Full text of Derek Prince’s sermon titled “Pressures, Tests & Challenges – Prophetic Guide To The End Times, Pt 3”
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TRANSCRIPT:
Derek Prince – Bible Teacher
So our proclamation now is in light of the fact that we are going to study the events leading up to the close of this age. It’s a prayer that Paul prayed for the Thessalonians and he prayed it you, we’re praying it for you and us, so we say we instead of you.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: ‘Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify us completely and may our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls us is faithful who also will do it.’ Amen.
Now without any further introduction, we’re going back to where we finished last time. We don’t have time to do any recapitulation. You must do that in your own time if it’s necessary.
THE END TIMES WILL BE LIKE THE DAYS OF NOAH
We stopped at Matthew 24 verse 34 and 35. So we’re going on now at Matthew 24 verse 36 speaking about the day of His coming in glory and power, Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
And another text which is followed by the New International Version says, ‘not even the Son’. But to confirm that, we’ll turn to Mark chapter 13 verse 32, which is the parallel scripture.
Mark 13:32, Jesus says, ‘But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.’ That’s a wonderful thought. This is a secret that’s only known to one person in the universe, and that is God the Father. It’s God’s secret. And it says no one else knows the day or the hour.
I’ll point out to you in a little while we may know the times and the seasons, but the day and the hour is God’s secret. And I have to say I think it’s extremely presumptuous of teachers or prophets or preachers, whoever they are, to claim to know what only God the Father knows. In my opinion that’s arrogance. And arrogance is one of the sins that’s most hateful to God.
And I also marvel at the number of Christians, quote, Bible believing Christians, that can actually be fooled by that kind of prophetic utterance. And the reason is they don’t know the prophetic Scriptures as they ought to do.
So we’ll go on now in the next few verses of Matthew 24, verses 37 through 39.
‘But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 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.’
Now there’s a parallel passage in Luke chapter 17, which amplifies that a little. And it will pay us to turn there… Luke 17:26-30.
Luke 17:26-30: ‘And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.’ And I want you to notice the repetition of the little word ‘all’ in every one of these passages, it occurs, it’s the last word.
‘Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.’
So Jesus there amplifies a little of what is said in Matthew 24, and not only as it was in the days of Noah, but also as it was in the days of Lot. And we will not turn there in our Bibles, but the key to understanding that is found in Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 through 12 and Genesis 19 verses 4 through 5, which describes the situation in the world in the time of Noah, and the situation in the city of Sodom in the time of Lot.
MAIN FEATURES CONCERNING THAT PERIOD
And I will briefly outline the main features revealed by Scripture concerning that period. First of all, in the days of Noah, the Scripture reveals four major features.
Satanic infiltration
Number one, there was satanic infiltration of the human race by satanic angels who came and cohabited with human women. Satanic infiltration is the key phrase.
Corrupted thought-life
And then number two, their whole thought life was corrupted. Every intent of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually.
Sexual perversion
Number three, there was sexual perversion, it says all flesh had corrupted its way. That’s the Bible’s way of saying that the sexual relationships had become abnormal and perverse.
Violence
And fourth, the earth was filled with violence.
I think perhaps we need to pause and meditate on those four features of the time of Noah: Satanic infiltration, corrupted thought life. And in our day, I would say, one of the main instruments that Satan has used to corrupt our thought life is the television. I’m not preaching against television, I’m just saying it is a main instrument that Satan has used to corrupt the thought life of, I suppose, billions of people. And most of it initiated in the United States.
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