Vigilance and Hope: Preparing for the End Times

Now here we have our Lord uttering these words at the end of this discourse which he delivered just the for his death upon the cross now the very circumstances in which he came to speak these words in and of themselves attached of course great significance to what he said he knew he was going to die he spoke as a men who knew that he was speaking probably in extensive like this for the last time the dying words of all men are important any man who knows that he's about to die doesn't speak glibly lightly or loosely he weighs and measures his words and our Lord knew exactly what was a better heaven when he uttered this great statement and what he deals with here of course is the future he was looking into the future he was giving a prophecy. [00:59:52]

Now my friends I ask you is there any subject that is more urgent for us to consider at this moment than just this is there anything more relevant than a consideration of this look at our world this evening look what's happening Far East Africa Western Hemisphere look at it all well you are looking at it all your reading your papers you're listening to the news and you see the unrest in the nation you see the whole state of the world and of the peoples and the nations of the world earth is out you read about these terrifying powers that have been unleashed by men with his inventive genius and this scientific ability now then here is our world as it is this evening with all the uncertainty and the commercial I ask is there anything that is so urgently important for us to do as to consider what our Blessed Lord had to say here about the future course of history and about the end of the world. [00:59:52]

The very progress to which we pinned our faith is the thing that has brought us to see the possibility of the end of the world at any moment so there has been a complete change and transformation in the attitude and the approach towards this great subject but that makes it all the more necessary that we should approach it in the right way very well I needn't argue any longer as to the possibility of deals there is no longer the danger of being ready killed out of court your eminent scientists are not Christians at all they are saying there's a real possibility that in ten years time this world may be out of existence it'd be blown up by man himself well therefore I say oh we've got to do is to make sure that we are approaching this in the right way and that's why I'm calling your attention to this subject is evening there is a wrong way of approaching this what is that well there are two main fallacies it seems to me in our approach to this very possibility here is the first that we should simply spend the whole of time in trying to prevent this from happening. [00:59:52]

Now that is not the way our Lord tells us to approach this we are not to be concerned he tells us about trying to fix the times and the seasons many will come and say I am Christ and it's about to happen don't listen he said don't listen the Apostle Paul likewise tells us that we are not to be concerned about the times and seasons that is a wrong and a false approach what then is the true and the right approach listen to what our Lord Himself has gotta say what are we to do tonight with our world as it is the first thing we have to do is to listen to his teaching not as speculative but to listen to his teaching not to get excited and friend he can feel that something that we made will not do can decide whether the end of the world is to come or not no no it's to listen to his teaching and to observe very carefully what he tells us. [00:59:52]

He says that the coming of the end is absolutely certain as a snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole watch it ever and pray always that he may be accounted worthy to escape all the things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of men now what our Lord thought was this that this world of ours is on a definite time limit there is a definite time when this world is going to end and his teaching is of course that nothing can stop that if you read the parallel passage in mark 13 you will find there that he says that of the day and of the Allah that he didn't know it was the son of men he said that the very angels in him don't know it he says there's only one who knows it and that is the father he has determined the time the point God who made the world has also appointed a time and a date when this world is going to come to an in Lord not only says that he says that nothing can stop it that nothing can prevent it why is this the case there somebody well there is no doubt about the answer our Lord teaches if the whole Bible teaches it all this is because men has fallen into sin if men had not fallen into sin there would not be an end of the world it would have been a constant development and progress if men had only gone on obeying God and living according to God's way he would have achieved immortality yes would never have come in at all and the ground would never have been cursed it would have just gone on and on and on developing everlastingly in glory but that isn't what's it man SID men fill evil is coming the world is rebelled against God and turned its back upon God and the end of the world I say is the result of men's sin and God's judgment upon the sin of men that's the teaching now I want to put this as plainly and as simply as I can because as our Lord was here speaking to his followers there is in this a great message of hope hope you say yes listen there is I say here the only hope the greatest help of all but let's be clear about the nature of the hope there is no hope for the world in and of itself and there is it till the world is a doomed world there is no improvement possible for this world because it is a sinful world because it is an evil world hasn't this been the whole course of human history no I'm asking you now just to consider your secular history books isn't this it there have been times in the history of mankind when you've had the kind of flowering period great poets great dramatists great scientists great explorers like the Elizabethan period or something like that and everybody said now they're not lost we are really beginning we're about to set forward there have been periods like that in the past there have been great civilizations in China in Egypt in Babylon and in various other parts of the world and men seem to be rising up and there seem to be no end to the possibility of development but you know the story is that it didn't continue like that that was followed by a period of stagnation and then by a period of decline it's all summed up in the title of Gibbons famous book isn't it the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and of course similar things have happened in this country if you read the history of this country you'll find this curious periodicity these great flowering periods are followed by periods of decline there was the great Elizabethan era followed by the Puritan era but then followed by charles ii and the restoration and all that followed in the wake of that then another great revival and so on now this is the principle all these periods of advance and the development of him provement of the old followed some kind of a religious movement people don't realize that of course they think it's they themselves but if you look into it you'll find that they've always followed greatly Reformation the Reformation was followed by the Elizabethan period the great advance in the time of Cromwell was directly the result of Puritan teaching and then you see the great evangelical awakening of the 18th century led to the great Victorian era but people forgot the origin they said we are doing this and we don't need to religion we can carry on without God and you and I are experiencing the result of that we are going down and down and down because we missed the cause of the improvement well now the Bible has told us all this from the very beginning it says that all these periods of improvement are only temporary that the world tends to remain the same it's up and down but the great characteristic will always be this trouble man is always talking about his utopia but he never gets there there have been great efforts to make a great peace there was a Pax Romana remember and people thought that there'd never be another war Rome had conquered the whole world who could fight against her and yet she went down boy from eternal Rock they were so secure they spent their time in their baths and in their feasts and down went their great Empire it's happening to all the other no no there is no hope for the world the world is to be ever a place of wars and rumors of wars pestilences troubles earthquakes and all the rest of it that's to characterize he says the whole of human history but then he goes on to say that the end is to come and her will the end come well the end will come he says when he himself returns into this world he said you shall see the son of men and the clouds of heaven surrounded by the holy angels this is his teaching he says I am going to come back into this world to judge the world and he says it's going to be a universal judgment it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth does it sound medium well you know the prophecy of his first coming as the babe of Bethlehem sounded utterly ridiculous to large numbers of people but it came it happened what he said about the destruction of Jerusalem seemed utterly monstrous to these people they drove him out they couldn't stem such nonsense but it happened in a nice empty and here he is saying that he is going to come back into this world oh my dear friend don't dismiss him he said he was going to rise from the dead and he did nobody believed him not even his own apostles even they didn't get it but he rose and here he is saying that he's going to come back riding the clouds of heaven surrounded by his holy angels and he's going to judge the whole world in righteousness everybody nobody will be left out every one of you in this building are with you everybody who's ever lived everybody who's ever going to live the whole world shall stand before him every human being that has ever breathed it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth they'll rise from the graves they'll come up out of the seat wherever they are the whole of humanity will stand before him and he will judge what does it means says somebody well it means this evil and all belong to the power of evil shall be finally condemned and sent to everlasting destruction the devil and his angels and all his powers and all have believed him and wondered after him all people who died out of this life in sin going their own way following the way of the world not believing in God not believing in Christ all such shall hear the sentence of condemnation banishment from the presence of God eternal punishment that's what he says I'm not saying this if you don't like it you quarreling with me you were quarreling with the Lord Jesus Christ how could I or any men imagine something like this how could any man invent something like this it's too terrible to think of it is he who says the Son of God the one who rose up from the dead thank god there's another side to this oh-hoo having realized their sinfulness and their folly have believed in him shall be told of their glorious reward shall be a servant of glory and shall begin to live that eternity of glory and light and joy and delight in the presence of God that's what he's going to do he'll come back and he'll divide the whole of humanity into two groups the right and the left the sheep and the girls the believers and the unbelievers the Saints and those who despised him and rejected him now then the first thing he asks us to do is to believe his teaching to believe that whatever mankind may do the end has got to come even if the nations of the world decide to have a disarmament conference now that we've got a new president in the United States let's assume nothing that they all come together and that they embrace one another and they say we are going to spoil all these bombs we'll take out these fuses not one of them will ever be used we'll never make another atomic bomb will sign a pact never to fight again let them do all it they won't do it to start with but even if they did the end of the world will still come it must come it is God's judgment it is God's own appointment it is God's own appointment it is God's own determination and whatever men does it must each shall come says this blessed person and do what you will you can never stop it so to spend your time in trying to stop it is to be fighting against inevitability it's like the foolish waves trying to knock down a mountain it can't be done they're only thrown back in their own helplessness it shall come and every one of us will be involved in it that's what he says was therefore he says this in the second place the one thing for us to do is not to try to discover when this is going to happen but to prepare ourselves for it take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that they come upon you unawares as us there be ready all will be well s this come upon you as a trap comes upon a bird have you seen the snare set for the bird the little bird doesn't know it it sees a tasty morsel and it so concerned about this it doesn't see what's there around this tasty morsel and in it goes suddenly the trap snaps it's caught snare the snare of the Fowler like a little mouse caught in a red trap or in a mousetrap the southern catching snare it's too late it's all over oh don't let that happen to us Christ how do you avoid that well he tells us one thing for us to do is to learn how to stand before the son of men watch he therefore and pray always that he may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man that's the only thing that matters this evening do what we will we cannot prevent we cannot stop the end of the world we cannot evade it what matters o is the only thing that matters that you be able to stand before the son of men this man the son of men was coming on the clouds with the angels to judge and the whole world will be before him and the question is can you stand before him or will you be swept away by the judgment and by the wrath you'll stand before the son of men my dear friend that's the only thing that should engage your attention nothing else at all it doesn't matter how the end of the world is going to come it may come very well through the explosion of the hydrogen bomb it may be God's way of bringing it a pass I don't know but I don't care how it comes what I know is that I've gotta chase this son of God and the question is can I stand before him or will I be swept away in the judgment now can anybody stand before him oh thank God there is no uncertainty about that I can tell you my dear friend you've only one thing to do and that is to believe on him believe that he is as he says the son of God the savior of the world believe his teaching believe that he has come into the world because the world has sinned against God and that all who have sinned against God if they remain like that they're going to be punished everlastingly out of the presence of God but that he has come into this world to save us from that he didn't come to improve the world he tells us about the doom of the world what he has done is to come to save us out of this room and what he says is this he says if you believe that I am he if you believe that I am the son of God and that I came into this world in order to take us in from you take your guilt upon myself to take your punishment if you only believe that I've come to die that you might be rescued and redeemed ransomed and forgiven and reconciled to God he says if you believe and give yourself and your life to me put yourself into my safekeeping then he says you've got nothing to fear when I come you'll be able to stand before me I'll recognize you I'll say to you come ye blessed of the Lord enter in the kingdom prepared for you that's all we have to do because if we haven't believed in him when he comes he will look at us and he will we will say to him prefer Lord Lord we see that you're a great Lord and the judge he says I will look unto you and say I never knew you depart from me you that work iniquity they don't stand there swept away the only way to stand the father son of men in the judgment is to belong to him to believe in him to give yourself in your life to him to believe his own word he said the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost listen to him the son of man he says is not come to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many listen to him come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest here he says terrible things are going to happen but don't be afraid come unto me you needn't be afraid why he says if you only believe on me far from being afraid this is what will happen to you then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth 9 he says you Christian people you're having a hard time in this world they're laughing at you they're blaspheming you they're persecuting you your father or mother may do it and everybody's against you and you're having a whole other time in this world but it's all right he says when you see these things beginning to happen left your heads your attention drawn I the day is coming when I'm going to receive you unto myself and I'm going to take you into the glory which you're going to share with me throughout the countless ages of eternity believe on him and when he comes you'll be able to stand and you'll rejoice in his glorious presence that's the first thing but it isn't the only thing oh yes we must believe in him but we must also watch take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that they become come upon you unawares as a snare believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and cling to him this world will try to draw your attention away it's doing that the present time isn't it interest in the nuns rather than in God and in Christ interesting political action rather than in your own soul interesting pleasure and in amusement surfeiting wrongfulness that's what the world is interested in tonight isn't it in spite of the world being as it is tonight in spite of the think that little children are starving in that Congo have you seen them on the television in spite of the terrible possibilities in many countries in Africa in spite of that explosive position in the Far East in spite of what may very well happen as a result of Cuba in spite of what the world is tonight what a men and women doing surfeiting and drunkenness eating too much drinking too much indulging their lusts and their passions too much beware of this is our Lord and you notice he adds the cares of this world the cares of this life it isn't only drunkenness and surfeiting your own business maybe occupying so much of your time that you forget yourself and you forget you've got to stand before the son of men you may be a housewife and you may be so busy in feeding your husband and your children and earning their sucks that you forget yourself and that you've got a stand before the Son of Man the cares of this world isn't only drunkenness it isn't only surfeiting we can be so absorbed by newspapers and pleasures and interest and cares some of them perfectly legitimate that when the son of men comes we'll be taken unawares and disappearing will be like the snare that catches the bird the snare of the Fowler Oh Shaz our Lord take heed yourself watch watching therefore and pray always realize that this is a doomed and a dangerous and a devilish world and it's doing its utmost to stand between you and your soul salvation and your eternity in the presence of God and the Tory that awaits his children watch Katie the end is bound to come the end shall come it will come I don't know when so Charles snow says it may be before 80 in 1970 I don't know but all I do know is that it is coming is Christ or rain a literal thousand years you know it really doesn't matter he may or may not that's not what matters what matters is that you and I have gotta stand before him and we either hear the words depart from me that work iniquity I never knew or else the smile of recognition come ye blessed of the Lord entering into the joy of the Lord enter into the kingdom that is prepared isn't it difficult to realize these things isn't it difficult to realize that the world is going to come to an end now I say it shouldn't be very difficult tonight should it you know it's much easier to preach now than it would have been 40 years ago indeed let me say this I find it much easier to preach now than I did when I began to preach 34 years ago why well the world is proving it such I'll smell saying it but watch take heed don't let it fritter away from your mind tonight be careful as you go out of this very Chapel and what you talk about afterwards the devil will to steal the word Christ says you've taken away from you hold on to it watch take heed this is going to happen to you it's going to happen to me you can't evade it you can't avoid it it is coming and on the whole and all men make sure that you know how to stand before the Son of Man believe in him follow him and live in such a way that when he does come it won't be a terror to you it'll be a joy for your see him as he is you will see the Son of God in His glory you'll look into his eyes you look into his face you realize something of the love that wherewith he has loved you that made him even died on the cross for your sins you know it's the most glorious thing that can ever happen to see and to be made like him to be changed into his image to be glorified and to spend eternity in his presence why do we hold on to this sinful evil world as we do with his wars and commotions and pestilences and famines and cruelty and unhappiness and evil and sin and drunkenness and Serfaty why do we run on to it so tenaciously and regard the end as some awful calamity it shouldn't be to those who believe in him we should look forward to it we should hasten it's coming we should dwell with ravishment of heart upon its fulfillment all the joy of seeing my lord as he is and being like 'i believe on him my dear friend pray to him watch take heed don't let the world come between you and him keep it all back push it away take heed unto yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so this day come upon you unawares Watchi therefore and pray always that he may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to scan before the Son of Man keep your eye on him let nothing of Trude itself between you and him go on doing it and the day of his come will be the most glorious day that you ever know no experience. 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