GOD'S VIEW OF THESE LAST DAYS

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=73820" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#330066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="048005f0dkblkv.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Preach The Word</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|    </b><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preach The Word"><U><B>home</b></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Timothy"><U><B>2 Timothy</b></U></A><B>   l   </b><A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DANIEL"><U><B>Daniel</b></U></A><B>   l  </b><A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ZECHARIAH: "><U><B> Zechariah</b></U></A><B>   l   </b><A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MARK"><U><B>Mark</b></U></A><B>    I    </b><A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TOPICAL STUDIES"><U><B>Topical Studies</b></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>GOD'S VIEW OF THESE LAST DAYS</b></div> <div> 2 Timothy 3:1-2a</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"In his book The New Tolerance, Josh McDowell writes: "We may very well wake up in the not-to-distant future in a culture that is not only unreceptive but openly hostile to the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a culture in which those who proclaim the Gospel will be labeled as bigots and fanatics, a culture in which persecution of Christians will not only be allowed but applauded."  McDowell's perceptive words are already a reality for Christian believers in many parts of the world.  Unfortunately, they are rapidly becoming a reality for people in the West, including the United States of America."  </FONT>Elwood McQuaid,<B> </b>Dimming the Light of Christian Liberty, Israel My Glory, April/May 2000</div> <bR> <div> And what about us here in Ole Peace Loving Canada.  We must admit, the New Age Philosophy is widely accepted nationwide.  And the New Age doesn't like Biblical Dogma at all.  You must also admit, this quite a gulf between a condemned sinner and a divine being.  And Evangelical Denominations are taking it in like spring water. (The Word of Faith Movement)</div> <bR> <div> What does the Bible call these so called "New Ideas"?  Full scale Apostasy!</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>1. DEFINING "THE LAST DAYS" (1)</b></div> <bR> <div> Some Bible Teachers preach that when the Bible speaks of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"the last days"</FONT> it speaks of some time in the distant future and not today. But the New-Testament often speaks of the Last Days as the present today. Turn with me to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >Hebrews 1:2</FONT></div> <bR> <div> "You have hoarded wealth in the last days." James 5:3</div> <bR> <div> And here, in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >2 Timothy 3:1</FONT>, Paul describes the Last Days and then tells Timothy in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >v.5</FONT>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"Have nothing to do with them."</FONT> Which clearly refers to Timothy's present time. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>2. DEFINING APOSTASY</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Unger's Bible Dictionary:</div> <bR> <div> "A falling away.  The common classical use of the word is, a political defection… In the New Testament its most usual meaning is a religious defection… this is called "apostasy from the faith"… a secession from the Church, and a disowning of the name of Christ… Apostasy as the act of a professed Christian, who knowingly and deliberately rejects revealed truth… is different from error, which may be the result of ignorance… apostasy departs from the faith. Apostates apparently can only be professors and not actual possessors of true Salvation…" p.72</div> <bR> <div> The Bible is quite clear that the closer we get to Christ's return the more Apostasy will grow. People will swallow godless philosophies of all kinds. Anything and every thing but the truth. And this has led one German author, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >Erich Savier (zowère)</FONT>, in his book, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"The triumph of the Crucified"</FONT>, to write: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"We can't say:  Jesus is not coming because the world is not Christian enough; but rather: He's not coming because the world is not unbelieving enough." </FONT></div> <bR> <div> So, in short, and "apostate" is a person who says he is a Christian but has never been born again. He's a "nominal" Christian.  He may go to a Christian Church and identify with the Christian Faith, but he's never repented of his sins or converted his whole life to the living Christ. It's what Jesus is talking about in His parable of the Wheat and the Tares. An apostate is therefore a "false" Christian who does not live his life in God's written will, but rather lives according to the will of false and self-appointed christs.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7014000008000.gif" HEIGHT="21" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">TWO BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF AN APOSTATE</b></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">AMAZIAH</b>, King of Judah</div> <div> Turn to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >2 Chronicles 25:1-2, 14, 27-28</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">JUDAS</b>, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ</div> <div> Turn to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >John 6: 70-71</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> These 2 men, as well as hundreds of thousands of other men & women before and after them, according to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >1 Timothy 4:1</FONT>, abandoned the true faith to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"follow deceiving spirits and things thought by demons."</FONT> Now, usually, when such nominal believers abandon the true faith to worship idols they would never believe that they are worshipping demons. But what does the Bible say?</div> <bR> <div> "The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons."  1 Cor.10:20</div> <bR> <div> Now, as we come back to our text in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >2 Timothy 3</FONT>, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us in writing several major characteristics of these <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"Last days"</FONT>. </div> <bR> <div> First he says they will be</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>3. TERRIBLE TIMES (1)</b></div> <bR> <div> The Greek word here for <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"terrible"</FONT> is "chapelos" and is used only twice in the N.T.   Here and in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >Matthew 8:28</FONT> to describe the demonic violence of the two demon-possessed men in the region of the Gadarenes. The verse actually says, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"They were so <U>violent</U> that no one could pass that way." </FONT><B>Mark</b> gives us more details about how violent the were. He writes about one of these men that , <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.</FONT> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones." Mk.5:3-5</FONT></div> <bR> <div> That sounds pretty <U>violent </U>to me! And God says that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"the last days"</FONT> will be characterized by a similar kind of violence. One only has to watch the evening news or surf the Internet in order to find some people today worshipping Satan, mutilating their bodies, committing murder, rape and crime too gruesome to mention here this morning.  </div> <bR> <div> So, yes, these last days we're living in are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"terrible times"</FONT> indeed.  And the Bible says that, like all sin, unless He intervenes it can only escalate and get worse. Why? Because, in spite of our  scientific and academic wishful thinking about the future, the truth and bottom line is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"You just can't improve on depravity."</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >Ralph Earle</FONT> says that this Greek verb for <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >"terrible"</FONT><I>, </I>means<I>  </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"hard to bear, troublesome, dangerous." </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >Exp. Bible Comm. P.406</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Paul says the last days will be terrible times because they will be</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>4. EXTREMELY SELFISH TIMES (2-4)</b></div> <bR> <div> In these three verses God gives us 18 characteristics of the  people who will live during this present period of the Last days. </div> <bR> <div> Surely, someone might say, these sins mentioned here, have always existed since the Fall of Man. But the Bible seems to indicate that the further along we trod into these Last days and approach Christ's Second coming, these sins rooted in selfishness will become more and more common and applauded by the masses. </div> <bR> <div> First of all, God says that in these Last Days, people will become more and more…</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7019000008000.gif" HEIGHT="27" WIDTH="27" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">SELFISH</b></div> <bR> <div> "People will lovers of themselves"  (2a)</div> <bR> <div> You have to be blind not to see this philosophy rampant across North America and Europe. I mean, what's the big "cure all" today that the worlds Psychological and Psychiatric institutions are making millions with by teaching people in their offices, schools, books and through the media? Self-Esteem, isnt' it? The Political arena are preaching the same philosophy, yet using different terms. In politics it's not called "Self-Esteem" it's called "claiming personal rights".</div> <bR> <div> Women: Divorce/Daycare/work/abortion/lesbianism</div> <div> Children:<B> </b>Parental Authority/Discipline/ School Rebellion</div> <div> Men: Pornography/Adultery/Gay Lifestyle </div> <bR> <div> Why?    <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >"Because I have the right to"!</FONT></div> <bR> <div> The worst has come now, this same selfish attitude is filling the church. </div> <bR> <div> Christian Counselors are telling Christians to feed their Self-esteem as well and confront those who don't treat you right. The results are that there are as many divorces, child abuse and court battles among Church people as there are in the pagan, godless world. </div> <bR> <div> More and more Christians say they don't need a church.</div> <bR> <div> Where does all this self-love come from anyway?</div> <bR> <div> "The roots of the modern infatuation with self-love can be traced to the humanism of the nineteenth century, especially in the development of evolutionism. If man is seen as the product of impersonal chance, God is ruled out, making the elevation of self perfectly acceptable. Because there is no basis for right and wrong, the individual's natural bent to self-centeredness is reinforced, and he finds consummate justification for his own god who does his own will. Each man is captain of his own ship and master of his own fate and cannot allow his self-will to be hindered or he does harm to his well-being."  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >MacArthur, 2 Timothy, pp. 109-10</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Now should it be a surprise to us that if you meet a kid on the street and, by accident, you bump into him and he looks at you with fire in his eyes and gives you a piece of his mind he really can't afford to lose? No! The doctor, the professor and the clergy are teaching him that there's nothing bad or wrong in him and that what he needs is more self-esteem. </div> <bR> <div> The logical outcome of so much emphasis on self-love isn't surprising either. The New Age has got it right out in the open now. They're saying, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial" >"Wake-up! You're not a sinner. You're a god!"</FONT> There calling it "New Age" but those of us who have the Good Book know too well it's nothing but an "old lie". </div> <bR> <div> "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  Genesis 3:4-5</div> <bR> <div> And what did the Lord Jesus say about that ole serpent? <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Arial" >"He's a liar from the beginning and the Father of lies".</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Well, our generation is not the first to have believed the lie that man is god. Throughout history pagan Kings, Governors and Emperors have claimed divinity, the epitome of self-love. And one of them in the Bible was the King of Tyre. And God spoke to him about his claim to godhood. And he speaks these same words of warning to every person today who has the same pagan gall and stupidity. Turn with me to </FONT>Ezekiel 28:1-9<I>.</I></div> <bR> <div> So, what exactly am I saying? That God is against all forms of self-esteem? No. Not at all. What God asks of us is that we have an <I><B>"</b></I>accurate<I><B>"</b></I> self-esteem. According to the Word of God, just the fact that you are human makes you the most phenomenal of all His creation on Earth. You were created in His image with a mind, a soul, and a will to make the right decisions. </div> <bR> <div> Ah, but that's were self-esteem takes it's devastating blow. Does the average, every day, Joe and Mary, know how to make the right decisions? No, and why not? Original sin. And that problem can only be taken care of through Christ and salvation. So, what self-esteem should a Christian have? "I'm a sinner saved by grace. Nothing more. Nothing less."  And believe me, that's a mouthful! </div> <bR> <div>  Humility is the order of the day, folks.</div> <bR> <div> What is the World actually trying to have you believe with this overemphasis of self-esteem and self-love?</div> <bR> <div> "What's most important in this life is your personal life. And anyone or anything that prevents you from having what you want needs to be either changed or ousted completely. You, and you alone, is what matters. So make sure you live like it." </div> <bR> <div> And Christians as well as Non-Christians believe this! Why? Because it's exactly what your old nature wants to hear. It's the way of the flesh.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7019000008000.gif" HEIGHT="27" WIDTH="27" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">WHAT DID JESUS SAY?</b></div> <bR> <div> What does the word of God say? Hold on to your seats because it says the exact opposite. </div> <bR> <div> "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and fallow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9.23-24</div> <bR> <div> "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:24-25</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7019000006600.gif" HEIGHT="27" WIDTH="27" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">PAUL'S SELF-ESTEEM</b></div> <bR> <div> "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of Jesus-Christ." Acts 21:13</div> <bR> <div> "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal.2:20</div> <bR> <div> Quite a different picture, isn't it? A different "focus" is what it is. </div> <bR> <div> Do you want to be different in your home? Community? Work place? Or church, for that matter? Do you want to blow people away and leave them with questions on their faces? Do you really want to shine the light of Christ in your lifetime? </div> <bR> <div> Then purpose yourself and your family to live unselfish lifestyles. Instead of insisting on having it your way, earnestly seek to please others. And watch people being drawn to what you believe in. Watch people find out for the first time in their life what a true Christian is.</div> <bR> <div> "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."  Phil.2:3-5</div> <bR> <div> "Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." Rom.12:3</div> <bR> <div> "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." Rom. 12:10</div> <bR> <div> "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Eph.4:2</div> <bR> <div> "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Eph.5:21</div> <bR> <div> "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:5-6</div> <bR> <bR> <div> "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."  Psalm 19:14</div> <bR> <div> Amen and God Bless You All.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>