Luke's Gospel, Chapter 17. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 17. You
and I have been looking this morning at the last days where
the Apostle Paul told Timothy that in the last days perilous
times shall come, dangerous times, difficult times, hard to bear.
I want to continue that study this afternoon. And look at two
or three more places where the Scripture speaks of the last
days, the last times. And look with me here in Luke
chapter 17, and let's begin reading in verse 26. And as it was in
the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming
of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, They were given in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed
them all. Likewise also as it was in the
days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they built. But the same day that Lot went
out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed them all. And we know several things about
Noah's day, and we know several things about Lot's day, the condition
of their time. Let me read some places to you
that tells us the condition of men and their hearts and their
attitude and their ways in Noah and Lot's day. Listen to Genesis
chapter six. And God said that and God solved
the wickedness of man. that it was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Now we know man is depraved,
but this has reached the height of depravity. We can't say about
every lost man that all his imagination is geared, and all his energy
and labor is only evil continually. Now, when God looks at it, he
may see all of that. But this had reached the climax.
Every thought that man had, it was geared towards evil, purposely,
manufacturing imagination in his heart. This was what else
was said about it in chapter 6. The earth was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with Violence. A violent time
in Noah's day. Listen about Lot's day. The men
of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. We know what their sin was. The
Scripture tells us that Lot was greed with a filthy conversation
of the ungodly. The words that he heard, everybody
was cursing the Lord. Everybody was telling their vulgar
jokes. And their conversation, their daily life was one of vulgarity,
of ungodliness, and it grieved the heart of this righteous man
in seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds. The Scripture says also
that they committed unlawful deeds, unlawful to God, unlawful
to the law of God, unlawful to any decent society, unlawful
deeds, unlawful to the natural man, because listen to this,
giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh
are set forth for an example. Now you know as you read your
Bible that God usually does not destroy a society until His patients
have worn thin with it. He usually exercises great long-suffering. He lets things get full. And
then He comes and destroys it, doesn't He? And the Lord Jesus
said, as it was in their day, it's going to be in the days
of the coming of the Son of Man. I take that to be the last day.
The last days upon this earth. It will be bad. But you'll notice
here the text that I read to you in Luke 17 says nothing of
these wicked sins, does it? The Lord Jesus doesn't say anything
about their sodomy. He doesn't say anything about
fornication. He doesn't say anything about their violence. He tells us this. They lived
normal lifestyles. They ate, they drank, they married,
they bought, they sold, they built houses. In other words,
they were going on with their daily lives. This is what Ezekiel
chapter 16 verse 49 tells us about sodomy. Behold, this was
the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance
of idleness was found in her." Abundance of idleness. Boy, there
was wickedness going on. They had the lust of the flesh,
violence, open and profane sin. was going on. But here, he said,
here was the sin of Sodom. Abundance of idleness. Now, when we think of what was
going on in Sodom, all of the open and profane sin, all the
violence in Noah's day, when you think of what was going on,
and then every time Noah drove a nail in that ark, what was
he saying? Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. He'd drive a nail and that sound
would echo up through those mountains and over the hills. And somebody
said, what's that sound? That's Noah building the ark.
He said, judgment's coming. It's going to rain and take us
all away. The angels told Lot, get up and
get out of here because God's going to destroy this place.
Judgment is coming. And here was the awful sin of
Sodom and Gomorrah. Judgment was coming. And yet,
they were filled with idleness. Worldliness was not only their
sin. Open and profane and violent
was not only their sin. But you know what was one of
their chief sins? They were indifferent. They didn't
care. They had all kinds of time, but
did not prepare for the judgment that was hanging over their heads. Have you ever seen a time that
people have got so much free time? I know we act like we're
so busy. I realize that people are running
to and fro. My wife said since she's retired, she's never been
so busy in all of her life. I know we're that way, but isn't
most of people's time spent in idleness? Almost every service that we
have here, almost every service, on Sunday morning and Wednesday
evening especially, when me and my wife come down here, them
three up here at the ballpark on each side of the road, that
place is full of kids playing sports. You go into the average house
and everybody's got all kinds of time to watch TV. There is
abundance of idleness. And a few people are crying,
judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. And what's
people doing? Nothing. Not preparing for eternity. We read this morning that one
of the worst things that permeates a society is self-love. They're
lovers of themselves. But if they truly love themselves,
if they truly love their souls, If they loved their bodies, what
would they be doing? They'd be seeking to secure their
souls. But these people had all kinds
of time. They could marry. They could cook. They could eat. They could build houses. They
could work. They could take vacation. They had their leisure time.
But one thing they were utterly indifferent to, the coming judgment
of God upon them. And brothers and sisters, is
it coming today? It's coming, isn't it? It is coming. Flee
from the wrath to come. That's the message of the Bible.
The greatest friend lost people have is a man who walks up to
them and says, Dear soul, flee from the wrath to come. You've
got a precious soul. You stand in danger of losing
it. Forget about everything else
and flee to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. And that's our message
today is that people's got plenty of time to flee. But how many
do we see fleeing? Hide on us. Hide on us. So we've looked at different
aspects of society. We've looked at society in general,
self-love and all that went along with that. We've looked at the
religious society, departing from the faith. at a farm of
godliness. We've looked at the military
society spending all their time and money and effort in nothing
but making weapons, either to defend themselves with or to
fight other nations with. What about the church? What's
going to be in the church? What condition is the church
going to be in in the latter times, right when the Lord is
ready to come again? What is the condition of the
church? Will the Lord Jesus find faith
on the earth? That's what he asked. Of course
he will. He knows he will. Because there's
going to be believers. But how strong a faith will it
be? How strong will the church be in these latter times? Or
how weak will it be? What's the condition of the church
in these last days? Listen to this. In 2 Thessalonians
2, remember when the Apostle Paul had spoke so often of the
coming of Christ, and some of them were shaking in mind about
it. They didn't know exactly when Christ was coming and what
was going to happen. And here's what Paul said to them about
the coming of Christ. That day shall not come. Christ
is not coming. until there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed." Now, that's not speaking
of the church falling away and being lost. It could very well
be speaking to all the institutions, to the rule of law, the family
unit, all of these things now that serve under God to hold
society together. There's going to be a falling
away of these things. Or it could mean, too, that the
church is going to grow cold and indifferent and leave its
first love in her heart. Now, we saw that in the Ephesian
church, didn't we? And we've seen it in our own
experience, have we not? Don't we often have to go to
the Lord and say, Lord, I beg of You, I beg of you, warm my
cold heart. Soften my hard heart. Oh, bring
me nearer to yourself. You're not precious to me like
you used to be. My love for you is going cold.
You ever leave your first love? Let's be honest about it. Did
you ever do that? This Ephesian church did. Maybe that's what
that means by falling away. Becoming so indifferent to the
Lord. That's the first thing. And right
along with it. Look in Revelation Chapter 3
right quickly. Look in Revelation Chapter 3.
I was talking with a man about the church of the Odyssey at
one time, and I said, you know, this is going to be the church
seemingly in the last days. And boy, he got so upset with
me. He said, that can't be the church.
And I said, Christ called it the church. Boy, you know, we don't like
to think of ourselves as getting such a mess that we would think
as this church thought. But this seems to be the church
in the last days. Look at it in Revelation 3. Look
in verse 14. And to the angel of the church
of the Odysseans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, all things
that God made, Christ made it from the very beginning, didn't
He? I know your works, that they are neither cold nor hot. I would
that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because
thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing. Man, could we say that? I ain't
to say them that. And I bet nobody in here that
knows Christ says that. But there's coming a time when
the majority of the Protestant church is going to say this very
thing. This almost offends you to think
that you'd reached the place where you said, I have need of
nothing. And look at this. You know not that you're wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy me gold
tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment, that
you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do
not appear. And anoint your eyes with eye-shade
that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent."
And look at this, where is Christ at? He is only outside, isn't
He? I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into
him and sit with him, and he with me." I don't know hardly
what to think about this church. But I just know this, it's going
to be the one in the last days. And I don't want to be there,
do you? Aren't we almost there now? When you look at the Professing
Church, aren't we almost there now? Go to your average Baptist
church. And listen to what's preached.
Talk with people. And see what they think. And
see if you don't hear some of this echoed. I really have needed
nothing. You don't need the righteousness
of Jesus Christ? The what now? The what? I never
heard of that. What's that? Look in Revelation chapter 11. I sure hope I'm wrong about this.
I hope I've misinterpreted this. But I think here it tells us
more than anything else about perilous times for the church.
What's come into the church herself. And here in Revelations 3, look
at this. I will give power unto my two
witnesses in the Old Testament. The church went under the two
witnesses. The Lord sent them out two by two. This is the church.
And they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth. That's the whole gospel disposition.
These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing
before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them,
fire proceedeth out of their mouth. and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them,
he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut up heaven,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power
over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with plagues
as often as they will." And now look at the church. And when
they have finished their testimony, I tell you a sad thing coming
on this world. The church's work will be finished
someday. And it's going to be before the
end comes. And here's the way we're going
to know that the church's work is finished. When her testimony
concerning Christ will not be heard anymore. When we, like
Noah, have went into the ark, you won't need to testify to
those folks anymore. There was only eight of them.
And all the time he was building that ark, did anybody hear? Not
one soul entered that ark. The testimony was finished, wasn't
it? Lot set up, get out of this place. But they didn't listen
to him. Why? The testimony is finished. God has a set time that he has
sent his church to preach to this world, to warn this world.
To preach forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. But that
time will be complete. That time that's only known to
God Himself. When the world says, we will
not have it. And then the church just can't
blame the world. The church has to blame herself
partly, does she not? You could blame Lot's sons-in-law
because they wouldn't listen. But you know Lot had to take
part of the blame, did he not? And I think, brothers and sisters,
in the last day, the church is going to be the weakest probably
she's ever been. The weakest in faith, the weakest
in knowledge. It has to come to that point
for her to lose her testimony. When she has finished her testimony,
what happens then? The beast that ascended out of
the bottomless pit shall make war against her. Now, we've always
had that, haven't we? We've always wrestled against
principalities and powers. We've always fought against the
world. And who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ? The church has always overcome
the devil and his fallen angel. But look at this. Look at this. That beast shall make war against
them and shall overcome them and kill them. And you'll have
to go somewhere else to get any more information than that, because
I don't know what kind of death that is. It's not eternal death. We know that. What kind of death
is it? Is it physical death for many
of them? I don't know. But He's overcome them. He's
made war against them. He's overcome. He's killed them.
And look at this. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street
of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where
also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and kindred,
and tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies three days
and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in
graves. And they that dwell upon the
earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send
gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented
them that dwelt on the earth." Now, brothers and sisters, if
I take this like I've said it to you, It's going to be perilous
times for the church, is it not? Overcome with no strength, no
power, and you lay as dead men while the world is so happy and
say like they did to our Lord, we've got rid of that rascal.
He's gone. He's gone. But look what happens
in verse 11. But after three days and a half,
the Spirit of life from God entered unto them, And they stood upon
their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And
they heard a voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.
And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies
beheld them." I don't know if we'll be living
in this day or not, but this will be the trial that the church
will face, and it'll be extreme. It'll be difficult to bear in
that day. Let me give you two or three
things of encouragement, and I'll close. The Lord Jesus said
this, when you see these things begin to come to pass, when you
see this begin to climax, here's what He said. Listen to this.
See that you be not troubled. Ain't that wonderful? See that
you be not terrified. And here's the reason that he
gives forth. All these things must come to
pass. Now, what does that tell us?
All these things that we talked about this morning, all that
we talked about tonight, these things must come to pass. Why? Because God has purposed
it. God has an eternal purpose, brothers
and sisters. You mean He's purposed for the
church to be overcome for a time? Even be killed in some sense?
Yes, He has. He's even wrote to us about it.
You mean, Bruce, that He's purposed that these men should leave the
faith? He's purposed this worldwide violence and making of all these
weapons? Well, men are responsible for
their sins. They're coming to judgment before
God. But that doesn't change God's
eternal purpose, does it? These must come to pass. I had a friend of mine I worked
with for a number of years, and we talked about everything. He
was an unconverted man, but we still talked about all the Scriptures.
And I was telling him one day about God's eternal purpose.
I said, God's a God of purpose. He's got eternal purpose. And
though it's mysterious to us, He's got His hand in everything.
And He's fulfilling His eternal purpose. And he got all upset
about it. What if I climbed up on top of
that building and jumped off and killed myself? Well, you're
going to break your wife's heart if you do that. And your kids
are going to cry and cry. But you won't change God's purpose.
You won't change God's purpose. And brothers and sisters, when
you and I look around us in society, and as we see these awful things,
and as it becomes more and more difficult to burn living in this
world. Remember this. These things must
come to pass. God has purposed it. And I'm
telling you, His purposes are ripening fast, aren't they? According
to His own will, they're ripening fast. Secondly, remember this
for your comfort. God has laid snares for wicked
people. And one of the snares that He
lays is presumption. I tell you, when you see a man
get presumptuous, he better watch out, because God has laid snares
for men who grow presumptuous. The very hour that Pharaoh thought
he had fulfilled his sinful lust upon Israel is the very hour that God set
to drown that man. I am going to follow them in
the sea. I'm going to recapture them and take them back to Egypt.
This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to fulfill my lust.
You better be careful, bud. The very time you're presuming
to fulfill your lust is the very moment God has purposed to drown
yourself in the Red Sea. Wicked Haman built a gallows
to hang the man of God upon, and the very day that he had
purposed to hang the man of God, he was hung on that gallows himself.
Presumption is a snare that God has laid for the wicked. Poor
David and his men had one place of refuge to flee to. Remember
Zaklag? That's the only place they had,
the last place they had. And when they were off to battle
and went back home, the enemy had come in and had burnt Zaklag
down. And they had no place else to
go. They had taken the women and the children and hauled them
away captive. And you know what the enemy said?
Peace and safety. Boy, we've got them now. We've
burnt their last refuge. We've taken their family hostage.
We've got them now. But you know what God told David?
Go after them, David. You shall recover all. And when this world begins to
presume that it's done away with the church, it don't have to
worry about it anymore. And they say, peace and safety.
What's going to happen? Sudden destruction. I don't know how many people
down through the years I've seen. I had a dear friend of mine getting
ready to retire. And boy, he just bragged about
it. Everything's fixed now. Everything's set up, boy. I think
it's like another week till he retires. And he died. He died. Boy, be careful about
presuming things. Tomorrow, I'm going into the
city. I'm going to buy and sell and I'm going to get gain. What
is your life? It's a vapor. It's not like a
vapor. It's a vapor that appears for
a little while. We ought to say, if it's God's
will, I'll do this or I'll do that. We ain't going to do anything,
are we? If God doesn't let us, it's because
God doesn't want it to be so. Thirdly and lastly is this, see
that your heart be not troubled. Troubled. Don't be troubled. I don't know
how, unless the person just takes the Lord at His word and believes
it. I don't know how you keep from being troubled when we're
living in the time that's coming. But he says, see that you be
not troubled. If God has purposed this, we shouldn't be overly
troubled. If He's laying a snare for the
wicked, then don't be overly troubled about it. And the Lord
Jesus said, when you see these things, be not overly troubled. And think about this, brothers
and sisters. Jesus Christ who died for His
church. to redeem it and all of its members
from all their iniquities. He lives. He lives to make sure
that no permanent harm comes to His church. Whatever she suffers
at the hands of the devil and this world, and Paul said, I've
got some wounds, didn't he? Bud, we get some wounds, don't
we? Don't we get some broken hearts? Don't we get so heavy
sometimes we can't hardly breathe? But no permanent harm will come
to the church. And Jesus Christ lives and reigns
to assure us of that. Weeping may endear for a night,
but what's coming in the morning? Joy! Joy! The paths of the just
are as a shining light that shines more and more into what? The
perfect day. The perfect day is coming. Christ
is coming. And whatever we have to suffer
now, just being assured that our eternal happiness has been
secured. Oh, that will help us through
the night, won't it? Clarence, the time you set, you'll notice,
Clarence, you don't care what I'm saying. You'll notice, Clarence,
you've got a little scar here. You still got that little scar
there? Didn't you? Ain't that caused from a bayonet?
You know what he used to do while he was a sniper? He'd put his
rifle down and that bayonet would stay right there. And he'd go
through some long nights. You know why he had that bayonet
there? He had a friend who'd go to sleep and they found him
with his head cut off. Found him killed. Long nights. when you have to have your bayonet
stuck up against your chin just to survive, to keep yourself
going to sleep. But daylight's coming. The sun
is going to rise on us, brothers and sisters. We have hope, do
we not? Our hearts would break without
hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord. You're Israel, hope in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Though with the Lord there is
mercy. And with Him is plenteous redemption. Christ is coming. He's coming. Things may get bad before He
does come, and will. Oh, but thank God it will be
over with when He comes. Joy, everlasting happiness. That's our end. May God bless
this Word.