The End of the Age
Matthew 24.1-14
Jesus told us all we need to know about His Second Coming. He wants us to be with Him. He wants to get us to heaven. We must do our part in obeying Him and following Him. There will be perilous times coming in the time preceding His return. Here are instructions for the Last Days. Here are the main things He wants us to know about in these times in which we live.
1. Watch out that no one deceives you. vs.4-5
Deceive-
to lead astray
To lead aside from the right way (a way that seems right to a man- Proverbs 14.12)
To lead from the truth
To lead into error and sin
To sever or fall away from the truth
Jesus is speaking to the soon to be leaders of the church! This message is not to the crowds, although He knew it would be penned into His Word and we would be looking at it this morning.
Some leaders have been led away from the truth. We are seeing that today.
How does this happen?
First, they get a step away from God’s Word.
Leaning on their own understanding, trying to reason away certain passages of the Bible.
Second, they hear Satan, that old serpent, whisper, "Did God really say..."
(Genesis 3.1) See how subtle he is? He is getting people to question Genesis 1-2 (for 150 years), then he comes and asks this question to a confused mind and bam! They are led from the truth.
He also does this to leaders to try and get them to bring God’s Word into line with the spirit of the age. So today they are removing all the references to God as a male and making it gender sensitive. This begins a breakdown that leads people aside.
Satan gets ministers to stay away from this particular passage of scripture which is full of warning. The disciples asked a question of when... Jesus warned them about that time. They asked Him when are you coming back. He responded with, "Watch out that no one deceives you."
Watch out.
Have discernment! God’s Word and the Spirit. Some have been given this gift. For those who do not have the gift, we need to listen to those who do. We can also pray that God gives us that gift. All of us have a measure of discernment from God.
Use it. As we read the Word of God and meditate upon it our discernment sharpens.
Contemplate
Think about what you are hearing and let the LORD shed the light of His Word on it.
The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17.11)
Here is one of the main reasons why the church suffers needlessly. The message is not received with great eagerness and there is little examination afterwards of the scriptures. Would you be interested in a get together where we talk about applying the Sunday Morning Message to our lives... taking it a step further? Let me know.
Weigh carefully
Ask if what you are hearing contradicts any part of God’s Word- if it does it is false.
Ask questions like:
Is this a universal truth?... example: Health and Wealth Gospel- shot down by scripture and experiences in 3rd world countries- how does this stack up with the
suffering-persecuted church?
Test the spirits. (I John 4.1) Dear Friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Examine
Look for fruit... what is it producing? Is it good or bad?
2. Know that evil will get worse. vs.6-12
There is nothing new under the sun but that doesn’t mean the intensity of things evil already here is not going to get worse.
Let me give you 3 examples... It took years of fighting for Jerusalem to be destroyed in 70 AD- the time Jesus was speaking about. Today a whole country could be wiped out in seconds by nuclear weapons... even the whole world. In fact if God didn’t cut those days short no flesh would saved!
The Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ clothing at the foot of the cross. The other day, when I was out at Orient Point, there were loads and loads of people getting on the Sea Jet heading over for the day to gamble at Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods in Connecticut. What was isolated evil has become widespread entertainment.
We went through the Great Depression in 1929 and on through the 1930's. Today we could be facing 15-20% inflation in no time, according to CNBC, this week. All that has to happen is for China or Japan to stop buying up US debt. We are rapidly moving down a road of no return, economically.
Remember God is sovereign. He is in control. He will take care of us! Don’t be afraid!
3. Stand Firm to the end. vs.13-14
Stand in Ephesians 6.10-20
To remain
Don’t move
Let nothing move you! (I Corinthians 15.58)
To not flee
Stand your ground.
To hold fast to one’s faith
To endure bravely and calmly ill treatment due to your faith.
Firm in the Word of God.
Remain in His Word (John 15.7)
Firm in prayer- watch Colossians 4.2,12
Luke 18.1
Firm in the faith.
Don’t read things that will tear down your faith. I came across a web page about disgruntled believers this past week and went to click and felt the Holy Spirit checking me and I realized that I don’t need to read that stuff. It isn’t going to help my walk with the LORD.
Firm in righteousness.
Keep doing what is right no matter what! There used to be a time when people were commended for doing right. That time is passing away. Evil is being spoken of as good. We must do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
The LORD has given us all we need to know about His return.
Watch, Stay in His Word, Pray and Stand Firm!
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