Upon Whom the Ends Have Come - 250210

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Kaysie Vokurka. Welcome to Let God Speak. The biblical flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are stories in the Old Testament that occurred thousands of years ago. Are they just interesting historical accounts or is there something much more to them? Stay with us as we discuss these two stories and uncover their message for us today. On our panel today, we have Gayl Fong and Rod Butler. Welcome to the programme. SPEAKER B Hello. SPEAKER C Thank you. SPEAKER A Let's have a little prayer to begin our study today. Dear Father in Heaven, we just thank youk so much for what is in youn Word for us to learn. And we want to invite youe Holy Spirit to be our guide and our teacher now. Thank youk in Jesus name. Amen. A Christian writer wrote, we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us and his teaching in our past history. The Bible is the inspired word of God. It describes how God has led his people in the past and prophesies how he will lead them in the future. It also describes the consequences when his people forget the way the Lord led and followed their own way. And it's in our best interest to examine these stories and learn lessons from them. The Apostle Paul has an important insight into this and we're going to look at this text from First Corinthians 10, 11, 12. Paul is the writer and it's the theme text for this week. And it says now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. So, Gael, what are the examples that Paul is referring to here and what is the main point from this text for us? SPEAKER C Well, Paul is referring to the Israelites time in the wilderness, where they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. And the events he referred to are those calamities that happened to them because of their unfaithfulness and apostasy when they were led, provided for and protected by God Himself because He loved them. And we need to take heed because we don't want the same things to happen to us. So if we take counsel from God's Word, we won't suffer the same consequences. So the key message here is that the stories of the Bible, they've been preserved so that those living in the last days or the years in which we're living right now, that's for us, we can learn vital lessons from them. As verse 11, sin. They're written for our admonition. We need to take instruction from them. SPEAKER A Yes, and it's such a blessing that we have these examples to learn from, isn't it? Let's have a look at an end of the age scenario. It was mentioned in that text. Let's have a look at Revelation 6, 15, 16. And it says, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Now that's a pretty dramatic picture. Are the people in these verses aware that Jesus is returning and that it's the last days? Tell us a bit about that, Rod. SPEAKER B Oh, yeah, they're aware. They know. They know Jesus is coming back and they're terrified. They know they're lost and they know that they've rejected a message of grace for them to change, but they ignored it. And that message was in Revelation 14, the three angels messages, and the whole world gets to know about it. I'd just like to read Revelation 14, verse 6, which is the start of the three angels messages. That goes to verse 11. And it says, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. So everyone is warned that judgement is coming. And these poor folk that you've just read about, they ignored it, they didn't want to know about it and Jesus is coming back and they're terrified. The message for us is don't be those people. SPEAKER A Yeah, absolutely. It's giving us a glimpse of the future and highlighting that we have a choice to make, isn't it? Yeah, very much so. So today we're going to look at two lessons from two, I guess, example stories that. Well, they actually, they're in the Old Testament, they're outside of the time when the Israelites were in the wilderness. And Jesus actually refers to one of these stories in Matthew 24, 38 and 39. So let's have a look at that. It says, for as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Gayl, what did the people in Noah's day actually do. SPEAKER C It was a different world before the flood. Actually, they'd never seen rain before. And in chapter five, it tells us that they lived to mighty ages and like methuselah, lived to 969 years of age. So that's very. That's a great age. So even though the world had been cursed by sin, it was physically beautiful and not yet marred by the upheaval of the flood. So it was. Genesis 6 gives us an insight, though, into the condition of society. And just reading in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5 and also verse 11 and 12, the Bible says, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And then a little further on there in verse 11, the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So it's not a very pretty picture there. And to think that every thought was only evil continually. There was a lot of moral decay. And Jesus said that they went about their business, eating, drinking, marrying, just business as usual before the flood. SPEAKER A Yeah. So obviously there was. God had a problem with this. So what did Noah do to warn about the people of this coming flood, which God had told was going to happen? SPEAKER B Well, Noah actually warned in a number of ways. But I just like to read. There's three texts I just want to bring out very quickly on this. Firstly, in Genesis 6, we have the story of how God instructed him to build an ark. But then in verses 8 and 9 of Genesis 6, it says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. And Noah walked with God. So it was known that Noah was just and walked with God. If we now turn over to second Peter and we want to read chapter two and verse five. So second Peter two, five says, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. So not only was he a just and right man, but he preached righteousness. So he's a preacher. And when you put all these together, had he witnessed, he witnessed by his lifestyle, he was righteous. They would have known that. And he had a relationship with God. Secondly, he preached. He told them what was about to happen. And thirdly, and this is important, he built an ark. He put his effort where his mouth was. Basically, and we have in James 2:17, that faith without works is dead. His faith demonstrated the message, and that was a powerful witness to the people back then that this was going to happen. SPEAKER A And of course, Gayl mentioned before there was no rain had happened at that point. So he's building an ark. Like, what is this? This is a new thing. It would have gotten a lot of. SPEAKER B Attention and given him lots of opportunity to say why he's building an ark when it hasn't Ra. SPEAKER A Yeah, absolutely. So true. So apart from Noah's warnings and actions, which would have been quite compelling, how else were the people warned? SPEAKER C Gayl, it's very interesting. Yes, the people ignored Noah's warnings, but then in Genesis chapter seven, we find when the ark was completed, that we have the account of the great miracle of the clean animals entering into the ark in pairs of seven. And then you had the unclean by two, male and female. So this would have been just as an incredible phenomena in that time. This has never happened before and this is not natural or normal. But the animals obediently went into the ark and into their stalls. So even this miracle didn't convince the people that judgement was imminent, that perhaps what Noah was preaching could happen. They still ignored the invitation to enter. SPEAKER A The ark, which is quite a picture, isn't it, how you've got intelligent beings rejecting a warning, and yet animals who are not as intelligent just obeying God and going right in without any human input. That's quite a scene, isn't it? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER A So is the account of Noah and the ark. Is this story something that's taken seriously today? SPEAKER B No, no, sadly, no. There's geological evidence of a global flood and it depends how you look at that evidence. If you have the mindset that there's been long ages, like the evolutionary theory, you'll adopt a certain interpretation of the evidence. But there's things, for example, in the Grand Canyon that can only be explained by rapid, massive amounts of water. So there's lots of evidence around the world of a global flood. But even Christians, if you believe in, you're ridiculed, even as a Christian. And I find that some Christians don't believe the flood also. They think it's a myth. And yet I find that strange because Jesus himself, of whom we claim to be followers of Jesus himself, believes the flood. It's in the Gospels. So today, unfortunately, it's not taken seriously. It's considered a myth. SPEAKER A Wow. And of course, you know, we are today living just prior to Jesus return according to prophecy. So what are people doing today? SPEAKER C Gayle well, as Jesus predicted, for most people, life goes on regardless. Yes, they have fears of wars and we do have wars in our world at present, but there doesn't appear to be a fear of the return of Jesus or preparation for the second coming of Jesus. They're disregarding that promise. And despite the prophecies, the signs of the times and the warnings from God's people, they take no preparation for this marvellous event that's soon to take place. And Peter writes about it in Second Peter chapter three and verse three and four. And the Bible says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. So it's a disregard for what the Bible is saying and just appearing totally ignorant even though it's shared in the Scriptures. SPEAKER A Hmm, so that sounds very. SPEAKER C Disbelief. SPEAKER A Yeah. Sounds very similar to what the scenario was back before the flood, doesn't it? Yes, which is very alarming. So according to Genesis, Rod the there were only actually eight people who were saved on the ark, Noah and his family, out of potentially who knows how many, but maybe billions and millions of people on the earth at that time, was Noah's preaching of failure. SPEAKER B Well, humanly speaking, if you consider you've been preaching a message for 120 years and the result is that eight people accept that message, I think that's not so good. That's a bit of a failure. But we're talking with God and as I say, with God. One with God is the majority. God doesn't worry about numbers, he worries about people's righteousness. And only eight people being saved also brings in the concept of a remnant, that there's lots of people out there. But we recognise that some people just choose not to follow God. But a remnant will, and this is brought out when we look at Matthew, chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. Again, it highlights that there's a hard road and an easy road, and most people take the easy road. It says, enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. So was he a failure? Well, in terms of numbers, yes. But in terms of what God wanted to achieve, he started again with people that were to be obedient with him. SPEAKER A Mm, true. And I guess we have the record of what he did, don't we? And the lesson for us today. So maybe there's people he never met who will be blessed by his. His example. Is there another lesson from the story of Noah Gale that you have there? SPEAKER C Well, Jesus is telling us here that it's very important the choices that we make, because it's telling us that many may not are not going to heed the warning or make that, that wise choice. So we have to ask ourselves seriously, do we believe the word of God or not? And if we do, then we need to do what God says. And otherwise we too can be caught up in the cares of this world and taken by surprise. And that would be such a tragedy. It says in the words of Luke, Luke chapter 21:34, the words of Jesus again, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with caressing and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come on you unexpectedly. So it's very important day by day to stay awake, to stay connected to God, to know him, the life giver. SPEAKER A Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. So we've talked quite a bit about the story of Noah and the flood, and we're going to move on to the other story that has lessons for us today. And it's interesting. Jesus instructed his disciples to go and preach the message. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, and freely you have received, freely give. And then after that he told them something else In Matthew, Matthew 10, 14, 15. And it says, and whoever will not receive you nor hear your words when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgement than for that city. Now, Jesus is alluding here to, or referring back to Sodom and Gomorrah, which were cities that were severely judged. And what were the problems with Sodom and Gomorrah, Rod? SPEAKER B Well, Sodom and Gomorrah firstly were two or five cities in the vale of Sidim. And back then the conditions were quite different. It was quite green and lush. So it was a good place to have a city. If we turn to Jude and I want to read verses five to eight, there's four verses here, so it's a bit. But it's important to get this. Jude writes, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this how, that the Lord being saved, the People out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved into everlasting change, unto darkness, unto the judgement of the great day. Then it says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going over strange flesh and set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil dignities. Now it's interesting. Sodom and Gomorrah, people thought, you know, do they really exist? Sodom and Gomorrah. In 1975, they found tablets at Ebola. In those tablets, there were thousands of them. In a royal archive, they deciphered some of those tablets and they found there was references to Abraham, to Esau, to Canaan, to Jerusalem, and also references to two cities. Guess what? Sodom and Gomorrah. And also back then on those tablets, they were then known as being sin cities. So even amongst the pagans, they had a reputation of sin. So that's who they were and that's why they're been referred to by Jesus. SPEAKER A Wow. So that was quite a striking name for themselves from that city, wasn't it? Anything else, Gayl, in that city that the Bible gives reference to? SPEAKER C Yes, there is. In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16, verse 49 to 50, just reading those verses, it says, look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw fit. So here the Bible is telling us that, yes, these cities had plenty to eat. They were obviously well provided for, but they had the abundance of idleness. So this idleness led to pride, selfishness and immorality. SPEAKER A And of course, the Bible record is that those cities were destroyed by fire. Now, an important question is the people before the flood had a probation of 120 years. Did the Sodomites have a probation? SPEAKER B I believe yes. If you go Back to Genesis 14, there's an account in Genesis of 4 Kings. They take on the five kings of those cities in the vale of Siddon. And those four kings from the north and the east, they literally wipe out those five kings. They take the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and a lot of their booty, they take that and they march them all up back north. Abraham, who lives in Hebron, is tipped off that his nephew Lot and family have been taken prisoner. So Abraham then gets 318 of his servants. They chase them down, they catch him at Tel Dan, which is about 200 kilometres north. And this is when Abraham, before he has Ishmael, so he's about in his 80 early 80s, about 20 years before he has his first Isaac, first child. And Abraham then has to bring those people back. It's a long walk 200 kilometres back down south. In that time he would have spoken about it. It was an amazing miracle that his 318 servants have just wiped out an army that's just defeated all these kings. And then the king of Sodom, he witnesses the king of Sodom and the fact that those Sodomites had Abraham, they knew he had God with him, living in Hebron, not far away. And Lot lived in their own city for about 20 years, was a constant reminder to the Sodomites that God was there. That is like probation. They had no excuse to know what was right. SPEAKER A Very interesting history there that shows that they did have a chance. Now it says in Genesis 18 and verse 20 and 21, it says that God, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is to going great, God says this and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me. And if not, I will know. So what was God doing by saying this? Gayl? SPEAKER C Well, here in Genesis 18 we have Abraham again involved and God and the two angels in the form of three men, they visit Abraham to inform him of what they're going to do. God knew what the people were doing and he said this for Abraham's benefit to let him know what was about to happen. Because as the Bible says in Amos 3, 7, surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. SPEAKER A We're so glad that God does do that, don't we? He tells and warns ahead of time. So why was it important for Abraham to be informed? SPEAKER B Rod God had a covenant with Abraham and God wanted to show Abraham that he was going to do something. But what he had to do was just Abraham had a chance to talk to God and he interceded for him. There was an intercession where he started with, if there's 50 people in the city, I'll save all the wicked with the righteous. And that negotiation got down to 10 and Abraham thought, well, okay, my nephew's there, Lot and his family. So 10 people is probably the right number. So they agreed on 10. The reason why it was important was it was gave Abraham an opportunity to see that God was just and Abraham could intercede for his people. SPEAKER A Yeah, that's really, really powerful and important. So what actually was the outcome, Gael? SPEAKER C Well, sadly, only Lot and his two daughters were saved from Sodom. Three people. Even though Lot had to be led out by the two angels, Mrs. Lot, she actually Lincoln and she looked back. So there should have been four saved because four came out. But sadly, in her looking back, she turned into a pillar of salt, which the reason is her desire. She's holding onto the things, things that she's left behind. Where her heart was, was still in Sodom. And for that reason, when she was told not to look back, she looks back and thus she loses her life. SPEAKER A So obviously these days we do see very similar conditions, elements of that, like what was in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. So just staying with you for a moment there, Gayl. What, what can we learn from this story? SPEAKER C Well, we can see another example here that where your heart is, there your treasure will be. And there's only a few that actually appear to be on that narrow road that are giving their heart in the right direction here. So three out of a large population. We need to be vigilant, we need to stay faithful and obedient to be part of those that take God at his word. SPEAKER A Absolutely, yeah. Now it's interesting, you know, we see God gave probation for his people before the Flood and he's given it also to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he also told Abraham and Noah what he was going to do. So does God do this every time he's about to execute judgement? SPEAKER B Rod, when you look, look in the Bible, the stories where God does execute judgement, starting with Adam and Eve, he speaks. He speaks. In the case of Adam and Eve, he spoke to them. The serpent was there. There was a public discussion. So, yes, there was an investigation as to what went wrong. When you look at the history of Samaria, the kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem, kingdom of Judah, and there was God sent his prophets to tell them to repent because judgement would come. They didn't repent and judgement did come. And even when you look at King David, who, you know King David sinned, God sent Nathan to query him so David could see judgement was fair in his case. So before God acts, he does do an investigation because he wants all his creator beings to to know that what he's about to do is just, that he's merciful and just. SPEAKER A And that's so important for us to have confidence in his character. Interesting. In Daniel, the Book of Daniel, chapter 7, it talks about a judgement scene. In verse 9 and 10, and particularly in verse 10 it finishes by saying the court was seated and the books were opened. So again, judgement language. Gayl, when does this take place? SPEAKER C Well, yes, we see the next thing he sees is the saints in heaven. It says in Daniel 7:14 that the judgement scene that Daniel sees in vision is therefore immediately before Jesus returns, as the Bible reads there in verse 14 of Daniel 7. Then to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, the one which will not be destroyed. So Jesus returns to bring his rewards with him. So as judgement has already taken place, as in the case of Daniel's vision, there's no doubt that humanity has been judged. So we are accountable for how we live our lives. And God is merciful? SPEAKER A Yes, absolutely. The Bible gives us confidence that God is just and we are so grateful for that. The Old Testament narration of the global flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are more than just a historical account. When studied, they reveal a message of the end times and more importantly, show the love, mercy and justice of God. And of course we are living in the end times during an investigation judgement happening in heaven. And so as we have seen in Daniel, this judgement is good news for those who are following Christ and because they will be found righteous and have eternal life. So thank you for joining us on Let God Speak. Do get in touch with us with your comments and thoughts. We look forward to you joining next time. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.