A Mindset for the End of the Age

Well, as I mentioned earlier, we only have six weeks or so before, you know, in many ways, we'll be going to the feast either locally here in the Branson area or scattered all over the country or other parts of the world. And so, I wanted to go over something that I thought might be helpful to us as we prepare for this upcoming festival season, often, and we will probably be able to go over other things directly related to being at the feast and things we learned there and preparation in that way. But I wanted to go over something that, in a sense, is a caution.

A caution that Jesus gives us so that we are alert and aware. Even as we get together with other congregations of the United Church of God, we have to continually be mindful of what the words of God say and what Jesus actually said. If we can turn to Matthew 24, and this is, in a sense, a lead into what I want to cover today, but in Matthew 24, Jesus gave some warnings and guess what he said? I would say cautions more than warnings. In some ways they were predictions. Predictions of what to watch for. Predictions of how we need to be alert and aware and even how we need to be responsive to Him. Of course, he had told the disciples here in Matthew 24 that the temple is going to be torn down and they thought, that's crazy.

How could that be? But in verse 3, he says, they were sitting on the Mount of Olives and the disciples came to Him privately and said, tell us when is this going to be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? So they had a lot of questions. They were puzzled by many things that Jesus had to say. And yet, they wanted to answer. Interestingly, Jesus started into a discussion of things that they needed to be aware of, but really, it says here in verse 3, on the latter part of verse 3, He was going to really give some revealing about what to look for in the end of the age.

So was it going to directly affect the disciples? Well, they didn't live in the end of the age. Time went on, 2nd, 3rd, 4th century would go on, they would all die. And yet the church, and of course for them and for any of the people living at that time and who were part of the church of God, that was the last day for them. And of course this tells us something about the last day.

Jesus said in verse 5, for many are going to come in My name, saying that I am the Messiah, I am the Christ, and yet they are going to lead many away. Do you know what was He talking about? Well, He was talking about a false religion, a false understanding of what Jesus is, does, wants for us, expects of us, and of course they are going to use the name. And yet He of course talking about a deception in the area of religion.

And yet, this certainly is very general, it's not directly specific about what to watch for, but here in the end of the age there's a lot of religious confusion, a lot of religious teaching. And yet is it really based on what the Word of God says? Much of it may be based on high quality things, love, joy, faith, Jesus Christ as our Savior, that clearly is the correct answer. But does it talk about the message that Jesus actually brought? An announcement about His Kingdom that He's going to bring to the earth. Those are things that you don't find spoken about near as much in the areas of a deception described here by Jesus.

But I want us to drop down to verse 9 because He also said there are other things to be warned about or cautioned against. He says in verse 9, they're even going to hand you over to be tortured and put to death and you're going to be hated by all nations because of my name. He says following me will not be a popular thing to do. Following me may lead to persecution, may lead to distress.

And again we can say, well, sometimes we may feel persecuted or look down upon. And yet this sounds pretty extreme here. This sounds like torture. And yet in verse 10, He unfortunately says because of that persecution, because of that duress that you may be put under, it says many are going to fall away. Many would fall away and it goes on to describe why. They'll fall away because they actually betray each other and hate each other. Now, who's He talking about? Is He talking about this world in general or is He talking about His followers? See, I believe that's who He's talking to.

He's talking to the disciples, He's telling them what they can expect, and He's talking to His disciples today. What we can expect and what it says in verse 10 about people falling away, that should be of concern to each of us. Because I don't want to fit in that category. I don't want to be on the outside looking in. I want to be a part of the work in the Church of God. I certainly want to relate to the work that Jesus is doing on earth because He is doing a work.

He is preparing for a kingdom that is going to be installed in a glorious fashion here in the very near future. And yet it's troubling. Verse 10 is troubling because it talks about betraying one another, undermining one another, and even hating one another. And it goes on from there to say, in many false prospects will arise and lead away many. Again, should we be on watch for that? Should we be alert to that? Should we be aware of that?

Because there are some real telltale signs that we are going to see. And of course He ends this by saying, because of the increase of lawlessness or wickedness, the love of many is going to wax cold. I don't want my love for others to wax cold. I don't want that to decline. I don't want that to be undermined or to be diminished in any way.

And so I want to be protected by reading what He has to say. And of course in verse 13, a verse that we've often read says, the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. And so we're called to endure. We're called to remain faithful. We're recalled to resolve difficulties and offenses and even betrayals. Resolve those. Don't allow those to divide us or pull us away. And of course in verse 14, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations.

And then the end is going to come. And clearly Jesus had a lot more to say about the end coming, about His return. And I don't want to further go into that right now. But I mention what He says here because He warned against a false religion in general and then He warned specifically about members of the Church of God needing to remain faithful, needing to not betray one another, needing not to hate one another, but to draw close together. So as I mentioned, as we prepare for this upcoming feast, and we will be celebrating some of those holy days here locally, and some of them will be in a more regional setting, we're going to come across other people.

We're going to come across not only people in our congregation but people in a lot of different congregations. Many of you have the same beliefs, most of them, I think, have the same beliefs, they're there for the same reason. But some of them, just like us, are flawed. And we need to be aware of that. And of course there are precautions that are amazingly given, very insightfully given here in the Word of God.

And we can be forewarned, and we can be prepared, and we don't have to be a victim. We don't have to be distressed. I'd like to look at two different sections here. Again, these are not unknown to you, but I tend to bring up stuff. I don't bring up anything new. It's all here in the book.

It's here in the Bible. And yet, of course, if we haven't read it recently, even though we're aware of it, then we can be reminded of it. I'd like to go over to Paul's instruction to Timothy. Because Paul was an older man, and Timothy a younger minister. And Paul had, I think, a great love for Timothy.

He was concerned about him. He was concerned about the work. He knew as a young person that he could get tripped up, and he could run into difficulty, didn't know what to do. And he told him a lot of very, very wise things, and of course, not only telling Timothy, but telling us. Telling us as we read the Word of God so that we'll know. But here in the second book of Timothy, I'd like to go over a section here starting in chapter 3.

Well, Paul was actually guiding Timothy in knowing how to guide the clock. And he actually says here in verse 1, you must understand this. That in the last days, distressing times are going to come. And so as we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, that means the last days are kind of expanding. They are becoming more concerning to us.

But he says, I want you to understand, in the last days, distressing times are going to come. And then here he gives a description. And I'm going to say he's giving a description of, I'll say three things, but whenever we read the next few verses, what do we think of?

See, actually he's going to give a description of what we obviously clearly see in this world around us. Very obvious everywhere. We could also say that it could be a description in general of human nature. Human nature, infected by Satan's attitudes, infected by the God of this world and the corruption. When it talks about Satan being the God of this world and the prince of the power of the air and the one who's now working in the children of disobedience, he describes what human nature is like.

We don't talk a lot about human nature, but we need to, and we should, because that's what we're trying to get away from. That's what we are trying to be removed from. Because ultimately, the divine nature is not human nature. The divine nature, which I can describe, and you can too, in a number of verses that describe God, is quite different than human nature. But he says, the distressing times will look like this. People will be lovers of themselves. People will be lovers of themselves.

They will be lovers of money. They will be boasters. They will be arrogant and abusive.

They will be disobedient to parents. Ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Now, you can read all of those. Of course, I know those words are a little different than in the King James that you might be reading. But it's describing a nature that is very clearly human nature. Human nature, affected by Satan's attitudes and wavelengths, where... See, what is ruling here? What is ruling is me, myself, and I. Lovers of themselves. Selfishness. Narcissistic selfishness is clearly rampant in this world today. Clearly, in our being bombarded by media, we see this.

Everyday, you can watch it on the television. Absolute pathetic mess. And yet, like I said, it's not just other people. This is a description of human nature. Selfish, arrogant, haters of good, swollen with conceit. That's the way human nature is. Now, is that the way any of us are? Well, shouldn't be, but unfortunately it is. Unfortunately, we're affected by being in this world. And so it's amazing how insightful Paul was in telling Timothy, this will be like what it's like in the end time. People will be selfishly going around doing whatever they seem to think is right. And see, if that's our way of life, demanding our own way, doing things that seem right to me, whether it's the right thing overall or not, that's what's being described. And unfortunately, it even goes on and makes it even worse. In verse 5, it says, holding an outward appearance, an outward form, and it's not just a way of godliness and yet denying the power of God. That's a pretend Christian. That's a pretend person who wants to appear to be humble and able to be helped, able to be a follower of Jesus, and yet, you know, that's playing games. It's just playing games hiding behind a facade, and being dishonest. That's ultimately what that says in verse 5. He goes on and talks about a number of other things, but I wanted to point this out because, you know, as Paul was guiding Timothy, he said, this is what you ought to watch out for. This is what you have to watch out for in your life, and this is what you ought to watch out for in other people. Because, and again, I'm saying this, as we interact with others, you know, we don't want to reflect these wrong, arrogant attitudes, and we want to be on guard against that from others because they might likely be there. I'd like to also drop down a little further in verse 10. He says, you've observed my teaching and conduct and aiming life. He said, I've been trying to be a good example. I've been trying to live a life that you could emulate and follow. And, of course, he had tried to teach Timothy the right thing. And yet, he said in verse 12, indeed, all who want to live a godly life are going to be persecuted.

And in verse 13, he says, but wicked people and impostors are going to go from bad to worse. Impostors! People who would like to be viewed as a Christian, but who really aren't, whose heart is not right before God, wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others, and really being deceived themselves. Now this is important for us to analyze. If we're going to be able to overcome those things, which clearly are bad things that we're affected by, we need the help of God. We need the mercy of God. We need the blessing of God. And with his power, and even as Dorothy was singing a song about the fact that often we need to be carried. Often we need to be picked up.

Often we've got to be lifted up. Otherwise we aren't up. We're down. And yet, God makes everything available to be able to overcome if we see our own flaws. And we are alert to those and others. In verse 14 he tells us exactly what to do. He told Timothy, this is what I want you to do as for you, as for you Timothy, continue in what you have learned and what you have firmly believed, knowing from whom you've learned it. He says, I want you to remember that you have been brought mercifully into the Church of God. You've been brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ. You have been brought to repentance and conversion. And that conversion is a transformation of the heart. And these are the things you need to stay away from and teach others to stay away from and be able to identify and to know what's wrong with this. But thankfully, he says here in verse 14 that this is what you can do. Remember the process. Remember that you are being transformed. You don't have to stay this way as is described here as distressing times and horrible things that happen in our own lives and in the lives of people around us who actually revel in it. They're not even trying to change it. In many ways, you watch television, even if you watch the news, talk about corruption. It's not that people are corrupt, it's that they gloat at being corrupt. They often are, I guess, promoting corruption. And yet, we want to be on guard against this. And I want to turn over to another section here in the book of Jude. Because Jude is another book that I think again directly prepares us to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. Because it mentions, as we get together, Jude is actually warning people. And I think it's amazing when you read through these verses in Jude how he had started off. Actually, he says in verse 3, while I was eagerly preparing for this, I think it's amazing how he had started off by saying, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. He says, I was going to write you a nice letter, but I really feel compelled to tell you that you need to watch out. You need to watch out because there are those among you. This is what he's going to say, there are those among you who are not trying to be transformed. They are not trying to be converted. They are not trying to be converted. They are not trying to be converted. They are trying to be converted. They are simply demanding their own way. I think it's interesting in verse 1 because verse 1 describes, of course, I guess I could tell you to turn to Jude 3. If you go to Jude 3, that's verse 3, not chapter 3. But there's only one chapter, but in the first chapter, and in the first verse, he says, he describes who he is. He's in a sense giving a good amount of authority to say that he is writing words that God is inspiring. This particular Jude who wrote this book, I believe, at least from what I read and understand, is the brother of Jesus Christ. Little brother.

A half-brother born to Mary, and one of his other brothers was James. These guys grew up in a household that didn't know what to do with Big Brother. They didn't understand Big Brother. He was different. He was different. He was a firstborn, obviously. And yet there were other children, girls and boys, born into the family of Mary and Joseph. And yet, even though they didn't accept who Jesus was initially, there was probably no way you could possibly understand. Mary had to know, this was a miracle. This is impossible.

And yet the other kids, they probably picked on him at times, I guess. It says later they didn't really believe him. They thought he was kind of kooky.

And yet later on they changed their tune. At least a couple of them did. James, the brother of Jesus, was a primary apostle in the book or in the church in Jerusalem. And then here you see Jude, who I believe was also James' brother. And yet even the way he describes himself is, in a sense, a telling description. He doesn't say, look, I'm the brother of Jesus. You need to listen to me. He didn't say that. He said, Jude, he says I'm a brother of James, but I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ.

He had a completely different respect for Jesus Christ than he had growing up as a kid.

He was a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And he was writing this in protection of the brethren. He was writing this knowing how important it is.

And yet what he tells us is again kind of troubling because he's talking to the church. He's talking to people who are a part of the church of God.

And he says in verse 4, he says certain intruders have stolen in among you. Certain men have crept up into being a part of the church.

Certain individuals have stolen in among you. People who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly.

And they pervert the grace of our God with licentiousness, and they deny our Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

See, so here he warns and says even among the church, there are those whose hearts are going to be filled with themselves.

Filled with their own importance. Filled with their own way. With their own desire to demand their own way.

And yet he said they pervert the grace of God and they deny the fact that Jesus Christ has got to be the one who rules in our lives.

If we drop on down, and I'm not going to read this, you can read the whole book of Jude later today. It won't take too long. You can read all of it, and I'm only going to read a little bit of it here.

And yet I want to point out what it was that he was saying. He was saying you need to be aware that others can feel self-important, others can come across arrogant and demand their own way, and you need to identify that.

You need to be aware of that as being something I don't want to have anything to do with. Certainly, I don't want to reflect those bad qualities.

In verse 8, he says, these dreamers defile the flesh, they reject authority, and they slander the glorious one.

He actually starts describing how it is that these people who were among the church were undermining.

They were deceiving and undermining the members of the church, defiling the flesh.

I think in some ways that's pretty easy to see. There's a great demise today in the world, certainly with great confusion over the topic of sexuality or of the sanctity of marriage.

How much more can that be undermined? Well, I'm sure it will be more, but it's clearly being undermined today.

Yet it says, these dreamers defile the flesh, they reject authority, they resist, they undermine, they are deceitful, they cannot be trusted.

And it says, they slander the glorious ones, whether that's talking about angels or other people or officials.

But at least, nonetheless, whenever I read the word slander, what that tells me is that they obviously have no concern over what words are said and how they affect other people.

And then, even to add, I guess, insult to injury down in verse 12.

In verse 12, it says, these are blemishes. These are spots on your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear feeding themselves.

What are we supposed to look out for? Well, someone who is solely self-centered, self-loving, demanding their own way.

And yet, amazingly, even he starts to identify what love feasts are referring to, whether that's just getting together on the Sabbath and having a festival.

We do celebrate a day each Sabbath, each week, and of course that could be a festival.

And yet, we think of festivals more on an annual basis, and we have those throughout the year.

And clearly, the Feast of Tabernacles is the biggest of the celebrations that we observe.

And yet, amazingly, he says these are blemishes.

Blemishes in verse 12, on your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear feeding themselves.

See, what is it that we ought to recognize in ourselves and avoid if we see in others?

If we drop down to verse 16, there's a lot of other judgment and indictment here that I'm not reading.

We're identifying what we want to stay away from.

In verse 16, it says, these are grumblers and malcontents who indulge their own lusts, and they are bombastic in their speech, flattering other people to their own advantage.

See, is that possible? Is that ever done?

I hope not, but it certainly is described here as a form of selfishness and ungodliness.

It's going to go on to say, in verse 18, he says, in the last time there will be scoffers indulging in their own ungodly lusts. In verse 19, it is these sensual, worldly people who are devoid of the Spirit, and yet they cause division in the body.

We know a lot about that. We've seen that happen among the Church of God.

We've seen that in a distressing manner. And yet, I think it's very telling to see the type of description here, worldly attitudes, causing division, not being led by the Spirit of God.

What is it that we want to promote? What is it we want to promote in the Church of God?

Well, we want to promote the nature of God, the love of God, the unity of God, the closeness and the caring and the appreciation of God's work in our lives and in the lives of those that we're associating with.

That's what we want to be promoting. That's what we want to be encouraging.

And of course, he's told us, there are those among you who are just out for themselves.

And so, that's what we want to stay away from.

And so, I've kind of laid this out in 2 Timothy and here in Jude, because these are graphic descriptions of how it is that people can be adversely affected by the influence that Satan has in this world and even by those who are a part of the Church of God.

So, what safeguards can be used to be protective? Well, if you back up to verse 3, he says, I want you to contend for the faith that was once for all and entrusted to the saints.

You need to go back to your foundation. You need to go back to the faith that you have been drawn into and the understanding that you had of what it was that I need to repent of.

How it is that my sins are not just acts that I have done that have been wrong, but it was the entirety of my carnal attitude and thoughts that went into those sins that I ultimately want to repent of.

If we repent of human nature, and we repent of everything that we've been doing, everything that we've done that is in opposition to God, and yet he says in verse 3, go back to those foundational principles of the truth of God and understanding of conversion, actually an understanding of what true holiness is, because that's a transformation of our heart.

And he also gives some very good keys here starting in verse 20.

After he has said, I want you to be warned, and actually I want you to avoid people who are described here with these selfish attitudes, and he says in verse 20, build yourself up on your most holy faith.

Do the things that are going to increase your faith in God.

Increase your belief in Jesus Christ.

Increase your commitment to be transformed by the nurturing of the Holy Spirit.

He goes on. He actually mentions four things here in verse 20 and 21.

Beloved, build yourself up on your most holy faith.

Pray in the Holy Spirit.

Fervently pray.

See, we should be empowered by our prayers.

Sometimes prayers can be done out of... because they have to.

Sometimes they can be done according to the clock. Sometimes they can be done because I feel like we really need to pray.

Sometimes they're done out of true earnestness.

And we know that we are relating to God. This is what this is talking about. This is what we want to seek.

And then, of course, it goes on to say in verse 21, keep yourself in the love of God.

What are the foundational things here? Faith, prayer, love of God. This is what we are doing together. And ultimately, look forward. Look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that is going to lead us to eternal life.

We look forward to the mercy that is extended to us. And yet today, we're thankful for the mercy of God, for the blessing of God, for the forgiveness that God has extended to us, because He will lead us. He will lead us to eternal life.

So actually, we haven't read all of Jude, but we've read some of Jude today. And then I want to go back to 2 Timothy again, because you also have some additional guidance here in 2 Timothy that I didn't read earlier.

But it ties together with what I'm wanting to say regarding our preparation. The precautions that we want to take as we prepare to be among the people of God and to be a right example, who are pulling away from the carnality and the selfishness that human nature really is.

And yet here in 2 Timothy 2, it says, You, in verse 1, my child be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. What you have heard from me, from many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. See, Paul was guiding Timothy to teach others to do in a similar way what I'm teaching you. You teach others. And he says, share in verse 3 in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. See, every one of us should feel that we've been called into a commission, a commission that is being a part of the army of God. That's the song that we sang earlier, one that certainly is very familiar to us and probably thousands of people, maybe millions of people because of the time and duration it's been around.

And yet, see, there's far more to it than singing a song. It's more to it than just thinking, I'm a Christian. That transformation in our heart has got to be taking place. And he actually goes...it's amazing that as Paul... I'm sure Timothy is paying attention to Paul. I'm sure he had enough respect, he had enough appreciation for what Paul had to say. He loved him, he was concerned about him. And yet, as Paul is writing this second letter to him, what does he say in verse 7? In verse 7 he says, Think about what I'm saying.

Think over what I say.

For the Lord will give you understanding in all things. See, he was telling Timothy, I want you to think about what I'm saying. See if this actually applies to me. And ask God for understanding. Seek the help of God in truly understanding the type of attitude and outlook and the projection of the love of God and of the love of Jesus Christ that we must have to be able to have the unity of the faith and live in a bond of the Spirit.

And also, it goes on after verse 7 and verse 8, he says, Remember, remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, who was a descendant of David. He said, He's my gospel. That's who I talk about all the time. See, now I know we talk about more than Jesus Christ.

We clearly talk about His message, and we talk about the Kingdom of God, which He came to introduce, which He will return to be the King of. But see, primarily, Paul said, the good news that I have to tell you about involves the King of the Kingdom. It involves His transforming power. It involves the way He's able to work in a human heart and to cut away all of the bad and old and the selfishness that we've seen described in here that we're supposed to avoid and then be able to give us the righteousness of God.

See, we don't want to rely on our own righteousness because if we do, then we will eventually just fall flat on our face because our righteousness will never be good enough. But the righteousness of God will be accepted. It will be accepted. We're told that in Philippians. The righteousness that comes from God by faith in Jesus Christ is what I want. That's a transforming righteousness. And of course, he says, remember Jesus.

Verse 9, For which I suffer hardship even to the point of being in jail. See, Paul was in jail, Bert. He was not a criminal, but he was in jail. He was in jail when he wrote this to Timothy. He was proclaiming the message. Of course, he goes ahead to say, I am enduring hardship even to the point of being chained like a criminal, but the Word of God is not chained. You know, what I have to say and what I have to proclaim and the message about Jesus Christ and His coming Kingdom cannot be chained.

It cannot be stopped. And so, as he told Timothy, I am here for a reason. And even though I am suffering right now, I am in jail and I am restricted. But the Word of God is going to go forward anyway. Therefore, so in verse 10, he says, Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. He says, I am willing to do whatever Christ needs or allows me to go through in order to help the Church be able to obtain the salvation of God, which involves being transformed, which involves being changed from a carnal human nature and selfishness that we see described that is pretty much rampant in the world, but we've got to be guarding against it in our lives and certainly able to identify it in others.

And as we do that, then we are not only forewarned, but we are prepared to be able to project the unity of the faith and a bond of peace wherever we go. We are able to be true ambassadors for Jesus Christ. So I simply just mention, and I know we'll go over other things that are perhaps preparatory to going to the feast, maybe some more directly about being there and what we can do. But this is what I offer that we could be aware of today.

God wants us to be alert and awake. He wants us to discern our own nature and be warned that we should avoid those defects, stay away from those defects and others if they continue. To follow that wrong way. And so in doing that, we can be prepared, we can be grateful, and we can take what precautions we need in order to fully celebrate.

To celebrate the upcoming festivals. To do that before God in spirit and in truth. To come before Him with a heart that is ready to be transformed. Desires to be transformed. And desires to be motivated by the moving of the Spirit of God. A spirit that allows us to relate to the Father and to the Son in a way where we are in a relationship that is unparalleled. And we want that for all eternity. And we have access to that in a way today through the power of the Spirit of God.

Where we can be united and where we can be living together in peace and in harmony. So simply be alert, be aware, as Jude pointed out, don't allow these type of things to affect you, but celebrate our upcoming festivals as we worship God in spirit and in truth.