Living in the Last Days | Part 2

What does the devil think about religion?

Listen to Adrienne Rogers. Remember this, the devil is not against religion. The antichrist is the devil's Messiah. He is the Christ of the cause. He comes against Christ and instead of Christ.

The devil wants converts as well as he wants casualties. And so find out what anybody believes about Jesus Christ. If they're wrong about Jesus Christ, then it doesn't matter what else they may be right about. If anybody denies the deity of Jesus Christ, he is of the spirit of antichrist.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. In part one of Adrienne Rogers' message, Living in the Last Days, he reminded us that we are on the brink of Jesus Christ's return. Since we are living in the last days, we need to be awake. And because the antichrist is coming, we need to be aware.

What can we do as we wait for these events to unfold? If you have your Bible, turn to 1st John chapter two, as Adrienne Rogers gives profound and practical instructions to those of us living in the last days. We are living in the last days beyond the Shalva Dao. These are the last days. You say, well, pastor, how do you know they were the last days?

Because they were the last days in John's time. For 2,000 years it has been the last days. As a matter of fact, this passage may be translated, the last hour.

We're always on the brink of eternity. So the last hour began in John's day. We are living in the last days indeed. I believe we're living in the last of the last days. Now there are signs of the times, but these signs of the times do not tell us that Jesus cannot come at any moment or could not have come at any moment. We're always looking and waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

What we need to say, first of all, is very clearly this is the last day and we need to be awake. Now, number two, the antichrist is coming. Not only is Jesus coming, the antichrist is coming and we need to be aware.

Look again in verse 18. Little children, it is the last time and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. There is a wicked, malevolent, ungodly person who will be Satan in the flesh, who is waiting in the wings, waiting to be revealed after the rapture of the church.

This antichrist is ready to step on to center stage. He is the counterfeit Christ. He will be to the devil what Jesus is to the Father.

Jesus said, He who hath seen me, hath seen my Father. The antichrist will be able to say, Who hath seen me, hath seen my Father. Satan has always desired worship. Just as we are to worship God the Father through God the Son, Satan, who mimics God, wants to receive worship through his antichrist, his false Christ, the Christ of the cults, Satan wants obvious, open, overt worship. Let me tell you some things about the antichrist and let's let them begin with the letter D so you can remember them. First of all he is devilish. He is full of the devil. He is Satan incarnate. Number two, not only is he devilish, the antichrist, he is divisive. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4 verse 1, In the last days perilous times shall come for men shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits. So there is the spirit of antichrist that is devilish and the spirit of antichrist that is divisive and there is the spirit of antichrist that is deceptive.

The Bible says the devil would deceive the very elect if it were possible. Now the devil doesn't care what you believe. You can believe many things that are good and right and honorable as long as you are wrong about Jesus.

He doesn't care what else you may be right about. If you are wrong about Jesus, nothing else really matters. Now notice in verse 10, If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, what doctrine? The doctrine of Christ, receiving not into your house, neither bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. They come knocking at your door and you're there.

Well, how are you? Well, I'm so and so and so and so we're here so and so and so and so right away, you know, they don't believe what you believe and they don't worship the Jesus that you worship. But don't be so foolish as to say, but you know, we really need understanding. Let's come on in my house and I'll bring my neighbors and I'll let you teach us. We'll have a Bible study here in my house.

You make your your house headquarters for hell. Don't do that. What do you say?

No, I wouldn't do that. What I just say, you know, it's just so wonderful that you you believe what you believe. God bless you. God bless you. No, you don't say God bless you. I mean, you don't say God bless what you're doing.

You can pray that they their eyes, their hearts, their mind will be open. You can desire the welfare of God, but you cannot bid God speed on that evilness. It's wickedness if they don't understand the Lord Jesus Christ. He is deceptive. The great fact of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

Remember this. The devil is not against religion. The devil is into religion up to his ears. He's the father of the master of New Ageism and demonism and witchcraft and cultism. The antichrist is the devil's Messiah. He is the Christ of the cults. He comes against Christ and instead of Christ.

That's what it's all about. And the spirit of antichrist has been in the world for a long time. The devil wants converts as well as he wants casualties. And so find out what anybody believes about Jesus Christ. If they're wrong about Jesus Christ, then it doesn't matter what else they may be right about. If anybody denies the deity of Jesus Christ, he is of the spirit of antichrist. And so this antichrist is devilish. This antichrist is divisive.

This antichrist is deceptive and he is destructive. Now look if you will in verse 24 and verse 25 of 1 John chapter 2. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning.

If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the son and in the father. And this is the promise that he has promised to us even eternal life. Now the devil wants to destroy souls. The devil wants to steal from you eternal life.

He wants to destroy you forever in hell. Now you will always have eternal existence. There will never be a time when you will not be.

There was a time when you were not but there never will be a time when you will not be. Now the devil knows that you cannot have eternal life apart from faith in the crucified risen ascended son of God. I'm looking forward to going to heaven. I'm looking forward to eternity.

I made reservations in the non-smoking section. The devil, the devil wants to keep you out of heaven. This is the spirit of antichrist. Now what I've said is that it's the last days you need to be awake. The antichrist is coming but you need to be aware. Here's the third thing. Our Lord is on his way and you need to be abiding.

Now John here picks up an interesting word and he uses it over and over again. Look if you will in verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. Look in verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. Look if you will in verse 28. And now little children abide in him.

Do you see that? Now what's he saying to us? What's he saying to me?

What's he saying to you? That if it's the last days and we need to be awake, if antichrist is coming and the great tribulation we need to be aware, then our Lord is on his way and we need to be abiding. Now what does the word abide mean? Well literally it means to be at home. If I build a house and say this is where you are to abide, then that's your house. That's where you dwell.

That's where you are to be. It means to make yourself at home. Now John tells Adrian and all of us three things that we are to do in these days in which we live. Now here's what we are to do. We are to be at home in the word of God. We are to be at home in the word of God. Look in verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning.

Now what's he talking about? Here's the word of God. That which you've heard. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the son and in the father. You are to make yourself at home in the word of God. Now many Christians are failing to do this. You need to appreciate the word of God. And then you need to appropriate the word of God. Then you need to assimilate the word of God. You need to ask God to inculcate in you in this coming year a hunger for the word of God because what happens is this.

Notice what he says here. What happens when the word of God abides in you? When the word of God abides in you, he says you will continue in the father and in the son.

And that's what you want. You want the father and the son. Look in verse 24.

Look at it again. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall continue in the son and in the father. Now do you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ the son?

Do you want to know the father? Then you need to abide in the word of God. You need to get this into the hearts and minds of your children. The word of God, not just giving them admonition and good advice and food and clothes and a good example. You need to saturate them with the word of God. America needs the word of God. That's one reason I'm so grateful for this church and love we're finding ministries. Did you know that the most quoted book of the founding fathers of the United States, the most quoted book of our founding fathers was the Bible.

Today it is the most censored book. That's an amazing thing. An amazing thing. What do we need to do? Make yourself at home in the word of God. Number two, make yourself at home with the spirit of God. Look again now in verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you, but the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lie.

And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now the anointing is called here and him, H-I-M. In the old Testament, there was something called an anointing.

It was a ceremony. It took place with oil. If there was a king or prophet or priest, they would take oil and they would put oil on him and they call that the anointing. It was the anointing oil.

They would put that oil on him. And that anointing, that oil was an emblem, a symbol, a visual lesson of the Holy Spirit. Now John is picking up on that and he says, you have an anointing, you have an unction. In verse 20 it's called an unction.

Do you see that in verse 20 if you have the King James? It's the same word. It's just translated differently. It means an anointing.

It's just translated differently. Now those of us who have the Word of God and we make ourselves at home in the Word of God, then we also need to abide in the Spirit of God, make ourselves at home with the Holy Spirit because he's the one who teaches us to understand the Bible. I pray over the Bible. I ask God to open my eyes to help me to understand the Bible.

You see, the Christian has a built-in guidance system and he has a built-in alarm system. Put this verse down. John 14 verse 26. Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. He calls him the comforter. And the word comforter there does not mean now, now, there, there, your thing. It's a word that means with strength. Come forth.

Think of a fortress. Think of your forte, your strength. Jesus says, the one who's going to give you strength, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Now, this is what, what John is saying here in this passage of scripture, that it is the Holy Spirit who is going to teach you. Notice again in verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and you have, and you need not that any man shall teach you.

Well, now wait a minute. That's what I'm doing right now, isn't it? Aren't I teaching you? And yet John says, you don't, you don't need any man to teach you.

There's no contradiction here. The Bible says in Ephesians 4 that God gave to the church pastor teachers, but what he is saying is that the real teacher, and this is deep, but I want you to get it. The real teacher is not Adrian. The real teacher is the Holy Spirit.

Before I came out here, I got on my knees and prayed because, and you've heard me say this a thousand times, anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. The one who teaches you is the Holy Spirit of God. He's the Holy Spirit of God. God uses human teachers, but the one who teaches you, the one who really helps you to understand is the Spirit of God. Now the Bible is not against human teachers, and certainly the Bible is not against study. The Bible says we're to study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, but the true teacher is the Holy Spirit. So you make yourself at home in the Word of God. Then you make yourself at home with the Spirit of God. And when you do that, you're going to make yourself at home with the very Son of God. Look here now in verses 28 and 29 of this same chapter. And now little children abide in him. Now he's talking about Jesus, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Now you see, what he's saying now is that we are to be at home with the very Son of God. We're to trust him and obey him, and the Word of God and the Spirit of God make the Son of God real in your heart.

Then you have confidence, and you're not going to be ashamed when Jesus comes again. Back in World War II, I was a little boy. My dad was in the United States Coast Guard.

My dad was stationed at Hope Sound, Florida, not far from our house, which was really good because he could come home from time to time. When he'd get a furlough or a time in the week sometimes, he could drive that 40 or 50 miles to our house. Gasoline was very hard to get. It was ration.

It all went to the war effort. And my dad got the most economical car that he could get that burned the least gas. He bought an old Model A, black Model A Ford, same car I learned how to drive in, a 1931 Model A Ford.

And he bought that car. And before my dad would go off back to the base, he would give my brother and I instructions. He would tell us what we would do around the house, how we would remind Mother and how we would clean the yard, how we would do this and this and this and this. And then when he came home, he always checked up. Sometimes I loved to see him come, and sometimes I hated to see him come. It all depended whether or not I had been doing what my dad told me to do.

I could hear that Model A Ford coming. We just lived outdoors all the time. We didn't have air conditioning. We didn't have television.

Either one. There's no such thing as a game boy. We lived outdoors. And the weather's nice down in South Florida. But that Model A Ford had a distinctive sound. I could hear my dad's car almost before I could see it. And it had a running board. It's something that you can stand on, step on. I thought those were out of date until they began to build these SUVs. And now they've got a running board on them so you can step up into them.

The old Model As had a running board, and people would stand on the Model A Ford running board sometime and hang outside the car and just ride along. And when my dad would come, I would run if I had been good, if I had been obeying my mother and been doing what my dad told me to do. I just loved to, because I loved my dad very much. And I would run to meet that car and he'd slow down and I'd jump on the running board and reach in the window and hug my daddy's neck and just ride home with my daddy. Something like the second coming of the Lord. Just, you know, I hear the sound and I go to meet him and he's coming to meet me and we go home together.

It's just really a wonderful thing. But I want to tell you something, friend. There were times when I heard that Model A, I did not want to run and meet it.

I wanted to run and hide. Now it all depended on what I'd been doing and how I'd been living. You know, this is what John is saying. Little children abide in him. That when he shall appear, you may have confidence before him and not be ashamed at his coming. Now, if the trumpet were to sound right now and you say, I'm truly saved, Pastor. I'm truly saved.

Well, I think some of you want to get under the seat. You know, oh no. I, here I am with this grudge in my heart. Here I am with that beer in my ice box. Here I am with God's tithe in my pocket. Here I am unprepared, unprepared up. Here I am not a soul winner. Must I go in empty handed? Must I meet my Savior so without one soul with which to greet him?

Must I empty handed go? Little children abide in him. That when he shall appear, you may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Make yourself at home in the word of God.

Make yourself at home with the Spirit of God. Make yourself at home with the Son of God so that when he appears, you'll not be meeting in the rapture someone you've only heard about, but you'll be meeting someone you know heart to heart. Are you ready for Jesus to come? Would you be left behind if he came tonight? You say, no, I know I'm saved.

Well, would you have confidence or would you be ashamed at his coming? We're going to have a prayer and if you're not saved, I want to guide you in receiving Christ. If you believe the facts of the gospel that you're a sinner and your sin deserves judgment in hell, but you know that Jesus suffered, bled and died on the cross for you that you might be forgiven. If you know that he shed his blood on your behalf, took your sin punishment and carried it to the cross, and if you know that salvation is by faith, you can never earn it or deserve it.

You receive it as a gift. You're a candidate to be saved tonight right where you are. Now let me guide you in this prayer. Would you pray like this? Dear God, I'm lost and I need to be saved.

You may not like saying that you're lost, but if it's true, just say it. God knows your heart and you know, God, I'm lost and I need to be saved and I want to be saved. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you, Jesus.

I do. I believe you're the son of God that died for my sin on the cross. I believe that God raised you from the dead and now Lord Jesus, I open my heart. I receive you into my life as my Lord, savior and master and I yield my life to you. I just thank you for doing it.

I don't look for a sign unless for feeling. Lord, I'm standing on your word. You promised to save me and I trust you to do it.

Thank you very much. Thank you Jesus. Now Lord, begin to make me the person you want me to be.

Help me never ever to be ashamed of you. Give me the courage now Lord to make this public because I really mean business. In your name I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed to receive Jesus Christ and his forgiveness, we'd love to celebrate with you and help you get started on your walk with Christ. Check out our discover Jesus page at lwf.org. You'll find answers there you may need as well as a response section where you can share how this message has impacted you. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says discover Jesus.

Welcome to God's family. We can't wait to hear from you. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message request one by the title living in the last days. Call us to order at 1-877-love-God. This message is also part of the powerful series challenges to the cross.

For the complete collection all six insightful messages call that number 1-877-love-God or go online to lwf.org slash radio or you can write us at love worth finding box 38600 Memphis Tennessee 38183. We're so glad you chose to study in God's word with us today. Are you abiding in Christ?

Have you made yourself at home with the word of God, the spirit of God, the very son of God? Remember when Jesus comes for us we shouldn't have to be formally introduced. Rather when we see him face to face it should feel like uniting with someone we've known heart to heart.

What a day that will be. Be sure to join us next time for more from Pastor Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Our greatest hope at Love Worth Finding Ministries is to continue Adrian Rogers' work in introducing people to Jesus and sharing what it means to follow him fully. That's why we're so excited to share our brand new book Discover Jesus. Without Jesus we are lost both literally and spiritually. This book gives a clear call to follow Christ while offering practical steps to learning more about your new relationship with him. If you're navigating new territory or maybe you need to refresh your walk with Jesus Discover Jesus provides the tools to use for such a season. For more information about the book, to purchase a copy or to find out more go to our online store at lwf.org. That's lwf.org. And thanks for your continued support of Love Worth Finding.