The Sign of The Times

[00:00:00] You turn with me in the word of God to the gospel of Matthew in chapter 16. [00:00:09] And from verse one. [00:00:14] Matthew's gospel, chapter 16 from verse one. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and trying, Jesus asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But he answered and said unto them, when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the heaven is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the heaven is red and lowering. [00:00:45] Ye know how to discern the face of the heaven, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times. [00:00:58] And in the second letter of the apostle Peter, and chapter one from verse 19. Two, Peter, chapter one from verse 19. [00:01:11] And we have the word of prophecy made more sure, whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed as unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this, first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation, for no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. [00:01:50] And lastly, in the apostle Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. [00:01:59] Thessalonians two Thessalonians and chapter. [00:02:05] I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. The first letter of the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians. And chapter five from verse one. [00:02:16] Thessalonians, chapter five from verse one. [00:02:20] But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, when they are saying peace and safety. Then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. [00:02:53] But ye brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. For ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith, of love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. [00:03:34] For God appointed us not unto wroth, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. [00:03:52] Wherefore exhort one another and build each other up, even as also ye do. [00:04:02] Shall we just have a further word of prayer? Beloved Lord, we are so thankful that we are found in your presence. And through this day we have been, Lord, sensing your being here. [00:04:18] We are not asking you to join us. We are coming to you, Lord. [00:04:22] And we are asking together that, Lord, you will take your word and make it live in every one of our hearts. [00:04:31] We praise you for the anointing that you have provided for us both for the speaking of your word and the hearing of it. [00:04:41] And into that anointing, grace and power. We stand by faith this afternoon and ask, o Lord, that you will, by the Holy Spirit, make that anointing a living experience to every one of us. [00:05:03] We shall be careful, Lord, to give you the praise and the glory. And we ask this in the name of our messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:05:20] The theme for this evening is the signs of the times. [00:05:28] Signs of the times. [00:05:31] Some people think that youve only got to talk about the signs of the times, and you must be a nutcase that there are nutcases that speak endlessly about the signs of the times. There is absolutely no doubt nearly every fellowship somewhere or another has at least one such nutcase. [00:05:55] And if they do nothing else, they manage to put off a whole lot of other people. [00:06:01] Their lives betray nothing about living in the light of the Lord's coming. It's really all up here, all like crystal ball gazing, fascination with future things with no regard to our lives. But the signs of the times are signs of the times. [00:06:35] And any child of God who ignores the signs of the times is foolish. [00:06:45] There seems to be a terrible dearth of understanding of where we are in the purpose of God. Amongst Christian believers, there was a day when people emphasized very much the coming of the Lord. [00:07:07] But it seems as if there's been almost a reaction against studying the matter, mentioning the matter as if anybody, as I have said, who in any way mentions these things is by nature overboard radical, unbalanced, eccentric. [00:07:36] And yet the apostle Peter said, we have the word of prophecy made more sure over 27% of our Bible, the 66 books, his prediction. [00:07:53] And the amazing thing is that when he wrote that, he said we had the word of prophecy, made more sure because they had been the witnesses of a fulfillment of a whole number of those prophecies. So he said, we have it even more confirmed how much more we in the day in which we are living even more. This prophetic word of God is being confirmed before our eyes. And the apostle says, we have the word of prophecy made more sure whereunto you do well, that ye take heed as unto a lamp shining in a dark or foggy, murky place until the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts. [00:08:53] Well, I believe it is of tremendous importance, this subject, and I notice that the apostle Paul says, there is no need for me to write to you. He says, about the times and seasons, because you know very well could he write that today to many of the churches. [00:09:20] You know the times and seasons. [00:09:23] I don't think too many do know the times and seasons. I think they're quite ignorant of it. [00:09:31] I get the feeling that somehow or other, don't get me wrong on this matter. [00:09:36] I believe in worship and I believe in praise, but I get the feeling that an entertainment value has somehow or other entered the church of God. [00:09:53] People are more interested in dancing or jigging or lifting their hands or making a noise or whatever else than really being challenged by the Lord about what is happening in our world and where we are in the economy of God. [00:10:16] The word that comes again and again in the word of God is that we should be awake. Are we awake? [00:10:28] We should not be asleep, nor should we be drunken. What an interesting thing. There are believers, of course, who are fast asleep, blissfully asleep. Sleep is a wonderful thing. [00:10:42] When you're asleep, you don't have to worry. [00:10:45] You have no pain while you're asleep, not if you have a good deep sleep. I'm not talking about those shallow kinds of sleep, but where you have nightmares and that kind of thing. But I'm deep sleep. It's so marvellous. Many believers are in deep sleep. [00:11:01] They're not the least bit worried about what is happening in the world. As far as they're concerned, Israel is a nuisance. [00:11:09] She is the cause of a tremendous amount of problem in the east, in the Middle east, and will continue to be so unless countries like the United Kingdom, unless the United nations, the United States, the European Union, sit on her and more or less make her do what she ought to do and thus leave the rest of the world in peace asleep. But there's also drunkenness. [00:11:48] Normally with drunkenness you are at least got your eyes open. Even if you are insensible, you may be. I've never been drunk, so I can't speak from experience, but I have seen a lot of people who are drunk, and normally they are insensible to their surroundings and actually very happy. [00:12:18] They may not be so happy afterwards, but at the time they are perfectly happy because theyre in some kind of stupor. [00:12:30] Oh, how true this is of christian believers. [00:12:35] There are many who are asleep and many who are drunk, insensible. To what is happening insensible to the signs of the time. [00:12:54] Some of you may have heard a story and told it for some years but I told you quite a lot some years ago. [00:13:04] But when I was a boy I can't remember how old. 1112, thereabouts. I was a believer by then so I must have been must have been 13 or 14. [00:13:15] My mother was away and we were left, my sister and I, in the care of an aunt. [00:13:27] I sleep in the four poster bed at least in the family home here and I was woken up by my arm bursting into my bedroom at about 02:00 in the morning sweeping aside the curtain and saying, get up, get up, get up. Something's happening in the street. [00:13:47] And I said, I woke up and said, what is happening in the street? Police vans everywhere. Police dogs come quickly by that she vanished out of the room. My sister. I went into my mother's room in the front and there they were hanging out of the window trying to decide what was happening in the street. [00:14:10] They saw them going and I heard my aunt saying they must have been burgled. So and so has been burgled. And then my sister said, no no no, they've got a dog. It would chew up anybody anyone who went in there. So then they would discuss it. And then my aunt suddenly said I think I'll go downstairs and make myself a cup of coffee. She went downstairs she had not been gone a few minutes when there was a shriek that would have raised the dead in the cemetery across the River Thames and she was up those stairs, milk white, shaking from head to feet. [00:14:48] So we both looked at her what's wrong? We said she said, the thief the thief. [00:14:55] He's in our kitchen. [00:15:00] So we both looked at her and we said in our kitchen yes, she said, he's in our kitchen he's eating a blanc mange. [00:15:14] Then my sister said, did he say anything? [00:15:18] Yes, she said he said, good evening, madam. [00:15:29] We had no idea. We were all there discussing how so and so was being burgled, or so and so was being burgled, or so and so was being burgled. We had no idea. He was in our own home in our kitchen eating a blanc mange. He was a famous cat burglar who came through a little small hole. He'd burgle 13 houses that night he never took anything but a blanc Mange either he liked my aunt or I don't know what it was but out he went, the way he came in and they never got him till a year later when he got. When they got him, he, of course, confessed what he had done that night. [00:16:11] Now, I think that's exactly like some believers. They spend their whole time saying, well, the world is going to be caught out when the Lord comes, you know, and then they think, this believer or that believer is going to be caught out. [00:16:24] But maybe we could be caught out. [00:16:28] So these signs of the times, I believe, are very important. Now, of course, we have. It's an enormous subject, and I can only deal with a few. There have to be others that deal with some of the others. But there's one that I'm very interested in. It's very small, and you might think it's fanciful. You'll find it in Daniel, in the book of Daniel and chapter twelve, and it is verse four. But thou, o Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. [00:17:12] Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Some people tell me that this is all to do with persecution and people running back and forth all over the place. But if that's the case, then people have been running to and fro all the way through history. [00:17:30] But any of you, as I have to be, so often in this life that I live, is being in a major airport, know exactly what running to and fro is all about. You sit there, people are going this way. People are going that way, this up there, planes taking off here, planes landing there. It's incredible. Do you realize that years ago, it took almost five months to get to the far east? And now you can do it in 12 hours. [00:18:01] It is incredible. [00:18:05] I mean, many running to and fro. [00:18:10] I think it's by the year 2010, they're offering seats to the moon. Well, who wants to go to the moon? But, I mean, I don't myself. Rather wait till the Lord comes. [00:18:23] I mean, all that gear that you have to sit in and weightlessness and everything else, it doesn't interest me at all to have to go all that way to the moon. I'd rather wait for the Lord to come, then we'll see it properly. [00:18:38] But I must say that I think it is amazing that there is this transport, this means of reaching any part of this world now within 24 hours at the outside. The only reason it would be longer is if you have to wait in airports for connecting flights. I mean, it is amazing. Many shall run to and fro. That was one of the signs God gave to Daniel. He said, shut up. The words seal it in the book, until the time of the end, many shall run to and fro. In other words, therell be the kind of transport that means people can move all over the earth and knowledge shall be increased. [00:19:21] When I think of television, and that's old fashioned now, when I think of television and what it's done in the education of masses, especially in the third world, you know, you can go in the Sinai and you'll see a little Bedouin tent with a television mast out of it. [00:19:41] They may have nothing else, but they go to television. [00:19:46] It doesn't matter where you go. And then think of the Internet. [00:19:51] Knowledge shall be increased. It is extraordinary what has happened to the world that we have an increase of knowledge that is phenomenal, a sign of the time. Daniel, that extraordinary statesman who by the spirit of God saw right through history not only to its end, but saw right through to the heart of it. [00:20:33] I think that it is amazing what was revealed to Daniel. [00:20:40] And we are in it. What he saw, we are in amazing. [00:20:47] Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. [00:20:53] Do you think Im being fanciful? I dont. [00:20:57] Then theres a second sign. Youll find it, of course, in two Thessalonians and chapter two, verse three, where it says, let no man beguile you in any wise. [00:21:13] Therefore it will not be except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. He that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped. [00:21:32] I find this very, very interesting. The falling away in Greek, apostasy. [00:21:38] You remember the old word, apostasy, now a falling away. You have to be there to fall away. [00:21:44] So it's nothing to do with unsaved people in the world. Nor is it even frankly, to do with unsaved churchmen. [00:21:53] It has to be to do with real believers who once proclaimed the gospel and for whom the word of God was authoritative, inspired and relevant, who have somehow or other turned away. It is a falling away from a divinely given position. [00:22:19] There are some other places in the word of God that speak about this falling away. [00:22:24] I can hardly believe what is now happening in the church of God, so called. [00:22:32] You have homosexual bishops being ordained, you have gay marriages being discussed. I mean, I mean, the very discussion of the thing is incredible. What does the word of God say? Does anyone ask what the word of God says? And then there is a re interpretation of the Bible to suit modern society and modern philosophy. [00:23:04] In other words, that word of God that Tony spoke about a little earlier, for which William Tyndale was strangled at a stake in Antwerp. If I am right, in Belgium and then burnt that word of God that wickleth lived for, that it might get into the hands of every ploughman, as he put it, that word of God for which Martin Luther gave himself, that it might be in German for the german people, that word of God that has cost so many lives is now being reinterpreted in a way that not in thousands of years has it ever been interpreted. [00:24:04] I call that apostasy. [00:24:13] I find it very sad that today. [00:24:16] Let me put it this way. When I was first saved, an evangelical was a person who believed that the word of God was supreme in authority, absolutely inspired and relevant to the whole of life. [00:24:38] That was how I always understood the word evangelical. An evangelical was someone who was born of God through the living word of God, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and whose life, whose business, whose family, whose everything was under the government of the spirit of God through the word of God that I understood was evangelicals. I find it unbelievable that somehow or other it seems as if some cancer has eaten away the vitals within evangelicalism. [00:25:28] Every time men and women have sought for answers in the word of God and have been prepared to obey it, whatever the cost, there has been revival. [00:25:40] And every time the word of God has been reinterpreted in some way or another and denied and contradicted, there has been backsliding and departure. [00:25:55] Well, there's a lot more that one could say on this. [00:26:03] We are now living in a society in which humanism is the foundation of all. [00:26:19] What is humanism? [00:26:22] Humanism is that everything begins with man and ends with man. [00:26:28] Six. [00:26:29] Six fallen men. [00:26:36] Even. [00:26:38] The idea of God is a projection of the human mind and heart. [00:26:48] So you can either project a God who is ferocious, angry, or you can project a God who is sentimental and sweet. [00:27:01] And if thats the case, then it doesnt matter if you believe in Buddha or if you believe in Krishna, or if you believe in Allah. [00:27:13] What does it matter? [00:27:16] Since it is all the projection of mans mind and heart? [00:27:24] As long as men live decently and as long as they do to others what they would have others do to them, thats all that matters. For me. [00:27:35] That is not truth. [00:27:39] Truth is that God is forever beyond us, infinite, uncreated, with whom nothing is impossible, nothing too difficult. [00:27:56] Any God that we have, even if we were to call that projection of our mind, Jesus is an idol. [00:28:07] If it is some God that is limited to our understanding and limited to our knowledge, and limited to our experience, humanism. [00:28:20] I say that this is one of the signs of the times. [00:28:24] And I find it very interesting that the laodicean church was such a marvelous church. Most christians would say not a marvellous. Wait, you read carefully the Lord's message to the laodicean church. They said that they needed nothing. They had everything, they had all understanding, they had all faith, they had this and that and the other. It's quite amazing. They must have had Bible studies, I don't doubt it. They must have had prayer meetings. I don't know how well attended, but they must have had prayer meetings. They must have had the Lord's table, sometime in the curriculum, sometime somewhere in the routine of the church. [00:29:06] They must have had evangelistic meetings. I have no doubt about that. They had some form of social out care of others. And do you know where the Lord was? The head of the church and the savior of the body? He was outside knocking on the door. And you hear that plaintive cry, if any man hear my voice and open the door. What a condemnation of a living church. This isn't an institutional church, a nominal church. This is a church of real believers. [00:29:44] And they are so insulated that they had no idea that Jesus the Lord, the savior, the head of the church, was outside of the church. [00:30:03] It is entirely possible to have a church program and for it rumble. I thought it could rumble on without God. [00:30:16] Years ago I heard Doctor Lloyd Jones say about George Whitefield. [00:30:24] He said he was so spiritual that virtually he left nothing when he went. [00:30:32] What he meant was he left no organization. [00:30:38] He couldn't rumble on without the Lord. [00:30:43] But we are adept at building things where somehow or other it goes on whether the Lord is there or not. [00:30:53] You know, isn't it a tragedy? Think of it for a moment. Why did the Lord say, why does the Holy Spirit describe the church in terms of head and body? [00:31:10] Some people's idea of the Lord Jesus is that he's the head of a hospital, or the head of a government, or the head of a university, or the head of something. He's there, we're here, we're the staff, he's the head, he's the principal, we are are the faculty, if you get what I mean, the teaching faculty. [00:31:31] But that's not how the Holy Spirit uses. He uses it as head and body. Have you ever seen a living, headless body? [00:31:40] Of course not. Have you ever seen a living, bodiless head? [00:31:46] Never. In other words, the only way the church can function is when head and body are joined together in the Holy Spirit. Then when that happens, tremendous impact is made upon human society. It is turned upside down. [00:32:04] You don't even need all these great fundraising techniques and great training things. And what I said this morning, steps one, two and three, four and five, or whatever else. You don't need the techniques and methodology when the Lord is there, because people stumble often through it all, but the Lord is there, and people get saved and people get delivered and people get healed. And the most marvelous things happen because the Lord is there. Well, apostasy. That's a sign of the time. [00:32:43] Then, I have to say, another sign of the times is the regathering of the jewish exile. Oh, of course. You were waiting for me to get to this. [00:32:56] Jeremiah 31 ten. Hear the word of the Lord, o ye nations. Declare it in the isles that are afar off. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. [00:33:13] What a wonderful statement. [00:33:16] Hear the word of the Lord, o ye nations, and declare it in the isles of thou art. That's what we're doing. As our Jerusalem is concerned, these islands are afar off and here we are declaring it. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. [00:33:41] This is a wonderful word, really. What it's meaning is this, that the one who scattered the jewish people to the ends of the earth twice in their history. [00:33:56] Not to the ends of the earth the second time, but scattered them twice. [00:34:00] The same living God of Israel will gather them. [00:34:11] Do you know what that means? [00:34:14] It means that aliyah is a work of God. [00:34:20] It means that the return of the jewish people, even in unbelief from the ends of the earth is the hand of God in human history. [00:34:31] It is incredible. [00:34:35] Oh, but someone says this was all fulfilled in the return from Babylon. Don't you know that you ought, you people who believe in this matter of Israel and the Jewish people, you are so unintelligent. [00:34:57] This is fulfilled in the return from Babylon. [00:35:01] It was fulfilled in the return from Babylon. [00:35:05] Well, well, well. Look at this. [00:35:08] Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, o virgin of Israel. Again shalt thou be adorned with thy tablets and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry. Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit thereof. [00:35:26] Samaria. [00:35:30] Samaria. [00:35:32] That's what all the trouble is about. [00:35:35] It's about Judea and Samaria. It's about all these Jewish settlements, these communities. [00:35:49] When it in the return from Babylon in the 6th century, did they recolonize SAMARIA. They never did. It means that some of our very clever theologians and Christian preachers and leaders. Do they know their bibles? It's a good question. I know it sounds very arrogant of me to say such a thing, but do they? What does the Bible say? You remember Ezra chasing people out from the temple and getting foreign wives and husbands divorcing them? You remember Nehemiah, who wouldn't allow Samaritans to join in the rebuilding of the wall? They never recolonized Samaria. So what is all this talk about this being fulfilled in the return from Babylon? [00:36:42] We are sometimes we are told that we are not careful students of the world. [00:36:49] Well, well, well. [00:36:55] Again, shall they plant vineyards? Do you know that some of the most prestigious wines are now produced in Samaria? For a thousand years they weren't. Because it was Muslim. [00:37:11] It was banned. [00:37:13] Of course, I shouldn't say this amongst christians. I mean, these wines have even got the golden, what do you call it, awards in wine festivals in the world. [00:37:32] Did you know that the Holy Spirit was so careful? [00:37:37] No wonder the Lord sometimes loves. [00:37:44] Human intelligence is so limited when it's not under the government of the spirit of God. [00:37:52] It does the most ridiculous things and says the most ridiculous things. I remember years ago a man saying about Jesus walking on the water in Galilee. And he said he was, by the way, was a theologian with many degrees after his name and titles in front of it. And he said, I wish I could copy the way he did it because it was so superior. [00:38:19] He said, of course, he said, we all know that the whole parts of the lake of gallery that are so shallow that you can walk with only water up to your ankles. [00:38:32] So someone said, well, what about Peter? When he fell, he fell in a pothole. [00:38:45] For me, that requires more faith than the word. [00:38:51] Much simpler to believe the word as it really is. I remember another time in a moral leadership course, a very clever divine said to us about Elijah on Mount Carmel. He said, well, of course we know that there are benzine wells on Mount Carmel. Or wood to God, we knew it. But I mean, there are benzine wells on Mount Carmel. [00:39:20] You've never seen fire licking up water, have you? But of course, Elijah knew where those wells were and he filled up that thing with water. It's strange that the prophets of Baal never smelt. [00:39:35] Never smelt the petrol. I mean, I did say, you see what I mean? How stupid it is. Never mind. He then said. He said. So, of course the fire licked it up when he came to question time. I asked him, where did the fire come from? Fire? He said, fire? [00:39:56] I said, yes, the fire that fell down. Oh, he said, the fire. [00:40:01] But he obviously wasn't going to answer. So I said, maybe it was Elijah's cigarette. [00:40:16] Well, you all laugh, but the fact of the matter is so stupid. Its what I call the limitation of human intelligence. [00:40:25] It is so limited when its not under the government of the Holy Spirit that you have to cook up all these weird answers to things which require far more faith to believe than the simple word of God. Well, leave it for the moment. Come back to this question. [00:40:44] What an amazing thing it is when you see this here. I have loved you with an everlasting love. The Lord says, isn't that amazing? Of this people, this stubborn, backslidden, apostate, disobedient people, he says, I have loved you with another. It's not a Jeremiah that he's speaking to. Of course, we could understand him saying, I've loved you, Jeremiah, with an everlasting love. It's this Israel that the Lord loves. And listen to this, he says again, shall you be built, o virgin of Israel. Israel was anything but a virgin. [00:41:24] She had given herself to every form of worship in the land, given herself to other gods, to other deem demonic principalities. [00:41:42] When you've lost your virginity, you've lost it forever. You can never reclaim it. [00:41:49] But the Lord says, again, shall you be built, o virgin of Israel. As if really what the Lord is saying is, I will save you, and when I save you, you will be covered with the righteousness of the Messiah. Then you shall again be a virgin. [00:42:13] It's wonderful. I think, well, I could go on and on about this, but we have to watch the time. I mean, the fact of the matter is, the Isaiah, the prophet said, said, fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. No problem there. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, my daughters from the ends of the earth. I am told that all that was fulfilled in the return from Babylon. But thats very odd to me because Babylon is about a thousand miles east of Jerusalem. [00:42:50] So what is he talking about, west and south? Well, someone says some of them went into Egypt. You see, that's south. Very few. But they went into Egypt. Oh, I see. Yes, yes, yes, yes. [00:43:04] Why does the Lord say about the north? Well, well, well, you see, to come from the east, they went to the north and came into the land from the north. Oh, I see. He. [00:43:18] And you have to understand, you're obviously unlettered and uneducated. You have to understand that this is poet poetry, hebrew poetry. [00:43:28] And in hebrew poetry, you exaggerate. [00:43:32] You sort of. In poetry you say things that are not strictly true. [00:43:38] They sound beautiful. [00:43:41] Well, no wonder they dont trust the old Testament. [00:43:45] If thats the attitude, what else might I say when the Lord said, ive blotted out thy sins as a thick cloud? Is that exaggeration? [00:43:56] When he speaks about our sins being as white as snow, is that exaggeration? No, my dear friends, you cant pick and choose these things. Either God has spoken or he hasnt spoken. The amazing about this is that if indeed this amazing prophecy refers not only to the coming back from Babylon, but to some far greater one. In our day, when they would come from the north and from the south and from the east and from the west, from the ends of the earth, it has been literally fulfilled in our day. [00:44:29] And the amazing thing about this is that God says, hear the word of the Lord, o ye nations, and declare it in the isles that are afar off. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his luck. [00:44:47] I watched the shepherds from my little cottage in one of the islands in the Cyclades area of the Mediterranean, and I'm always amazed at this shepherd. I mean, he whacked some of the sheep of his sheep and goats. He whacks them with a stick. Sometimes he throws stones at them, some of them quite big, I might add. And I mean, he should be, really, he should be. [00:45:11] He should be reported to the Human Animal Rights Association. [00:45:18] I remember two little twins from a goat being born. And I saw him take up one of those things and whack it with a stick and it ran off. [00:45:28] And then I saw another one. He picked up the other twin and he banged it on the rock and it ran off. Now, I know some of you are so horrified, but apparently it had to be done to get it breathing. [00:45:45] Isn't that amazing? He was looking after his flock. He speaks to them in a language I had no idea what. Certainly not good. And it's certainly not Hebrew and it's not English. I don't know what it is, but he speaks to them at language. They all understand it. They all sort of. When he's quiet, he plays his bagpipes. Dreadful. [00:46:06] I don't mean good scottish bagpipes, I mean, these are greek bagpipes are dreadful things, little tiny things. And he gets merry and sings at the top of his voice. And all the sheep, there's over a them, they all gather round with the goats and all watch him. [00:46:26] It's amazing to me, but he cares for that flock. [00:46:31] He's out all day and sometimes in good weather all night, and he seems to know them. You know, it's amazing. It says he that scattered his throat will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. Do you not think it is amazing that in the 56 modern years, 56 years of Israel's modern history, there have been seven wars? [00:47:05] And in those seven wars, God has kept them as a shepherd does his flock. [00:47:12] Do you not think it is amazing that in spite of the arab boycott and so much else, the lord in some wonderful way has prospered? The economy of Israel? [00:47:25] It is to me quite extraordinary. Well, I must leave it or we will be here all night on this one subject. But the whole conflict in the Middle east east is over the gathering of the exiles and the Lord's keeping them. Our neighbours and sometimes beyond our neighbours, much greater powers, cannot believe that a little nation of a few million people in a postage stamp of territory cannot be wiped out. And again and again and again they've sought to do exactly that. Some people think that Israel is incredibly clever. [00:48:09] We who are citizens know just how unclever we are and know how again and again it's been the Lord, like a shepherd, keeping his flock. It's not that he doesn't punish us, but he keeps us. [00:48:33] I say that's a sign. And if I take all the other things that have happened, with the regathering of the exile, the restoration of the ecology, the recreation of the fertility, the rebirth of the language, Hebrew, these are miraculous things. Where in the world has an ecology been fully restored? It is amazing. Every visitor to the holy land in the 19th century spoke of it as an empty wasteland, desolate. [00:49:05] Mark Twain actually said it was treeless, as I put it in my words. He said treeless people less and waterless. [00:49:12] He said no one would want to live in this holy land. [00:49:17] Well, what's all this fuss about all these poor people that have been this disenfranchised and dispossessed of their land by Jews? Where were they? [00:49:31] I mean, every one of these. If you don't like Mark Twain, you think he was perhaps a little bit off? I mean, what about that Presbyterian, William Barclay? He was pretty careful about his word. He said the same. He said, the glory has long since departed from this land. They all spoke of it being empty of people, empty of so much that we would associate with the land, they couldn't somehow relate it to what was in the Bible. [00:50:02] You would have no problem today. [00:50:05] Fields and orchards and everywhere you look, it is amazing. And the language, never in the history of mankind as a language, died as a mother tongue. [00:50:27] And being reborn as the mother tongue of a volatile people after 1700 hundred years of disappearance, it is remarkable. Oh, someone says it's coincidence. My coincidence. [00:50:56] Doesn't it take more faith to believe that it's a coincidence than it is the fulfillment of God's purpose and word? Well, I must go on. But there is yet another sign I would like to underline, and that is the recreation of the state of Israel. Perhaps not a lot of need for me to say so much. Most of you will have heard either me or others speak on this subject before. But the recreation of the state of Israel on the 14 May 1948 in the roman calendar is of course, a miracle. And it is a fulfillment of the word of Isaiah. The prophet in Isaiah, chapter 66 and verse eight, when he shall shall land be born in a day, shall the nation be brought forth at once. For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth. Well, it cant be the church. [00:51:53] What is it that came out, this land, this nation that was born in a day? [00:52:01] It really has to be the extraordinary fulfillment of God's prophetic word in 1948. It shouldn't have happened. [00:52:14] This little jewish yeshuv of some 800, I'm sorry, some 80,000 inhabitants in a sea of Arabic all around, in all the nations around. It should never have happened. [00:52:37] The arab nations, the five armies, three of them trained by the British, believed that they could eliminate this threat in a single moment of time. That's why they didn't accept the United nations petition plan. [00:52:50] Israel did. I mean, the Jews did. [00:52:54] They thought, we'll eliminate this, we'll liquidate this. No, no problem. We've got no arms. I mean, Israel had one small plane with one propeller, and they had a few armored vehicles, and they even made a thing called the Davidka. Little David that was made up of tin cans, couldn't do anything, but it made a terrific noise and whole communities fled as a result of that funny little David Khan. [00:53:26] What in the world was Israel supposed to do? [00:53:30] She faced extinction. [00:53:35] I say it is the Lord. [00:53:44] And every, ever since then, there have been, as ive already said, attempt after attempting. The scriptures speak of towns and cities being rebuilt all over Israel. Those who you've been to Israel, you will know there are towns now with the old biblical names built either on the old ruins or next to them. [00:54:06] You have the IDF. Who would have ever believed? I can remember when I was a little boy, they spoke of jews always as being round shoulders, no spines, fighters, black marketeers. [00:54:26] Well, that's changed. [00:54:29] We are now looked upon as bullies. [00:54:34] And the most extraordinary thing is we. [00:54:37] Well, of course I'm not supposed to say this, but we have nuclear devices. [00:54:46] The most amazing thing about this is that the nuclear program of Israel was almost completely the work of Shimon Peres. [00:54:58] Now think of that. I called that another miracle, by the way, he actually produced our nuclear program, which has resulted. [00:55:10] What do you really? I know it's an awful thing to think about nuclear devices, but do you really think we would have survived but for the grace of God allowing us to have those devices? [00:55:25] I say there would have been a Holocaust much earlier, another holocaust. [00:55:31] Incineration. [00:55:34] It is amazing to me, this recreation of the jewish state. It doesn't matter where you turn, you take a parliament. It says in the word that your rulers shall be from yourself. Well, that's exactly right. We have a president that's from ourselves. We have a prime minister that's from ourselves. We have members of Knesset that are from ourselves. We have even jewish hot air, just like you do in your parliament. [00:56:03] Plenty of it. [00:56:08] We've never had that before. Since the Sanhedrin was disbanded all those years ago. [00:56:16] It is amazing to go to the Knesset and to see the seating of the Knesset. Exactly the same. 120 seats, exactly as it was in the San hill, I am told. I am asked to believe that this is all coincidence, all of this, the ecology, the fidelity, the cities being rebuilt, the language being reborn, the IDF, the Israel defence forces, the parliament. [00:56:53] I find it too remarkable. It is much simpler to believe this is the hand of God in human history. It is the vindication of the word of God, the authority of the word of God, the inspiration of the word of God, and the relevance of the word of God. [00:57:13] If that is the case, then it is tremendous for me, as I see it anyway, that the Lord Jesus said in that greatest discourse he ever gave on his second coming from the fig tree, learn its lesson. He had already talked about wars and rumors of wars and famines and earthquakes and plague, diseases and persecution. All these, he said, are the beginning of the birth pangs. They are the birth pangs of the coming kingdom. But then he said, learn the lesson of the fig tree. There's something that happened to a fig tree just the day before. [00:57:51] Most people seem to miss that Jesus and his disciples were going for Bethany over the Mount of Olives. They went to a place called, in Hebrew, Beth Phage. In English, Beth Phage. [00:58:05] And it means the house of unripe figs. And then, to their amazement, they saw him going over, looking through the leaves on a fig tree for figs. [00:58:16] They naturally thought. I mean, I would have thought, and I'm quite sure they did. Is he ill? [00:58:24] Anybody knows a fig tree doesn't have figs in March. [00:58:30] What's he doing? This place is called the house or the area of unripe figs. [00:58:38] What's he doing? [00:58:40] And they heard him say, no man eat from you henceforth, whatever. [00:58:48] They went down into the temple, and jesus had the very last confrontation with all the authorities and came out of that temple. Do you remember? [00:58:57] And as they were coming out, the disciples said, isn't this magnificent, this building? It's been 43 years in building. He said, do you see it? Not a stone will be on another in the day of its judgment. [00:59:14] Well, I believe the fig tree is the jewish people. [00:59:20] And when those four apostles, the inner circle, Andrew, Peter, James and John, came to Jesus high up on the Mount of Olives, they said, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? [00:59:37] And he said, wars, rumors of wars, and all these other things. [00:59:43] But the way I put it is this. I'm putting it in my own words, the validating sign is the victory. They were Jews. And in looking into their eyes, it's almost as if he said, you're going to see this temple and this city destroyed. The priesthood ended, the sacrificial system terminated, and the jewish people scattered to the ends of the earth. Don't make a mistake at the end. Before I come, the fig tree will be back in its original soil, not as an antique, not as a fossil, but as something alive. [01:00:30] It's happened. [01:00:32] It has happened. The fig tree is back in its native, original soil and very much alive. The whole world is in horror over it. Well, you see, time. Now I have to watch it always. [01:00:48] Not that many of you think I do. But still, there are two more things I have to mention. One is the reunification of Jerusalem. [01:00:59] I believe the reunification of Jerusalem on the 7 June 1967 was a prophetic milestone. As great as the regathering of the exiles, and as great as the recreation of the state of Israel in that war that Israel didn't want, in that war in which our neighbors said they were going to turn the blue mediterranean red with the blood of the Jews in that war, where our side asked the British to tell the Jordanians, stay out of this war, don't get involved. But they came in. [01:01:41] Well the rest is history. [01:01:44] You know it. In six days Israel ended up near to Damascus and near to Cairo. [01:01:56] I always remember because I was still living here then and I was going up to town with friends and in front of us was a car filled with obviously obvious Jews. [01:02:09] I won't say any more about that, but they were obviously and on the back was a little statement, visit Israel and see the pyramids. [01:02:29] Ive always remembered it. [01:02:33] The reunification of Jerusalem. This, oh the battle that has been 37 years ago and dear Jerusalem is still the heart of the matter. [01:02:48] They will not rest till they have Jerusalem back in their hands because of Islam. It is not just a question. Actually Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran and it is not even the third most holy place. Probably the fourth. [01:03:04] Mecca, Medina and a place in Iran if you're shiite are the first three. [01:03:11] But they cannot accept that jews could have sovereignty over the Temple Mount and over Jerusalem. [01:03:21] What an amazing thing it is, this Jerusalem and we will live if the Lord is gracious to us in these next years to see some amazing things about Jerusalem. [01:03:38] I say it is altogether remarkable that Zechariah the prophet spoke about this when he said, I've already mentioned it about Jerusalem being a goblet of wine into which has secretly been introduced a poison. [01:03:55] And then he says it's like a stone which when they try to take it out of this place and put it in that place they rupture themselves and they will never lift again. Well thats exactly whats happening and its going to happen. I find it amazing. Heres a sign. Well I remember years ago Derek prince saying when God chose a tree or a bush in the garden it could have been anything. He said. Everyone says well it was an apple tree. Others say it was an orange tree. I mean I said I've heard some most amazing things, peach trees, apricots, I've heard all kinds of things. Does it really matter? [01:04:37] The fact is the Lord chose a tree and he said this tree is the only tree you must not eat of for in the day that you eat of its fruit you will surely die. It wasn't the food that would kill them, it was the disobedience. [01:04:57] He chose that tree to represent himself, to represent his purpose, to represent, if you like, his government, to represent his salvation. To represent if you like, his grace. [01:05:17] God has chosen Israel, Derek used to say in exactly the same way and hes planted her in the midst of the nations and every nation that touches her wrongly finds it boomerangs in a curse. [01:05:38] And every nation that blesses her in a blessing upon them. [01:05:45] It's not that the nation is a wonderful nation of saintly people. [01:05:50] It's that God chose that nation to represent himself. [01:05:57] It is interesting that in one of the parables our Lord gave, it was of sheep and goats. [01:06:04] And if you read it very carefully, you will see it says, all the nations of the earth were gathered before him. Its not individuals. [01:06:12] And the Lord says, depart from me in one and enter in to the other. He separates the sheep nations from the goat nations. And the principle of it is how they have dealt with the least of his brothers. [01:06:34] Now some will say this is christians. I don't have any problem with that. [01:06:39] If you mean the true church, every time a nation has persecuted the real church, sought to destroy it, it has brought a curse upon them, judgment upon them. And every time they've blessed those who've really been saved by the grace of, of God is more blessing. But it is very true of the jewish people. Well, I must, as I say, come to my last thing. And that is also very interesting because if the nations are going to try and sort out this problem of Israel and Jerusalem as they will, it means that tremendous judgments are going to fall upon the nation if they touch this. [01:07:35] Forget whether these people are holy or sanctified or saved or obedient or disobedient. They are touching the ark of the covenant. [01:07:55] The last sign, in my estimation, is the rise of the European Union. [01:08:02] I find it very interesting that Daniel spoke of four great world empires. He never mentioned the chinese dynastic empire, which was on the greatest of all the empires of history or the indian empires. It's very, very interesting. But they never, they never went for world domination, dominion. But Babylon wanted to conquer the world. And Persia wanted to conquer the world. And Hellenism wanted to conquer the world. And Rome wanted to conquer the world. Four great empires. The most seductive of them, of course, was Hellenism. So beautiful, beauty in mind, beauty in form. [01:08:50] It nearly took the whole world. [01:08:54] But Daniel said that in the time of the last empire, the Messiah would come. He did. [01:09:03] And he said he will destroy it. [01:09:07] And it was destroyed. [01:09:10] They had no idea that that jewish prophet, that jewish healer was the Messiah, the son of the living lord. [01:09:32] But it led to the destruction of the Roman Empire. [01:09:37] John, when he sees in his vision on the isle of Patmos, he sees a beast, a wild animal, a venomous animal in Greek coming up out of the sea. The sea is always a picture of the nations in turmoil and agitation. Coming up out of this Turmoil of the nations is a monster. He says, theres never been anything like it. And as he describes it, you will see that all the features of Babylon and of Persia and of these and of Rome are rolled into one. [01:10:15] And he says, this great empire will take the world, and out of it will come the Antichrist. [01:10:23] What is so interesting in John's vision of this is that he sees a false prophet as well, representing some kind of new homogenized faith, probably with Hinduism as its faith, because it's the broadest of all religion in its scope. [01:10:49] It is so interesting to see it because as he sees that monster arising, Gratin Guinness, who wrote in 1860 the book light for the latter days, thought it would be the revival of the Holy Roman Empire. It would be exactly the borders of the Roman Empire. I don't think that that is, he saw so much that was absolutely right, but on this matter, I don't think he was right. I think it's not a question of having the same borders as the old Roman Empire. I think it is the arising of an empire, a roman empire as such, that is in spirit and essence the same as the Roman Empire. [01:11:38] And, oh, there we are again. [01:11:41] And as I see it, as I see it, maybe poorly, but as I see it, this expansion of the European Union from 15 to 25 is the beginning of something of tremendous import and significance. [01:12:05] Every one of those states has to sign the treaty of Rome. [01:12:09] And those of you who know your bibles know that Rome is there on the seven hills. It's actually mentioned. [01:12:17] And you have an apostate church, that woman who looks so much like the virgin, the bride of Christ that isn't she is skin deep, gilded, whereas the virgin is created out of pure gold and pearl and precious stone. Well, are we to be afraid? Not at all. Is there a rapture? I think there is. I won't go into that. [01:12:54] But what I believe is you and I need to get ready. [01:12:58] The church is asleep. When these things begin to actually come to pass, there will be panic amongst christians. Mark my words. [01:13:13] They will not know what to do, where to turn. Many will lose their faith. Many will deny the law. [01:13:22] We have no one to blame but ourselves, for the scripture is very clear. Watch and pray. [01:13:30] And the Lord said it again and again. What I say to you, that is the four I say to all, watch. [01:13:38] Keep awake, keep alert. [01:13:43] Watch. What are we to watch? We are to watch the Lord, what are we to watch? We are to watch the movements on this earth that are the evidence of the word of God being fulfilled. Well, I think that's enough. Signs of the times. [01:14:07] How can you and I be safe? [01:14:11] How indeed can we watch? [01:14:14] Only if we are wholly centered in the Lord Jesus. It's no good being centred in a denomination or a teaching or an experience. We have to be centred in the Lord Jesus himself. [01:14:31] If we give him the place God the Father has given him, we cannot go wrong. If we obey him, we cannot go on. So my advice is let us be centered in Christ and let us come under the authority of gods. Word. Dont let anyone reinterpret the Bible, reject it. Take the word of God as the word of God. [01:15:11] You cannot go wrong. If you allow this word of God to do its work in us living active, sharper than any two edged sword dividing between soul and spirit. [01:15:27] It is tremendous, this word of God. [01:15:31] Thirdly, let us be anointed with the Holy Spirit. [01:15:36] There will be no way to come through these years ahead unless we are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, the work will be finished. The purpose of God fulfills not by might nor by power, but by his spirit. So let us be anointed with the Holy Spirit. And lastly, we must lay our lives down. That's the problem by the way. It's that life that we all so hug and so protect and seek to preserve and seek to expand and seek to dickey up all the time and make it lovely and all the rest of it. Jesus said, if any man follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever would save his life, and he used the word soul life shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his soul life for my sake and the gospels the same shall find it when you let go of that self life of yours. [01:17:06] You will have it given back under new management. [01:17:13] It is as simple as that. [01:17:16] Hug it, preserve it, fight for it, you lose it. [01:17:22] Let go of it and you will find it in due time given back to you under new management. Well, may the Lord bless you and help you. [01:17:39] May he make us people who are aware of the times and seasons and who will not be caught out by the coming of Lord.