The Great Signs of The End Part VI Matthew 24:1-51

Eureka Baptist Church iconEureka Baptist Church

1 view

0 comments

00:01
Last week we continued our journey through Matthew 24 The Bible talks much about the end of the world
00:10
It has been said that 27 % of the Bible is prophecy if about 25 % of the
00:17
Bible relates to the end of the story of Life this should be a focus of every
00:24
Christian and every church Revelation 1 3 tells us the result of the one who pays attention to biblical prophecy in a healthy manner that verse says blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and Blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near Prophets in the
00:47
Old Testament described the end and so do Apostles in the new and Jesus as the greatest prophet tells us about the end also
00:57
How closely we should listen to the words of God as we approach his return?
01:04
Matthew 24 is called the Olivet discourse Which is kind of a boring title
01:10
Much more exciting title that some people use is it's the end times according to Jesus and What I've titled this long sermon through Matthew 24 is the great signs of the end
01:24
In our journey through Matthew 24 our big idea is to anticipate the soon return of Christ and thus far
01:30
We have seen ten practices. How we have 15 total this morning
01:36
We will see number 11 And we're going to take time just to look at point number 11 because point number 11 is about the return of Christ the time
01:42
When he actually comes to the earth Before I tell you
01:48
About this point and take a close look at it Let me give you a recap of the ten practices. We have seen thus far
01:55
You are to anticipate the return of Christ First through looking at prophetic certainty through what has already been fulfilled
02:02
And that's when we looked at you know Jesus said look at the temple Not one stone will be left upon another he predicted the destruction of the temple in 70
02:11
AD And what this tells us is that when any prophet from the Bible and when Jesus says something is going to happen
02:17
It's gonna happen exactly how he said it's going to happen So as we look at prophecy, that's exciting to think about The second way how you were to anticipate the sooner turn of Christ is they're taking seriously why
02:31
Jesus provides end times details He doesn't give us end times details just to satisfy our curiosity or to entertain us
02:40
I think sometimes people when they look at prophecy they they look at it that way He gives us details about the end because he wants to draw us closer to him
02:49
He wants us to have a deeper relationship with him as we as you long for someone you long to be with that person
02:56
So that's the point of prophecy The third practice how you're at you're to anticipate the sooner turn of Christ is through watching out for the appearance of many false prophets
03:06
The fourth is through observing an increasing number of global wars fifth experiencing a rise in natural disasters
03:14
Six witnessing the rise of global persecution Seventh noticing widespread disregard for God's law eighth seeing the gospel advance to all corners of the earth
03:27
Ninth following the rise of the final one world ruler and the tenth practice.
03:32
How is through going through? worldwide Cataclysmic events, so this is what we've seen thus far
03:40
Today is part six of our journey through Matthew 24 Now if you haven't already turned there
03:47
I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew 24 as We continue our sermon series through Matthew And if you're using a red
03:54
Bible in the pews, it's on page 986 and what I as I mentioned already It's truly fascinating the timing of this sermon with Trevor here.
04:01
You'd think we planned ahead We didn't this is just where we are in our sermon series through Matthew I'm gonna begin by giving you the 11th practice how you are to anticipate the sooner turn of Christ And that is through viewing the glorious return of Jesus Christ if you have a bulletin this is in there viewing the glorious return of Jesus Christ We will see this in verses 27 through 31.
04:29
This is where we're going to spend our time this morning So I'm gonna begin by reading these verses verses 27 through 31 of Matthew 24
04:37
These are the words of the Lord Jesus For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the
04:45
West So will be the coming of the Son of Man wherever the corpse is
04:51
There the vultures will gather Immediately after the tribulation of those days the
05:00
Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken
05:09
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the
05:19
Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other
05:38
Now Before we talk about the return of Christ, it's important to make a distinction at this time
05:46
Some of you might wonder well, how does the rapture fit into this and and of course within Christianity?
05:51
There's different views on the rapture. Some people believe the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation
05:57
So in other words that the return of Christ and the rapture are one in the same event Some people believe that There's a rapture
06:05
Halfway through the tribulation. This is known as the mid tribulation view and then there is the pre -tribulation view
06:11
Which which is the view that believes that the rapture is before the final seven year
06:18
Tribulation because I'm going to talk a little bit about that here What the New Testament reveals to us is that there are phases to Christ's return
06:28
This is interesting to think about when we come to understand that the Old Testament made no distinctions The Jews did not believe there will be multiple comings of Christ They believed there would only be one coming
06:40
This is why Jesus disciples were confused when he told them that he would die rise again
06:46
Return to his father in heaven and then come again But this is the nature of what is known in theology as progressive revelation
06:55
When I say revelation what I mean is the Word of God Revealed in the pages of Scripture as the
07:02
Bible is written the people reading the later books have more Understanding than those who had less of the
07:09
Bible In other words, we know things that Old Testament Saints did not know and think about that very fascinating What we know is that there is not one coming of Christ There is a second phase to his coming and it is my conviction that in the second phase of Christ's coming
07:28
There are two phases to it The first phase is known as the rapture and the second phase is known as the second coming
07:36
Some Christians do not see the distinction as I've mentioned When a distinction is not made it's called a post -tribulation rapture
07:44
The post -tribulation rapture views the rapture in the second coming is the same event That Christ gathers his people and then comes to the earth to judge the world in one event now to have a different view on the timing of the rapture is
07:58
Not an enormous deal. Okay, it doesn't mean it's not important. It's not heresy
08:04
Okay, if someone believes that Jesus is not God. Okay, that's a huge deal.
08:10
That's the difference between being a believer and not being a believer If someone denies the penal substitutionary atonement that Christ died in our place
08:19
There are people who call it those Christians who do deny that that's a massive Difference It's interesting.
08:25
I think it's more it's more important to believe in the Millennium Than it is to believe in a preacher of rapture
08:30
Because the Millennium is important because the Millennium is a fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.
08:36
The Abrahamic Covenant is fulfilled The Davidic Covenant is fulfilled as Christ reigns on his throne
08:42
The New Covenant is fulfilled to the people of Israel during the Millennium So if we don't believe that there's a literal 1 ,000 year reign of Christ It's concerning to me because we're really denying
08:53
God's commitment to his ancient covenant people these promises that he made to them But that being said it the time in the rapture it is still important because the truth is important We want to know the truth
09:10
There are genuine believers like some Presbyterians This would be a bigger difference than the time in the rapture who believe that infants should be baptized
09:21
And I think in that case, it's really hard to be in the same fellowship You can't really have babies baptized and then
09:30
I have other people who believe that no babies shouldn't be baptized There's things worth dividing over. I don't think the time into the rapture is worth dividing over But it doesn't mean it's not important because we want to get to the truth
09:41
What does the Bible say about the return of Christ? We want to be precise in our interpretation of Scripture No one has everything right in one's interpretation, but we want to be as close as we can to believe in a post -tribulation rapture is not a small difference because to believe this is to believe that all
10:05
Christians will go through the final seven -year tribulation and If this is so the blessed hope of the church being snatched from this world at any time is taken away
10:17
But I believe the Bible teaches that the church will be raptured before the the final seven -year tribulation And I'm not going to explain all the reasons why in this sermon.
10:24
I've already preached a sermon on this Back on April 5th 2020 that was during kovat
10:30
And if you'd like if you'd like to listen to that you can go to our website and find it on there But let me briefly give you the passages that explain the rapture
10:39
The first phase of Christ's second coming these passages are John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3 first Corinthians chapter 15 verses 51 and 52 and first Thessalonians chapter 4
10:53
Verses 13 through 18 the Bible says more on the rapture than just these passages, but these are the big ones
11:01
It is indeed the glorious hope for the believer that Christ will snatch his church to meet him in the air
11:07
To dwell with him in heaven. I have an old pastor friend. He whenever he
11:14
Signs his name to something. He says here there or in the air every time he writes something
11:19
And I love when he when he when he does that Now with this in mind There's no question that there will be some believers
11:28
Who will be present at the end of the final seven -year tribulation and thus far?
11:35
We have seen something some things described about the final seven -year tribulation last week We looked at the the rise of the the final one world ruler who's also known as the
11:44
Antichrist These people who are alive at the very end Will experience the day when
11:51
Christ comes to this earth to take his throne? These are the ones that Jesus has chiefly in mind as she shared as she shares what it will be like when he returns to the earth
12:04
What Jesus does to explain what his return to be like is to give two illustrations the first illustration in verse 27 is
12:14
Something that we are all very familiar with He compares his return to the natural phenomenon of lightning
12:24
Lightning is one of the most remarkable wonders of nature when a thunderstorm is present lightning lights up the sky
12:33
What Jesus explains is that when you see lightning from one direction people in the other direction can see it from far away
12:39
As he says lightning in the east is seen as far as the West for miles and miles lightning can be seen
12:48
I Remember as a child being told that you can know how far a lightning strike is from you every second is a mile so 10 seconds is 10 miles
13:02
Sometimes lightning hits so close that it's simultaneous I remember being in Florida one time that which is the capital for lightning in the country
13:10
And I was sitting in on the couch and all sudden boom. It was like I jumped out of my chair
13:15
I must have jumped out three feet in the air Because it was just this loud clap of lightning
13:25
Lightning can be frightening But it is indeed a marvelous phenomenon for the eye to see and lightning can be seen from miles and miles away
13:33
After giving this illustration Jesus gives us Another that once again has to do with seeing something from far away and this illustration in concerns vultures
13:43
These birds you see on the side of the road with roadkill another way to say vultures are birds that prey on animals below The vultures that fly above have great sight to see what is below them on the ground one thing that vultures notice and Love to do is gather around dead animals
14:07
These vultures can see these corpses from far away. And what they do is gather swoop down and eat the flesh
14:15
So, how do these illustrations relate to Christ's second coming? well, both these illustrations have in common are
14:23
Seen something that is visible from far away Humans can see lightning in the sky from miles and miles away vultures can see their dead prey on the ground from a far distance away in The same way the whole world will see the return of Christ.
14:38
It will not be a mystery Everyone will know the day he comes back
14:46
Any belief that says Christ returned his secret is a false religion Jehovah Witnesses believe this and You see those people that they're down there pretty much every day if you go to Walmart to write on the overlook in St.
14:58
Croix Falls, they're standing there wanting people to come talk to them The Jehovah Witness religion was started by a man named
15:06
Charles Russell He started the Watchtower magazine and early on in the history of this false religion
15:13
He predicted the day when Christ would return to the earth He first said he would return in 1874
15:22
That year came and went and Jesus, of course did not return Then he made another prediction.
15:29
He predicted that Christ would return in 1914 once again
15:36
The year came the day he predicted came Christ did not come back Now, do you think this prophet notice the quotations here this prophet?
15:46
Said he was wrong No, he dug in his heels When Russell was wrong the second time he said he got the details of the return wrong
15:56
He said Christ was not to have a public appearance, but a private one
16:02
That's convenient, huh? So Christ did in fact return in 1914 But it was a spiritual return if you ever want to see a religion a false religion that makes it up as they go
16:13
Look no further than the Jehovah Witness religion But the
16:18
Bible does not say that Jesus is going to have a spiritual return And this was the mistake that the
16:24
Gnostics made in the early church They said you know, he's this mysterious this this secret revelation.
16:29
That is only for some people This will not be small -scale.
16:36
This will be global The Bible tells us certain details about his return
16:41
For example a fascinating tidbit of scripture is is that we know the location to which she's going to return
16:48
In fact Trevor talked about it this morning Zechariah 14 4 says on that day his feet shall stand on the
16:55
Mount of Olives That lies before Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley and he pointed out those churches located on these spots that are actually going to be swallowed up and And hopefully they're heretical churches, right
17:14
So that one half of the Mount shall move northward and the other half southward
17:21
Then we turn to the book of Acts that also describes this location when Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection
17:27
He ascended from the Mount of Olives as Luke chapter 24 verses 50 through 52 says in Acts 1 11
17:37
Angels told Jesus disciples as he was taken up in the clouds to heaven. They said men of Galilee Why do you stand looking into heaven?
17:46
This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven
17:57
Details matter. He's not gonna return to Eureka Or the
18:03
Twin Cities or New York? He's coming back to the Mount of Olives The Messiah Jesus ascended from heaven from the
18:11
Mount of Olives and this is where he will return to So the question that people ask is how will those alive at that time see him?
18:19
Israel is far from where we live and from all portions of the earth
18:27
It's in the middle, right? But if you're in the far east if you're in the far west if you're even in Europe I mean, that's that's a pretty far ways away
18:33
We don't we don't know exactly how everyone in the world will know but the text does give some indications
18:39
Let's first look at verse 29 Where Jesus says again immediately after the tribulation of those days the
18:48
Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from Heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken
18:57
One way that the world will know that Jesus has returned is that there will be cosmic disturbances
19:06
Certain things will happen in the heavens and when I say the heavens I don't mean the third heaven where God dwells as Paul described
19:15
Paul said he ascended to the third heaven There's three heavens. The first heaven is the atmosphere Second heaven is outer space.
19:23
The third heaven is the place where God dwells So when he talks about the the heavens these cosmic disturbances, he's talking about the atmosphere and he's talking about outer space
19:33
Where the planets and the stars are the text says that the
19:38
Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light Hey, what will cause this? Now I've already explained as we as we have seen in Revelation that there will be a mass
19:50
Destruction from natural disasters at this point in history. These natural disasters occur as God's judgment is poured out on the earth.
19:59
I Believe that this is the time when these super volcanoes all over the earth will be up will go off This is my personal opinion when the supervolcanoes erupt there will be so much ash in the atmosphere that the
20:13
Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light as The text says in verse 29. They will be darkened
20:19
The text also says that stars will fall from heaven What does Jesus mean by this?
20:25
Jesus is likely describing meteors or comets or asteroids that will crash down from space to the earth
20:33
Scientists often say that the universe is a dangerous place to be to live on a rock and this dark vacuum of space with all these rocks, that's a pretty dangerous place to be a
20:46
Giant rock from space can hit the earth and small rocks from space do hit the earth actually fairly regularly
20:53
But why is it that a giant asteroid has not hit the earth that affects the earth in significant ways?
21:03
Well, it's because it's not the time yet It will happen at the very end right before Jesus return
21:11
Then Jesus says at the end of verse 29 that the powers of the heavens will be shaken. What does this mean? Jesus is the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power
21:20
Hebrews 1 3 tells us that he is the creator and the sustainer of the universe
21:26
At the time of his return the objects in space will not operate as they normally do
21:35
The normal orbits of stars and planets will be in disarray
21:42
The world the atmosphere and even outer space will be in disarray during the time
21:49
Immediately preceding Christ's return. These are signs signs that he's coming
21:57
And these are signs for those who are alive at that time These disturbances will be a clear indication that Christ is coming to the earth as the beginning of verse 29 says he will come
22:10
Immediately after the destruction happening during the final seven years
22:17
Then we get to the verse 30 where we finally get to the grand event the day that Jesus returns to the earth
22:23
Let's look at this again verse 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the
22:31
Son of Man and Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the
22:36
Son of Man Coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory
22:43
What you'll notice is that Jesus describes himself in the third person
22:50
As Jesus is saying this to his disciples. They would have understood Where he's getting this from why is he talking about himself in the third person?
22:58
Why is he calling himself the Son of Man? Well Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14
23:04
There's a prophecy about the Messiah There the Prophet Daniel says behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a
23:13
Son of Man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages
23:25
Should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion Which shall not pass away in his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed
23:35
Daniel is describing a time in the future when the ancient of days the father
23:42
Gives the throne to the Son of Man and the Son of Man is his son the
23:48
Christ Jesus this is why Jesus calls himself in the third person the
23:54
Son of Man He has in mind this passage from Daniel where the Son of Man comes on the clouds of heaven
24:00
Takes his throne and all the peoples will worship him to come on the clouds is a reference to deity
24:13
He's not just a man he is God it's the Christmas season we're not just celebrating
24:19
Jesus birthday as If he's just an important guy from history where we celebrate his birthday like we celebrate other people's birthdays
24:27
We are celebrating the time in history 2 ,000 years ago when
24:33
God became a man God became something that he never was But he always will be the second person the
24:40
Trinity will always be fully God and will always be fully man So the come of the clouds is a reference to deity psalm 104 3 says concerning the
24:52
Lord. He makes the clouds his chariot He makes the clouds his chariot
25:00
This is no ordinary man What Jesus is saying in verse 30 is that he will appear and he?
25:07
Will appear on the clouds of heaven in power and great glory as Daniel 7 said he would
25:13
It will not just be Christ who comes, but his angels will accompany him as verse 31 says
25:22
Angels were present as at his first coming Angels are gonna be present at his second coming Verse 31 says there will also be a loud trumpet call marking his return this trumpet call will come from Michael the
25:36
Archangel He blew the trumpets At the rapture which I believe it happens before the seven years first Thessalonians 4 16 and he will blow the trumpet after the tribulation when
25:47
Jesus returns in Ancient Israel a trumpet was used to gather people together to assemble the people to an important event
25:56
This will be the most important event for one to be called to the grand appearance of the
26:04
Lord Jesus Christ The ones who will be gathered are the Jews who converted the
26:10
Gentile believers and at this time Old Testament Saints will be resurrected All of these will gather with Christ and his church who came to earth with him after being in heaven with him for seven years
26:25
What the angels His servants will do because that's what angels are they are God's servants What they are gonna do is that they are gonna go to every corner of the earth to gather his people
26:36
All of the people of God will be gathered to Christ and from this point his people will reign with him
26:43
It is important for us to understand that the return of Christ is good news for his people it is great news
26:49
It's the best news. He's coming back And I tell you what if we are not eager for his return, that's a problem as Christians Sometimes you hear people sometimes
27:04
I hear Christian say, you know when this guy is gonna be remembered 500 years from now I'm thinking Are we not anticipating that his return is close
27:14
Have we just forgotten about eschatology the study of the end times Of which 27 % of the
27:20
Bible is concerned with it He is coming back and that's great news for the believer.
27:27
This is supposed to Inspire your faith as he stands at the door.
27:35
So it's great news for the believer as We leave this devil ruled world
27:41
To actually live in a world where he rules. I mean think about the world we live in We have some of the most incompetent people leading us.
27:49
I mean, let's be honest They might think that it's some great achievement of their life. But really it's God's judgment on this earth.
27:55
He's given us bad leaders And it the most unqualified people in the world are the ones leading it not only not only in our nation
28:04
But all over the world in our in the all these all of our states Thankfully, there are some good leaders out there.
28:11
I don't want to just do a broad brush here and say everyone's a bad leader But Jesus is the leader.
28:17
We've always longed for he's gonna do everything. That's right Everything he does will be for the blessing of the people and we should long for that day
28:28
When he comes back and it should fill us hope with hope in in the present as we live in a world where The devil rules this world.
28:37
He does if you want to know what is the world look like where the devil rules it? We're living in it It doesn't mean every place is dark
28:44
There is light here But there's lots of darkness out there but a day is coming when that darkness will be defeated
28:53
Once and for all Okay Let's first look at the good news for his people and it is coming
28:59
The middle of verse 30 says that when he comes all the tribes of the earth will mourn
29:06
We might think that this is describing the unbeliever And there will be a morning when he comes back from the unbeliever because they're gonna think
29:12
Oh Judgment is coming But what I believe this describes is it's the morning of repentance
29:21
It's a good morning Matthew 5 for in the
29:26
Sermon on the Mount Jesus described this very Morning and and Barb is quoting it right here
29:32
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted What he means there by those who mourn are those who are repentant sorrowful for your sins sorrowful for what you've done
29:46
There's two different types of people in this world The unrepentant and the repentant as we've gone through this chapter what
29:55
I've explained is that the Lord has a grand plan for Israel Where they will receive their
30:01
Messiah when he returns to this earth and it's fitting that we have Trevor here with us today As his mission is to reach the
30:07
Jews for Christ And he talked about all of these Jews that are coming to faith in Christ, which points all the more that Jesus is standing at the door
30:19
Israel rejected the Messiah the first time when he came 2 ,000 years ago But they will receive him when he comes to this earth at a day only known to the
30:29
Father Zechariah 12 10 Describes this event and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleased for mercy
30:39
So that when they look on me on Him whom they have pierced
30:44
They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps over a firstborn
30:52
This is the Messiah You you're gonna weep for me, but you're gonna receive me when
30:59
I come back When Jesus returns the nations and the
31:05
Jews Will have hearts full of repentance as they realize that it was their sin that held them there
31:12
It was my sin that held him there Trevor was talking about There's been
31:19
Christians who blamed the Jews, you know for the death of Christ Well, it is true right the Jewish leaders. They delivered him up to the
31:26
Romans to be crucified, but you know who killed Jesus I did Everyone in this room it was our sins that held him there and How shameful to blame an
31:40
Ethnic people for his death when his death is the only way that we experience salvation
31:46
It's the only way his once -for -all sacrifice brings us to God nothing else and As access he ordained that the
31:57
Jewish leaders and the Romans They put him to death and that was his plan and but through that death comes our salvation
32:09
So when Jesus says that Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted The great the great beauty of that verse is that the morning doesn't last right?
32:18
They shall be comforted what follows the crying and and the sorrow is joy
32:23
And the joy is you are forgiven you are forgiven in Christ Psalm 103 verse 12 says as Far as the
32:31
East is from the West so far does he remove our transgressions from us? When Jesus returns as he says in verse 30 all the tribes of the earth will mourn as they witness his return
32:42
But that sorrow will be turned into joy as his people will reign with him he forgives us and makes us his as Jesus comes back.
32:54
It won't be pleasant for everyone. However Some of the morning will be the reality of the coming judgment that awaits some
33:01
I Read Philippians 2 earlier in the service at at the name of Jesus Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
33:11
Lord Everybody's gonna have to acknowledge it at some point Some it's enjoy some it's in shame and Humiliation the
33:25
Lord will judge the wicked at his return in Revelation 19 describes Specifically the judgment that will come upon the
33:33
Antichrist and his armies. Let me read these verses here. This is verses 11 through 21 This is the vision of the
33:39
Apostle John Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness
33:47
He judges and makes war his eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems
33:53
And he has a name written that no one knows but himself He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the
34:03
Word of God and The armies of heaven arrayed and fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses
34:09
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nation's and he will rule them with a rod of iron
34:16
He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written the
34:26
King of Kings and Lord of Lords Then I saw an angel standing in the Sun and with a loud voice
34:32
He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of Kings the flesh of captains the flesh of mighty men the flesh of horses and their riders and The flesh of all men both free and slave both small and great
34:49
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him
34:55
Who was sitting on the horse and against his army and the beast was captured and with it the false prophet?
35:02
Who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image
35:10
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with fire and sulfur and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who is sitting on the horse and All the birds were gorged with their flesh
35:27
This describes the defeat of his opposition and his return as We read it will be a bad day
35:38
For the godless, it'll be a bad day for the final one world ruler for the false prophet It'll be a bad day for Satan who?
35:44
possessed these people They will have their time to rule the world and their time will pass and they will be the first occupants in the lake of fire
35:57
Later Satan and his demons and all unbelievers will join them in that place of forever torment
36:04
What you will notice in Revelation 19 is that John describes in his vision? That birds will fly overhead and gorge themselves with the flesh of these dead soldiers from these armies and this sounds like verse 28 of Matthew 24
36:23
Because verse 28 says wherever the corpse is there the vultures will gather This is an illustration as I've mentioned of birds seen their prey from far away and everyone on earth knowing
36:35
That the return of Christ has taken place Or is taking place verse 28
36:42
May also be a reference to vultures seeing the corpses of The godless from far away as Jesus defeated them at his return and they will pounce and gorge themselves with their flesh there
36:56
This might be describing that event Now we live in a world Where Satan has lots of good days
37:06
Think of the horror that happens every day in our world Think of all the babies that are aborted Think of all the human sex trafficking that is taking place that nobody really knows about very few people know about Satan is doing many things in our day, and he will advance his agenda much more at the very end
37:27
It's only gonna increase What we what we have just seen is that it is going to be a dark day for Satan and his agenda
37:36
He will have reached his goal of ruling the world through the Antichrist But his plans will be thwarted as Christ destroys the one world ruler and those who follow him
37:48
He will destroy this final government and he will destroy this false religion that rules the world
37:56
Satan looks like a powerful foe to us but compared to Christ He is a weakling
38:06
Greater is he who is in you that he who is in the world as first John says Christ's defeat of Satan and The great evil on this earth at this time
38:18
Will not be difficult for him. It's not gonna be some great battle where he where it's gonna be this big struggle
38:25
And he's gonna barely win This is what the Apostle Paul describes in 2nd
38:30
Thessalonians 2 8 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.
38:42
He has no chance piece of cake The evil powers in this world seem big to us, but how small they are compared to God Christ will come be victorious and his people will reign with him
38:58
Understand this that you are conquerors with Christ That's what Paul says in Romans 8 we are more than conquerors through him who loved us it it was interesting
39:08
You know what Paul has in mind as he says that he's thinking about all the the conquerors in world history He's thinking about Alexander the
39:14
Great. He's thinking about people like that. They conquered but you know what what the problem was
39:20
It didn't remain they were replaced by another kingdom but with Christ he conquers and Nobody replaces his kingdom his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom
39:33
So you are more than conquerors through him who loved us now thus far in this chapter
39:43
We have seen gradual signs through illustrations of birth pains as verse 8 describes each of these signs
39:52
Increases in frequency and intensity as the return of Christ nears but this sign
39:59
That we've seen this morning is the actual viewing of Christ as he returns when the atmosphere and outer space are in chaos and The trumpet blows what comes next is the most glorious sight this world has ever seen the
40:16
Son of Man the Messiah The King of Kings and Lord of Lords will come in glory and he will come in the clouds of heaven with his angels
40:24
His angels will gather his people and Christ will destroy his enemies This is what world history is moving toward and no evil power will be able to stop it
40:36
So you are to anticipate? The soon return of Christ. We don't know when it will be
40:43
But we are to anticipate it anticipate the soon return of Christ and The 11th practice how is through viewing the glorious return of Jesus Christ that some people will experience
40:56
At some unknown time in the future And and in some way, you know, we will be involved in that event as his church and I think about that You think life is mundane?
41:08
It's not mundane You're gonna be involved in this someday But what a glorious reality that is so press on in your walk with the
41:17
Lord right now To anticipate his return At this time.
41:23
Let's pray Father in heaven during this
41:31
Christmas season We're reminded of the Advents his first Advent and the second
41:37
Advent That will come And even hearing today About all these
41:44
Jews coming to faith in Christ and all the Jews who are going to come to faith in Christ right before Christ's return
41:51
These are all signs That point to this reality You say it to be true
41:58
And then at some time in the future it comes to pass. You are God and We give you praise for that and in the present
42:05
Lord my prayer for everyone in this room that you would apply this Right where they're at If there's any unbelievers among us that they would believe in the
42:14
Lord Jesus today that they would understand that he went to the cross On a rescue mission.
42:20
He went to the cross to die in their place and And then he rose gloriously on the third day from the dead and anybody who believes in him has eternal life and so my prayers that If that's someone here today that that person would believe in the
42:36
Lord Jesus Christ to be victorious Alongside him that that person would mourn for their sins
42:44
But also be comforted because in Christ those sins are forgiven
42:49
And every Christian here today Lord fill us with the hope that we have in Jesus of the future the future hope of his coming the future hope of our dwelling with him and Help us to do our part in getting the good news out to our neighbors
43:07
We think about the Jewish people or we pray that the Jewish people would continue to come to faith in Christ the people that Trevor knows
43:14
The people that maybe we know who are Jews That you would use This time we spent a lot of time talking about that day
43:23
But you would use this time or to give us an urgency to reach these people for Christ Thank you for the hope we have from your words in scripture