Okay, we're going to be looking
at Matthew chapter 24. And the topic is, you know, you might
look at this and you say, well, it's a very negative topic. We're
going to begin at verse 15 of Matthew 24. And let's just read
that verse for example. Now Christ had already he'd prophesied
here in this chapter, number one of the first of the destruction
of the temple and the events leading up to that destruction.
And he gave them what was going to happen during that period,
and then he extended it. Later on, he extended it to the
whole time of the new covenant, the gospel covenant. and up to
his second coming. And I put this in your lesson,
he spoke of mass deception by false messiahs and false prophets
preaching false gospels. And I'll tell you, that's probably
more than any other thing. When we talk about the last days,
Christ said there'd be wars and there'd be rumors of wars, be
pestilence, illness, all of that. He said, like in the days of
Noah. In other words, basically things
aren't going to change. Now somebody says, well they
may intensify, and they may, but it's going to go on like
it always has been. People say, well our days are
worse than the past. No, they're not. It's always
been like this. Now we do have TV, you know,
we can bring it into our living rooms today and all of that.
We see more, we're aware of more, but this world has always been
cursed with sin. And there's never been a time
of righteousness on this earth as a whole. The only time of
righteousness is what God has given His people in Christ by
His grace. And that time that he spent on
this earth and his suffering unto death, you remember what
he said at his baptism, he said, this is to fulfill all righteousness. And we who know him, we stand
before God righteous in Christ. But here's a couple things that
we need to take in mind when you talk about the last days.
You talk about all the false Christians, all the false gospels. Number one is that many professing
Christians will be, as Christ said, offended. He mentioned
that in the first part of Matthew 24. And they would apostatize
from the faith, revealing that they'd never really been converted.
John spoke of that in 1 John chapter two, he said, He said
that there'll be many who will leave, they will forsake their
profession of the true gospel now. And there he's not, apostasy
is falling away from something. So let's say a person who grew
up under a false gospel and continued in their life under a false gospel,
they didn't fall away. They never were professing to
believe the true gospel. You know, this day of freewillism
and universal atonement and salvation conditioned on sinners, that's
not even close to the true gospel. So a person who grows up in that
and lives and dies in that, they didn't apostatize. They never were. Never were,
according to the Bible, professing believers. That was all false
gospel. But what John was talking about
in 1 John 2 is that those who profess to believe what we know
and believe is the truth, falling away from it. And they didn't
lose their salvation, but they revealed that they never were
saved to begin with. And you can read that in 1 John
2, 18 and 19, Hebrews 10. There's other passages that you
can look at for that. So there'll be a time of great
apostasy, and the Apostle Paul describes it in detail in 2 Thessalonians
chapter two. And he tells the Thessalonians,
he says, they were convinced that Christ was coming back in
their day. And many of them did some bad
things, unscriptural things in light of that. And he told him,
he said, I've told you this before, that before Christ comes back,
there'll be a great apostasy, a great falling away of the church. And what that is, it's when Satan
and Antichrist, he mentions Antichrist, and he says there's many of them,
not just one, and not occupying the White House or the Capitol
building, but they will occupy the churches and bring it into
a false gospel. And that's what we're gonna be
talking about is the abomination of desolation. That's the current
abomination of desolation. And I'll get to that. I'll deal
with that more next week than this week, Lord willing. But
many professing believers will fall away. And again, they reveal
they never believed the truth. But the second thing that he
mentions is that God's true children, the elect, the sheep, whom God
chose before the foundation of the world and gave to Christ,
put all of the responsibility of their salvation upon Him,
all conditioned on Him, and those for whom He died and was buried
and arose again. He says they will all, without
fail, persevere unto the end. They will not fall away. And
the reason is, is not because they're better, than anybody else, it's because
God won't let them go. Christ said that in John 10.
He said, they hear his voice and they'll follow him and no
one shall pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father
are one. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh me I will in
no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that
sent me that of all whom he hath given me I will lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. So the reason that those who
are truly saved persevere in the faith is because of the grace
and the power and the goodness of God. It's not because of our
goodness. It's because we're, well, think
about it. We cannot be charged with our
sins because they were charged to Christ. And so if we're not
charged with sin, we can't be condemned. And the reason we
can't be condemned is that Christ died. He was condemned in our
place. And he drank damnation dry. He suffered unto death and he
brought, all our sins are forgiven on the just ground of the blood
of Christ. and we stand before God righteous. So that's what
he's talking about. Now, one other thing, before
we get into verse 15, is Christ also said, if you look at verse
14 of Matthew 24, he says, and this gospel of the kingdom, now
not a false gospel, but this gospel of the kingdom, shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations,
and then shall the end come. That is the end of the age. the
second coming of Christ. Now, why is that? Well, that's
related to the promise that God made to Abraham when he said,
in thee shall all nations be blessed. And what that's simply
telling us is that God has a people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, and they're going to hear the gospel. They're
going to be born again. They've been chosen. They've
been justified before God based upon the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And they're going to hear the gospel. They're going
to be born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works and idolatry. That's what 2 Peter
3 is about. You know, what is that verse,
2 Peter 3, 8 is it? Or 3, 9? It says that God is
not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness,
but He is, it's His will. that they all should come to
repentance. He's not willing that any of
them should perish. He's talking about the sheep there, talking
about God's elect there, those for whom Christ died. They're
not gonna perish, but he'll bring them to repentance, and he'll
bring them to repentance through faith in Christ. But now look
at verse 15. When you therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation, Now that's the title of this
lesson, The Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet. And Daniel spoke of this three
times. I've got them listed there, Daniel 927, Daniel 1131, and
Daniel 1211. And what he quotes of Daniel
is from Daniel chapter 12 concerning this abomination of desolation.
Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. Now
the holy place here literally is the holy of holies in the
temple. And of course you know all about
that. You know how the tabernacle that was given, the plans given
to Moses and they constructed it. You had the outer court with
the brazen altar where the sacrifice was made. You had the holy place
where the priest went in, only the priest of Levi went in and
did the service of God. In there you had the table of
showbread, the candlestick, the wash basin, all of that. And
all of these things now were pictures of Christ. Now, on the
whole, the nation didn't see that. Some did, a few, a remnant. But they were pictures of Christ
and how God saved sinners. And then you had the veil, and
behind that veil was the holiest of all, where it had the Ark
of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat. Remember how the high priest
would go in one time a year on the Day of Atonement and sprinkle
the blood from off the brazen altar? And what is Christ to
his people? He's our mercy seed. The seed
of all mercy. And it's all by his blood, his
death. And so all that. All right, he
says here, when you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy
place, whoso readeth, let him understand. And the word abomination
refers to profanity, corruption, and idolatry. That's what an
abomination is. Desolation describes the ruination
and the destruction and the obliteration that comes as the result of abomination. That's what that is. And this
abomination and this ruination and all of this The abomination
of the unbelieving Jews, for example, had left the temple
and the whole city of Jerusalem desolate. And so many times the
apostle describes that. You remember in Galatians chapter
four, he speaks of Jerusalem below and Jerusalem above. The nation Israel, God gave them
that covenant that was centered, that old covenant, that was centered
around the Ten Commandments to show them their sinfulness, and
he gave them that ceremonial law in the covenant, the tabernacle,
the priesthood, the sacrifices, the altar. And it was all to
show them the impossibility of salvation based upon their works. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. And it was given as a picture
of Christ the blood of the Lamb, the spotless Lamb of God, dying
for the sins of His people. Remember how the priest would
lay his hand on the sacrifice, that spotless Lamb. That was
a picture of sin imputed to Christ, and then His death and His righteousness
imputed to us. So, all of this had come to a
point in their history where it literally meant nothing. It
was a desolate place. And so the abomination and this
destruction of the Jews had left Jerusalem and the temple desolate. And you know what kind of shape
it was in. I talked about this last week, how this is the third
temple, which was an addition to the second temple. But there
was no Ark of the Covenant, no mercy seat there. I think some
scholars say that there's just a big rock in there. And I don't
know. But you know what happened when
Christ died, the veil was rent in two. The old covenant actually
ended when Christ gave up the ghost, breathed his last breath
as a sinless human being. And when he died, he said, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. And when he gave his last breath,
the veil was torn in two from top to bottom. And what did those
so-called priests do in that day? They sewed it back together
and tried to maintain that worship. Well, that's an abomination and
it's significant. It's the abomination that left
that temple, left that city, left that desert. Now, here's
the thing. It was all impressive to men
But what do we read in Luke 16, 15? That which men esteem highly
is an abomination to God. And so that event in history
in AD 70 is when that temple was destroyed. And I'll show
you something about that in a minute. Christ spoke here of the destruction
of the temple, destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the
Romans that would take place in AD 70, long after the old
covenant had been abolished by way of fulfillment, or at least
40 years after that. And so that gave providential
and historical proof of three things, and I've got these listed
in your lesson. Number one, It spoke visibly
that no sinner could be saved by their works and their efforts
in religious dedication and exercise. Can't be done. Again, deeds of
law, no flesh justified. Secondly, it spoke that the old
covenant was finished by the fulfillment of all things in
the person and work of Christ in the new covenant age. And
that had begun with the gospel. Old covenant's gone, abolished.
And now the new covenant, and remember what the new covenant
is. It's the establishment in time of the everlasting covenant
of grace made before time. So the new covenant is new in
time, but it's the process and all the elements of an everlasting
covenant of grace, God between the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit before time. So we're realizing it now, we're in the
new covenant age. And then thirdly, let me see
if I can find it, yeah, thirdly, it shows that God is faithful
both to his promises and to his threats. God is faithful. He doesn't change his mind. God
saves sinners based upon the righteousness of Christ alone,
the blood of Christ alone. And he condemns sinners based
on anything else. So without Christ, where are
we? Those who live and die without
Christ, without being washed in his blood, without having
his righteousness imputed, without having been born again and brought
to faith in Christ, they're condemned. But what does the Bible tell
us about God's people? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. So he told his disciples, Don't
be too impressed. You know, the whole thing started.
You remember what he said? Look at verse one of Matthew
24. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples
came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. It's
almost like they were saying, look at these, you know, look
at all this beauty. And what he's telling us, don't
be too impressed by this. This is an abomination. It's
desolate. It's idolatry. And these things,
first of all, these things were always meant to be temporary.
That old covenant which was instituted with the nation Israel by Moses
on Mount Sinai 1,500 years before this, it was always meant to
be temporary. It was never meant to carry on
and on and on as if it were eternal. And again, Daniel spoke of that
in Daniel 9 and verse 24 through 27, how he would make an end
of sin and finish the transgression, bring in everlasting righteousness,
seal up the vision, the prophecy, and enter into the holiest. That's
the Messiah. And then secondly, there was
no eternal salvation in these things. Salvation is the product
of another covenant, A unilateral covenant that's conditioned only
upon God through his son, Jesus Christ. Well, look at the next
verses. Matthew 24 and verse 16. And
I'll read down to verse 21. He says, then let them which
be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop
not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let
him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in
those days. But pray ye that your flight
be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, for then
shall be great tribulation, great trouble, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, nor, no, nor ever
shall be. Now what's he telling me? And
look, turn over to Luke chapter 21. This is Luke's version of
the Olivet Discourse. And it says the same thing that
Matthew said, but he gives us a little more detail about this
abomination of desolation in time. The destruction of the
physical temple and the destruction of Jerusalem. And Luke says it
this way, Luke 21 verse 20. It says, and when you shall see
Jerusalem compassed or surrounded with armies, what armies were
they surrounded? The Romans. Then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh, destruction's coming. And verse 21, then let
them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them
which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them
that are in the countries enter therein too. Now, what is all
this saying? He said, when this comes, get
out without even packing. Don't even pack your bags. Get
out and hide. And those who are away, who were
coming to Jerusalem, stay out. That's what he's saying, because
it's going to be destroyed. And this is a historical, providential
testimony that that old covenant is over. If you don't think it
is, look what's going to happen. And what happened in this is
the Roman legions came in and they destroyed the temple completely. They destroyed Jerusalem completely. And so what does all this show? Again, it marks the end of the
old covenant, obviously, which it ended back at the death of
Christ. It shows that salvation has always
been and will always be by the free, sovereign grace of God
through Christ. Nothing else. And it says, I
put in your lesson here, all these signs are given not to
cause us to speculate about when Christ is coming. We know he is coming. We're to
live our lives in expectation that he could come any day, any
hour. But we're not to speculate on when that is or try to find
the date or anything like that through some kind of a twisted
Hebrew math or anything like that. but it gives the assurance
that he is coming so that we'll cling to him. Now this is the
point. You cling to Christ. Don't let
go. Keep your eyes and your mind
and your heart upon Christ. One of the things I'm gonna say
in the message this morning in Sue's memory is look, the death
of a believer reminds believers of how serious and how valuable
the gospel is. Think about that. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Make sure, the Bible says examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith, lest you be reprobate.
You're sitting here today, and what you ought to be concerned
with is am I preaching the true gospel without change, without
any addition or any subtraction? but I'm preaching the true gospel,
because I can tell you right now, there are men whom I know
who did preach the true gospel at one time, but they've added
things. They're saying them differently,
and in a way that denies the true gospel, and you've gotta
perk up your ears. Be careful. Take heed what you
hear, and take heed how you hear. Study to show yourself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Don't just
take my word for it, or anybody's word, but understand that. There's no greater sin than to
reject God's promise of salvation based upon the righteousness
of Christ, and continue to seek salvation based on works. There's
no greater sin. That's an abomination. An abomination
of desolation, that'll leave you desolate. And so look at
verse 22. He says, and except those days
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's
sake, those days shall be shortened. Now what he's saying there, there's
an appointed time for all this to happen. It's not gonna go
on forever. Because God has a chosen people
he intends to save. And when that last one is brought
into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, then it'll
be over. And that shortening of the days,
you know, it's kind of like this. Christ is telling them that if
it were not for God's elect, not one individual would be saved.
Not one individual Jew. Now that's not saying that every
Jew who was destroyed in this physical destruction was not
a believer, maybe there were some believers there who were
killed. And it doesn't mean that there's
no elect among them. But, on the whole, what did Isaiah
say back in Isaiah 1, 9? Except the Lord of hosts had
left them all remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should
have been as Gomorrah. Nobody saved. But God has a people. And he's not willing that any
of them should perish. but that all should come to repentance. And thank God for his grace to
save us from that abomination, which is desolate. And let me
just say this in closing. If you want to know what the
abomination of desolation is today, it's men and women standing
in pulpits of America and the world today preaching a false
gospel. That's an abomination that'll
leave their hearers desolate. And I'll talk more about that
next week. All right.