You know, it seems like every time we turn around, there's a new piece of the prophetic puzzle coming back together. I've told you before, Israel is a barometer of the end times. If you want to know where we are in the end times, look at Israel.
Now, if this is, I'm just going to say, if we're on the radio, if you're listening to this on the radio, we usually do the radio several weeks or several months. So if you're listening on the radio, last night, Israel was attacked by Iran. And the Bible predicts that in the last days, there will be a worldwide confederacy mobilized against one nation, and that's Israel. Ezekiel 38, Tarshish, or Spain, to the west will come and attack Israel. That means there will be a confederation of European countries that attack Israel. Ezekiel 38 says a force from the north, led by Russia, will one day attack Israel. Daniel 11 says there will be an attack from the south and from the east. And in Revelation 9 and 16, a massive army from the east will be mobilized against Israel.
The point being, we're going to start seeing, I think, more and more nations mobilized against Israel. I am convinced we could be living in the last days. Now, it's interesting, Christians like us, just out of curiosity, how many of y'all are into end times prophecy like I am when you get into this?
Okay. Christians like us are kind of laughed at and scorned not just by lost people, but fellow Christians who don't get into this stuff kind of roll their eyes and laugh at us who are into end times prophecy. I believe it's wrong to not be into end time prophecy if you're a Christian. The Bible over and over and over again tells us to be into end time prophecy. In Matthew 25 in the parable of the bridesmaids, the bad guys in that story were the bridesmaids who were not looking out for the groom's return.
Who do you think the groom is? Jesus. We see this in places like Mark 13, 35 through 37 where Jesus says, keep watch for the Lord's return. Luke 12, 37, blessed are the servants who will be found watching and waiting for the Lord's return. Revelation 1. Revelation is the only book of the Bible that says this, read me, I'm special. Revelation 1 says, if you read me and study end times prophecy, you will be blessed, you will be happy.
2 Timothy chapter 4 says, there's a special crown of righteousness waiting for those of us who have longed for the appearing of Jesus Christ. And to me, one of the biggest indicators that this is a critical scriptural issue is the fact that Acts chapter 17 says, Paul goes to a city called Thessalonica, he gets them saved, he starts a church, he's only there for three weeks teaching them and discipling them. Later on, he writes some letters to that church.
Do you know what those letters are? First and second Thessalonians. And he says to these people, he was only there for a few weeks, three weeks. He said, he gives them the most in-depth teaching on the rapture of the church, end times prophecy, and he says this to them, don't y'all remember, I told you this when I was there. Which tells me that the apostle Paul, after he gets these people saved, he teaches them strong Bible doctrine and one of the doctrines that he thought was important enough to teach them in the three weeks that they're baby Christians is the doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Don't tell me this is an ancillary doctrine, this is critical to being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the only thing we are not allowed to do is to set dates, okay, that's the stuff cults are made of.
You can't set a date. In fact, I always think it's funny, you know how many Christians, I mean even today, will start doing these dates, I think Jesus Christ is coming back on this date. We actually have Christians doing that, which is ironic because in the book of Acts, Jesus said, the father has not even told me when I'm coming back. But he has told some armchair theologian sitting in his momma's basement when I'm coming back, but he's not told me, it doesn't make any sense, does it?
So we don't know when Jesus Christ is coming back. But today's passage is another example of the biblical emphasis on the end times. The apostle Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy the church at Ephesus is in a mess, you gotta get it back in order. And then out of the blue, in first Timothy chapter four, Paul just starts talking about the end times.
Don't tell me his mind wasn't on this. To Paul, this is a critical issue. First Timothy chapter four verse one. But the spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith. Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by the hypocrisy of liars who have been seared in their own conscience. To forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be shared in with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Now watch this. Paul says, do you see this verse one? In the later times. When are the later times? Well, it's interesting that the authors of the New Testament often call their time, 2,000 years ago, the later times. We see this in Hebrews one two, first Peter one 20, first John two 18. These people who lived 2,000 years ago talked about their days being the later times.
How could that be? Well, in a sense, if you take the Bible literally like I do and believe that the human race is six to 10,000 years old, the last 2,000 years really are the last days, okay? But I think the apostle Paul may be talking about that, but he's also talking about literally when Jesus Christ comes back, here are some signs to be looking out for.
In fact, Jesus compared the rafter of the church of the second coming to a woman in labor. You don't know when that baby is coming. You know the gestation of a woman is nine months.
You don't know the exact day the baby is coming. But as it gets closer and closer, there are some signs. We call them contractions. And as the contractions get more intense and closer together, you know the birth is about to happen. Jesus used that analogy to talk about the end times. You don't know when Jesus is coming back, but before he gets back, the contractions will get more intense and closer together.
Am I the only person in this place that feels like the contractions are getting more intense and closer together? And so that is kind of the way we look at the end times. And in this passage, the Apostle Paul gives us several of the contractions to be looking out for.
Now, this is not an exhaustive list. In another place, Paul gives us some more signs. Jesus gives us some signs.
Daniel gives us some signs. Book of Revelation gives us some signs. So this is just one of several lists of things to be looking out for before Jesus Christ comes back. And Paul says this, in the last days, number one, there's going to be a falling away from the faith.
Look at verse one. But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith. I read secular, not Christian, secular sociologists this past week, and secular sociologists are saying this. There's something weird happening in the church in America. We're seeing people fall away from the church left and right.
Isn't that something? They're speaking prophecy. They don't even realize it. In fact, one sociological report said this, quote, in America, people are giving up on Christianity altogether. Nearly a third of those raised Christian will eventually walk away from the faith. And if the trend continues, the percentage of Americans calling themselves Christian will drop to about 35% in a few decades. We're seeing this.
We're seeing this. As goes the leader, so goes the follower. We're seeing this with leaders like Paul Maxwell. He's a prominent evangelical professor and author and pastor. And he stood up recently and said, I am no longer a Christian. I've walked away from the faith.
Joshua Harris, some of you have his books. He was a prominent evangelical author, pastor, speaker. He recently stood up and said, I am no longer a Christian. And he's walked away from the faith. The D.C. Talk guy, remember D.C. Talk? Not Toby Mac, but the other one. Maybe that's why he walked away from faith. He got tired of being known as the guy in D.C. Talk that's not Toby Mac.
Whatever. But he recently said, I have left the faith and I now follow the universal Christ found in all religions, whatever that means. We've had a strange rise of prominent female bloggers like Jen Hatmaker and Jory Micah who have left the Christian faith or the faith that they profess has no resemblance to New Testament Christianity and they have thousands and thousands of followers.
And sometimes it irritates me, but then sometimes it gets me excited because I'm thinking this is Bible prophecy coming true before our very eyes. There will be a falling away from the faith. I've seen it in this church.
I've seen families. Look, people leave the church. I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is leaving the faith. And I'm seeing it and the pastors I'm talking to are seeing it. We are seeing that verse come true before our very eyes. In the last days, people would just start walking away from the faith. And then Paul gives us a second sign of the last times.
And the second sign is this. In the last days, there will be a rise in false teachers. Verse one, but the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by the what? By the hypocrisy of liars who have been seared in their own conscience.
Watch this. Paul is saying Christians won't just walk away from the faith on their own. They're going to be following false preachers, false pastors, false teachers. And it's interesting that Paul had warned the church about this years before. In Acts chapter 20, he says to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20, 29, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves, in your own church, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
Listen to me. Paul is saying, yeah, there's going to be a great falling away from the faith. But Satan is going to be using false teachers to do that. And he actually gives us traits of these false teachers, these false preachers, these false prophets to look out for here in this passage. Number one, he says these false teachers, they are demonic in nature. Do you see that in verse one? Their teaching is inspired by demons.
The pastor made, pastor of a beautiful church with a manicured yard and a big beautiful rainbow banner out front and a big sign that says all are welcome here, but they are inspired and motivated by demons is what he said. They look good. They look nice. They smile. They believe they're demon possessed.
The guy has a whole beautiful head of hair. And so, but Paul says, no, no, no. Looks can be deceiving. These are false teachers inspired by demons. Secondly, he says these false teachers are hypocritical. Do you see that in verse two?
By the hypocrisy of liars. Hypocrisy in Greek means to wear a mask. He says these demonic false teachers will wear a Christian mask. They'll have a backward collar. They'll have a Bible. They'll have a suit. They look good.
They smile. But he says they're hypocrites. It's a mask that hides a demonic demeanor. The apostle Paul says you have to be able to take off the mask and see what is behind the mask.
You need to listen to me. You do understand not everybody on Christian TV is a Christian. You do understand that, right?
Not everybody who writes a Christian book is a Christian. We need to be more discerning because the enemy is putting these deceptive people into the body of Christ. And what bothers me is we're following them. It doesn't make any sense to me.
Paul says they're wearing a mask. One of the greatest analogies I've ever used on this is remember I told you during World War II, the allies are going to kill the Nazis and push back the Nazis and take over Berlin. Remember this? And the Nazis counter-attack. We call that the Battle of the Bulge. And Hitler did something ingenious.
Hitler positioned men at all these major crossroads. They wore American uniforms. They spoke perfect English. Some of them had Boston accents.
Some of them had Southern accents. And they're standing at the road and the army comes and they say, which way to Berlin? Oh, Berlin? Berlin is that way. When in actuality, Berlin was that way. And it devastated the allied forces because these men who they thought were on their team were at the crossroads and they were not on their team.
They worked for Hitler. And Satan, Hitler, has his men and his women at the crossroads. And you say, which way to heaven? Oh, which way to heaven? The social justice way to heaven. Which way to heaven? The good works way to heaven. Which way to heaven? That way to heaven.
There's only one way to heaven and that man is Jesus Christ. They're pointing people in an opposite direction. These false teachers are demonic. They're hypocritical.
And then in verse 2, Paul says, do you see this? They have a seared conscience. That word seared in Greek is really cauterized. You know what that means to be cauterized? It's like they have been burned in their brain.
They've been burned in their conscience. And now there's scar tissue that doesn't feel anything. Something about scar tissue. Scar tissue is highly destructive and you can poke it. It doesn't really feel.
You don't feel anything. Paul says their consciences are like that. They've been seared. These false teachers don't know right from wrong they have a seared conscience. Any pastor who tells a congregation to vote for somebody who thinks it's okay to suck the brains out of a full-term nine-month-old baby in the third trimester, that pastor has a seared conscience. Any pastor who is perfectly fine with chemically castrating nine-year-old boys and cutting off the breasts of teenage girls has a seared conscience. Any pastor who's okay with Jewish girls being systematically and brutally raped has a seared conscience. The Reverend Beatrix Weil has a seared conscience. She is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA and she's also a chaplain at Rhodes College. Last year, Reverend Weil hosted a seminar on campus on how to safely practice bondage and sadomasochism in the sexual relationship with the whips and the chains and all that kinky stuff.
Her punishment for that? Chaplain Weil was just awarded the Chaplain of the Year by the Association of Chaplaincy in Higher Education. She has a seared conscience. Pastor Nicole Garcia has a seared conscience. He was born a man, now identifies and dresses as a woman. He recently in a sermon called Jesus a son of eight blank and he's recently the keynote speaker at Luther Seminary's preaching conference. He is a false teacher.
You said this individual identifies as a woman. You mean she is a false teacher. He is a false teacher. And the body of Christ is filled with these false teachers. And so the apostle Paul says this is going to be like it's going to happen in the last days. And I read this and again it's twisted. Part of me gets irritated.
Am I weird about this? Part of me gets excited because I'm like yeah bring them on man. The more they come the closer we get to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then Paul says this, another sign that we're living in the last days is there will be an emphasis on forbidding marriage. Look at verse three.
These people forbid marriage. I didn't quite know really where Paul was going with that. Until this week I read an op-ed by Professor Victor Davis Hanson of California State University and the Hoover Institution. In this article he said he believes there is a concerted coordinated effort to destroy America. And he says it's happening in 11 ways. Number 10 on this list of ways that we are seeing America destroyed he says is this. Quote, encourage people to marry late or even not marry at all. That has a devastating impact on our society.
And he's right. And there's now an emphasis in our society to either don't get married or forget to get married. Just wait until as long as you can. Sow your oats.
Build a life for yourself. And then later on if you want to get married maybe you can do that. It's a de-emphasis of marriage. The average lady in the 1960s got married at age 20.
Now it's much, much later than that. And there's all kinds of reasons. One of the reasons is premarital sex was taboo years ago. And so what would happen is young men and young women they would get married as soon as they could so they could go ahead and have sex. Well now if you can have sex with whoever you want to have sex with why get married? We're into free sex. You see what I'm saying? We're seeing this emphasis over and over and over again on just wait, wait. You don't have to get married.
You don't have to do this. And look, when everything is marriage, nothing is marriage. When marriage can be a man and a woman or two men or two women or three men and two women or four women and one man. When marriage can be anything, marriage is suddenly nothing.
And so we're seeing that de-emphasis take place. And my heart really breaks for Christian women. My wife has had wonderful conversations with young Christian women who are starting to get a little bit older.
And they said, look, I was lied to. I was told wait until as long as possible to get married. And now I've waited and waited and waited and I'm looking and the clock is ticking and I realize it might be too late for me. And so there's a lot of young godly women looking for young godly men. Look, if you're a Christian man who loves Jesus and you're reasonably good looking, you're not hideous.
There's a lot of Christian women out there looking for a man like you, so whatever. So there's going to be an emphasis on forbidding marriage in the last days. And then he says this, number four, another sign of the last days is forbidding to eat certain foods.
You see this? They forbid marriage and they advocate abstaining from foods which God created. Now what's the apostle Paul talking about?
I'll be honest with you, I'm serious, I'm not quite sure. He says in the last days, they'll be like you can't eat this food and you can't eat that. I mean is it like the whole I can eat carbs, I can't eat carbs, I can't do gluten, I got to do the carnivore, no I'm paleo, I don't know. I will say this, in the Bible, every debate surrounding food surrounds specifically meat. Now the word food here in Greek is a general term for food. But the King James Version specifically says meat because I think the King James just says it's implied in the Bible that these things surround meat. I don't know. I mean if the King James Version is right in the last days, they'll encourage people not to eat meat. Is the Bible prophesying the rise of vegetarianism and veganism?
I don't know. I don't want to go so far as to say if you're a vegetarian, you're demon possessed. I don't necessarily believe that. It is interesting though how many demonic religions embrace vegetarianism.
In fact, John Phillips in his commentary on 1 Timothy says that spiritists and mediums believe that eating meat inhibits one's ability to receive messages from the dead. I don't know. I don't know what Paul is saying here. I'm not telling you I necessarily believe what I'm about to tell you. I want to give you a theory without you saying I'm a whack job. I don't know if I believe this or not. I'm just telling you there's an old theory out there. Can I share that with you?
Got a second. It's a little bit weird. These old King James people say it's interesting here in 1 Timothy 4. Paul connects doctrines of demons and not eating meat in the King James. Doctrines of demons and not eating meat. They also point out that up until Noah's flood the human race were vegetarians.
Did you know that? We were all vegetarians up to Noah's flood. In Genesis chapter 6 there is a weird demonic satanic invasion of the human race.
We've talked about that before. Where supernatural wicked entities intermarry with human women and it got really weird. It was an occultic time. That's Genesis 6. The flood comes and wipes out planet earth. Genesis 9, Noah and his family get off the ark. The human race starts over again.
Do you know the very first thing God says to Noah when he gets off the ark? From now on eat meat. Now is that just coincidentally or is there some kind of connection? Some of these old-time advocates has a theory that God is saying eating meat fortifies our natural defenses against demonic forces. I don't know.
I also find it interesting as well. Jesus has died on the cross, been buried, come back to life. He appears to the disciples in his glorified resurrected body. I'm a man after Jesus' heart and Jesus is a man after my heart. He appears to the disciples.
They're all sitting there. Have you read this before? Do you know what he says? Young's got anything to eat? I'm hungry. And so they give something to Jesus to eat.
Do you know what they give him? Fish, meat. Not tofu. Not bean sprouts.
They give him some meat. And so I don't know. Whatever. So really the apostle Paul is basically saying this. Look, just keep your eyes open.
Start looking. Stay alert. Now if these are the last days, in light of all of this, what am I supposed to do as your pastor? Paul says this very clearly in verse 6. Chad, if these are the last days, here's what you do, verse 6. In pointing these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ. Chad, your job is, I don't care if they like it, I don't care if they receive it, I don't care. Chad, your job is you point these things out to your church. You keep your church ready.
You keep your church waiting. Your job is just to point. You're the Amazon delivery guy. They may open the package, they may not. You just deliver the package, Chad.
That's your job. And it's interesting, in those days, they didn't all have a Bible to take home and study. Do you know where they get the word of God taught to them?
They go to church every Sunday to hear the truth taught. What Paul is saying is make sure your church doesn't scatter on Sunday. As the days get closer, you gather them together and preach the word. That's why the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the habit of some.
Get together and encourage each other. Look at this. And all the more as you see that day drawing near. You see what he's saying?
If these are the end times, y'all need to be here on Sunday hearing the truth week in and week out. Tim Chalice met with a bureaucrat at the bank of Canada a little while back. Because all countries are having problems, I don't even know this, with counterfeit money now. He said, I met with this head of the Canadian bank and said, look, how do you train people working in the banking industry to spot a counterfeit bill? It's interesting what they said. Basically they said, look, we don't teach them to spot a counterfeit by studying counterfeits. They learn by handling the genuine article.
And after a while of studying the real thing, they can spot a counterfeit just like that. And there's so many weird false doctrines out there, I don't want to spend every Sunday telling you about all these false doctrines. Every Sunday I want to expose you to the truth, to the real.
And when you know the truth and the real, when a false doctrine comes, you can spot it just like that. That's my job, is to preach the word of God to you. All right, we're not preachers.
That's your job. What's our job if we're living in the last days? Well, Jesus answered that too. Jesus says something very interesting in Luke 21, 28. He's just freaked out his disciples. In the last days, there's going to be earthquakes, famines, boars, this, that. They're all just kind of standing there with wide eyes, and they're like, okay, Jesus, what do you want us to do?
Jesus says Luke 21, 28. But when these things begin to take place, I love this, straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near. He says if you're going to live in the last days, I want you to do two things.
Number one, I want you to straighten up. When these things begin to take place, straighten up. You know, what do you do if you're defeated? You kind of do the Charlie Brown slump.
You know, you're kind of like that. But if you're victorious, what do you do? You stand up and you're bold and strong.
And Jesus said don't walk around sad, sick, and sorry in these last days. You throw your shoulders back. You stand up strong because you are more than a conqueror through him who loved you. You stand up straight. And then the second thing you do, you straighten up. And number two, you look up. Lift up your heads. Look, your head determines your focus. You don't spend all your time focused on Iran this, Israel that, oh, my God, the economy's horrible and inflation's on the rise.
You don't do that. You spend your time focused on things above. The Bible says this over and over and over again. 2 Timothy 4, there's a crown of righteousness for those who keep their heads up and they're waiting for Jesus to come back. The Bible says in places like Colossians 3, 2, set your mind on things above, not on things on this earth. Philippians 3, 20, our citizenship is in heaven. And when you start having this heavenly-minded focus in these last days, your whole demeanor changes, your attitude changes, and your anxiety plummets.
When you keep your head up and you focus on the fact that we're going home. Years ago when our kids were young, we went, every time of year, several times a year, down to Florida to visit family and to go to Disney World. This is in the days before Disney was into child grooming. And so we'd go visit Disney.
Sorry. And we would leave and start driving and they'd ask the same question. I can't tell you how many times they asked this question. Are you ready?
What's the question? Are we there yet? And my answer was always, my answer's the same thing it was 30 seconds ago.
We're not there yet, okay? And so the kids would start kind of fussing in the backseat. They're in a bad mood. I gotta use the bathroom. He's in my space.
She's in my space. And they kind of get fussy after hours and hours on the road. And then when we cross that Georgia line into Florida, I'd say those magical words that would change my kids' attitudes. Kids, we've just crossed into Florida. We're almost there.
Of course, Orlando's still like four hours away. But anyway, we cross in. And it was amazing when I would say, we're almost there. Their attitude would change. Suddenly they're nice to each other.
They start joking around with each other. They're so happy and they're so excited because Dad said to the kids, kids, we're almost there. So I want you all to listen to Daddy Chad right now. Kids, we're almost there. The journey is almost over. Our salvation is closer today than it was when we first believed we are almost there. I want you to stand with me because God gave an underutilized tool to remind us of the second coming of Jesus. And that's communion. He said, how does communion remind us of the second coming of Jesus?
Because the Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 11, 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes back. Every time I take communion, I'm going to remind myself he's coming back again. Jesus said, I'm the bread of life. I came down from heaven like the manna did in the wilderness years ago. I died for your sins and rose from the grave and I ascended at the right hand of the Father. And I'm coming back for you one day. I'm reminded of that when I take this. So if you're a born-again believer, and if you're not a born-again believer, this is a family thing.
Don't do this. But if you're a Christian, born-again believer, I want you to take out that piece of bread. The Bible says the day when he comes back, every eye will see him. They're going to see the body of the one whose skin was torn to shreds for me. All my sins that were sent me to hell were placed on him. That beautiful body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take and eat, for this is my body which is broken for you.
I challenge you to do this. Go through the book of Revelation and read about what's happening in heaven right now. You know, John does this in Revelation.
You talk about hell breaking loose on planet earth. And you'll say, but in heaven, here's what's going on. And so the mess here on planet earth, here's what's happening in heaven. Every time he talks about worship in heaven, you know what they're singing to? The Lamb that was slain. Literally in heaven, they talk about whose blood was shed for everybody.
They are still singing about the cross of Jesus Christ and his shed blood. Why? Because the only way we'll ever get to heaven is not by anything good we've done, but by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I ask you, how sure are you that you're going to heaven? If you said 99.9%, did you know that's a very arrogant statement? Because what you're saying when you say that is, part of this depends on me. There's some things I need to have done.
I need to make sure I, I, I, part of this relies on me. You know, let me tell you the most humble answer to that question. Are you sure you're going to heaven? I'm 100% sure because I deserve a devil's hell forever. But that man died on the cross for my sins. And I turned from my sins and I placed my trust in him. And because of him, I'm 100% sure I'm going to heaven. And it's all because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, take and drink, for this is my blood which is poured out for you.
Would you pray with me right now? Father, we adore your son, Jesus Christ, the lamb that was slain. Father, we're getting, we're tired. We're ready to go home. God, we pray that ancient Aramaic prayer that the church has been praying for the last 2,000 years. Even so, just come back, Jesus.
We're ready to go home. Father, we cannot wait for the day where we stand around the throne and praise your son, Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for the precious blood of Jesus. We thank you for the hope that we have in Jesus.
And Father, we say it again. Just come back and take us home so we can stand around that throne. Right now, would you just lift up your hands and lift up your voices?
I don't want you to talk to me. I want you to talk to Jesus. Just praise the name of Jesus right now. Would you bless the name of Jesus in this place? Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Amen. Let me give a warning to all of us who are into end times prophecy.
How many is that? Raise your hand. Everybody ought to raise your hand right now for this sermon. We're not looking for the antichrist. We're looking for the Christ. We're waiting for Jesus to come back. It's all about Jesus. And now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. According to His power, there's a work within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Forever and ever. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world with Jesus Christ.
