theatre or books is now commonplace on prime time television.

What only "bad" dirty old men and sailors would have watched or could have gotten their hands on ... our children now view every day.

What once would have been grounds for scorn and rejection ... even caused us to be branded with a scarlet A. ... is now THE NORM" , , , " " ,

What we once condemned in others we now accept in ourselves.