Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 62 in your hardbacked hymnal,
Crown Him with Many Crowns. Let's all stand together. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love. Behold his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above. In beauty glorified. No angel in the sky. Can fully bear that sight But
downward bends his wandering eye That mystery so bright crown
him the lord of life who triumphed for the grave who rose victorious
to the strife for those he came to save his glories now we sing
Who died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And
lives that death may die. Crowned him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given
from yonder glorious throne. To thee be endless praise, for
thou for us hast died. Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. Please be seated. Good morning. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to Mark chapter 13. Today is a very special day. We're remembering how the Lord
called us out 22 years ago and how faithful and merciful and
gracious he has been over these 22 years to keep us. I've thought about some of those
who have fallen away. And I know that except the Lord
had kept us, every single one of us would have fallen away.
And so it's a testimony of His grace, isn't it? And He gets
all the glory. I've titled this message, Watch. Watch. how often times the Lord
admonishes us to be watchful, to be vigilant. I don't know
if you were up early enough this morning to see the sunrise, but
in preparing for this message, I was sitting in my study this
morning and the sun was coming up. It was absolutely amazing.
And I thought, I wish, I wish that I was as watchful for the
coming of Christ as I am right now all the time, all the time. I confess to you that more times
than not, I'm like those disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke
24, who were slow of heart to believe. when the disciples were with
the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane. He said to them, watch and pray. And then he came back and he
said, they found them sleeping. And he said, could you not watch
with me for one hour? And they weren't very watchful. But my hope this morning is that
the Lord will encourage each of us to anticipate with faith
his imminent return. I really am hopeful of that.
Notice in our text in Mark chapter 13 verse 33, take heed, watch,
watch and pray for you know not when the time is, for the son
of man is as a man who taketh the far journey, who left his
house and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his
work, and commanded the porter to watch, watch, watch ye therefore,
for you know not when the master of the house cometh, at even
or at midnight, or at the crowing, at the cock crowing, or in the
morning. lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what
I say unto you, I say unto all, watch, watch. Oh, we're so careful
to watch for so many things, aren't we? We watch the television,
we watch the political debates, we watch the stock market. that
the Lord would give us the grace to respond to this admonition. What I say to you, I say to all. Watch. Watch. Now, in order for
us to understand Mark chapter 13, I need to call your attention
to verse 30. Verily I say unto you, that this
generation shall not pass till all these things be done." Now,
if you want to read the parallel passage to Mark Chapter 13, you
can look at Luke Chapter 21 or Matthew Chapter 24. The same discourse is given in
those two chapters where the Lord is preparing His disciples
for the destruction of Jerusalem. There's no way to misunderstand
verse 30. What the Lord says, I say unto
you that this generation shall not pass until all these things
be fulfilled. So the only conclusion we can
come to is that everything the Lord says prior to that verse,
He's speaking specifically to an event that's going to take
place in their generation. Now a generation in the scriptures
is 40 years and what the Lord is speaking of specifically is
the Roman-Jewish war, the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction
of the temple. Now this is important because
oftentimes you will hear verses quoted out of this passage referring
to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ And that's not what's
being prophesied. That's not what the Lord is saying.
He is telling these disciples to be prepared because this temple
that they regarded so highly is going to be destroyed so that
not one stone is left upon another. So that's the prophecy. But the
principle of this passage is for every generation. It's for
us to be prayerful and watchful for his return. John in Revelation chapter 22,
the very end of the scriptures, the Lord says, behold I come
quickly. And John responds by saying,
come now, even now, Lord Jesus, come, come. Faith anticipates with watchful
eyes the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those of us that
have been given the moments of truth where we're
able to watch can say that that watching puts everything in this
life in its proper perspective. Turn to me before we look at
our texts to 1 Thessalonians chapter four. 1 Thessalonians
chapter four. I want us as a church to be watchful. Oh, I do. Verse 13, 1 Thessalonians chapter
4, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which
have no hope. Now the Lord's encouraging the
church because they were watching and waiting and believing You
know those disciples at the Mount of Olives when the Lord ascended
back into glory, they were standing there looking up because they
thought that he was coming right back. I mean that's how watchful
they were and the Lord had to send angels to them to say, no
you go back into Jerusalem and you wait for the Holy Spirit.
And all of God's people and every one of God's churches has been
anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. So these believers
now begin to get concerned because some of the believers have passed
away, they've died in the flesh and the Lord has not yet returned
and so the Lord is saying I don't want you to be ignorant concerning
those which are asleep. Don't you love the way the Lord
speaks of the death of a believer? He said they're just asleep,
they're going to wake up soon. For if we believe that Jesus
died, verse 14, and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord." This is God's promise. This is not
just an opinion. This is not a denominational
doctrine. This is the word of God. This
we speak to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise.
And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these
words. Oh, there's such comfort to the
soul, such solace to the heart when God enables us to be watchful. But at the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for chapter
five, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night. Men don't know when the thief's
going to come. That's what the Lord's saying. For when they
say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them
as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape.
But you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake
you as a thief. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor the
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober." Oh, might God be merciful
enough to us to wake us up every day with a watchful anticipation
of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. What comfort. If that
thought doesn't comfort you, my encouragement to you would
be come to Christ. Come to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Rest the hope of your soul on
Him. Mark chapter 13. Revelation chapter 16, let me
just read this verse. Behold, I come as a thief in
the night. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garment. Now what is that garment? What
is that garment that makes us accepted before God when the
Lord Jesus Christ comes? Well, you know what it is, it's
the robe of his righteousness, isn't it? And so when the Lord
says watch, he's telling us not only to watch in hopeful anticipation
of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may receive the
fullness of our salvation and of our inheritance, but he's
telling us to keep our eyes on Christ for all our acceptance
before God, for all our righteousness. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, be sober,
be vigilant. That's the word watch, be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil
as a roaring lion seeketh whom he may devour. Watch and be vigilant. Resist steadfastly in the faith
knowing, and I know every child of God thinks nobody Nobody's
tempted to sin like I am. Knowing that the affliction that
you suffer is experienced by your brethren all over the world. Every child of God has the experience
of being tempted of Satan and the Lord says to us, be sober. Watch. Watch, be vigilant. Continue in prayer and watch
the same with Thanksgiving. And then you remember in Acts
chapter 20 when Paul met with the Ephesian elders and was giving
them his... he had spent three years there
preaching to them and he had been away and now he came back
and the Lord has made it clear that he's going to be arrested
and that he's going to be taken to Rome and he brings together
all the elders from the churches and And he says to them, of your
own selves, men shall arise speaking perverse things and drawing men
away unto themselves. Watch, watch. And remember that for three years,
I warned you day and night with tears. The Lord's reminding us
that if we're not watchful, If we're not watchful, this message
of salvation in the finished work, in the glorious person
of the Lord Jesus Christ will be compromised. It will be compromised. David said in Psalm 130, I wait
for the Lord. My soul doth wait and in his
word do I hope. And then he goes on to say, my
soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. Now, those of us that have been
in the military know something about having that midnight watch,
waking you up in the middle of the night and strapping a gun
to you and setting you out on the post and having to watch. And you're so tired and so sleepy. and you're just waiting for the
sun to come up so that someone else can take your watch. And
that's what David's saying. He says, more than they that
watch for the morning, I watch and wait for the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
be like men, be strong, and do all things in love. This theme
of watching is repeated over and over and over again. It's
the Lord encouraging us to remember that all the things that captivate
our time and attention are temporal. There's one glorious event that
we as believers should be watching for more than anything else. and the hope of that event puts
everything else in this life and in this world in its proper
place. Now that's the principle of Mark
Chapter 13, watching and waiting for the coming of Christ. That's
how the Lord concludes this whole passage and he says I'm not just
speaking to you but I'm speaking to the whole church to be a watch. Now let's quickly go through
Mark Chapter 13 because I want you to see the context of the
prophecy that the Lord is giving to his disciples and just as
sure, just as sure as the Roman Jewish War took place in 70 AD,
Titus came in with the Roman army, destroyed Jerusalem, killed
all of its inhabitants, besieged the city first and led them to
cannibalism and I mean it was a horrible, horrible event in
the life of Israel. And just as sure as that happened,
so the coming of Christ. Just as sure as Jerusalem was
destroyed and burned by fire to the ground, so when the trump
of God sounds and the dead in Christ shall be raised and those
of us should be caught up together with them in the air to be with
the Lord, so it will be. And so this world will be destroyed. But there's some things in Mark
chapter 13 and in Luke 21 and in Matthew 24 that
make it clear that the Lord's not talking about His Second
Coming, He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. One
of them I've already pointed out, He says to them, He says,
all of these things are going to happen in this generation. And they did. They happened within
40 years of the time the Lord is telling these events to the
disciples. He went out of the temple, one
of his disciples, verse one, said unto him, Master, see what
manner of stones and what building are these? They were so proud
of that temple. I mean, it glistened in the sun.
You can just see the disciples, perhaps in Bethany, looking back
at the temple mound and seeing this incredible edifice and saying,
Lord, look at that temple. Look at that. And Jesus answered
and said unto them, seest thou these great buildings? There
shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and
Andrew asked him privately, tell us, when shall these things be
and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
answering them began to say, take heed, take heed, lest any
man shall deceive you. Someone comes saying, I'm the
Christ, this is the gospel, it's contrary to the message of truth
that I've told you about who I am and what I've done, don't
be deceived. Now he's going to go on to say
that this deception is going to be so carefully crafted that
even the elect would be deceived if it were possible. If it were
possible. But here he uses the warning
not to be deceived. And in Matthew he tells us some
will say go into the desert Christ is there and others will say
oh no he's in a secret place. Now the the application of that
for you and me is that some will say you know if you can just
If you can just make a big enough sacrifice, if you can just be
like John the Baptist and eat locust and honey and wear camel's
hair and just live an ascetic life, then you can earn your
way to heaven by your own personal sacrifice. And some will say,
oh no, he's in a secret place. And by that, what they mean is,
oh, you can discover some truths about God that nobody else knows. And if you discover those things,
then you can be saved by your knowledge. And the Lord's warning
us. He's saying, don't be deceived.
There's going to be lots of false Christ. lots of false gospels,
lots of other spirits, and he's using this theme of watching
for the destruction of Jerusalem and watching for the coming of
Christ to say to you and me, be on guard, be on guard, be
careful. For many shall come in my name
saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. And when you shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled for such things
must be, must needs be, but the end shall not yet be. Now there's
prophecy and there's principle in here. The prophecy has to
do with the destruction of Jerusalem. The principle has to be the end
shall not be yet, For nation shall rise against nation and
kingdom against kingdom and there shall be earthquakes in divers
places and there shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginning
of sorrows, 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 the rulers and kings for my sake
for a testimony against them. I'm so glad the Lord said that.
I've ordained your persecution so that when the judgment of
God comes against those that persecuted you, your persecution
is going to be used as a testimony against them. And the gospel must first be
published among all nations. Before, Jerusalem is going to
be destroyed. The church is going to be scattered.
And what happens before 70 AD, after the ascension of Christ
and before the destruction of Jerusalem, is that the Jews begin
to persecute the disciples and the believers, and the believers
are scattered. So that this message of the gospel
now is being carried out to all the world. But when they shall
lead you and deliver you, take no thought beforehand what you
shall speak, neither do you meditate. But whatsoever shall be given
unto you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not you that speak,
but the Holy Ghost." Someone asked me recently that, they
said, you know, someone wants to talk to me about the gospel
and they were trying to anticipate what their questions were going
to be and how they should respond to them. And I brought up this
passage of scripture and said, here's the principle. Just let
the Lord give you the response. If you prepared a well-crafted
argument to defend the gospel, chances are that it's going to
fall on deaf ears. But if the Holy Ghost gives you
words to say during those times, then perhaps someone's going
to hear something. And if we use it, if we prepare
a well-crafted argument, we'll take credit for it, won't we?
We will. We'll just say, yeah, I won that
argument. I convinced him. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death and the father the son and children shall
rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put
to death. And another place, the Lord said, and your enemies
will be of your own household. Now this happens, this has happened
in every generation, and it happened particularly among the generation
of the disciples. And you shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure to the end
shall be saved. Now, every child of God from time
to time struggles with assurance of their salvation. And as soon
as you begin to try to look for assurance, you're going to lose
it. I quoted someone, I don't know
who said it initially, but it was in your bulletin last Sunday
where they said, when I when I look to Christ the dove of
peace flies into my heart and when I look for the dove of peace
he flies away and that's that's my experience. What is the what is the absolute
sure proof of assurance of salvation? It's what we just read. Enduring
to the end. That's They that shall endure
to the end, they that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the
very final breath of life shall be saved, shall be saved. And the child of God says, Oh
Lord keep me, keep me, keep me watchful, cause me to endure
to the end lest I be lost. Now The abomination of desolation
is found in Daniel chapter 9 and it's the 70th week of that prophecy
that God gives to Daniel. And here it is a reference to
the Romans coming into Jerusalem. And so the Lord says, But when
you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, standing where it ought not, let him that readeth
understand, and let them also that be in Judea flee to the
mountains. Now there are some verses that
we are going to read in the next few minutes that seem to relate,
that seem to speak of the coming of Christ in the end. But I will
tell you this, when Christ comes in the end there is not going
to be running to the mountains. There is not going to be coming down
off your rooftop and fleeing. This is the army coming against
Jerusalem to destroy the city of Jerusalem. God is not going
to come with an army. The trump of God's gonna sound,
and just like that, just like that, God's gonna separate the
sheep from the goats, and it'll be over. Let him that is on the housetop
not go down into a house, neither enter therein to take anything
out of the house. And let him that is in the field
not turn back again to take for him the garden. The Lord's warning
his disciples, when you see the Roman army coming, run. run,
flee, because they've come to destroy Jerusalem. They've come
to destroy this temple that you're so impressed with. Why are they
destroying it? Because God's finished with it.
God's finished with it. Let him that is in the field,
verse 16, not turn back again or to take up his garment for
woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in
those days and pray that your flight be not in the winter.
For in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning
of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall
be. You just read some of the events that took place when the
Romans came in and destroyed Jerusalem. It's horrifying. And
the Lord is telling the disciples, this is what's going to happen.
You get out of there. And except that the Lord had
shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the
elect's sake, whom he had chosen, he has shortened the days. The
Lord is going to keep an elect. He's going to keep a remnant.
So in destroying the temple and in destroying Jerusalem, the
Lord is going to protect his elect. Then if any man shall
say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him
not, for false Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall
show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the
elect." I'm so thankful for that. You see people being deceived
by false gospels and you fear for your own soul,
but here's the Lord's promise, the elect are not going to be
deceived. Satan's going to come up with a message of salvation
that's very deceptive and sometimes very close to the truth. Very
close to the truth. Remember last Sunday when the
Lord said to that scribe when he answered the law, and he said,
what is the greatest commandment? And the Lord said to him, you
are very close to the kingdom of God. Very close. But close is not being in. Close
is not being in. But in those days, after the
tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light. The stars of heaven shall fall, and the
powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And when they shall
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and
glory. Now this is still, remember verse
30 says, that this generation shall not pass until all these
things shall be done." Now there are some who have concluded that
the return of the Lord Jesus Christ took place in 70 AD and
that's not the meaning here. The meaning here is that Christ
is coming to take vengeance on Israel through this Roman army. So the Lord is speaking of of
the destruction of Jerusalem as His coming in judgment. And when He sent His, verse 27, and then shall He send His angels
and shall gather together His elect from the four winds from
the uttermost parts of the earth to the uttermost parts of heaven.
Now these are not the angels that are being sent with a sickle
in the second coming of Christ. to divide the wheat from the
tares, the sheep from the goats. These are the messengers of the
gospel that God's gonna send out into all the world. This
is what's happening right now, isn't it? From the destruction
of Jerusalem until now, the Lord has sent his messengers out into
the four corners of the world to bring together his elect. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree. When her branch is yet tender and put a fourth leaves,
you know that summer is near. For you in like manner when you
shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even
at the door. And barely I say unto you that
this generation shall not pass away until all these things. Heaven and earth shall pass away.
But my word shall not pass away." The promises of God are sure. He's faithful to his word. And
just as sure as all of this destruction came upon Jerusalem and came
upon the temple, so all the promises of God to bring this world to
an end. Oh, child of God, watch. Watch. heaven and earth is going
to pass away. My word will never pass away,
never pass away. But at that day and that hour
no man knoweth but the angels which is in heaven, neither the
Son but the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient. He's the second person of the
triune Godhead and he knows the hearts of men and he knows everything
but here he's speaking as the Son of Man. He's speaking and
He's saying, this is the time and the season the Father has
set. Now, I'm not here to tell you exactly when it's going to
happen, but I'm telling you what to look for, what to look for.
Take ye heed, watch and pray, for you know not what time it
is. Now, I'll close this message
with a point that you've heard me make many times before. I
hope, I so hope, the Lord will come. Maybe He'll come this morning. Maybe He'll come today. I don't
speak that lightheartedly. I do want to see Him. But I can
assure you of this. I don't know the day or the hour. I don't know the year. I don't
know when He's going to come. I'm not here to predict that.
But I can assure you that He will come in your lifetime. if you consider the last moment
of your life to be part of your life. He's going to come for
each one of us, isn't He? He's going to come physically.
The eastern sky is going to split. The trump of God is going to
sound. The Lord Jesus is going to come and He's going to take
His church home. What an event that's going to
be. In the meantime, one by one, He's gonna come for each one
of us, isn't he? Comfort ye one another with these words. Watch,
watch. All right, let's take a break. th th