The Second Coming Of Christ - Part 2: A Closer Look At The Lord's End Times Warnings Series

The Second Coming of Christ

Part 2 - A Closer Look at the Lord's End Times Warnings

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 24:1-28

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared February 27, 2023)

(Edited March 3, 2023)

MESSAGE:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 24, as we continue talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the previous chapters, the Lord was in the temple, and Jesus had just condemned the Jewish religious leaders in the strongest ways. He condemned them for their hard-hearted rejection of their Messiah and much more. Let's see what happened next in Matthew 24:1-3:

1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.

2. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.''

3. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?''

*Jesus' disciples wanted answers, and that's what we are looking for in Matthew 24. Today we will take a closer look at the Lord's end times warnings.

1. SO FIRST NOTICE THAT HIS WARNINGS ARE ABOUT DECEPTION.

*In Matthew 24, Jesus actually gave us three warnings about spiritual deception. The first warning is in vs. 4-5 where Jesus told His disciples, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many."

*Then in vs. 11-12, Jesus warns us with these words: "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."

*We see more dangerous deception down in vs. 23-26. There Jesus said:

23. "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.

24. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

25. See, I have told you beforehand.

26. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it."

*There will be many false Christs. One of the most well known in our lifetimes was a Korean named Sun Myung Moon. Mr. Moon was born in 1920, and he was the founder of the cult called the "Unification Church." Mr. Moon preached that he was the Messiah and the second coming of Christ. Moon also taught that he was here to fulfill the work of Jesus that was cut short when He died on the cross.

*In 2004, at a ceremony in a Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. of all places, Mr. Moon crowned himself with what was called the "Crown of Peace." There he gave a long speech in which he stated that he was "sent to Earth to save the world's 6 billion people."

*Mr. Moon had also said that when he was fifteen years old Jesus anointed him to carry out his unfinished work by becoming parent to all of humanity. And he said, "Emperors, kings and presidents . . . have declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent."

*Mr. Moon died September 3rd, 2012, at the age of 92, but his cult still has a presence in over 100 countries. Membership estimates range from 250,000 to 3,000,000. (1)

*An even more troubling false Christ is the Twelfth Imam looked for by the 150 to 200 million "Twelver" Shi'a Muslims in the world today. Iran is the only country where Twelver Shi'ism is the state religion. But they are also the majority of the total populations in Iraq and Azerbaijan. Twelvers are also a sizable minority in countries like Lebanon, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

*[PIC 1] Here is a picture from one of their websites.

*Twelver Shi'as believe that Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, will reappear when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war. At that time, the Twelfth Imam will come wielding God's Double-Bladed Sword, and this supposedly heralds the apocalypse.

*When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was Mayor of Tehran, Iran, he reportedly ordered the city council to build a boulevard to prepare for the Twelfth Imam. In 2006, the Washington Post reported that after Ahmadinejad became President, he told his cabinet that he expects the Twelfth Imam to arrive in a few years. He actually looked forward to a clash with the West, believing it could speed up the arrival of the Twelfth Imam.