Pay Attention to the Signs of His Coming!
July 28, 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Revelation 1:7)
A. What a thought! That Someone named Jesus is coming BACK to this world of ours, and that He is coming back SOON!
B. Does it SEEM like Jesus is coming back to you?
1. It seems like people are more and more comfortable with ignoring the facts surrounding Jesus’ FIRST coming. Living like Jesus never came at all!
2. So that they have almost no concern about His soon SECOND Coming
3. As a matter of fact, if you looked at our world and all that is going on, you might realize that to 99.9% of the world’s population, Jesus and His SOON RETURN is irrelevant, unimpressive, unimportant, and unworthy of any consideration
4. No modern, sophisticated, highly educated human being would EVER believe that someone named Jesus was actually alive again after being so brutally crucified, and that He is about to return to this world!
5. Do you know what is more sad? The fact that the soon coming of Jesus is not on the minds of most Christians – we have cooled off in our anticipation of His return!
C. But He is still coming back!
D. And there may be some people in this room who will live to see it!
E. The Kingdom of God, that Jesus spoke so much about, is about to get REALLY real one of these days, and whether you are Ready or Not, He’s coming!
II. Review from last Week
A. The Promise of Christ’s SECOND Coming (Matthew 24:3,27)
1. The SECOND Coming of Jesus was predicted and promised from the very beginning of time!
2. There are hundreds of promises - about 900 Prophecies in the Bible that point to a “Messiah” coming – a perfect Ruler, a Deliverer, Saviour, Liberator, Defender
3. They are specific promises by God…
a. To His people the Jewish nation that He would save them
b. To the Gentiles, that a light would come to THEM and save them too
c. And to the devil – that God was going to dethrone him one day, and make every wrong turn out for good
d. Thank God for His promises!
4. Jesus HIMSELF promised He would come again!
a. Matt 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
b. Matt 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
c. Joh 14:2,3 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
B. The Purpose of the Second Coming – A Lot of Unfinished Business
1. Evidently, not even 1/10th of all the prophecies about the Messiah were accomplished when Jesus came the first time!
a. The first time Jesus came, He did NOT come to fix politics, or healthcare, or banking, or taxation, or social issues.
b. He didn’t come to get rid of all diseases, or to fix the weather (by the way, it is only going to get worse)
c. He came to take our place under the wrath of Almighty God, so we could be saved
2. About 800 have YET to be fulfilled – and they WILL be fulfilled dear friend!
a. God promised that Someone would come to this world to actually fix everything that sin and Satan has destroyed
b. That Someone can only be Jesus of Nazareth!
3. I then compared the First Coming of Jesus with His SOON Second Coming – very different
C. The Predictions / Signs of the Second Coming (JUST A FEW) (Matthew 24:3-12)
1. False Messiah’s (5) – people claiming to be God’s chosen one
a. Like Mohammed claimed to be superior to Jesus
b. Like a thousand other men and women throughout history who have claimed to be God’s saviour of the world
c. Like Mary is now worshipped by most catholics as Saviour
2. Wars and
rumours of wars (6,7)
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom
3. Famines (7)
4. Diseases/Pestilences (7)
5. Earthquakes (7) – ALL OVER THE WORLD, not just in hot spots
6. Persecution
of Christians (9)
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you
and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
7. Being
Offended (9) – upset enough to QUIT
And then shall many be offended
8. Betrayals
of each other (9)
and shall betray one another
9. Hating one
another even though brethren and believers (9)
and shall hate one another
a. In marriages
b. Children and teenagers HATING their parents – unheard of 100 years ago
10.
False prophets deceiving so many (11)
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many
a. The saddest part of this prophecy is not that there will be so many false messiahs and false prophets
b. But that they will deceive so many, and damn so many!
11.
Iniquity abounding (12) – beyond measure
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
a. Same-sex marriage was never on the radar until just 10 years ago
b. Living together as husband and wife but unmarried
12. And THAT is just a few of the signs
13. Did you notice Jesus did NOT say everything was going to get better and better? NO!
D. Jesus is saying that these and about 100 more specific events will grow in number EXPONENTIALLY – like the pains leading up to a birth!
1. According to Jesus… (Matt 24:6,8; 1Thes 5:1-3)
a. Mat 24:6 … see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
b. Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
c. Note that word SORROW – it is talking about the sorrow and pain of a woman who is about to give birth to a child!
d. 1Th 5:1-3 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
2. These aren’t just general things that the world will experience like it always has
a. Obviously the world has always had wars
b. And always battled diseases, and earthquakes and famines
c. And that
is why so many people constantly scoff at Jesus’ words –
“Phew, nothing has changed, so nothing will!”
d. But Jesus is saying MUCH more than just a list of normal troubles and disasters…
e. What is so different about today?
f. Go back to Matthew 24:3 and notice the disciples asked Jesus point blank, “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
g. Jesus responded by mentioning many signs – some spiritual, some natural, societal, and political.
h. And THEN He said these signs would appear in a distinct way – like birth pains (Matthew 24:3-8).
i. Some of you do not know that birth pains, or labour contractions, are sharp pains which INCREASE in intensity and frequency in the moments leading up to birth.
j. They become MORE frequent and have greater strength leading up to the big moment of His return!
3. I hope last week kind of freaked you out – worried you
4. Because I am not finished showing you things from this Book of books!
III. Message
A. A Few More Predictions and Signs
1. The Bible alone stands out as a Book that exposes the future in clarity unlike anything Nostradamus, or any other “prophet” every attempted! (Isa 46:9,10) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
2. The Rise of a United Europe (Daniel 2)
a. The Bible says a revived Roman Empire will come to power in the end times (Daniel 2:36-45, Daniel 7, Revelation 17).
1) After Babylon comes The Medes and Persians
2) After the Medes and Persians comes an unknown nation called Grecia (8:21)
3) After Greece would come another great kingdom – Rome
4) And when Rome is in power, the Messiah, the Stone would come
b. But the first time Jesus came, He did NOT destroy the kingdoms of this world – He came to save them
1) John 3:17,18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
c. So, the last part describes 10 toes – ten nations, mixed peoples, clay and iron
1) According to Daniel, it will be a ten nation alliance of weak and strong nations. Some parts will be as strong as iron, while other parts will be as weak as clay (Daniel 2:42).
2) It is when those 10 nations gather from the old Roman Empire, that Jesus the ROCK will come back like a huge boulder!
d. We see the beginning of this alliance in the European Union – a coalition of weak and strong nations struggling to stay together.
1) Throughout the centuries since Rome fell, many political leaders have dreamed of resurrecting the Roman Empire.
2) Charlemagne, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Winston Churchill, for different reasons and with differing motives, all shared the vision of a United States of Europe. But that vision had to await God’s timing for its fulfilment. That timing came at the end of World War II.
e. The last Gentile world empire will be used by the anti-christ as his base to conquer the world (7:8, 23-25). But this final Gentile empire will be short-lived, for it will be suddenly crushed by the return of the Messiah who will “set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed” (2:44).
f. Listen to a statement made 60 years ago by Paul Henri-Spaak (1899-1972), the former Prime Minister of Belgium, the first Chairman of the General Assembly of the United Nations (1945), and one of the key founders of the movement toward European unity. He said: “We do not want another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are sinking. Send us such a man and, be he God or the devil, we will receive him.”
3. The Rise of Global Government (Revelation 13)
a. There is MORE!
b. The Bible says in the last days a single government will rule NOT just Europe, but the WHOLE world!
c. What a thought!
1) One world politically (Revelation 13:1-7)
2) Religiously (Revelation 13:8)
3) And economically (Revelation 13:16-17)
d. This future government will rule over “ALL kindreds, tongues [languages], and nations” on the face of the earth (Revelation 13:7).
e. Its authority will be so complete no one will be able to buy or sell anything without its permission (Revelation 13:16-17).
f. For centuries, a true global government was IMPOSSIBLE.
1) Babylon never reached Italy
2) Rome’s empire never reached China
3) The Mongol empire spanned ALL of China and Russia but never reached Poland or into much of Europe
4) The British were the only people to come close to having a world-wide empire
g. But believe me, TODAY, world leaders openly discuss it and plan on it still!
h. Everything happening right now is actually part of an effort to gather ALL nations together against God (Joel 3:9-16)
1) Joe 3:9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
2) Joe 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
3) Joe 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
4) Joe 3:12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
5) Joe 3:13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
6) Joe 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
7) Joe 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
8) Joe 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
9) YOU HAD BETTER TAKE THIS VERY SERIOUSLY
4. The Mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:16-18)
a. Details (Revelation 13:16-18)
1) A means for people to buy and sell
2) Able to stop people from being able to buy or sell
3) A Name – the name of the anti-Christ (you always find the name of the emperor, the king, the queen, etc on the coins and money)
4) A Mark – a tattoo (have you noticed how many people just keep getting these ink marks all over their bodies?
5) A Number ‘666’
b. Never imagined outside of the Bible
c. And yet, it is HERE NOW
1) As a computer chip in most pets
2) In all cattle
3) On everything you purchase – UPC codes and RFID chips
4) RFID chips are in your credit cards that allow you to tap
5) They are in key Fobs
6) They are on your CAR too – passing through tolls
7) Basically YOU are mainly just a number now
a) Your PPS Number
b) MPRN (Meter point reference number)
c) Phone number
d) You do know that MASSIVE government computers track us to make sure we pay our taxes, and are not doing any criminal activities
e) Social media apps analyse our Likes and Texts, and sell our way of living and thinking to thousands of companies every month
d. Most amazing is the fact that it is being WELCOMED by everybody IN their hands, and EVEN IN THEIR FOREHEADS (Elon Musk)
5. The Collapse of the Value of Money – and its replacement with a MARK
a. What is a Euro worth?
b. ANSWER: Whatever European Central Bank wants it to be worth
c. The pieces of paper called Euros have no more value than any other piece of paper. It is only when we agree as a country to assign a value to that paper—and other countries agree to recognize that value—that we can use it as currency.
d. Until a few decades ago, the value of paper money in many countries, including much of Europe, was based on a gold or silver standard, or some combination of the two. The piece of paper money was simply a convenient way of "holding" that particular bit of gold or silver. Under the gold or silver standard, you could actually take your paper money to the bank and exchange it for an amount of gold or silver based on an exchange rate set by the government.
e. Fiat money is money that has been assigned value, but has no value itself! So these pieces of paper in your pocket are just that: pieces of paper.
f. Our system of money operates on a mutual set of beliefs; as long as enough of us believe in the value of money, for now, the system will work.
g. But money will fail
1) It has happened before! The collapsing value of the German Mark after World War I forced Germans to look to Hitler, and they willingly gave up their freedoms and willingly went to war against the whole world because of economic instability.
2) Whether you realise it or not, Money is ALWAYS losing its value over time. It just is slow enough that people don’t care!
3) But you need to realise that things WILL get so bad in the near future that people will look to another extremist like Hitler (the antichrist) to come and save them from starvation and financial ruin.
h. The point is, the value of money will collapse in the near future, and the world will seek something else to take its place to restore stability - electronic currency associated with each and every person.
6. Technology exploding exponentially
a. There was NO electricity until the late 1700’s. For 5,700 years, everyone lived by candlelight
b. There was no technology, no lights, no radio, record players until the mid 1800’s
c. But since World War II…
1) The computer
a) First developed to help with calculating distances and angles of trajectory for large guns in World War II
b) The first IC. By Intel called the 4004
c) Then 8008
d) Then 8080
e) Then 8086 in the original IBM PC
f) Then Pentium
g) Doubling in power and speed every two years
h) Computers continue to this day to increase in power and decline in cost. The trend points to more and more automation and less need for human labour – both physical and mental.
i) We are now in an age of Artificial Intelligence – where computers spend more time analysing US that we do anything else!
j) Did you know that YOUR smartphone is 10,000 times more powerful than the first IBM PC just 30 years ago
k) In other words
(i) Computers at first were the size of this room
(ii) Then in less than 50 years, they were sitting on desks
(iii) And now are inside WATCHES!
(iv) And will soon be inside brains!
2) The internet
a) In 1990, there was only one website.
b) Think about that. Think of how much the world has changed in such a short period of time. Only one website in 1990.
c) Six years later, the Internet had more than one hundred thousand.
d) A decade later? One hundred million.
e) Today, there are billions.
3) The Phone and communication
a) The history of communication is mankind's search for ways to improve upon shouting.
b) Using messengers - could be confused, or the runner could die on the way
c) The Chinese used fires to warn of the Huns attacks
d) Sending letters by post - weeks and months (600 BC)
e) Using horses (200 AD)
f) Printing Press (1450 AD)
g) Used telescopes in the Napoleonic wars to show flags and icons across 50 miles to communicate
h) Mail coach: 1784 - 1797 travelled 10 miles an hour and could reach 100 miles in a day
i) 1831 – Joseph Henry proposes and builds an electric telegraph.
j) 1836 – Samuel Morse develops the Morse code.
k) 1843 – Samuel Morse builds the first long distance electric telegraph line.
l) 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson exhibit an electric telephone in Boston.
m) 1920 – Radio station KDKA based in Pittsburgh began the first broadcast.
n) 1925 – John Logie Baird transmits the first television signal.
o) 1963 – First geosynchronous communications satellite is launched
p) 1965 – First email sent
q) 1981 – Nordic Mobile Telephone, the world's first automatic mobile phone is put into operation
r) 1992 – Neil Papworth sends the first SMS (or text message).
s) 1976 – The personal computer (PC) market is born.
t) 2004 – Facebook is launched.
u) 2005 – YouTube, the video sharing site, is launched.
4) This rapid advance in technology shows no sign of ending.
5) With each passing day, the exponential curve becomes more vertical in nature. The closer it gets to going vertical, the closer we get to the end of the age. So it shouldn't surprise you to learn many people who predict technological trends for a living also claim we’re on an exponential curve. And many believe the curve will go vertical in our lifetime. In fact, there’s a name for it. The Singularity In tech circles, this point in time is known as “the singularity.” So what is the singularity? In simple terms, it’s a future point in time when the change around us is so rapid, we can no longer follow it. In other words, technology will become so powerful (and the change around us become so rapid) the world will simply pass us by. In a sense, WE will become obsolete.
6) Sound hard to believe? It shouldn't. Think of how quickly things change now.
a) How many times have you learned how to use your new phone, computer, or TV only to learn a new model is out? That the one you finally mastered is now obsolete?
b) How many times have you learned a new software package, only to see a new version released a month later? This happens a lot doesn't it?
c) Well, these examples give us a glimpse at the type of change the singularity promises to bring.
d) Advances in technology aren't taking place in a straight line. They're taking place exponentially.
(i) The next 25 years will see more changes than the world has seen in the past 200!
(ii) Can we even begin to understand what that means? Imagine the impact. What will such change mean for people, industries, and entire nations?
e) We are watching the development of advanced technologies like quantum computers, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering
f) At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, “That’s interesting. But what does any of this have to do with Armageddon, the Second Coming, and the Tower of Babel?” Everything. In fact, the singularity answers the most perplexing question of Armageddon: How do humans become so powerful they're able to do battle with God Himself?
g) More about that next week!
7. World-wide Travel is Almost Unlimited (Daniel 12:4).
a. Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
b. Six hundred years before Jesus, an angel told the prophet Daniel that travel will increase exponentially in the end times.
1) For centuries of human history, dramatic gains in travel and knowledge did NOT take place.
2) Yet the last two hundred years have seen explosions in the speed and frequency of travel – world wide.
3) Rockets, Planes, jets, helicopters, Jet-packs, massive ocean liners – all taking people wherever they want to go!
4) THAT HAS NEVER BEEN POSSIBLE UNTIL THE LAST 100 YEARS
8. Knowledge Increasing Exponentially (Daniel 12:4)
a. Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
b. The amount of information that is now “KNOWN” is unfathomable
c. NOT that people are actually SMARTER, but they know more
d. In your smartphone is the ability to access 95% of everything that has ever been known
e. And it is only increasing!
1) We know what an atom looks like
2) We know the grains of dust on the moon look like
3) We know what temperature it is on Mars, and Venus and Pluto
4) We know the complete molecular sequence of DNA and can even EDIT it to get rid of potential genetic defects
9. Best of all, the greatest Sign of all is ISRAEL
a. Back in the Land (Isaiah 66:8)
1) God promised to bring the Jewish people back into the land from "among the nations" (Ezekiel 39:28), from "the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12), and from "north, south, east, and west" (Psalm 107:3).
2) God promised to welcome them home from the lands where they were scattered (Ezekiel 20:34), and when they returned, He promised to come and establish His everlasting kingdom among them (Isaiah 11).
3) NEVER BEFORE has a nation that has been dispersed to every corner of the globe, been regathered back to their ancient homeland. That is until our generation!
a) The Bible said Israel would become a wasteland when the Jews were expelled from their land. Indeed, during the past 1900 years, the land of Israel became a desolate wasteland.
b) But according to a specific prophecy in Isaiah 66:8, Israel suddenly became a nation again in one day on May 14, 1948. Jews have returned from the north, south, east, and west as predicted by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Jews have emigrated from Europe, Asia, the Americas, from everywhere!
c) Isa 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
4) Rome conquered Israel and scattered the Jewish people across their vast empire.
5) But in 1948, God kept His promise and restored the nation of Israel.
b. The Jews are even Back in Jerusalem
1) Jesus said armies would surround Jerusalem, destroy the city, and enslave its Jewish citizens. This happened in A.D. 70 when the Roman legions did exactly that.
2) Jesus then said Pagans would control Jerusalem for a time
3) And then the Jewish people would once again control Jerusalem.
4) When this happened, Jesus promised to return (Luke 21:24-28).
5) Well, For 1,897 years, non-Jews ruled the city.
6) Then, in 1967, the Jewish people once again took control of Jerusalem.
7) They are BACK ladies and gentlemen and you don’t seem to realise the significance!
10. All of these are part of the increasing sorrows of birth-pains. Not just normal things happening like they always have been, but an explosion of ever increasing signs
B. The Present Day Rejection of the Second Coming
1. You would think all this would be so shocking to people as they watch the world speed up faster and faster. That it would shake people to their core!
2. But instead, there is a lulling to sleep of just about everyone on the planet now
a. We watch fake news, and listen to happy music and spend more than half our lives being entertained think the world is doing fine
b. 5G networks are coming to basically bring the entire world into the internet, and so that no one thinks for themselves anymore
c. Folks, the world is on fire!
d. THIS generation is being hypnotized, drugged, lied to, and told absolutely stupid things in order to keep everyone from seeing ALL the signs of the end of the world!
3. Satan’s deception and delusions – convincing everyone, including some of you…
a. “Everything is as it always has been” – which they KNOW is not true
b. “That there is no God” – no need for Him
c. “There is no hell”
d. “And Jesus is not coming back”
4. But they are so wrong
a. Generations of people have their entire lives and died without seeing ONE of these signs happen in their lifetime – not a single one!
b. And yet, WE are seeing ALL of them, and we are watching as the speed up rapidly
C. The Point of Knowing All This
1. What is the point of all this? Why does this even matter?
a. Jesus said when you see these signs starting to increase like never before, you should look up, because “your redemption [your Saviour] is nigh” (Luke 21:28).
b. In other words, you should expect His return SOON.
c. How soon? Jesus says soon enough that the generation witnessing these signs will not pass away before His return (Matthew 24:34).
2. People are NOT Ready
a. They are ignorant
1) Isa 22:12,13 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And [YET] behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
2) Mat 24:37-39 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
3) Luk 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
4) Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
5) Luk 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
6) Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
7) Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
8) Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
9) Prov22:3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
b. They are actually hardening
c. They are being used – not thinking for themselves, but being led along like sheep to the slaughter
d. They are headed for hell – without God and without hope!
3. Worst of all, Christians aren’t either:
a. Christians are Apathetic – going along with the world and enjoying the ride
b. And falling away fast!
c. NOT because of troubles, but because they don’t take the future seriously!
d. They only worry about peer pressures, and people’s opinions, and popularity, and personal feelings
e. Instead of what this Book says!
4. The Second Coming is happening – not fake news
a. It is something very big that is coming
b. Bigger than Sodom and Gomorrah
c. Bigger than the world wide flood of Noah’s day
d. Bigger than the First Coming of Jesus Christ
5. It will change the entire world one day very soon
6. It ought to change you and me TODAY
a. Rom 13:11-14 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
7. How we live and what we trust matters in eternity
IV.More to Come – Next Week
A. The Parts of the Second Coming
1. What is going to happen at the time of the Second Coming?
2. Four Raptures
3. Two Tribulations
4. One World Government, Religion, Currency and One Ruler
5. Then Comes the End
B. And the Place of the Christian at the Second Coming – a SAFE Place!
V. Conclusion - YOU need to take this very seriously
A. Joel 2:11-13
1. 11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
2. 12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
3. 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
B. If I was warning you that an armed man has just stopped right outside, and was getting ready to enter this building and was armed and dangerous… would you take the warning serious? I would hope so!
C. Well, I am warning that the SON of GOD ALMIGHTY is preparing to return to this planet of ours and he is NOT coming soft and sweet and gentle. He will judge the secrets of all men! (Rom 2:16) God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
D. Your secrets, my secrets
E. All laid out for everyone to see
F. No hope ladies and gentlemen unless a Saviour can be found who can COVER all our sins