There is no doubt whatever that we live in perilous times.  Many confess to a palpable sense that humanity is daily drifting deeper into uncharted waters.  Some say that ominous signs of an impending apocalypse are all around us.  But stay tuned—I’m not planning on discussing or even listing these signs today.  Nor will I cite the latest opinion polls gauging public sentiment on where this world is headed.  Neither will I enumerate the challenges confronting crisis managers around the globe or ask how many truly believe that they are up to the job.

For the moment at least, I lay these points aside to focus on matters of even greater importance.  I am interested in two specific human behaviors that reveal the condition of people’s hearts.  These behaviors were first highlighted two thousand years ago by Jesus of Nazareth, and can’t be discussed without knowing what He said and what the context was.  So, accept or reject Him, worship or dismiss Him, let us go back to the source and begin there.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus and His disciples were departing the Jewish temple, when He foretold its violent destruction.  Shocked by this news, some of His disciples later approached Jesus privately to ask about this and the bigger prophetic picture.  Jesus obliged their request, launching into a lengthy and highly detailed dissertation on the end times, during which he said the following:

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  (Matthew 24:37-39)

Jesus brings up a past catastrophe–God’s intervention into human history, bringing judgment by a worldwide flood—to highlight future catastrophic judgment looming over the world of the last days.  Not only were the signs of imminent disaster all there in Noah’s day, but according to the Apostle Peter, Noah personally warned his generation about it while simultaneously building the ark.

“…God spared not the angels that sinned [wrote Peter], but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 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…” (II Peter 2:4-5, emphasis added).

Noah’s mission field was not a promising one.  “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

So it was that despite God’s patience and Noah’s preaching, the message that God’s judgment was coming was greeted with total indifference, complacency and unconcern, eliciting only a collective yawn.  People paid no attention, but kept living as they always had, both men and women, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.”  Right up to the last minute!

Yet what of the phrase, “And knew not until the flood came and took them all away?” It wasn’t that they weren’t warned or didn’t understand.  They simply didn’t BELIEVE that judgment was coming.  They rated this inevitability as having zero possibility, and thus, were not expecting it.  The forecast was for another day of fair weather.  The sun was shining.  Not a cloud in the sky…

Behavior #1: Indifference spawned by unbelief.

Jesus also likened the last days to the days of Lot, Abram’s (Abraham’s) nephew, a righteous man living in the distinctly unrighteous city of Sodom: 

”Likewise also 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.  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”  (Luke 17:28-30)

As in Noah’s case, Peter also expounded on Jesus’ comparison of the days of Lot, to the last days:   

“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation [conduct] of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”  (II Peter 2:6-9)

The attitude of Lot’s neighbors toward Lot and his God is captured in the Bible:

”And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them [carnally].  And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly…

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.  And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.” (Genesis 19:1-7, 9)

Behavior #2: Rebellion, driven by stubborn unwillingness to repent.

At this hour we see a world once again ripe for judgment, with both pathological, insane behaviors (ignoring God’s repeated warnings, and shaking a fist in His face) on full display.  The Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle Paul, wrote:

”For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools… And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind…” [a mind corrupt and unfit for any good purpose]. (Romans 1:18-22, 28a)

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior and the Lord of your life, God is speaking to you right now.  Are you listening?  If you die unsaved, it will not be His fault. His free gifts of pardon and everlasting life sit before you.  You have His warning that judgment is coming for the inhabitants of the earth.  He has given you clear and dramatic examples of those who have persisted in unbelief and ignored his pleas to come in, out of the rain.  Are you paying attention or have you become too “wise?”

Have you already decided that you love the illusory “rewards” of sin too much to turn back, humble yourself and repent?  If so, there may be a reason for that and a process going on that you do not expect and of which you are unaware.  Note the progression: becoming vain (pointless) in your thoughts, darkening and hardening of your heart, thinking that you’re becoming smarter while you’re really becoming a fool, finally turning into a morally bankrupt and thoroughly useless reprobate.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Jesus Christ can set you free.  God loves you, and stands ready to forgive you.  Have you asked Him to?  Don’t delay.  Tomorrow may be too late.  For immediate help, keep reading.  I’m praying earnestly for you right now.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)