SIGNS OF THE END
by Bill Burns

We are living in the end times, so I want to talk about the signs spoken of in scripture that identify the end of life as we know it. How close are we to the end and what should we be doing if we are living at the end of time?

When will the end come?

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

What should we be doing?

Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Watch for Him and be ready for His coming.

This would also mean watch for the signs that confirm that which is written as a sign of the end.

The Apostasy

A falling away from the faith.

2 Thessalonians 2:
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.

Before the antichrist is revealed there will be a “falling away” from Christian service, i.e. from commitment and consecration to Christ.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

These depart from the faith because of their believing false doctrines, i.e. it is okay to ordain homosexuals, not believing in the virgin birth, not believing in divine healing and the operation of the gifts of the Spirit.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Any belief that is a departure from biblical truth – once saved always saved, everyone will be saved, etc.

1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

John 7:17 If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.

To do the will of God denotes obedience; to remain consecrated and committed to the will of God as outlined in His word.

Signs of the Apostasy

Those who have a form of religion …
2 Timothy 3:
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
These signs (people’s motives and attitudes) are everywhere in these last days. Lovers of themselves and pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Mark 12:30 ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!

These deny God’s power – the power of conviction, the demonstration of His power, i.e. the gifts of the Spirit. These are last days’ apostate Christians and from such turn away.

The spirit of antichrist is becoming stronger and stronger in the end of the age.

2 Thessalonians 2:
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

The spirit of antichrist brings apostasy by influencing Christians to become lukewarm, sinful and compromised. A spiritual slumber of apathy comes. “I am at peace with myself even though I am not committed to Jesus. I am safe from judgment because I am a Christian.”

1 Thessalonians 5:
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 Thessalonians 4:4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor

Self Examination

One must examine whether they are apostate (lukewarm) or not.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you are disqualified.

Am I disqualifying myself by my lack of love for the Lord?
Am I being seduced by the spirit of antichrist (apostasy)?

1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Am I being seduced by a spirit of complacency (slumber)?

Ephesians 5:
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
14 Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

But, you might think you are okay as a Christian.

1 Corinthians 10:12 (amplified) Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands (who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing (firm) take heed lest he fall (into sin).

The apostasy (falling away) is here as a sign that we are living in the last days.

2 Peter 3:10-11 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?
 

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