THE LAST HOUR

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION
SUNDAY JUNE 30^TH  2024
Sermon by
Pastor MARC  SIMEON

THE LAST HOUR

THEME : THE LAST HOUR

• TEXT 1 JOHN 2: 18-19
• 18 ¶ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
•  19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

INTRODUCTION

• We live in an era where everything is controlled by time.
• Consequently, in almost all new inventions, you will find a clock whether visible or invisible.
• Clock in your car
• Clock in your television set
• Clock in your radio
• Clock in your phone
• Clock in your stove and microwave.
• They will soon put a clock in your shoes as well.
• We don’t just control time by the hour, but we get to the micro seconds as well.
• The clock helps you to see how time is already gone in the day and how much is left.
• The clock helps you to see where you’re at in the 24 hrs spectra.
• When people are checking their clock constantly, it gives the impression that they are anticipating an important event, a date, an interview, a ride, a plane, a food delivery, etc.
• The greater the suspense, the more eager the individual is to keep watch on the clock.
• Sometimes you see people watch their clock, give a shocking facial expression and starts to run.

THE LAST  HOUR

• Although the invention of the clock is modern, but people’s preoccupation with time has been true in all generations.
• The Bible uses the analogy of the clock, to awake our souls on the imminence of the return of Christ.
• 1Jo 2:18 ¶ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
• In our culture, when we say « LAST HOUR » people has a tendency to think of 11PM or 23 Hr military time.
• In our clock system, the day starts at midnight.
• In Jewish clock system, the day starts with sunrise and the night starts with sun set.
• It was necessary to keep the time that way because certain sacrifices needed to be done in specific time with respect of sunrise and sunset.
• When John mentions “Last Hour” it is with respect to the sunrise.
• As Bible students we know that when The Bible talks about the end, it does not necessarily means the end of the world.
• Many a time the end may means the end of a dispensation. The end of an era.
• We are now living in the time of the gentile, the time of the church, the dispensation of Grace.
• This dispensation is about to end.
• The end of this dispensation will be climaxed by a great event called the rupture of the church not the end of the world.
• This is big, big, big. In a clip of a second millions will disappear in the world.
• This is bigger than the flood of Noah or tour of Babel experience.
• This hour is so significant that the Master continues to prepare the church for it.
• For two thousand years, we’ve been giving the same urgent message (Christ is coming Back soon)
• This last hour concerns the church more than any other group.
• The hour represents the consummation of our faith; everything a Christian stands for will be evidenced in that day.
• The true Christians will be recognized on that day.
• The fake Christians, the fake pastors, will be revealed on that day.
• The sheep will be separated from the goat on that day.
• The world as we know it now will change forever after this one event.
• Whether one is a believer in Christ or a non-believer, no one will be able to escape the impact of that event.
• That is why God has kept the church on the alert for 2000 years, so that we can be prepared for it.

THE SIGNS OF THE END ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE.

• In 1John 2:18, we find one of the many indicators.
• 1Jo 2:18 ¶ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

THE TERM ANTICHRIST

• Antichrist is already very prevalent in our world today.
• Antichrist is referred as a person, persons, systems, movements that work together to halt or to stop the salvation of mankind.
• The antichrist will pretend to be the Christ; the antichrist will elevate himself above God; the antichrist with turn against the true Christ.
• John warns us that the antichrist is not a single person, but many persons.
• John tells us that the antichrist is not something of the future, but was already in operation in our world even 2000 years ago.
• There are those who are conscious antichrists commissioned by the devil to attack the church and the good news of salvation.
• There are those who are antichrist unknowingly.
• They find themselves having a great hostility toward Christianity without knowing why.
• They hate Christians, they hate the church, and they hate Jesus passionately without any rational explanation.
• The rapid rise of anti-Christianity movements and sentiment is a leading indicator to tell us the time it is in God’s watch.
• Romans 13:11-12
• 11 ¶ And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
•  12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

SIGNS OF THE LAST HOUR

• 1Ti 4:1 ¶ Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
• 2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
•  4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
• Da 12:4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
• Knowledge about God will increase.
• Knowledge about end-times will increase
• Knowledge in general will increase
• Explosion in knowledge occurs in the 150 years.
• Explosion in technology, in science, in math, in chemistry, in agriculture, in political science, in warfare, in medical science, in electronic.
• FAMINE, MASS ANIMAL DEATH, INCREASE IN NATURAL DISASTERS
•  (As of July 2016, there were around 3,090 earthquakes happening a month.) 
• FAKE WORLD PEACE, WARS
• INCREASE IN SIN (entertainment industry)
• FALSE PROPHETS
• Mt 24:11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many..
• THE GOSPEL BEING PREACHED TO THE WHOLE WORLD
• MAT 24:11-14
• WARNING 2
• Heb 2:1 ¶ Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
• AMEN !