The climax of history

our Father we pray tonight that the Spirit of the Living God will exalt Jesus Christ as Savior Lord and Master and may the events that will transpire in the future as outlined in by words so challenges that we might purify our lives and begin to live holy lives unto thee but we ask it in Christ's name Amen I want to speak on the subject the climax of history and of course in the brief time that is mine it's impossible to cover the entire subject but I want to touch on a few of the high points in the Bible and I want you to turn with me first of all to Genesis the 19th chapter the 19th chapter of Genesis how many have your Bibles lift them up hold them there now hold them that thousands of Bible more Bibles in Chicago at the meetings than any place we have ever been so early in a crusade wonderful thousands of Bibles I would like to count the Bibles that were here some 40,000 people are more here and I don't know how many Bibles there would be in that audience it looked almost as though everyone had a Bible bring your Bible to every service Genesis 19 beginning at verse 24 then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground then I want you to turn with me to Ezekiel the sixteenth chapter Ezekiel the sixteenth chapter beginning at verse 48 we read these words as I live saith the Lord as I live saith the Lord Sodom thy sister hath not done she know her daughters as thou has done thou and thy daughters behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy and they were hurry and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw good then we turn to Luke the 17th chapter beginning at verse 28 the words of Jesus as Jesus refers back thousands of years to this event that took place when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their wickedness and their sins that archaeologist incidentally have already found out actually took place likewise also as it was in the days of lot now Jesus indicates there is a future time a future event very much as it was in the days of life likewise as it was in the days of lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all now this is no myth this is a historical event that actually happened and Jesus confirms it Jesus confirms that it happened even that shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed in that day he which shall be upon the housetop and he step in the house let him not come down to take it away and he that is in the field let him likewise not return back remember Lot's wife that's a whole verse of scripture the 32nd verse remember Lot's wife whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed the one shall be taken and the other left two women shall be grinding together the one shall be taken and the other left two men shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left whatever magazine or whatever paper you read today concerning world events there is a pessimism of hopelessness our frustration and a confusion I had the privilege of knowing and being a friend of mr. DAG hammarskjöld and not long before he died I went into his office at the United Nations and we had a chat and he hung his head he said I don't know the answer to the problems of the world I sit here in wrestle with them and they seem to be increasing rather than diminishing then he said perhaps what you're saying and what the Bible teaches is the only answer this is the pessimism that we find everywhere Bertrand Russell's essay a free man Society sends all the labels of the ages all the devotion all the inspiration all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system well Durant philosopher wrote on the meaning of life and he said this it seems impossible any longer to believe in the permanent greatness of man or to give life a meaning that cannot be annulled by death HG Wells said in his last book the end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded dr. karl barth the great Swiss theologian that recently visited the University of Chicago went from Chicago to the east and he visited the United Nations while he was there he made this statement he said real peace will not be made here although it might seem to be an approach peace he said will be made by God himself at the end of all things dr. Karl Bart with underscoring four words that I love Jesus Christ when he said that permanent peace will not come until God intervenes in the Apostles Creed that we say in our churches on Sunday I believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead in the second Assembly of the World Council of Churches met in Evanston in 1954 the theme chosen was Christ the hope of the world and the hope interpreted by European theologians was that it had to do with the last things and the second advent of Jesus Christ but the varied reception indicated that there is a great divergence of interpretation in feeling among church leaders regarding this all-important subject the disciples once asked Jesus tell us when shall these things be what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world now the disciples could read in the Old Testament that there is going to be an end the disciples could read in the Old Testament that there were future events yet to come that would be the climax of history now they're asking Jesus Quinn will it take place many people asking that today what is the end of history where is history going what is going to be the end of all things now I believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ the Son of God rose from the dead he died on the cross but he also rose from the dead he is alive at this moment and the Bible teaches that he is coming back to this earth you say Billy do you really believe that more than 318 times in the New Testament alone it's referred to I would have to tear out great sections of the New Testament if I didn't believe it the Bible teaches if it teaches anything that Christ is coming back now in a sense Christ does come into the heart of every believer when you receive Christ when you come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior Christ comes to live within the scripture says Christ in you the hope of glory now what is a Christian in this morning's tribute there's an article on religion that every person ought to read ten thousand words analyzing the religious situation today and one of those quotes by Bishop Kennedy of Los Angeles in which he says our churches are becoming little more than social club and the whole thesis of this article is that Christianity is losing because of its lack of commitment and surrender and dedication there are thousands of people today in our churches who at least have their name on the church robe but who have no deep commitment to Christ they've never really had an encounter with the Living Christ they've never been born of the Spirit of God they have never really been converted to Christ and the greatest need in America this hour is for Christians to be Christians for the church people to have a depth in their commitment and surrender to Jesus Christ to come to know him I save you in Lord and there are many of you listening to my voice today you belong to the church because it's the social thing to do or because your parents belong to the church or you just were almost born into the church that's all fine and good but you don't know Christ for yourself and therefore in your daily life there's no real commitment in your business ethics in your social responsibilities in your attitude on the race question and the many other questions that we have to take a Christian attitude toward if the church people of America were really living for Jesus Christ crime with tumble divorces would only cease and the race problem would be on the way to solution if the church people well living as Christians but what's wrong we don't really know Christ Jesus said count the cost and we didn't count the cost and then in a sense Christ comes in the person of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost you receive Christ the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes to live within he lives in your heart now if you know Christ and then in a sense Christ comes in the great cataclysmic changes of history such as the destruction of the city of Jerusalem he plainly said that Christ is the lord of history he knows where history is going and he will only allow the devil to go so far Hitler thought he was going to rule the world but he was mistaken Napoleon thought he was going to rule the world but he was mistaken maybe some other dictators are mistaken because they haven't taken into account that Christ is the lord of history and then in a sense he comes at the death of a Christian when you die you go immediately into the presence of Christ if you're a Christian Christ comes I remember when my grandmother died she said I see Christ at the end of the bed and then she leaned up and smiled and said there's Jesus and she was gone I believe she actually saw Christ there is a sense in which Christ comes at death but there is another sense talk throughout the scriptures that he is coming back at the end of the age notice I didn't say the end of the world oh the end of the world system yes but not the end of the earth the end of the age Christ is coming back again now there are many problems connected with this subject I know there's the problem of doubt because he delays his coming many doubt the reality of his coming they did that in Peter spoke about it when he said where is the promise of his coming for all things since the father's fell asleep continues they were from the beginning of creation and he said the reason these doubters and scoffers come is because they're walking after their own lusts they don't want to believe it all the evidence is there but they say no we enjoy our sins too much we like our world too much we enjoy this materialistic pleasure marriage we enjoy our sins we don't want Christ coming back and tearing all that apart and then there's the problem of over emphases we had a period of time about 30 years ago when some preachers preached on it so much that they forgot other parts of the scriptures and then they went out in their own speculations I remember reading a book where they said Mussolini was the Antichrist many of those royal speculations caused a reaction to set in in the church so that in order to be intellectually respectable the average clergyman just didn't talk about it because he didn't want to be identified with fanatics and extremists but there's also another problem and that's the problem of under emphasis isn't it strange today that the people that are talking about the end of the age are the scientists the Philosopher's the intellectuals but not the church why is the church so silent at this hour when we have such a hope to hold out to be why are we so quiet when the only hope in the midst of all person ISM today is God's plan for the aged and the triumph of the kingdom of God modern theology is beginning to discuss it all the way from boatman to Coleman dr. George Patrick says in the interpreters Bible he says this listen that teachings of Jesus teach that the world has now constituted will come to a catastrophic end he goes on to say this age will be superseded by a permanent order of righteousness and bliss the kingdom of God this will come about not as a result of a revolutionary process but by God's direct action there Jesus said as it was in the days of Sodom so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man and then Ezekiel and Jesus listed some of the sins of Sodom what were they well the first one that they listed was the false security how secure and comfortable we feel in modern affluent America dr. Paul Shipp speaking before the meeting of the American Philosophical Society here in Chicago said we have only a few years no longer can we say that we stand at the crossroads we stand on the edge of an abyss we're about to fall in the scripture says Isaiah the prophet said woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses and trust in chariots but look not unto the Holy One of Israel neither seek the Lord now the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit God said why are you trusting in the Egyptians to save you I could save you if you turn to me but you won't turn to me his explains today that we're trusting in our scientific achievement we are trusting in our tremendous space effort we are trusting in our tremendous military power we are trusting in our economic strength to save us well I want to tell you that alone will not say if you are counting on American military power and our economic strength to save us you better run for a bombshell because unless we have faith in God unless we have spiritual resources above which we can call we will not be saved as a nation we must call upon God but what do we do we we have the tendency to run to Egypt for help Egypt spoken of symbolically of course I'm not talking about modern Egypt all of our alliances all of the things that we've done to try to save our own skins that alone will not say notice I'm not condemning these things I'm saying that if we trust in them to save us they will not save us we have a false sense of security and then secondly the sin that they condemned was sinful merriment now the Bible has nothing to say against our wholesome good time there's nothing in the Bible about having a long face and wearing a black suit all the time the Bible talks about joy the Apostle Paul wrote from Rome where he was in prison to the Philippians and he said rejoice I say always rejoice in Christ there is the true joy that according to the Saturday Evening Post Red Skelton hasn't found true joy found in Jesus Christ peace of mind in peace of heart and to you that are searching for joy so desperately you know the tragedy in America and the thing that makes me every time I come from abroad I see people in this country frantically searching for joy and happiness we rush off to a vacation and we come back tired and bedraggled like the little boy in the department store at Christmastime he had his arms full of toys and he was crying for more and his mother slept him at the place where you slept them and said you better be happy and that's the way we are you know I went up to Great Lakes this morning by helicopter and we rode along the shoreline and I saw those great apartment houses and I thought about the people they work in their caves in the big office buildings and they go home in the evening to their cave back in the apartment building anonymous living and many of them want to be lost in there I call it anonymous little they don't want a preacher they don't want God not everybody of course but many it's a place to hide to get away but the scripture says there is no hiding from God oh yes have everything and yet have emptiness of heart dr. Carl Jung the great psychologist said the central neurosis of our time is emptiness and boredom we are banal in satiated in full job said the joy making of the wicked is shot and the joy of a hypocrite but for a moment the scripture says there is a way that seemeth right unto a man but they M they're over the ways of death the Bible says even in laughter the hardest sorrowful and the end of that Mercy's heaviness and then the third thing that Jesus pointed out is they were too busy for God all they believed in God those men of Sodom they had religion all groups have religion but they were just too busy for God too busy making money too busy having a good time too busy in their pleasures to take time for God isn't that one of the sins of our day almost everybody in America according to the catholic digest believes in god we have an intellectual comprehend janab deity we have an idea that there is a God but we're not really serious about getting to know him we're not ready to pay a price to be on good terms with him we're too busy boy oh we may give him a now on Sunday morning but that's all the rest of the week we are secularist we're not anti God we're not anti religion we are just secular istic humanistic there's no real dependence on God and then there surfeiting that was mentioned by Jesus surfeiting that's overabundance gluttony if you please the scraps from our table would more than feed the hungry of China living in penny while minions starve Serfaty Jesus said in Luke 21 and take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life so that that day comes on you unawares Jude said these are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without delay in other words he said even in your charity their spots we have more charitable institutions in the United States than any nation in history and don't get me wrong there has never been a nation in the history of the world is generous with its wealth as the United States we give millions and millions and millions and millions but their spots in it according to Jude we have plenty and one of the spots is that we have so little compassion we do everything through organization and I believe in the work of organizations and social and humanitarian organizations but we don't do anything personally we don't want to get personally involved many of our great social leaders take part in great functions to raise money for the poor that is good but to get personally involved to do it ourselves to visit the hospital yourself to go to the prison yourself to go out and feed the poor yourself to get down in the dirt yourself to go in the slum yourself that's where it cost and that's the spot in our charity then another thing he mentioned was idolatry if we have forgotten the name of our God have stretched out our hands to a strange God shall not God search us out we are our idolatrous people then another one was greed greed I know there was the irreverence I could go on with sin after sin that was listed as the sins of Sodom that are today our sins now what happened to son the Bible tells us that the wrath of God rows and rows and rows until one day the dam broke and the wrath of God fell in fire and brimstone upon Sodom and the men of Sodom were wiped up now God had warned Sodom through Abraham and lot repent of your sins God never brings the judgment without warning and I wonder if this crusade here in Chicago that is already attracting national attention is not God's voice one more of many voices maybe the stock market this past week was another warning maybe the fact that we've had to send troops into file end is another warning maybe the Berlin Wall was another warning maybe the great hydrogen bombs of the Soviet Union or other but maybe God is speaking to America and saying repent repent repent while you have time but the people of Sodom did not repent today but Abraham prayed and said Oh God if I could find 10 people in Sodom that were righteous would you spare Sodom God said yes I will spare Sodom for 10 righteous people but he couldn't find 10 is that amazing couldn't even find 10 oh the power of a dedicated minority 40,000 people here this afternoon is not a big bite out of the population of Chicago but it's enough of a minority dedicated to Christ that could change the tire in Chicago and reverse the trend and change the whole complexity of the city if we were willing to pay it God gave a worm and as the judgment was about to fall and God saved lot and let me tell you this those that know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are going to be saved the Bible teaches that we are going to be saved when the judgment comes we are going to be preserved God saved lot out of Sodom and all the way out of a dying City and a dying world that was under judge but it was already too late Jesus said remember Lot's wife Lot's wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt jesus said to you and me remember Lot's wife and some of you Christians yes you have come out of the sins of the world but you look longingly back come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing we are to for take of the evils of the world we're to live in the world but we're not to protect of its evils well you say Quinn will Christ come when will these things take place jesus said but of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only don't let anybody kid you don't let anybody fool you nobody knows when this will take place but we do know it will take place and there are certain signs that Jesus gave that I do not have time to go into that indicate it may not be too long but we don't know it could be a thousand years we never know how old Christ come first thessalonians tells us for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God in the dead in Christ shall rise first yes there's going to be a resurrection all of those men and women in graveyards that have died in Christ will be raised and the scripture says we're all going to have a reunion in the air what a glorious day that's going to be I live every day in anticipation that today may be the day and to those of us that are in Christ there's no judgment the great white throne judgment will not be ours because the scripture says on the cross Jesus Christ was judged for us he took our sins on the cross who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree he took our judgment therefore there is now no judgment to them that are in Christ Jesus how wonderful not to have to look forward with dread and fear to the judgment it's past Christ took it now I receive him as my Lord and Master and Savior and I know the judgment is past and I'll never hear him say depart from me you cursed I never knew you what should you do about it in view of the fact that Christ is coming in due of the fact that the world is moving toward judgment what should be your attitude what should you do Jesus tells us that - he says in Matthew 24:42 watch therefore for you do not know the hour that your Lord comes the scripture tells us where to look for that blessed hope Paul said comfort one another with these words are you tired discouraged disappointed comfort one another with these words Christ is coming when you die that's not the end of it all some of you have suffered many of you have suffered persecution for Christ's sake you've been almost alone in your community and in your home for Christ the sufferings of this life are not worried that it be compared to the glory that will be ours younger all the way through the scripture he says hold on a little while longer he even endureth to the end it's not long before our glory shall be revealed I shall come and we shall be in the glory with him and then in 1st John 3:3 he says secondly purify yourself and every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is fuel in other words this is the greatest incentive to Christian living I know anything about one of the answers to the church problem today is to start emphasizing the fact that Christ may come and will start living as though he were coming what an incentive to purify ourselves to live for Christ this is no pie-in-the-sky hope this is no pie-in-the-sky religion it affects our daily life here it affects our attitude in every phase of life when we live with hope and expectancy that there is a future this is not the end when iseman died the other night on the gallows in Israel his body was cremated and put in the waters of the blue Mediterranean you said Eichmann is finished no Eichmann is not finished Eichmann still has to appear before our holy God Daniel Webster made a great address in Washington and then sat down a Mitch great applause the Chairman asked him what was the greatest thought that ever crossed his mind Daniel Webster stood up stood there for a moment then then thoughtfully said the fact of my personal accountability to God you mr. Aikman will have to give an account yet to God and so will you and so were you and so will you and the Bible tells us that we will come before God that you will come before God one by one alone to give an account of your life and to give an account of what you did with Christ I believe that we will be able to see the history of this world on a great panoramic screen of some sort and I believe this meeting this afternoon will be there and you will be seated there and the decision you make today will be recorded in eternity what decision are you going to make yes or no will you receive him or not and then lastly Matthew 24:44 therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour she think not the Son of man cometh the scripture says prepare jesus said be ready are you ready but suppose all of these climactic events that are yet to come would not happen in your lifetime what about that the end of the age will happen for you the moment you die that's the end for you as far as this life is concerned and then you face God are you prepared are you prepared are you prepared are you prepared to meet God how do you prepare Jesus made the great preparation on the cross for you every time you take communion you're remembering that his blood was shed for you this cup is the symbolic is the symbol of the blood that we share but now you must respond to God's love and mercy and grace what must you do there must come a time in your life somewhere sometimes when you repent of your sins that means that you acknowledge that you've sinned that you're willing to give up your sins and by faith you receive Christ into your heart that could take place right now at this moment you could receive him you could leave here with the peace and the joy of Christ with a new power to live the life here but with the confidence that if you died or if Christ should come that you're ready to me you can do it right now I'm going to ask you to do it now I'm going to ask hundreds of you to get up out of your seat and come and receive Christ into your heart and make sure that you're ready to meet him I'm going to ask you to do that for this reason Jesus said if you're not willing to confess me before men I'll not confess you before my father which is in heaven Christ died openly for you before hundreds and thousands of people he hung there openly publicly for you certainly you can come and stand publicly to receive you there's something about coming forward that settles it in your heart if you with friends or relatives they'll wait on you say but Billy I'm at the back I know how long it takes we've tested it you can start from the back row and walk as slowly as a crippled person and it only takes you two minutes to get here and after you've all come we're going to have a prayer and diverse of Scripture and say a word to you but you come to death and don't put it all because the Bible says if you harden your heart there may be no remedy my spiritual not always strive with a man you come right now I'm going to ask that our heads about and nobody leaving please no one leaving the auditorium but men women young people just get up out of your seat right now from all over the place hundreds of you and come and stand right here and say today I give my life to Christ I want my sins forgiven I want to be ready for that day that is to come we're going to wait on come from every part of this stadium to receive Christ so you wherever you are in a restaurant in a bar at home can give your life to Christ right now bow your head and say Lord Jesus come into my heart and forgive my sin and make me a new person and if you make that decision I'm going to ask you to do two things first go to church talk to your minister secondly write to me Billy Graham Minneapolis Minnesota and I'll send you some literature the same literature I'm going to give these to help you in your Christian life make that decision now god bless you

Channel: Our Only Hope

Views: 738,258

Keywords: the end times, the 2nd coming, Christ return, joel osteen, pope francis, billy graham

Id: ogrnxYHCh2Y

Length: 40min 43sec (2443 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 06 2016