There were two men out in the country hunting one day when all of a sudden they came upon a very large grizzly bear. They could instantly tell that the bear was looking for lunch. And so, they began to run with all their might.
While they were running away from the bear, one of them yelled out that they had to run faster than the bear. The other yelled out that the only thing that mattered to him was that he run faster than his friend.
Isn’t that like many people today? They would easily choose to see their friends suffer as long as it meant they were safe. But there is a much bigger problem than that. The bigger problem is that society, as a whole, has the same attitudes. It is the old “nobody matters but me” syndrome. But the hidden danger is that friends do matter. I had a young boy in the Sunday School class I was teaching once put it this way: "Jesus is going to treat you like you treat other people. Do you want that?"
Were you aware that no matter where you are, or what you are doing, you are standing in a doorway? And there are three things about those doorways we need to pay attention to: One; a doorway has the place you are walking out of (the past), it has where you are presently standing (the present), and it has where you intend to step into (the future).
Tonight, I would like to take the time to talk about people. Not individuals so much as groups of individuals, or societies in general.
When talking about the past, let us see it as our:
1. YESTERDAY
Ba’hal, the head of the household, looked outside his tent to see it still raining for the third consecutive day. Where only puddles existed the day before, there now was a small stream. His wife commented that if it did not stop raining soon, they would have to move to higher ground. He knew in the back of his mind that there was something unusual about to happen.
He went back in his thoughts to the week before when the heads of the tribal council met to discuss the crazy man named Noah who had just finished his monstrosity, called the ’Ark.’ After 120 years, Noah had earned the reputation of being the village idiot. Not only had he built this Ark, but he had preached about how sinful the world was and how people needed to repent and change or suffer the consequences. Yes, this man was truly crazy. Ba’hal could not wait for things to dry up so he could get on with his normal daily routines.
A few weeks later, Ba’hal was dead. He had drowned in the unexpected flood, as did everyone else on earth, with the exception of one family; Noah’s family.
The Great Flood destroyed the corrupt society mankind had built apart from God. It was such an impacting event in history, even most cultures yet today have some kind of "legend" or "myth" they still teach to their new generations about the flood.
If you are unfamiliar with the vivid details of this punishment from God, you can read them in GENESIS, chapter 6 through chapter 9. Without trying to use it as a pun, it was truly a “watershed” moment in our history.
Jesus even alludes to it in MATTHEW 24:36-39, when He said:
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Let me explain to you that in the days of Noah, civilization was absolutely corrupt and sinful. It was a very rare person who even thought about the Lord, much less believed in Him. And nobody was aware that the end was quickly approaching. Yet God gave them time, over 120 years of time, to repent; but they ignored the warnings.
And finally, the day of the flood came, catching everyone off-guard. Everyone died, except for the family of Noah. He was a righteous man and God saved him and his immediate family.
When Adam and Eve made the fateful decision to do what God had told them not to do, sin entered into the entire world through their actions. This led to God making them leave the Garden of Eden.
From that time until the flood, the Bible only records three periods of time, all of which were consumed by growing and unrestrained sin. Since the descriptions of these periods were “snapshots” of those times, we can safely assume that they also represented the people of those times. They paint a very grim picture for mankind.
In the first period of time, we are given an example of what their society was like in the story of when Cain killed his brother Able. It was over their offerings to God. We are to give God the first part, and the best part, of what we have. Able offered God, in complete submission, the best of what he had. Cain, having a stand-offish attitude, gave God what was convenient for him to give. This angered God because it showed Cain thought more of what he wanted than what God wanted.
After a quarrel about the sacrifice, Cain was so full of hatred for his brother that he took him into the wilderness and killed him. And then he stubbornly lied to God about what he had done. Cain was full of deceit and selfishness. And so was the whole of society prior to the flood. This society was prone to ignoring God and being consumed with their own desires, as was evidenced in Cain and the offering he gave to God.
The next period of time tells of a society that had digressed even more than the one before it. It is the story of Lamech, who lived five generations after Cain. His sins ran the gamut from polygamy all the way to outright murder. He was full of outright pride, which, even by itself, is a sin in God’s eyes.
Reading more about this time, we see where Lamech’s children accomplished much, it seems they relied on their own abilities rather than relying on God for whatever they did and whatever they had. This society had degenerated so much that murder was more prevalent that God.
The third period of time shows a society that accepted ungodly marriage practices that all led to disastrous results. After a few generations of multiplying, men as a whole began to leave God out of their lives. They chose wives based solely on their physical beauty, not on their depth of character. Their children, though they became mighty, famous leaders, grew into wicked adults whose every impulse, thought, and plan was corrupt. Violence became a way of life. Once conditions reached this point, God decided to destroy them: Thus, the flood.
It would seem that every generation got further and further away from God. They became self-consumed with their own desires and then they began to believe they were more important than God, even to the point of telling God what to do and when to do it. And each successive government also became further away from God and alienated from His will.
So, why did God destroy the earth by flood? Let’s see what the Bible says.
GENESIS 6:5-8
“5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”
God destroyed humanity because it had gotten so far away from Him that it had become totally sinful and wicked, evil in all it did.
When talking about the present, let us see it as our:
2. TODAY
It would be so easy for us today to look at these past societies and discount them as something irrelevant from a by-gone age. But before we do that, we must ask ourselves on very important question: “Are there any similarities between those three societies and our society today?”
In the first society shown, they were more interested in what they wanted than what God wanted for them. Can we see that in today’s society? I would even go one step further and ask when was the last time any present-day government even invoked the name of God in helping them make decisions? The answer is none of them have done that.
In the second society, killing others was more normal than kneeling in prayer or worshiping God as the center of their lives. Is that like today’s world? Are we seeing murders as a daily course of life, while seeing less and less people openly showing worship to God?
And in the third period of time, we see where men had discarded the need to marry women with Godly character and begun to marry women who looked good to their eyes. And they had multiple marriages rather than the “one-man, one-woman” philosophy God established when He created Adam and Eve.
Have we disregarded the institution of marriage as they did? Today, we are allowing marriages between those of the same sex and there was even talk in California, when they voted on proposition 8, whether or not it would eventually be legal to marry groups of people together as one unit.
Our society today has very much adapted all the sins and ills of those three previous periods of time. We are as corrupt as a people can get, and it only seems to be getting worse and more ridiculous with each passing day. Today’s worldwide society has tried to replace God’s supreme power with their own power.
This is the story of creation, according to the liberal standards of today.
In the beginning, God may have created the heavens and the earth. And if He did, He was immediately faced with a class action suit for failure to provide an environmental impact study. When God said, “Let there be light,” officials demanded to know how much light and what hours it would be lighted before they granted permission for God to create it.
And when God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth," the EPA said He would have to have a permit from the Department of Game and Wildlife. Everything seemed start going smoothly until God said He would complete the project in six days. The government said that would be impossible, as it would take them six months to just review the paperwork, and then there would have to be a public hearing to give the opposing side a chance to voice their concerns.
When they said there would have to be another waiting period of a year, God interrupted them all and that is when He created Hell.
If you want a microcosm of society, all you have to do is go into any internet forum where the political right and the political left are having debates about current world affairs. There seems to be nothing but vile hate coming from both sides, aimed at each other.
Look at the television programming today. The men, who are God’s appointed spiritual heads of households, are portrayed as buffoons and ignorant clowns. There is more sex insinuated on television than one can see in a motel, and where there could be conversations of love, you will only see the most hateful of words.
These are all representative of the society around us. And nobody seems to care. And all most people want is for God to simply go away and disappear, taking His Son Jesus with Him. God is giving us many warnings; warnings which we ignore just like the people of Noah’s day ignored their warnings.
To show how much fear we live with, look at the Yellow Pages in any city, and you will find many listening for different kinds of security, such as alarms for our cars and homes, the Club, mace, and even GPS systems for small children in case they get abducted.
Are you familiar with all of the governmental actions that are being taken that are specifically against Christians? Most are under the radar and behind the scenes, but will soon be made public, and by that time, it will be too late to fight them.
In most industrialized nations today, including Switzerland, England, Canada and very soon, the United States, they have federal laws that prohibit anything being said that would equivocate a homosexual being wrong in his or her choice of lifestyle. In fact, under that law, it would be a federal “hate-crimes against humanity” violation for a pastor to even read passages from the pulpit like:
REVELATION 22:14, 15 which deal with who will and who will not go to heaven.
“14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside, are the dogs the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone else who loves and practices lying and sin.”
People will continue to have the right to scourge Christians in the vilest of ways, but nobody will be able to even quote God’s word that says homosexuality is a sin. And, we are seeing today where public schools are embracing the homosexual lifestyle as being perfectly acceptable and even being encouraged in children as young as first grade. The homosexual lobby has succeeded in its bid to indoctrinate the youth so they grow up with a demented mind. Hitler did that to the young in Germany during World War II and it worked.
These things are examples of what creeps into our society and into our hearts when we make the decision to walk away from our God. In the Bible, it tells of the day when the Evil One will mark every human on their forehead or their hand. It also says if we choose to accept the mark, we will forever be doomed to hell.
This mark is offered for two reasons. The first reason is to force us to make a decision to ignore what God has told us to do. The second reason will ostensibly be to help the government know our every action and location. The Bible tells us about that mark.
REVELATION 13:16, 17
16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”
In verse 15, it tells us what will happen to those people who do not accept the Evil One’s mark:
“15 … and all who refuse to worship the image or take his mark will be killed.”
I saw recently where Motorola has developed an all inclusive data chip that is no larger than a grain of rice. It contains everything about the person who carries it, including their complete medical history, location, bank account information, and job information. The article I read said Motorola had spent over $100,000 just to find out where that chip would be most effectively used. They said it could not be put into a credit card type of plastic because it would be too easily compromised, so the only other choice was to implant it in the human body. They concluded it would either be in the scalp or the back of the right hand.
Is that the only thing the Bible tells us about what will happen before Jesus Christ comes back to the earth? No, there is much more.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:2,3 tells us,
“2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
A thief breaks into your home in the middle of the night because that is the time you are least prepared for something like that to happen. Everything is going as normal, and then in the blink of an eye, a thief is in your home and there is nothing you can do to stop him.
As I said before, fear is rampant in our society, and we clamor for peace and desire to be safe. Yet the Bible tells us that, because of our sinful nature and actions, Jesus will appear when we are least prepared for Him, and when He does, it will be too late for us to get any “do-overs.”
At that point, we will not be able to change our minds or hearts, and we will begin living the consequences of all the decisions we have made, whether they were for the Lord or against the Lord. And we will do that whether we like it or not.
Also, the Apostle Peter tells us of something else that will happen in the last days.
2 PETER 3:3
3 “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.”
These scoffers will try to make fun of Christians by saying things like, “Where is your God when you need Him? He has deserted you.” Or, they will say things that actually deny the existence of God and Jesus.”
These things were foretold over 2,000 years ago. Are we seeing things like that happening today? I was talking to a man the other day and he flatly stated that “God is a figment of the imagination of idiots.”
In short, God does exist. And here is an overview of who He is and what He has done – for us.
God created us to have fellowship with Him, but we refused. Rather than turn His back on us, He pursued us for over 6,000 years now, trying to get us to love Him again. That is how much He loves us.
But He has also written a book of laws thousands of years ago that He expects us to follow. In fact, He will hold us fully accountable to follow those laws, whether we want Him to or not. And before we get upset and ask what kind of bad God would send us to hell, let me put it in a way you might better understand.
Years ago, those in charge of this city wrote different laws that the citizens of this city must follow. One of those laws, for instance, is the following of speed limits. Now, if the speed limit is 35 mph, and I choose to do 50 mph, I will be punished by the judge for my choice to break the law. And the fine might well be a stiff fine or time in jail. Either way, it will be more than I want to pay.
Now, would it make sense if I were to blame the judge? We may not appreciate his enforcing the law, but we wouldn’t get angry at him because we would know that the decision to break the law was ours to make. The same holds true with breaking God’s law. If we make a choice to break the law, we will be held accountable. So rather than say what kind of a bad God would punish us, it would be more appropriate to ask, “What kind of a bad person am I that would willingly break His law?”
But even though God will hold us accountable for how we did or did not follow His law, He has also given us many warnings of what will happen if we do not follow them. He has also given us ways out that we could take to avoid any punishment, no matter how many of His laws we have broken.
And the day will come when it is time to face the Judge. From that moment on, you will have no choices but stand up and be accountable.
And that leaves us ready to discuss the future, or:
3. TOMORROW
A farmer had an old alarm clock that was almost ready to be replaced with a new one. In the middle of the night, it began to ring and the hands were not showing the correct time. He woke up and said to his wife, “Get up! We have to get busy because we don’t know what time it is!”
Certainly, the farmer wasn’t talking about the return of Jesus – or was he? In truth, it is later than it has ever been, and it is much later than we think it is. We don’t know the time of Jesus’ return, but we do know the season by paying attention to what is happening in the world around us.
Jesus said there would be wars and rumors of wars. We can see that today, as nearly every Muslim nation is ready to go to war against Israel as we speak. Iran is also talking of a strike against America, as is Venezuela. And many other countries are readying themselves against attack from neighboring nations.
Jesus said there would be earthquakes in various places. We are aware now that in the last 50 years there have been more earthquakes than in the previous 500 years before. And with each passing year, the quakes are getting higher on the Richter Scales. We can also see that the earthquakes are increasingly happening in places that have not seen such activity before.
Jesus also said that believers would be persecuted. Today, nearly every government on earth, even our own government in America, is passing laws that inhibit Christians from practicing our faith. We are told that there will be many false prophets preaching. We can turn on our TVs and see that today, too.
We see preachers who are afraid to teach God’s true word, so they leave out all references to our sinful natures and the consequences of that sin so that their congregations will be happy. We see preachers who preachers whose only message is how you need to send them money so God can bless you with even more money. And the abomination goes on and on.
But He also says that the Good News is that the Gospel will be preached everywhere on earth right before He comes back.
And Jesus did promise us that He would return for those who believe in Him.
JOHN 14:1-3
2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there soon to prepare a place for you there also? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
So, when will Jesus come back to get us? Again, let us see what He says about when that will be.
In MATTHEW 24:36 and in MARK 13:32, Jesus told His disciples,
"36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
There was a team of scientists who went by ship to the Antarctic. The plan was to be dropped off and then the ship would go back to South America to get refueled and restock the supplies before coming back two months later to pick the scientists up.
Everything went according to the plan until the ship came back to pick them up. During that two months, winter had set in early, and huge icebergs had formed. When the ship came to the inlet where it would pick up the scientists, it could not get in because the inlet was blocked by these icebergs. The ship’s radio was out and it could not even establish contact with the scientists.
So, the ship sat there. It stayed there for nearly a month before some icebergs flowed out of the way and created an opening for the ship. When the ship got within eyesight of where they dropped the scientists off, they saw them all standing there, packed and ready to leave.
See, the scientists did not know when the ship would come, but they had full faith that it would eventually be there. So, they made sure they were ready to go, no matter when the ship came.
Christians do not know when Jesus will be back, but in our faith, we are to be ready – no matter when it is that Jesus comes back to get us.
In 1 THESSALONIANS 5:4, Paul tells us that we have been told, so we are not in the dark on this subject. We are to be ready for Jesus’ return whenever it happens. He says that being prepared, that time would not overtake us as a thief in the night would. He encourages us to always be on the alert, staying in faith, living in His love, and keeping our hope of salvation intact, all so that we do not miss being taken back with Him.
Even though Christ’s return will be sudden, and in an instant, it will not be unexpected. God has talked about it for thousands of years. Churches have preached about it for over 2,000 years. Christians have prayed about it and looked forward to it since Christ first left. But even so, most people will be left here because they were not properly prepared spiritually.
I do not watch Oprah Winfrey, nor do I appreciate her perspective about God. But she said something that was so very true; she said her future is so bright it makes her eyes burn! She is right. Unless she changes her heart and becomes a humble believer in Jesus Christ, her future will be bright and her eyes will burn … in the lake of fire and brimstone. We should pray for her.
What you did or where you were in your past does not matter to God as long as you are where you are supposed to be with Him today, because it is only what you do today that determines where you will go tomorrow.
Or, using the doorway analogy; It does not matter what is in the room you just left. The only thing that matters is there is nothing in the middle of the doorway that would keep you from entering the other room without stumbling.
