It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda.
1. And Jesus went out, and departed
from the temple, and His disciples came to Him, for to show Him
the buildings of the temple. 2. And Jesus said to them, See
ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. And as He sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell
us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of
Thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered
and said to them, Take heed, that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive
many. And you shall hear of wars, and
rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled.
For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another, and
many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he
that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
Our Lord tells His beloved disciples in these verses what to expect
as they live their lives in service to Him. He puts them on their
guard, warning them to watch against specific troubles. And
He tells them how they are to live throughout time in light
of these things that will most certainly come to pass. Jesus
addresses His disciples as friends. He tells them what He will do
before He does it. It is an intimate and very sobering
discourse. In these two chapters and throughout
the Word of God, but especially in these 14 verses, we see something
very important. We see what is important to our
great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What is most important
to God throughout time is the salvation of His people from
their sins by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to His great glory. It is safe to say from Scripture
that the reason God created and upholds this world is to gather
His people out of it, to wash them from their sins, to redeem
them, to perfect them, to make them holy and without blame,
and finally, to present them to Himself without fault in the
presence of His glory with exceeding great joy, both His and theirs. This world and its history is
but the scaffolding God put in place to build His Church. God's
purpose for history is to glorify Himself in His Son through the
redemption of His people. This is the reason the world
was created. This is the reason the world
continues. When Christ is done building
His church, then the end will come. Then the scaffolding will
be taken down. Then He will reveal His adopted,
redeemed sons. He will judge those who opposed
Him and oppose His people. He will separate the sheep from
the goats. He will receive the sheep into
everlasting blessing and He will send the goats to everlasting
shame and punishment. Given the certainty and seriousness
of these things, let us carefully consider three things our Lord
and Savior told His disciples. First, what they are to expect
as they preach the Gospel and await His return. Second, what
they are to cautiously watch and guard against while He is
away. And third, how they are to live. First, five things should drive
us to our knees before our Savior. The road to destruction is broad. Many go down that road. But the
road to life is narrow. It has only one way of salvation. It is Christ. He is the only
way to the Father. Remember Gideon and his army?
In comparison to the numbers in false religion, there are
few true believers. Jesus said, many be called, but
few are chosen. Only believers in Christ endure
to the end. According to Jesus, many are
deceived. Many persecute the Lord's people.
Many leave Christ and turn against His people in hatred. The love
of many grows cold. Therefore, we must ask tremblingly,
what hope do I have who am insignificant, helpless, and sinful? As the
disciples asked Jesus in the upper room, Lord, is it I? And as Jeremiah said to the Lord,
be not a terror to me, for thou art my hope in the day of evil. Jeremiah 17, verse 17. Our eyes
must ever be on our almighty Savior. He alone makes the difference. Jesus saves, and He saves all
by Himself. Peter denied Christ, but before
his denial, Jesus told him, I have prayed for thee that thy faith
fail not. We will only endure if Christ
prays for our faith. He must advocate for us. Let
us therefore go to Him who saves helpless sinners. Hebrews 7.25
says, He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to
God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
The second thing that should drive us to our knees before
our Savior is that we should be immeasurably thankful to God
for His distinguishing, redeeming, and preserving grace. In 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 9, the Apostle Paul said, Men are damned because they do
not receive the love of the truth. But on the other hand, Paul credited
God alone with the salvation of his people. He said, But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Thank God. He considers us in
Christ alone. He saves us by Christ alone. He preserves us in Christ. The only difference between the
sheep and the goats, between those who are deceived and those
who are kept, between those who depart and those who endure,
is the difference that God makes. The difference God makes is the
difference of the eternal love of God the Father that chose
His people in Christ before time began. It is the difference of
the precious, redeeming blood of God the Son in our nature,
which He shed for His people on the cross. The difference
God makes is the difference of God the Holy Spirit, who by His
almighty power and grace raises dead sinners to life to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference God makes is the
difference of His omnipotent grip of preserving grace in Christ. We persevere in faith only because
God perseveres in grace. We are saved because our God
and Savior is willing and able and faithful to save us to the
uttermost. Christ's sheep shall never perish
because He shall not fail to save all who were given to Him
by His Father, John 6, 37-40. He will not lose one of them.
John 10 verse 28-29 Therefore, if you and I, by God's grace,
are looking to Christ alone, we must thank God. And the third
thing that ought to drive us to our knees before our Savior
as we consider the verses in Matthew 24 is that we must hear
and come to Christ as sinners. Remember the parable of the sower? He sowed one kind of seed on
four different grounds in Matthew 13 verses 3-23. The gospel is
the seed. Whenever the gospel is preached,
men have one of four different reactions. In the case of the
stony ground hearer, the gospel did not take deep root. When
persecutions came, that hearer left Christ. Similarly, the cares
of this world choked the gospel in the heart of the thorny ground
hearer. The gospel only took deep root
in the one who received it in an honest and good heart. We
must hear the gospel as sinners. The gospel of God's grace will
only go deep into our heart if we hear it as guilty, helpless
sinners and find Christ to be all of our salvation. Only when
we have nothing will we find Christ to be all. Only when Christ
is all will we abandon all to have Him. We will only abide
in Him when we have nowhere else to go and find Him to be altogether
lovely. It is God's work that produces
this in the heart of sinners. Remember this principle when
you read Matthew 24. You and I will only endure to
the end if we hear of Christ as a sinner. Only when I have
nothing do I look to Christ for everything. Someone once asked
the preacher, is Christ alone enough to save me? The preacher
answered, He is if He is all you have. Therefore, let us come
boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. And the fourth thing to
consider is that the trouble that comes on this world is the
result of God's judicial judgment against men for their sin and
unbelief, for their rejection of Christ, and their hatred of
His people. God is long-suffering with this
world, yet the world obstinately rejects His counsel. Israel rejected
the Gospel because they trusted their self-righteousness. God
warns men against this. Like Israel, God will judge us
if we turn from His Son, trusting something of ourselves instead
of or in addition to Christ. Proverbs 1, 24-27, the Lord says,
Because I have called, and you refused, I have stretched out
my hand, and no man regarded. But you have set at naught all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh
at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Now, with
these four things as an introduction, let us consider seven things
that Jesus told his disciples to expect throughout time. First,
in verse 5, Jesus said, expect many Christ impostors, those
who claim to be sent of God. It is not difficult to spot cult
leaders throughout history who claim this. Jim Jones, David
Koresh, and many others have arisen even in our modern time.
But Satan is much more subtle. He deceives the masses. How? He transforms himself into an
angel of light. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He
comes as a teacher of God's truth and his servants transform themselves
into the apostles of Christ. Jesus said many will follow such
men and women. The common characteristic of
Satan's ministers is that they deny the truth of Christ's person
as God and man. They deny that he is the one
mediator between God and men. And they deny that He is the
only and all-sufficient Savior of His people, who by Himself
purged all the sins of all for whom He died. They deny the eternal
accomplishments of His death. They deny His absolute rule in
creation and providence, and especially salvation, as the
glorified God-man on heaven's throne. Many religions blatantly
deny Christ in this way, but others deny him more subtly by
denying that Jesus saved his people, and only his people,
in his death and resurrection. Thus, men deny Christ when they
deny his person and his gospel. And second, in verses six through
seven, Jesus said to expect wars and rumors of wars throughout
time. We are very familiar with war.
War is the result of proud men cruelly and greedily seeking
control over others by fear and seeking to enrich themselves
with land and wealth. Terrorism is a form of war. The
most cruel wars occur when religion joins political forces. Jesus
said wars occur throughout history. History verifies his word. Jesus said when we hear of false
Christ and wars, we must not think the end of the world has
come yet. And third, in verse 7, Jesus said to expect creation
to act against man throughout time. God told man in the beginning
to have dominion over creation, but man sinned against God. Creation therefore became subject
to decay and death. Throughout time, men have experienced
a mixture of blessing and suffering from creation. Creation groans
with every believer waiting for God to reveal His sons when Christ
returns on the last day. But Jesus said that when we seek
trouble in creation, we should know it is only the beginning,
not the end of sorrows. Earthquakes and plagues are not
signs of the end of the world. They are signs of man's sin and
judgment to come. And fourth, in verse 9, Jesus
said persecutors would afflict and kill believers because they
hate Christ and hate His gospel. Men naturally think they rule
over God in salvation. They think they determine if
and when God will save them. Men think they can manipulate
God, but the gospel says God saves by His choice alone and
by His work alone. James 1.18 says, Of His own will
begat He us by the word of truth. And Hebrews 1.3 says the Lord
Jesus Christ by himself purged our sins and then he sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Therefore men hate the
gospel. Men hate the gospel because the
gospel says God saves whom he will and by his work alone. Romans 9.16 says, It is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. And men hate the gospel because
they want others to think they are good and holy. But the gospel
says there is none good but God. And men hate the gospel because
they like to rule over others. But the gospel frees believers
from the controlling fear of man. Men hate the gospel because
they like to boast about themselves compared to others. But the gospel
says that all men are sinners before God and must be saved
by His sovereign grace alone. God's salvation by grace alone
in Christ alone excludes all boasting. 1 Corinthians 1 verse
30-31 Men think highly of themselves. The Gospel exposes man's natural
proud heart as only evil. Therefore, men hate Christ and
they hate His Gospel. And fifth, in verse 10, Jesus
said, expect many to leave Christ because of persecutions for the
Gospel's sake. He said men would turn from the
Gospel, betray one another, and hate one another. When everyone
denies the truth, it is hard to believe it, but it is even
harder when you are hated for Christ's sake. But Jesus said
these things will mount up as an army against his people, and
yet there is more. In verse 11, the sixth thing
Jesus said to expect is that Satan would raise up many false
prophets. False prophets claim to know
Christ. They claim Jesus sent them. They teach and do good works
in Jesus' name. They do things that appear to
men to be wonderful. They work miracles. They speak
in tongues. They do not openly deny Christ.
In fact, they are the leaders in churches. They teach and preach
in Jesus' name, but they teach lies. False prophets have an
outward form of godliness, but they deny the power of it in
the heart of man." 2 Timothy 3, verse 5. They deny their own
sinfulness. They deny that Christ saves sinners
by himself with no help from them. One way to identify a false
prophet is to ask them this, how will you answer Christ, the
judge, on the day of judgment? A false prophet will always answer
with what they do or what they did in their past. How many times
have you heard someone defend their standing before God by
referring back to something they did, to their decision for Jesus
or to their baptism? But true believers have only
one answer. They have only one answer when
they pray. They have only one answer in
their conscience. They have only one answer when
they talk to others. My only answer before God in
my conscience and before men is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is all my salvation. Believers tell the truth about
themselves and they trust Christ alone. One man said it best when
he said, I am a great sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. My answer, my only answer, is
Christ and Him crucified. If Christ did not answer God
in full satisfaction to His justice at the cross for me, a very wicked
sinner, I have no answer before God. If the Spirit of Christ
does not answer in my conscience with the blood of Jesus alone,
I have no answer. And if Christ does not answer
for me in the day of judgment, I have no answer. False prophets
can be known because they always add something to Christ and what
He has done, especially when they talk about their standing
before God. The self-righteous Pharisee prayed
with himself. He said, God, I thank Thee that
I am not as other men are. not as other men. False prophets
think that what they do makes them different from others. I
made a decision. I accepted Jesus. I repented. I speak in tongues. I see visions. I have a special sense of God's
presence. False prophets always end their
self-righteous boast with this, have you? But believers pray
what the publican prayed. Have mercy on me, the sinner. Lord, look upon Christ and his
sacrifice of himself alone for me. Receive me for his sake. Believers don't say, have you. They say, behold, the Lamb of
God. But false prophets make salvation
depend on men doing their part. God will save you, they say,
if you do your part. But this leaves real sinners
without hope. Real sinners are spiritually
unable to do one thing of all that God requires. If we are
saved by doing our part, we rob God of His glory. False prophets
say that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everybody,
and that the Spirit of God calls everybody, but that it is up
to you to accept Christ to make what He did work. But if God
treats all men the same, Yet only some are saved, then man,
not God, gets the glory. If salvation depends on me in
some way, I have no hope. If you believe salvation depends
on you, even in some small part, you have no hope. Therefore,
you can discover a false prophet by asking this, who gets the
glory in salvation, God or man? Who makes the difference between
those who are saved and those who are lost, God or man? Does God save in spite of my
sin by His sovereign will and power in Christ alone, or does
He depend on man's will? man's repentance or man's faith. Jesus said many false prophets
would rise and teach false gospels. He was describing the time in
which we now live. And the seventh thing that Jesus
said to expect is that the love of many would grow cold. He said
the love of many would grow cold because perversity would prevail. Sin cools love's flame, but faith
fans love. When we think we can sin without
consequence, our love for Christ grows cold. We only cry to Christ
to be saved from our sins when we fear to sin, when sin is our
greatest enemy, when we have no power over it, and when we
fear to trust in any but Christ for salvation from our sin. The psalmist cried, Iniquities
prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Psalm 65, 3. The Apostle Paul
cried, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Romans 7, 24 and 25. Our love
for Christ will only remain steadfast when we constantly cry to be
delivered from our sin by the blood of Christ. Revelation 12
verse 11. The Apostle Peter said, We have
been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. And he went
on to say, Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Obeying the
truth is believing Christ. The Spirit of God produces faith
in the heart. Love grows in the heart of a
sinner who is looking to Christ to save him from his sins by
his precious redeeming blood. Our heart is purified when we
believe Christ. We love in proportion to what
we have been forgiven. To the degree we know ourselves
to be nothing but sin in ourselves and trust Christ as everything
in our salvation, to that degree we will love God. See 1 John
4 verses 9-10 and verse 19. Now, in light of the number and
fierceness of the great enemies of our soul, Jesus said we must
be on our guard and watch against five things. First and foremost,
in verse 4 he said, take heed that no man deceive you. We are
deceived when we look to ourselves or something other than Christ
as all of our salvation. The best remedy against deception
is to look to Christ who is the truth. There is salvation in
none but Christ. All God has for sinners is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 2 verse 9 and 10 says,
In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. And in 2 John chapter 1 verse
9, the Apostle says, Whosoever transgresseth and abides not
in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Therefore
we must take heed not to go beyond the gospel of Christ only as
all of our salvation, and transgress God. Second, Jesus said, Be not
troubled. The only way we will not be troubled
is if Christ is all of our trust. Isaiah 26 verse 3 says, Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee,
for he trusteth in Thee. Remember when Jesus spoke to
His disciples, and especially to Peter just before the soldiers
came and took him? He said He would deny him three
times. But right after that, the Lord Jesus said, Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. John 14 verse 1. We will only
have peace in our heart when we abandon all trust in ourselves
and believe Christ to be our all before God. Romans 5.1 says
it this way, being justified by faith, we have peace with
God. We overcome by looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. And third, we must be
patient in faith. Jesus said, when you see all
these things, the end is not yet. Remember, Abraham was patient
in faith. When he and Sarah were too old
to have children, he believed God. Faith holds fast to Christ
and God's promises in Christ when all evidence suggests the
contrary. The Lord said, Sin shall not
have dominion over believers because we are saved by grace,
not by our works. Romans 6.14 Therefore, we believe
His word and call upon Him to do for us what He has said, to
save us to the uttermost. That is what prayer is, asking
God to do what He has said. And fourthly, in verse 12, Jesus
said, The love of many shall grow cold. Therefore, we must
not let our love grow cold. How? How can we not let our love
grow cold? I will love Christ and His people
in proportion to how great and many my sins were forgiven by
God for Christ's sake alone. I will love Him when I believe
the love He has to me in Christ." 1 John 4, 16-17 We will have boldness in judgment
if Christ is our all-sufficient Savior. We love Him because He
first loved us. When we believe that in ourselves
we are great sinners and believe Christ has washed us from all
our sins by His precious blood, when we believe the love God
has towards us for Christ's sake, we will love Christ and His people. And fifth, in verse 13, Jesus
said, he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. We endure when we continue to
believe Christ. Only God, the Holy Spirit, can
enable us to be ever looking to Christ as all of our salvation. Therefore we pray with a psalmist,
hold thou me up and I shall be safe. We go to Christ on His
throne of grace for mercy and grace at all times. There is
never a time when we don't need His grace. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.