Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. I've contemplated this to be
my text this morning. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. This was no ordinary occasion
that the Lord Jesus Christ was just leaving the temple. This,
my friend, was the last time Jesus graced the presence of that temple
that he had been in for so many centuries. And so the title of my message
this morning is The Glory of the Lord Departed. The Glory
of the Lord Departed. Here, Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ
in the preceding chapter rebukes the scribes and Pharisees who
appear to be religious men and who were like the apostle Paul
before his conversion, they believed themselves to be blameless. They
believed themselves self-righteous before God. Yet, the Son of God,
the Son of God seeing their hearts, seeing their souls, He says they
are blind hypocrites. Hypocrite. What is a hypocrite?
It is an actor. Someone who's playing a part. He said, you are liars. On the outside, you appear to
be righteous. On the outside, you appear to
be holy. But on the inside, you are unrighteous. He called them blind. They who
thought to be leaders were nothing but blind men, groping in the
dark. He says of them, You built great
tombs for the prophets, and you garnished their sepulchres. And
look at this, in verse 30, he said, You say, if we had been
there in those days of our fathers, we would have not killed the
prophets. We wouldn't have done that. Oh
no, they garnish, they set up temples and they set up shrines
to these prophets and they claim to honor them. They claim to
honor them. But Jesus said, that's not true.
He said, fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. In other
words, what you're going to do is going to be worse than all
of their murders combined. You are going to crucify and
kill the Prince of Life. You're going to crucify and kill
me, which is worse than all your fathers ever did. But see the heart of the Lord
Jesus then, even after rebuking them, after calling them, He
says, I'm going to send men and even after you kill me, I'm going
to send you prophets. I'm going to send you wise men.
And you are going to kill them as like you killed me. This is
truly fulfilled in all of the apostles. You know that all of
the apostles were martyred? All except John. John was exiled. He was actually burned. His flesh
was burned and then he was left to suffer on that Isle of Patmos
until he died. He was exiled. So all of them
suffered great persecution even as the Lord Jesus told these
people. He said, you'll kill them too.
But then look in verse 37. I want you to see his heart.
Here the Lord Jesus Christ opens up his heart and weeps over Jerusalem. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent
to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings. and you would
not. Behold the greatness of God's
free grace. Behold the greatness of God's
free grace. O you that killed and murdered
my prophets, you who hated the gospel of Jesus Christ, and those
that hate those who preach it, you greatest of sinners, listen,
how oft would I have gathered you, As a chicken, as a hen would
gather her little ones under her wings. Is this not a gracious
word from Christ? See the great affection and compassion
of Christ in remembering His long-suffering over these people. How long had he been with these
people? He had been with them even with
their father Abraham. He had been so long with them
and how often and year after year was he long suffering with
them, calling them, crying to them, sending them prophets after
prophets after prophets, word after word after word, and they
kept killing them and killing them and killing them, and yet
He kept sending them. What grace, what kindness, what
compassion to send His prophets to these wicked men. How often
did he send them this message? Listen, how often did he not
say to them, all you backsliding children return unto me and I
will heal your backsliding. How often had he said that? I
can, hundreds of times we can read that. Turn unto me, come
unto me, forsake your idols, forsake your gods, forsake your
righteousness and come to me and I'll heal you. I'll heal
you. One of my favorite passages here
is in Hosea 14. In verse 4, he said, Yet I am
the Lord thy God, and I brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
I'm sorry, not that verse. That's 13, okay. 14, 4, I will heal their backsliding. Listen, I will love them freely. Now, is that not a word of grace?
Is that not such a great, compassionate God? Has He not displayed His
great, long-suffering and kindness to this people? You bet He had. He had displayed such loving
kindness and grace to them, and He would have healed them. Come
to me in faith and repentance, and I'll gather you I gather
you and your children under my arms, and yet behold the greatness
of their depravity, you would not. Behold the hardness of man's
heart, you would not. Listen, you who are far from
God, Here this morning stands the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I beseech you as an ambassador
of Christ, be you reconciled to God. You who are far off,
hear now the heart of God. Hear God's heart. In Psalm 45,
God says, My heart is indicting a good matter. That word indicting
means gushing. This is God speaking. God said,
My heart is gushing a good matter, a good work. And My heart, He said, I speak
of things which I have made touching the King. What is the manifestation
of God's gushing heart? It is His Son. He has sent prophet
after prophet to Israel, but in these last days, He has sent
His only Son. He has sent His only Son into
the world, His King. The heart of God speaks of the
Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Scripture says, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it
is written of Me. Do you not see that this whole
book is God's gushing heart concerning His Son? His Son! This is a book about His Son!
His Beloved! It's a book about His King. The Lord Jesus Christ, the King,
my friend, who was prophesied to come, who God promised would
come. It's what He'd been doing to
Israel for all of those centuries. He said, My Son is coming. My
Son is coming. My Son is coming. And I tell
you, His Son has come. And that's what we preach. We
preach His Son has come. He has come. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, was manifest in the flesh. Here He was! He had come to His temple suddenly,
even as the prophet Malachi said He would. He said He would come
to His temple suddenly, and there He was. He was there. The Son
of God was among them. And what did they do to the Son of God? They rejected him. Now don't you get self-righteous
like them and say you wouldn't have done it. Isn't that what
our flesh creeps up and says, oh, if I was there, if I was
there. Well, he said no. No, you'd have
done it too. You'd have done it too. They
rejected him. Even so, do all of us by nature
reject His free grace. By nature, we are opposed to
it. By nature, men reject the free
grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone, listen, without
works. There's the key. You see, men
don't mind faith in Jesus Christ. Men don't mind believing on Jesus
Christ so long as they can put something to Him. So long as
they can add something by which to make themselves more presentable
unto God. The Scripture tells us in Romans
3, the Apostle Paul, he says, we're
all by nature, none good, none righteous. The
law can't help us. He says, therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God, listen, without the law. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Altogether important word, of,
not faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God is not
merited by your faith in Jesus Christ, but rather the faith
of Jesus Christ merited the righteousness of God. And yes, that righteousness
is imputed to us who believe in Jesus Christ. You see, we
have that righteousness given to us, but our faith never merited
that righteousness. Faith is the channel by which
righteousness comes. This morning, listen, I come
to you and declare the salvations of God. Behold, Jesus Christ, who is
God manifest in the flesh, has come to fulfill the law. What these Pharisees thought
is that they fulfilled the law. And God would accept them based
on what they did. But Jesus Christ said, I came
not to destroy the law, but to what? Fulfill the law. Fill it
full. I came to fill the law full.
I came to do it all. to merit righteousness, to honor
the law, to magnify the law. We in our natural state, you
could never fulfill the law. Honestly, this morning, right
now, honestly, examine your own self. Can you fulfill the law?
You can't. You know it, and I know it. Why
pretend? Why put on a show? You can't. Our natural man is not subject
to the law, Paul says, neither indeed can be. Did you get that?
It's not able. You can't. You can't. What if
I try really hard? You can't. Impossible. Jesus
said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for you to enter into the kingdom of heaven. That's just
so. It's impossible for you. What's
impossible for you, listen, Christ has done. What's impossible for
you, the man Jesus Christ came to do, fulfill the law. And for all, for us, all the
law can do is condemn us. In grace, listen, Jesus Christ
has come to bring in everlasting righteousness, eternal righteousness. This is what He provides, eternal
righteousness. In Daniel chapter 9 and verse
24, it says, 70 weeks are determined to fulfill The Word of God. He said Christ is going to come
in that time. And what is He going to do? He's
going to do away with sin, iniquity, and transgression. And He says
to bring in everlasting righteousness. That's what He was coming to
do. He came to bring everlasting righteousness. To provide it. Isaiah 51 says, Oh, our garments
of righteousness are like those eaten, the wool eaten by worms. You got holes in your righteousness. But my righteousness, shall be
forever." This is what He came to do. He came to fulfill the
law. Sinner, do you hunger and thirst
for righteousness? You know, last night I got up
and I was kind of hungry. So I went in and I looked at
the cabinet and I said, nah, I don't want that. Nah, I don't
want that. I guess I'm really not hungry.
So I closed the cabinet and went back to bed. Okay, that's how
some people view righteousness. They go, eh, eh, maybe I want
it, maybe I don't. Eh, okay, I don't. I got enough. Too much work, too much struggle.
I want to have my own. See, you're not hungry for righteousness. What the scripture means is are
you starving to death for righteousness? Do you hunger and do you need
to be accepted with God? Do you need? Come now then and
drink to the full. Drink by faith in Jesus Christ
and you shall have the righteousness of God. This is what He says,
O Jerusalem, O My people, listen, how oft I would have gathered
you like a hen gathers her chicks. The gospel message is a message
open to all, isn't it? I preach this message to every
one of you. Every one of you this morning, I tell you, come
to Christ and find refuge, refuge under His wings, and you shall
have the righteousness of God. You see, For everyone who believes
on Jesus Christ, listen, with his righteous garments on, you're
as holy as God's Son. Holy without your works. Holy
without your effort. holy by faith in Jesus Christ. Behold, the Lord Jesus Christ
has not only come to provide righteousness, but to put away
sin forever by the sacrifice of himself. This was the purpose
of the cross. That Jesus should come as a high
priest and offer a sacrifice to God. You not see that? How many foolish people think
that he offered a sacrifice to you, or to Satan, or to some
other being. No. He offered Himself to God. To God. He offered Himself as
a spotless righteous sacrifice. God said, I will not accept a
blemish sacrifice. And Jesus Christ, providing the
righteousness of God in His works, He was the spotless Lamb. And
He offered Himself as a high priest to God. But in order for sin to be put
away with, sin must have first been imputed to the righteous
Lamb. You see, He had no sin. But in
order for justice to actually be satisfied, He must bear the
blame. He must bear the guilt of our
sins. And this could only be done by
the imputation of sin. God imputing and charging our
sins to Him. For God hath made Him to be sin
for us. Who knew no sin? Have you considered that, that
as he hung upon the cross, as he was made sin for us, do you
realize that even though he was made sin for us, he himself did
know sin? Every word that he spoke was
holy and just and righteous. And you know every word he spoke
was believing in God. He trusted God. And therefore the apostle in
Hebrews 9 says, Now once in the end of the age, hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, as it is pointed
unto man once to die, and after this to judgment. So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look
by faith, look for Him, He shall appear the second time without
sin." Jesus, who was once offered for
sin, has now satisfied the justice of God and listen to me where
he is now he is seated he sat down the work is done
this is the message of the gospel it is finished the message of
the gospel is salvation accomplished Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him. And you know
what's wonderful about that? It doesn't give us an amount
of faith, does it? It doesn't say believe on Him
to this point or to this point. It says believe on Him and thou
shalt be saved. How simple. How plain spoken
that is. Rest all your soul on Him. Don't
be a hypocrite. Don't be a pretender. Bow down
and believe. Trust solely on Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Behold, now the arms of the outstretched
Savior are ready to receive anyone who comes to God by Him. This
is grand. This is great. His arms outstretched. Anyone who comes to God may come
to God by Him. You can see Him here outstretching
His hands over Jerusalem, mourning over that city who would not.
Let me ask you this, why would you not? Did I not tell you that everything's
provided? Did I not tell you righteousness
provided, atonement provided? Did I not tell you He was successful? Why would you not come under
His wings? Why would you stay away? Why
would you not be? saved. His wings are a refuge and protection
so large as to cover the greatest of sinners. I know people we think are too
far gone. I tell you as long as there's
life there's hope. And therefore, I preach. I remember
that Spurgeon was asked one time, he said, sir, if God has an elect
people, why preach? And he said, sir, if you would
kindly point out the elect to me, I'll only preach to them.
I don't know who they are. I don't know who they are. And
neither do you. Therefore, he has his arms stretched
open wide. Come. Why would you wait? Why
would you not come? Why? Sinner, I know this and
preach the sovereignty of God. I know and preach that God's
sovereign election, that the Father has chosen a people. I know that. The Scriptures plainly
declare that. That the Father has chosen a
certain number of people. And I know this, Jesus Christ
has successfully died for every one of those elect. I know that. I preach that. I declare that. And will till my dying days that
Christ is a successful Savior. We know this, that the Spirit
of God will come only to those elect. But how will He come?
He'll come with His arms open. That's how He comes. He comes
with His arms open. And you know what the elect do?
They come. There was a time I would not.
There was a time I rebelled and would not. But then, in grace
His arms opened, and I could do nothing but flee to His feet,
plead for mercy. And you know what I found? I
found mercy. I found mercy. You know what
you'll find? You'll find mercy. You'll find
mercy. to everyone that comes to God
by Him. I declare, I declare the sovereign
grace of God and I tell you to come, but listen to me, if you
will not and you die in your sins, listen, it will be your
own fault. Not one person in hell is able
to set the blame on God for any of their torments. They're in hell because they
would not. And if you go to hell, it's because
you would not. You would not. It'll be your
own fault. And listen to what he said to
these who would not. Verse 38. Behold, your house
is left desolate. Desolate. How many men or people have heard
the gospel and thought they would hear it again, but didn't. King Agrippa, he said to Paul,
thou almost persuaded me to be a Christian. Ha, you sly, you
almost got. No, he didn't. No, he would not. And you know what? King Agrippa
never heard the gospel again. Felix, that ruler who had the
apostle Paul in that jail cell for three years, heard him one
time, and you know what he said? Go away! I'll call for thee when
it's convenient. I'll call for thee at a more
convenient time. You know, preacher, that really
sounds good, but I'm just going to wait on that. You know, I
got too much I want to do. I got so much things that I gotta
get done. I know if I believe in Christ,
I gotta give up my sin. So, I'm just gonna wait to a
more convenient time. That's the last time he ever
heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen, I would have you all
consider this. Today may be the last day you
hear. This may be it. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Seek the Lord
while he is near. Call upon him While he may be
found, seek him while he is near. Today is the day of salvation. Harden not thine heart as they
did in the provocation. Believe now. Trust now. Don't wait. Don't wait. These men in the temple, I suppose they thought they had
plenty of time. Do you realize when the Lord
Jesus Christ walked out of there, they never heard it again? The glory of the Lord departed
from the temple, never to return. These men truly were glad to
get rid of the Lord Jesus Christ, not knowing that all hope left
with him. Listen to me. If Christ leaves,
so does all hope of salvation. Consider this, you do always
resist the Spirit of God and He just may give you what you
want. The Lord was present in this
temple for centuries. His gospel was daily preached
by those sacrifices. But now we read in verse 1, And
Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and he left it desolate. He departed. in Haggai, this temple that Jesus
left. It was much smaller than that
other temple. Wasn't as big and wasn't as glorious. Solomon's temple was huge. The
doors were covered in gold. That's how glorious that first
temple was. And he said this second temple
was so small in comparison. But Haggai gives him this promise. He says, this temple will be
greater than the one before. You know why that smaller temple
was greater? Because the Son of God was there. That's why it was greater. Because
the Son of God was there. But as soon as the Son of God
left that building, never to return, so did the presence and
glory of God forever leave that place. You listen, you'll hear
some fools running around talking about reestablishing that temple.
You can tell them they're crazy. The glory of that temple is gone
because Christ is no longer there. Now then, how does this apply
to us? Let's see how this relates to
his church. I'll ask you this. Why is this place glorious this
morning? Why is this place glorious? What
makes this place different from all other buildings that are
bigger, larger, and fuller than this place? What makes this place?
You're here for a reason, aren't you? You're here Because you
believe this place is glorious. You believe that this place has
honor. You believe this place is more, is better. I speak to say more better. This
place is better than any other building you could be in this
morning. That's why you're here. You're here because this place
is more glorious to you. Why? Why aren't you somewhere
else? What makes this place glorious
is the presence. of Jesus Christ. As I declare
the gospel to you, Jesus Christ is present here. The presence of the assembly
of the saints is made glorious by the presence of the Son of
God. And listen to me, if the Son
of God is not here, no matter how big or how full a place is,
it's desolate. It's empty. Therefore, all of us who have
received Him, to us who have taken refuge under His wings,
desire only to be where He is. Is that not right? Do you desire,
you believers? Now I'm talking to you who have
belief. Do you not desire to be where
He is? We desire to be where Christ
is. When Jesus left that temple, was it not just reasonable to
do what his disciples did? Look what his disciples did.
Jesus went out of the temple and his disciples came to him. You see that? Where Christ is,
his disciples are. His disciples are. Very simple
principle, isn't it? That's not complicated. I hear
men talk of faith. I hear a lot of men talk of faith. They boast of their salvation. They brag of their security in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, I'm confused. Because
many of them do not have any desire to be where He is. They do not desire to be where
Jesus manifests His presence. And I stand in doubt of anyone
who does not desire to be where Christ is. Now you can jump up
and down and tell me, and be mad, scream at me, I have faith!
I have faith! Don't tell me I'm... whatever. I remember one preacher, this
guy was arguing about his salvation. He said, your salvation, you
justify it. I'm not going to justify it for
you. Matter of fact, the Apostle says,
you better mark them who are the sinners. John said this, they went out
from us, listen, they went out from us because they were not
of us. If they were of us, they would
have no doubt continued with us. Why? Because where God's
people are, Christ is. That's why. Where the Word of
Christ is preached, that's where Christ is. And He's there every
time. Every time. Two or three are
gathered together in His name. Now that's not... I went over
to Joanne's the other day and we have wonderful fellowship.
I go and visit and we have wonderful fellowship. That's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about by His authority. When two or three are gathered
by His authority, what has His authority commanded us to do?
Preach the Word. The preaching of the Gospel.
The public worship of Jesus Christ is His authority. It's by His authority we're here.
Otherwise, we shouldn't be here. If we have no command for this,
what are we doing here? We're doing this because of His
command to us. We're here because this is where
He said He would be. That's why we should be here.
Because He said He would be here. Surely we know Christ is always
with every believer and He'll never forsake us. But this is
a special presence when we are gathered together. Go over to Hebrews 10. This is to you who are under
His wings. Listen. Hebrews chapter 10. Let's begin in verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful that promised.
And let us consider... Who? Who are you to consider? One
another. One another. To provoke unto
love and to good works. How? How? How can we consider
one another? How do we provoke one another
to good works? Not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together. Is that not clear? I mean, is
that not plain language for us? Is this too high? that anyone
can miss this? Every time the gospel is preached
here, where's Christ? Here. Where should His disciples be? It's not a law for salvation.
I'm not here to be saved. I'm here because I'm saved. You
get it? I'm not trying to beat the sheep. Believe me, this is a fear of
mine greatly, that I would beat the sheep. Because you know the
goats really don't care. They don't really care. God's
people do. Let me ask you, what is more
important than the worship of Jesus Christ? Okay, I want you
to put a list. Put a list in your mind. And
you have over here the worship of Jesus Christ, the presence
of Jesus Christ. On this other side, what's more
important? In case your mind draws a blank,
I'll give you some, family. Is that more important? Friends? Work. Life. Health. Are any of those more important? Not to the disciple of Christ. When he left that temple, where
was his disciples? They were with him. Where will his disciples always
be? With him. Go to Luke chapter
14. You know, my prayer right now
is that you just don't hear me. I want you to hear Him. Man,
this is not coming from me. This is Him. Now, surely I can be the object of
your anger. That's okay, because I'm the only one you can see.
But these are His words, not mine. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes,
and his own life also, he cannot, cannot be my disciple now he may be
a disciple of something but he's not mine he's not mine wherever we whatever we put above
the worship of Jesus Christ listen to me that's where your heart
is Therefore Let us who profess
faith in Christ learn this lesson Go back and I'm going to show
you this lesson that the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching here
He went out His disciples came to him and said Lord. Are you
sure you're leaving this building? Look at this building. Look at
this Look at this is where our fathers worship. This is where
our dad's dad's worship This is where this is where the blood
and the offerings were. Are you sure that it's desolate?
I And Jesus said, See you not these things? Verily I say unto
you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that
shall not be thrown down. These men, disciples, neglected
to see that outward things and appearances are not true measurements
of God's blessing. We, like these men, also desire
to see temporal prosperity of the church. Isn't that what you
desire to see? You here this morning, don't you desire to
see many people come? I do. Matter of fact, I just
told you we're trying to sell this one and to build another
building. Is that important? No. No. Why? All these things will go away. That's what he's teaching. He's
showing them this. He said this temple that you
think so much of, not one stone will be left on another. See
this building here? Pretty soon this building will
fall down just like every other building before it. And that
building, if we do build another one, that building, it will eventually
fall down too. So it's not the building that
matters, is it? It doesn't matter. What matters? Christ matters. The presence of Christ matters. I desire Him to be with us. None of this stuff will last.
Do you think your family will last? It won't last. Do you think your friends will
last? Do you think your job is going to last? It's not going
to last. Why do you place any of that
above Christ and His worship? Why? It's going away. It's going
away. Just as that temple did. Consider
that beautiful temple, and yet in just a few short years it
would have been toppled over. The presence of Christ is all
that matters. Therefore, believer, let us gladly
leave all the things of this world and let us hold it loosely. You hang on to those children
loosely. You hang on to your homes loosely. You hang on to your life loosely. because it's going to leave. It's going to be destroyed. But let us always desire to be
where Christ is, where his gospel is preached and where his name
is proclaimed, and we will never be left desolate. Do you get
that? I don't care what you leave,
don't leave Christ. And you know what? Wherever he
is, we won't be desolate. will be desolate. Now then, some of you may say
like Peter, not me, Lord. Oh, no. Everybody else is going to leave
you but me. Though all the world forsake
you, I won't. Listen to me, every one of you. God will put you
to the test. I tell you, some of you, God
is putting to the test. Have you failed like Peter? I'll ask you the same question
that he asked Peter. Do you love me more than he does? Do you love me more than these? He said to Peter, feed my sheep.
What does he say to you? Eat. That's what he's telling
you. You, my lambs, should eat. You should eat of the word of
God and enjoy the presence of your shepherd. And I want you to understand
this. Those who are unfaithful to the
worship of God are a discouragement to God's saints. Believers, we're not in this
alone. You're not an island to yourself. When you're not faithful, it
hurts. Not just you, but everyone around
you. And what does that tell the others,
the lost? You say the glory of God is there.
You say the presence of Christ is there. But you yourself won't
go? Isn't that hypocritical? Let's be honest. It is. It is. Jesus said, where man's treasure
is, there will his heart be also. And let this departing of Christ
be a lesson to us. that Christ can and does put
out lights. Some of you had your parents
worship here. Some of you knew men and women
who worshiped here who are now gone. Do you suppose that God
will continue this just because you are children of those saints? Where is Ephesus? Where's Smyrna? Where's Laodicea? They're gone. You and I better take heed. Lest God put this candlestick
out. Then where would you go? Hold fast to Christ. Be faithful to His gospel and
His presence. And I know this, He will be faithful
to be here. He has been, hasn't He? Have
you not experienced that? Is that not so? Is there anybody
that can tell me that you're a believer in Christ and He's
not been here? Have you not been fed? Have you not been nurtured? Then you know he's here. May God ever keep him. May God
please bless this church so that it's not called Ichabod. I pray that his presence would
always be with us. And so should you. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer.