Feast: Intensity is Increasing: Are You Listening?
#FT20-08-AM
John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 10-Oct-20; 71 minutes
summary: In Herbert Armstrong's last sermon, he explained that people must listen to the Bible as they read. Accurate listening depends on the focus of the mind. One of the key motifs developing during this Feast has been the necessity to take note of events in the world and to respond appropriately. It is far more important for God's called-out ones to be ready than to know the time of Christ's return, an event to which even He is not privy. The metaphorical birth pangs leading to tribulation and the Day of the Lord are going to increase in intensity and frequency. According to Alexander Tyler, most democracies have a shelf-life of approximately 200 years. The American republic, which is now 244 years-old, is demonstrating signs of collapse. The failure of churches to teach God's law and the decades-long love affair on the part of the government and education with Marxist socialism and Darwinian evolution are principle reasons for this collapse. God's called-out ones must prepare for an intense battle against Satan and his evil principalities by putting on the complete armor of God, undergoing the basic discipline as a soldier of Christ.
transcript:
My title for this sermon is "Uncertainty is Intensifying: Are You Listening?" I have divided it into three sections. Section number one is setting the stage. Section number two is a look at past history, and section number three is a look at I and II Thessalonians. I was looking for notes for a sermon that I gave a number of years ago because in that message I copied some comments from quite a number of notable historical observers, mostly Americans. And while I was looking for them, I came across my notes from Herbert Armstrong's final sermon, and his opening caught my attention. I heard the sermon on October 19, 1985 in Michigan City, Indiana, partly because I was pastoring a congregation then in that city. Now, I am not actually sure that he delivered it on that day because it was in reality a Feast of Trumpets sermon. Now my notes are not an exact quote of the words Mr. Armstrong said, but they are nonetheless very close. He said what I am going to give you very near to the beginning of his message. I want you to note the emphasis in his voice, which I will also repeat. He said, "Your Bible tells you, if you listen when you read." What he was saying is that listening does not have to actually involve hearing a sound because he was talking about reading. However, what he meant was clear enough to me and that is why I wrote it down. He meant that accurate listening depends on what one's mind is doing at the time. Now more pointedly he meant, are we really going to do something about what we are hearing from him? Now there has been a fairly common theme running through several messages during this feast, so please take note and then take action. That common theme, I think, is inspired. He then stated, "We are here to celebrate the most important event in the history of this creation." Now that statement may sound overblown but it is not! That statement was true when he said it and it remains true to this very day. It is true because of the extremely positive impact the return of Jesus Christ is going to have on the world when He does return. Now, I cannot dogmatically say that despite the recent internal intensity events here in the United States, that some might conclude that what we are experiencing here in the United States puts us a mere short hailing distance from the return of Jesus Christ. Surely they must be signs. His return is not far off. No, brethren, they are not. They are still reasonably far off. Now, this is at least partly because of the string of tragic internal events we have experienced here are in some cases rather minor compared to what other nations have experienced in their histories. But on the other hand, what we have recently experienced is certainly a strong movement in that exciting possibility. These are, at least for those of us here in this nation, intense and they are serious events and I am virtually certain that they are events helping to continue paving the way for a much more intense downfall for this nation. However, I am not teaching you that the return of Jesus Christ is right on our doorstep and here are some major reasons why. I want you to turn with me to Matthew the 24th chapter. Now the teaching that Jesus gave in this chapter begins right at the beginning of the chapter and I just want to pick up one verse there at the beginning. Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" I think it is very interesting what Jesus' reply was. "Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you.' That is an interesting reply. Now jump all the way down to verse 33. Matthew 24:33 "So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the door!" But I think you are familiar enough with the chapter to know that Jesus names a lot of events between verse 4 and verse 33. An awful lot of things are going to be occurring during that time. Now we will pick this up in verse 34. Matthew 24:34-46 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. [interesting. All these things take place.] Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also [in like manner] will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. [very sage advice for us] Therefore you also be ready [that is why I emphasized at the beginning about being ready], for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?" This is excellent advice straight from the Captain of our salvation, our Archegos, the Forerunner, the Scout, and the Pioneer who has blazed the trail before us all the way into the Kingdom of God. Knowing something from prophecies given long before about when a major event in our lives is going to occur has a very appealing but nonetheless probably worthless carnal slant to it because of what Jesus said here: we will not know when these events are going to happen! What is going to trigger them, I will tell you a little bit later. The context of this fairly long teaching begins though all the way back in Matthew 24:3 and the very best source about these things is most certainly Jesus Christ. Overall, Jesus is indeed saying that His return is not something to spend a lot of time chasing out. Now I believe that the apostles, because they spent so much time with Jesus, more often thought about the establishment of the Kingdom of God than we do. But compare verses 34 verse and verse 36. I am going to read them again. Matthew 24:34-36 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but My Father only." Does not verse 34 possibly appear to exclude even Jesus from knowing the precise time as well? It is a possibility. I do not know for sure, but the possibility is there. "The Father only" excludes Jesus. Thus, we are in very good company. You just read with me what Jesus said. Therefore, we cannot know until the end time events truly begin occurring and we are gifted to clearly recognize them. We need both things. The events begin happening and we clearly recognize them as such and believe it. This is the way our Father in heaven has said it and therefore Jesus' counsel is clear. Now there exists a multitude of events that must be fulfilled within God's purpose before that time arrives. And we do not know exactly what these events are and how much time they may consume. Therefore we must take care to focus on what we can control by us getting ourselves ready to meet life's daily challenges as they are happening right now. I do not mean this second, but I mean in this broad period of time in which we are living. Note Jesus' cautionary admonition in verses 38 and 39. Matthew 24:38-39 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." What He is instructing us there is that the overwhelming number of people then, even though they may have been somewhat frightened by preliminary events to the real event headed their way, had their minds absorbed in the everyday things of this world. Now again, are you listening to what Jesus said? That statement by Jesus places the burden of responsibility where it belongs. For us, it is primarily on right now. Again, this broad period of time in which we are living in. It is to be concerned with overcoming and growing in each and every life of those called. That corresponds with one of the things that I learned from what Solomon teaches in Ecclesiastes. In his own inimitable way, Solomon thought that everything that happens in life contains a small degree of importance and should be given some thoughtfulness. However, also, he added, each of those thoughts might also be detours and therefore we must be careful to observe what the Captain of our salvation counsels. He wants us to be tuned in with right now because that is important to our growth and overcoming in what God has involved us in with our calling. Now I am going to do something a couple of the other speakers did, but I think that my scope might be culturally a bit broader and larger. Considering the history of the events here in the United States in the past 20 years or so, I think that we would have to conclude that this period of time has been very intense for this nation. Perhaps culturally the most intense internal events since the Civil War. Events of the riotous magnitude of these most recently all managed to create a disturbing measure of uncertainty, if seriously thought on. That is, thought on about: where is this heading? Is it going to come in my direction? Am I going to be disturbed by it? Is my house going to be burned down? This past score of years began with a very close and hotly contested presidential election that had to be decided by means of a bipartisan inquiry by the courts that eventually declared George Bush was the winner. Now, that event (again I am going to go through 20 years pretty fast here), was followed in 2001 by the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City, during which, in one fell swoop, over 3,000 lost their lives. That was pretty intense. Was it an alert by our Creator? A few years went by and then our nation suffered through a fairly severe economic setback in which banks, stock brokerages, and mortgages on homes and businesses collapsed because of the covetousness of a fairly large number of business people. The entire nation was set back into a fairly severe but also reasonably short depression, reasonably short compared to the Great Depression of the 1930s. And then came what I believe was the most intense and perhaps most damaging cultural event of all in this score of years. It was the Democratic Party's loss in the 2016 presidential election campaign for national leadership. Now it was not directly them not being reelected, but rather a major step toward what it led to that has been so serious. The election loss was in reality fairly one-sided because Trump won by an ample margin. There were other presidential elections in the nation's past in which the margins were smaller, but it was a loss the Democratic Party leadership and other fellow travelers who, though not actually Democratic Party members, could not emotionally accept, and the reactions of these angry, spiteful leaders has become a major step toward building the intensity of the continuing chaos that loss has produced. Because that loss led to a loose coalition of leftist forces within the party and other leftists joining with them, throwing all their being it seems towards ousting Trump, while at the same time revealing their real intentions by joining with many leftist forces within the media and university educational factors elsewhere to throw almost all their political, literary, and broadcasting powers into creating a wearying mass confusion in the public in their efforts to make sure that Trump is not reelected. I believe that we can detect the mind of Satan in this in that he is the master of deceitful confusion, both of individuals and masses of people at one and the same time. Now these leftists' purpose is not merely a matter of stopping Trump's reelection. It is not just that they were seeking. But what happened, brethren, is that the Washington, DC political swamp came to life. These people want to change everything, as the saying goes. These combined forces of leftists have made this period of time into an operation, a movement, to take over and govern the nation for decades to come, and thus far into the foreseeable future. What they are doing is in reality attacking the voters and this nation's history and traditions with a mystifying confusion because in America, the Constitution grants the voters the powers through their right to vote. And the Democrats were defeated by the public voting to reject them for at least four years. That is what upset them. It gives this man indications that their tumultuous reaction was already planned to be put into effect if they did lose. As though the leftists saw it as their time to seize leadership on a massive scale, forcefully if necessary. But they were rebuked, I believe, by our Creator. Now I understand that I am simplifying and generalizing but so is the leftist reaction also based within simplistic political realities. And it has been growing in violence as time moves on toward the election in November. So where are we timewise? Well, do not hold your breath waiting for Christ's return to begin the day after tomorrow. It is very clear to me though that Christ wants us to be somewhat on edge with some measure of an anticipation. Otherwise He would have told us when. We will see this later. Turn with me to Revelation 1 as we continue to advance through here. Revelation 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. These first three verses help confirm Matthew 24, which says nobody knows when that time is set. These verses have within them terms such as "shortly come to pass," "for the time is at hand." I believe that some things within the Worldwide Church of God booklet titled "A True History of the True Church" and the "Book of Revelation Unveiled" were ill-advised. I do not mean that they were entirely wrong, just not timed right. Therefore they became unintentionally somewhat misleading. Revelation is primarily intended for those true Christians alive just before and when the vast majority of things prophesied within Matthew 24 and Revelation are actually triggered by God and are occurring immediately before during Christ's return, and at the same time we will be given the gifts to connect the dots accurately. All Christians living between Christ's resurrection and His return can learn from the book of Revelation but not always with crystal clear clarity and understanding until electronic media was allowed to be invented and we now thus have almost instant knowledge of events occurring worldwide. What I just said is important to timing things and those prophecies that specifically pertain to forecasting those things that will occur as worldwide events being forced to submit to the choice of government. I want you to turn to Revelation 6. Now the reason I wanted you to turn there is because in the book of Revelation things happening in this world do not begin to really appear until Revelation 6. What happens in Revelation 6? The seals, the seven seals are opened. Revelation 6:2 I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. What do we have here? We have got religious confusion. What I want to emphasize to you is that in chapter 6 the events are worldwide. That is why it is important that the electronic media is available to us because we are going to learn of these things occurring as they are occurring. In verse 4 people are being forced worldwide to submit to the choice of the governing leadership's choice of religion or die if they choose not to. In verse 5, economic upsets are occurring worldwide. Revelation 6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth. You know what that is talking about, famines developing in multitudes of locations and thus shortages of food and starvation. In verse 9, intense persecutions of those truly converted and again on an area-wide basis and not merely in isolated locations. And then in verse 12, a huge earthquake accompanied by heavenly signs that terrifies all that experience them. Now, it is not my intention to focus on these events, but merely to show that we are not yet, as far as we know, even close to these things occurring. They are worldwide events, but I believe that we are definitely moving in that direction towards their possibility occurring. That is the end of my opening, part one. The seals are finally being broken. I am going to continue this sermon by pulling back timewise by giving some interesting analysis by a scholar that might be somewhat helpful toward comprehending where we might stand at this time. Remember some pretty disastrous things are happening in the United States. How old did Richard say the United States is now? 244 years. That is in a way fairly important to what I am going to be talking about here. This will also be helpful to us understanding where we might stand at this time. This is so that our spiritual focus is on the right place and having a more accurate direction. What did I say? That Jesus said our spiritual focus is to be on right now while we are living. I am going to give you some insight from a fairly well known Scottish educator who compiled some broad but interesting insight into international governmental history, both ancient and reasonably modern. Now, his conclusions put America into international history. He was a history of professor at the University of Edinburgh. His name was Alexander Tyler. He penned his conclusions of some major research he did in the late 1880s. That was a small portion of his major study into the Athenian Republic in Greece that existed about 2,200 years ago. That republic flourished about 200 years before Christ was born. Now, why was he studying them? Part of the reason, a major one, is that the Greeks were experimenting with Republican forms of government. That is what we have here in the United States, a republican form of government. Tyler was studying their efforts. Now, here is the conclusion that he reached and included in his book. His conclusion should be of interest to us because the Athenians had basically the same kind of government we have here in the United States, 200 years before Christ. I want you to think of his conclusions in relation to what we are experiencing in our times now that the United States is as old as it is. His conclusions are interesting regarding what is going on now, combined with the age, around 244 years. Overall, Tyler concluded, democracy has a major, major weakness. Now, it is not difficult to detect that flaw over a span of time. I believe we need to think about what he concludes. He concluded, "A democracy is always temporary in nature." What is happening in the United States? These people seem to be trying to overthrow the United States as it now exists. A democracy is always temporary in nature. It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. And from that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy—which is always followed by a dictatorship. He continues but apparently from a somewhat different section of his work. Now, I will confess to you that I could not positively confirm that Tyler was the author of what I am going to give you, but it is nonetheless also commonly associated with him because it fits into his other works regarding national attitude. The average lifespan of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. [We have lasted 240 now. Are we coming to the end of a string?] During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence of national attitudes and national circumstances. Beginning from bondage, they progressed to spiritual faith. And from that spiritual faith, great courage. Then the courage produced liberty. The liberty enabled abundance. The abundance led to selfishness. And selfishness declined into complacency. And complacency further degenerated into apathy. And apathy produced a dependency. And dependency secured them back into a standing in bondage. There are nine rungs on that ladder. What rung of the ladder do you believe that the United States of America stands upon now that this nation has reached the age of about 240 years? Here is a question for you. From a biblical perspective what did Tyler detect? I am going to give you the answer. He concluded that the self-centered carnality in mankind cannot be ignored in regard to public and governmental stability. It will break out in the citizenry to possess a larger share of what it self-centeredly desires and it will get a greater share of it from those within the operations of the government itself. Because those in governmental offices desire to stay in those offices, so they sell themselves out for a price. Very interesting. What rung would you put the United States on? Which direction are we going? I think without a shadow that we are going down the ladder. I do not know whether we are at the bottom yet, but that is the direction that we are headed. Now, your answer may depend a great deal upon your family upbringing. It may depend a great deal upon the newscast that you generally tune in to because frankly brethren, I do not believe we can rely upon the accuracy of what we are hearing anymore because the citizenry as a whole has become much more liberal than it formerly was and that includes the newscasters, and they have a strong tendency to affect the slant that the news is given. There are two sources within the United States that are broadly responsible for the diminishing quality of life being lived within it compared to what it used to be. And for that we are witnessing the level of immorality being lived by the citizenry. Number one is the churches in the religious sector, I believe, are responsible to the greatest degree for the decline of interest in God and religion. And number two, the government schools and colleges, for the lack of interest in government in general, in history, and the overall cultural well being of the citizenry. I do not know whether you understand. But in those two carnally-driven cultural settings, religion and education, the equally carnal government must gain controlling influence over them in order to continue to grow their system. Their main course of action is to use governmental power in some manner. I once heard Ronald Reagan say in a minor address whose overall subject I can no longer remember, but he said in that address, "Don't be misled. Government is nothing but power." That is a broad statement, but it is very close to being true. The founders of this nation structured the American Constitution so that it contains a large number of checks and balances within its framework purposefully designed to restrain the use of governmental power. Those founders learned a lot from the British. I mean, it was good! Now they did this, they put those checks and balances in there to hem in the government's power because in the world's history governments always seek to obtain more power. What do you think is happening? You are living through it! Now, those hemming in factors, combined with a very high percentage of governmental leadership who actually believe in the Constitution and used its regulation sufficiently to provide this wonderful standard of living that we are blessed with because they did. But in our time, the courts are allowing the Constitution's powers to be very badly abused. And thus, we are finding that in our time now, of the three branches of the American government, the courts now in practical fact are the most dominating of the three and they are hamstringing the others by means of judges—what the judges have learned in the very liberal, left wing universities. The judges are tending to be overwhelmingly liberal, and by means of twisted reasoning, mostly learned in the detached-from-God universities. And being detached from God's laws, they are dominating the entire culture. You might recall a long series of brief commentaries I gave on the philosophers, mostly from Israelitish nations, who are held in such high regard and yet they led the citizenry of those nations through their corrupt beliefs and their personally matching anti-God conduct into outright immorality and eventually destruction of the family. Although I do not tend to be an overly excited alarmist, I believe that the previews we are being given ought to be heeded because there is in almost all of us a tendency to put things off. By previews, I mean what Jesus said: "Be ready." It is a natural reality of life, especially regarding those responsibilities that do not seem to be very enjoyable. When World War II began for the United States in December of 1941, I had just turned nine a month before. But I was at the same time very interested in history and in geography. And thus I learned a little about warfare during the next four years, because I followed it unusually closely for somebody only 9, 10, 11 years old. And one thing that I learned about warfare is, when our armies were about to invade the city, the first thing they did was attacking the army by its invasion, is to lay down a series of bombings from the air on that city and followed it very closely with bombardment from artillery on the ground before it sends its infantry into actually literally invading. That is what men do. They have learned that works. The bombings soften up the people who are within the city and actually make it easier to take. Now, do you not think that Satan and his armies would do something similar spiritually? I believe this is somewhat similar to what this nation has been going through, especially in the past 50 to 75 years or so. The Israelitish nations are to me clearly being softened up by the satanic forces before the literal demonic invasion. And even though spiritually the literal invasion may be many years down the road, in the future, it may be part of their plan. Doctor Hoeh made a comment regarding church members' attitudes in relation to the world. He said this during a sermon that he gave in Norwalk, California, the congregation that I was pastoring there between 1969 and 1975. What he said was blunt and to the point. He said, "If it's happening in the world, it's happening in the church." Now, what he was implying is that we in the church are not as separate from the world as we may carelessly assume. He meant that the world's spirit, its zeitgeist (from the German language, which essentially means the spirit of the times), enters into our thinking and conduct fairly easily. It almost cannot be avoided. And at times because we are what we are, there is an easy, unthinking transference from the world into the church. And therefore, unless we make conscious efforts to evaluate an attitude's intentions and block them, if they are not righteous and rejects them, we will make use of them and probably do so unthinkingly. Instead, remember what we said Jesus said at the very beginning: we must consciously choose to live by faith. The key word is "consciously" do it. This is because attitudes play a major role in one's conduct. Now, what is an attitude? An attitude is a leaning as judged against the perpendicular. Perpendicular is straight up and down. An attitude, in the context I am viewing it, is a mental leaning, a disposition, an inclination, a tendency, or orientation in one's thinking. It is the way a person views something and therefore tends to behave toward it. And in the case of my subject, straight up and down, perpendicular, is God's righteousness. How do we measure against God's righteousness? Are we consciously choosing to obey Him? Now, considering the historical evolution in American conduct since the Civil War, and what we have gone through, I judge that a great deal of spiritual bombardment has already begun and perhaps the enemy infantry is beginning to advance to the city limits. Considering that this nation's carnal government has given its citizenry permission to murder the weakest in all the country through abortion in the previous 50 years—and it has been done at least 60 million times!—that gives us a bit of a measuring rod concerning the current level of zeitgeist intensity available to impact one's mind and conduct here in America. Are we being persuaded? I believe that the epistles, Paul especially and of course the others as well, show fairly clearly that for the most part they were not undergoing much persecution nor were members showing much concern regarding the possible return of Jesus Christ. I am basing this on what is written within the epistles. The possible return of Jesus Christ did not seem to be an urgent concern. What do they stress: Paul, and Peter and John and Mark and Luke and so forth? Jesus' return was not an urgent concern depending or judging by what they wrote in the epistles. Now I am beginning this final section so we are going to go to the book of Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. This is just simply a sample of most of what they wrote regarding our submission and obedience to Jesus Christ and His way of life. Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. [notice the advice] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. [they expected to get attacked, but by the Devil] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; and above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. I just give you that as an example of what the overwhelming majority of the epistles from the apostles contained within them. In a major way, almost overwhelmingly, each epistle's instruction is centered on, focused on, the immediate, right now, day to day challenges that come upon us each day. Now, the question for this is, why? Why did the apostles fill their writings with that kind of advice? The answer is because it is practical. Because it is practice each and every day that drills God's way into our mind. It is repeated practice that truly prepares a soldier or turns a raw recruit to an adult prepared to do battle with the enemy. Our enemy is Satan and his gang because we understand the enemy's tactics and we anticipate those tactics. Now, if you think doing things over and over and reading the same things over and over again essentially are boring, same old things—No. Here is somebody who knew a thing or two, Winston Churchill. This is cut from the Diaries of Lord Moran. On page 119, Moran writes that Churchill said "Marshall [Marshall was general George Marshall of the United States] told me that the problem of this war was the disciplining of the citizen soldier." What are we talking about here? We are being disciplined by God and put through practices over and over and over again in order to learn His way. And so in the Second World War, the big problem was the disciplining of the citizens soldier. Anyway, that has been Marshall's task. And it has not been easy, for the American youth is self-confident. He is quite certain he knows a better way of doing things than those who are ordering him about. Marshall had to begin at the beginning to plan a three month basic training, the sole purpose of which was to get the recruit to see that he must do what he is told. God really makes us jump through the hoops, brethren. Now, a departure from this more normal content of most epistles appears in I and II Thessalonians. I am going to read this to you from the New American Standard Bible. I want you to turn to I Thessalonians chapter 4 and verses 1-2. The reason I am quoting here from I and II Thessalonians is because they are different from the normal pattern that is in the other epistles. Now they do have some of what is in the other epistles, but they are one of the few books that has a great deal to say about the return of Jesus Christ and other end time events. This is just to give you an example. I Thessalonians 4:1-3 (NASB) Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk [that is, conduct your life] and please God (just as you actually do walk), so that you excel more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For it is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality. Now, what was the Thessalonians' major problem during this particular epistle? They wanted more information on the resurrection to come. I said these books concentrate on end time happenings. I am going to skip the rest of that in I Thessalonians 4 because you know what it says there, but I want you to drop down now to II Thessalonians 2, verses 1 through 12. I hope that I can expound this adequately and that I get it right. II Thessalonians 2:1 (NASB) Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, . . . Now you can see what this chapter is about, and like I said, it is one of the few epistles that goes into this stuff, this kind of information. The others are well concerned about our obedience to God. These two books are somewhat different. II Thessalonians 2:2 (NASB) . . . that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. You can see what it is about and Paul starts this off with, do not get upset. Get control of yourself. Why? Because he had already told them the truth. Do not get turned aside. II Thessalonians 2:3-11 (NASB) Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first [Do you see? Paul is putting things right into alignment.], and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. [Do you see? These things are going to occur before Christ comes. Therefore we are getting a very clear warning: gird yourself up!] Do you not remember that while I was still with you I was telling you these things? [but they forgot, they lost their composure. In one of the Bible's translations, he says to these Thessalonians, calm down.] And you know what restrains him [Do you know who "him" is?] now, so that in his time he will be revealed. [we are going to see this before things really unravel] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming [Do you see, brethren? We are going to get a very clear warning]; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Now, I am going to give you something the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:27-28 to a different congregation, but his concern was for them and that they did not fall away either. Philippians 1:27-28 (Phillips translation) But whatever happens, make sure that your everyday life is worthy of the gospel of of Christ, so that whether I do come and see you or merely hear about you from a distance, I may know that you are standing fast in the united Spirit, battling with a single mind for the faith of the gospel and not caring two straws for your enemies. The very fact that they are your enemies is plain proof that they are lost to God; while the fact that you have such men as enemies is plain proof that you yourselves are being saved by God. You are given in this battle the privilege of not merely believing in Christ, but also of suffering for His sake. It is now your turn to take part in that battle you once saw me engaged in, and in which in point of fact, I am still fighting. Paul wants us to know that we never forget that we do not stand alone in this battle. Our brethren in the body are part of the army with us and he desires that we make war against this world and its satanic armies as a team supporting each part of this fighting force as if it was his own. Here is a very quick summary. The intensity of living life on a daily basis is definitely rising. However, II Thessalonians 2:1-10 shows the spiritual beast is still under restraint. Thus the physical beast cannot yet begin to trigger the end time events. So do not let your foot off the gas! Keep on growing in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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