Sermon Tone Analysis

*/ “Are We Living In the Last Days/**/”/*

*The Signs Of The End*

At regular intervals throughout history there has always been someone that feels prompted to make a prediction concerning the return of Jesus Christ or the end of the world.

Back in 1843, A New Englander named William Miller believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, he began to speculate about the date of that return using dubious mathematical calculations.

He collected mounds of data, analyzed it, and was certain he had made on mistakes.

He therefore confidently announced the followers that on March 21, 1843.

Jesus Christ would return to earth.

Historical records tell us that a comet streaking across the night sky helped to confirm Miller in his delusions.

At midnight on the appointed day, his devoted followers donned their ascension robes, trekked into the mountains, and climbed towering trees to get as high as possible so they would have “less distance to travel through the air” when the Lord returned to take them home.

But the day came and went.

The Lord did not return.

And the trees became awfully uncomfortable.

And so the dejected band of Millerites trudged home to a late breakfast on March 22, accompanied by the jeers and catcalls of their neighbors.

It was a sad and bitter day for these deeply disappointed men and women.

But William Miller was not a man to give up easily.

He immediately went back to the Scriptures and found a “mistake” in his calculations.

Why, he had miscounted by one year!

So it was that, 365 days later, the Millerites once again robed themselves, climbed trees, and awaited the Lord’s return.

And once again, they were disappointed.

After this, most of his disciples turned their hearts from their sincere but deluded leader – and infinitely more tragic, turned their hearts away form God.

Williams Miller was not the first nor will he be the last to speculate on the return of our Lord to the earth.

Why then are we so interested in exactly when Jesus Christ will return to the earth.

Could it be because Jesus own disciples wondered the same thing and asked Him in His final week of His earthly life.

In Matthew 24:3 the disciples ask “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

We need to realize that the disciples believed in the soon return of Jesus and most felt that He would return within their lifetime.

* *

*1.

The Preliminary Signs Of Christ’s Return *

Jesus told the disciples to be careful not to be deceived.

The things He shared with the disciples are good for us to know also.

He told them to “Watch Out”.

In other words keep your eyes open!

Don’t be gullible – test those who claim to speak for God.

Demonstrate godly skepticism to keep from being confused and deceived.

Jesus called these preliminary signs  - “Birth Pains” meaning these things are not the actual signs but let us know that things are getting close.

·         False Messiah’s - Matthew 24:5

The apostle John wrote at the close of the first century, "Even now many

antichrists have come. . . .

They went out from us, but they did not really

belong to us" (1 John 2:18-19).

The term antichrist does not indicate someone

who is openly against Christ, such as an atheist or a pagan.

Rather it is a

person who subtly undermines true Christianity by substituting a false and

deceptive "Christianity."

An antichrist is a counterfeit Christ, a false

messiah.

("Christ" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Messiah.")

it is a mistake to think that antichrists are found only in such obvious places as the pseudochristian cults.

They are sometimes found in the highest levels of our oldest and most prestigious Christian denominations.

It is exactly as Peter predicted when he wrote that "there will be false teachers among you.

They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves" (2 Peter 2:1).

Individuals, groups, and churches that seem outwardly Christian in their talk

and behavior, yet reject the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, are

antichrists--counterfeit christs, false messiahs.

Any person or organization

that purports to be Christian but does not present the biblically complete and

accurate picture of Christ is antichrist.

* Wars and Rumors of Wars - Matthew 24:6-7

 

Clearly, Jesus is not predicting any one specific war or revolution.

He is

characterizing the general course of the age.

It will be marked by continual

turmoil among nations, producing a torrent of fear, death, horror, terror, and

misery.

His words telescope together all the effects that war can produce in the

human heart.

We are certainly seeing more and more of the fulfillment of this prediction in our world today.

* Natural Calamity – Matthew 24:7-8

 

Natural catastrophes have occurred for as long as history has been recorded.

Famines are described in Genesis, Ruth, and elsewhere in the Old Testament.

And

earthquakes are mentioned in 1 Kings, Amos, and other Old Testament books.

Natural calamities have always been a part of human existence.

They are not

"signs of the times."

In the Olivet discourse, Jesus states that during the

intervening age in which we live, there will be famines, pestilence,

earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

Whenever such events occur, they are a

threat to faith in God.

We can definitely see an increase in this prediction by our Lord.

If we just look at the damage done by the Tsunami or Hurricane Katrina this past year.

* Persecution – Matthew 24:9

 

The persecution of Christians began shortly after the

day of Pentecost, when Stephen and James were slain and the disciples scattered.

In the ensuing twenty centuries, Christians have been thrown to lions, burned as

human torches, mangled by wild beasts, killed by gladiators, drawn apart by

horses, and martyred in numerous other dreadful ways.

But the greatest time of persecution of Christians was not the first century or

the sixteenth.

It was the twentieth century!

More Christians have died for their

faith in our own time than in any other century in history.

More Christians were

tortured and slain in one twelve-month period during World War II than died

under Rome in all the early centuries.

Some authorities estimate the death toll

of Christians under communism (including the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc in

Europe, China, and other Asian communist nations) at over 15 million souls!

Since Christianity began, no generation has seen such worldwide persecution as