Matthew 24

SLIDE 1   Saturday during the home going of a precious lady and teacher friend the Spirit opened up my eyes to what I need to share with you. The service was uplifting and truly a celebration of Tammy’s life.  It inspired me to live a life worthy of Christ; to intentionally impact others for eternal significance.

“Live so that when the final summons comes you will leave something more behind you than an epitaph on a tombstone or an obituary in a newspaper.” Billy Sunday

The impact of Tammy’s life was evident in the “standing room only” crowd that attended her service. Will you leave a legacy?

If you feel as I do that the Lord is coming soon, very soon. Then we need to get our lives in order and spread the Good News. When you find a bargain on a pair of shoes or at the grocery store, you share it with your friends, right? Are you willing to share Jesus with those that need Him most?

SLIDE 2    Future Events Part 1-Matthew 24

·        Signs of the Times 3-14

·        Tribulation and the Coming of Christ 15-31

·        Watchful Living 32-51

Will you be ready?

SLIDE 3 ³As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?"

⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

This is the fifth and final discourse in the gospel of Matthew known as the Olivet Discourse which we referenced in our study of Revelation. There have always been wars, Christians have been persecuted since Jesus’ time, earthquakes and famine and tsunami’s continue to occur. Jesus said,  ⁸ All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

But in the end times it will be a global impact. Every country and nation will be affected.

SLIDE  4

⁹"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved.¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then….…… the end will come. Will you endure to the end?

SLIDE  5 Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today. Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ's first introduction, so both Old and New  Testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ. There is even a Prophecy Bible that shows what percentage of each book pertains to prophecy.
            One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ's second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming of Christ--an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's coming, there are 8 which look forward to His second! Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 27. Are you ready?

·        Tribulation and the Coming of Christ 15-31

SLIDE 6    1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

SLIDE 7 The teaching that there is an eternal Hell in which hordes of mankind will suffer eternal punishment can be a difficult doctrine to accept. We hear so much about God's infinite love and how He desires that all men be saved.
John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
SLIDE 8 However, those who develop their theologies based only upon the "gentle" side of God do so with an incomplete picture. Not only is God loving, gracious, and merciful but also He is also holy, just, and hates sin. God punishes the sin.

Jeremiah 50:31 “For your day has come, The time when I will punish you. Ezekiel 44:12 they shall bear their punishment Matthew 25:46 ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 2 Peter 2:9 to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, Hebrews 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

SLIDE 9 There were several acts of desecration in the Old Testament during the years  the before Jesus was born. (Book 1 of Macabees 1: 47) Antiochus IV Epiphanes decreed to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,48 to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to defile themselves with every kind of impurity and abomination; 49 so that they might forget the law and change all its ordinances.

 (let the reader understand), Jesus now quotes Daniel directly to clarify that  the fulfillment of the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place is in the future. The destruction of the temple in AD 70 by the Romans could fit the bill. The people will surely flee for their lives.

SLIDE 10 Guzik “God will remove His church before the fury of the Great Tribulation, catching them away to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This information is especially valuable for those who will become His disciples in the Great Tribulation after the church is gone.” Warren Wiersbe and other writers do not think this is the rapture of the church for Jesus will return and meet us in the air for we would not be running from our Savior be waiting anxiously for His return. After the church is removed so also the Holy Spirit will leave. Wickedness and sin will be rampant.

²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

²⁹    "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

SLIDE 11   ²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

³⁰ Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn ( because they did not believe.), and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.³¹ And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

·        Watchful Living 32-51

SLIDE 12  Matthew 24: ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Jesus gave us signs for the seasons like the tulips announcing spring and the leaves on the fig tree tells us summer is near. ³⁶"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

SLIDE 13 ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Harry Ironside stated that salvation was like Noah inviting a pagan in his day to place his trust in God's Word and come in to the ark. They can’t be saved if they don’t walk in the door.
Some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark. "If you just hang on through the storm, you'll be saved." Salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by and in Christ.

SLIDE 14 *Our friends and neighbors carry on their lives with little regard to Jesus and his free gift of salvation.  Just as our children cannot be saved through our decision of faith, proximity or location will not save your friends.  Many people in the church will be left because they never really made Christ LORD of their life.

⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

SLIDE 15 Luke 12:35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.”⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

 ⁵⁰ the master of that (wicked) servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

From our study of Revelation, we recognize that place as hell.

SLIDE 16 As I searched through my bank account for last year looking for my contributions to finish filing taxes, it reminded me of a lesson from money management.

You can tell a lot about a person from their checking account, what you do with your money.  Are you generous toward others?  Are you generous toward God?  What do the things you put your money toward say about you?  What does your checkbook say about your heart? 

SLIDE 17 Betty Feezor chronicling her battle with brain cancer, her diary, "A Life That Mattered," was published in 1979.  She said, "Live, so that when you are gone, it will have mattered that you were here." That doesn’t mean you have to appear on TV or write a book or be wealthy. It means that you made a difference.

How do you spend your time and talents? Jesus commanded to care for the least of these. Volunteer for those less fortunate. Be a voice for children in court. Help the homeless.
 SLIDE 18  The organization Points of Light highlights volunteers in many different areas: from children services, military families and disaster relief. There are several national programs called “Make a Difference,” one event this weekend teaches how to evangelize as we go. Help other know Jesus in an intimate life-changing way.  What will your Master see you doing when He returns?

 My pastor says you preach your own funeral by the life you live. What will they say about your life?  What is your legacy?

Prayer

SLIDE 16 from Nichole Nordeman

“I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
a child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy”