The Three Marks of the Last Days

Jesus Christ is coming back. AMEN!!!!!

As Christians, we are to live our lives as if Christ died yesterday, rose today, and returning tomorrow.

If we expected Christ’s return to be imminent, we would cherish church fellowship. We would pray without ceasing. We would be in God’s Word, and we would be frantically sharing the Gospel, and the Lord would be adding to the church daily.

I am telling you, dear friend, that the laziness in most churches is the result of Christians viewing the return of Christ as some off in the distant future event. Well, Paul did not live that way, and I am telling you upon scriptural authority that if you are saved, it is a sin for you to think of the Lord’s return as some way out in the future event.

1 Thessalonians 5:4 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.”

Do you know how close the Lord’s return is?

Romans 11:25 “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

1 Corinthians 15:51–52 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

We are one lost Gentile getting saved away from Christ returning, and that could happen in a twinkling of an eye. I am telling you, dear friend, you are wrong if you are looking for signs instead of the Son. If you are not looking for and expecting the Son, you are as the lost.

Speaking of the lost, they are lost, because in some part, they deny Christ’s return.

There are three things that mark the lost person and that mark the last days. Those three marks are indifference, immorality, and ignorance.

The Bible is written to give us examples to follow so that we know God's will and plan. The days of Noah are to serve as an example for the coming of the Lord, and those days were marked by indifference, immorality, and ignorance.

Matthew 24:37–39 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

1. Indifference.

Indifference means a lack of interest, concern, or care.

There are so many today that are indifferent toward the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, that includes many in the church.

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus describes the indifference of Noah’s days by saying the people were eating and drinking.

The people were so concerned with the material things that they ignored the gospel.

Did you know the people of Noah’s days ignored the gospel?

2 Peter 2:4–5 “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;”

Noah was a preacher of righteousness meaning he preached repentance and that salvation comes from God. It is the same message that any gospel preacher preaches today. Noah, as he built the Ark, preached righteousness.

Noah preached and preached, and the people were too indifferent to listen. The material was more important than the eternal. Does that sound familiar? Even people who claim to be Christians are more concerned with laying up treasure on earth than they are with laying up treasure in heaven.

Do you know what a Bible calls an indifferent person? A Scoffer.

2 Peter 3:3–6 “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.”

All scoffers, all indifferent people, are drawn away by their own lust. They are drawn away by their desire to sin. Peter says that scoffers choose to forget that God is the great Creator.

Do you know what all indifferent people disregard?

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

If a lost person believed in the beginning God, then he or she would believe Jesus is coming again, but since he or she denies the Creator, he or she scoffs at the return of Christ, and dear friend, it is a terrible thing for you to be lumped in with scoffers.

Are you a scoffer? If you woke up this morning not thinking that Christ could return today, you are indifferent about what Christ said. Indifference leads to being drawn away by your own lusts. Indifference leads to sin.

2. Immorality.

When a person is indifferent toward God, that person has no moral compass.

Romans 1:20–21 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

A person shows indifference toward God by rejecting God. With each rejection, that person’s heart becomes darkened leading to all kinds of depravity as described in the rest of Romans Chap. 1. Look back at Matthew 24 to see the depravity and immorality of Noah’s days. I had missed this many times.

Remember, Matt. Chap 24 is a prophetic chapter, so what Jesus says has a future fulfillment even though He is using Noah’s days as an example of future fulfillment. Future meaning from the time of Jesus forward.

Jesus describes the immorality of Noah’s days as marrying and giving in marriage. That really seems like I may be stretching God’s Word a little, but if you know anything about Noah’s days, you know that Jesus is not describing the God-given institute of marriage.

What Jesus is describing is the perversion of the institution of marriage in Noah’s days. To understand that perversion, let’s look at a couple of passages in Genesis.

Genesis 4:19 “Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.”

Had God ever told Adam that he could have more than one wife?

Lamech, because of his indifference toward God, did what was right in his own eyes. His immorality began with perverting marriage. His immorality became so brazen that you will see in the Bible that he bragged about murdering another man and about injuring another.

The immorality of Noah’s days got worse from there. Noah was preaching righteousness. The people were indifferent which led to an immorality that knew no boundaries.

Genesis 6:1–2 “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”

Men began having multiple wives. They married as many times as they wanted, and there are some other things hinted at that I don’t have time to cover such as same-sex marriage and other perversions as well.

Genesis 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Because they were indifferent, they constantly thought about evil.

The minds of men had become darkened. As a result, their immorality was limitless. Do we see that kind of immorality today?

Marriage has been totally perverted today. People brag about murder as countless women pound their chests defending their right to abort their babies because it is their right to do so just as Lamech bragged about murder.

The immorality of Noah’s day was awful. It is matched by our day, and it will continue to worsen. As Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun. As our societies indifference toward God grows, immorality worsens.

3. Ignorance.

The third mark of the last days is ignorance.

Matthew 24:38–39 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

The depraved deplorables of Noah’s day did not even know what was happening as judgment fell.

We do not believe it, but the society of Noah’s day was extremely advanced and intelligent. They were very similar to us.

Daniel 12:4 ““But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.””

Daniel saw the very end. Michael told him not to write everything he saw. Why?

Because the indifferent, immoral world would not believe what Daniel wrote because they would be too busy seeking knowledge.

You know we like to say that as the flood waters rose, people were beating on the Ark trying to get Noah to let them in, but that is totally contrary to the Scripture. Jesus says they did not even know what was happening as they were being swept away by judgment.

In the future, and it could be very the very near future, the same thing is going to happen as the church is raptured.

2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Those in Noah’s day did not beat on the Ark trying to get in because God had sent them a great delusion, and He will do the same in the future.

After the rapture, the people who have rejected God will not even regard God’s judgment as it is falling. Sure, they will be seeking worldly solutions through worldly knowledge, but they will not seek God. Do you want scriptural proof?

Revelation 6:15–16 “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

These men, women, boys, and girls of the future instead of turning to God as judgment falls beg to die.

Revelation 9:20–21 “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

Revelation 16:21 “And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.”

Indifference leads to immorality which leads to ignorance. Those three characteristics marked Noah’s day, and they mark our day.

Noah preached and preached. He preached day after day until God said enter the Ark. After 7 days, God sealed the door shut, and those left on the outside were ignorant as to what was happening to them.

Dear friend, I cannot promise you tomorrow, but I can tell you this. Your indifference toward God will lead you to ignorance concerning His judgment.

While God is giving you a chance, you need to come to Jesus.

Isaiah 55:6–7 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”