Luke chapter 21 this morning,
Luke 21, 34. We'll read through verse 36. Luke 21, 34. And take heed to
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life. And so that
day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come on all
them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore
and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape
all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the
son of man. Now these words take heed in
verse 34 or one word in the original Greek. And when it's used in
the scripture in other places, it's most often translated beware. And this is exactly the exhortation
our Lord gives here. Beware yourselves. And this is
important. Our Lord has answered their questions
now about the destruction of the temple that they asked and
the end of the world. When will the end of the world
be? But throughout his answer are these most important statements
and exhortations. And I want to remind us of them
because the context of this chapter is key to every part of it. He
says, beware yourselves. And that's part of his answer.
He doesn't tell them when this is going to happen, the date
and the time. We know now when the destruction of the temple
took place because it happened a long time ago. But he doesn't
satisfy their curiosity. He tells them what they need
to know. And here in verse 8, as soon as they asked the question,
he immediately told them, make sure you follow me alone. There
are going to be false Christs. There are going to be distractions.
There are going to be people telling you this. And remember
what I said to you and follow me only. That's called being
told what you need to hear and not what you want to hear. They
wanted to hear times and dates and have their curiosity satisfied. Here's what you need to know.
There's going to be a lot of false Christ. There's going to
be a lot of error and heresy. Follow me alone. Look to me alone. When there are a lot of things
happening in your life, there's no destruction of a temple coming
up for us. And when you think about the
end of the world, a lot of things are going to be happening. But
what about right now? Remember our emphasis, the Lord's teaching
us things that are important today, today. So you've got a
lot of distraction. There are many things that might
distract you. What's the most important thing
to remember? Keep your eyes fixed on the Savior. Whether it's troubles,
tribulations, drama we call it in our lives, whatever it is.
Keep your eyes fixed on Him. He is your hope. Listen, the
resolution of your problems is not your hope. Christ is your
hope. You getting through the trouble
is not your hope. Christ is your hope. whether
you get through it or not. And then the next thing he said
to them in verse nine is, don't be terrified. He comforts them. He instructs all of his preachers.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And here's why,
not because bad things aren't gonna happen. Bad things happen
to believers and unbelievers. Here's why your heart shouldn't
be troubled. Believe in me. You believe in
God, believe also in me. And then in verse 18, he assures
them that through everything around them, That would be horrible. And if you look up the history,
there's history books written about the destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 AD. And it's shocking what took place.
It was horrible. But he said in the midst of all
of that, and he knew now, he's telling them in advance. And
this didn't happen very often. The Lord didn't talk about temporal
things like this. And of course, this is a picture
of the end of the world. That's why he's talking about
it. But he told them in advance that their world was going to
be torn apart. But here's what he said, too. Not a hair of your
heads will perish. God's elect are bulletproof.
Now, we should and must do all that we know to do to avoid unnecessary
danger and trouble. We're not to ask for trouble.
We're not to be presumptuous about it and act like fools and
do stupid things. That's not what he's given us
license to do here. He's just saying this, you're
in my hand and nobody can take you out of it ever, no matter
what happens. In verse 28, he says, here's
why you need not fear. All of this destruction that
you're going to see, and some of them would live, I don't know
who among the disciples lived and were still alive in 70 A.D. when that happened and who wasn't.
But again, it's not about places and times and dates. It's about
what's important today, now. And listen, this destruction
to some was gonna be their redemption. Your redemption, when the end
of the world comes and all kinds of things are gonna be happening
that are not pleasant, it sounds like to me. But it means redemption
to you if you're mine, he said. You've been redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ. And he cannot, he will not, he
shall not fail to possess all those he bought on Calvary with
his precious blood. When we see what we call bad
things happening in this world now, don't worry about the end
of the world right now. When you think your world is
coming apart tomorrow, maybe. We think, you know, what we think
about is what's gonna, you know, we see things getting bad, we
think, boy, how bad is it gonna get? What's gonna happen? Look
at what's happening now, what's gonna happen? I'll tell you what's
gonna happen. Your redemption, if you're His. That's what He
said here. Look up. That's what we need
to do, is look to Him always. Christ is going to take eternal
possession of all whom He redeemed on Calvary. Do you see what all
you miss if you just look at the signs and not look? He gave
the signs to point to Him. And we must look to Him. And if you look at the signs
and not the one the signs are pointing to, you've missed the
point. You've missed everything. Verse 33. He said that. Look at verse 33. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words, my words shall never pass
away. I thought about Job now. He lost
everything he had. He thought that was the end of
his world when he lost everything. All of his children were destroyed.
Everything that he owned was stolen or destroyed. But after
he had lost everything, he was able to say this, I know that
my Redeemer liveth. You know how he was able to say
that? Because God told him. He didn't just make that up,
God told him. And he comforted himself in the
promises of God. That's verse 33 of our text.
If all you have left are God's promises to you, you have everything. If everything else is destroyed
before your very eyes, but you have God's promise, that you're
gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine. And all of the promises
of God, never forget this, 2 Corinthians 1.20, God's promises, all of
them in Christ are yea, and in him, amen. Now our text in verse
34 is only to be understood in the context of all that we just
said. It's Christ, Christ, Christ,
always Christ, look to Christ, trust him, because of him nothing
bad's gonna happen to you, it cannot. But now, and now he's
talking about you all of a sudden in verse 33, 30, 34, you, you,
look to you for a second. But in verse 36, we see why he
points to us. Even in pointing to us, he's
pointing to him. Even the you part is because
of him. Beware yourselves. Why? Because
him. But think about this for a second.
He's talking about dangerous times. Terrible calamities are
gonna come. And even the end of the world
itself. But he doesn't say beware the
Romans. He doesn't say that the Romans were the ones that were
going to invade Jerusalem and destroy it and do despicable,
horrible things to the people. They're going to destroy everything.
They're going to kill people like flies. He didn't say, watch
out for the Romans. He said, watch out for you. Watch
out for yourselves. What a lesson now. Think of this
with me for a second. Where do storms come from? He's
talking about a terrible storm that's coming. That's the analogy
that we see in the scripture. We love to think about the Lord
Jesus as the one who calms the storm. You know, be comfortable
and be calm and don't be afraid of the storm because the Lord
can calm the storm. Who do you think brought the storm? You
ever think about that very much? That's hard for us to think about
it. He calms the storm with a word and that's beautiful. I love
to think about that. But if he controls the storm
like that, Then where did it come from? Who brought it? Is
he not the one that sent the storm in the first place? You
see how this applies to our text? And listen to me now. We're going
to read that passage of scripture where the storm came and the
disciples were afraid. They despaired. They said, we're
going to die. We're going to perish. We perish. And the Lord
don't even care. We see something about ourselves
in that and that's what he's pointing to in our text in verse
34. Look at yourself for a minute
and think and beware yourself and look to him. Why would the
Lord bring a storm just in order to calm it? Why bring it in the
first place if he just meant to calm it from the start? Well, you know, a storm does
a lot of damage. What came upon Jerusalem left
devastation. He said not one stone is going
to be left upon another. You think he was literal about
that? I kind of have a feeling he was. That temple, that which
was most precious to the Jews, everything's going to be utterly
annihilated. A storm does that, doesn't it? It tears up trees and things.
Did the Lord bring the storm just to take down some trees
he didn't like? The storm might tear a building down. Did God
bring the storm because he didn't like that building? Maybe. But
that wasn't, listen, what was the result? What was the end
result of the storm the Lord brought upon the disciples when
they were in that little ship? Listen to Luke chapter eight,
verse 22. Now it came to pass on a certain
day that he went into a ship with his disciples and he said
unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And
they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came a storm of wind
on the lake and they were filled with water. The ship began to
sink and were in jeopardy. They were in danger of their
very lives. Verse 24, and they came to him and awoke him saying,
master, master, we perish. In another account of this, they
said to him, don't you care that we perish? Don't you care? Then he arose and rebuked the
wind and the raging of the water and they ceased. And there was
a calm, and he said unto them, he pointed at them for a second,
like he did in our text. This thing is all about him.
It's all about him. We're going to see that in a
second. But for just a moment in it, he pointed at them. And
you know, it wasn't flattering. It wasn't to brag on them. It
wasn't to say, look, you made it through the storm. Good for
you. You know, you won your fight with this storm. He said, where's
your faith? Where's your faith? And they,
being afraid, wondered, saying, but here's the end result of
all of it. They said one to another, what manner of man is this? Do you think that's maybe why
he brought this storm? Why would he bring a storm in
order just to calm it? Maybe to reveal to us who he
is, you reckon? Maybe it's what's going on inside
here that matters and not so much what's going on around us.
Where's your faith? And they said, what manner of
man is this that he commandeth even the winds and water? And
they obey him. Everything and everybody obeys
him when he commands it. The Lord is saying in our text,
beware yourselves, and he's going to mention some specific problems
that we have as sinners. And in the story of the storm
we just read about, he said, where's your faith? He pointed
to them for a second. And what's on the inside? What's
in their heart? But what did their consideration
of that question about them cause them to do? It caused them to
look to him. That's why he asked the question,
not to get information. He knows everything. It caused
them to say, who in the world are we dealing with here? That's
a good question, isn't it? For he commandeth even the winds
and water, and they obey him. And so he's telling us in our
text, a storm is coming. For us, it may come tomorrow.
It may come today. There's going to be storms. And
here's the question, where is your faith? Where is your faith? In things going, you know, hunky-dory
and everything's going to be smooth sailing? Is that what
you're hoping in? Don't follow false Christ, he
said. Where's your faith? Don't be afraid. Where's your
faith? The storm is not gonna hurt you. Where's your faith? You've been
redeemed with my precious blood. Where's your faith? Remember
what I've said to you now. My words will never pass away.
Where's your faith? What a lesson. In verse 34, he
mentioned surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life. Excess
and drunkenness and the cares of this life. And he said, these
things are going to come upon, they're going to be a snare to
everybody on the face of the earth. I can hear some, you know,
armchair theologians saying, all means all. He said all, but
clearly he didn't mean everybody because he's warning them in
advance, don't. Don't let this be a snare to
you now. Don't let it come on you unawares. And listen to what
he's warning them against. He doesn't warn them about the
storm. He doesn't. Like in the storm
what we just read about. It's what's going on in here.
Salvation is a heart work. And things are going to happen
around you and all that. But God saves you in here. And
he's warning them about that. Not the effects of the storm
and things like that. He doesn't warn them about the
Romans. Again, he doesn't warn them and say, boy, you better
stock up on food and you better do this. You better, you know,
get some weapons. You better get ready for this
thing. No, beware yourself. Beware what your tendency is
to be, to indulge in the things of this life and forget about
what's important. He doesn't even warn them about
the dangers of the storm itself. He warns them about the dangers
of the human heart, the sinful nature of man. He doesn't tell them things that
if they listen will help them through the storm. You know,
to avoid the storm maybe. He's saying don't let these things
come upon you. He warns them about what goes
on before the storm. And then after the storm, I'm
sure these same cares, the cares. I want to talk about that word.
He talks about the cares of this world. The cares there, the word
cares is not problems. That's what we think about. Oh,
the cares of this life. We're thinking about all of our
troubles, you know, the cares. No, the word means to divide.
And so the definition of the word itself points to the idea
of care as not being worries and problems but distraction.
Beware of that which divides your attention from where it
needs to be, the world. The thorns, remember in the parable
of the sower and the seed that our Lord told, it's the thorns
growing up that choke out the word. That's the cares of this
life. The concerns, not worries and
troubles, just the everyday concerns of life that take your attention
away from him, that divide you from Christ, from the simplicity
that caused you to be removed from the simplicity that's in
Christ. Why did the disciples make fools
out of themselves on that boat where we just read about in Luke
chapter eight? And they did. They made fools. They asked God's
son. Think about it. The son of God
had come down from heaven and was on a boat with them and did
nothing but comfort them and tell them about himself and how
sinners are, how he was going to save them and they need not
be troubled. And they said, don't you care that we, there's God's
son on a boat with them. He left the throne of glory to
be with them. And they said, you don't care anything about
us or we wouldn't be going through this storm. Does that sound familiar?
Is that what we think sometimes? We would never say that, surely.
We say it in our heart, you said it. We question God. If God cared anything about me,
I wouldn't be going through this. But you know what? They made
fools out of themselves like that, like we do. And they got
distracted by the wind and the waves and the waters coming in
the boat. instead of looking to him. Why weren't they talking
about him during the storm? They were talking about him after
the storm was calmed. Then they started talking about
him. What should have they have been talking about before that?
Instead of worrying about everything else. Instead of worrying about
the wave, did they have no reason to believe? Did they have no
reason to believe at that point when they see the water coming
in the boat? Didn't they have any reason then to think that
maybe the Lord might command the waves? They had walked with
him for a while. And the problem for us also is
not that we don't know who he is. I'm talking about as believers.
We know that he has the power. We know in our head that he brings
the storm before he calms it. The problem is we get distracted,
don't we, real easy by other things, by the problems, and
we don't look to him. That's why he brought the storm
in the first place. is that we look to him. You know
how I know that? Because that's what happened.
When he does something in order to accomplish something, what
he does accomplishes what he did it in order to accomplish.
And what it accomplished was it caused them to say, look who
this is we're dealing with. And so in our chapter, don't
be distracted by the signs and the troubles that they are. Those signs are problems and
troubles and tribulations and perils. Don't be distracted. And then that's what not to do.
Don't be divided. The cares there, that care, divided. Don't be removed from the simplicity
of Christ. He said, that's what you don't
do. What did he say to do? Stay awake and pray. Watch and
pray. So let's think about that for
a minute. What did the disciples do during that storm? Well, they
questioned him. They blamed him. Didn't they? You don't even care. If you cared
about us, we wouldn't be going through this. Is that not blaming
him? They cast doubt on his goodness. You don't care about us. That's
exactly what we tend to do now. If God cared about us, we wouldn't,
you know, we wouldn't be going through this. We think we could
do things better. We cast doubt on his goodness,
don't we? Boy, why this? You know when you question God,
what you're really saying is, if I was running things, it wouldn't
be this way. Yeah, you're right about that.
Thank God you're not running things, and I'm not either. But
he is. We complain rather than pray.
We doubt rather than pray. Where is your faith? That's the
question that he asks us, and that question causes us to look
to him. And we need to understand this
now, very important. The storm didn't make them have
less faith. When he said, where is your faith?
The storm didn't make them have less faith. The storm just revealed
what was true already. That's why he brings it. That's
why he brings it. The storm showed what was already
in their heart and what wasn't. The calm, here's the thing now. It wasn't the storm that diminished
their faith. And so what about the calm? We
got to watch out for the calm too, don't we? Because we're
faithless in the calm, and the storm reveals that. You gotta
look to Christ alone in the calm and in the storm. That's the
lesson here. Watch and pray. Pray, think about that now. My
favorite prayer, Other than the prayers of our Lord himself,
was prayed also during a storm. Listen to it, look at it with
me in Matthew 14, 25. We'll close with this. He said, watch and
pray. We'll look at the rest of this chapter, Lord willing,
next time. Watch and pray. Stay awake and pray. You remember
in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said to them, can you watch
with me for one hour? They couldn't stay awake. And
we may talk a little bit about that next time, but listen, Matthew
14, 25. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is
a spirit. It's a ghost. And they cried
out for fear. But straightway, Jesus spake
unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. That's why we should be happy
and not afraid, because it's Him. It's Him. Everything we're
afraid of, it doesn't matter. It's Him. He brought it. What
you're afraid of today, He brought it. If you're His, He's not going
to let it hurt you. He brought it in order to be
a benefit to you, to bless you. Well, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter
answered him and said, Lord, if it's you, bid me come unto
you on the water. And the Lord said, come. And
when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the
water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
I don't know if it was already stormy or if when he stepped
out onto that water, it began to the wind started to pick up.
I don't know. But I know this, he took his
eyes off the master and he looked at the wind and he saw the wind,
boisterous. And he was afraid. Now the Lord
had just got through saying, what a lesson this is to us.
He just told him, don't be afraid. There's never any reason for
one of his to be afraid. There's never any reason for
it. We are, though, as soon as he said that, he turned around
and was afraid. He was afraid before the Lord
said that, and he was afraid after the Lord said that. That's
us, isn't it? But he keeps saying it to us,
that maybe in the gospel, don't be afraid, your sins are gone.
Don't be afraid, your sin is more hideous to you every day.
That's all right, I'm your righteousness before God. Don't be afraid.
Well, his gospel. That's the gospel, and it be
of good cheer. It's me. The gospel's him. And listen,
he saw the wind boisterous, and he was afraid, and beginning
to sink, he cried. Beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, here's my favorite prayer other than the Lord's prayers
that we see in the scripture. It's a real short one. Lord,
save me. Lord, save me. You know who is able to save
you? The Lord. Not the Jesus of religion, the
Lord. Whoever's on the throne, he can save you. The Sovereign. And immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him. and said unto him, O thou of
little faith. You see how similar this is to
the story we've read and how it applies to our text. Beware
of yourselves. What's going on around you is
not the problem. You're the problem and he's the
remedy. O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt? And when they were coming to
the ship, the wind ceased. And then they that were in the
ship came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, you're the
son of God. You see why he brought the storm?
That's the point of every storm, that you might worship him and
believe on him and confess that Jesus Christ is the son of God
and that believing you might have life through his name. May God make it so. Amen.