Let's Go: "Approaching the Future"
Main Idea: We should be on guard so we are not deceived or anxious about the end times.
Matthew 24:1-25, 46; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36
I. Don’t be led Astray. (Mark 13:1-5)
Mark 12:24 – “Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”
Matthew 24:4 “And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.”
2 Timothy 3:12-15 – “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
II. Don’t be Alarmed. (Mark 13:6-8)
2 Thessalonians 2:2 – “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”
1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”
III. Don’t be Anxious. (Mark 13:9-13)
2 John 1:8 – “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.”
2 Timothy 3:12 – “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”
Acts 14:21-22 – “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
John 15:20 – “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”
John 16:33 – “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
1 Thessalonians 3:3 – “that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.”
1 Peter 5:10 – “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Matthew 6:25–34 – “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Philippians 4:6 – “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
1 Peter 5:7 – “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 4:16 – “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”
IV. Don’t Accept false Christ’s. (Mark 13:20-22)
Daniel 9:27 – “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Daniel 11:31 – “Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.”
Daniel 12:11 – “And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.”
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 – “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
2 Thessalonians 2:7 – “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.”
2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 – “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,”
Matthew 24:15 – “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),”
1 Peter 2:5 – “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Acts 4:12 – “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””
1 Timothy 2:5 – “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
John 20:30-31 – “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
V. Be Alert. (Mark 13:9, 23)
One way to be alert today: Trust Jesus’ Words