Signs Of The Second Coming Of Jesus
8-10-2011 Vol. 5 Part 3
Psalm 40:1-8 NKJV To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. 6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. 7 Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." Father we praise your name, we give you all the glory. Thank you for the glorious weather we had today. We pray that you be with and bless all that read this message. In Jesus name we pray! Amen!
Matthew 24:10 – 14
Mat 24:10-14 NKJV 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. 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.
Why do you think God had John write the book of Revelation? Revelation is a difficult book to fully comprehend. I’ve read it and studied it several times, and still have difficulty understanding some of the chapters, but I do have enough of an understanding so I can explain the chain of events. I have heard people make statements like:
1. They just don’t get what it is totally about. They know it is about the end of time, but can’t comprehend it fully, and it doesn’t matter because they claim to be Born Again and will be taken up in the Rapture.
2. The book of Revelation showed them they needed Jesus in their life and as a result, gave their heart to Jesus (Born Again). In other words, it frighten them to the point of wanting assurance of going to Heaven.
3. Some people say they don’t want to know what it says, because it scares them, therefore they won’t read it and they don’t want to hear about it.
The people that make statement number one, I feel, may not be saved. They may think they are saved, but one of the evidences of being Born Again is the love of God’s Holy and True Word and the desire to fully comprehend it. Why does a Born Again Christian need to fully comprehend the Word you ask? It is because when you have that Spiritual Birth you are changed and you have a love for all mankind that you cannot explain. This fits in perfectly with what a Born Again Christian is commissioned to do, and that is, to go out and be a witness for the Gospel, like the Apostles. Mark 16:15 NKJV And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. If we don’t know what the Bible states, and we go out and witness to people, how can we answer their questions with Biblical truth? If we answer their questions and the answers are not base on the Bible then we would be considered a wolf in sheep’s clothing. So the people that make statement number one need to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask themselves who is number one in their life, God or me?
Statement number two is another purpose for Revelation. To wake up people and put the fear of God into them so they will come to repentance and ask Jesus to come into their life.
Statement number three falls into the category of someone that has gone to church all their life and practiced “religion” to get to Heaven. The biggest fault lies with the leader of the church they are attending, because Revelation is not preached. Woe unto those leaders. Matthew 23:13 NKJV "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. The next fault lies with the individual in trusting what man is saying and not verifying it with God’s Word. Jude 1:10-11 NLT But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. 11 What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion.
Okay, I had better get back to Matthew.
Verse 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. This verse is referring to how people will claim to be followers of Christ, but when push comes to shove and their life is on the line they will deny Jesus. What will cause this is the persecution of Christians before and during the tribulation. People will see Christians tortured and killed. When these things are seen by others, the so called Christians will fall from their faith in order to avoid dying for Jesus. As long as everything goes along ok, people will stand tall in their faith, but as soon as trials come along they will stumble and fall. They will go so far as turn in Christians and divulge hiding places just to save their own life. A true Born Again Christian won’t even be able to trust their own relatives. It will even come down to hating Christians to save their own neck. Scripture states these things will happen. 1 John 2:19 NKJV They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. Luke 21:16 NKJV You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. Matthew 10:21 NKJV "Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
Verse 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. This verse is pretty plain and simple and I have covered it already. Beware of false prophets, teachers, preachers, priest, religions, etc. As I have stated before, this is why you have to read the Bible and put on the Armor of God daily in order to discern the truth. I have seen people come to Jesus and get into the Bible and read it daily, but after a few weeks or a couple months set the Bible down and within a few weeks go right back into their old way of life. You have to stay in the Word, even if it is only 10 quality minutes each day. Matthew 24:5 NKJV For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
Verse 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Lawlessness will run rampant due to the fact that the Holy Spirit will no longer be present on the earth. Without the Holy Spirit present loose morals will abound and turn into a self destructive disease. The false teachings will help foster this disease and with the cooling effect of sin on a person, the love for God and others will fade with the focus settling on self. When this happens you cannot truly love if you think only of yourself.
Verse 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. This verse can really confuse a person if you read it with the word “endures”, at least it does me. It makes more sense to me if I use the words “stands firm”. Endures give me the thought that anyone surviving the Tribulation will be saved spiritually. It isn’t talking about spiritual salvation it is talking about being alive. The only people that will survive the tribulation will be people that have a Spiritual Birth by being witnessed to during the Tribulation, and standing firm in faith in Jesus Christ. You ask, if the Rapture takes all of God’s Saints off the face of the earth, then who will be doing this witnessing? The next verse reveals this.
Verse 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. This verse is misunderstood by many people. People think the Gospel of Jesus has to be literally preached to everyone on earth and then Jesus will come back. This verse is pertaining to the time after the Rapture. There will 144,000 Jews that will be anointed by God to witness to all who have not heard the Gospel in all corners of the world. Revelation 7:1-4 NKJV After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: When the Gospel has been preach to all that have not heard it, then Jesus will come with his Saints and wipe from the face of earth all that are not Born Again.
These 144,000 will be sealed and have God’s protection, power, and promise.
They will be protected by God and will be untouchable. They can’t be hurt or destroyed during this seven year period. This does not pertain to those they witness to. Anyone that accepts Jesus during the Tribulation will be subject to persecution and possible death. That is what verse 13 was referring to. If they will stand firm in faith and avoid death, their life will be saved.
They will be sealed in power, but a greater power than what we are sealed in as Born Again Christians. When we have a Spiritual Birth we are seal with the Holy Spirit with certain powers, but these 144,000 will be sealed with a much greater power from God to be able to dealing with Tribulation events.
They will have a promise from God that they will survive the seven year period, and when Jesus returns to set up His kingdom, all 144,000 will enter into it under the leadership of King Jesus.
The Tribulation won’t be all doom and gloom. Can you imagine 144,000 zealous Jewish evangelists spreading the message of the Cross. Those of us that are Born Again won’t be here to see these events and I’m glad of that. I wonder if we will be able to watch these events from Heaven! On second thought, I don’t think so, because it would be very sad to see, especially if you had loved ones that aren’t saved. We know there are no tears in Heaven!
Folks, the Tribulation is something we don’t want to experience. Don’t think you can ride the fence until the Rapture happens and then give your heart to Jesus, because it will be to late then. God will put the delusion over you and you will not be able to know the truth then. 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 NKJV And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
If you haven’t asked Jesus to come into your life, please do so. Matthew 24:42 NKJV Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth,
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: Why did God have the sun dial shadow go back 10 degrees?
Answer: 2 Kings 20:11 NKJV So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. It was proof for Hezekiah that he would live another 15 years.
This week’s Trivia: What did God use a rotten loin cloth for?
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