Are We Living in the Last Days? - Part B

If the Bible clearly predicts the last days, which it does, and if the Bible in depicting the last days describes it as being full of spiritual apostasy, and it will, and if also in the last days it will be filled with secular mockery, and it will, then for those of us who are believers it should evoke a godly response.

Often, when people think of the end of the world, they are filled with fear and gloom. But today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares why you can face the last days with hope. But before we begin, we want to tell you about a resource that will help strengthen your faith as you explore the lives of notable women in the Bible. What stands between you and a more fruitful walk with Jesus? Find out how four prominent women in the Bible faced their struggles in a new teaching series from Lenya Heitzig called Queens of the Bible. Here's Lenya on the Queen of Sheba. Hearing is the first step toward spiritual blessing.

Right now, hearing is a step toward blessing, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Hear more from Lenya as she explores the faith and the failings of four different queens in scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teachings is our way of saying thank you when you give $35 or more today to support this Bible teaching ministry. Look, the cost of following Christ is to go wherever he leads. Get your copy of these unique teachings when you call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we'll be in second Peter for today's study.

So let's join Skip Heitzig. What did Jesus tell them? He expounded to them in all the scriptures, all the things concerning himself.

I imagine he began with Genesis chapter three, the first prophecy, the seed of the woman and the child is going to be born to crush the head of Satan. I imagine he mentioned Genesis 22, Abraham almost sacrificing his son on a mountain called Mount Moriah, which is the very same exact mountain Jesus died on years later. And the angel said to Abraham, in the mountain of the Lord, it shall be seen.

He made sense of that for them. He probably stopped off at Exodus chapter 12, the Passover, the blood on the lintels and the doorpost of the homes. He no doubt brought up the Levitical sacrifices, the tabernacle and how that speaks of him. He probably mentioned the scapegoat prophecy in Leviticus chapter 16. No doubt he would have said, and what about Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapter 53? He may be even unlocked for them Daniel 7 and Daniel 9, for it says, beginning in Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all the things concerning himself.

No wonder then does the angel say to John in the book of Revelation, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. You probably have a smartphone or you could have a dumb phone, but you have a device. But the device typically has a code, right, that it's locked. Nobody can get in and hack it. I hope you have that code and you know it and you type it in and it unlocks. But once it's unlocked, if you want to get into any app, you have to have a password. If you want to get onto any platform, you want to buy something, you need a password. And I don't know about you, but I struggle with just what's that password again?

Right, how do I manage all my passwords because a combination of letters or numbers and letters and figures will unlock that platform or app. Well, that's the way it is with Bible prophecy. To unlock Old Testament Bible prophecy, you need the right letters, J-E-S-U-S. When you put Jesus in the midst of those Old Testament prophecies like the apostles did, it's like, ah, now Isaiah 53 makes sense. Now Psalm 22 makes sense. Now Genesis 22 makes sense. So just as the planets revolve around the sun, so all the prophecies of the scripture revolve around the Son of God, S-O-N, Jesus. So then the last days are foreseen by the scriptures. They are focused on Christ.

Here's the third hallmark. They will be filled with apostasy. Now, if you don't know what that word means, it simply means a defector is an apostate, someone who had a position and left that original position somehow. They drifted away from it.

They walked away from it. Look at chapter two, Second Peter chapter two. Peter says, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber. Time fails us to do it today, but the entire second chapter, if you were to look at all of it, the entire second chapter from beginning to end is devoted to apostates. Deserters and false teachers or deserters who become false teachers and get this, it all comes from within the church, not from the outside, all from within the church. So in the last days, this is the voice of the religious world. In the last days, according to the scriptures, there will be a falling away from historic biblical truth.

What we would say is historic Christianity. Now, Peter is not the only guy who mentions this. Paul mentions it. Jude mentions it.

When Paul wrote to Timothy in his first letter, listen to how plain this is. First Timothy chapter four, verse one, the spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons or better put, demonically inspired teachings. Many will depart from the faith. That's apostasy. That's drifting away. That's walking away. That's deserting.

It's leaving an original position. Now, I'd like you to see another one that Paul wrote. Turn in your Bibles to Second Timothy. Take your Bible and turn in it to Second Timothy chapter three. Verse one, but know this, and any time Paul says know this, he's going to lay something heavy on us. But know this, that in the last days, here's the prediction. Perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Boy, this is not a good list. Having a form of godliness, but denying its power, and from such people, writes Paul, turn away. So the last days will be marked by a drift, a drift away from biblical truth, replacing that truth with deceptive ideas. So Peter writes about this apostasy. Jude writes about this apostasy. Paul writes about this, and so does John, the apostle John, the apostle of love.

In First John chapter two, listen to how explicit he is. He says, little children, this is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, which is how we know it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would not have left us or gone out from us. So all of these are talking about the same thing. In the last days, you can expect deception, and the deception will rise even among believers, so to speak, or at least people who claim to be believers within church assemblies themselves. Even Paul said to the church of Ephesus, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in destroying the flock. Among your own selves, he says, they will arise. So deception, which is one of Satan's master tools, will be employed in the last days.

I suppose then if you want to know what stage of the last days we're in, this is a pretty good indicator. There's always been defectors, there's always been in every age apostates, but I think there is a proliferation of that. I found an interesting little study that was done, a survey that revealed that 52% of evangelical Protestants believe that salvation, which is as basic as you can get, salvation comes by a combination of faith and works. So 52% means over half, which means technically most. Most evangelical Protestants believe you get to heaven by believing and by working for it, trying to earn it, even though the Bible says you only get saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. More than half, most evangelical Protestants will say, nah, I think you get to heaven by believing in Jesus and working hard for it. Only 30% in this survey say it's by faith alone. Now that's an anecdotal piece of evidence.

Let me give you another. A few years ago, two authors named Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScala wrote a piece called, listen to this title, Preachers Who Are Not Believers. So they did a study and their work chronicled five different preachers who over time entertained, accepted, listened to heretical teachings about Christianity and today have fallen away from the faith. Today, these pastors are either pantheists in their worldview or clandestine atheists. The most disturbing thing about the study is that these preachers maintain the position as being pastors of Christian churches. So their congregations are wholly unaware of their pastor's spiritual state. Pastors don't believe they're pantheistic or atheistic, but they're teaching people to believe in Jesus.

And the article is called Preachers Who Are Not Believers. Now, if you don't believe apostasy is real, go read Revelation Chapter 2 and 3, where Jesus writes seven little postcards to seven church groups. And in each of those little letters, he notes that all seven of them, except for one, have fallen away from an original position. And he says, I have something against you.

He writes to all of them because they had fallen away. So in the very least, let this be a warning to us as a church and a warning to us as individuals. There is such a thing. I call it spiritual entropy. I'm using a term from physics, entropy. The second law of thermodynamics is that energy is lost in a closed system over time.

But I use it simply to say there's a degradation that naturally happens. There's a declension that naturally happens over time. That unless you are feeding energy into the system, stoking the fire of your soul, so to speak, it's easy, like Jesus said to the Church of Ephesus, to leave your first love. I have this against you.

He said you've left your first love. So we need to be inputting our lives with truth, Bible study, prayer, fellowship, et cetera. In Hebrews chapter 2, we are told, let us give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we drift away from them. So the last days then are foreseen by scripture focused on Christ, but they will be filled with apostasy.

Let me take it another step. The last days, according to Peter, will be framed by skepticism. Now, go back with me where we started in chapter 3. You know, we just looked at the phrase the last days, but we neglected to really unlock the passage.

So let's look at that. Beloved, 2 Peter 3 verse 1, Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle. He wrote 1 Peter, this is 2 Peter, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets. Those are all the Old Testament guys and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, that's the New Testament guys. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own loss and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning. Now, get this, just as apostasy is the mark of the religious world in the last days, the mark of the secular world in the last days is mockery. That's what scoffing means. The word scoffer means one who treats lightly what should be taken seriously.

So it's somebody who ridicules the truth. And you should know this, that the Old Testament guys, the prophets, when they spoke in the Old Testament, they had scoffers around them. You may on your own want to read Isaiah chapter 5, Jeremiah chapter 17, Ezekiel chapter 12, and Malachi chapter 2. All of them mentioned mockers, scoffers in their age, in their era. Now, I just read this text to you, 2 Peter 3, out of the version that I teach with every week, the New King James Version.

It's just a version I've used for years and so I've stuck with it and there are various translations, all of which are good. Let me read one of these verses to you out of a very different translation called The Message. And listen to this, first off, you need to know that in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday, reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings they will mock.

Such a colorful translation. It's as if Peter anticipated social media. Everything's just reduced to the puny little feelings and so they mock. The response is mockery. Have you ever shared your faith with an unbeliever when you get to the point about heaven and hell and judgment?

They just disconnect. It's, really? You believe that? And especially if you mentioned the fact that Jesus is coming again, you're going to hear that a lot, huh? You believe that? My grandmother taught me that.

My great grandfather believed in that. Jesus hadn't showed up yet. Sounds like verse four, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Now, you need to know why they scoff. Here's why mockers mock. Here's why haters of Christianity hate. It's because they want pleasure without accountability.

I didn't make that up. Look at verse three. Knowing this first, scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts.

There it is. They want pleasure without accountability. They don't want you or Jesus or anybody else telling them what to do.

It's all about what they want to do and all about their pleasure and their own lusts. So that's one of the marks of the last days. It's going to be framed by skepticism. I want to give you a fifth hallmark now of the last days and of all of them.

This is the best. And that is the last days are going to be faced with hope. Because there's not always just apostates.

There's not always just scoffers. There are true believers, a remnant of true believers. And they're going to face the same future with great hope.

No matter what happens, they have hope and they respond in obedience. Go down to verse 10 of chapter 3. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. God created the heavens and the earth. God will one day uncreate the heavens and the earth. This is the uncreation. This is the destruction of it.

It's going to end. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Peter's pretty logical in this whole book. If you look at chapter 1, 2, and 3, in a nutshell, here's his appeal. He says if the Bible clearly predicts the last days, which it does, and if the Bible in depicting the last days describes it as being full of spiritual apostasy, and it will, and if also in the last days it will be filled with secular mockery, and it will, then for those of us who are believers, it should evoke a godly response. What manner of persons ought you to be in holiness and in godliness?

It's a good question. How should we live? How should we then live? What manner of persons ought we to be? If the world is going to be burned up, what kind of people should we be?

First of all, not too materialistic if it's all going to burn. Number two, we shouldn't be mockers like skeptics. We shouldn't scoff at it because they're scoffing at the fact that Jesus said He's going to return, but He's going to return.

So you don't want to be on the mockery side. Your response should be a godly response filled with hope as you anticipate His coming. I'm going to sum it up this way. The Bible's revelation of the world's consummation should evoke godly motivation.

That's something you can write down or you can just commit it to memory. The Bible's revelation of the world's consummation, its ending, should evoke among true believers godly motivation. So I want to leave you with three things that I think are the right response for believers living in the last days. Number one, be careful of spiritual entropy. Be careful of it.

Be careful of the tendency to just let things slide, to drift away from things, to decline, to leave our first love. Be aware of that. Be careful of that. Second, be confident in spiritual truth.

That's why we need to get into the Word, read the promises of Scripture, believe all the things Jesus said about His coming, more of which we'll look at next time. So be careful of spiritual entropy. Be confident in spiritual truth. Third, be consistent in spiritual activity. Be consistent in your commitment to your God, to your family, to your church, to your friends, to your place of employment.

Be consistent. Because that's the healthy balance between waiting for Jesus to show up and being engaged in our culture. You know what it's like? It's like when a couple goes to the doctor and the doctor tells the husband and wife, the young couple, she's pregnant, you're going to have a baby. So now they've got nine months to prepare.

Well, maybe by the time they hear eight months. But they hear, they find, okay, we're going to have a baby. So they start getting really jazzed and psyched. They're preparing for the coming, His coming or her coming. And so they start picking names out.

They start thinking about colors for the room, buying furniture for the room. They're preparing for the coming. But at the same time, they still go to work. They still pay the bills. They still fix things around the house.

They still stay engaged. So that's the balance as we wait for the coming. Jesus said, occupy until I come. Stay busy until I come. So for the believer living in the last days, keep your eye on the sky and keep your hand to the plow.

Keep your eye on the sky. Jesus could come back anytime He chooses. Could be tomorrow.

Could be before 2021 ends. God willing, I'm ready. But until He comes, whenever He comes, I'm going to keep my hand to the plow.

I'm going to keep serving Him, stay engaged, stay faithful all the way through as we wait for His return. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from his series 2020. Now, here's Skip with an important message for you. God's Word has the power to change lives.

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