Do you want to know a secret?

Daniel R Tidmore

Questions about the Future • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Intro:

David Jeremiah Video 1- Intro to study

Revelation 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Revelation 1:3 NKJV

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Tonight we will begin a series that will get us through much of the summer. This series it titled, [Questions about the Future]. The question we will ask, [Do You Want To Know a Secret?].

Everyone I know loves a good secret. From an early age, when people tell another person a secret, it makes them feel special and privilaged.

If we have been one to tell secrets and one who have been told a secret, early on we will learn something fundamental,

You should only tell secrets to people you can TRUST!

We share our secrets with our spouse or close personal friends. Though Jesus did not have a spouse, He did have friends on earth.

John 15:15 NKJV

15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

John 15:145

While on earth, Jesus had twelve disciples, of the twelve, three were His close friends. These three were, Peter, James, and John.

Of the three that were His close friends, I want to focus on John this evening. As John neared the end of his life, he was sentenced to a life of hard labor on the Island of Patmos.

David Jeremiah Video 2- About John

By the time John had this encounter with Jesus, he was nearly ninety years old. He was the final of the original twelve disciples left alive. John was banished to the Island of Patmos.

The reason? He refused to deny Jesus as his Savior. The Roman Emperor wanted John to call him his lord and his god. John refused. The Emperor commanded he be boiled in hot oil, but God supernaturally protected him.

After that history states he was sentenced to eighteen months of hard labor. The Island of Patmos was about forty miles from John’s home in Ephesus. It is seven miles long and goes from five miles to a hundred yards wide in certain places.

Unlike what I have always had in my mind, the Island of Patmos was not an uninhabited place. Instead, it had a city center and even a temple to a false god.

Remember, at this point, John was nearly 90 years old. If anyone had an excuse to try and relax during his eighteen month sentence, it was John. Instead, he did something a true friend of Jesus would do.

Revelation 1:9-

Revelation 1:9–11 NKJV

9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

He took time to pray in the Spirit, and suddenly he heard a familiar voice. He looked and saw his friend Jesus. It had been sixty years since they last met.

But this time, Jesus did not look like He did when He walked the streets of Galilee, rode in a donkey into Jerusalem, or stood on the Mount of Olives preparing to ascend to heaven.

Instead, He looked like, Jesus Christ, the Son of God in all His glory and splendor. John doesn’t say Jesus asked it this way, but this is how I see it in my mind.

John falls out in front of Jesus, and He lifted John and began to speak to Him. It is as though Jesu asked, John, do you want to know a secret?

I have so much to accomplish through my church. I have defeated Satan on the cross, but I am not quite finished with him. John, you are my friend, I will let you in on the secret. I will give you a glimpse into the future.

Tonight, as we ask [Questions about the Future], I want to answer three questions, [What is Bible Prophecy?], [Where are we in Bible Prophecy?], and [What will happen before Jesus returns?].

Let’s begin

1. What is Bible Prophecy?

Revelation 1:3 NKJV

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 1:

Pastor Tucker used to tell our church, Prophecy is foretelling and forthtelling. Those two words always kinda confused me.

Another way of saying this is, Prophecy is declaring what God has done and what God will do.

Let me give an example, when I preach on the life of Christ, I will declare with authority, here is what Jesus did. We preach prophetic messages, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to explain all that Jesus did while He was here on earth.

The second aspect of prophecy is foretelling, or declaring what God will do. There are a few guidelines to declaring what God will do.

First, it will always align with scripture.

Second, it will confirm what the Holy Spirit has spoke.

Third, it will edify, exhort, and comfort.

Let’s look at these rules in light of Revelation. Because Revelation is the inspired word of God, we know everything John had to say was and is true. We may not understand every aspect and every minute detail, but we trust its truth because it is the revelation of Christ to John.

Second, some of what we read in the book of the Revelation has come to pass. The Holy Spirit inspired John to write this book, now we see it unfolding before our eyes.

Third, Revelation will edify, exhort, and comfort. Here is where it can be somewhat confusing. How are we edified, exhorted, and comforted when we find out when very soon:

Food will be scarce

1/4 of the earth will be killed

The sun will turn black and the moon will turn into blood

1/3 of the vegetation will die

1/3 of the seas will turn to blood

1/3 of the waters will become bitter

1/3 of the sun, stars, and moon will not shine

Locusts from the bottomless pit will come

And this is just a little bit of what will happen on earth during the last days. How in the world can we be comforted reading that.

This is one of the problems in studying end-time events. I remember the first time I became aware of the “LAST DAYS.” It started when the Left Behind books became popular. The authors wrote a kids series of Left Behind and my brother loved to read them.

As a six or seven year old, I couldn’t comprehend how it would work. I always thought there was one way to heaven, and you had to die to get there. Then I found out, Jesus will come and get us ONLY If we are ready.

I did everything in my power to be ready, but I was always afraid of missing the rapture. I dreaded it when Pastor Tucker or evangelists would preach on the end times.

We had one evangelist come named Brother Henagar. My friends and I always sat on the front row and Brother Henagar would preach on Jesus’ coming. He would look at us ornery boys and declare, “Should Jesus tarry, and I don’t believe He will...” Needless to say, I always answered his altar calls.

I now have a different perspective on His coming. Instead of fear, I am excited. Instead of dread, I have great delight. Why should we study bible prophecy?

One author explains, “Knowing what the bible teaches about the future communicates the full character of God, balancing our theology, gives us hope for today and alleviates unnecessary fears about the future, compels us to live Godly lives in view of future rewards, and moves us to worship God, who will ultimately triumph over evil.” (Swindoll, p. 11, Revelation).

In summary, “the purpose of revelation is to change us, not simply to inform us.”

2. Where are we in Bible Prophecy?

Revelation 1:19 NKJV

19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

When Jesus spoke to John, He gave Him a three part outline of the book.

First, what has happened.

Second, what is happening.

Third, what will happen.

So far we have read what happened to John, Jesus came to him to tell him the greatest secret of all: “good will triumph over evil, wickedness will be judged, and the righteous will receive their rewards” (Swindoll, p. 7, Revelation).

Because of the great future we hold, people often want to know, where are we in the timeline? Where are we in Bible Prophecy? When will Jesus come? Is His coming soon?

When I was twenty years old, I had lunch with Dr. Stanley Horton. He was an esteemed Assembly of God theologian, at the time he was over ninety. I drove down to Springfield, had lunch with him, and then went to visit in his apartment.

I could not wait to discuss Bible Prophecy with him. As we visited, I asked, Dr. Horton, where are we in the timeline? Where are we in end time events. Politely he answered, “God never told us to look for timelines, instead we to do what Jesus commanded us to do in

Matthew 24:14 NKJV

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

That conversation helped me so much.

Too often people have become fixated on trying to figure out WHEN Jesus will return instead of doing WHAT He wants us to do until He returns.

As anxious and excited as I am about His coming, we have to remember we have a responsibility. As His church, we are His representatives on earth. We are His ambassadors, showing people the love of Christ.

Where are we in the last days? We are in one of the seven churches John wrote to in won’t go into great detail, but I have a chart in your handout concerning the compliment, criticism, instruction and promise Jesus gave to each church.

We have a choice, in these last days, we will be one of the following:

Loveless Church

Persecuted Church

Compromising Church

Corrupt Church

Dead Church

Faithful Church

Lukewarm Church

And remember, the church is made of people. So we have to decide, in Bible Prophecy, we are the church of Jesus Christ, waiting for His return, how will we live in these last days is up to us.

3. What will happen before Jesus returns?

Though our focus is on being faithful as His church to reach people who are lost and far from Him, there a question that is consistent throughout history, what will it be like when the world ends?

Matthew 24:3–13 NKJV

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?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

We read that the disciples asked the same question? Jesus explained the attitude and mindset of the world in preparation for His coming. One author describes the events preceeding His coming as:

A time of apostasy- false prophets will lead people from the Lord because of their false teaching.

A time of anarchy- there will wars and rumors of war. Nations rising against nations denotes people group rising against people group.

We see this between different types of muslims, but also Muslims and Jews, however, we see such great division in our nation right now.

A time of apathy- the love of many will grow cold as people seem to be disinterested in God.

A time of affliction- Christians are increasingly persecuted.

But what about the church, are there options for the church in these last days? Paul pain

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NKJV

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Furthermore, in these last days, we see:

people will love their money more than God

They will arrogant, disobedient, ungrateful, and unholy

They will be unloving, unforgiving, and exhibiting ZERO self control

and finally, there will be many who appear to have God’s power, but do not.

What will happen before Jesus returns? What is happening right now. We live in a divided nations and divided world. We live in a time that we would not have believed was possible two decades ago.

We live in a perverse society that is doing all it can to silence the church and destroy the plans of God.

Close:

Tonight, it is my goal to lay the foundation for the next few weeks. There are many questions about the coming of the Lord. Many times we wonder, what will happen in the future.

The good news is our future is lined out and it was revealed to ,000 years ago. I am so happy John was close enough with Jesus to spend time with Him on that Sunday morning on the Island of Patmos.

Jesus told John and secret and it is a good things John told us the secret… (expand, etc.)

However, there is one more things that will happen before Jesus returns.

Acts 2:17–18 NKJV

17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.

Acts 2:17–19 NKJV

God promises He will pour out His Spirit one more time before He comes again. Therefore, we have a decision to make, will we be a part of the great falling away or a part of the great revival?