1 John 2:18-23 Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists… I. My hearers are coming nearer their LAST BUSINESS DAY. Men will ask about you, and say, "Where is so-and-so?" And your friend wilt say, "Have you not heard the news?" and will take a paper from his pocket and point to your name on the death list. If things are wrong they will always stay wrong. No chance of correcting a false entry, or repairing the loss done to a customer by a dishonest sample, or apologising for the imposition inflicted upon one of your clerks. II. Men are coming nearer to their LAST SINFUL AMUSEMENT. A dissipated life soon stops. The machinery of life is so delicate that it will not endure much trifling. III. Men are coming nearer to their LAST SABBATH. IV. We come near THE LAST YEAR OF OUR LIFE. The world is at least six thousand years old. Sixty thousand years may yet come, and the procession may seem interminable; but our own closing earthly year is not far off. V. We are coming nearer THE LAST MOMENT OF OUR LIFE. That is often the most cheerful moment. John Howard talked of it with exhilaration, and selected his own burial place, saying to his friend, "A spot near the village of Dauphiney would suit me nicely." It is a poor time to start to get your house insured when the flames are bursting out of all the windows; and it is a poor time to attempt to prepare for death when the realities of eternity are taking hold of us. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. |
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