THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS
15
Ruskin and Shakespeare)— if they had been uninspired men who invented a new religion or a new system Nof theol ogy, they would have done what every ' uninspired man has done when he said something nice and beautiful— they would predict that their messages and what they taught would ultimately be accepted by the whole world and sweep the whole world, but their inspiration is evidenced by the fact that they pre dict the very opposite to that which a natural uninspired man would have predicted. Think .of the apostle Paul, when he said farewell, to the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20:28): “ Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood. v. 29. For I know this that after my depart ing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” He did not say, “ You are going to ' have a big revival and everybody is go ing to be converted and everybody is going to join the church; but, “ after my departing shall grievous wolves en ter in among you, not sparing the flock.” \That was very pessimistic, was it not? He did not speak about a great revival but said, “ Listen, the worst is coming, the worst is coming-—what is going to happen in Ephesus?” and then let me read what Paul has to say in the second chapter of Thessalonians, verse 3, “ Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” So take note that Paul says before the day of Christ comes, there will be a falling away and that man of sin is going to be revealed. Then I read from 1 Timothy 4:1: “ Now the Spirit- speaketh expressly that in the ■latter times some shall depart from the faith, igiving heed to seducing spirits and doc trines of devils.” And ( 2 Timothy 3:1-5): V. 30. “ Also of your .own selves shall men . arise speaking perverse things to draw away dis ciples after them.”
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, , blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, etc., etc. Listen again to Chapter 4:2-4: Preach the word, be ihstant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heaR to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. They sometimes tell me Paul was a sour pessimist, but was he the only pessimist of New Testament Scriptures about the condition of this age? Listen to James in the 5th Chapter where he speaks to the rich man in verse 4: Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” Here you have the root of the mat ter of the high cost of living. It is sim ply a number of deacons and elders in some church who are storing up and ’ storing up and defrauding the poor. Now listen to Peter (2 Peter 2 :1 ): “ But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruc- tion. And John (1 John 2 :18 ): “ Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that anti-christ shall come, even now are there many anti-christs whereby we know that it is the last time.” And once more let me read you a testimony of one who was not an apos tle but a servant of Jesus Christ (Jude 1 : 11 ) : _ “ Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the erro.r of Balaam for reward and perished in the gain- • saying of Core.” And if you continue reading in the book of Revelation, you will find that the Lord Jesus Christ predicts that the last of His professing church on earth will be Laodiceans and that1 the Laodi- ceans will finally make a confederation with the world and become the world church domineered over by the harlot Rome, rejecting every bit of the re vealed truth of God. This is the fore cast of the New Testarhent and no man
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker