How Do We Know If We Are Living in the End Times?

Good morning, church, how we doing? Come on. Our savior lives, amen? Amen, hey, my name is Zach White and I'm a resident at this church for one last day. And I cannot believe that this 10 months is coming to a close. I am so thankful that God brought me here to learn and be poured into by leaders and pastors who are determined to develop this next generation, specifically John Green and Derek Davidson, our fierce leaders of the residency this past year. Us residents, we came in from all across the country, literally coast to coast. I'm from Little Rock, Arkansas, Woo Pig Sioux, come on. I am so thankful to the Barnetts, my host home, who let me live with them for the past 10 months. I am so thankful for the church body all of you guys who have invested into the mission of Harris Creek, which has invested into me, which has laid the foundation for what I hope to be, what I get to do for the rest of my life. It was a special moment being commissioned, prayed over alongside my fellow residents just a few minutes ago, who I consider some of my closest friends now. And that just makes sense because we were in the grinder together this past 10 months.

I don't even know how many books we read. We read the Bible in 90 days. We had to read in order to teach. We had spontaneous presentations. We had semester presentations. We had round table debates. It was loaded and we all individually were in our own ministries. I had the lucky privilege of learning under Nate, the great, Hilgenkamp with the net, our young adults ministry here at Harris Creek. And it was amazing. And if that sounds like a lot, it's because it was. We got to do a lot of things and we got to learn a lot. And while that is true, while we got to do a lot of things, one thing that we were taught and reminded of over and over and over again is simply that ministry, everything we do as ministers, revolves around one thing, helping people know Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him. Why? Why is that what everything revolves around? Helping people know Jesus and grow with Jesus. Why? Because whether you like it or not, everyone in this room,

every single person in the world, one day will be face-to-face with their creator. And as C.C. Wynon says, today could be the day. Jesus is coming back. Jesus is returning. And when He does, we want you, we want ourselves, we need to be ready. Amen. And that's actually what we're going to be talking about this morning. We have a series at the church called Big Questions where the congregation, you guys, you vote and you write on, you write and you vote on the big questions that you want us to address. And the next highest voted question is, how do we know if we are living in the end times? Now, some of you, when you hear that question, you think I've been waiting for this moment. I have been waiting. You're so excited. And you're like, what do we believe? Are we post-Trib? Are we pre-Trib? Are we mid-Trib? And while the main point of this message is not to take a hard stance on that in particular, I'll tell you what I've come to learn is that I think I'm pan-Trib.

It's all gonna pan out in the end. Amen. Because Jesus is coming back. And then there are others of you that when you hear this topic, you have heard and you have quoted for a long time that since no one knows the day or the hour, you have been tempted to believe. Since no one knows, it's not even worth talking about. It's not worth getting into. It's not worth studying. And for you, listen to these two statistics that I read this past week. The second coming of Jesus in the last days is the second most frequently mentioned topic in the whole Bible, 318 times in the New Testament alone. Number two, this is astounding. The season of Jesus's second coming, the season of the last days, the season of the end times awaiting his return, that season is the most written about time period in all of scripture. God put this in his word. word for a reason. He's not being extraneous, he is being explicit. So we would do well not to shuck it off to the side but to address this head on and look in the scriptures, in the vast teachings in scriptures about the last days and about his return. Now, before we dig in, this might shock you.

I'm going to go ahead and answer the question right off the bat. How do we know if we are living in the end times? Well, one, we are. We are living in the end times. We're going to throw up some scriptures on the screen. I'm not going to go through all of them but you can take a quick picture on it if you want to test me on this later. Look at what scripture has to say about the fact that we are living in the end times. If the apostles and the writers of the New Testament were living in the end times, then we are as well. They said it 2000 years ago and today we are 2000 years closer and we need to be ready. If you have our Bibles, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 24. Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 24 with me. We're going to see the teaching is that we, the church, are not to be led astray or alarmed. That we need to endure and we need to take the gospel to the nations. That will be the outline for today. If you have asked the big question, how do we know when the last days are? How do we know if we are living in the end times? I want you to know that you are in good company because the disciples, they asked Jesus the very same question.

So we get to see the way that he responds and that's how we will respond this morning as well. Starting in verse 23, or starting in verse three, sorry, 24, chapter 24, verse three. As he, Jesus, sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples, they 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? And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ and they will lead many astray and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed for this must take place but the end is not yet. Now in verse one and two, we see that Jesus gives a prophecy that the disciples, they're saying these things. We see that these things refers to the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem. That prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 when the temple was destroyed. But when the disciples, when they heard Jesus prophesy this, they correlated it to the end of the world. So the question remains the same. They're saying, Jesus, when will these things be and when is your second coming? What is the sign of your return? And that is the question that we are asking. And Jesus, he gives two interesting exhortations

in response to that question. He says, see that you are not led astray and do not be alarmed. So that is our first point for this morning. The church is not to be led astray or alarmed. Now, this is interesting. The disciples, they asked when, when, how do we know? What's the sign that you're coming back? And Jesus answered them in verse four. He said, see that no one leads you astray. So they're asking about when, but Jesus is giving them the how. He's less concerned with speculation and more concerned with preparation. Jesus, he knows that they will be living in the end times. And his concern is I don't want you to be led astray or distracted. I want you to be prepared and focused. In the last days, there is going to be and is a lot of this, a lot of noise in this world. And Jesus is saying, look at me, son and daughter, don't be distracted. Now, my college career started off by playing baseball at my dream school, the University of Arkansas. And something that they do is they send you over the summer to play in a summer collegiate league so that during the off season, you can stay hot, you can stay fresh and get reps and play games. And so I was sent to a league in Minnesota. And there was one thing in particular

that I did not like about the league that I was sent to. They were all about entertaining the fans. Think about Savannah Bananas. And one thing that they would do to entertain the fans is they would have, the home teams would designate an opposing player as the beer batter. And the beer batter, if he struck out, then all of the home fans, they would get a free beer. Now, all the kids would get a free root beer. Call me the most unlucky person because every time, it seemed like every time I was on the away team, I would be chosen and designated as the beer batter. Now, what this would look like is I would step up to the plate and they would just be screaming. They would be hollering my name. They'd be calling out my number, saying all the worst things about me. They'd say, do it. but for us, strikeout for us. And I would step up to the plate. They would be playing Luke Combs, long neck ice cold beer throughout the whole at bat, or they'd play Toby Keith's red solo cup throughout the whole at bat. And I'm sitting there and I'm trying to have an at bat and trying to keep my eye on the ball. I wish I could say that I was made for that moment and I had ice in my veins, but I struck out almost every time.

It was humiliating. I would walk back to the dugout unsuccessful because though I was trying to focus on the ball, I couldn't because it was so loud. There was so much chaos and I would walk back unsuccessful. Church, in this race of life, there is going to be noise, chaos, confusion, hardships, distractions, but Hebrews 12 tells us to run this race of life as our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith. So that means in order to finish this race, we must keep our eyes on him. Don't let the chaos and the distractions in this world let you take your eye off the ball. Jesus says in the end times, some are going to be led astray by deceit, by empty and false teachings, tossed to and fro by the waves of every YouTuber and TikToker's speculation and clickbait speculation. Jesus is saying, don't be alarmed. Don't fall into this alarmism, wars and chaos and turmoil does not mean that God has lost control. And it also does not mean that the end has immediately arrived. Jesus says, these things must happen, but the end is not yet. He says, look to me, stay focused on me,

your counselor and your guide, not the world. So what should we do in the meantime to not be led astray or alarmed? Know the truth. Know the truth to not be led astray or alarmed. We already mentioned how many times God puts this in his word, not so we can shuck it aside, but so that we can know the truth. So point one, we are not to be led astray or alarmed by the distractions in this world. You can spend time in your quiet time in prayer to the Lord, asking him that he would give you a sound mind in the midst of the noise of this world. You can start reading the book of Revelation, which it's easy sometimes to avoid that book, but it's there for a reason. Start digging into that book in the last days with your quiet time, with your groups, with people that you trust, and you will be all the better for it. Know the truth so that we might not be led astray or alarmed. Let's jump back in in verse seven. Jesus, he says, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And all these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

Birth pains, meaning that they will increase in frequency and intensity as time goes on, just like birth pains. Verse nine, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. That's some pretty serious stuff. In Jesus, he says that his church will be marked by endurance, even through some really hard things. So point two, the church is called to endure. The church is called to endure. For 2,000 years, for the last 2,000 years, there have been wars and famines and earthquakes and persecutions and Christian martyrdom and false prophets and false Christs. All these are happening today, yes, but these are not new signs that are unique to our generation or some future generation. This is just the reality, the characteristics of living in the end times. In Jesus, in verse nine, he says, they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations. Why?

For my name's sake. You will be hated because people know that you belong to Jesus. My question for you is, do people know that you belong to Jesus by the way that you are in the workplace, in the classroom, because you are a radical evangelist at the gym, because you stand on capital T Truth and even on social issues and you refer, you refuse to compromise truth. Ruth, for tolerance, is that you? Do people even know that you are the bride of Christ, that you belong to Jesus? Listen, I'm a young adult. So that means that I'm in a season of so many weddings. I feel like I get a wedding invitation almost every other week, and I haven't had a girlfriend in five years. It's amazing. And hear me, hear me, hear me. Let me tell you what I've never seen. With my friends or my family that's getting engaged, I'll tell you what I've never seen. You wanna hear what I've never seen? I'll tell you what I've never seen is the bride-to-be hide her ring. I've never seen it. In fact, it's the opposite. It's like, hey, how you doing?

She's like, hey. It's the opposite. And you know why? Because she's proud. And she's like, I belong to him. I'm taken. I'm proud of who I belong to. And church, this is what I believe is that in the Western American church, as the bride of Christ, we have gotten really good at hiding our ring. We are to be marked by radically following Jesus. And when we do radically follow Jesus, he won't leave you hanging. He's gonna empower you by his spirit to endure whatever persecutions and consequences that we're lucky enough to suffer on behalf of our Savior, because we belong to him. We are his. Can we just be crazy for Jesus? Can that be us? We are to be marked by, we are going to be marked by a world that hates us merely by our affiliation with our Savior, whom the world also hated. What a privilege. Jesus, he continues in verse 10. He says, many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Love will grow cold. Jesus says, in the last days, people will betray, people will hate, and people will fall away. In fact, the very thing that grows cold is love. He says, the love of many will grow cold. Recently in our series for the love of God, JP, our lead pastor, he taught that to not let our love grow cold, we must stay close to the fire. To not grow cold, we must stay close to the fire, to remain on fire, you must remain with the fire. And so in order to do that, remain, our exhortation is remain with your community that is on fire with Jesus. And secondly, remain in fellowship on a daily basis with Jesus, who is himself an all-consuming fire. The Greek word for endure is hupomeno, hupomeno, which literally means to remain. So if you want to endure, no matter what life throws your way, lock arms with your community and with God. Remain close to the fire and your love will not grow cold. You will endure. So point two, the church is called to endure. Let's jump back into the text at verse 14. Jesus, he says, in this gospel of the kingdom, will be proclaimed throughout the whole world

as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. This gospel will be proclaimed. An action word, it's not airborne like a disease. It must be taken there by proclamation to all nations. And then the end will come. So point three, the church takes the gospel to all nations. How do we know if we are living in the end times? We are. How do we know when the very, very, very end, the return of Jesus is coming? He tells us when the gospel is taken to all nations. Because it is the will of our God that Jesus does not come back for an incomplete bride. He's coming back, but not for an incomplete bride. There are signs, there are seasons, but he is coming back for the fullness of his bride. We're going to the nations, baby. Come on. And the gospel that we take to the nations is the truth that God himself in Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, went from heaven into earth, came down to earth, the incarnate God, and he lived the perfect life. And he died on the cross as if he had committed your sin and your sin and your sin and your sin and my sin and the sin of the world and all who would believe in him. And he died on that cross. He was tortured, he was whipped, he was beaten, he was mocked, and he was thrown in a grave,

but he didn't stay in that grave. Three days later, Jesus Christ rose from the grave, defeating sin, death, and Satan. He ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. And the Bible teaches that if we believe, if we make him the Lord of our life and we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, then we will be saved, hallelujah, hallelujah. That's the good news. That's the message that we are taking to all nations, all nations. The Greek word for nations is ethne, which is where we get ethnicity, which is people groups. So there isn't a race on earth that is excluded from the redemption plan, the salvation plan of our savior. Not a race on earth. It's the same Greek word that Jesus uses in the great commission when he says, go therefore and make disciples of all ethne, of all nations. So did you know, church, that we can participate in ushering in the return of Jesus? He tells us, he says to go and proclaim the gospel to all nations. And once this gospel reaches all nations, then the end will come. Where are we?

Where are we? Well, there's a section of the world called the 1040 window that has 97% of the unreached people groups on the earth, which is someone who's never heard the name of Jesus. They have no access to the name of Jesus, even if they wanted to know. 97% of the unreached people groups in one section of the world consists of 3.4 billion people, 6,000 unreached people groups. How are we doing? How are we doing? I think we're trying to ask the big, great question, when Jesus is like, don't forsake the big, great commission. It's the mission that's been entrusted to the church. And get this, this is cool. I noticed this for the first time. Throw verse nine back up on the screen. What are we going to? Nations that Jesus says will hate us. Matthew 24, verse nine, you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Jesus is a boss. We don't respond to hate the way the rest of the world does. They give us hate, and we give them the greatest gift and message of all time. Some of you, you might be thinking, that's so great for you. I'm so happy you are called.

I'm glad missions is your thing. It's just not my thing. I'm not called. And I think Jesus would say, you don't need a call when you have a command. John Piper, he said, go or send or disobey. Go to the nations or send people to the nations or be disobedient. I'm going to add welcome because there is a piece of technology that we have today that Jesus didn't have back in his day. It's called an airplane. And these airplanes have brought international students from the 1040 window all the way to where we are today. The nations that have no access have actually been flown to our very cities. The nations are around us. I went to the University of Arkansas and there was a student there who had just learned about God's massive heart to redeem all nations to himself. And he said, I want to participate. How can I participate? And so he got plugged in with this ministry and he met this Chinese student who had never heard the name of Jesus. And he goes, I want to befriend you. Well, unfortunately the student had come up on his time in America. He had spent two years studying and he was like,

oh, in fact, I'm about to go back home to my family. And so the guy, he said, okay, well, I still have one last way I would like to serve you. I will pick you up and drive you to the airport. And so the Chinese student, he agreed. He said, okay, I'll let you take me to the airport. Well, he arrived at his house and this student, he just kept coming out of his apartment with bags and bags and duffel bags and duffel bags, just filling his car. And the guy was like, why do you have so many duffel bags? And the Chinese student, he said, oh, well, they're souvenirs. To which the American student said, oh, you must have made a lot of friends to bring back so many souvenirs back to your family in China. To which the Chinese student said, oh, oh no, I actually brought these from China and I was going to give them out to my American friends that I made here when I was studying over the past two years and I never made one friend. And it broke the American student's heart and it broke my heart the day that I heard that and I hope it breaks your heart. Listen, church, God is asking you to participate in reaching all nations. We haven't been going to them. God's sending them to us and we're still not reaching out. I think it's time we do something differently, amen?

I think it's time that we look around and we see the nations all around us and we say, amen, come over to my house. Let me tell you about the greatest message of all time. Go, send, or welcome. If you want to take your first step today, we're going to throw a graphic up on the screen. I highly recommend you take a picture of it. If you want to go, think about this. Billions of people will live and die without ever getting a chance to hear the good news of Jesus. Have you ever asked God if you should go to them? We have a team ready to help you discern your next step. You can reach out to tothenationsatharriscreek.org. You can send missionaries financially. We have multiple goers, missionaries that we are sending to the nations from right here. And if you want to partner with them financially, you can email tothenationsatharriscreek.org to connect with them. You can also send missionaries to the nations by prayer. Get this, Jesus, he says in Luke chapter 10, verse two, he says, the harvest is plentiful of people who don't know me. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers to his harvest field. You would think he would say the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, so get off your butts, there's things to do.

But no, Jesus, he says the harvest is plentiful. The nations need to hear, so pray. If you want to pray in the will of God like JP talked about last week, pray for God to raise up laborers to go into all nations. And then finally, you can welcome. The nations are around you. I'm looking at you, Baylor students. The nations are in your classrooms, move toward them. So point three, the church takes the gospel to all nations. In summary, the church is not to be led astray or alarmed. The church is called to endure. And the church takes the gospel to all nations. One of the greatest blessings of the residency program has been getting to learn and glean from a pastor that I've looked up to for a long time in JP. And he has a burden and a heart, a passion for raising up young leaders and young communicators. And one of the ways that he does that is by having porch conversations. We will go to his house and just talk life, talk shop. And it was very early on in the residency. Like I had just arrived and we were sitting on his back porch. To be honest, I was like confiding in him. I was being vulnerable. I was asking questions and I'll just be honest with you. I was telling him, I was like, JP, I really want to be married.

I want to find a wife. Like I want to be married. And JP, he stopped me and he looked at me and he said, Zach, you're not ready to be married. I was like, thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. He said, you're not ready to be married. But then he looked at me and he said, Zach, I am so confident that God has brought you to this residency for a reason. He said, I'm so confident of that because God wants to prepare you. He said, you are in a season of preparation. And church, he was right. And two, we are the bride of Christ. We are the bride. Jesus is the bridegroom. And scripture says that Jesus is at the door, that he's waiting to come back for his bride. For his bride. And I can just imagine that Jesus is looking to the father and he's like, I want to be married. I want to go gather my bride, father. Let me go get them. I want to be married. Let me go get my bride. And I can just imagine that the father's looking back at Jesus and he's saying, you will, you will be married, but not yet because they're not ready. They're in a season.

of preparation, one, in holiness, and two, in completion, because we have got work to do in bringing the gospel to all nations to make sure that our Savior comes back for a full bride, for an amazing wedding day. We have hope as believers in Jesus. We get to look forward to his return. Scripture says, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you may be full of confidence and not shrink back from him in shame. Scripture says that since Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, he will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Church, are we eagerly waiting for him? Are we eagerly, yeah, amen. Are we eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus for our wedding day with the Savior? Are you locking your eyes on Jesus so that you might not be led astray or alarmed in the chaos and the noise and the confusion of this world so that you might not be led astray or alarmed? Are you locking arms with the fire of your communities and the all-consuming fire, God himself, in prayer and in his word so that no matter what's going on in this world, nor trials nor tribulations, you might be able to endure? And finally, while you're eagerly awaiting the return of Jesus, are you living on mission for his name's sake?

If you're hated, so what? Scripture says to be hated and persecuted for his name, we are extra blessed. What a privilege to know our Savior, to wait on our Savior, and to live on mission for our Savior. Let me pray that that would be what we would do. Father, we are so thankful to gather together as the church, the bride, we are eagerly waiting for you to return. Jesus, we are not people who are living life with no hope, but we are people who have the hope of the world. Holy Spirit, anoint this room and every head in this room to take the gospel to all nations. Jesus, we are living in the end times, the last days, you are at the gate. May we live every single day with eager anticipation for what you are wanting to do in this world. Gosh, the gospel is the greatest message of all time. Jesus, I pray if there's any person in this room or under the sound of my voice, wherever they are, that has not received the gospel by faith and placed their trust in you, Jesus, that you would open their eyes right now. Open their eyes, soften their hearts, humble their spirits that they might say, I'm a sinner and I'm in need of a Savior, but I don't have to have no hope. I can be saved right now. And now the greatest wedding day that I await

is the wedding of my Savior when he comes back to save me and to gather his people to dwell in his presence forever. Jesus, we can't even comprehend how good you are. Would you move in our hearts and may we respond in worship accordingly. You deserve all the glory. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.