The Signs of the Times and the Beginning of the End | Part 1

Is this the beginning of the end?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. In the 6,000-year recorded history of man, it is estimated that 600 million people have been killed in war. But friend, half of those have died since 1900. More wars have been seen by this generation, which we live, than any other generation.

Terrorism, hijackings, bombings, assassinations, sabotage, war. I've heard so many promises of wars to end all wars and to bring in safety and to make the world safe from war. But Jesus said that will never happen.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said, the gospel was not given to save civilization from wreckage, but to save men from the wreckage of civilization. Mankind has always been fascinated with knowing the future. Our only reliable source of prophecy is God's word. And in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus prophesied his literal physical return to earth, offering signs of the times and the beginning of the end. So what can we expect?

What are we looking forward to? If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew 24. We'll begin in verse one.

Again, here's Adrian Rogers. Mankind always wants to look into the future. We have the prognosticators, the guessers, the pundits, the so-called prophets without divine inspiration. But the only book, the only book that has a batting average of 1,000 is the Word of God. And the next great event that we're looking for is the return, the literal, visible, bodily return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And may I tell you that this episode, the coming of Christ, is a major doctrine in the Word of God.

It is mentioned no less than 1,200 times in the Old Testament and then again 300 more times in the New Testament. God is telling us that this same Jesus who has come is coming again. And we're going to study today the words of Jesus as he leads us on a journey of prophecy as we look to our age and then through our age to his coming and we're going to see from the Word of God the fate of earth.

Now it's so important for our age because those of us who are living in this age can say it and mean it, the future is here. And I want you to notice the setting of the prophecy that we're going to read. Matthew chapter 24, let's read the first three verses. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. Now don't you think Jesus had seen the temple before? Why would the disciples be showing Jesus the buildings of the temple? And Jesus said unto them, see ye not all these things?

Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he set upon the Mount of Olives, and by the way the Mount of Olives looks down upon the temple, 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 age? Now when you keep this prophecy in mind, remember this is the setting. Now the temple was absolutely magnificent.

The temple was the center of the Jewish life spiritually and socially. All of their hopes were based there in that temple. And it set there on Mount Moriah, the temple mount, like a mountain of gold.

That's what Josephus said, or like a mountain of snow. There's it dazzled in the sun as the sun rose from the east coming over the Mount of Olives. Well why had the disciples come out and said, Lord, look at this temple and the stones of it.

Why were they showing him this? Well if you go backward in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus had made a prophecy in Matthew 23. Look in Matthew 23 beginning in verse 37. Jesus coming down that Mount of Olives begins to weep great salty copious tears coursing down his cheeks as he looks at Jerusalem and there is the temple right before him. He's coming down the Mount of Olives and he sees Jerusalem and the temple. And here's what he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen getteth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not behold your house. He was talking about the temple. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They could not believe that this temple would ever be desolate. And it didn't look like it would ever be desolate. But to make matters worse, Jesus said of this temple, not one stone would be left upon another. They couldn't believe this. If you have seen even the remnant of the temple, the great stones that have been tossed off into the valley, you see these massive stones and it didn't make sense to these disciples at all. They said, Jesus, you're saying this place is going to be desolate? Not one stone is going to be left upon another? Well, Jesus, look at these stones. Ladies and gentlemen, I've seen some of those stones even in the foundation wall. How they even move these stones into place, I cannot conceive because they did not have the tools of modern construction that we have. And they said, Jesus, look at this.

Look at these stones. Now, Jesus had prophesied destruction, and it didn't seem reasonable. The Romans were going to come and destroy Jerusalem, and there was already this fomenting there of rebellion against Roman rule. Jesus also prophesied that. As a matter of fact, in Luke 21, verse 20, Jesus said, And when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, know ye that the desolation thereof is nigh? That is, the temple is going to be desolated. How are you going to know when this is going to happen? When you see the temple compassed about with armies. Well, 40 years after Jesus said that, the Roman army under Titus came, and they compassed Jerusalem, just like Jesus said with armies, all the way around the city. They said, We don't need to waste any lives going in there and wasting Roman soldiers' lives.

We'll just build a circle around the city. They won't be able to come in. They won't be able to go out. They won't be able to get any food. Starvation stalked the cities.

We'll just wait them out. Jesus prophesied all of this. It all happened. The Romans were not destroyers of temples. The Romans were preservers of temples.

And Titus had given orders that the temple that Josephus described like a mountain of snow was to be left untouched. But somebody shot a flaming arrow or something happened, one of the mishaps of war, and those great cedars of Lebanon began to burn. And this building went up in flames, and it was layered with gold. And it was rumored that there were hidden subterranean chambers with treasures. And all of this just melted together and caved in on itself.

The plunderers went in there with their mighty crowbars and equipment and began to pry apart those stones one at a time looking for treasure, collecting melted gold in the seams of those cracks. And what Jesus said that so many people thought was unthinkable, they said, Lord, it's just unthinkable. Look at these stones.

Look at this. Do you understand what you've said? Jesus knew exactly what He was saying. And, friend, I've been there many times to the Temple Mount. And if you look for Herod's Temple, you can find other temples. I've seen the ruins of other temples. You will not find, listen to me, one stone left upon another, not one, exactly as Jesus said.

That ought to teach us something. We don't live by reason. We live by revelation. Don't try to explain away the prophecies of the Word of God. Now, this is the setting of this prophecy concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The setting is they were questioning this. Now notice the subject of the prophecy. Look in verse 3. And as He set upon the Mount of Olives, His disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, number one, when shall these things be? Number two, what shall be the sign of Thy coming? Number three, and of the end of the world.

The disciples asked three questions. First of all, when will this be? When will the temple be destroyed? Number two, what will be the sign of Thy coming? The word coming here is the Greek word parousia, and it means His coming in power and glory. That is, when are you going to set up your kingdom?

Lord, when are you going to take over and rule and reign? And then last of all, what is the sign of the end of the world? The word world there literally means the end of the age. They thought they were coming to the end of an old age, and the new age, the Messianic age, was about to begin. So they asked Jesus this question. Now these were Jewish Christians who were asking Him this question, and we're going to see here the signs of the times as they deal with Israel and with the church. Now what Jesus does here, Jesus looks down through the tunnel of time, and Jesus gives them the signs of the times, the intervening days and ages between the time that they existed and when Jesus Christ is going to come again, and He gives them seven marks. Now that's what we're going to talk about today, okay?

Now here they are. First of all, Jesus said the first mark is going to be the deceptions of counterfeit Christs, the deceptions of counterfeit Christs. Now look in verses 4 and 5. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Jesus said, One of the marks of the last days, the end of the age and the continuing age, will be a time of great deception.

And so many people have been deceived, though the Bible warns us not to be deceived. Let me give you an ancillary scripture, 1 John chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. Here's what the apostle John said, And, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try, or test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Thereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, even now already it is in the world. Two thousand years ago the spirit of antichrist was in the world. The word antichrist takes the word Christ and puts the prefix anti, a-n-t-i, in front of it. Anti means against or instead of. It can mean either.

And it means really both. The antichrist comes against the true Christ and presents himself instead of Christ, and therefore there are many false Christs and many false messiahs. In the past fifty years no less than one thousand one hundred people have professed to be Christ.

I'm amazed at what people will believe. Number two, not only is there going to be the deceptions of counterfeit Christs, number two, there will be the divisions of continuing conflicts. Did you think that in two thousand years man would have solved the problem of war and to make the world safe? I've heard so many promises of wars to end all wars and to bring in safety and to make the world safe from war. But Jesus said that will never happen.

Look in verses six and seven. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Now the world from the time that Jesus made this statement to this present day has been plagued by the specter of war, and wars are growing in number, and wars are growing in intensity. Since World War I at least every month there has been an attempt to bring about political, economic, racial or religious change.

You think about what's going on in our day and in our age. Think of the conflict in the Middle East. In the six thousand year recorded history of man it is estimated that six hundred million people have been killed in war. But friend, half of those, half of those have died since 1900. Now we seem to find these things coming together in a climax. More wars have been seen by this generation, the generation in which we live, than any other generation.

Terrorism, hijackings, bombings, assassinations, sabotage, war. And all of this seems to center ultimately in Jerusalem. Does the Bible have anything to say about that?

It does indeed. Zechariah 12 verse 2, Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in siege against both Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the peoples of the earth be gathered together against it.

Continuing conflicts, divisions. Number three, the disasters of cataclysmic consequence. Skip on down now, Matthew 24, for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. Now Jesus, looking down through time, said there would be famine. You would think that perhaps man with increased agricultural skill and genetic engineering would be able to solve the problem of famine, but the problem of famine in our world is really two-fold. Number one, there's the failure of agriculture itself, and number two, there's the bottleneck of distribution. Even when we have the food, we cannot get the food to the people who need the food. But before long, we will not have the food. We are now living on planet earth from field to mouth.

We don't have granaries filled with food like we used to. A well-known biologist and sociologist has said, and I quote, planet earth is no longer a sustainable society with world population doubling twice in the past century. The world's land is being worked so hard for food that one-quarter of the soil is turning sterile and eroding away.

The Bible teaches that in the tribulation, which may be just a few years away, Revelation chapter 6 verse 6, that you would pay for a quart of wheat, 80 to 100 dollars, which would make about two loaves of bread. A famine is coming here upon this earth. But not only did Jesus speak of famines, Jesus spoke of plagues. Now, you would have thought that in 2,000 years we would do something about plagues. I can remember when I was a kid, they said, we've conquered polio.

And I thought, well, isn't that wonderful? It won't be long before every disease like polio and smallpox and these other things, we'll know how to deal with those. And then along comes AIDS, and then along comes SARS, and along comes Ebola, and along comes this thing and that thing. And then to cap all of that off, biological and chemical warfare is a specter that we face. Jesus said plagues are going to be a sign of the day in which we live. And then he mentions earthquakes.

It seems that Mother Earth itself is heaving in pain. Jesus said that in the ensuing age before he comes, there will be earthquakes. Now, number four, there's going to be the defamation of committed Christians. We're going to be defamed if we love the Lord Jesus.

It's one of the marks of the age. Look in Matthew 24 verses 9 and 10. 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. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. Jesus said that religious persecution will increase at the end of the age, and it's going to be centered on Christianity, those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

This world does not mind religion, but it does resent the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that more Christians have died for their faith in the past century than all of the other centuries since Jesus Christ hung on the cross? It is estimated that more Christians were tortured and slain in 12 months of World War II than died under Rome in all of the early centuries. We think about those Christians who died when Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and the Christians were persecuted in the Rome.

More people have died for Christ in our generation and our age. Some authorities claim that over 50 million Christians were slaughtered in Russia and other communist countries because they named the name of Christ. Since the ascension of Jesus Christ, no generation has seen such worldwide persecution as is now in progress.

Open your eyes and look around. Bible-believing Christians are the whipping boys. Christian bashing has become the favorite sport in newspaper, radio and television. It's sad to see what is happening, but this persecution in the last days will be turned to a white-hot heat, and I wonder how many Sunday morning bench warmers will vacate themselves from Bible-believing churches. Now, there's going to be a persecution of believers in the last days, and it's going to separate those who are true believers from those who are cultural Christians. Number five, the distortion of Christless cults. Look if you will now in Matthew 24 verse 11, and many false prophets shall rise and deceive many.

C.K. Chesterton has pointed out that when a man ceases to believe in the one true God, it doesn't mean that he believes in nothing. It means that he will believe in anything. Now, when the Bible speaks of a prophet here, it doesn't mean a person who is even religious. The word here means somebody who speaks with authority. It could be a philosopher. It could be a college professor. It could be a scientist.

It could be a statesman. But these are people today who want to shape and to mold society into its thinking, and they will deceive many. It's like it was in the days of Noah when the Bible says God saw the imagination of men's hearts was evil continually. The word imaginations there does not mean daydreams. It speaks of carefully crafted philosophies.

It's a word that was used to describe the molding of a piece of pottery. These philosophers were trying to fit society into their mold. And what all of this comes down to, really, is New Age humanism. When New Age humanism just takes the teaching of all the religions of the world and tries to synchronize them into its mystical system.

Let me tell you what one of them said. We honor the truth and beauty of all the world's religions, believing that each has a seed of God, a kernel of the Spirit that unites us. Now, the New Agers believe that God revealed himself in Jesus, but he also revealed himself in Buddha and Krishna and a host of other people. Now, let me give you the sixth sign that Jesus spoke about, and it is the disposition of carnal coldness. People are going to be cold-hearted. Notice again in Matthew 24 verse 12, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Now, what brings about this cold-heartedness? It's the teaching of these false prophets. These false prophets take away the moral base. When you have no moral base, when it's all right to kill babies, when it's all right to perform homosexual marriages, when it is all right to take away life from a person who has lost consciousness or euthanized the aged, why is this all right?

Because you have taken away the fixed standard of right and wrong, and when you take away moral limits, you destroy the fire and the glow of true love, and you substitute that with the false fire of lust, and theology turns to meology, and the Bible says because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. We need to pause the message right here, but what a powerful quote from G.K. Chesterton. When men choose not to believe in God, they do not believe in nothing.

They then become capable of believing in anything. We'll hear the conclusion of this message tomorrow. Maybe right now you have questions about God, about who Jesus is, about what he means to you. If you go to our website, lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus, you'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you might have about your faith. Again, click Discover Jesus at lwf.org slash radio. Now for a complete copy of today's message, which we haven't had time for today, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and order The Signs of the Times and the Beginning of the End. This message is also part of the powerful series Challenges to the Cross with a complete collection, all six insightful messages.

Call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD or go to lwf.org slash radio or write us to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well thanks for studying with us on today's program. You know, knowing Jesus could return at any moment, the wisest thing to do is to follow Jesus and spend time in his word today. And be sure to tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of The Signs of the Times and the Beginning of the End, right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener in Texas wrote to us recently with a word of inspiration I want to share with you. He said, Dr. Rogers' teaching is such an encouragement to us every evening. He always seems to be speaking about just what we need to hear. This year's been a challenging one for us, and I'm grateful for how God has used your ministry to speak to our hearts.

Thank you so much for that kind word. You know, we'd love providing resources to help brothers and sisters in Christ stand boldly in their faith through some difficult times. This month, as a thank you for your generous support, we want to send you our Critical Issues booklet collection.

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