Living in the Last Days | Part 2

The time is right for the Antichrist to make his appearance. Will your name be called? Will your number be up?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. What is the difference between Christ and Antichrist? Antichrist is going to turn this world into a vast concentration camp and give everybody a number. Jesus calls the sheep by name. So the big question is, when he comes, will your name be called or will your number be up?

That's the whole thing, folks. Do you know Jesus? When he comes, we're going to be caught up to meet him in the air. And so will we ever, ever be with the Lord.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said, all of the Bible teaches that we're on the very edge, on the very brink of the last days, and therefore we should be yearning and not yawning. In part one of today's message, we learned that we're not waiting for any sign or event in history. The second coming of Jesus is imminent. As we just heard, the time is right for the appearance of a person the Bible calls the Antichrist. If you have your Bible, turn to first John chapter two, as we hear the powerful conclusion of this message, living in the last days. Now, the Bible says that perilous times shall come.

May I say that perilous times are here. We are living in the last days and we need to be awake. John says little children, it is the last time, literally that may be translated and is translated in some Bibles, the last hour. Now, John said that two thousand years ago. Adrian, if John said two thousand years ago that it was the last time, what happened? How could it have been the last time?

Because we've had two millenniums. Now, here's something you need to understand, that ever since Jesus Christ ascended into glory, it has been the last time. Now, the Old Testament, the former time, was preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ. After the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, we enter into a period of time called the last time. From the time that Jesus went up to the time that Jesus is coming back, that is the last time, that is the last hour. And any time in that interval, Jesus Christ could come. All Christians, from the time of John to this time, are to be living with the expectancy that Jesus Christ may come at any moment. So many of us have the idea that the last time is out there and we're moving toward it.

No, we're living in it. Paul told Titus in Titus 2 verse 13 about the grace of God that redeems us and makes us a peculiar people. And then he says, looking for that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Look for Jesus. We're not looking for some event. We're not looking for the temple to be rebuilt. We're not looking for the antichrist to appear. We're not looking for the regathering of Israel.

We're not looking for earthquakes and famines and all of these things. We're looking for Jesus. We're looking for Jesus. I'm telling you, friend, that Jesus may come before I finish this sermon. His coming is imminent. And if John said we're living in the last days, he was right, and so are we. Now, when he comes, he's coming suddenly.

In a moment, he's coming in the twinkling of an eye. Now, not only are these the last days, but number two, the antichrist is coming and we need to be aware. The antichrist is coming and we need to be aware. These are the last days. We need to be awake. The antichrist is coming.

We need to be aware. Look, if you will, in verse 19 of this same chapter. He's talking now about other antichrists, and he says they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Almost all of these apostate cults began in the true church. Now, these people are not truly saved.

They were not of us, but they went out from us. We've all seen people who have joined churches. They've never received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. They may come down an aisle, present themselves for baptism, be baptized, be in a Sunday school class, be in a choir. And after a while, they go off and they get into some strange, weird, esoteric cult.

Why do they do that? Well, friend, they are with us, but they're not of us. They have no true koinonia. The Holy Spirit of God is not in them.

Had they been of us, had they had the Holy Spirit, they would no doubt have continued with us. What about this antichrist? He is devilish, and the spirit of antichrist is devilish. It is divisive.

It is deceptive. Look here, if you will, in verses 20 and following. John says, But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. The antichrist is devilish. He is divisive, and he is deceptive. He is a liar. He is the master liar. He learns this from his father, the devil, who is a liar and the father of it.

Now, what is he going to deceive men about primarily? Who Jesus is. Who Jesus is. And antichrist is against you understanding just who Jesus is. The battle in every age, in every year, always centers on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are wrong about Jesus, it doesn't matter what you're right about. Now, folks, I want you to understand this.

Listen again. Verse 22, Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. If you're wrong about the Son, you have missed the Father.

You don't understand it. Now, put in your margin 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. Here's what the apostle John says in two chapters later. Beloved, believe not every spirit. You know, people say, well, I just, you know, I just have something in my heart.

Listen. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. Test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are going out into the world. Hereby 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. This is that spirit of antichrist, where if ye have heard that it should come, even now already, it is in the world.

And then John wrote another epistle, 2 John. And he says in verses 7 through 11, For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Look to yourselves that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Now, listen to this next thing. If they come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, what doctrine, the doctrine of Christ, receive him not into your house, and neither bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth in Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. If somebody comes door to door visiting in your neighborhood, and they want to pull off some religious literature in your house, or they want to have a Bible study in your house, you find out what they believe about Jesus Christ. You find out if they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God the Son, co-equal, co-eternal, with Almighty God.

If he is God, come in the flesh. And if they don't believe it, you can say, there's a sidewalk, get on it. And give them a witness. Show them love. But don't you let them make your home hell's headquarters, and don't you, in a syrupy way with sloppy agape, put your arms around them and say, well, we're all headed toward the same place.

That's a lie. They're not headed to heaven. Not if they don't know Jesus Christ. It's the spirit of antichrist.

And what is that? He is against Christ and shows himself as a substitute for Christ. That's what antichrist means. And so this one who is coming, many antichrists are in the world, but there is one coming who is the antichrist. He is the epitome of all of it. He is the quintessential sinner. And he is coming. He is the beast, the son of perdition, the man of sin, the lawless one. And the spirit of antichrist is already in the world. And he is devilish. He is divisive.

Friend, he is deceptive, and he's destructive. Notice here, if you will, as we continue to read, look if you will in verse 24. 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 hath promised us, even eternal life. The implication is that if you don't, you're going to miss eternal life. You'll be everlastingly destroyed, ruined, and you're going to miss Jesus. And everlasting life doesn't mean eternal existence.

You already have that. When God made you, God breathed in your nostrils the breath of life, you became a living soul, you can no more cease to exist than God himself could cease to exist. Your soul will be in existence somewhere when the sun, moon, and stars have grown cold. You have everlasting existence. All you need is everlasting life. You're going to spend eternity somewhere.

I've decided to spend it in the non-smoking section. He is destructive. He wants to wreck and ruin and damn your soul.

You say, that's not loving. Friend, the apostle John wrote it. He's called the beloved disciple. He says, little children, it's the last time. There are many antichrists.

Antichrists shall come. And so we see what John is saying. He speaks of the time.

It is the last time. Be awake. He speaks of the tyrant. The antichrist is coming.

Be aware. And then thank God he speaks of the triumph. Our Lord is on his way. And we need to be abiding.

Awake, aware, and abiding. Now look, if you will, at a new word that's going to jump out at us, and it's the word abide. Look, if you will, in verse 24. And he says here in verse 24, abide, let that also therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. Look down at the end of verse 27. And even as it hath taught ye, ye shall abide in him. Now look, if you will, in verse 28. And now, little children, abide in him. Now, when you are awake and when you are aware, what do you do?

How do you live in the last days? Well, you abide. Now, first of all, listen. Here's what you need to teach your children.

Get ready. You need to abide in the word of God. Again, verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. He's talking about what you've heard, the word. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the Son and in the Father.

Now, the word abide means to settle down, to be at home, to remain. And so, let the word of God be at home in you and you at home in the word of God. Learn to appreciate the word of God. Learn to appropriate the word of God. Learn to apply the word of God.

Because the way you know the Father and the Son is through the word of God. And not only do you need to abide, but parents, grandparents, you listen to me. Listen to your pastor. You need to be putting megadoses of the word of God into the hearts and minds of your children, and they're not going to get it just in Sunday school. You're going to have to do it. You're going to have to do it.

If not, they're going to get blown away. I mean, the devil is so deceptive. It's in the air like a fungus today. When our nation was founded, the Bible was the most quoted book by our founding fathers, and now it is the most banned book in America. The Bible. The most banned book in America. Friend, they can read almost anything in public schools except the word of God.

Now, you're mom and dad. And the Bible says in these last days, you're going to have to abide in the word of God. You have to abide in the spirit of God.

Look in verse 27, if you will, in this same chapter. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not let any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught ye, ye shall abide in him. The Holy Spirit of God abides in you, you abide in him. Now, notice he says the word anointing. It's charisma is the word. Look in verse 20.

He calls it up there an unction. It's the same word, but ye have an unction from the Holy One, a charisma. In the Old Testament, when they had a prophet, a priest, or a king, and they were getting him ready for service, they would pour oil on him. And that was called an anointing because that oil is an emblem, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Well, we are New Testament prophets, priests, and kings, and we have been anointed with the Holy Ghost. I mean, when we get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to abide in us, and therefore we need to abide in him. He is resident in us.

We need to make him president in us. We need to abide... First of all, abide in the Word of God and then abide in the Spirit of God because he says you don't have any need that anyone teach you. You have an unction from the Holy One. You say, well, Pastor Rogers, if I don't need anybody to teach me, I think I'd get up and get out of here.

No, no, you need to understand what he's saying. The Bible's not against human teachers. As a matter of fact, you read in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, and he gave pastors and teachers for the edifying of the church, and the Bible's not against study. The Bible says clearly and plainly, study to show yourselves approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.

Thank God for teachers. Thank God for study, but, friend, with all of that, you would never know. You would never know apart from the Holy Spirit.

Did you know that? Did you know that the Holy Spirit of God is the one who teaches you? Jesus said when He is come, He will teach you of all things.

That's the Holy Spirit of God. He is the divine teacher that says what this preacher is saying is true. He is the one who speaks to your heart. That's the reason I've said thousands of times I can preach truth, but only He can impart truth.

Anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. But, friend, you have an unction from the Holy One. You have the Holy Spirit of God who opens your understanding, who illumines you, who helps you to know. Thank God for that because the Bible says if it were not for Him, the Antichrist would deceive the very elect.

Thank God that we have the Spirit of God in our hearts and you need to abide in Him so He can teach you in these last days. Warren Wisbee told a story about a man who was a missionary to the American Indians out on the west coast and he got an Indian that had been led to Christ, a very noble, wonderful man, this Indian, but untaught. He didn't even know about denominations. He didn't know about false cults. He was just a babe in Christ. And they brought him into San Francisco and they were walking down the streets and there was a man on the street corner with an open Bible preaching and teaching. The missionary knew that that man was of a false cult. He knew what the man believed and he didn't want to try to explain to this young babe in Christ about false cults and false teachers and all of this.

He was just a babe in Christ. So he thought maybe he wouldn't say anything, but the Indian stopped and listened for a while and then they walked on. And the missionary, after a while, he said, Well, what did you think about that man? He said, Me no like him. He said, Well, why? He said, When he talks something in me, say, Liar, liar, liar. That was the Holy Spirit.

He said, That man's a liar. You see, we have an unction from the Holy One. The Holy Spirit of God in our hearts is there to affirm the truth.

Now, that doesn't mean it's just touchy-feely because it is the Spirit of God that applies the Word of God and both go together to reveal the Son of God. So here's the third thing that you abide in. Look, if you will. Now, first of all, abide in the Word of God, verse 24. Secondly, abide in the Spirit of God, verse 27. And finally, as a result, abide in the Son of God. Watch this, verse 28. And now, little children, abide in him, talking about Jesus, that when he shall appear, he's coming. We may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Abide in him. Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Word of God abides in you and you abide in it and if the Spirit of God abides in you and you abide in him, then the Son of God is going to be revealed in you and you will be at home with Jesus and Jesus will be at home with you. And when Jesus Christ comes, when Jesus Christ comes, you're not going to be alarmed. You're not going to be frightened. You're going to meet the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with anticipation and boldness and gladness. You know, the early Christians had a word, Meranatha, that means even so come.

Come, Lord Jesus. When I was a little boy, my dad was in the Coast Guard and I lived in West Palm Beach and he was stationed in Hope Sound, Florida. And he drove a Model A Ford and he could come home about that 40 miles from Hope Sound to home when he would get out of where he had to live up there and come see us. Before he would go off to do duty, he would tell my brother and me to do this and to do this and to do this and we had yard work to do and we had chores to do and so forth. And then we knew that when Dad came home, we had to report. Now, folks, I must confess, your pastor was not always very diligent in doing everything that his father told him to do.

Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn't. But if you know anything about a Model A Ford, they have a peculiar sound. You can hear it about a block away. I could hear my dad's Model A Ford coming when he would come home and in our neighborhood and we'd be out playing baseball or whatever. If I saw that black Model A Ford coming, it had a running board on it.

They don't even know what a running board is. That's something that you step on to get into the car. If I had done what my dad told me to do, friend, when I'd hear that Model A Ford coming, I'd just take off and run and jump on the running board, reach in the window, hug his neck, kiss him, and it's such a joy to see him. There are other times when I heard that Model A Ford coming, I'd go the other way. You go the other way. Why? Because I had not been abiding. I had not been obeying.

I had not been doing what he told me to do. Now, He's my Father either way. I'm going to meet Jesus, but when He comes, I want to meet Him with boldness. I want to meet Him with joy.

I want to abide in Him. What is the difference between Christ and Antichrist? Antichrist is going to turn this world into a vast concentration camp and give everybody a number. Jesus calls the sheep by name. So the big question is, when He comes, will your name be called or will your number be up?

That's the whole thing, folks. Do you know Jesus? When He comes, we're going to be caught up to meet Him in the air, and so will we ever, ever be with the Lord. Now, to sum it up, it is the last time be awake. Antichrist is coming. Be aware.

Our Lord is on His way. Be abiding. Abide in the Word of God. Abide in the Spirit of God.

He's the inner teacher. Abide in the Son of God so that when He appears, you'll have confidence and not be ashamed that He's coming. Okay? Bow your heads in prayer. Oh, God, speak to hearts today.

Oh, my God. Bring precious souls to Jesus. Lord, help men, women, boys, and girls to humble themselves at the feet of the One who died for them, who loves them. We know that the spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of lying.

There's so much lying in the world today. Lord, help people to come to the truth, to Jesus. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if you want to be saved, would you just pray a prayer like this? Oh, God, I need You. My sin deserves judgment, but I need mercy. I want to be saved. Lord, help me today with all of my heart to trust in You. I do trust You, Lord Jesus. Your wonderful name, amen.

Amen. And if you prayed to receive Jesus just now, we want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on our website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

We have a response section. You can share your testimony with us or how this message has made a difference in your life. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call 1-877-LOVEGOD to order Living in the Last Days. This message is also part of the insightful series Sweetest Fellowship This Side of Heaven. If you'd like that complete collection, all 11 powerful messages, call 1-877-LOVEGOD or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

Because we're living in the last days, we must be awake for the Antichrist is coming. Second, be aware for our Lord is on His way. And finally, abide in the Word, the Spirit, and the Son of God. We hope you'll join us next time for more from Adrienne Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. We heard a message from a listener recently I want to share with you now. She said, may God bless you with wisdom and boldness to continue faithfully bringing God's Word that believers might grow and that the lost might hear about the Savior and be saved. At Love Worth Finding, our goal is to come alongside believers at any stage of their faith journey and provide helpful tools to grow in Christ. That's why when you give to the ministry right now, we want to send you our God's Word Booklet Collection featuring five insightful booklets covering a range of practical topics such as your quiet time, Bible study and prayer. This bundle is a perfect tool for those who want to nurture their growing faith. Request the God's Word Booklet Collection when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org slash radio. And again, thank you for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.