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[00:00:00] We apologize to the listener of this tape. There is a hum in the background. This is on the master recording. In the first letter to the Thessalonians, the first thessalonian letter, and chapter five.
[00:00:23] The fifth chapter of the first thessalonian letter, verse one.
[00:00:31] But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ought 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.
[00:01:02] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
[00:01:11] For ye are all sons of light and sons of the day.
[00:01:16] We are not of the night nor of darkness.
[00:01:20] So then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober.
[00:01:28] 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 and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
[00:01:51] For God appointed us not unto wrath, 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.
[00:02:09] Wherefore exhort one another and build each other up, even as also he do.
[00:02:18] And then in romans chapter 14.
[00:02:26] Romans chapter 14.
[00:02:38] From verse eleven.
[00:02:43] Romans 1411. And this knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep.
[00:02:56] For now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent and the day is at hand.
[00:03:08] Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness.
[00:03:13] I'm so sorry. It's Romans 13. I'm so sorry. It's Romans 1311. Very sorry.
[00:03:21] Verse twelve. The night is far spent and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. And let us put on the armor of light.
[00:03:33] Let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy.
[00:03:47] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.
[00:04:01] Those two passages of scripture. I want to add a few verses from different parts of the world.
[00:04:11] First of all, in revelation, chapter one.
[00:04:15] And verse seven, the verse that we spoke from on Sunday.
[00:04:24] In the morning and in the evening, behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him. And all the kindreds or tribes or clans of the earth shall mourn or whale because of him.
[00:04:46] Even so.
[00:04:48] Amen.
[00:04:52] Then in one Thessalonians chapter one, verse nine and ten. One Thessalonians, chapter one, verses nine and ten.
[00:05:09] For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come. Now that is an extraordinary phrase. They turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven.
[00:05:50] That's how the apostle Paul described those questions. They were waiting for his son from heaven. Then in the same letter, chapter five, verses 23 and 24, and the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entirely without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:06:36] Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.
[00:06:45] Now there is some emphasis there on being sanctified. Holy spirit and soul and body preserved entire.
[00:06:57] Now think about that. Preserved entire at the coming. Although in other words, there can be some loss, it's possible evidently to go through with spirit or soul in a deformed condition or in a mutilated condition in some way. Well, think about it then.
[00:07:25] Matthew chapter 24, verse 48.
[00:07:41] For if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord tarrieth.
[00:07:52] Now I think that if we wanted a phrase that describes the attitude of many of us concerning the Lord's coming, it would be this phrase, my lord Taliath, we all have the idea that somehow or other we all believe firmly in the coming again at the law. But most of us have got a little sort of psychological get out in this matter. We put it off. We say, well, I don't think it will be yet. It won't just be now. It could be little father of my lord ten.
[00:08:36] And if you read on, you will see that out of this attitude comes a number of things. He shall begin to beat his fellow servants, shall eat and drink with the drunk.
[00:08:51] Then it says of all, that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not and shall cut him asunder.
[00:09:03] Well, now this evening I want us to consider a little more fully this matter of the coming of the Lord.
[00:09:18] And first of all, what I'd like to say first is just simply to survey very briefly the three major views of the coming of the Lord. Now the trouble with this whole subject of the coming of the Lord is that people have pigeonholed it.
[00:09:41] It is, of course, fascinating. It's in thought. The subject of fulfilled prophecy and unfulfilled prophecy is a thrilling and enthralling subject.
[00:09:55] And some christians have, in fact, gone quite off the rails on the matter of prophecy. They've become so absorbed by it, so fascinated by it, that it has become the be all and end all of their life to the detriment of spiritual character and practical christian living. Now, this is precisely what the coming of the Lord should not produce.
[00:10:24] The coming of the Lord should not produce a lot of eccentrics or cranks, but it should produce true spiritual character. It should purify us on the one hand, and should produce a practical christian life on the other.
[00:10:53] The one thing we can say about the word of God concerning the coming again of the Lord is that it teaches quite dogmatically and clearly that he is coming again and that the father knows the time when he is going to come. The angels do not know it, not even the son knows it, but the father only. We read that in Matthew, chapter 24 and verse 36. But of that day an hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. What we can say is that the Bible, and the New Testament in particular, rings with the dogmatic certainty of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as he came, he appeared the first time, just as he was born, due time, in due time, at the right time, with all the scripture fulfilled.
[00:11:55] So in his coming again, he will come at the right time, in due time, and everything will be fulfilled. But having said that, then we start to tread upon the knife edge precipice of the coming again of the Lord. There are three major views.
[00:12:23] The first we call the pre tribulation theory or the pre tribulation rapture. Now, everyone agrees, more or less, that at the end time, the last phase of world history, there is going to be a period of trouble such as the world has never seen. In its long history.
[00:12:48] It is called sometimes Jacob's trouble.
[00:12:53] Because of Daniel's prophecy.
[00:12:56] It is referred to again and again in scripture.
[00:13:00] The great periods of tribulation and persecution in the history of God's people will pale into insignificance. Beside this last period of persecution. Now people have divided on how long it will be. There are those who believe it will be seven years, and that is a quite commonly held view because it seems to be suggested in scripture seven times and three and a half times and so on. Cut into two, three and a half years, and then another three and a half years. Three and a half, not quite so bad. Three and a half that are absolutely terrible.
[00:13:43] There are those who believe that the seven is symbolic and mustn't be taken literal. But everyone agrees that at the end of world history, there is going to be a time of tribulation, of persecution, of darkness, such as this world has never seen. Now, when you think back to some of the periods of tribulation, just think of them, of the persecutions under Nero alone, or earlier than that, under this terrible man who became the type of Antichrist, Antiochus, Epiphany.
[00:14:20] When you think of those types, or you think of the period in the last war when so many died, we have to understand that this period at the end is going to be really something terrible. Now, everyone agrees with that.
[00:14:39] And everyone agrees that the Lord is going to come back at the end of it publicly. Now, everyone is absolutely clear on that, that at the end of this period of tribulation, the trumpet's going to sound publicly and the son of man's going to come, and every eye is going to see him. It's going to be his public coming, when he will slay with the breath of his mouth, as it says in two Thessalonians, chapter two, the Antichrist, the lawless one, and will take the throne of God. Now, everyone is agreed there.
[00:15:19] Where folks are not agreed is when the saints go to be with the Lord.
[00:15:27] Now, the pre tribulation rapture is the name given to the belief that the Lord will come secretly before or at the beginning of the period of tribulation, at the end of world history, history and rapture, his own, to be with himself.
[00:15:50] Every single born again, blood bought child of God will be suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, raptured to be with the Lord.
[00:16:04] The problem is the question of those who are dead.
[00:16:13] That's the problem. Are they raised at the end when the Lord finally comes, or are they always. That is all Christians. Not a general resurrection. But are all the Christians raised out of their tombs, wherever they are, or in the sea, wherever the dust is, or wherever they were laid to rest, their bodies raised to be with the Lord? That's the problem. So the pre tribulation rapture, the teaching concerning it, is that sometime just at the beginning or before the beginning of this terrible period of anguish and persecution and darkness over the whole world, the Lord will come secretly, and his elect will be caught up to be with the Lord forever. Now, of course, when we read scripture, there is the certain amount about this.
[00:17:10] It says, one shall be taken, one shall be left.
[00:17:14] And they say, now the one left is the unsaved one and the one taken is the saved one. Two women will be grinding, one will be taken, one will be left. They say, now the one left is the unsaved one and the one taken is the Christian. Two men will be in bed. One shall be left, one shall be taken. The one left is the unsaved one and the one taken is the saved one.
[00:17:35] Then comes the question, well, what about all those Christians who are not, who are living absolutely in sin?
[00:17:43] They're two Christians, but they are lazy or lethargic or apathetic or disobedient. And there's worldliness in their lives and compromise. Oh, this teaching. Those who teach this will say they will be ashamed, they will be caught up to be with the Lord, and because when they see him, they will be deeply and utterly ashamed because everyone is going to give account of himself to the Lord at that point.
[00:18:13] Thats when it takes place. In that period, all the Christians will be giving account of themselves before the Lord. And I suppose the elders will be giving that account too at that time as well. So they say there will be those who will be ashamed.
[00:18:31] This is the pre tribulation rapture teaching.
[00:18:37] Now there's no doubt about it that there's quite a bit in scripture that would suggest this. If you look through scripture, it seems at times it would seem quite clear that I could think of all kinds of scriptures that would suggest that when the Lord comes, we're all going to go to him, everyone who's named with the name of Christ. Now the second theory, by the way, this first theory, this first view, shall we say, rather than the theory, was really set forward by the early brethren. JM Darby GrOVes, Chapman Muller these men were completely convinced about this, taught it, and of course, out of this came the second advent testimony and preparation movement with Grattan Guinness and we've sung his wife's hymn this evening. Surely I come quickly. And of course, a great quickening spread. In fact, many people would say that the second great evangelical awakening had very much to do with this quickened anticipation of the coming again of the Lord.
[00:19:54] Now the second view is the much older view. It's called the post tribulation theory or raptor. And it is this that all christians will go through the tribulation.
[00:20:08] No one will be kept from it. Now, of course, this theory is the theory of the reformers, of the early church fathers and of course, today such men as Doctor Mottle, Lloyd, Lloyd Jones, others like that, they wholly devote themselves to this view of the coming again of the Lord. They do not believe in the millennium either.
[00:20:30] That goes with the other teaching, generally speaking, that when the Lord has come back, first there will be a rapture, then the Lord will come back at the end of his judgment upon the world. Then there will be a thousand years of peace and joy and glory. And there are a lot of other subsidiary teachings that all sort of woven into it. There's the jewish future teaching about the Jews being the missionaries and the millennium, while the Christians all have a marvelous time resting.
[00:21:04] Then the second view, this view of the post tribulation, of course, is the one that virtually says, if you read the New Testament or the word of God, there's no such thing as this is how they would put it, as two kinds.
[00:21:22] This makes the whole thing so complex. If you read carefully, it will seem to you quite clear that there's only one coming.
[00:21:31] And they sort of say, now, this coming is all other peace.
[00:21:36] The trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ are raised first, then we which are alive and remain are caught up to be, and the whole heavens will be on fire, as in two, Peter, chapter two, the elements will melt with fervent heat, one and the same time, the rapture of all the saints to be with the Lord. Those were born of God, and at the same time judgment upon the earth.
[00:22:07] There are again, many, many scriptures that support this. And if you're an honest student of the word of God, then you must feel at times very much persuaded by this second theory, this second view, the fact that these folks who often say there's no millennium is based on the fact that the only time you have the mention of a thousand years is in revelation, chapter 20. And they say, of course, all the other figures and numbers in the book of revelation are symbolic, and therefore this 1000 years is symbolic. Two, it's, they say, a figure of heaven, the eternal reign of God, which has started with the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:22:56] Now, the third view is the view that there will be a secret rapture, that the Lord will catch up those to be with himself who are his own, but only those who are ready.
[00:23:14] And the rest of the believers will go through the tribulation. And they quote scriptures like the Philadelphia church. The Lord said, because of thy faithfulness, I will keep thee from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to try them.
[00:23:32] And then they say, the laodicean church, Lord, because you are neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
[00:23:38] There will either be one thing or the other other.
[00:23:41] And they take those. And then they say, you will note very carefully that it was a group of disciples that went to the Lord privately in Matthew 24 and in Luke 21 and in Mark 13.
[00:23:55] And they asked him privately as believers, what would be the sign of the temple being destroyed and your coming the end of the age? And they say, therefore, when. When the Lord said to them, two shall be in bed together, he meant two of you.
[00:24:12] Two women shall be glad. He meant two of you.
[00:24:15] One shall be left, one shall be taken.
[00:24:18] And then they point out that if you read it, it's quite clear that this is so because the Lord speaks to. He says, look, here's the house. These are all believers. Some are kept, are faithful, and the Lord recommends them and others are thrown out. There's a division coming, you see, and they point to the ten virgins and they say, you can't make five foolish virgins unsaved people.
[00:24:51] And they say, the same with the servants in the house. And so the argument goes on.
[00:24:57] This view has, of course, a number of very interesting variations. There are those who inspect, who believe in what they call the mid tribulation coming o rapture of the Lord. That is, that he won't come before or at the beginning, but sometime during the period of tribulation, the Lord will come secretly for those who are waiting for him and looking for him and ready for him. Those who have purified themselves by having this hope set on him.
[00:25:29] Those are the viewers.
[00:25:31] Now, let me say once again that the wonderful thing is that the word of God declares dogmatically the coming again of the Lord.
[00:25:45] It says it not just once, but again and again and again. None of us can escape the clarion call concerning the coming of the Lord. And furthermore, therefore, it tells us that those who are his are going to be caught up to be with him. We must be quite clear on that. Now, I think it seems, at least, it seems to me quite clear that if the Lord had wanted us to be absolutely certain about his coming, he could have cleared up our difficulty once and for all.
[00:26:22] But instead, whilst we have the absolute certainty of the coming again of the Lord, the Lord has allowed a veil of uncertainty to come over who will be taken and exactly when he's coming. In other words, this is the wonderful thing about it. If it was all taped, we could all sit back and say, well, now, I think we're got about another 40 years.
[00:26:53] But we can't.
[00:26:55] In other words, the word of God is so marvelous that it means that we've got to walk by faith in this matter. No one is going to get themselves right and ready in a kind of feelingful way.
[00:27:14] It's going to be through faith.
[00:27:17] Someone sees that the Lord could come at any time. In other words, I believe that our view should be this.
[00:27:24] The Lord may be coming tonight.
[00:27:30] It may well be that every believer will be caught up to be with him. Thank God for that.
[00:27:35] And I don't want to be ashamed. I want to be absolutely ready. It could be that we're all going to go through the tribulation, in which case we've got a few more years that we're all going through it.
[00:27:48] And therefore, if we are going to go through the tribulation, we have got to take hold of the law just as much as if the law was coming tonight, that we may endure to the end and be saved.
[00:28:04] On the other hand, it could well be, and I must say I'm persuaded on this, but still, that's just personal, that the Lord will come sometime during the tribulation and will rapture those that are ready for him. Therefore, it behoves us to be ready. The safest thing is to be ready. Don't you see that? You see, the whole thing is not to get all worked up about which theory is right, to get all sort of hot out of the consul. I can't agree with them. I've had people say that I can't come again.
[00:28:36] Error being taught not to get all hot and bothered about it. The fact is, the scripture itself, on some of these points, is deliberately uncertain in order to press us back not to the technicalities of the coming of the Lord, but to the vital need. And what is the vital need to be ready.
[00:29:02] Now, the extraordinary thing is, this is what we are not.
[00:29:07] We all hold our various views and yet are somehow or other not ready.
[00:29:13] And that's what I think is so very, very important.
[00:29:22] For instance, you look at Luke, chapter 21 and 24. Well, now, we've quoted this many times about Jerusalem being trodden down the Gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. Now that we know is fulfilled, there are many other signs that we know have been fulfilled in scripture. In fact, if we take this question of the pre tribulation coming of the Lord seriously, he could come anytime, literally. There is only one word that yet needs to be fulfilled. You'll find that in two Thessalonians chapter two, verses one to three. Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, now gathering together unto him to the end, that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled either by spirit or by will or by letter, as from us as that the day of the Lord is just at hand.
[00:30:30] Let no man beguile you in any wise, for 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, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself himself forth as God.
[00:30:53] Now in verse seven, we are told, for the mystery of lawlessness doth already work. Only there is one that restraineth now until he be taken out of the way and then shall be revealed, the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth. Well, we certainly see something of the mystery of lawlessness in this last decade. I'll say something about that in a moment.
[00:31:17] That could be one of the last things to be revealed or fulfilled before this coming of the Lord for his own.
[00:31:33] Whatever we may, whatever view we may subscribe to, I think the one thing to get absolutely clear is that the Lord never gave all this teaching about his coming in order to give us fascinating theories.
[00:31:50] If you look very carefully, you will see that the whole content and intent of what he has said is that we might be ready.
[00:31:59] And the warning comes again and again. Watch now let's have a look at some of these solemn warnings in the word of God. Let's start with Matthew. Matthew, chapter 24, verse 42 and 44.
[00:32:17] Matthew 24, 42. Watch therefore, for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
[00:32:27] 44. Therefore be ye also ready, for in an hour that ye think not the son of man cometh. Now, the Lord did not say, here in an hour when they think not the son of man cometh, but he said in an hour that ye think not the son of man cometh.
[00:32:51] Now do take note of that. Then again in chapter 25, verse 13.
[00:32:59] Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour.
[00:33:06] Turn over to mark 13, mark 1323. But take ye heed.
[00:33:19] Behold, I had told you all things beforehand. Now the Lord has told us all these things before beforehand.
[00:33:30] But you see, there is enough uncertainty about it so that we're not able to say, well, we're absolutely convinced. For this or for that, the warning is, take heed, I warned you.
[00:33:50] Take heed. I want you chapter same. Chapter verse 35. Watch therefore, for ye know not when the Lord of the house cometh, whether at even or at midnight or at cock crowing or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. Now mark it not them. You.
[00:34:16] And what I say unto you, I say unto all.
[00:34:21] Watch then. Luke, chapter 21, 34.
[00:34:29] Luke, chapter 21, verse 34 to 36.
[00:34:36] But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surplity and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come on you suddenly as a snare. I think it's Philip. Philip who renders that spring shut on you like a trap.
[00:34:57] Not one of those great rat traps.
[00:35:01] For so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. Now, that's a plain warning. The Lord saying it's going to come on all them like that. And it could come on you like that.
[00:35:16] But watch ye at every season making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass. Now, that's why people believe in a partial rapture. See that you may prevail to escape all these things. Why does the Lord say that to believers?
[00:35:36] Oh, say the others will be the other day of the well, he's not. He's speaking only to those who are saved, saying, you get saved and you'll escape.
[00:35:45] And to stand before the son of man.
[00:35:48] Now there's another very, very solemn warning given to believers. This was to the disciples. I cannot underestimate the simple fact that you will see. It's not to the public. It was privately to believers that the Lord spoke in this way. Now, chapter. Revelation. Chapter three.
[00:36:12] Revelation, chapter three, verse ten and eleven.
[00:36:21] Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial. That hour which is to come upon the whole world to try then that dwell upon the earth, I come quickly. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. Now there's a solemn warning. Hold on to what you've got.
[00:36:48] In other words, there's a possibility you can lose at the end. In these last days, you can lose the crown.
[00:36:56] Hold fast. It's yours. Whole thumbs.
[00:37:01] Another very serious warning in the same book. Chapter 16, verse 15.
[00:37:11] Revelation, 1615. Behold, I come as a thief.
[00:37:17] Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
[00:37:28] Now, that's an extraordinary word, isn't it?
[00:37:33] It's an aside, of course, if you see it, most of the verses, it's put in brackets. It's an aside.
[00:37:40] Behold, I come as a thief.
[00:37:43] Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his comments.
[00:37:50] Keeps covered.
[00:37:53] Keeps himself as a covered, lest they be exposed.
[00:37:59] A serious warning there.
[00:38:03] One John, chapter two, verse 28. One John, chapter two, verse 28. And now, my little children abide in him, that if he shall be manifested, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
[00:38:29] So there's a possibility of being ashamed in spite of the finished work of Jesus Christ, in spite of the blood of the lamb, in spite of the fact that wear clothes with the garments of salvation, there's a possibility of being.
[00:38:46] Now turn back to Matthew. I want you to note something which I think is often overlooked. Matthew 25, verse six and seven.
[00:38:58] This is the parable of the ten virgins, over which there is so much difference of opinion. Verses six and seven. But at midnight there is a cry, behold the bridegroom, come ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins perish.
[00:39:21] Now I know we must not put too much on parables of some doom place upon them. Colossal teaching is dangerous. Nevertheless, it's very interesting in this story that these ten women, these ten girls, these ten young girls, we would say they had all of them lamps, they all had oil in their lamps, and they all had their lamps alight. Because you will say that in verse eight, the foolish said to the wise, give us up us of your oil, for our lamps are going out. Well, that's marvelous. Lamps are actually alight oil in the lamps. The wicks are there, they're all aflame.
[00:40:08] That's interesting. What five of them didn't have was a reserve.
[00:40:15] They had not got vessels filled with oil as a little sort of reserve, rather like those cans of so blue paraffiniewicz by the.
[00:40:26] You know the kind of thing you have a reserve, and so when it goes out, you pour in a bit more. Now, five of the wise had their reserve vessels, or reserve cans with them, and five didn't bother to take them. And like everyone, when the call came, the other foolish said, quick, quick, give us.
[00:40:48] You got the whole can.
[00:40:50] Give us.
[00:40:52] It's a perfect picture of life, actually.
[00:40:57] We're all like this. And then they said, no, we can't do that, because it could be that our lamps. We won't have enough for our lamps, so they wouldn't give any more. Well, now will you notice that all ten not only had lamps, not only with oil in them, and not only all alight, but when the cry came, all ten arose.
[00:41:21] Now, what is this cry? Don't you think that this cry is not the trump of the Lord and the voice of the archangel? Don't you think this cry is a picture of prophecy fulfilled, so that suddenly, when the coming of the Lord comes near, all christians will suddenly become aware, at long last, he's coming.
[00:41:50] I mean, I don't see how they can very well escape him. When the sign of the son of man appears in their moon, they see signs of the sun, the moon and stars. They can't very well escape it. Then suddenly some of them will start saying, oh, dear, we've wasted 20 years of our life, now we must go to Keswick.
[00:42:10] We'll rush off there and we'll get the blessing. Quick, try to get rid it. Just can't be done. Just can't be done. You see, all ten rose up.
[00:42:22] In other words, they were aware that something was happening.
[00:42:31] Okay, well, I think that has a very real warning to us, all of us, because this is what all of us are doing. Or many of us just waiting, waiting and saying, well, you know, I know my scriptures well enough. When the sign of the son of man appears, I'll stop.
[00:42:47] And the Lord there are gracious, which he is.
[00:42:52] But then it says, you see, in this same parable, that when the Lord came, the others were away buying their reserve oil. They were at Keswick getting the blessing.
[00:43:12] I mean, that's true. They were away somewhere trying to get a blessing, which they should have got long before.
[00:43:25] Well, now then, that touches, I think, is serious.
[00:43:29] It means you cannot make up in a year or a few days what has taken many years to produce.
[00:43:44] That is serious.
[00:43:47] There's really a warning. Look at Matthew, chapter 25, verse.
[00:43:57] No, that's wrong.
[00:44:02] No, I'm sorry, that is wrong.
[00:44:06] Look at Matthew 24, and verses ten and to twelve.
[00:44:12] And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. Now, will you notice that it starts with stumbling? Many shall stumble, shall deliver up one another, shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall arise and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied the love of the many. For wax home. Because iniquity shall be multiplied the love of the. Now, what does that mean? It means justice. Simply this.
[00:44:47] That people will become weary at failure now, not failure, just in themselves. Oh, if only it was. But weary in what they see in each other.
[00:45:01] Because iniquity shall be multiplied the love of the many. You know the kind of thing. Oh, what's the use? See, unless your heart is on the lord, you won't overcome. You'll be so discouraged by one another and by what's going on around you. Say, oh, what's the use?
[00:45:18] Such a lot of hypocrisy, such a lot of sin, such a lot of failure. What's the use?
[00:45:25] That's the acid test.
[00:45:27] It says that many shall stumble, shall deliver up one another. First comes a stumbling, and then they'll deliver up one another and hate one another.
[00:45:41] Now it's even more clearly put in mark 13 and verse twelve.
[00:45:54] And brother shall deliver up brother to death. And father his child, and children shall rise up against and caused them to be put to death.
[00:46:06] Now, that has happened, of course, in China.
[00:46:11] And no human beings know what they're capable of or not capable of until real pressure is put on them, not only by an evil tyranny, but by the devil himself working in the atmosphere and through flesh and blood. Now, we've had sometimes a little taste of that.
[00:46:34] You know, the kind of thing that sometimes happens even in church life, when somehow it's handed over for a period to the enemy. And, oh, everything breaks down. And people do things you wouldn't think they were normally capable of. They say things that you find you. You can't depend on anyone.
[00:46:55] Now, all this terrible time is that kind of thing par excellence delivered up. And it's a terrible thing to think that your children might one day go to the authorities and say, mummy and daddy, pray.
[00:47:16] Mummy and daddy. Read their Bible.
[00:47:19] Such fear spreads through people that they'd rather burn the Bible, that the children can't see it. This is what's happened in some countries.
[00:47:29] Communist teachers have asked, do your parents, what do your parents do? What do they teach? Do they teach you? That's how many in Russia who had Sunday schools in their homes, just teaching their own children the things of God, have gone to believe.
[00:47:46] Brother delivering of brother, father his children.
[00:47:51] Children their parents.
[00:47:54] You have the same thing put in Luke again in chapter 20, chapter 18, verse eight. Nevertheless, when the son of mankind cometh last part first, shall he find faith on the earth.
[00:48:14] So there are two things that we are warned about. Love of the many shall wax cold. And will the Lord find real faith on the earth? Now, don't just think because of that. It means there will be no faith and there will be no love. Not at all. For we have the other side of it. A bride is someone who knows something about love. And we're told expressly that the the bride will make herself ready.
[00:48:40] And in the bride there, after all, can be no happy wedding day. If the bride doesn't trust the bridegroom.
[00:48:47] So there are two things. There's faith and love. And surely there ought to be a little bit of hope as well.
[00:48:57] So we have exactly what we find in one Thessalonians five. In the passage we read, the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation.
[00:49:14] Just because the word says that will the Lord find faith on the earth? It's true.
[00:49:20] Outside of a miracle worked by the spirit of God there will be no living faith.
[00:49:28] And outside of a miracle worked by the spirit of God there will be no real love.
[00:49:35] And don't we all know that? How hard it is either to exercise faith or to love in an atmosphere of failure.
[00:49:46] Somehow it just wears us out. That's exactly what the word says and warns us against. Now what are the devices of Satan in this connection that we are warned? Well, here they are.
[00:50:02] One is Matthew chapter 24 and verse 48. The little phrase we have mentioned. Here's a device of the enemy concerning his coming. My lord Tarrius. Just put it off.
[00:50:17] Eunice ought to go home and say wonderful truth, wonderful truth coming again of the Lord. And just say, but my lord tarrieth, say it under your breath. My lord tarrieth. Not yet, not yet.
[00:50:36] And you'll be surprised how many issues will just drag on, how many things will be unsolved.
[00:50:42] But if once it gripped you that perhaps the Lord might come any moment, there are all kinds of things that would get put right, issues that would be second a life that would be purified.
[00:51:00] Another device of Satan is in Matthew 25, verse three.
[00:51:13] When they took their lamps they took no oil with them. What a device that is. Well of course it's the same thing really as my lord Taliath, only this time it's carelessness.
[00:51:27] It doesn't matter.
[00:51:29] What does it mean? They took no oil with them. Well I think they're perfectly right in saying that they knew nothing really about reserve fullness.
[00:51:41] They hadn't got infinite resources.
[00:51:45] Now there's no excuse for any christian not to be in linked with infinite resources and the only way to be safe is to have infinite resources.
[00:51:56] Now if this time of Jacob's trouble or if this last great period of world history even which ushers in the period of Jacob's time, just take it that we'll all be kept from it.
[00:52:09] If this last period is going to be something such as world history has never seen, don't you see that you need infinite resources?
[00:52:19] No wonder Zechariah says about this. Not by might nor by power. But by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, if this time is going to be a time when Satan comes down, or not just invisibly, but visibly expressed, almost incarnate in a human being, we call him the man of sin, the son of perditional destruction, the Antichrist.
[00:52:47] If this spirit of Antichrist is finally going to take human form, how much do you and I need? Much more than normally is needed by christians.
[00:53:02] To live through the last period of human history is going to require infinite resources. Maybe that's what this little parable is. Something has something to say about we don't only need a lamp with oil in it and a light. We need to be in touch with resources that are going to carry us right through, come what may, the Lord help us. There. Then another phrase, I feel, which sums up everything, is in Matthew seven and verse 26, a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.
[00:53:54] Now here is a very interesting thing. Who is this foolish man who built his house upon the sand? Or we all say, an unsaved man.
[00:54:06] Unsaved man. But just wait. The Lord describes it like this.
[00:54:12] And everyone that heareth these words of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.
[00:54:27] Now, I'm afraid that includes me in that category, and I'm sure it includes you.
[00:54:33] We're all like this, but we all hear things. We don't do them insofar are that we believe things and do not let that word dwell in us richly.
[00:54:48] That's the measure in which we're building on sand. Now, Luke, in his version of this, Luke gives us a clue, which Matthew doesn't give us, because Matthew would almost suggest that here were two houses being built. One was up there on the hillside on rock foundation, and one was over here in the valley or somewhere where it was just sand. But Luke tells us no. He says these two houses were built side by side, and everywhere was sand. But one man who listened to the words of God and did them, he was like unto a man who dug deep and laid the foundations upon the rock. The rock was under the sand. Got it.
[00:55:36] In other words, outwardly it was all sand. You could either build quickly, cherry building quickly, get a kind of house up on the top soil, or you could spend much more time and dig and dig and dig till you got right down to the rock underneath the sand and build the house, the foundations upon solid rock.
[00:56:01] Now, when the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew, smote upon the house, it fell great was the fall thereon?
[00:56:14] How easy it is to have a Jerry built christian line.
[00:56:21] The curtains are all in place, the windows are there, the doors are there, the furniture's there. It's all brightly painted, it's all spick and span. Outwardly, it looks a very nice little abode.
[00:56:33] Monripo.
[00:56:37] And inside there is a little motto up on the wall, home sweet home.
[00:56:47] And probably elsewhere there are texts like, here's the head of this house, the silent listener at every conversation, and another room that'll probably be my grace's official book.
[00:57:00] It's all perfect.
[00:57:03] There's a bible there on one place, daily life beside the bed along with the aspirin.
[00:57:16] All there.
[00:57:17] It's home.
[00:57:21] But you see, it's not what is seen that is the criterion.
[00:57:29] It is what is not seen.
[00:57:35] Both houses may seem to be quite the same, but one has foundations that go down to the rock.
[00:57:44] Now there's a lot of jerry building, Jerry built christian lives, the kind of life that talks, the language, comes along to the meetings, stop, the phraseology seems to be able to get through, but you know it's Jerry Brown.
[00:58:04] It doesn't go through to the foundation, the rock.
[00:58:09] Now at the coming of the Lord that will collapse.
[00:58:18] The law didn't say the man who will not collapse is those who've been saved, but he said no. Here are two kinds of houses. One, the house that took my word seriously.
[00:58:36] They wouldn't let any word of mine come to them in a familiar or cheap way. They took it, they prayed over it, they sought me about it. And because they took care, it wasn't Jerry built. A lot of scooping out took place.
[00:58:53] They went through trials and battles that the other jerry built affair never knew, because they let the word dwell in them, and the word did its work. It severed between soul and spirit.
[00:59:07] It exposed the intents and thoughts, motivating power in that personality and life wasnt very easy. It was all digging work.
[00:59:21] But when the Lord comes, it stood much easier sometimes to be in jellybilt. Question.
[00:59:34] Sing the hybrid.
[00:59:36] Enjoy the meeting?
[00:59:39] Read the word.
[00:59:43] But it's a house built on sand.
[00:59:48] Well, I think we shall have to end.
[00:59:50] Another device of the enemy is that we are not receiving. It's the same thing again. It's in Hebrews chapter twelve. We're not receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. You see, it says here in Hebrews 1228, wherefore receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. Now that's a frightening word, isn't it? Our God is a consuming fire. But if you've got a kingdom that cannot be shaken, it can go through the fire.
[01:00:32] There's no fear of it. And one of the devices of the enemy is to try and get us, not to, to get us, as it were, to be people who do not pay the price of receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Now, how do you receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken? You've got to be prepared for everything else to be shaken.
[01:00:56] All that appears to be so strong in your life, all that appears to be so well built in your life, you've got to be prepared for the whole thing, to be shaken and shaken so that what can be shaken is shaken and shaken. Right.
[01:01:10] As one brother used to say, you can either have your tribulation now or wait for it theory. But that's very true. You can either have your tribulation or waypoint either. Let the Lord work in your life in such a way that everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and that the fire comes now in times of planning and peace, contentment, so that you're made ready for the Lord, or don't have it and wait for it.
[01:01:47] They must come. Well, now, in closing, I think we have to say that there is a tremendous need of an understanding of the tongues. Remember said at the the men of Issachar were men who had understanding of the times, and that's really what we need. The Lord said quite a lot about this. He said in Matthew, chapter 24, verse 32.
[01:02:18] Now from the fig tree learn her parable. When her branch is now become tender and putteth forth its leaves. Ye know that summer is nigh. Even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh even at the doors. Then again in Luke 21 28, the Lord put it, put there in just a slightly different way. Something is added to it. Chapter 21, verse 28. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
[01:02:53] In Matthew 16, verse one to three, we read just two, verses two and three. But he answered in 7th. And when it's evening, ye 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. Ye know how to discern the face of the heaven, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times.
[01:03:15] And again in Luke twelve, it's put this way, Luke 1254, when ye see a cloud rising in the west straightway, ye see there cometh a shower, so it cometh to pass. And when ye see a south wind blowing, ye say there will be a scorching heat, and it cometh to pass.
[01:03:33] Ye hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven, but how is it that ye know not how to interpret the ties?
[01:03:44] Those are serious words, aren't they? We need understanding of the times.
[01:03:51] This last decade was a period, I suppose, that has been almost unparalleled in our history, at least in some ways.
[01:04:03] Within one short decade, we have seen changes taken, taking place in society that we never dreamt possible.
[01:04:16] All this that we call the new morality belongs to the 1960s, emerged in the 1960s, what we now have all come to call, even at government level. The permissive society is a product of the sixties.
[01:04:32] We have had an influential group behind theater, film world literary world, art world fashion, world newspaper, magazine, literary World, a small group of dedicated people who, until more recently, were unknown by name or face, who are dedicated to the destruction of the so called establishment and society as we know it.
[01:05:15] They are dedicated to the bringing in of what they call a new order.
[01:05:21] And really, the best way to describe this new order is to call it lawlessness. Now, not in the sense of being maliciously law brave, but in the sense of doing without law.
[01:05:34] We don't need to be told what to do.
[01:05:39] We don't need to be told to be chaste or moral. Let every, every man be free.
[01:05:48] Let the great rule be due to others, what you would have them do to yourself.
[01:05:52] If we, and the great advances in the medical world, things like the pill and all that stuff, of course, made this much more possible.
[01:06:06] That's the society that's been produced in 90, in one short decade.
[01:06:12] It must, for some of those who are older amongst us, be nothing short of horrifying to see a kind of society that has existed for centuries changing before their eyes.
[01:06:30] Now, all that has come about in the last decade, of course, there's been all the changes in law as well.
[01:06:41] Homosexuality, abortion, divorce, all kinds of things. Now, some of these things may be good and right, but we have seen changes in law that would have been unheard or unthinkable 20 years ago, 30 years ago, unthinkable.
[01:07:07] All this happening around us and before us.
[01:07:14] We have what one can only describe.
[01:07:20] We have had, rather, but we can only describe as a decade of growing violence.
[01:07:28] Anarche, which, of course, has always been inherent within human nature, is now very much to the fore.
[01:07:39] We have, we have tweeted on television to the spectacle of serious debating societies, universities debating, the overthrow of society by violent means.
[01:07:58] We have been treated to the spectacle of a nation like France, almost shattered by a group of radical students.
[01:08:11] We've seen a president assassinated, another would be president assassinated.
[01:08:21] Of course, assassination is as old as Julius Caesar, and very much older, actually.
[01:08:27] But I mean, the fact still remains that this last decade has been a decade of growing violence.
[01:08:36] An assault upon our universities, an assault upon our colleges, assault upon our schools, especially so in Scandinavia with what's called the little Red Book, which tells children between the ages of eight and twelve how to destroy the escort, and in particular their teachers.
[01:09:02] Well, now, what is it all for?
[01:09:05] We've had violent protest and nonviolent protest. In fact, the last decade, especially the last part of the last decade of the sixties, has been marked by people protesting for every inconceivable thing.
[01:09:20] They're either sitting down, marching or doing something else, daubing things with paint or this is part and parcel of the age in which we live.
[01:09:36] We have a contempt for law and order, a contempt even of parliament, a contempt for democracy, something outworn, a contempt for government, a contempt for the throne.
[01:09:51] All this in one decade.
[01:09:56] Well, now, what more can we say about it? Well, we can say it's been a decade of brickmanship.
[01:10:04] You remember Cuba, that was the 1960s. And you remember, remember all the trouble about Berlin at the very beginning of the 1960s, the big flare up there, then Cuba, and of course we've had Vietnam the whole time, and we've got Middle east. And of course, the one episode which we're all very interested in was the jew war of 1967, which marked one of the great turning points in the economy of God and Jerusalem came back into jewish hands. And not only that, but the times the gentiles were fulfilled.
[01:10:47] Then on the religious side, I suppose we have. Of course, we've got many other things belong to the sixties, polaris, submarines and bases and nuclear warheads and all that kind of thing. Of course, space age possibilities, because we're not told about that. But everyone knows that the whole point is to get up space stations into the air, which can some, in the end, be the means of controlling the whole inhabited earth. You have your nuclear warheads buzzing around the earth and someone with a little press button machine who could press the button and whiz bang and the whole continent more or less destroyed.
[01:11:29] That's why there was the great race to the moon, who was going to control the destiny of the nations.
[01:11:37] Oh, it's not just a happy little race between Russia and the United States. All that belongs to that decade. Religiously, we have seen some very amazing things in the last decade. We have seen things that we've never thought possible. We've seen the first and the Second Vatican Council. Suddenly, after a thousand years, Protestants became separated brethren instead of heretics. That was colossal, colossal innovation.
[01:12:11] We've had the ecumenical movement take strides for we've had talks about the unity of Anglicans and methodists. Even if they broke down at the last moment, at least we know that locally they're meeting together and having intercommunion and all the rest of it, and all these great moves to bring back the different denominations into one fold. We were also treated, on the other hand, to what is called the new theology. We're told that God is dead and we. And it's also called theological, theological circles. Southbank theology. We're Southbank, Doctor Mervyn Stockwood and the others. This new south bank theology, liberal, drawharded spiritualism is in it, Anglo Catholicism is in it. Even Billy Graham is sort of treated.
[01:13:09] It's a new, broad sort of modern outlook on things. Then we have the World Evangelical alliance, or at least our own evangelical alliance, calling for the first time a national assembly and appointing a commission to look into the possibility of having a united evangelical church. And we were treated to the spectacle of Doctor Lloyd Jones for the first time publicly saying things that should have been said many years before about the sin of division and a rather unhappy scene. The chairman of the Evangelical alliance publicly getting angry with Doctor Lloyd Jones on the platform. The result? The Evangelical alliance split into the British Evangelical Council and now the Evangelical alliance on the other side.
[01:13:58] All those we also have seen a movement of the spirit, make no mistake about that. With all the excesses and extremes that there have been and error that there's been, there's been a real moving of the spirit in the sixties. Now, all this happened in the last decade. What do we. What can we say as we look forward into the new, the prospect in 1970?
[01:14:21] Well, we know there's going to be a population explosion. You heard last Saturday, 39% of the present polish population is under 20.
[01:14:32] This, of course, is true of most of the countries of Europe.
[01:14:36] Now, what does this mean? It means that the young people are going to have a tremendous influence in this next decade. We, of course, are going to see it in this country with a mad scramble to get the between 18 and 21 votes that have all suddenly come on the market.
[01:14:57] So what is going to happen when the new generation, who have not proved too responsible in the sixties, are in the place to completely influence the whole government and character of the nation?
[01:15:15] That's what lies ahead of us in the 7th, we have, of course, economic problems. We have two thirds of the world at subsistence level, one third of the world with a work, with a surfeit.
[01:15:28] So all the time we're dumping food, destroying food, while the rest of the world is starving.
[01:15:35] We've got many economic problems. They're going to try and overcome them. You've all heard about the pills that we're going to, we're told we may be going to have 1980 sit down and give dense, and there will be three little pills which are paint.
[01:15:50] That's what we're told is going to be the sort of shape of things to come.
[01:15:58] We're told of the pollution. Now this has only just come out of the paper, but I mean, you must all surely be reading this every day, this kind of thing. The oceans will be deserts before the end of the century unless pollution is checked, says Sir Edmund Irving, a former hydrographer of the navy. With other oceanographers, including Commander Jacques Cousteau, french underwater explorer, he has formed a foundation to alert governments to the danger to sea life.
[01:16:31] Unless pollution is stopped, we will have in our life time a vivid example before us of the result. We will be surrounded by dead seas. Commander Coustro is even more pessimistic than I am. He says the oceans will be dead in 20 years. I give them a few more years. Sir Edmund, who made underwater exploration study a branch of scientific warfare when he was hydrography, I must be it of the navy, said oil is the most obvious pollution, the one known to most people since it is easily seen. A million tons of oil are dumped in the Mediterranean alone each year. A million tons of oil, which is appalling and almost unbelievable. Yet the vast amount of chemicals poured into the sea by every industrial nation is even more damaging. Not only detergents and DDT, but many other chemicals and forms of, of industrial waste are extremely dangerous. Types of fish and sea life are already disappearing as catastrophe spreads. Then, of course, just above it was another very delightful article of deadline for airlines on jet smoke pollution and told us how many thousand tons of pollution from jet engines alive are poured into the atmosphere in the United States every year. And they say this apart from all the industrial pollution and traffic pollution. So the pollution of the atmosphere and the pollution of the water of rivers and sea are going to be one of the major things in this coming decade. And then of course, we have political problems. We hardly need to be told about that and all that's coming. We also have in scripture what's called the harlot. I'm quite sure that the seventies will see the emergence of the harlot in a new way. That is, this amalgam of all denominations united in a loose way under one hand. But thank God, we also. So surely in the seventies we'll see the preparation of the bride. I don't mean necessarily complete incompletion, but surely we shall see if the Holy Spirit is faithful. We shall see this wonderful preparation of the bride through the separatists. That's the lovely thing about the book of revelation, that on the one side you have evil rightly, and on the other side you have righteousness.
[01:19:17] One side you have Babylon, the other side you have New Jerusalem. One is visible, one is almost invisible until the end. One you have the heart, the other you have the bride. Well, now, that's only, I'm afraid, one study of a, in a huge sum. Maybe next week, if the Lord is with us, we will take the book of revelation and have a little look at it in the light of what we've been saying.
[01:19:46] And see what we need is understanding. As the word of God says, we need understanding of the times and we need to tell.
[01:20:00] It is high time that we awoke out of sleep.
[01:20:07] Oh, may the Lord help every one of us. It would be a great thing to feel that we all went to be with the Lord when he comes. What a wonderful thing that will be if we all sort of meet each other up there. I should be very sad if I left and come back and find you thirds of you here.
[01:20:28] Well, I know what we'll do. We'll say we'll have a time of prayer straight away and see the Lord's face. But what a tragedy it will be if we are left, and that's a real possibility.
[01:20:45] Therefore, we need to stir ourselves up in this matter and awake out of sleep so that the Lord can help us. Shall we just pray together?
[01:21:01] O beloved Lord, we pray together that thou wilt really burn into our hearts something of the imminent and urgent nature of what we've been talking about. Now, Lord, thou knowest our capacity to live through things, to see things happening around us. And yet, Lord, somehow through the cares of this life, to be insensitive.
[01:21:30] Dear Lord, we pray that somehow every one of us, by the ministry of thy holy spirit, shall be made sensitive.
[01:21:38] Lord, we ask together that we may all be prepared through thy grace for thy coming. May we encourage one another, Lord not be those who are part and parcel of this causing of the love of many to wax cold.
[01:21:57] But those, Lord, who provoke one another to love.
[01:22:01] Those, Lord, who really encourage each other to move on with thee. We now commit ourselves elves to thee. And ask, Lord, that thou will take thy word and make it live in our hearts. We ask it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
