Post by Watchman on Oct 24, 2006 19:51:56 GMT -5
THAT THERE SHALL COME IN THE LAST DAYS SCOFFERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS, AND SAYING, WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING?
Written by Brother Stair www.overcomerminisrty.org
Maybe the Lord Jesus is not coming after all. Have you ever thought of that? What if the teaching of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus is in error? I tell you with all conviction that there are very few that believe that the coming of the Lord is near reality.
Only those that love Him and have a longing, a deep longing to see Him, seem to be aware of the days that we live in as the days that the Bible predicts would transpire just before His return.
In this article, I want to show you just how many of the scriptures are being fulfilled in this very hour that speak of His near return. The first one that is just shocking as to its complete fulfillment is found in II Peter 3:3-7.
"KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT THERE SHALL COME IN THE LAST DAYS SCOFFERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS, AND SAYING, WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING? FOR SINCE THE FATHERS FELL ASLEEP, ALL THINGS CONTINUE AS THEY WERE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION. FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF, THAT BY THE WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS WERE OF OLD, AND THE EARTH STANDING OUT OF THE WATER AND IN THE WATER: WHEREBY THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, BEING OVERFLOWED WITH WATER, PERISHED: BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, WHICH ARE NOW, BY THE SAME WORD ARE KEPT IN STORE, RESERVED UNTO FIRE AGAINST THE DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION OF UNGODLY MEN."
Where is the promise of His coming? What is this you keep speaking of, the coming of the Lord? We have heard that ever since we can remember! Why, I can remember my grandfather talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus 50 years ago and he has not come yet. And, after all, the Bible tells us that nobody knows when He is coming.
Well, you hear this almost on a daily basis because the popular opinion is that we do not know and that it has been talked about for so long that surely we need not be concerned about the event.
I am constantly amazed with the many that use this statement and fulfill this very sign of the coming of the Lord.
Of course the one great truth woven throughout the scriptures that depict the very real return of Jesus is that they would not and do not have any real sense of that coming and its nearness.
In Matthew 24:44 and Luke 12:40, we read a perfect description of the times and people of this age.
"THEREFORE BE YE ALSO READY: FOR IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH."
"BE YE THEREFORE READY ALSO: FOR THE SON OF MAN COMETH AT AN HOUR WHEN YE THINK NOT."
It states clearly that the reason that most of the peoples of the earth will not know the nearness of His coming is that they will not even be thinking about it. It will not be on their minds and never in their hearts.
Does this not fulfill the time of Noah that Jesus said the days of the coming of the Lord would be like? Read in Romans 1:21 and 28:
"BECAUSE THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED. AND EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENIENT."
They were not thinking about God; He was not in their thoughts and had been removed from their daily lifestyle. And, because they had known Him and knew what His will and purpose was for mankind but refused to live as He wanted them to and rebelled, they became completely vain or evil in their thinking. As it says in Genesis, every thought or imagination of the heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
I want to take another look at Matthew 24, verses 42 through 44: "WATCH THEREFORE: FOR YE KNOW NOT WHAT HOUR YOUR LORD DOTH COME. BUT KNOW THIS, THAT IF THE GOODMAN OF THE HOUSE HAD KNOWN IN WHAT WATCH THE THIEF WOULD COME, HE WOULD HAVE WATCHED, AND WOULD NOT HAVE SUFFERED HIS HOUSE TO BE BROKEN UP. THEREFORE BE YE ALSO READY: FOR IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH."
Read it carefully with me, dear one. Does this scripture tell us that we would not know or does it tell us that the ones that are not watching or thinking or looking for the coming of the Lord would not know?
Watch, be alert and looking out for the coming of the Lord, it says. Read verse 43. "But know this..." Something you should know, Jesus says, is that the one that is watching will not be caught sleeping or unaware by the thief coming to end up losing everything.
Does this not compare with Luke 21:36?
"WATCH YE THEREFORE, AND PRAY ALWAYS, THAT YE MAY BE ACCOUNTED WORTHY TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS, AND TO STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN."
When Jesus was here in the flesh (the body of Christ), He came down to the final day and hour and was driven by the flesh to seek to change the Father's will in regards to the suffering He would have to endure. As the example to the church (the body of Christ today), we can see now that the true church is being sorely tested and tried as to what it is willing to suffer for His name's sake. Can we or will we cry, "Not my will, but thine be done"?
Let us look at a description of the world and peoples of the earth during these end time days as we read in the book of Jude verses 7-19.
"EVEN AS SODOM AND GOMORRAH, AND THE CITIES ABOUT THEM IN LIKE MANNER, GIVING THEMSELVES OVER TO FORNICATION, AND GOING AFTER STRANGE FLESH, ARE SET FORTH FOR AN EXAMPLE, SUFFERING THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL FIRE. LIKEWISE ALSO THESE FILTHY DREAMERS DEFILE THE FLESH, DESPISE DOMINION, AND SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES. YET MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, WHEN CONTENDING WITH THE DEVIL HE DISPUTED ABOUT THE BODY OF MOSES, DURST NOT BRING AGAINST HIM A RAILING ACCUSATION, BUT SAID, THE LORD REBUKE THEE.
BUT THESE SPEAK EVIL OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THEY KNOW NOT: BUT WHAT THEY KNOW NATURALLY, AS BRUTE BEASTS, IN THOSE THINGS THEY CORRUPT THEMSELVES. WOE UNTO THEM! FOR THEY HAVE GONE IN THE WAY OF CAIN, AND RAN GREEDILY AFTER THE ERROR OF BALAAM FOR REWARD, AND PERISHED IN THE GAINSAYING OF CORE. THESE ARE SPOTS IN YOUR FEASTS OF CHARITY, WHEN THEY FEAST WITH YOU, FEEDING THEMSELVES WITHOUT FEAR: CLOUDS THEY ARE WITHOUT WATER, CARRIED ABOUT OF WINDS; TREES WHOSE FRUIT WITHERETH, WITHOUT FRUIT, TWICE DEAD, PLUCKED UP BY THE ROOTS; RAGING WAVES OF THE SEA, FOAMING OUT THEIR OWN SHAME; WANDERING STARS, TO WHOM IS RESERVED THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOR EVER. AND ENOCH ALSO, THE SEVENTH FROM ADAM, PROPHESIED OF THESE, SAYING, BEHOLD, THE LORD COMETH WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS, TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT UPON ALL, AND TO CONVINCE ALL THAT ARE UNGODLY AMONG THEM OF ALL THEIR UNGODLY DEEDS WHICH THEY HAVE UNGODLY COMMITTED, AND OF ALL THEIR HARD SPEECHES WHICH UNGODLY SINNERS HAVE SPOKEN AGAINST HIM. THESE ARE MURMURERS, COMPLAINERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS; AND THEIR MOUTH SPEAKETH GREAT SWELLING WORDS, HAVING MEN'S PERSONS IN ADMIRATION BECAUSE OF ADVANTAGE. BUT, BELOVED, REMEMBER YE THE WORDS WHICH WERE SPOKEN BEFORE OF THE APOSTLES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST; HOW THAT THEY TOLD YOU THERE SHOULD BE MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME, WHO SHOULD WALK AFTER THEIR OWN UNGODLY LUSTS. THESE BE THEY WHO SEPARATE THEMSELVES, SENSUAL, HAVING NOT THE SPIRIT."
Jude writes, beloved, remember what the apostles told you would take place, don't forget what they told you. Think on and remind yourselves of the events and happenings that we have been forewarned about as one great sign would be that they would not be thinking of the coming of the Lord but would be too busy complaining and seeking the things of this world and pursuing the lusts of the flesh. Mockers, walking after their own lusts. Why have we forgotten the words of the Lord Jesus in referring to the time of destruction on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? And He told us not to forget Lot's wife. I ask the question again. Why have we, the church, forgot?
You see, it is a major sign. God is not retained in our knowledge or thinking (Rom. 1:28).
Here in Jude, verses 4 and 5, the writer seeks to get us to remember again.
"FOR THERE ARE CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNAWARES, WHO WERE BEFORE OF OLD ORDAINED TO THIS CONDEMNATION, UNGODLY MEN, TURNING THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS, AND DENYING THE ONLY LORD GOD, AND OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. I WILL THEREFORE PUT YOU IN REMEMBRANCE, THOUGH YE ONCE KNEW THIS, HOW THAT THE LORD, HAVING SAVED THE PEOPLE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, AFTERWARD DESTROYED THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT."
Here we read of men coming in and putting themselves up as the representatives of Christ and the Church (the Pope of Rome, who says he is the personal Jesus on earth today; Robert Schuller, Bishop Tuttu, and others that teach doctrines contrary to truth revealed in scriptures). They mock the grace of God and reject the fact that only Jesus saves and the Lord reminds again in verse 5 that He will destroy them that refuse to believe His word and promises.
The Lord Jesus is coming as they have seen Him go and this same Jesus shall so come again in like manner as He went.
When the apostle Paul was questioned about the day of the Lord's coming (some teacher had come along and told the church at Thessalonica that the Lord's coming was at hand ), he went on to say that the day of the Lord's coming would not take place until after a great time of falling away from truth and hope of His coming; and only AFTER the antichrist was revealed or made known, would the Lord Jesus then return. Let us read the account in II Thessalonians 2:1-3:
"NOW WE BESEECH YOU, BRETHREN, BY THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND BY OUR GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM, THAT YE BE NOT SOON SHAKEN IN MIND, OR BE TROUBLED, NEITHER BY SPIRIT, NOR BY WORD, NOR BY LETTER AS FROM US, AS THAT THE DAY OF CHRIST IS AT HAND. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST, AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED, THE SON OF PERDITION."
In the next verse, we see again that Paul is telling them how he had told them this and that they should remember or keep it in mind. Think about it and remember this vital sign (II Thes. 2:5) in such an hour as you think not.
Tell me now, dear reader, do you think much of the nearness of the coming of the Lord? Have the cares of this life, so occupied your time and thoughts that you do not pay heed to the ever increasing signs of that blessed hope and great event?
"THEREFORE WE OUGHT TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED TO THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE HEARD, LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD LET THEM SLIP. FOR IF THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS WAS STEADFAST, AND EVERY TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENCE OF REWARD; HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION; WHICH AT THE FIRST BEGAN TO BE SPOKEN BY THE LORD, AND WAS CONFIRMED UNTO US BY THEM THAT HEARD HIM?" (Heb. 2:1-3).
One last scripture. I want you to read it all with me and take note to all that is spoken here and how it is taking place right now on the face of this whole earth. One after another is happening, right down the line and the people don't seem to want to remember as the verses state in the very beginning of this article.
This they are willingly ignorant of; they really do not want to know and do not ever want to think about the coming of the Lord or the events that shall precede His return. That, my dear friend, is a major sign in itself. Let us read again. II Timothy 3:1-13:
"THIS KNOW ALSO, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS PERILOUS TIMES SHALL COME. FOR MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, COVETOUS, BOASTERS, PROUD, BLASPHEMERS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, UNTHANKFUL, UNHOLY, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, TRUCEBREAKERS, FALSE ACCUSERS, INCONTINENT, FIERCE, DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD, TRAITORS, HEADY, HIGH-MINDED, LOVERS OF PLEASURES MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD; HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF: FROM SUCH TURN AWAY. FOR OF THIS SORT ARE THEY WHICH CREEP INTO HOUSES, AND LEAD CAPTIVE SILLY WOMEN LADEN WITH SINS, LED AWAY WITH DIVERS LUSTS, EVER LEARNING, AND NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. NOW AS JANNES AND JAMBRES WITHSTOOD MOSES, SO DO THESE ALSO RESIST THE TRUTH: MEN OF CORRUPT MINDS, REPROBATE CONCERNING THE FAITH. BUT THEY SHALL PROCEED NO FURTHER: FOR THEIR FOLLY SHALL BE MANIFEST UNTO ALL MEN, AS THEIRS ALSO WAS. BUT THOU HAST FULLY KNOWN MY DOCTRINE, MANNER OF LIFE, PURPOSE, FAITH, LONG-SUFFERING, CHARITY, PATIENCE, PERSECUTIONS, AFFLICTIONS, WHICH CAME UNTO ME AT ANTIOCH, AT ICONIUM, AT LYSTRA; WHAT PERSECUTIONS I ENDURED: BUT OUT OF THEM ALL THE LORD DELIVERED ME. YEA, AND ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION. BUT EVIL MEN AND SEDUCERS SHALL WAX WORSE AND WORSE, DECEIVING, AND BEING DECEIVED."
They shall turn away their ears from truth and will give heed to or accept fables, nice stories, fairy tales. Can you not see all this coming to pass? Most of the ministries that are so popular are teaching ministries. There is very little old time preaching any more, yet that is the method that God has chosen to save men (II Tim. 4:3; I Cor. 1:18-21).
"IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH" (Mat. 24:44).
"UNTO THEM THAT LOOK FOR HIM SHALL HE APPEAR THE SECOND TIME WITHOUT SIN UNTO SALVATION" (Heb. 9:28).
"LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE, AND THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST" (Tit. 2:13).
"I CHARGE THEE THEREFORE BEFORE GOD, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO SHALL JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD AT HIS APPEARING AND HIS KINGDOM" (II Tim. 4:1).
"HENCEFORTH THERE IS LAID UP FOR ME A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH THE LORD, THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, SHALL GIVE ME AT THAT DAY: AND NOT TO ME ONLY, BUT UNTO ALL THEM ALSO THAT LOVE HIS APPEARING. DO THY DILIGENCE TO COME SHORTLY UNTO ME. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH THY SPIRIT. GRACE BE WITH YOU" (II Tim. 4:8,9,22).
Brother Stair
Written by Brother Stair www.overcomerminisrty.org
Maybe the Lord Jesus is not coming after all. Have you ever thought of that? What if the teaching of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus is in error? I tell you with all conviction that there are very few that believe that the coming of the Lord is near reality.
Only those that love Him and have a longing, a deep longing to see Him, seem to be aware of the days that we live in as the days that the Bible predicts would transpire just before His return.
In this article, I want to show you just how many of the scriptures are being fulfilled in this very hour that speak of His near return. The first one that is just shocking as to its complete fulfillment is found in II Peter 3:3-7.
"KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT THERE SHALL COME IN THE LAST DAYS SCOFFERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS, AND SAYING, WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING? FOR SINCE THE FATHERS FELL ASLEEP, ALL THINGS CONTINUE AS THEY WERE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION. FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF, THAT BY THE WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS WERE OF OLD, AND THE EARTH STANDING OUT OF THE WATER AND IN THE WATER: WHEREBY THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, BEING OVERFLOWED WITH WATER, PERISHED: BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, WHICH ARE NOW, BY THE SAME WORD ARE KEPT IN STORE, RESERVED UNTO FIRE AGAINST THE DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION OF UNGODLY MEN."
Where is the promise of His coming? What is this you keep speaking of, the coming of the Lord? We have heard that ever since we can remember! Why, I can remember my grandfather talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus 50 years ago and he has not come yet. And, after all, the Bible tells us that nobody knows when He is coming.
Well, you hear this almost on a daily basis because the popular opinion is that we do not know and that it has been talked about for so long that surely we need not be concerned about the event.
I am constantly amazed with the many that use this statement and fulfill this very sign of the coming of the Lord.
Of course the one great truth woven throughout the scriptures that depict the very real return of Jesus is that they would not and do not have any real sense of that coming and its nearness.
In Matthew 24:44 and Luke 12:40, we read a perfect description of the times and people of this age.
"THEREFORE BE YE ALSO READY: FOR IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH."
"BE YE THEREFORE READY ALSO: FOR THE SON OF MAN COMETH AT AN HOUR WHEN YE THINK NOT."
It states clearly that the reason that most of the peoples of the earth will not know the nearness of His coming is that they will not even be thinking about it. It will not be on their minds and never in their hearts.
Does this not fulfill the time of Noah that Jesus said the days of the coming of the Lord would be like? Read in Romans 1:21 and 28:
"BECAUSE THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED. AND EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENIENT."
They were not thinking about God; He was not in their thoughts and had been removed from their daily lifestyle. And, because they had known Him and knew what His will and purpose was for mankind but refused to live as He wanted them to and rebelled, they became completely vain or evil in their thinking. As it says in Genesis, every thought or imagination of the heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
I want to take another look at Matthew 24, verses 42 through 44: "WATCH THEREFORE: FOR YE KNOW NOT WHAT HOUR YOUR LORD DOTH COME. BUT KNOW THIS, THAT IF THE GOODMAN OF THE HOUSE HAD KNOWN IN WHAT WATCH THE THIEF WOULD COME, HE WOULD HAVE WATCHED, AND WOULD NOT HAVE SUFFERED HIS HOUSE TO BE BROKEN UP. THEREFORE BE YE ALSO READY: FOR IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH."
Read it carefully with me, dear one. Does this scripture tell us that we would not know or does it tell us that the ones that are not watching or thinking or looking for the coming of the Lord would not know?
Watch, be alert and looking out for the coming of the Lord, it says. Read verse 43. "But know this..." Something you should know, Jesus says, is that the one that is watching will not be caught sleeping or unaware by the thief coming to end up losing everything.
Does this not compare with Luke 21:36?
"WATCH YE THEREFORE, AND PRAY ALWAYS, THAT YE MAY BE ACCOUNTED WORTHY TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS, AND TO STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN."
When Jesus was here in the flesh (the body of Christ), He came down to the final day and hour and was driven by the flesh to seek to change the Father's will in regards to the suffering He would have to endure. As the example to the church (the body of Christ today), we can see now that the true church is being sorely tested and tried as to what it is willing to suffer for His name's sake. Can we or will we cry, "Not my will, but thine be done"?
Let us look at a description of the world and peoples of the earth during these end time days as we read in the book of Jude verses 7-19.
"EVEN AS SODOM AND GOMORRAH, AND THE CITIES ABOUT THEM IN LIKE MANNER, GIVING THEMSELVES OVER TO FORNICATION, AND GOING AFTER STRANGE FLESH, ARE SET FORTH FOR AN EXAMPLE, SUFFERING THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL FIRE. LIKEWISE ALSO THESE FILTHY DREAMERS DEFILE THE FLESH, DESPISE DOMINION, AND SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES. YET MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, WHEN CONTENDING WITH THE DEVIL HE DISPUTED ABOUT THE BODY OF MOSES, DURST NOT BRING AGAINST HIM A RAILING ACCUSATION, BUT SAID, THE LORD REBUKE THEE.
BUT THESE SPEAK EVIL OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THEY KNOW NOT: BUT WHAT THEY KNOW NATURALLY, AS BRUTE BEASTS, IN THOSE THINGS THEY CORRUPT THEMSELVES. WOE UNTO THEM! FOR THEY HAVE GONE IN THE WAY OF CAIN, AND RAN GREEDILY AFTER THE ERROR OF BALAAM FOR REWARD, AND PERISHED IN THE GAINSAYING OF CORE. THESE ARE SPOTS IN YOUR FEASTS OF CHARITY, WHEN THEY FEAST WITH YOU, FEEDING THEMSELVES WITHOUT FEAR: CLOUDS THEY ARE WITHOUT WATER, CARRIED ABOUT OF WINDS; TREES WHOSE FRUIT WITHERETH, WITHOUT FRUIT, TWICE DEAD, PLUCKED UP BY THE ROOTS; RAGING WAVES OF THE SEA, FOAMING OUT THEIR OWN SHAME; WANDERING STARS, TO WHOM IS RESERVED THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOR EVER. AND ENOCH ALSO, THE SEVENTH FROM ADAM, PROPHESIED OF THESE, SAYING, BEHOLD, THE LORD COMETH WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS, TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT UPON ALL, AND TO CONVINCE ALL THAT ARE UNGODLY AMONG THEM OF ALL THEIR UNGODLY DEEDS WHICH THEY HAVE UNGODLY COMMITTED, AND OF ALL THEIR HARD SPEECHES WHICH UNGODLY SINNERS HAVE SPOKEN AGAINST HIM. THESE ARE MURMURERS, COMPLAINERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS; AND THEIR MOUTH SPEAKETH GREAT SWELLING WORDS, HAVING MEN'S PERSONS IN ADMIRATION BECAUSE OF ADVANTAGE. BUT, BELOVED, REMEMBER YE THE WORDS WHICH WERE SPOKEN BEFORE OF THE APOSTLES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST; HOW THAT THEY TOLD YOU THERE SHOULD BE MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME, WHO SHOULD WALK AFTER THEIR OWN UNGODLY LUSTS. THESE BE THEY WHO SEPARATE THEMSELVES, SENSUAL, HAVING NOT THE SPIRIT."
Jude writes, beloved, remember what the apostles told you would take place, don't forget what they told you. Think on and remind yourselves of the events and happenings that we have been forewarned about as one great sign would be that they would not be thinking of the coming of the Lord but would be too busy complaining and seeking the things of this world and pursuing the lusts of the flesh. Mockers, walking after their own lusts. Why have we forgotten the words of the Lord Jesus in referring to the time of destruction on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? And He told us not to forget Lot's wife. I ask the question again. Why have we, the church, forgot?
You see, it is a major sign. God is not retained in our knowledge or thinking (Rom. 1:28).
Here in Jude, verses 4 and 5, the writer seeks to get us to remember again.
"FOR THERE ARE CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNAWARES, WHO WERE BEFORE OF OLD ORDAINED TO THIS CONDEMNATION, UNGODLY MEN, TURNING THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS, AND DENYING THE ONLY LORD GOD, AND OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. I WILL THEREFORE PUT YOU IN REMEMBRANCE, THOUGH YE ONCE KNEW THIS, HOW THAT THE LORD, HAVING SAVED THE PEOPLE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, AFTERWARD DESTROYED THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT."
Here we read of men coming in and putting themselves up as the representatives of Christ and the Church (the Pope of Rome, who says he is the personal Jesus on earth today; Robert Schuller, Bishop Tuttu, and others that teach doctrines contrary to truth revealed in scriptures). They mock the grace of God and reject the fact that only Jesus saves and the Lord reminds again in verse 5 that He will destroy them that refuse to believe His word and promises.
The Lord Jesus is coming as they have seen Him go and this same Jesus shall so come again in like manner as He went.
When the apostle Paul was questioned about the day of the Lord's coming (some teacher had come along and told the church at Thessalonica that the Lord's coming was at hand ), he went on to say that the day of the Lord's coming would not take place until after a great time of falling away from truth and hope of His coming; and only AFTER the antichrist was revealed or made known, would the Lord Jesus then return. Let us read the account in II Thessalonians 2:1-3:
"NOW WE BESEECH YOU, BRETHREN, BY THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND BY OUR GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM, THAT YE BE NOT SOON SHAKEN IN MIND, OR BE TROUBLED, NEITHER BY SPIRIT, NOR BY WORD, NOR BY LETTER AS FROM US, AS THAT THE DAY OF CHRIST IS AT HAND. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST, AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED, THE SON OF PERDITION."
In the next verse, we see again that Paul is telling them how he had told them this and that they should remember or keep it in mind. Think about it and remember this vital sign (II Thes. 2:5) in such an hour as you think not.
Tell me now, dear reader, do you think much of the nearness of the coming of the Lord? Have the cares of this life, so occupied your time and thoughts that you do not pay heed to the ever increasing signs of that blessed hope and great event?
"THEREFORE WE OUGHT TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED TO THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE HEARD, LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD LET THEM SLIP. FOR IF THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS WAS STEADFAST, AND EVERY TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENCE OF REWARD; HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION; WHICH AT THE FIRST BEGAN TO BE SPOKEN BY THE LORD, AND WAS CONFIRMED UNTO US BY THEM THAT HEARD HIM?" (Heb. 2:1-3).
One last scripture. I want you to read it all with me and take note to all that is spoken here and how it is taking place right now on the face of this whole earth. One after another is happening, right down the line and the people don't seem to want to remember as the verses state in the very beginning of this article.
This they are willingly ignorant of; they really do not want to know and do not ever want to think about the coming of the Lord or the events that shall precede His return. That, my dear friend, is a major sign in itself. Let us read again. II Timothy 3:1-13:
"THIS KNOW ALSO, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS PERILOUS TIMES SHALL COME. FOR MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, COVETOUS, BOASTERS, PROUD, BLASPHEMERS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, UNTHANKFUL, UNHOLY, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, TRUCEBREAKERS, FALSE ACCUSERS, INCONTINENT, FIERCE, DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD, TRAITORS, HEADY, HIGH-MINDED, LOVERS OF PLEASURES MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD; HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF: FROM SUCH TURN AWAY. FOR OF THIS SORT ARE THEY WHICH CREEP INTO HOUSES, AND LEAD CAPTIVE SILLY WOMEN LADEN WITH SINS, LED AWAY WITH DIVERS LUSTS, EVER LEARNING, AND NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. NOW AS JANNES AND JAMBRES WITHSTOOD MOSES, SO DO THESE ALSO RESIST THE TRUTH: MEN OF CORRUPT MINDS, REPROBATE CONCERNING THE FAITH. BUT THEY SHALL PROCEED NO FURTHER: FOR THEIR FOLLY SHALL BE MANIFEST UNTO ALL MEN, AS THEIRS ALSO WAS. BUT THOU HAST FULLY KNOWN MY DOCTRINE, MANNER OF LIFE, PURPOSE, FAITH, LONG-SUFFERING, CHARITY, PATIENCE, PERSECUTIONS, AFFLICTIONS, WHICH CAME UNTO ME AT ANTIOCH, AT ICONIUM, AT LYSTRA; WHAT PERSECUTIONS I ENDURED: BUT OUT OF THEM ALL THE LORD DELIVERED ME. YEA, AND ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION. BUT EVIL MEN AND SEDUCERS SHALL WAX WORSE AND WORSE, DECEIVING, AND BEING DECEIVED."
They shall turn away their ears from truth and will give heed to or accept fables, nice stories, fairy tales. Can you not see all this coming to pass? Most of the ministries that are so popular are teaching ministries. There is very little old time preaching any more, yet that is the method that God has chosen to save men (II Tim. 4:3; I Cor. 1:18-21).
"IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH" (Mat. 24:44).
"UNTO THEM THAT LOOK FOR HIM SHALL HE APPEAR THE SECOND TIME WITHOUT SIN UNTO SALVATION" (Heb. 9:28).
"LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE, AND THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST" (Tit. 2:13).
"I CHARGE THEE THEREFORE BEFORE GOD, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO SHALL JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD AT HIS APPEARING AND HIS KINGDOM" (II Tim. 4:1).
"HENCEFORTH THERE IS LAID UP FOR ME A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH THE LORD, THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, SHALL GIVE ME AT THAT DAY: AND NOT TO ME ONLY, BUT UNTO ALL THEM ALSO THAT LOVE HIS APPEARING. DO THY DILIGENCE TO COME SHORTLY UNTO ME. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH THY SPIRIT. GRACE BE WITH YOU" (II Tim. 4:8,9,22).
Brother Stair