Mark 13, beginning at verse nine. This is a continuation of what
is known as the Olivet Discourse. Just simply saying that Christ
himself preached this, revealed these things while he sat with
his disciples on the Mount of Olives. He began by talking about
the destruction of the Jewish temple. and of Jerusalem. That took place in A.D. 70. So it was several years,
about 30 some years before, that Christ revealed these things.
And some of these things apply. When he's talking about the end
time, the end time, the last age, which is the New Covenant
age, the New Testament age, which goes from Christ's death, burial,
resurrection, his ascension, and the inauguration of the New
Testament church all the way to his second coming. And here's
how these last days would be marked. And some of the things
that he reveals here happened in that time when the temple
was destroyed, this building that he was talking about, and
goes on through until the second coming. And sometimes we'll see
an application that's both. applied to things that would
mark the last days leading up to his return, to gather his
church. What a glorious time that will
be. Christ, you know, when people talk about the rapture, they
have so many myths and false doctrines. The word rapture just
means caught up, and the church will be caught up. The Bible
says he's coming with his saints in the clouds with a trumpet
sound. Not a secret thing. It's not going to be just where
people are walking around and he disappears or anything like
that. That's not biblical. But he's
coming with a loud voice. He's coming back that one time.
And he's going to catch up, rapture his church unto himself. He's coming back with the saints
who are already with him in spirit. And we'll all be glorified together. What a glorious time that will
be. I just can't imagine. We don't know when it's going
to happen. I mentioned this when we went through 2 Peter. I believe
it's when the last one of God's elect is called into the fold.
I believe that's what is taught in 2 Peter 3.15 on through there
when he talks about the long-suffering of God is salvation. Whether
that'll happen right when that person, whoever that person is,
is brought into the fold, maybe after that person's dead, we
don't know. One verse says, will Christ find
faith? Will he find faith on earth when
he comes back? And the answer is no. But he's coming. And he's going to gather his
church, and then he's going to judge the world in righteousness.
This world is going to be burnt up. He talks about the growing
deception of false Christ and false gospels, even in the beginning
of this. And he's going to talk about
that more later on. And in verses seven and eight
that we read just now, Mark 13, he talks about tribulation, trouble,
in this world, in the form of wars and conflict. And this has
always been the case. This is not anything new, even
though it may in the last days multiply, and we'll be more aware
of it. But listen to the words that
are recorded in the book of Job. Man is born to trouble as the
sparks fly upward. So this is nothing new. Job himself
said, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Now that sounds very negative,
doesn't it? We have our moments of joy and sometimes of rest. But all in all, this old life
Life of sin, living in this cursed world is trouble. It's trouble. That's why I thank God that the
Lord said to his disciples, in the world you have trouble. But
he said, be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world. We have
joy and peace in believing. So trouble and sorrow and heartache
and pain are things assured to all of us because of sin. It's
the common lot and portion of Adam's fallen race. And where
there is sin, there is ultimately sorrow. And ultimately death. And this is one of the signs
of the end. The continuation of that sorrow as this world
winds down to the end, but our text in Mark here 13 and verse
9 through 13 speaks of another sign of the end. And it's just
not a very pleasant topic to deal with. I like to preach positive
things. I like to preach things of joy
and comfort. But sometimes the reality of
life forces us to face the issues. And that's one of the signs of
the end. Listen to verse nine. But take heed to yourselves,
for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues
you shall be beaten, and you shall be brought before rulers
and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. Now what he's describing
to his disciples is things that they literally would go through
in their lifetime because of persecution over the gospel. And that's what this is about,
one of the signs of the end. Now, every believer and every
generation faces this kind of persecution to some degree or
another. Now, I have not, in preaching
the gospel, been delivered up before government councils. But
Peter and James and John were. So this applies specifically
to them in the early goings of the New Testament church. But
we need to realize that this is something that carries on
all the way through to the end. Now we here in this country have
been so blessed by God providentially that we live under a government
that cannot persecute us for what we believe. We have the
Constitution of the United States that protects us in freedom of
religion. And that allows false religion
to go unchecked in that sense. And that's why we thank God for
our freedoms and our liberty. Now, will that continue until
Christ comes back? I don't know. Sometimes we wonder,
don't we? I told somebody a couple months
ago, I said, I can foresee a time when in today's atmosphere, with
the way that things are going, that they could label what we
preach here and believe as hate speech, because we stand against
the immorality of today, but also because we preach against
the false gospels of today. We preach that Christ is the
only way of salvation. Jesus Christ, who is God, manifest
in the flesh, who by his obedience unto death established the only
righteousness by which God can save us, justify us, give us
life, and bring us to glory, and there's no other way, and
all other ways are false ways. And that's exactly why the apostles
in the early days of the church were persecuted. And let me tell
you this, this is the tribulation that all believers will suffer
to enter the kingdom of heaven. It's not some future span of
seven years that are coming. People talk about the pre-trib
rapture. That's not biblical. We're going
through the tribulation. It's trouble. And it may get
worse for us. I don't know. Hopefully the Lord
will come back before our government turns against us so that we cannot,
to make it that we can't preach the gospel. But look down at
verse 24 of Mark 13. He says, but in those days, after
that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the
powers that are in heaven shall be shaken, and then shall they
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and
glory. You see that? When these troubled
times end, And I'll deal with this thing of the tribulation
later on in other messages. But we're going through the tribulation
right now. We have been spoiled. You understand what I'm talking
about when I say that? The disciples were delivered up to councils.
They were beaten. They were brought before rulers
and kings. Every one of the disciples except
the apostle John, every one of the apostles, suffered an awful
death. John was exiled on the Isle of
Patmos. Some say that he got released
before he died, but he lived to be an old age. But none of
the other disciples or apostles did. We've not experienced that,
but we still experience trouble. He speaks of tribulation and
trouble. Now this is not to say that we earn our way into the
kingdom by our suffering. You know, just like we read there
in Matthew chapter five, he said, blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now
that doesn't mean that we earn our way into the kingdom of heaven
by our suffering. In fact, The righteousness that
he speaks of there is the righteousness of God's grace given to us freely,
imputed to us by God through Christ. And it's for preaching
that message that salvation cannot be earned. Salvation is not by
works. Righteousness cannot be attained
by our obedience or our good works. It's for preaching that
message that we're persecuted. We tell sinners that their works
cannot save them. Their experiences cannot save
them. We enter the kingdom by the sufferings
of our Lord, not our sufferings. It's His sufferings unto death
that saves us. It's His sufferings unto death
that washes away our sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
But as we identify with Christ in the truth of the gospel, the
world will show itself to be our enemy. Look at the book of
John. This is the scripture that I
had listed there. John chapter 15. You need to
see this. John 15 and look at verse 18. speaking to his disciples. And
he's on his way to the cross when he says these things. He
says in verse 18, if the world hate you, you know that it hated
me before it hated you. So the world's hatred here is
because of our identification with Christ. The preaching of
the truth of Christ. And he says in verse 19, if you
were of the world, that is a citizen of the world, we're not citizens
of the world if we're sinners saved by grace, we're citizens
of heaven. A kingdom. If you were of the
world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you. We speak of the doctrine of election.
God chose a people. And we claim to be one of God's
elect. How can we do that biblically?
It's because God has given us the gift of faith to turn us
to Christ alone. That's the faith of God's elect.
But when we speak of ourselves as the elect of God and others
as not being elect, the world hates that, don't they? You know,
I know that by experience. Because when I first heard it,
I hated it too. Why, you all think you're special,
some kind of elite group, that kind of thing. Well, it has nothing
to do with that because the election that God speaks of is the election
of grace. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And he said, that was a truth
before the boys had done anything good or evil. It was God's sovereign
choice. And he made it. He's God. I'm not. You're not. So he says, I've chosen you out
of the world. And therefore, the world hates
you. Verse 20 of John 15. Remember, the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, If they've
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept
my saying, they will keep yours. But all these things they will
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me." They don't know God the Father. I hear today people speaking like this, even
who claim to be Christian. They'll say, well, we're going
different ways, but we have the same Father. Well, Christ said
this. He said, if they don't know me,
they don't know the Father. The only way you can know the
Father is through the Son. That's right. Christ said, he
that hath heard and learns of the Father cometh unto me. If you know the Father, if you
know how God can be both a just judge and a loving Father, then
you know Christ. You know the one who was set up before the
foundation of the world to be the one upon whom our sins were
imputed so that God cannot and will not charge our sins to us. He is the surety of the covenant. You know Him as your substitute,
your sin-atoning sacrifice, who suffered such untold agony to
pay for the sins of His sheep. You know that One who is the
Redeemer, who didn't try to save anybody, but assured the salvation
of all for whom He died because He paid the redemption price.
And that was evidenced by He was raised from the dead. Righteousness
was established and we stand before God and His righteousness
imputed. And that's how we know the Father.
Verse 22, He says, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they
had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. When Christ spoke His truth, it exposed their sin
that they didn't recognize as sin. You see that? Now think about it. Think about
Cain and Abel. Cain is coming before God to
worship. Now some preachers say, well,
Cain wasn't sincere. The Bible doesn't say that, but
I believe he was sincere. But he was bringing the works
of his hands. Proud of them. expecting God
to receive him. Lord, I worked hard for this.
Look at what I'm bringing you, the best of the crop. And the
Lord rejected him. And here comes Abel with the
blood of a lamb. And God receives him. Cain got
angry. Are you telling me that what
I brought is not good enough? Not acceptable? But the blood
of a lamb is? Cain hated Abel and killed him. And that's been the story ever
since. You look at religious people
who are doing their best thinking that their decision, their walking
in an aisle, their giving their heart to Jesus, their baptism,
their good works, their outward reformations, that that's enough
for God to accept them and declare them righteous. And we come along
and we preach that no, Christ's righteousness alone is the ground
of salvation. And God declares that anything
else is loss, evil, dumb. You want to raise the ire? of
religionists. And that's what Christ is saying.
Here are the Pharisees praying, I thank God I'm not like other
men. I don't do this, I don't do that. I give more than what
I should. And God doesn't receive that
man. And here's an old publican who bows his head in shame and
humility and says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. When God receives
that man, this man walked away justified. Huh? That exposes the sin that men
by nature don't see. Verse 23 says, He that hateth
me, hateth my Father also. You can't love the Father and
not believe in and love the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, His
righteousness. Verse 24, if I had not done among
them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin,
but now they have both seen and hated both me and my father.
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that
is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. They hated him. And here's the
point, the only reason that you and I do not hate him is because
he loved us before the foundation of the world and sent his son
to die for us and sent the spirit to shed abroad within our hearts
his love. Isn't that right? Here in his
love, Not that we love Him, but He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Verse 26, but when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He
shall testify of me. And you also shall bear witness,
because you have been with me from the beginning. But I look
down at chapter 16 of John. Verse one, these things have
I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. That word offended
means like a trap. In other words, you shouldn't
trip over this. You shouldn't be amazed at this. You shouldn't
be surprised at this. Expect it. They shall put you
out of the synagogues, out of their worship services. Yea,
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God's service. They'll oppose you and kill you
in the name of their God. And these things will they do
in you because they have not known the Father nor me." That's the persecution. So understand and make sure we
have this clear in our minds. What is the cause of this persecution? It's not because we're trying
to be moral people. Now there are some times when
people, because of their morality, get persecuted by immoral people.
But that's not what he's talking about as a sign of the end. He's
talking about persecution over the gospel, what we preach and
believe. It's called the persecution of
the cross. Paul underwent it, and it has
not ceased. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Those born after the flesh still
persecute those who are born after the Spirit. The world hates
the gospel. Look at John 3. Most of you will
understand where I'm going to on this one. In John chapter
3, Christ speaking of himself as
the light. He says in verse 18, he that believeth on him is not
condemned, he that believeth on Christ. But he that believeth
not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Faith in Christ is the only way
to life. Faith in Christ is the only way
that would reveal being justified before God. And verse 19, and
this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Now their deeds refers to their
religious acts. Who's he talking to here? A religious
man named Nicodemus. He's not talking to a drunk here
or a whoremonger. He's not talking to some pervert
here. Now is all that evil? Yes it is. But even those whose
lifestyles are like that, they know it's evil. But this is an
evil that men do not know until the light shines. And he says
their deeds were evil. Why are religious deeds evil
in the sight of God? Why is a person trying to do
good in order to be saved, evil in God's sight? Tell you what,
number one, it denies the glory of God. Where is the glory of
God? In salvation of sinners by His
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His glory. The
righteousness of God in Christ. Secondly, it denies both the
person and work of Christ. Paul wrote this in Galatians
2.21, if righteousness come by the law, that is our obedience
to the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Thirdly, because it's works of
self-righteousness and unbelief. That's why it's evil. Verse 20,
he says, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered,
exposed. Oh my friend, the gospel is the
revelation of the glorious person and finished work of Christ,
the righteousness that men by nature have no part in producing. If you're saved today, if I'm
saved today, we didn't make the difference, God did. Who maketh
thee to differ? By the grace of God, I am what
I am. God made the difference. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for that sake, righteousness sake. You see, the preaching
of the righteousness of God reveals that we by nature and by our
works have no righteousness. In fact, it reveals that by nature
and by our works, we deserve nothing but death and hell. That's
what the natural man hates. It reveals all our attempts to
make ourselves righteous, our dead works and fruit unto death,
even dung, Paul said. It reveals that all refuges in
which men by nature trust are a refuge of lies. That which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. Now
go back to Mark 13. Look at verse 10. Now here's
some positive out of all this negative. Listen to this. And the gospel must first be
published among all nations. Praise God for His testimony
in this world. What's He showing us? In spite
of the world's opposition, in spite of their hatred, In spite
of their persecution, this gospel will go all over this world,
wherever God sends it, to find His sheep and bring them into
the fold. My friend, there is a people
in this world that God loves and He chose, redeemed by the
blood of Christ, who must be and shall be saved by His irresistible
grace. And God's appointed means of
grace and salvation is the preaching of the gospel. That's the way
God has determined to bring his elect from darkness unto light. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. God's not willing that any, any
of his chosen people should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Paul spoke of this in his suffering, 2 Timothy 2 and verse 9. He said,
for preaching the gospel wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer,
even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. I think about Paul when he wrote
to the Philippian church. He was imprisoned. But he said,
my imprisonment, my chains have fallen out by God's power and
providence to the furtherance of the gospel. Think about that. And in verse 11, it says, You
know what he's saying there? He's saying that the Lord assures
us that when special help is needed, Because of this persecution,
that special help will be given by God. Some people take that
verse and they pervert it as to say, well, we don't need to
study and prepare in preaching. But that's wrong. This verse
is not talking about preaching, it's speaking of persecution.
When you're brought up before a council or opposed by those
who hate the gospel, He says that God, by the Holy Spirit,
will give us the words that we need to say. Now that really
doesn't come without study and growing in grace and knowledge
and being familiar with the Word. But here's the thing. There's
no way of preparing for this. You know, if there were a law
in this land, an evil law, that forbade us from preaching the
gospel, The authorities walk through
that door right now. There's no way I could prepare
for that other than what I've been prepared in studying the
gospel. But whatever it is I'm supposed
to say to them, I believe God will give me the words. He gave
his disciples the words. And this is not mysticism. Again,
it comes from our knowledge of the scriptures. Our being skillful
in the word of righteousness. And that's why we need to be
on our toes. You too, not just me. Now, he says in verse 12,
now here, here is the most tragic opposition of all. Now the brother
shall betray the brother to death. The father, the son, children
shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put
to death. Even our earthly families will oppose us in the gospel
if the Lord is not pleased to bring them to salvation. Now,
I want to say more about that verse. But look at verse 13. It says, And you shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. Who's going to be glorified?
Not those who profess to be saved and then leave it, but those
who endure to the end. Now how do we endure? By our
own power? Our own resolve? No, by the power
and resolve of Christ. This is perseverance in the faith
because God preserves us. Now I want to say more about
that, but I'm going to come back next week to these two verses.
And I want to deal with them because it is so important as
we who are living in the last days, who are living in the end
times, and who are closer than any generation to the second
coming of Christ, it is so important that we understand what this
endurance is and how we have joy and peace and the assurance
of salvation. You see, this endurance, this
perseverance is not a condition we must meet in order to be glorified. It's an evidence that God's grace
is preserving us unto glory. by Christ. He keeps us. He will
not let us go. And I want to say some more about
that. I'm going to deal with it in a whole message before
I get to the next segment on this. But may the Lord bless
His word to our hearts. Okay.