Good morning. Alright, we're
going to be in Mark 13. Mark 13. We'll be looking at
verses 14 through 23. Mark 14, verses 14 through 23. Now in our passage here, the
Lord warns the disciples of a time of great spiritual darkness,
deception, and trouble. And it must needs come upon the
earth. And it is now even upon the earth. And it must and is met with the
judgment, the just judgment of holy God. But what we also see
and what we're reminded of is that God in mercy, God in His
grace, He has provided salvation for all who would flee that judgment. For all who need His mercy and
grace because they have no help in themselves and no ability
to save themselves or deliver themselves from this just judgment
and the wickedness of man, God has provided salvation in His
Son, Jesus Christ. So to those who see the coming
judgment, the Lord tells us, get you to Christ. Flee to the
mountains. He says. Alright? And that's
our title. Flee to the Mountains. And we'll have two divisions.
First, we'll look at this great deception which is come upon
the earth, and then we'll see the only salvation. The salvation
which God has provided. Alright? Now, last week, our
Lord, He warned the disciples of persecution. of the persecution
they would face for their hope and profession of faith in Christ. Now this week, the Lord warns
the disciples of the great deception. Great deception coming upon the
earth and is even now present upon the earth. Now the important
thing for us to know, what I want you to understand, is as we're
going through this, it is relevant to the disciples in their day
and it is relevant to us in our day. This is not excluding any
of the disciples. So in Mark 13, 14, when our Lord
says, but when ye shall see, when ye shall see, he's speaking
to his disciples. and he's speaking to you here
now, when ye shall see. Look there at the end of Mark
13, 37 again. I know I did this before, but
look there. He says, in what I say unto you,
I say unto all, watch. Watch. So this word in 13, is
not just for the disciples then, it's not just for us now, it's
for all his disciples throughout time in the history of the church. Alright, so Christ opens here
and he says in verse 14, but when ye shall see the abomination
of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it
ought not, Let him that readeth understand." Well, what can we
understand about this? What are we to understand about
this? Now, we do know this was relevant to the Jews, even then. This was very relevant to them. So how does it have relevance
for us today? How is this relevant to us? Well,
the Lord, we know, is speaking of the literal destruction of
Jerusalem and of the temple. All right, this people, these
Jews that we saw him talking with and giving parables to and
threatening to murder him and kill him, we know and see that
this people were steeped in idolatry. They were covered and surrounded
in dead letter religion. They spoke of God on their lips,
but their hearts were far from him. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke
more harshly, more plainly, more clearly, more convictingly to
us, to those religious Jews, to those that claim to know God
and love God. He spoke to them with words that
just shred the flesh and bring us down to nothing and show us
what we are by nature. All right. So the Lord says to
them when you see the abomination of desolation and so we know
that this was speaking to that time in 70 A.D. when the Roman
army under the general at the time, who was later an emperor,
but Titus, when he led that army against Jerusalem for their rebellion
against them. All right? Now, from that destruction,
from the destruction of 70 AD of Jerusalem and the temple,
there's been a very great and terrible deception, which has
been throughout the earth, going throughout the earth. And it
would sweep over from that time and continues to this time till
the Lord returns. Now after Jerusalem's destruction
and the dispersion of the Jews into all the nations, the Lord
destroyed it and he dispersed the Jews, from that time there
has arisen many false Christs, many false doctrines, many sects
and variations of the truth, which are not the truth, just
variations of lies that have a seeming show of the truth,
and these have gone forth to deceive Many. Now before we get
too far, let me just show you over in Luke 21, hold your place
in Mark, Mark 13, but look over in Luke 21 and go to verse 20. Because Luke tells us that the
abomination that we're to see, the abomination is seen in the
Roman army surrounding Jerusalem. Now history does tell us that
when the Romans were there, they did pour pig's blood on the altar
and they did defile it and do that which was a defilement of
that altar, the sanctified altar. But whatever was done, whatever
they did there when they were destroying the temple in Israel,
whatever was done, just the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem, it
signified that the abomination of desolation was upon them.
That was spoken of by Christ and Daniel. Look at Luke 21 20. Here's how he words it. When
ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh. And so understand that if all
you had was the gospel of Luke, then you would have sufficient
knowledge. Alright, for the abomination
of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet was to follow that
surrounding army. Alright, so only having those
details of the army surrounding Jerusalem it was plenty sufficient
for you. Now, let's go over to Daniel
because the Lord refers to Daniel and he speaks of Daniel the prophet
who tells us of the abomination of desolation. So, go to Daniel
9 in verse 26 and 27. Here in Daniel 9, as of verse
20, Daniel was praying. And he describes an angel who
comes as a man named Gabriel. And Gabriel is sent to speak
to Daniel. And we're told two prominent
things here in this passage. Two prominent things. First,
that God was going to destroy or bring to desolation the physical
nation of Israel. He was going to destroy the temple
and bring it to an end, and we're told that the Messiah would accomplish
the everlasting salvation of God's elect people. And so look
at Daniel 9, 26. And after three score and two
weeks, The score is 20 years, so after 62 weeks shall Messiah
be cut off, but not for himself. Now this is pointing us to the
crucifixion of Christ. This is telling us that Messiah
would be cut off. He was going to be slain. His
life would come to an end, but not for himself. Not for any
iniquity or sin found in him. Not for anything that he did,
but he would be cut off. And it was to be in the place
of his people, as their substitute, to put away their sin. That's
why Messiah, or Christ, would come. Now, following the crucifixion,
in the set time, the set time of God, he was going to end that
physical nation, that national state of Israel. He was going
to bring it to an end. And it says there, going on in
verse 26, and the people of the prince That is, that Roman general
Titus that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and
the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of
the war desolations are determined. So the Lord God of heaven and
earth used the Roman army as a tool who came in like a flood
and overwhelmed and destroyed all that was there in Jerusalem,
including the temple, and brought it to desolation. And from that
time, false Christs have risen, false doctrines and lies about
the truth. Things that are not true. Alright, now back to Christ in
verse 27. And he shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week. Alright, so that from the time
that Christ was crucified and rose again, that gospel began
to go out in power and in glory. And many heard it. and believe
the truth. Many were delivered. They were
given repentance and turned from dead letter religion to believe
the Christ that God had sent. They saw what Daniel prophesied
of. They understood this is the Messiah. We crucified him, but he was
crucified to put away our sins and to deliver us from the coming
judgment of God against our false and wicked works. Now it says,
in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and
the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of
abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now
go back over to Luke 21. Luke 21, real fast, just one
more verse there. This consummation Luke describes
it. So it's saying here that the
Lord is going to bring an end to the Jewish state. He's going
to bring an end to the temple. He's going to bring an end to
the sacrifices. And the sacrifices have not been
going on since the time that temple was destroyed. All right? Now it says this consummation
in Luke 21-24 says, at the back half, it says, and Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled. Now, from my reading, it's still
the time of the Gentiles, it's still going on and we're still
in that period, that time remains. Now, here's the critical point
in reading all this, that the thing that we are to get and
understand in this, in seeing this overwhelming flood in judgment
of God, is you and me, we are all great and guilty sinners. That judgment should have been
poured out upon us and overwhelmed us and wiped us out. The coming
judgment of God would just be poured out upon us were it not
for the grace and mercy that God has shown us in putting away
our sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, so our hope, our glory,
our boast is that God, you that believe Him and trust Him, You
that believe, our hope and glory and boast is that God has put
away our sin. And that destruction that we
see when God destroyed the temple, destroyed that people Israel,
we're worthy of that as well. And it's only the grace and mercy
of God that we have not been destroyed. And so, God has delivered
His people, His chosen elect people, whom He loves. That's you and me, Jew and Gentile,
whosoever believeth on Him, our sin has been put away. We've
been delivered from that coming judgment and wrath of God. Okay? That's put away. So understand
that we've got to see that that coming judgment that God speaks
of when Christ shall return to the earth we by our works and
by this flesh are worthy of that but it's God's mercy and grace
that has delivered us from that because he's put that sin away
by the death of his starling son Jesus Christ all right it's
for this cause to put away that sin that the Lord Jesus Christ
came for a beloved chosen, elect people of God. That's you who
believe. You that believe in Him, rest
in Him. Now, if you're still there in Daniel 9, look at verse
24. This will be the last verse we
look at in Daniel. Daniel 9, 24. Just see that this
is what Daniel's declaring to us is the glory of Christ in
the work that He has done. 924, 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. So before the destruction
of the Jewish state, The wicked of the people, they were driving
madly towards that destruction. They were filling up their cup
of sin by practicing their works as they understood and interpreted
the law and the sacrifices and what they were to be doing. They
were trusting in those works and they were driving madly towards
that destruction and dead-letter religion. But Christ, before
they were destroyed, Christ came. Christ was sent of God and he
made an end of sin and the transgression of the people to make reconciliation
for his people before God, between God and his Father. Now I'm going
to read to you Colossians 1, 19-20. This is what Paul says
that Christ accomplished and it's a very good summary of what
we read there in Daniel 9, 24. Colossians 1, 19 says, For it
pleased the Father, that in him, in Christ, should
all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood
of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him
I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh, through
death, to present you, holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable,
in his sight. So this is declaring to us the
glory of what Christ accomplished so that even us here who believe
in him who have no works to boast in of this flesh and what we
do but we boast in Christ because Christ has put away our sin once
and for all by the death of himself and we are now received and accepted
by the glory and grace of God. Alright, so it's Christ that
brought in this everlasting righteousness. The righteousness that you have
now in Christ shall never fade, it shall never end, and you shall
never be thrown out of heaven. You are with Him forever, and
he fulfilled all that the prophet spoke of concerning him, right? He sealed up the vision and the
prophecy, and God now has anointed him with the oil of gladness
above all his fellows, so that he declares him, this is your
God. Trust him, believe in him, look
to him, he is your Savior. He is your Lord and Savior, he's
put it all away. So the works, brethren, are finished,
The gospel now has gone forth and it's reaching the hearts
and the minds of his people by the glory of God, the Spirit
working through that word, sending that word out and giving you
faith and causing you to hear and believe what God has done
through Christ. So God continues to gather now
his people to Christ that he has sent for the salvation of
his people. And then came the destruction,
the destruction of Jerusalem, which is a picture of the destruction
of the earth that's coming, the destruction of what's coming,
the end of all things, when the Lord shall destroy this earth
and create this earth anew and the heavens anew. All right,
so now with that understanding of our salvation in Christ, go
back now to Mark 13, and we'll pick up in verse, we'll start
in verse 14 again. Alright, so you see how that's
all picturing and how this has been done for us as well. So
Mark 13, 14 says, But when ye shall see, when ye shall see
the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understanding. So in the day in which you and
I live, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, All
right, when that coming of the destruction of the world, when
God makes it plain to you and you see the coming judgment and
you understand that God is righteous to judge us for our sins and
that He shall indeed judge the world just as He says, when you
see that, when God makes it plain to you and makes it known to
you and you see the desolation or the abomination of desolation
then get you to the salvation which God has provided. Flee to the mountains. That's what he says. He says,
let them that be in Judea, you that are gathered with the people
of God, flee to the mountains, he says, and let him that is
on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein
to take anything out of his house, and let him that is in the field
not turn back again for to take up his garment and we see here
how the Lord is speaking with haste and with urgency and he
says don't be turned back. Don't turn back. Don't look back.
Don't go back down into your house to grab your garment. What
need have you of a garment of your earthly garment with its
works. You have the garment of Christ's
righteousness. Don't look back. Don't go back
to this world. Don't turn back to this world.
You set your heart and your mind towards that mountain and you
get to the mountain of God's salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. So every believer, every believer
in their day, they have a literal coming to a seeing of that abomination
of desolation. If you don't believe me, just
look around. Look around you. Do you not see how worthy we
are in this world of the judgment of God? Every one of us, we see
the wickedness in our own heart. We see our sin, our transgression. We see the iniquity we try and
hide in our heart and cover that sin and keep it from God's sight
and from the people. of God, lest anyone should see
it. We see our own works and we see all the wickedness, we
see all the abomination just going on around us. Just as everybody,
every believer has seen it in their generation, in their day. So we see it all around us and
we see how we're worthy of the judgment of God. And so I'm saying
to you, behold the spiritual truth of what this is saying.
The spiritual truth that we're worthy to be destroyed, but he
says to you, God in mercy says to you that have an ear to hear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith, get you. Flee to the mountains. Flee to the salvation that God
has provided for you. Alright, now that's good for
us to move on to the next point. The only salvation. Let's see
that. The only salvation. So, we understand
that in this day of Christ, in this day of salvation, the Holy
Spirit has removed, has pulled back the veil of darkness that's
on His people. We all, just like everyone else,
comes forth in this flesh in darkness and in deadness to the
things of God. But God, the Holy Spirit, has
removed that veil of darkness and he's given to you the gospel
so that you hear of God's salvation. You know what you and I are by
nature. You know what sinners we are
and what we deserve, but God has shown you whose salvation
is, that it's in His Son, Jesus Christ. And that gospel continues
to spread and go out to His people. Alright, it's said back in Daniel
9.27, I'll read it. He shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week. One week. And that gospel's going
out. In Isaiah 53.11, we're told by
His knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify
many. many just as he shall confirm
that covenant with many so the righteous servant Jesus Christ
shall justify many by his knowledge for he shall bear their iniquities
so that all for whom Christ died all for whom he shed his blood
this word shall go out because they must be saved they must
be called and they shall hear and they shall be brought in
by the grace of God He cannot fail. He is the successful Savior. So all who must hear, they shall
hear, and they shall believe. In Hebrews 13, verses 20 and
21, we're told that this glory, we're shown this glorious view
of Christ. And it says, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Do you hear that? To you whom
he has confirmed this covenant to, this covenant of grace, and
showing you his grace and mercy, that he make you perfect in every
good work to do his will. And what is the will of the Father?
that you believe on Him whom He has sent, that you reverence
my Son, believe on the Son of God whom He sent, working in
you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. It's well-pleasing to God that
you believe His Son, that you rest in Him, believe Him, to
whom be glory forever and ever, Amen, so this one this Christ
cannot fail and this one This Lord Jesus Christ, He speaks
to you saying, see, in Hebrews 12, 25, see that ye refuse not
him that speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away
from him that speaketh from heaven. And this one tells us, when ye
shall see the abomination of desolation, flee to the mountains. You flee to the mountains. So
our Lord goes on to say in verse 17, Mark 13, 17. He says, Woe
to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those
days. Now, I have heard many times
people say, that have children, I've said it myself, I can't
even imagine being a child in this day, with all the cameras
and videos and things that people do. And I'm sure my parents said
it, and their parents before them said it, and we all say
it. You know, should they live to grow up and have families
of their own, whatever they're going to say, they're going to
say, I can't even believe, I'm so glad I didn't grow up in this
day. What we're reminded of is just
the need that our children have to hear the gospel. And it's
important for them to hear. And we pray that they hear the
gospel and that the Lord give them faith to believe it. And
so Christ says, woe to them that are with child and to them that
give suck in those days. And then he says, pray ye that
your flight be not in winter. And I was thinking about that.
There's some that will hear, I don't know how, but they'll
come to know the abomination of desolation. And he says, pray
that it not be in winter. Pray that it not be in a time
when the gospel is sparse and it's hard to hear it and nearly
impossible to get it anywhere. Pray that it not be in a time
that that's when you come to see the coming judgment and believe
God, what he has said concerning the judgment, right? Our Lord
said, the night cometh, when no man can work. The night cometh
when no man can work. So, hear the word, get you to
the mountains, flee to the mountains, right? And he says, for in those
days shall be afflictions such as was not from the beginning
of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall
be. Alright? So, you have a picture
now, an image of what it must have been like for those Jews
in that day. Alright? You can imagine the
Christians who heard this word and believed it. There were many
that heard it, at least if the history is recording it properly.
There were many that heard it, but only the Christians believed
it. And when they saw the Roman army gather round, for whatever
reason it pulled back, they fled. And then the army came in like
a flood and destroyed all those that remained, all those unbelieving
Jews. So it was utterly destroyed then.
And that provides for us a warning. that when you see the coming
destruction, watch, pray, flee to the mountains. Flee to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what he's telling us there,
what we get from that is that we are to flee the abomination
of lies that we see, the heresies that we hear, the free will false
works religion that is being spoken of and preached all around
us. and the false Christ, and just
telling you, just come, it's all about your neighborhood,
or it's all about, you know, all these things that we do here,
and the programs that we have, and flee those things. those
things. Don't believe and trust in those
things. All right? He says in Revelation
18 4, I heard, or John says, I heard another voice from heaven
saying, come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her
sins and that you receive not of her flags. And it's because
Christ told us there shall be many Christs, there shall be
false doctrines. Look at verses 21 through 23.
This is after Jerusalem's been destroyed. And he tells us, this
is what's going to be. This is what's going to be after
the destruction. And then, if any man shall say to you, lo,
here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. For false
Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and
wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But
take ye heed, behold, I have foretold you all things." And
so the warning that the Lord's giving us here is much more perilous
than physical harm and even physical persecution and suffering. It's
a warning for our souls. It's a warning for our souls.
It's a spiritual warning watch there's great spiritual darkness
that's going out there that's very deceitful and deceiving
and you know like most people they worry about you know pending
physical harm we don't like that we don't like the thought of
suffering or feeling pain and and and suffering but our Lord
here is speaking of that which is much more hurtful and harmful
than physical suffering and trials and afflictions of that sort.
It's a spiritual assault that shall deceive many. Many shall
be deceived, right? And you think about it, that
spiritual deception is coming upon people and shall continue
to come upon people as they're getting worn out, as they get
weary, as they grow tired, as they're just wondering, where
is the promise of His coming? All things have gone on just
as they always have. Where is the promise of His coming? And when hard physical times
do come, and they shall come, when they do come, what are people
going to turn to? What are they going to be willing
to listen to, and believe, and trust? and give up that which
they formerly thought they believed and turn to those other things,
those false Christs and false hopes and false doctrines. Our
Lord said in verse 20, look at Mark 13, 20, and except that
the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom
he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days." And so I'm thankful
that we are saved by the grace of God, because it's the grace
of God is what's going to keep his people looking to Christ
and ever trusting Christ and believing Him and not being deceived
and turned away to every wind of false doctrine and every false
Christ. Alright? So it's His grace that
does it and it's in His provision of grace that our Lord provided
a hiding place for us. In the day of trial, in the day
of trouble, in the day when you see the abomination of desolation,
He's provided a hiding place in His Son, Jesus Christ. And
He tells us, flee to the mountains. And what can we discern from
that? What do we understand that fleeing
to the mountains is? Well, first and foremost, it
is Christ. flee to Christ, because as we
saw in Daniel, he's the one that God sent, the Messiah, to put
an end to transgression, to put an end to sin, to put away the
sin of his people, and that which makes us worthy of and deserving
of God's justice and wrath, Christ has put away that sin, so that
God is no longer angry with us, and God is no longer going to
pour out his wrath upon us because he's poured it out on His Son,
Jesus Christ. So we're to diligently make use
of the means of grace that God has provided for our health and
for our deliverance. And it's for you and it's for
the children that He's blessed you with. It's for you and for
you to tell your friends and co-workers and neighbors and
encourage them, come hear the Lord. So as many as the Lord
shall bring and give you an opportunity, always be praying Because we
don't know who the Lord's people are in the hopes that the Lord
would save them. And so, in addition to fleeing
to Christ, we are to make use of the preaching of the gospel. Our Lord promises to meet with
his people in the preaching of the gospel. You think about it,
if on Wednesday night you knew that the Lord Jesus Christ himself
was going to be here preaching, you would do any kind of clearing
of your schedule to be here to hear him. But doesn't he preach
here on Wednesday nights? Is it just a man? I hope not. If it's just a man, then don't
even come here on Sundays, because that's not our hope, is that
we're just hearing me speak, but that we hear the Lord. And
so the Lord says, come, because where two or three are gathered
in my name, I shall be in the midst of them. The Lord knits
our hearts together as we come and hear it. As little and as
simple as it may seem, the Lord knits our hearts together and
he promises to be with us and to feed us what we have need
of hearing and to encourage us and teach us. And so do that. I encourage you. Attend the preaching
of the gospel. He tells us to do that. And then
also another way that we see this is that we are to do all
that we can to support and to see the furtherance of the gospel,
right? We want to see the gospel continue in and among us. It's important. It's important
to us and we want to see it. And so we want to limit the distractions
that we make. And I see it. I definitely see
that we're doing that. We're trying to. We want to limit
the distractions because we want to be peacemakers. In the sense
that we want to do that which enables our brethren to hear
the gospel, because that's being a peacemaker. When our brethren
can hear it, then we know that they're called sons of God, right?
We're hoping to let them hear it and believe, because Christ
has made peace between us and God. And so that's even being
a peacemaker. All right? So flee to Christ,
attend the preaching of the gospel, and do all that you can to support
the preaching of the gospel, and it's going forth. Now, let
me back that up with just a couple of illustrations from scripture.
Think of Hezekiah. We're told that when Sennacherib,
the king of Assyria, when he was coming against Judah, when
Hezekiah looked up, And he saw the abomination of desolation
coming his way. When he knew this is fixing for
our destruction, this is coming against us, Hezekiah went and
told the people in 2 Chronicles 32.8. He said, with him, with
that Sennacherib king there of Assyria, with him is an arm of
flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight
our battles. And the people rested themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Now, he told that the
Lord is with us and he fights our battles. And you know what
Hezekiah did? And you know what the people
of God did? We're told that they stopped the waters up from running
so that the army of Assyria that was gathering around them, they
wouldn't get any water. We're told that they built up
a wall that was broken down. They built up that wall. We're
told that they made an abundance of darts and shields. And darts, I looked it up, that's
spears and swords. Sometimes it's translated as
swords. So they made a bunch of weapons and shields in preparation. And they appointed captains over
the people. So he, believing God and encouraging
the people, They went and did something as well. They went
and prepared for the coming. They saw the danger that was
coming. And you think about it today,
and some people, they know or they believe that there's physical
trials, that there's days of trouble coming upon us. And they
say, well, God will prepare. But they don't do anything about
it. They just say, well, God will prepare. God will take care
of us. But they don't do anything to prepare. But think, Hezekiah
took time and he prepared. He did physical things, believing
God that God would provide. Now, on the other side, some
people believe and they prepare physically. But when it comes
to spiritual things, they say, well, I don't want to encourage
people to do anything because that's denying God's sovereignty.
And that's impeding upon the work that God has to do. And
God does have to do it. If God doesn't do the work, we
ain't going to do anything that is of any good to any of us.
So we're depending upon God. But trusting him and doing things
in service to him, it isn't a denial of his sovereignty. And to back
that up, let me read to you from Acts 17. Acts 17, verses 11 and
12. It says of the Bereans, Paul
and Barnabas, I believe it was, had just come from Thessalonica,
where they were chased away by the Jews there that didn't like
them being there preaching. And it says in Acts 17, verse
11 and 12, of the Bereans, these were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of
mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were
so. Now listen to this. Therefore,
because they diligently sought to know whether these things
were so, therefore many of them believed. That's how God words
it. Many of them, because they sought
diligently, many of them believed. Also of honorable women, which
were Greeks, and of men, not a few. And so I say that to say
our Lord says, when ye see the abomination of desolation, when
you look around and you see all the woe, the sin, the wickedness
that we as a people are just producing in abundance here.
And you see that there's judgment fixing to come and is coming
already. He says, flee to the mountains. Will you see it? Will you see it with the believers,
or will you be like the Jews that didn't see it and didn't
believe and came to their end, a gruesome end? Now, I'll close
with Paul's words concerning this thought. Turn over to 1
Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13 through
16. Here Paul is writing to the Corinthians,
and they're going through troubles and trials and hardships, right? 1 Corinthians 16, 13. And he
says to them, watch ye. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men, or be brave and be strong. There's physical
and even more so their spiritual trials ahead we can be assured
of that there shall be many false Christs and false doctrines and
we all Know the the weeds that do rise up in the thorns that
choke out the word from us, right? We know these things to be so
he says verse 14. Let all your things be done with
charity Remember we don't know any man after the flesh do all
things in love to one another knowing that the time is short
Knowing what God has provided for us do all things with charity
and he says I beseech you brethren Ye know the house of Stephanus,
that it is the firstfruits of Achaia. This is a house church
in Stephanus' house. And that they have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints. Those that have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints, he says, that ye submit yourselves
unto such, and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. So you see that Paul was encouraging
us. the mountain of God's salvation
we know that he sent us some that he's given us this gospel
to hear it that he's teaching us and settling us what we need
to hear in the gospel and need to be taught he's he's doing
that work and so flee to the mountains brethren flee to that
which God has provided for you. Flee to Christ, hear his gospel,
and support the ministry of the gospel, because it is our salvation. The Lord your God has provided
you this salvation for your deliverance from the coming destruction that
comes upon this earth. So flee from that wrath which
is to come upon the wicked. remember sin lieth at the door
and would have the rule over you just like it did to Cain
but it's the grace of God that keeps it that prevents it from
having its way with you and he's giving you his Holy Spirit whereby
you hear his word and believe I trust believe his word so I
pray the Lord would bless that word that we flee to him joyfully
flee to the Lord Jesus Christ so father why don't you come
and breathe through the hymn and then we'll have a couple
announcements after