Sermon #1049          Miscellaneous Sermons                                                   

 

          Title:       WHAT’S GOING ON?

          Text:       I Timothy 3:1-5

          Scripture Reading: Romans 16:16-32

          Subject:  The Judgement of God

          Date:      Tuesday Evening – November 3, 1992

 

Introduction:

 

We are living in perilous times! I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to live for the glory of God, seeking to do the will of God. I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to faithfully preach the gospel of Christ.

 

1.     The moral decadence around us is astonishing!

·       Adultery!

·       Fornication!

·       Homosexuality!

·       Materialism!

·       Greed!

 

Even among those who profess to be the children of God, even among those who hold to the doctrines of the gospel, the doctrines of grace. I see a general laxity, carelessness, and open disregard for the love of God – (Eph. 4:17-20).

 

2.     The self-centered lawlessness of this age is shocking!

 

There is, in our generation as never before, a general contempt for authority, which is just an outward expression of man’s contempt for God.

·       Where is the child who respects the authority of his parents!

·       Where is the student who respects the authority of his teachers!

·       Where is the wife who respects the authority of her husband?

·       Where is the man who respects the authority of civil government?

 

3.     Yet, this is the most religious generation that has ever lived!

 

The biggest business in America is big business religion. We have more religion and more ungodliness, more churches and more corruption, more preachers and more pornography, more “Christians” and more convicts than any nation on earth!

 

I look at these things and I hurt. My soul is vexed with the godliness of our society. I am grieved for the glory of God and the truth of God. And I hurt for you who are trying to serve God, trying to walk with God, trying to honor God in this day. As I look at the world around me, I constantly ask myself, “What’s Going On?” Do you? Well, that is the title of my message tonight What’s Going On?”

 

Proposition:

 

I am afraid that I know the answer to that question. Western Civilization, as we know it in the twentieth century, is under the judgment of God.

 

I.  We are living in An Apostate Religious World!

 

That is a fact that cannot be disputed by anyone with spiritual perception and understanding in Divine Truth The New Testament plainly teaches us that before Christ comes, as this dispensation is drawn to a rapid conclusion, there will be a general, universal, wholesale departure from the faith of the gospel.

 

A.  Nothing is so evident to me in this age as the silence of God! (Amos 8:11-12).

 

Thank God, he yet has his 7,000 prophets who have not bowed to Baal! But they are scattered far and wide!

 

B.  The religion of this age is the religion of antichrist.

 

Never before in history have all professedly “Christian Church of the world so openly denied the gospel of Christ. I am not talking about the apostacy of Rome. Romanism has always been apostate! Papacy was antichrist from the beginning! But in our day the children of Rome are rapidly returning home to their harlot mother, not in name, but in belief and practice.

 

The major tenets of all organized religions in the “Christian world” are purely Roman doctrines.

·       Free-will Salvation!

·       Works Justification!

·       Separation (Asceticism – Evil is in things, not in us!)

·       Rewards or Loss of Rewards based upon Our Works – Purgatory.

 

C.  This is precisely what God told us would happen in these last days (I Tim;. 4:1-5; II Thess. 2:1-8).

 

Truly, these are perilous times!

 

II.  The Apostate Religion of this Day is the Result of God’s Judicial Reprobation.

 

Rolfe Barnard said, “This is a reprobate age, an age that cannot be explained apart from the judgment of God.”

 

This is one of the most solemn things in all the Word of God. When God gives men the light of the gospel and they refuse to walk in it, they are in danger of being reprobate, cut off, and given over to satanic deception. And this is the work of God!

          Illustration: Ephraim (Hosea 4:17).

                               Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37-38).

          Do you understand what reprobation is?

 

A.  Reprobation is the Work of God, fixing it so that those who would not receive his truth cannot receive his truth (Pro. 1:23-32)

 

1.        It is Christ himself who turns satan loose upon the nations of the world (Rev. 20:37).

2.        It is God the Holy Spirit who ceases to restrain the powers of darkness (II Thess. 2:7-8).

3.        It is God the Father who sends men a strong delusion that they should believe a lie (II Thess 2:9-12).

 

Can you imagine anything more solemn? The scriptures tell us that God almighty sovereignly employs satan and his hellish imps to secure the damnation of those who hear but refuse to receive the love of the truth!

 

Hear me now, and be warned! God will not trifle with those who trifle with his Son and the gospel of his grace.

 

B.  Are there any marks by which the messengers of satan may be identified and distinguished from God’s true servants?

 

Most definitely! The man of sin will be revealed (II Thess. 2:1), but not to the world. Only discerning souls, taught of God can identify. But I warn you, their identification is disturbing. You may not like what I have to say, but say it I must. The flase prophets by whom satan deceives the souls of men may be identified by three things. Some of them have all three of these marks, some just one or two; but every false prophet can be identified by these three things.

1.     His Enchanting Miracles (II Thess. 2:9; Rev. 16:13-14).

2.     His Evident Motives (II Pet. 2:3).

3.     His Enticing Message (II Tim. 4:3-4).

Three Fables

·       Love everybody

·       Died for Everybody

·       Calls Everybody

 

He may, or may not, pretend to have apostolic gifts. He may or may not, be an obviously covetous man. But every false prophet in the world has the same message – Conditional Grace! They always mix something, somewhere with the work of Christ.

 

And every true gospel preacher has the same message. We all see eye to eye in the matter of salvation. (Is.a 52:7-8).

·       Grace Alone!

·       Christ Alone!

·       Faith Alone!

 

III.  In these dark, dark days, You and I have Great Cause For Thanksgiving (II Thess. 2:13-14).

 

If you are one of God’s elect, a trophy of his almighty grace, snatched out of this apostate religious world, you have something for which to be thankful! Can you imagine the shouts that went up in the hearts of those Thessalonian believers when they read verses 13-14? Rejoice, my heart, and give thanks to God for his unspeakable grace and abundant mercy! Look what God has done for us…

 

A.  He chose us!

B.  He redeemed us! (I Cor. 5:21).

C.  He sent the gospel to us!

D.  He called us (Ps. 65:4).

E.  He gave us faith in Christ and saved us from eternal ruin by his omnipotent grace (Eph. 2:1-5, 8-10).

F.  He has kept us from the apostasy of this age (I John 2:19-28).

 

IV.  These days of darkness place us in a position of Great Responsibility.

 

A.  Hold Fast that Form of Sound Words (II Thess. 1:13).

 

T.U.L.I.P!

 

B.  Earnestly Contend For the Faith (Jude 3).

 

C.  Preach the Gospel of God’s Free and Sovereign Grace In Chrsit (II Tim. 4:1-5).

…The Souls of Men and at Stake!

…The Glory of God is at Stake!

…The Time is Short!

 

V.  We have No Cause for Fear – Our God is Still on His Throne! (I Cor. 11:19; Rom. 8:28-30).

 

A.  He is Accomplishing His Will!

B.  He is Saving His People!

C.  He is Doing Good!

D.  He is Making Himself an Everlasting and a Glorious Name (Isa. 63:12, 14).

E.  His Kingdom is Safe!