LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2021
2 TIMOTHY 3 VERSES 1 - 17
We have been looking at the Lord's return and in particular the antichrist, false prophet and the time of the great tribulation. The church in Thessalonica thought the Lord had returned and they had missed his coming and now were living through the tribulation. Paul writes to assure them that the Lord had not come again and they were not living through the tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 and 2 then verse 9. Paul said God hasn't destined you for that, he has not appointed you for wrath but for salvation. The signs of his coming. Signs are recorded for when the Lord will return to this earth but they cast very long shadows that come back to what we see even today. We could be looking to the signs and forget about the Lord's coming. The signs are there to warn us on the road. We watch for signs in our mind but we want our hearts to be on the appearing of the Lord, that great and blessed hope. The signs are broken up to 3 little thoughts - the stately sign, the social sign and the secular sign.
First the stately sign - God has a future for Israel. He will take up this nation again and work through them. Doctor Hyman Appelman was a great bible teacher. He trained and practised as a solicitor until he was saved at the age of 28 years. He felt called into the preaching of the word of God and winning souls. He was a prolific writer having written 40 books. He said "keep 1 eye on heaven and the other eye on the Jew." One day Jesus is coming. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. He had in mind to make of him a great nation. He called one man from a place where they worshipped false gods. God had to bring him out of that place. There is still that separation called for today - "come out from among them and be ye separate." (2 Corinthians 6 verse 17) God separates us from the world and everything else. He promised Abraham he would have a family. That his seed would be as the sand on the sea shore and the stars in the heavens. He was not only going to give him a family but a land. God separated this nation and land to bring them into it and planted them there. This nation would be taken down into Egypt. He would make a mighty people of them. The furnace where he would make his creation. There was a famine in the land. There arose another king in Egypt who didn't known anything about Joseph. All the king could see was this multitude of people. They began to grow in number Pharoah tried everything possible to keep this people at bay. He feared they would become mighty one day and overtake his world empire. He tried everything in his power to keep them from multiplying. He couldn't do it. He gave them hard taskmasters and they worked as slaves. When all else failed he began to kill off all the children. God was working in the background, working out his great plan and purpose in the raising up of Moses. God's timing is perfect. There is something we need to be careful about today. We don't know what God is doing behind the scenes. During this pandemic we couldn't see the unseen purpose of God, the purpose he has for your life and mine. Moses was in the plan of God to deliver Israel. He tried to do it off his own strength. He failed. There is so much through the internet of doom and gloom. On facebook today we see pastors of churches are very low, deflated, sinking under the devils hand. The congregation is sinking away. Who knows God could be preparing a mighty Holy Ghost revival. That shows that we need to be careful. The heart of God that brought this nation of Israel out of Egypt, through these difficult days. "I have seen their afflictions and heard their cries." God was watching and keeping his eye on the whole situation. He provided a means of redemption. God brought them through the wilderness, across the Jordan river and planted them in the land of Canaan. God was fulfilling his plan and purpose. What did Jesus say about his church to Peter "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." The devil may attack us but God is ultimately in control. The people of Israel rebelled against God in the land of Canaan. He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come and take the people into captivity for 70 years. God brought them into their own land again then they rebelled again. In AD70 the Roman armies invaded and Israel lost her stately position. She suffered at the hands of their conquerors. In 1948 something happened - Israel was recognised again as a nation. Jesus in his teaching of his return said in Matthew 24 verse 32 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves ye know that summer is nigh." Jesus' return is imminent. In verse 33 we read "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things know that it is near, even at the doors." Israel will be planted in its own land and become a nation again. Under much ridicule and slander yes but it is there and wll remain there. Israel will be the centre of all activities in the Middle East one day. Israel is being formed, brought back from every land. Remember how in the prophecy of Jeremiah God promised that return of his people but not just the return of his people from Egypt, there will come a day when I will bring them from the north, east, south and west. Planted in their own land.
Social sign. 2 Timothy 3 verse 1 "in the last days" When Jesus spoke about the products of society he said in Luke 17 verse 27 "And as it was in the days of Noe so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man." Life was going on as normal and then the flood came People were building and working, marrying but had no thought for God. "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planned, they builded." Are we not doing the same today? In 2 Timothy 3 verse 2 "for men shall be lovers of their own selves." In recent days we have heard it said "anything that makes me happy, joyful, God has no right to keep that from me. I want the best out of life, the most out of life." We cannot set God to one side to achieve what we want out of life. Verse 4 "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Man thinks more of himself. Many today are saying "the restrictions today are keeping people from enjoying life, man has the right to go out and enjoy himself." That is what we see in society today.
Secular sign. Man is becoming more secular in his living and thoughts. Man doesn't want anything to do with religion. What a list is found here in 2 Timothy 3. There is a hunger for rights to be upheld today. We read in God's word that "nation shall rise against nation", that there will be "wars and rumours of wars". There will be famines as a result of wars and we will also get pestilences. There are many things to show us that God is coming again soon. Man is becoming more secular. God's house doesn't have the same appeal to people today. Nehemiah asked the question in chapter 13 verse 11 "why is the house of God forsaken." He found that the people of God were not worshipping in God's house. There were different reasons for that. The people had stopped their tithing so the Levites were not cared for as a result. Then Nehemiah saw the very enemy Tobiah had set up his room in the house of God, that the people were coming into the city and trading on the Sabbath day. They were moving in a secular situation. In 1 Timothy 4 verse 5 we see demonic controls are in control. People departing from the faith, marriage is changed in our secular culture, same sex marriage in contradiction of the word of God, people don't want the bible to tell them what to do. 1 Timothy 3 verse 3 "without natural affection". We see today that the baby in the womb can be killed. In Jeremiah when he told the people God would come in judgment, that God had turned his back on them, the people rose up against him and told him to stop prophesying. Thy wanted to be told something that would not upset them. 2 Timothy 4 verse 3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." The secular church, the fun loving church, the entertaining church - that is what people are asking for today. People don't want to hear about sin, the cross, heaven and hell. They want something that is more pleasant to the ear. Look at verse 5 of chapter 3 "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." Yes they will come into church, they will sing hymns, pray and read from the scriptures but that will be all. The secular church is here today. We need instead to be saved by God's grace and waiting for the second coming of the Lord.
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