Is the World Coming to an End
Asking for a friend • Sermon • Submitted
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Biblical Prophecy
Biblical Prophecy
Good morning everyone. Welcome to week 4 of our series Asking for a friend. I am Chris Wiley lead pastor here at LWF. This series was birthed out of our survey done at Easter time. We want to know those tough questions that your friends keep asking you. But we want to go to God’s word in order to get the answer because that is where the answer is found. So let’s look at some of these #askingforafriend questions that have come in to us via facebook and twitter. We have a couple more weeks of this series so send in your questions from your friend that we can highlight during the series.
(Insert slides)
Those are too good right there. I love receiving all of them. Keep them coming. We have talked about thus far in this series How to know the will of God, we have talked about how to overcome fear and stress, last week we discussed how to get up from rock bottom. If you havent seen any of those are you weren’t here, please go to our facebook page they are right there on it. Listen to them and share them. I want people to be free from this stuff and I knw your friends are asking it. Because mine are too. Next week we will be talking about religions and denominations. Why so many? Who is right? Today is a bit different for us. Today we are discussing a topic that is a bit taboo and has gotten a lot of attention as of late. It is on all of our minds for sure. I have heard statements about it and of course it came up on our survey a few times. Truthfully for centuries this topic has been discussed and people have been trying to figure it out. They have written books about it. They have created whole movements about it. People have died because they believed one thing or another about it. Have I built up enough anticipation yet? The topic is this.
Is the World Coming to an END?
Now not all of my firends are saying it the same way. Some say how close are we to the rapture? Some say I am ready for Jesus to come back. Some say did you see that blood moon? Then there are others that simply ask how close are we. Like I said earlier for 2000 years Christians have been looking at the signs of the times and wondering is this the end. Is this the sign we have been waiting for. And with good reason because the bible isn’t silent about the end. Look at this.
There are 216 chapters in the New Testament. Over 300 references to “End Times.”
Its a big deal.
Of the 27 books of the New Testament, 23 of them talk about the “End Times
Some major authors talk about the end times. Peter, James, John but really Jesus put the “end times” on the radar and really spoke in prominence about it.
One of the most famous references comes in Matthew. So go ahead and open your bible Matthew chapter 24 and let’s look at what Jesus says here. Starting in verse 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?”
Matth
So here is what the disciples were really asking. They were wanting to know about the clock of the world. If midnight is the end, when it is all over, how close are we. And really that is a smart question to ask. Because the further away the end is the less urgency you have to get things done. So throughout the new testament people were asking this question of how long do we have. You know it and I know it the way you live your life with plenty of time is way different then with little time. We all know the idea of the bucket list. Things you want to do before you…kick the bucket. This idea usually doesn’t take affect though until you reach this time before your midnight. People are thinking about the bucket list back here. We should be. Becuase when you wait until the time is alomst up, you don’t get thet choice of how you want to live it. I mean whether it be old age or some form of a disease, when it is within your last week of life it isn’t a party for you physically. There is no energy, there is no motivation, it is a sad place.
Why? Because we live our lives thinking that we have plenty of time to get all of these things done before we die. The truth is, you have to live every day as though this could be the very end. Right now I could reach midnight. Which is why if you ask me I believe Christianity has been so powerful and world changing. Because if you go back throughout church history, the greats in the kingdom, thought at any moment the Lord could return. That this coud be the end of the age. We are living in the end times. They would right about it, preach about it, and more importantly live it. It made them look at each moment of their day in their life as precious and valuable and needed to be used to further the kingdom of God. They lived with urgency. They got married early. Why becuase they weren’t going to go to heaven before eating of the marital fruit. And they were right.
It wasn’t the end of all time but it was the end of their time. They were closer to that everyday they were alive. When it comes to the time clock, then end of all time doesn’t really matter. What matters is your time clock. And listen to me…it is ticking.
So let’s answer the question that your friends are asking of you. Is the world about to end or another way we put it is
The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
When is Jesus coming back? I have NO clue.
I don’t have the inside track. I don’t have a book to tell you 18 reasons why Jesus is coming in 2018. I didn’t read the 88 reasons he was coming in 1988 because I was only 7. I can’t tell you who the anti-christ is whether it be putin, trump, obama, or even one of you watching. All that I can do and offer you is a look into the scripture. The place of God’s truth. If you want to know somehting he is talking about, you have to go there.
So I want to give you the answer that Jesus gave the disciples when they asked this very question. They said when is all of this going to happen. Jesus didn’t give a date a time but he gave some signs for us to look at.
So these are things that you can be looking for and when you see them as being rampant then I want you to take notice so that maybe if you need to, you can change how you are living to be better for the time. So that you nkow you are closer to that end time than before.
Again I am not giving you a date and or time at the end of this message. But these are just things for you according to Jesus to be on the look out for to note that the end is approaching. So let’s look at the first one.
Sign of the end times:
People will be distracted with life.
Man oh man is that not the case. People are not focused on the important stuff. When was the last time that you can think of you sat down with your family and just talked? Or played a game? When was the last time you went outside and just put the phone down and just enjoyed being there. When was the last time you ate something and didn’t take a picutre of it. You know how distracted you are when something big hits your life. For some it is a natural disaster. For others it is a personal tragedy. For others it is a bad report. We just get busy doing life that we forget to live life. But when that tornado is coming or the hurricane or that bad report we realize that the big focus of life should be what happens after it is over. Jesus says you will notice it is getting closer when people don’t focus on the after they focus on the here and now. He says it like this.
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. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Matthew 24:37-
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.
Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
See Jesus says they will be eating and drinking. Marrying. People will be working hard to produce and they will be laughing and having a good time. This is the American dream yall that Jeuss is discribing here. He says this is the sign of what it will be like. When poeple should be focused on the thing coming, in his example the flood, in our life the return of Jesus they will be focused on what is happening right now. They will be focused on the next celebrity outtake, the next presidental tweet, the next big media lie or fake news, the next episode of Scandal or This is us. But they will not be focused on the important things. He says they didn’t even know the flood was coming until it took them away and it was too late. Can you imagine what was going on in that time with Noah. He spent 100 years building the ark. 100 years. The entirety of that time I am sure he was telling people why he was bulding it. What God was getting ready to do. But they jeered and scoffed. Told him he was a liar. Told him he was crazy. Probably said my God wouldn’t flood the earth like that. I mean we all have that crazy neighbor that is always working on something in the garage and has his tools sprawled out all over the yard. I am that neighbor and my neighbors come over and ask me what I am working on all the time. But imagine that conversation with Noah.
Hey Noah, what are you working on?
A boat?
What is a boat Noah?
It is going to float on water?
Where is there water around here noah?
Oh its coming from the sky?
Then the neighbor slowly backs away knowing that Noah has been already this morning into the crazy juice? Because seriously there was no way the earth was going to be flooded right? They knew this. They knew that up on this mountain, there would never be water to cover it. Some people say that it had never even rained before on the earth so water from the sky wasn’t something they had ever seen either. So everything Noah was saying was straight from Grandpa and Grandma’s special cough syrup.
So they were I am sure trying to get Noah to relax a bit. Just chill man. Why are you spending 100 years of your life fixated on something that will not happen or is so far away. Noah come one man. Come to this wedding with us. They weren’t taking what God said seriously. Then one day, they are sitting there drinking their coffee, eating their doughnuts because it was probably father’s day and the rain started. One drop on the nose, then another. They probably thought someone was spitting because again it hadn’t done that before. Then the pour down and they realized that Noah might be right. But it was too late. It was only Noah and his family that took the warning seriously and got onto the ark.
Listen I don’t know where we are for the global clock. I don’t know God’s time table. But truth is, if the world clock doesn’t end, yours will. I am worried about mine. It is time that we stop putting off things that matter most to the end. I used to hear it like this, I’ll get my life together later. Right now I just want to sew my wild oats. One day I’ll get right with God before my clock hits midnight. I’ll do that after I have my fun because God is a big fun killer just incase you didn’t know. But I don’t have to worry about that now, so I will do then. The problem with that philosophy is we don’t know where midnight is. I was looking at the global doomsday clock history. Right now that clock sits at 2 mins. Because of climate change and the nuclear bomb and blah blah blah. But in 1991 it was 17 mins. In 84 it was 3 mins. In 1953 it was 2 mins. So they don’t know when the global midnight is but more importantly you don’t know when yours is.
So you cant judge how close you are to midnight. It is impossible. You could live your life in such a way that it goes before you know it and you have done anything for God. The poem goes like this.
One life to live, soon will pass. Only what has been done for Christ will last.
The Bible says it like this, that this life is a mist. Here today and gone tomorrow. That is totally the truth. Look at it like this. Here is this rope. Some of you all have seen the illustration before but it bares repeating.
Josh come up here and take the end of this. What I want you to do is go through and make sure everyone has their hands on this. Now the portion you are holding is your life. The people to your left or in front of you holding the rope came before you and lived their life and the ones to your right or behind you are the ones that will be coming after you. So you see how small your portion of the rope is and then there is a portion up here to which no one is holding and a portion to the back which no one is holding. This is about as realistic as I can get. The problem that Jesus was describing is that people were looking at only their portion of the rope and missing the rest of it. Here is what happens when you only focus on your part of the rope. You miss everything else around you and you only focus on what is in front of you and Jesus said if you try to save your life, you will lose it. We focus on homes, and money, and jobs, and families, and facebook, and music, and tv, and movies, but Paul says it like this.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians
Jesus says though that when the end is close it will be the exact opposite. Pooeple will be focused on the now rath than the then. Do we not see that in our world right now.
Sign number two is the.
Signs of the end times:
People will forget God.
I can’t tell you how often I see this in my life as a pastor and I am sure you do also. People make choices, they pick careers, they marry, they have children, the decide where to live and the entirety of that time they are forgetting God. Now it may be that it is just here in America because I see missionaries doing some amazing things around the world but I know that we have just become so technologically driven that it is as if we do not need God and I hear people say this all the time. I don’t need a God to be good. I don’t need a God to do the right thing. That may be true but you do need a God to know why you are doing good and to know what good is. So here is how Jesus says it.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Wickedness on the rise and the love of many will grow cold. I mean have you thought about that for a moment. I have seen some love grow cold. I know here at LWF we love each other. We are consistantly showing that by helping people, praying for people, visiting people and it can get to a point when you are involved in a culture like ours to think that is the norm everywhere, but it isn’t. It just is not the case. In fact I found these statistics and I wanted to share them with you.
Builders (Born between 1927-1945)
65% are Bible-based believers
Boomers (Born between 1946 -1964)
35% are Bible-based believers
Busters (Born between 1965- 1983)
16% are Bible-based believers
Bridgers/Millenials (Born between 1984-present)
4% are Bible-based believers
Can you imagine our country when this generation takes leadership that only 4% believe in God and hold to His standard. Look at what it is now when the 35% and the 16% are taking hold of the reigns. It is not going to be a pretty sight and that is why here we are focusing on those younger generations. We are spending money to reach them where they are. To reach them on Facebook, and twitter, and instagram. TO reach them in schools and sporting events because while so much of the world has written them off we are not. There is not one generation that God cannot use. There is not one spot in history to which God cannot raise up a leader that can shake the world and our culture to its knees in a return to Christ. We must believe that. So we try to cultivate that here. That is why I want questions. That is why I do apologetics because I love these generations to which the status quo is just not acceptable and you must have a reason behind your actions and the reason should be understandable. The days of just accept it and move on and don’t question it are gone. But you see why the greatest generation was what it was.
Paul takes the description even further in
treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Lovers of pleasure. Just do what feels good. Do whatever you like. I fight that everyday in my personal life and I am going to fight for it for this church and I am going to fight for it for the generation after me. As long as Chris Wiley is here as lead pastor of LWF this church will be a beacon for people to know that God is moving, that God knows them, and that He loves them. I don’t care about what you think about the music, the color, the lights, or whatever else that poeple take issue with in churches becuase they are seeking their pleasure. I caer about what is going to draw the next generation under me to know Christ and to love him with all they have. that is the truth. That is the goal. To get people who have forgotten God or who don’t care about God or who even say God doesn’t exist to change that belief. To compel them to another life focused the inevitability of eternity. It is coming.
The last sign that Jesus talks about in this passage is this
Sign of the end times:
People will not be ready.
It starts in vs 40.
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
It like the teacher telling the class that pop quiz is coming. You don’t know what day it will drop but it will drop because everytime this teacher has told you there will be a quiz, there was a quiz. So you have to be ready. But the teacher isn’t saying two years from now or in two weeks there will be a quiz the teacher is saying right now there will be a pop quiz. In fact right now close your bibles, take everything off your lap. Look on the back of you bulletin. I am just kidding. You should have seen some of yall’s faces. But that is the Lord right there. We are planning the calendar for next year and it could all be for nothing. we are planning to sale fireworks tomorrow and it could all be for nothing. You could be planning your lunch today and it could all be for nothing. That is not a scare tactic but a reality and it is a reality stariing us all in the face that your life does not go on foreveer but eternity does and what are you doing to prepare for it. My mother in law is in hospice right now and barring any miracle of God because modern medicine has given up on her, she will die. I still believe God is a healer and can and wants to heal her. The truth is that if she walked out of there today cancer free, she will still die and some point. The same is for you.
What are you doing to plan for eternity. Paul says to keep watch. Be on alert. There is a status for fighter pilots that is called alert status. What they do is every so often pilots have to go to certain stations whether it be Key West or one of the others and they have to sit. They don’t party, they don’t do a whole lot of talking and goofing around. They have to sit and watch for the siren to go off. When they siren goes off that pilot is then called up to his or her jet and has to be up in the air with 10-15 mins. The threat could be another plane, it could be a missile or any number of things. But it is that vigilance of watching for the alert. That is what Paul is saying. Keep watch becuase it could happen now. I don’t know if Jesus is coming back tomorrow, tonight, or any other time. I just know I want to be ready and I want you to be ready. Because I know it is coming. Just like in
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
No thief ever goes to the home and says hey guys I’ll be back by here at 9 pm tomorrow. or I will rob you a week from thursday is that good with you. That is how you are supposed to live. Jesuss could come back at any moment and I had better be ready. Are you ready this morning. Not are you getting ready. Are you ready?
One day you will wake up in eternity. It will happen just like that. Hurricane Irma last year gave weeks warning and people got prepared. Jesus has given 2000 years, are you prepared.
Here is the last blank in your notes.
You don’t need to know how much time is left, but you do need to know what to do with the time you have NOW.
Look do all the stuff you want. Look at the stars and the moon and line them just right with venus and mercury but keep jupiter out becuase he is a guy planet I don’t care to figure out the time. But the best thing you can do is deal with what is going on right now. Right here in your life. Right at this moment. So what do we do right now. Peter told us. He says it like this.
1 Peter
The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
Therefore is there because he is attempting to give you things to do because of what he just said. It isn’t by the way build you a bunker in the middle of no where with non perishable MRE and lots of ammo to battle zombies. That’s really cool and if you have one just let me know where it is so I can come to you if need be. But let’s look at the bible says. The next thing he says is
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Then he says
Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
This is again why I love the people here and what we beleive in and stand for. We do this every day. This is an amazing group of people that God has put together and I want you to join it. Come and be a part of somethign that impacts eternity.
Then Paul goes on to say this.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Use the gifts God has given you. You must discover those. You much use those. They are not something that is to be left idle.