THE STUDY OF THE END TIMES

November 20, 2011

“WE STUDY THE END TIMES SO THAT WE WILL LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS OUR LAST”

Howard Buck

Sam, Warren and Dr. Sam have all discussed

“Why Christ Must Return”

In summary:

The Promise of God Demands it

The Teaching of Christ Demands it

The Testimony of the Holy Spirit Demands it

The Program of the Church Demands it

The Corruption of the World Demands it

The Future of Israel Demands it

The Vindication of Christ Demands it

The Destruction of Satan Demands it

The Hope of the Saints Demands it

IS THE RETURN OF CHRIST IMMINENT? 

Heb. 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

10:37 For yet in a very little while,     

He who is coming will come, and will not delay.

James 5:7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord…  

9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

1Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

Rev. 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 

James, Peter, John and the writer of Hebrews all looked for a imminent return.

What about Paul??

1Thess. 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 

Paul not only believed His return was imminent, he clearly believed it could take place in his lifetime!!

Alternatively, that was simply a figure of speech to help him explain the point. In context, he was teaching that the dead would not be forgotten and in fact would rise first then those (we) who are alive would go second

Regardless his, as is all other NT writers belief was that Christ could come at any moment in time

As we have stated, there are NO signs to fulfill before the rapture..

Why then did the early church believe He might come in their lifetime?

Because that is what God wants us to understand

Why?

“We study the end times so that we will live each day as if it is our last”..

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 

12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in

the present age, 

13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus

If we live in this anticipation EVERY DAY, how much better is our walk with the Lord??

We have stated that there are no signs to be fulfilled before the rapture but also stated that there are signs that will be fulfilled before His

return

Do we contradict our self?

No, remember, there are actually 2 returns of Christ. The first, He returns in the clouds for His church and the second, He returns to earth to

usher in the millennial period..

There are no signs for the first but plenty for the second

The question is, was the early church living in the last days?

Yes

Are we living in the last days?

Yes

How do we reconcile this?

We don’t, thanks for coming, see you next week!!

Matt. 24:42 “You do not know the hour

your Lord is coming”

CNN

2Peter 3:8 “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”Remember, God is outside of time

But, why is it taking so long?

Peter continues:

3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to

repentance.

He tarries as He waits for more to be saved

In essence He isn’t waiting on sin to multiply to some predetermined point, that is a sign but not the key

The key is the last person who accepts Christ

The second that happens I believe He will gather His church!!

Ok but how could the early church and us be in that same time window

How could the early church believe in His imminent return??

To properly understand what is happening here we need to look at the BIG picture

In our “End Times” chart:

Cross Church Age Rapture

With that in mind, where are we now?

Church Age

Where were the apostles?

In the Church Age

Another term for this time period is the “last days”

Heb. 1:2 (God) has in these last days spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the

world..

The Apostles believed Jesus could gather the church at any moment

We believe the same thing

The difference is that we have literally lived during a substantial increase in the frequency and intensity of the end time signs Jesus said

would precede His return to earth

And, we have witnessed the ingathering from all over the world of the Jews to Israel

What if He waits another 2,000 years?

Should that affect the way we live?

If you believe He may wait that long, you ignore scripture as we have already seen, the

Apostles believed He is coming soon, even in their time..

Simply, the Church Age is Biblically considered (the) “last days”

Meaning that since the apostles, Jesus could have returned at anytime for His church

But what about the signs?

The signs have always been here:

Wars, earthquakes famines, pestilence, etc.

The difference?

They are increasing in frequency and intensity..

The following video is very fast moving

Don’t be frustrated if you miss the captions or don’t read the cards fast enough

The idea is just to notice how many of these events are dated 2011!!

The end of the world & natural

disasters

Just like He said they would, “birth pangs” start slow and build in frequency and intensity

The signs are being fulfilled right in front of us

Since they began keeping track, almost 50% of the recorded earthquakes have happened in our lifetime

Also in our lifetime, there hasn’t been hardly a day that some war wasn’t happening somewhere on the globe!

And, we have an advantage, what were the 2 key signs

I mentioned the last time??

5/14/1948

ISRAEL BECOMES A STATE!!!

The Jews begin to regain control of Jerusalem

June 7, 1967

(Luke 21:24)

Again, Christ could have come back for the church at any time without a sign

But, as we watch the signs for His return to earth being fulfilled, that only tells us how close we

are to the actual rapture of the church!!!!

His return was always imminent and is even more so now

Are we clear??

So what if He does wait another 2,000 years BUT we live as if we truly believe He comes today,

are we better or worse?

1John 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself, just as He is pure

If we hope in Christ’s imminent return, the process of sanctification we are going through

will lead to purity

So in the end, are we better or worse??

Rom 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

 

12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

 

13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.

 

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Notice Paul says:

awaken from sleep (11)

night is almost gone (12)

the day is near (12)

If Paul stressed this 2,000 years ago, how much more should we heed it today

Wake up church we have become complacent

AGAIN!!

Paul stated that our salvation is nearer

What does that mean?

Salvation – Justification – Sanctification – Glorification

We receive Salvation when we accept Christ

He pays for our sin on our behalf, Justification

God works in our life to make us like Christ, Sanctification

Finally, we receive our new bodies, Glorification

Glorification is the fulfillment of our Salvation!!

“WE STUDY THE END TIMES SO THAT WE WILL LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS OUR

LAST”

A review/summary from MacArthur:

Steadfastness: James 5:8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Kindness: James 5:9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Prayer: 1Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 

Faithfulness: Hebrews 10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 

25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Holy conduct and godliness: 2Peter 3:11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

Purity and Christlikeness: 1John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 

3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.