Adrian Rogers - Living in the Last Days
Be finding First John, the second chapter, and when you've found it, let me tell you that education is costly, but ignorance will cost you far, far more. And no child of God can afford to be ignorant in these dynamic days in which we're living. All of us have a feeling that the sands of time are running low for this generation, and most all of us feel that history as we know it is headed for a climax. Now if that is true, time is ripe for the appearance of a person that the Bible calls the antichrist. There is a beast of a man lurking in the shadows of history. And he's about ready to step from the wings of the stage onto center stage. And that's what our Scripture deals with today.
Now, the Bible says that perilous times shall come. May I say that perilous times are here! The dynamite is in place, the fuse is laid, the match has been struck, the days are numbered, and we need to be ready. Now let me tell you some reasons that we need to be ready and then we're going to jump into the Word of God. We need to be ready because of the intercession factor. We need to be praying for this world. We need to get our heads out of the clouds of prophecy and get our knees on the floor and pray for this generation. And also the soul-winning factor.
You see, dear friend, if you're living for this world only, all you're doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We need to be getting people into the lifeboats; we need to be getting them to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Thirdly, the family preparation factor. Living in the last days is dangerous. And we as parents and grandparents need to be inculcating into the hearts and minds and lives of our children values and rock-ribbed truths. And finally the comfort factor. When we know what the Bible says is going to come to pass and these things happen, we don't go around wringing our hands and saying, "The sky is falling, and look what the world is coming to". We say, "Look Who's coming to the world". We understand that Jesus Christ is coming again.
Now with all of that in mind, begin to read in First John the second chapter, beginning in verse 18, "Little children, it is the last time". First John chapter 2 verse 18 through verse 23, "Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard, that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also".
I'm going to stop reading there, and we're going to take up some more of this chapter, and we're going to go on through the end of the chapter, but there're three things I want you to learn about. The time, the tyrant, and the triumph, and I want you to keep these in your mind. Now what is the time? The time is the last days, according to verse 18. We are living in the last days, and we need to be awake. We're living in the last days, and we need to be awake. John says in First John 2:18, "Little children, it is the last time". Literally that may be translated and is translated in some Bibles, "The last hour".
Now John said that 2,000 years ago! "Adrian, if John said 2,000 years ago that it was the last time, what happened? How could it have been the last time, because we've had two millenniums"? Now here's something you need to understand: that ever since Jesus Christ ascended into glory, it has been the last time. Now, the Old Testament, the former time, was preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ. After the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, we enter into a period of time called "The last time". From the time that Jesus went up till the time that Jesus is coming back, that is, "The last time," that is the last hour, and any time in that interval, Jesus Christ could come.
All Christians, from the time of John to this time, are to be living with the expectancy that Jesus Christ may come at any moment. So many of us have the idea that, "The last time" is out there and we're moving toward it. No, we're living in it. Joyce and I went to see one time the Grand Canyon. Now, I was not afraid of falling into the Grand Canyon when we were driving toward it a hundred miles away. I didn't say a hundred miles an hour, a hundred miles away. And then forty miles and thirty miles, and finally we got to the Grand Canyon, and there we went out to a place to watch, and there's the rim of the Grand Canyon. And while we were at the rim we were not headed toward it, we were right on the very edge.
Now we could have walked fifty miles right on the edge of the Grand Canyon, not headed toward it, but right on the edge of the Grand Canyon. The wrong step, we could've fallen in, as you know, anybody who goes to visit that marvelous monument. Now, what I'm trying to say is that we're not moving toward the last days, we're living on the edge of the last days. Always, from the time that Jesus went up till the time that He's coming back, He could come at any moment. Put down the word imminent. Learn this about Bible prophecy. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent.
Come up here close, I want tell you something. There is no sign that we're waiting for. There is no event in history that we're waiting for. Jesus Christ could have come back three weeks after He ascended into Heaven. And He may come back this afternoon. You see, all of the Bible teaches that we are on the very edge, on the very brink, and therefore we should be yearning and not yawning. We should be ready for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now you say, "Well, what about all of the signs of the times and all of this"? There are signs of the times, but these are not the times of the signs. Now what I mean by that is this. That the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is in two stages. First, the Lord Jesus Christ comes for His church. That's the rapture. We'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That will be suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And then there will be the Great Tribulation here on this Earth. And then Jesus Christ will come back with His saints to rule and to reign for 1,000 years. We call that the millennium.
Now, the rapture has no signs. It could happen at any moment. There're plenty of signs for the revelation, when Jesus Christ comes back in glory and power with His saints, not for His saints, but with His saints. And the Bible tells of many signs like that. Well, you say, "Well, Adrian, then are you trying to tell me that all of the things that we call the signs of the times don't apply, or, that we can't read them"? Yes, we can read them. And we can tell that there is an intensity that portends the coming of Christ. I was in a meeting in Houston, Texas, where a group of us were fasting and praying for America. And we prayed and fasted. In that same hotel where we were, there was another meeting of detectives who were studying forensics and they had their signs up and we had our signs up.
Now, I walked past their signs and I could read their signs. Their signs were not for me, but I could read them, and there are many signs for the nation Israel and other things that are happening, and I can read those signs and I can tell. You see, coming events cast their shadows ahead of time, and if Jesus Christ could've come in John's day, yes He could have, how much more should we be ready in these days when we see those signs that are gathering and coming. Now listen, listen. I want to show you beyond the shadow of any doubt that Jesus Christ may come at any moment. I want to give you some Scriptures. Get a piece of paper and write these down.
First Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 10. Paul is talking to the church at Thessalonica, and he says to them among others things, "And to wait for His Son from Heaven whom He raised from the dead". The apostle Paul told those early Christians, "Wait for Jesus". Now if Jesus could not have come in Paul's day, that was foolish. "Wait for Jesus". And the word wait is a present infinitive. That means to be constantly waiting. Philippians 3 verse 20. Paul said to the church at Philippi, "For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior". Those people in Philippi were to be looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now He'd already come in redemption, but they were waiting for Him to come in rapture.
First Corinthians 1 verse 7. Paul told the church at Corinth, "So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". At Thessaloniki, wait for Jesus. At Philippi, wait for Jesus. At Corinth, wait for Jesus. And then, in the book of Hebrews, chapter 9 and verse 28, the writer says, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation".
Do you know what you're to be doing? You're to be learning of His coming, you're to be living for His coming, you're to be longing for His coming and you're to be looking for His coming. You are to be expecting the Lord Jesus Christ at any moment. Paul told Titus in Titus 2 verse 13 about the grace of God that redeems us and makes us a peculiar people, and then he says, "Looking for that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ".
Look for Jesus. We're not looking for some event, we're not looking for the temple to be rebuilt, we're not looking for the anti-Christ to appear, we're not looking for the regathering of Israel, we're not looking for earthquakes and famines and all of these things. We're looking for Jesus, we're looking for Jesus. I'm telling you friend, that Jesus may come before I finish this sermon. His coming is imminent, and if John said we're living in the last days, he was right and so are we.
Now, when He comes, He's coming suddenly, in a moment, He's coming in the twinkling of an eye. I was preaching a sermon one time, as a younger preacher, in Stuart, Florida. It was a revival crusade, and they had me staying in a hotel that was right by the railroad tracks. I had preached on the Second Coming of Jesus, I had preached on the trumpet, First Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16 and 17, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which remain and are alive shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord".
I preached that and I went to sleep. Was about 1:00 a.m., and I was right by the railroad tracks, and for whatever reason, the engineer on that locomotive revved his engine and blew the whistle right outside my window. Friend, I thought I'd be happy to see Jesus come; it scared me to death. I thought, "This is it! It has really happened"! I thought, friend, the trumpet had sounded and I was ready to go. Well, I take it back, I wasn't frightened, but I was alarmed. I was shocked. But one of these days just like that, Jesus is going to come.
Friend, you say, "Well, I don't think it'll happen today". Well, that's a good sign that it might, for the Bible says in Matthew 24:44, "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh". So the first point is, we're living in the last days. Be awake, be awake, be awake, be awake! "Little children, it is the last hour". In John's time, in our time, at any moment, look for Jesus! He's coming! He's coming! Any moment. Now, if they had reason to believe He was coming in their day, how much more should we, when we see these convergence of signs and coming events that cast their shadow ahead of time. Here's the second point.
Now, not only are these the last days, but number two, the anti-Christ is coming and we need to be aware. These are the last days; we need to be awake. The anti-Christ is coming, we need to be aware. Look if you will again in First John verse 18 of this same chapter. And he says here, "Little children, it is the last time," okay, wake up, "and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time". Now, there is a world ruler who is waiting in the wings, ready to step onto the center stage. I've told you that. And his title is antichrist.
Now it's interesting to know that the Bible describes the antichrist in many ways, but John is the only one who calls him antichrist. The apostle John calls him antichrist. He has many aliases, but he has but one wicked heart. He is called, "The son of perdition". He is called, "The man of sin". He is called, "The wicked one". He is called, "The lawless one". He is called, "The beast". He is called, "The antichrist". Put down in your margin Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3. There he's called, "The man of sin," this same one. Listen to what Paul said, "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition".
The man of sin. This man is so wicked, this antichrist, that he is literally called the man of sin. That speaks of his character. Let me tell you what some other translations say. I'm reading from the King James. One calls him, "The man of lawlessness". Another calls him, listen to this, "The incarnation of wickedness". Another translation calls him, "The champion of wickedness". Another calls him, "Wickedness in human form". The King James calls him, "The man of sin". He will be the epitome of evil; he will be the personification, the incarnation of evil, this one that John is calling the antichrist. Also he's called in this same passage, "The son of perdition".
Perdition means judgment. It speaks of the judgment that is surely awaiting him as he's going to be cast into the lake of fire. Those who follow antichrist are following a loser. He is called in Revelation chapter 13 verse 1, "The beast that rises up out of the sea". And when the Bible calls him a beast, that speaks of his cruelty, it speaks of his fierce and ferocious nature, that would devour and shred and tear. He's called the beast. John calls him the antichrist.
Now, why does John call him the antichrist? The prefix A-N-T-I has two meanings. Number one, it means against, and number two, it means instead of. The same word means two different things. He is the one who comes against Christ, and how does he come against Christ? By substituting himself for Christ instead of Christ. He comes as the devil's messiah. He comes as a diabolical, devilish substitute. He's one who opposes Christ. So put down first of all, this antichrist is devilish, he is devilish. The Bible says he opposes God and exalts himself above God. He is anti-Christ. Jesus could say, when He was here in the flesh, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father". "When you've seen Me, you've seen My Father," that's what Jesus could say and did say in John 14:9. The antichrist could say, "When you've seen me, you have seen my father".
You see, Jesus was the visible expression of the invisible God. The antichrist will be the visible expression of the invisible devil. As Jesus is to the Father, he will be to Satan. You see, Satan desires worship. He wants not only casualties, he wants converts. He wants that worship to be open, and he will receive it through his messiah, the antichrist. So put down this antichrist is devilish. Number two, he is divisive.
Look, if you will, in First John 2 verse 19 of this same chapter. He's talking now about other antichrists, and he says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us". Almost all of these apostate cults began in the true church. Now these people are not truly saved. "They were not of us, but they went out from us".
We've all seen people who've joined churches. They've never received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. They may come down an aisle, present themselves for baptism, be baptized, be in a Sunday school class, be in a choir, and after a while they go off and they get into some strange, weird, esoteric cult. Why do they do that? Well, friend, "They are with us but they are not of us". They have no true koinonia, the Holy Spirit of God is not in them and so they go away. Somebody says, "Well, they lost their salvation". No, they didn't lose their salvation, they never had it.
That's what John says in First John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not with us, they were not of us. Had they been of us they no doubt would have continued with us, but they went away". These anti-Christian cults, and the world is full of them, are a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. It has not taken God by surprise. First Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons".
They went out from us but they were not of us. We see these people today, some of them may be not leading antichrist movements, but they just fall away. Does that mean they lost their salvation? No. We say around here, "The faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first". They were not of us. Had they been with us, had they been of us, had they had the Holy Spirit, they would no doubt have continued with us. What about this antichrist? He is devilish and the spirit of antichrist is devilish. It is divisive. It is deceptive.
Look here, if you will, in First John 2 verses 20 and following through verse 23. John says, "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it and no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also".
Now look in verse 26, "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you". The antichrist is devilish, he is divisive, and he is deceptive. He is a liar, he is the master liar. He learns this from his father, the devil, who is a liar and the father of it. Now, what is he going to deceive men about primarily? Who Jesus is, who Jesus is.
Friend, antichrist is against you understanding just who Jesus is. The battle in every age, in every year, always centers on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are wrong about Jesus, it doesn't matter what you're right about. Now, folks, I want you to understand this. Listen again to verse 22 in First John chapter 2, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son". If you're wrong about the Son, you have missed the Father, you don't understand it.
Now put in your margin First John chapter 4 verses 1 through 3. Here's what the apostle John says two chapters later, "Beloved, believe not every spirit". You know, people say, "Well I just, you know, I just have something in my heart". Listen, "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. This is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, even now already, it is in the world".
And then John wrote another epistle, Second John, and he says in verses 7 through 11 of chapter 1, "For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son". Now listen to this next thing, "If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine," what doctrine? the doctrine of Christ, "receive him not into your house, and neither bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds".
If somebody comes door to door visiting in your neighborhood, and they want to pull off some religious literature into your house or they want to have a Bible study in your house, you find out what they believe about Jesus Christ. You find out if they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God the Son, coequal, co-eternal, with Almighty God, if He is God come in the flesh, and if they don't believe it, you can say, "There's the sidewalk, get on it".
Now give them a witness, show them love, but don't you let them make your home Hell's headquarters, and don't you, in a syrupy way, with sloppy agape, put your arms around them and say, "Well, we're all headed toward the same place". That's a lie! They're not headed to Heaven, not if they don't know Jesus Christ. It's the spirit of antichrist, and what is that? He is against Christ and shows himself as a substitute for Christ. That's what antichrist means, and so this one who is coming, many antichrists are in the world, but there is one coming who is the antichrist, he is the epitome of all of it, he is the quintessential sinner and he's coming. He's the beast, the son of perdition, the man of sin, the lawless one, and the spirit of antichrist is already in the world. And he is devilish, he is divisive, friend, he is deceptive, and he's destructive.
Notice here, if you will, as we continue to read. Look if you will in First John 2 verses 24 and 25 "Let that, therefore, abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning, if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father, and this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life". The implication is that if you don't, you're going to miss eternal life. You'll be everlastingly destroyed, ruined, and you're going to miss Jesus.
Now, everlasting life doesn't mean eternal existence, you already have that. When God made you, God breathed into your nostrils the breath of life, you became a living soul. You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist. Your soul will be in existence somewhere when the sun, moon, and stars have grown cold. You have everlasting existence. What you need is everlasting life. You're going to spend eternity somewhere. I've decided to spend it in the nonsmoking section. He is destructive! He wants to wreck and ruin and damn your soul. You say, "That's not loving".
Friend, the apostle John wrote it; he's called the beloved disciple. He says, "Little children, it's the last time". There are many antichrists. Antichrist shall come and so we see what John is saying. He speaks of the time, it is the last time. Be awake! He speaks of the tyrant, the antichrist is coming. Be aware! And then, thank God, he speaks of the triumph. Our Lord is on His way and we need to be abiding. Awake, aware, and abiding.
Now look if you will at a new word that's going to jump out at us, and it's the word abide. Look if you will in First John 2 and he says here in verse 24, "Abide, let that also, therefore, abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning". Look down at the end of verse 27, "And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him". Now look if you will in verse 28, "And now, little children, abide in Him". Now, when you are awake and when you are aware, what do you do? How do you live in the last days? Well, you abide.
Now first of all, listen, here's what you need to teach your children, get ready. You need to abide in the Word of God. Again, verse 24, "Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning". He's talking about what you've heard, the Word. "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the Son and in the Father".
Now the word abide means to settle down, to be at home, to remain. And so, let the Word of God be at home in you and you at home in the Word of God. Learn to appreciate the Word of God, learn to appropriate the Word of God, learn to apply the Word of God. Because the way you know the Father and the Son is through the Word of God. And not only do you need to abide, but parents, grandparents, you listen to me, listen to your pastor, you need to be putting mega doses of the Word of God into the hearts and minds of your children. And they're not going to get it just in Sunday school. You're going to have to do it, you're going to have to do it.
If not, they going to get blown away. I mean, the devil is so deceptive, it's in the air like a fungus today. When our nation was founded, the Bible was the most quoted book by our founding fathers, and now it is the most banned book in America. The Bible, the most banned book in America. Friend, they can read almost anything in public schools except the Word of God. Now, you're mom and dad, and the Bible says in these last days you're going to have to abide in the Word of God. Number two; you have to abide in the Spirit of God.
Look in First John verse 27 if you will in this same chapter, "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lie. And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him". The Holy Spirit of God abides in you, you abide in Him. Now notice he says the word anointing. Chrisma is the word. Look in First John 2 verse 20. He calls it up there an unction. It's the same word, "But ye have an unction from the Holy One," a chrisma.
In the Old Testament, when they had a prophet, a priest or a king, and they were getting him ready for service, they would pour oil on him. And that was called a christening, an anointing, because that oil is an emblem, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Well, we are New Testament prophets, priests, and kings, and we have been anointed with the Holy Ghost. I mean, when we get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to abide in us, and therefore we need to abide in Him. He is resident in us; we need to make Him president in us. We need to abide, first of all, abide in the Word of God and then abide in the Spirit of God, because he says you don't have any need that anyone teach you. You have an unction from the Holy One.
You say, "Well Pastor Rogers, if I don't need anybody to teach me, I think I'll get up and get out of here". Or "Why did we have Sunday school today"? No, no, you need to understand what he's saying. The Bible is not against human teachers. As a matter of fact, you read in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12, "And He gave pastors, and teachers for the edifying of the church". And the Bible's not against study. The Bible says clearly and plainly in Second Timothy 2:15, "Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed".
Thank God for teachers, thank God for study; but friend, with all of that you would never know apart from the Holy Spirit, did you know that? Did you know that the Holy Spirit of God is the One who teaches you? Jesus said in John 14:26, "When He is come, He will teach you of all things". That's the Holy Spirit of God. He is the divine teacher that says what this preacher is saying is true. He is the One who speaks to your heart. That's the reason why I've said thousands of times I can preach truth, but only He can impart truth.
Anything I can talk you into, somebody can else can talk you out of. But friend, you have an unction from the Holy One. You have the Holy Spirit of God who opens your understanding, who illumines you, who helps you to know. Thank God for that, because the Bible says if it were not for Him, the antichrist would deceive the very elect. Thank God that we have the Spirit of God in our hearts! And you need to abide in Him so He can teach you in these last days.
Warren Wiersbe told a story about a man who was a missionary to the American Indians out on the west coast and he got an Indian that had been led to Christ, a very noble, wonderful man, this Indian, but untaught. He didn't even know about denominations, he didn't know about false cults, he's just a babe in Christ and they brought him in to San Francisco.
I believe it's San Francisco, maybe Los Angeles, makes no difference. Brought him there, and they're walking down the streets, and there was a man on the street corner with an open Bible preaching and teaching. The missionary knew that that man was of a false cult. He knew what the man believed and he didn't want to try to explain to this young babe in Christ about false cults and false teachers and all of this. He was just a babe in Christ. So he thought maybe he wouldn't say anything, but the Indian stopped and listened for a while. And then they walked on.
And the missionary, after a while, he said, "Well, what did you think about that man"? He said, "Me no like him". He said, "Well why"? He said, "When he talks, something in me say, 'Liar, liar, liar.'" Now that was the Holy Spirit, said that man's a liar! You see, we have an unction from the Holy One and the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts is there to affirm the truth. Now that doesn't mean it's just touchy-feely because it is the Spirit of God that applies the Word of God and both go together to reveal the Son of God.
So here's the third thing that you abide in. Look if you will. Now, first of all, abide in the Word of God, verse 24. Secondly, abide in the Spirit of God, verse 27, and finally as a result, abide in the Son of God. Now watch this, First John chapter 2 verses 28 and 29, "And now, little children, abide in Him," talking about Jesus, "that when He shall appear," He's coming, "we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him".
Abide in Him; abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Word of God abides in you and you abide in it, and if the Spirit of God abides in you and you abide in Him, then the Son of God is going to be revealed in you, and you will be at home with Jesus, and Jesus will be at home with you. And when Jesus Christ comes, you're not going to be alarmed, you're not going to be frightened, you're going to meet the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with anticipation and boldness and gladness and I told you about being alarmed as a boy preacher.
Well, friend, I want to tell you, since that time there's been a, can I use the word paradigm shift, in my heart and mind? I am so longing for Jesus to get here. I don't dread His coming. You know, the early Christians had a word, maranatha. It means even so come, come, Lord Jesus. I want Him to come, I'm longing for Him to come, I'm looking for Him to come. I'm not sick of this world, I enjoy life, I enjoy every day. But my heart beats with anticipation for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You see, I'll meet Him with confidence. I don't want to be ashamed when He comes.
When I was a little boy, my dad was in the Coast Guard and I lived in West Palm Beach, and he was stationed in Hope Sound, Florida. And he drove a Model A Ford, and he could come home about that forty miles from Hope Sound to home when he would get out of where he had to live up there and come see us. Before he would go off to do duty, he would tell my brother and me, Buddy and myself, to do this, and to do this, and to do this, and we had yard work to do and we had chores to do, and so forth. And then we knew that when Dad came home, we had to report.
Now, folks, I must confess, your pastor was not always very diligent in doing everything that his father told him to do. Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn't. But if you know anything about a Model A Ford, they have a peculiar sound. You can hear it about a block away. I could hear my dad's Model A Ford coming when he would come home. And in our neighborhood, we'd be out playing baseball or whatever. If I saw that black Model A Ford coming, it had a running board on it, kids today don't even know what a running board is. That's something that you step on to get into the car.
If I had done what my dad told me to do, friend, when I'd hear that Model A Ford coming, I'd, you know, I'd just take off and run, and jump on the running board, reach in the window, hug his neck, kiss him, it's such a joy to see him. There're other times when I heard that Model A Ford coming I'd go the other way. You go the other way. Why? Because I had not been abiding, I'd not been obeying, I'd not been doing what he told me to do. Now he's my father either way. I'm going to meet Jesus; but when He comes, I want to meet Him with boldness, I want to meet Him with joy. I want to abide in Him.
What is the difference between Christ and antichrist? Antichrist is going to turn this world into a vast concentration camp and give everybody a number. Jesus calls His sheep by name. So the big question is, when He comes will your name be called or will your number be up? That's the whole thing, folks, do you know Jesus? When He comes, we're going to be caught up to meet Him in the air and so will we ever be with the Lord. Now, sum it up, it is the last time. Be awake; anti-Christ is coming. Be aware; our Lord is on His way. Be abiding; abide in the Word of God. Abide in the Spirit of God, He's the inner teacher. Abide in the Son of God, so that when He appears you'll have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming, okay?
Bow your heads in prayer.
Oh, God, oh, God, speak to hearts today. Oh, my God, bring precious souls to Jesus. Lord, help men, women, boys, and girls to humble themselves at the feet of the One who died for them, who loves them. We know that the spirit of antichrist is the spirit of lying. There's so much lying in the world today. Lord, help people to come to the truth, to Jesus.
While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if you're not certain that you're saved, would you like to be saved, would you? Would you like to know that you really do have life? Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life". Could I lead you in a prayer? We'll call this prayer the sinner's prayer. And you can pray and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can do it right now. Would you pray this prayer?
Dear God, I know that You love me. Thank You for loving me. And I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me and You promised to save me if I would trust You. Jesus, I do trust You. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And now I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Come into my life. Take control of my life and begin today to make me the person You want me to be. And Jesus, give me the courage to make it public. Help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen.