Mark 13, and we'll be looking
at just the first eight verses, Mark 13 verses 1 through 8. Now here, in this passage of
Scripture, all of Mark 13, It details the judgment of God upon
the earth and the cause for this judgment of God coming upon the
earth is the sin of man. Man is bringing this upon himself
because he's a sinner, he's full of iniquity and wickedness. And so we look at these things
that we see going on around us, whether you look at the news
or even social media or just catch some things or see things
going on in the neighborhood, you might think that things are
out of control and that people are just gone mad and crazy and
people are wicked and there is much violence and wickedness
going on around us. Don't think for a moment that
God isn't in control. God is in complete control of
everything that is going on around us, so that the sorrows that
we see, these sorrows, they're directed by, they're brought
to pass by God. He pours out wrath and judgment
upon the wicked. He's doing as he pleases according
to what he directs and so he's the one that brings it to pass
and everything that is brought to pass is just and right. God is holy and God is good and
he does what is right. And we see this told us or taught
this in the scriptures, it says in Psalm 115 verse 3, but our
God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. God's done what he pleases, he
does what he pleases. And he tells us in Isaiah 45
verse 7, he says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. The I the Lord do all these things. So all that we see going on around
us, the Lord God is in complete control and he's directing all
things that are coming to pass and he's dealing with sin and
wickedness and unrighteousness as it pleases him, all bringing
about his will for the good of his people and the glory of his
name. So in this passage that we're
looking at today, our Lord tells us at the very end of what we're
looking at, verse eight, the end of verse eight, he says,
these are the beginnings of sorrows. What we see here are the beginnings
of sorrows. And so we understand that to
mean that what we're seeing, the judgments we're seeing, the
sorrows that are coming upon man for his sin and wickedness,
what we see here is that these are forerunners of the judgment,
a foretaste of the suffering and the wrath of God which will
be poured out upon those in hell who have not the love of the
truth, who don't know Christ or believe him. Now Paul tells
us in 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 5 verses 10 and 11, he reminds
us that Every one of us must appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. That's how he words it in verse
10, 2 Corinthians 5, 10. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Knowing these things and what
God has done, what God has declared concerning us and what we're
worthy of, and knowing the salvation that God has provided in His
Son, that's why we're here, declaring the light which He's given to
us in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the face of Christ. What He's
shown us, that's what we're here declaring. knowing that these
things are coming and that it's through Christ that God saves
his people and delivers them from this coming wrath of God.
All right, so Mark 13, the whole of the chapter, it describes
the judgment of God upon unbelieving men and women who despise God,
who despise his Christ, who despise the gospel of Christ, the way
that God saves his people, how God has saved his people, and
despise his people and those who preach and declare these
truths. Our title is The Beginnings of
Sorrows. The Beginnings of Sorrows. And
we'll have three divisions. They all start with the letter
D. We have Destruction, Deception, and Displays. So we'll see the
Destruction of the Temple, we'll see the Deception of the Masses,
and then Displays of God's Judgment. upon this people. All right,
so first, the destruction of the temple. This passage, it
begins with our Lord departing from the temple. That's how it
starts off. The Lord departs from the temple. Look at verses
one and two. And as he went out of the temple,
as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto
him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings
are here? And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these
great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. So we know, many
of us know anyway, most of us know that God destroyed the temple
and that he wiped out almost everyone in the city of Jerusalem
in 70 AD by the Roman general at the time, Titus, who later
became an emperor, Emperor Titus over Rome. And so God sent the
Roman army. He raised up the Roman army,
equipped them, gave them the wherewithal and the ability to
do this. And so they pulled off this great
victory against much opposition of the Jews, but they came in
and destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. In fact, we're told
by Josephus, the historian, that as he recorded it, he noted that
Titus had heard about the prophecy of Christ, that no stone should
be left upon another. And he actually tried to prevent
that from happening. But he couldn't prevent it. It
happened anyway, just as the Lord said. It was just ripped
apart. They destroyed the temple. Great
stones were all taken and dismantled and brought down because the
soldiers were going for the gold that was melting. and flowing
out, they were ripping it apart. So one thing though to note in
this destruction that we see at the temple, that just because
a building is destroyed or wiped out, that in and of itself is
not judgment. We can meet here, we can meet
in a barn, we can meet under a tree if necessary, if that's
what it takes. What is the blessing, what's
important is that the presence of the Lord be among us, that
God be pleased to meet with us and join with us and bless the
word of his gospel to go forth and to to transform our wicked
hearts, our hearts of flesh, and to make us to know what He
has freely, abundantly provided for us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Because then it doesn't matter
what we have or what we don't have. So the building isn't the
blessing necessarily, or lack thereof, or it's destruction.
It's the presence of God. And that's why it's such a significant
thing that we read, Christ went out of the temple. And that's
very significant because when the Lord God leaves a people,
or leaves a place, That's wrath, that's judgment, when he pulls
himself, his presence, out from those people. And you can see
this in, say, back in... in Genesis, right? When Lot departed
from Sodom, right? The Lord didn't destroy Sodom
until Lot, who was an elect chosen child of God, until Lot went
out from Sodom, only then did the Lord pour out his wrath upon
that people. He withheld that wrath until
Lot was brought out. So the What we see, though, is
the fulfillment of prophecy here. In Christ going out, it's to
bring about that prophecy from Genesis 49, verse 10, which says,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh. Shiloh meaning tranquility. the
one who is the peacemaker, right? That's the understanding generally
of the word Shiloh, that so that peacemaker, the one who brings
peace should come and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be. All right, so the Lord God, his presence and his gathering
is what he's doing and so he's shutting down and bringing an
end to the Jewish faith, the Jewish religion, their practices,
so that all his people, Jew or Gentile, don't get caught up
in that outward form of dead religion, but are gathered unto
Christ. That's who we're gathering unto,
and we want to be in his presence. And so we saw how with Lot, when
the Lord took his presence, his presence which was upon or with
Lot, that's when he poured out judgment upon Sodom. And so when
Christ left this temple never to return again, then we see
after a little bit of time, judgment came upon them and they were
completely destroyed. And Paul words it the same way.
He speaks of the presence of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy
Spirit is present here upon the earth, saving his people, teaching
his people, calling out his people, gathering his people to Christ.
And so long as the Holy Spirit is here in the earth, The Lord
isn't destroying this earth yet. Paul words it this way. In fact,
turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2 and then put a marker there
because we'll come back to it a little bit later in the study. 2 Thessalonians 2 and look at verses
7 and 8. He says, for the mystery of iniquity,
the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. That's
the Holy Spirit who is letting or preventing the outbreak of
the spirit of iniquity from doing what it would do, and the chaos
and the wickedness that it would stir up and create. And then
shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. So when the Lord departs, once
the works are finished, then he'll allow that spirit of iniquity
to just do what it's going to do and then he returns and destroys
it, judges everything and brings it all to an end. So the destruction
of the temple followed Christ's departure. And what that's showing
us is that God isn't interested, God isn't moved by or impressed
by the outward form of religion that man is so fond of practicing. God is an impressed with that
and and we see that what we hear people we hear of parents how
they speak to their children and what they say and people
of some influence over kids they're always telling them well just
believe something you've got to have faith in something and
they think that that's a moral compass if you will something
that that'll be good for people so that they're happy if you
just get involved in something some church some religion because
they think that religion somehow God is pleased with religion
and they just tell you it doesn't matter what you believe as long
as you believe something and that's not true that's all lies
it's they mean well but they're lying to you they're telling
you a lie and it's deceitful and it'll land you, plunge you
into hell holding on to that lie. It's just wickedness. And
God isn't just trying to get us to be good little boys and
girls, to be more moral, to be more religious, to just practice
something. That's not what God is pursuing.
And yet that's how so many people talk about it in our day, as
though it's just something necessary for the people. And so man's
pursuing that, but we see how God wiped out Jerusalem and that
temple. And those people were very religious. They were extremely religious
and very zealous in their practice. I mean, they died, they gave
their lives for this idea of them themselves being the Jews
and the people of God. And they believed false prophecies
and they believed lies that God was going to appear for them
and deliver them from the Romans because they didn't see Christ
in Christ. They didn't see that he was the
Christ of God and that God was delivering us spiritually because
we're dead in trespasses and sins and need his salvation.
So in the destruction of the temple God is showing that just
that man's outward form of religion is abomination. It's an offense
to God and he hates it. And so he wiped it out. Now true
worship It cannot be in the flesh. And that's why our Lord said
to us in John 3, 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh,
that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Therefore he told
us, ye must be born again. We've got to be born again. It's
got to be a work that God does in our hearts because left to
ourselves, it'll just be that outward form of religion that
God despises and is pouring out his judgment upon in the end
of days. and even now. He's just pouring
out his judgment upon him. And Paul describes such as having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. That's from
2 Timothy 3.5, that there's many that are zealous for religion
and very faithful in their practices, according to the church's practices
or whatever religion they're in, and it's a form of godliness,
it appears to be of value, but God hates it and despises it
and he's pouring out his judgment upon it, just like he did to
the Jews who were very righteous in their minds and in their works,
and followed the letter to the law, but they were dead in trespasses
and sins. And Christ, he spoke to these
practitioners of religion, and he said the truth to them when
he said, Luke 16, 15, and we do well to hear it ourselves,
where he said, ye are they which justify yourselves before men,
but God knoweth your hearts. He knows our hearts. He knows
what we are by nature, He knows the sin and the deceit and the
covetousness and the idolatry and all the wickedness that's
in this little heart of ours that's just full of reproach
and iniquity and that which earns us a wrath of God. earns us debt,
the wages of sin. So God knoweth your hearts for
that which is highly esteemed among men, just do whatever makes
you happy and you just gotta believe something, highly esteemed
among men, it's abomination in the sight of God. That's what
he tells us, it's abomination in the sight. So, The reason
why we say this is that we be mindful and that we continue
to be thankful Seeking the Lord remembering Lord if you're not
with us if you don't go with us We meet in vain if you're
not teaching us and if you're not causing your word of truth
to go forth And you're not laying it to our hearts Lord, we're
dead. We're undone. We're going to
die just like all the rest of the world. So just remember that
it's not us that saves ourselves. It's not us that set ourselves
apart. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our hope is that Christ
has set us apart. and claimed us for Himself, and
keeps us ever looking to Him, and not to our flesh, and not
something that we're doing or not doing. And so this light
that He gives to His elect, it's according to His power. Look
over in Romans 1, verse 16. It's according to God's power,
which we know is the Gospel of Christ. Romans 1 16 says, For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. Alright, he's saying from
Christ's faithful work, according to his faith, to the faith which
he has given to us and revealed himself to." From faith to faith,
as it's written, the just shall live by faith. And so, this is
what Christ, who is the righteousness of his people, what he's saving
them from. Look at verse 18. There, Romans
118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. So, any and all religions, even
those that slap the name of Christ on it and say that they're Christian
and that they follow Jesus, you know, even those that talk like
that, those that serve and worship apart from Christ, looking to
their works, looking to the law, looking to their ecclesiology,
how they practice things in the church, and what they do or don't
do, and trust in themselves and what they're doing in the flesh,
that's just abomination. And that's just a recipient of
the wrath of God. And so that's what Christ is
saving us from. He's revealing it to us so that
we hear His voice which says, come out of them, my people,
come out of them, lest ye be partakers of the wrath that I'm
going to pour out upon them. So he delivers us from that.
Alright, and we're told by Christ, he says, God is a spirit and
them that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And we hear that, we need to
hear that and be reminded and convinced of that by the spirit
of Christ because in this flesh we're all very religious and
we just fall into just doing religious things and going through
the motions of religion, forgetting. But thanks be to God who's gracious
to us, who's patient with us, and who leads us along and brings
us to see, Lord, what am I doing? Where am I? And he calls us to
himself and draws us to himself sweetly in grace and in mercy,
showing us once again our need of Christ and the faithfulness
the gentleness, the kindness, and the goodness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he, again, melts our hearts
to know, Lord, I'm right where I need to be. Hearing this word,
Lord, teach me this word. Put this word in my heart. Help
me to hear, Lord. Help me to look to you and stop
looking to this world or just going through the motions. Help
me to know you, Lord, to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
then, whatever we go through, any sorrows or suffering we might
go through in this life, is nothing compared to the blessings and
the glory which God has for you, his people, that have nothing
but what he provides. And he does all that for us,
brethren. So he delivers us from that abomination,
all right? So we don't trust those outward
things that the world and just dead religion trusts in. Now
next in our text, we read in Mark 13, verses three and four.
It says, as Christ 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? And I like the way
Matthew adds to that, to that question that they asked there,
he also adds, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, thy
return, thy second coming, or when you come and reveal yourself
as Christ and of the end of the world. So Christ in this passage
and in those companion passages, just so you know if you want
to read it, we're looking at Mark 13 and then there's Matthew 24
Luke 21. They're all there. You can line
them up and go through the verses and just see how they were them
subtly different, but Matthew 24 is probably the most robust
one of them. But what we see here in these
chapters is what's leading up to the destruction of the temple,
right? The temple's destruction. But
it's not just limited to the temple's destruction. It's also
pointing to the destruction and the end of the world when Christ
returns and shall destroy this world and this world's ways.
So that the temple, its destruction, it's a type of the destruction
which Christ is bringing upon the earth. What we see there,
because he's definitely speaking about what's leading up to the
temple, but it doesn't just, it's not only just for that,
it continues. We continue to see the judgment
of God upon the wickedness of men. And you can go back into
the Old Testament and look how God dealt with the people there
in Israel and the people in the world, how he brought judgments
upon them. So you see this pattern being
repeated over and over again. All right, so first of all, what
we see here is that when he answers the disciples, in the next four
verses we'll look at today, as he's answering them, you look
at them and you're like, well, you know, I could see this happening
even today. And yet this was relevant to
them as well. And so it's relevant to me, it's
been relevant to the church all this time, it's relevant to the
apostles, it's relevant all the way back to the the disciples
in the Old Testament, it's relevant to every one of us. And you'll
see that in in the language. And so One of the benefits to
us today is because we see that we're always looking for, always
anticipating the return of the Lord. He words it in this way,
not because it's just a general thing, but he knows exactly what
he's doing. He's saying it this way because
it's relevant to every one of us. And we see these things being
worked out. In every age of the church, these
things are worked out among us. The Lord tells us in Revelation
22 20, Surely I come quickly, Amen. And the church responds,
Even so come, Lord Jesus. We're always waiting for Him,
we're always anticipating and awaiting His return. So, what
the Lord reveals to us here in this portion of Scripture, it's
not to trouble us. The world should be troubled,
but it's not to trouble us. Instead, we're greatly encouraged
to watch and pray. And that's what He's teaching
us. Watch and pray. Be looking, alright? We've all
known We've all experienced at some point in our lives, I know
myself many times in my life, where everything seems fine,
I feel like I'm praying, I feel like I'm serving the Lord and
doing what I should be doing, and then trouble comes and I
just realize how weak and insufficient I am for the trouble that's upon
me. And it turns me and directs me
right to the only one that can do anything for me. I see my
mortality, I see my weakness, I see my inability to do that
which should probably be done or I think should be done, but
it turns me back to the Lord and I realize, wow, I should
have been praying like this every day up to this. Here I am, you
know, naked and afraid and have nothing, you know, except for
Christ turns me and shows me my need of Him. So He's encouraging
us and telling us, watch and pray. We're watching and praying
because we don't know the day or the hour when these things
get turned upside down and are brought to pass among us. All right, so first, oh, and
it's for today. Let me just encourage you. Again,
it's definitely for today just as it was for then because look
at the last verse in Mark 13, verse 37. Verse 37 says, and what I say
unto you, you disciples right here before me, I say unto all. Watch. That's what he says, watch
every one of you, you listening now, you reading this chapter
now, you going through the study, watch, I'm saying it to you all,
watch. So it's definitely relevant to
every age, every believer in the church, all right? So you're
gonna hear as Christ, as we read these verses, you'll hear of
things that are very present, dangerous, things that are among
us even now, even now, you'll see it, all right? And he promises
us though, as we go through it, he promises us in John 14 verses
1 through 3, he says, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also." And actually, when
I read that and hear how he words that, and he says, don't be troubled,
it reminds me of what we see in Isaiah 26 at the end when
it's speaking of of the dead rising and the wrath of God coming
upon the earth. And he says, you, my people,
you who trust me, hide yourselves, shut yourselves in that booth.
You hide yourself in that protection, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's saying, you get to Christ. You hide yourself in him. until
the wrath and the indignation be overpassed of God and all
will be well for you, his people." That's his encouragement, that's
his promise to us. You're not going to perish. You
who hope in Christ and have no hope and confidence in yourself,
you'll not perish with the wicked when the wrath of God is poured
out upon them. Alright, now the first thing
Christ does is in our next heading which is deception, deception
of the masses. And so what he tells us is that
there is a great deception coming upon the people as soon as Christ
descends there will be great deception. Mark 13, 5 and 6,
And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed, lest any man
deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ,
and shall deceive many. So here the Lord's warning us.
of a danger that we know to be present here today. It was back
then that the false Christ came and it's now today. Even when
you look at the history of what was going on, historians like
Josephus even writes and says, there was a man who actually
claimed to be Christ in defense against the Romans and led away
30,000 people that believed him and trusted in him and all perished
with him. And so throughout the ages there's
always people, there's men and women, who claim to be the Messiah
of some sort, claim to be a Savior, claim to be a Christ, and there's
always fools that'll follow them and trust them and believe them
and then perish and die with them. So, the Lord's warning
us, don't be deceived, let no man deceive you. Now, turn back
over to 2 Thessalonians 2. verse 9, because what we see
is it's not just these individual persons, it's not just a particular
person or one person here or there, but he's showing us that
it's the spirit of Antichrist that's present in the world that
is seeking to do his will, that's seeking to do what he wants to
do. but he's subject to the Spirit of Christ. So 2 Thessalonians
2 9, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness and then that perish because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Alright, so the reason why the
world is suffering under the wrath of God and shall suffer
in the judgment and wrath of God is because they received
not the love of the truth. They don't believe the truth
concerning God. They don't believe what we're
declaring here today concerning Christ. And so our Lord tells
us of these things beforehand so that we watch and pray continually. Especially as you see, as each
of you see and hear and witness the things which Christ is declaring
to us right here, now. And it says in Matthew 24, 4,
let no man deceive you. Let no man deceive you. You know
who the Christ is. You know that there's nothing
you can do. You stay right there in Christ. You know that there's
nothing that you or I can do to save ourselves. It's Christ
and Christ alone. Now, the scriptures teach us
and reveal to us that Christ is our surety. That he's the
one who comes and he's the one who pays the debt that his people
owe. We've all through our sin and
our iniquity and our trespasses have earned and worked up a debt
which is wrath from God. Because we owe God righteousness
which we can't provide. So Christ comes and he says put
that debt on me. I will pay the righteous debt
that all my people owe. I'll pay." And then we see this
according to the scriptures that he's our substitute, right? So
that in his debt he's satisfied divine justice. He's satisfied
everything that that God requires that for the punishment of our
sin Christ satisfied God's holy divine wrath and justice perfectly. It says in Ephesians 1 7 in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace." And because he did this,
because he did this so perfectly in satisfying God, God is pleased
with him, raised him from the dead because he's pleased with
him, and ascended him up to the right hand of the throne of God
where he is now ruling and reigning, and executing the will of God
in the earth. He's establishing the kingdom
of God, he's gathering all his people to himself, looking to
him and trusting in him. And John 17 2 tells us, As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. And we know this is
so because when he was just conceived in Mary's womb, the angel declared
to Joseph, saying, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. So we worship and serve a successful
Savior. He does not fail. If you believe
that there's any part of salvation required of you, of your flesh,
of your work, of your decision, of your will, of your running,
then you don't know the Christ that's revealed in the scripture.
Because He has worked salvation perfectly and sufficiently, so
that everything that's necessary for life and godliness, He provides. He gives it to His people. So,
faith is necessary for life and godliness, well, He gives it
to whom He will, as it pleases Him, And he calls them to himself
to look to Christ and believe him. They see and are brought
to know, not my works, Lord. Nothing I do can please you.
Nothing I do can put away this debt. But they are caused to
look to Christ, saying, Lord, you've provided salvation in
your son, Jesus Christ. And they look to him and trust
him and rest in him wholly. All right? And so we see that
this is revealed throughout the book. revealed to us and taught
to us so that Peter even said in Acts 10 43 saying to him to
Christ give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but receive remission
of sins all right and so These things which are being revealed
here in Mark 13 and Matthew 24 and in Luke 21, it's not a matter
for us to be careless with or indifferent. And to just say,
well, I see these signs and these present dangers, which Christ
warned about, but I don't believe it. That's what's so common to
us, is to be indifferent to these things. And that brings us to
our next point, displeas of God's judgment. Look at verses 7 and
8. Mark 13, 7 and 8. And when ye shall hear of wars
and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such things must
needs be, but the end shall not be. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes
in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles.
These are the beginnings of sorrows." Right? So we see these today.
We see these present dangers. We hear wars and rumors of wars,
right? We know these things are going
on. There's earthquakes all around the globe all the time, right?
There's shaking and rattling going on. There's famines, right? There's different countries that
we hear of different famines and starvations and sicknesses
and sorrows going on and all these troubles. We hear these
things constantly. And they've ever been. You notice
that the language is such that it's ever been because it's showing
us this pattern that God is angry with the wicked every day. Every
day he's angry with the wicked and so his wrath is being poured
out and what they are is they're they're like trumpets Going out
to us saying wait a minute Christ spoke of these things His word
speaks of these things that this is God's wrath and judgment being
poured out upon us for my sin for the wicked things I do it's
to make us to know Christ is coming Christ is returning just
as he said and And man can never bring about the peace that he
so boldly and arrogantly speaks of as though he can do something
through politics or the lack of religion or through religion
or whatever it is. They're always looking for something
that they're convinced they can do to bring about change. And
he says, you're never going to bring about change. We're all
wicked sinners and all these things are going to continue
to happen and be poured out upon us. And so we're reminded because
we so easily forget, right? We all get to thinking that,
wait a minute, all I've ever seen in my life was things going
a certain way. And it was this way yesterday,
so surely it's going to be that way tomorrow. Nothing's ever
going to change. And so the Lord tells us and
reveals to us that there's scoffers in the last days, right? I'm
sure some of you have thought it. I've thought it myself at
times and think, well, wait a minute, everything goes on the way it's
always gone. Where is this promise of His
coming? And it's God that convinces us and shows us, wait a minute,
don't be so foolish. You're willfully forgetting what
God has shown you and revealed to you. I mean, I can see the
wickedness and the sin in my own heart and there's nothing
I can do to change it. I see the very truth that He
declares occurred in the garden. went out and rebelled against
Him. And that pollution, that deadness,
that filthiness, I've inherited it through His seed, and it's
just as much as every one of us here has inherited that sin
and iniquity. So we see it, and we see the
marks and the signs of judgment all around us. And He tells us
that when Christ returns, He'll judge the earth. It says in Acts
17.33 that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead. Since that time, since that day,
these apostles, these men, these disciples have gone out preaching
and declaring this word, declaring the wrath of God is coming upon
men because he can't work a righteousness but that he's provided salvation
in his son Jesus Christ and he raised him from the dead so that
we are assured and know and we like to think and pretend like
that didn't happen and that that's not true but it is true and it's
recorded throughout history in his word through the testimony
of his church, and through even other historians who wrote about
it, and know that these things are so. And so we know that the
end will come, just as he said, he's promised that it will come.
And we have a view into that final day. If you turn over to
Revelation 20, we can see it. Revelation 20, look at verses
11 and 12. Revelation 20 verses 11 and 12
and then we'll drop to 15. John says, I saw a great white
throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and
the books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works, which we know is telling us, in Christ He produces good
works, which you will have no shame to stand before God in
His work of righteousness. Or that you trust in your own
works, which are bad works, you will be judged according to those,
and you will suffer shame and sorrow for your works. and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Now,
the comfort of the believer is knowing that everyone whom Christ
died for, everyone whom he shed his blood for, their names are
written in the book of life. That's the Lamb's book of life.
It's those that he laid down his life for. Because God chose
a people, an elect people, whom He chose for Himself according
to His pleasure, according to His own will, and He gave them
to Christ, His Son. And so Christ laid down His life
and shed His blood to wash them and make them clean. All their
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But know that Christ
is willing, He is able, and He shall save His people. He loses
none of His people, and all those who trust Him He's laid down
his life for them, he's shed his blood and he says, trust
me, come to me, look to me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth. And so the only way that we know,
is my name written in the Lamb's book of life? Is my name going
to be found there? Are my works good before God? The only way that we know is,
do you trust him? Do you believe Christ? Or don't
you? You either trust him or you don't. You're either a sinner who can't
save themselves and know Christ. If your blood wasn't shed for
me, Lord, I have nothing. And so we either trust Him or
we don't trust Him. So we'll know that our names
are there found in His book if we trust Him, if we trust Him
and believe Him. So do you hear His voice this
morning? Do you hear Him? Do you hear
that you're a sinner, that you need Christ? You can look around
and see all the sorrows and the judgments. You see the present
dangers that He spoke of back there to them. He's showing you
your need of Him. If you hear His voice and you're
a sinner and you see that He's the Savior, believe Him. Believe
Him and trust Him and you shall be saved. I pray the Lord will
bless that word to His people and help us to hear it. Father,
why don't you sing the final hymn and then we'll close in
prayer after. Our closing hymn is going to
be 282 Hiding in the... 282 Hiding in the... Shaved to the rock that is higher
than mine My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly So sinful,
so weary, thine, thine would I be Thou blessed rock of ages,
I'm hiding in thee. Hiding in thee. Hiding in thee. Thou blessed rock of ages, I'm
hiding in thee. In the calm of the new tide,
in sorrow's low now, In times when temptation has o'er me its
power, In the tempest of life, on its wide heaving sea, Thou
blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee. Thou blessed rock of ages, I'm
hiding in Thee. Awaft in the conflict when pressed
by the foe, I fled to my refuge and freed down my woe. How often, when trials like sea
billows roll, There hidden in thee, O Thou Rock of my soul,
Hiding in thin, hiding in thin, Thou blest rock of ages, I'm
hiding in thin. Alright, so just a reminder that
this coming Wednesday we'll be meeting at 7.15. We'll start
meeting at 7.15. Alright, and so all those that
asked about my dad, he's just not doing well. So, just I thank
you for your prayers and I'm glad that I was able to go down
there and see him. So, alright, let's just pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy. We thank you, Lord,
for the grace that You've shown to us in sending this gospel
word. Lord, we pray that You would
not leave it to us to hear it. Do not leave it to us to believe
it. Lord, we pray that as You have sent the word that You would
cause Your people, Your troubled people, Your fearful people,
Your people who are sinners, Lord, who can't work a righteousness
for themselves. Lord, we pray that You would
that your spirit would make us to hear it, that you would teach
us this word in the heart, and that you would give us faith
and sight to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that only
he can save the sinner. Lord, we pray that you would,
indeed in Christ, deliver us from the wrath which is coming
upon this world, and all those who love not the truth and receive
not the truth of Christ that you have revealed in your son.
We pray this in Christ's name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.