Matthew 24, as I said, I'm going
to actually re-read verses 1 through 14. And we're going to try to
take these verses together. with what I think is
significant about what the Lord has said to us here. So, let's
begin by reading these first 14 verses. As I said last week,
this chapter and the next chapter form a single discourse that
Christ gave and it spans both chapters and it covers the history
of this world from the cross until the end of time. without
proving that to you as we go through this. I hope that you
can see that. Let's read from verse 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. Now there's so
much of a message in every verse here. I'm not going to take time
to develop every verse in detail. But I would point out to you
that the Lord Jesus Christ is God himself. And he was here,
he came to this earth from heaven, born of a woman, made under the
law. And he lived his life as a man,
but he's always been both God and man. And when he leaves the
temple in Jerusalem, it's the last time. He never goes back. And this is fulfilling the prophecy
of the Old Testament that when the Lord Jesus Christ came to
his temple, it would be more glorious than Solomon's temple.
But here we see him leaving it and leaving that temple and that
city desolate. And that's the setting that we're
facing here. The disciples don't see it yet,
so they point out the buildings of the temple. In verse 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? Now, I'm just going
to say this again, just to help you understand the context. When
the disciples heard that the temple was going to be destroyed,
as Jesus describes here, not one stone left upon another,
they had to put that into what they understood Christ coming
into the world meant. They understood that he was going
to set up a kingdom on earth. and reign in Jerusalem. Because
he was David's son. And the Psalms talk about Christ,
the son of David, reigning on his throne forever. So they just
assumed that was that. Therefore, when he said it was
going to be destroyed, they thought he must be talking about the
end of the world. When shall these things be? What
shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world? That's
the only thing that they could have thought at that time. Even
in the book of Acts they asked him, will you restore at this
time the kingdom to Israel? Remember that in Acts chapter
1? So they did not yet have an understanding of the end times. And Jesus answered and said to
them, take heed that no man deceive you. This is often the way that Jesus
answers. We ask one question and it seems like he brings us
to what's truly important in his answer. And that's what he
does right away. 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 things
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."
The word offended, it means that they're It's exactly what happened
in John 6 when they heard Jesus preaching, and many of his disciples
left him. They were offended by what he
said, so they left him. They departed from Christ. 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. That means to grow cold. But
he that shall endure unto 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. That's where we're going to stop
for today. You can see here the broad brush overview that the
Lord Jesus Christ gives. In these verses, our Lord tells
his beloved disciples, and that's important to see this, that this
is an intimate exhortation by the Lord Jesus Christ to his
sheep, the great shepherd of the sheep. He tells his disciples
what to expect as they live their lives in service to Him. And
He puts them on their guard by warning them what to watch against
for specific troubles. And He tells them how they are
to live throughout this time in light of these things that
will most certainly come. So three things there. What to
expect throughout the entire period He's describing. What
to be on your guard for. What to watch for. and then how
to live. And if you can understand that
in these 14 verses, you'll understand what's truly important. Men are
often most curious about the timing of the end and all the
events and they have books and seminars and all sorts of studies
about the end times, looking forward to it. It's curious,
it's funny how that is. The Lord Jesus actually takes
another approach here. He says, this is what to expect,
this is what I'm warning you against, and this is how you
are to live. So, the great shepherd of the
sheep here addresses his dear sheep. It is an intimate disclosure
and a very sobering disclosure. In these two chapters and throughout
the Word of God, and especially in these first 14 verses, we
see something that's very important. We see what is important to God,
and we see what's important to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is
most important to God throughout time, and across this world over,
and I mentioned this last week, is the saving of His people,
His church, by His Son, to His great glory. If you can understand
that, then you will understand what's important to God. What
this history is all about. It's safe to say from Scripture
that the reason this world exists, the reason that it covers the
period of time that this world does cover, Why God allows this
world to continue, this reason, is to gather His people out of
this world, to redeem them by His own blood, to wash them from
their sins, to perfect them, to make them holy without blame,
and finally, to present them to Himself without fault in the
presence of His glory to their exceeding great joy. And you can see a verse that
discusses that in Jude 1, verse 24. This world and its history,
every event in it, are but the scaffolding put in place for
the purpose of building his church, the temple of God. And this is
God's purpose for history. This is the reason this world
exists. Have you ever seen that? You
go to a place and they've got all this scaffolding around a
building. They recently, I think, did the White House in Washington,
D.C. because I noticed there was scaffolding all around it
around the time of the election. And all you saw was a scaffolding.
They removed the scaffolding and there's a brand new building.
That's what this whole history is about. It's just scaffolding
put up by God. And people see the scaffolding,
they don't realize what's going on. And then finally, at the
end of time, the Lord's going to come. The scaffolding will
be taken down. This world and all of the external
things that we see today, those will be taken away. And what
will be left is what is important to God. His church, His Son,
and His glory. This is the reason why it exists.
This is the reason the world continues. And when Christ is
done building His church, then the end will come. That's what
verse 14 says. This gospel will be preached
to all nations, as a witness to all nations, and then the
end shall come. You also see the counter to that. You see that the Lord is coming
not only as the husband of His church, but He will then come
also as the judge of all. He will judge all who opposed
Him and who opposed His people. And in chapter 25 we especially
see this. He'll separate the sheep from
the goats. He will receive the sheep into
everlasting blessing and He will send the goats away to everlasting
shame and punishment. Then, given the solemnity, given
how serious these things are, let's consider these three things
that Jesus told his disciples. What they are to expect as they
wait his return, what they are to cautiously watch out for and
be on their guard against all the time he's away, and how they
are to live as they wait for their Lord from heaven in light
of all these things. Now, before I get into those
three points, I'd like to Talk about what are things that we should always
remember and should keep us on our knees as we look at this.
There's really five things here I've put down. This is not exhaustive,
but consider these five things that should humble us and keep
us on our knees. First of all, when we read these 14 verses
and the rest of chapter 24 and 25, what we see is that the number The number of enemies in the
kingdom of Satan is much larger than the number in Christ's kingdom.
Remember Gideon's army? 300 men. Had a trumpet, had a
lantern, had a pot, they stuck the lantern in. At the right
time, they broke the pot, the vessel, they shined the light,
and they blew the trumpet. 120,000 Midianites were killed
that day. The number of enemies in the
kingdom of Satan is much larger than the number in Christ's kingdom.
And they are cunning. They are ruthless and relentless
in their opposition to Christ and to His church. This is the amazing thing. There
are few that endure to the end. Remember what Jesus said? Broad
is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat, but few, but narrow is the way that leads to life,
and few there be that find it. The way to life is so narrow,
it's so small, that you can't get through it unless you are
stripped utterly naked and bare before God, and you only have
one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." That's how narrow it is. So,
in comparison, there are few that endure to the end. Many
are deceived. How many times did the word many
appear in these verses? Many persecute the Lord's people. Many leave Christ and turn against
His people in hatred. The love of many grows cold. Therefore, we have to ask this
question of ourselves. How do we know we have the truth?
How arrogant am I to think that I have the truth? How do we know
we have it? What hope do we have who are
insignificant and helpless and sinful? The answer to that question is
this. Our eyes must ever be on our Almighty Savior. He's the
one who said, many be called, but few are chosen. Remember
what Isaiah 1.9 says, except the Lord of hosts had left us
a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should
have been made like to Gomorrah. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Hebrews
7.25, says that He He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him. That's how we know we
have the truth. He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Remember what Jesus told Peter? He said, before the cock crows
this night, you're going to deny me three times. Peter endured
to the end. Why? Because the Lord said, I
have prayed for your faith. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them. There's only one way that we
can be saved. Knowing the truth in Christ.
He's the one who did the work. He's the one who intercedes for
us before the throne of God. He's the one who reigns, who
accomplishes His will in every way in this world. That's how
we're saved. We look to Christ only, like
the thief on the cross, Lord. Remember me." All these people
around, mocking, hating, spitting, having a party, and the thief
on the cross, with his eyes opened by God's Spirit, says, Lord,
remember me. And so that's the second thing.
The third thing here is that in light of the fact that there's
so few, in light of the fact that there's so many enemies
that oppose our souls, that would kill our souls eternally, we
should be forever, effusively, and immeasurably thankful to
God for his distinguishing, redeeming, and preserving grace. Look at
2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13 and 14. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13
and 14. Just so that you see that. One
of those verses that you should hold up and the light should
be surrounding it and blinking all the time. Be thankful. Thank God in light of this. He says, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, for you, beloved
of the Lord. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has, from
the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Where were we in that verse?
It was God's doing, wasn't it? That's the reason we're saved.
And the gate is so narrow. It has to be salvation by God's
grace alone, in Christ alone. Without our help, He does the
work and He does it all. He brings us to glory. Now, 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, the only difference is the difference
God makes. It is the difference of the eternal
love and choice of God the Father. It is the difference of the precious,
redeeming blood and the justifying righteousness of God, the Son,
in our nature, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the difference
of the almighty power of God, the Holy Spirit, who raises dead
sinners to life. And it is the difference of God's
omnipotent grip of grace in Christ that makes the difference between
the saved and the damned. We're all deserving hell. 2 Timothy
2.25 says that we naturally oppose our own salvation. Unless God
grants us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, we'll continue
in that way. God himself has to intercede. He has to interpose himself,
interfere into our lives, and raise us from the dead. That's
what the gospel is. It's God's command to the dead
to live by looking to Christ. And so what we learn from scripture
is that we persevere in faith because God perseveres in grace. And that's the message of scripture.
We are saved because our God and Savior is able and He is
faithful to save to the uttermost. We shall never perish because
Christ will never lose one of His sheep. John 10 verse 28 and
29. Now, the other thing I want you
to keep in mind is that just as in the parable, remember the
parable of the one seed, which is the gospel, and the four different
grounds? There were three grounds on which
the seed fell and nothing happened. It never brought forth fruit. Remember that? Well, just as
in that parable, in the four different types of ground, the
different types of ground, those are men's hearts. The failure
of the seed to bring forth fruit. In the case of that stony ground.
What was the stony ground? Remember? It was the ground on
which the seed fell. And it was so stony that when
the seed sprouted, the roots couldn't go very deep. So when
the sun came out, it scorched the roots and the plant withered
and died. And Jesus said, that's like men
who hear the gospel, but when persecutions come, they depart. And so, what do we naturally
think? Well, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to get myself
busy. I'm going to make sure I don't
depart. When persecutions come, they
left. And remember also the seed that
fell on the thorny ground? That was the man in whose heart
the gospel was choked by the cares of this world. But the
good ground hearer was the only one that produced fruit, and
that hearer was the one who received the word into an honest and good
heart. And what is that honest and good
heart? It's the heart of a sinner. The gospel is only good news
to a sinner. Only when we hear the gospel
as sinners will it go deep into our heart. Only when we have
nothing and find Christ to be everything will we abandon all
to have Him. And we will then refuse to depart
because we have nowhere else to go but to Christ. That's what
John 6.68-69, when Jesus asked the disciples, will you go also?
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life and we're sure that you're the very Christ of God.
They had nowhere else to go because only Christ could save them.
Remember this principle when you read Matthew 24. You will
only endure to the end if you are a real sinner in need of
sovereign grace. And knowing this, you look to
Christ, you go to Him for mercy and grace at all times. Because
all times are the time of our need, as Hebrews 4.16 says. We
go to the throne of grace for mercy and grace to find help
in time of need to our High Priest. And the fifth thing I'd like
to point out. that we ought to know in light of these things
is that the trouble that comes on this world, the trouble that
we see Christ describing here is the result of God's judicial
judgment against men for their sin, their unbelief, their rejection
and hatred of Christ and his people. God is long suffering
with this world, yet the world obstinately rejects the counsel
of God to their own destruction. And this is what we are, unless
God saves us. In fact, turn to 2 Timothy 2.25.
I want you to see this for your own self, and put yourself here. As I said, thank God. Thank God. Be thankful. We ought to be thankful.
We ought to be thankful. 2 Timothy chapter 2. He says in verse 24, the servant
of the Lord must not strive. We're not out to, with proud
arrogance, out to prove ourselves theologically more capable than
others. But be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient, We have a goal in mind, in meekness, instructing
those that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive
by him at his will. That's our condition, apart from
God's grace. Therefore, judgment comes as
part, by God, as a judicial thing on this world. Proverbs 1.23-31
tells us this. I'll just read a verse from there.
It says there, the Lord says, Because I have called and you
refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded,
no man, no man, no man regarded, but you have said it not all,
my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh
at your calamity, I will mock when your fear comes as desolation
and your destruction as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come
upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me, because they hated knowledge and did
not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.
You can see from those verses that that's judicial judgment,
isn't it? And where would we be had not
the Lord had mercy and judged our Savior for us? And so, now,
we want to consider these things that the Lord says will surely
come. First thing He says in Matthew 24 verse 5 is that He
told His disciples to expect many Christ imposters. Many Christ imposters. A Christ
imposter is someone who claims to be Christ or claims to know
somebody who is Christ. And cults are easily identifiable. I just did a quick look on the
internet. It's easy to find cults. There's
the Moonies, there's the Jim Jones and dozens of others. You
can look at them in modern history and even ancient history. Cult
leaders are all over on the internet. But Satan is much more subtle.
Satan is much more subtle. In 2 Corinthians 11 it says that
he transforms himself into an angel of light. Satan transforms
himself to an angel of light. What's an angel of light? Looks
like a messenger from God with the truth. That's what an angel
of light is. He comes as a revealer and as a teacher of truth and
as God's Christ. That's what Satan does. His servants
transform themselves, according to Paul the Apostle. They transform
themselves into the sent ones of Christ. I'm sent of Christ.
That's a lot more subtle, isn't it? Than just saying, I'm Christ. People would laugh at you if
you said that. But if you say, I was sent by Him, then they're
going to give you an audience. Jesus says, many, many follow
such men and women. The common characteristic of
imposters of Christ is that, notice, this is the common characteristic. They deny Christ's person as
God and man. They deny that He alone is the
one mediator between God and men. How many churches do you
know where they think that they'll have a mediator? A mediator.
The Catholic Church is a prime example of that. You've got to
go through this man in order to get to God. They deny His
work as the only begotten Son of God and the only Savior of
His people. And you can look at that throughout
the book of Isaiah especially. How many times do you read the
Lord say, beside me there is no Savior? Christ's impostors
claim to have another Savior. They deny the eternal accomplishments
of the Lord Jesus Christ by His death. And this Arminian religion
does all the time. They deny His absolute rule as
the glorified God-man on His throne. He's sovereign. Many
religions blatantly deny Christ in this way, Jehovah's Witnesses
and Mormons. Others deny him more subtly by
denying that Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Men deny Christ when they deny
what he said, and what he said is the gospel. Now the second
thing that Jesus warns us here in verses 6 and 7, is that you
should expect wars and rumors of wars throughout time. Wars
destroy people and property, and they strike terror into the
hearts of men, don't they? I mean, in our day, the weapons
are a mass destruction. What causes wars in the world?
Well, they're the result of proud men who greedily seek control
over others and try to enrich themselves with land and wealth. Terrorism is actually a form
of war. The most cruel wars in the world
are those wars which are fought by people of false religion who
join forces with political powers. You can just look at the Muslim
religion over in the Middle East and see that. Jesus said wars
between nations and kingdoms would occur throughout history.
History serves, therefore, to verify Jesus' words. Jesus tells
us that when we hear of false Christs and wars, don't think
that the end of the world has come. There will be war throughout
time. The third thing that Jesus tells
his disciples to expect is that creation itself would be in turmoil. You can see that in verse 7.
There would be pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.
He said to expect it. God told man in the beginning
to subdue the earth and have dominion over creation. But man
sinned. against God, and creation became
subject to decay and death. Creation cannot serve man as
it would have served him if he hadn't sinned. Therefore, all
of creation groans, and with every believer, creation looks
for God to reveal His sons when He redeems their bodies on the
last day. Creation is groaning, according
to Romans 8.22, and we groan with it. The sons of God groan
that we would be redeemed, our bodies would be changed, and
we would be done with this decay, and this death, and this sin,
and all that we have now. Jesus said to expect creation
to plague man in various ways, by famines and earthquakes. He
said that when we see these things, we should know it's only the
beginning, not the end of sorrows. Therefore, earthquakes and famine
are not signs of the ends of the world. They occur throughout
history. The fourth thing we see that
Jesus said would happen is that persecutors would afflict and
kill believers. Unbelievers murder Christ's disciples
because they hate Christ, they hate His gospel, and they hate
His people. Men think they can rule over
God, especially in salvation. Men think they can manipulate
God to save them by what they think or say or do. But the gospel
says God alone rules in creation, in providence, and especially
in salvation. James 1.18 says, And that we're
born again of the will of God. Of his own will begat he us by
the word of truth, James 1.18. Therefore, men hate the gospel.
They hate the gospel because the gospel says God saves whom
he will and by his work alone. Remember Romans 9.16? He has
mercy on whom He will. Mercy on whom He will. It's not
of Him that willeth, but of God that shows mercy. Men like to
make others think they're good and holy and that they should
be admired. But the gospel says there's none
good but God. Therefore, men hate the gospel.
Men like to rule others, but the gospel frees believers from
the controlling fear of man. Therefore, they hate the gospel.
Men like to boast in what they are compared to others. But the
gospel says all men are sinners before God, and they must all
be saved in the same way by His sovereign grace in Christ alone. So men hate the gospel. God's
sovereign grace in Christ excludes all boasting. Men glory in what
they are compared to others and by what they do, but the gospel
exposes the evil pride in man and his lust for the admiration
of others and his greed. And therefore men hate the gospel.
The fifth thing that Jesus said to expect is that many would
leave Christ because of persecutions for the gospel's sake. He said
men would turn from the gospel and actually betray one another
and hate other believers. It's very hard, isn't it, to
believe when most people deny and tell you that what you're
believing is wrong. It's hard. It's hard when you
say, well, when you hear people say, well, everybody, everybody
knows that's wrong, but you believe it. When you tell them that Christ
is the only way, and they deny it, and this is what I believe
in my heart, that He saves sinners by His will, by His work alone,
and they deny it, it's harder. It's even harder when people
hate you, for Christ's sake. And all these things, though,
they mount up as an army of opposition to the Lord's people. And yet,
the Lord says, expect even more than this. Because he says in
the sixth thing, in verse 11, to expect was that Satan would
raise up these false prophets. Now false prophets do many wonderful
things, at least in the estimation of men. Look at Matthew chapter
7. This is surprising to us when
we read it. People misunderstand these verses,
but listen to what it says in verse 15. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree brings
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth evil fruit. Every tree that brings Bringeth
not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire,
wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Verse 21. Not
every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Listen to this. Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name, in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess to them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. Now, I'm not going to go through
that entire section of scripture, but it's clear that false prophets
do many things that men consider to be wonderful works. They themselves
think that they're wonderful. They even call the Lord Jesus
Christ as judge on his throne to look at their own lives, to
say, I've done many wonderful works in your name. They work miracles. They speak
in tongues. They teach in Jesus' name. They
claim to be sent by Him. They claim to know Him. False
prophets are not people who openly deny Christ. They are leaders
in churches who teach and preach in Jesus' name. But they teach
lies. False prophets have an outward
form of godliness. But they deny the inward power
of it. 2 Timothy 3.5. They deny their
own sinfulness. They deny that Christ saves sinners
with no help from them. Dead sinners. He raises them
to life. They deny that His grace gives
dominion over sin. His grace gives dominion over
sin. One way to identify a false prophet
is to ask them this. How do you know a false prophet?
Because Jesus said, many are going to arise and deceive many.
One way to identify them is to ask them this question. Like
I just read in Matthew 7, verse 21. How will you answer Christ,
the judge, on the last day of judgment? How? How are you going
to answer him? Now, if you listen to the reply of those men in
verses 21-23 of Matthew 7, what did they say? A false prophet
will always answer with what they did or what they do. How many times have you heard
someone say about themselves, or maybe as they think about
a lost loved one who perished, And they think about them. How
many times do you hear them say this? They made a decision for
Jesus. Or they were baptized. Or they
did something else. You know false prophets by what
they say and by what they don't say about Christ and His salvation. True believers have only one
answer. They have only one answer when
they pray. They have only one answer in
their conscience. And they have only one answer
when they talk to believers or unbelievers. And this is their
answer. My only answer before God, in
my conscience, before men, and before Jesus Christ on the Day
of Judgment, is that the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is all my hope. Remember Romans 8.34? Who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, who's risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Remember the man who
said, I am a great sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ
is my all in all. That's the answer of a good conscience,
isn't it? That's the answer of a true heart,
an honest heart. But a false prophet always starts
with himself in his answer. If Christ This is what the heart
that God has taught says. If Christ did not answer God
to the full satisfaction of His justice for me at the cross,
if He does not answer for me now in my conscience by His Holy
Spirit, and if He does not answer for me in the day of judgment,
then I have no answer. I don't have a backup plan. Christ is either all for me,
or I'm nothing at all. And it'll always be that way.
I am a sinner. God cannot clear the guilty. Therefore, a false prophet can
be known because they always add something to Christ and what
He has done, especially when they think and talk about their
own personal standing before God. They will talk of their
many wonderful works done in Jesus' name. Just like the Pharisee
in Luke 18, 11. I thank thee that I'm not as
other men are. Not as other men? False prophets
think they have done things that make themselves different from
others. I made a decision. I accepted Jesus. I walked the
aisle. I repented. I speak in tongues.
I saw a vision. Blah, blah, blah. But then they always end it with
this, too. Haven't you? Just like the Pharisee. I thank you, I'm not like other
men, or not like this publican, even as this publican. But believers
say only one thing. Have mercy on me, the sinner. Look upon Christ and His sacrifice. Receive me for His sake alone. False prophets always make salvation
depend on what we must do. They say, God will save you if
you do your part, whatever that part is that they claim you need
to do. But whenever someone says, God will save you if You... You know what that leaves
you if you're a sinner? It leaves you with no hope. Because
no sinner can do whatever that follows. Besides the fact that
God will not accept it. Because if He could accept that,
why would He send His Son to die? Why would He send His own
Spirit from Heaven to give us life? If we could do these things. This leaves no hope for sinners
because real sinners are bankrupt, spiritually dead in themselves. If we must do some part, then
we rob God of His glory. False prophets will say that
God loves everybody, Jesus died for everybody, and the Spirit
of God calls everybody, but it's up to you to accept Jesus to
be saved. But if, think about it, if God
treats all men the same, if God loves everybody, Jesus died for
everybody, and the Spirit of God calls everybody, if He treats
all men the same, yet only some are saved, then man, not God,
gets the glory. What hope do you have if your
salvation depends on something from you? I'll tell you, you
have no hope. Therefore, you can discover a
false prophet by asking this question. Who gets the glory
in salvation? God or man? And who makes the
difference between those who are saved and those who are lost?
God or man? Does God save by His sovereign
will and power? Or does he depend on man's puny,
sinful will, man's repentance, or man's faith? Jesus said many
false prophets would rise and teach false gospels. And he described
this time in which we are now living. But the last thing Jesus
said is to expect the love of many to grow cold. Many who said
they were Christians will leave Christ because sin will increase
and perversity will prevail. perversity will prevail. Doesn't
that sort of characterize the day in which we live? We don't
know how it compares to other days because our lives are no
longer than maybe 50, 60, 100 years. But look at Psalm 65 verse
3. I love this verse. Psalm 65 verse
3. We know that perversity prevails.
We know that sin prevails. It rages in us, doesn't it? This
is our problem. We're sinners. We need a Savior. The Spirit of God teaches us
this. We don't presume to be able to get ourselves out of
the mess that we are and have got ourselves into. But look
at Psalm 65 verse 3. This is an honest prayer from
an honest sinner. Iniquities prevail against me. And then he answers. He thinks. Oh, but as for our
transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Here they are, like
Elisha and his servant, surrounded in the city by armies. And Elisha asked the Lord, open
his eyes, Lord. And he did, and he showed him
the armies of God were surrounding them. And so when we pray, Lord,
iniquities prevail. He said they would, expect it.
The Lord Himself, by His Spirit, gives us these words in Psalm
65, verse 3, and He says, Iniquities do prevail. But as for our transgressions,
He's going to purge them away. He took them away. He put them
away. And He never remembers them anymore,
because He put them away in Christ. Sin cools love's flame. But faith fans it. Have you noticed
that? When iniquities prevail, what
do you find? That your love for Christ grows
cold. But when you see that you're
a sinner and you call upon Him to save you for Christ's sake,
knowing that you're a sinner and you have no power over your
sin, what does that do? The Lord brings His word and
it endears Christ to you. It causes your love to grow hot. When we think we can sin without
consequence or love, our love for Christ grows cold. Only when
sin is our enemy will we cry to the Lord Jesus Christ for
deliverance from it. Remember what Paul prayed? Oh, wretched man that I am! I
am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Only when sin afflicts our conscience
and we cry to God to wash our conscience afresh in Christ's
blood will we love Him. Remember Peter? After he denied
the Lord, then the Lord asked him, and the Lord received him
again, then the Lord asked him, Peter, do you love me? Three
times. And he said, Lord, you know. You know. You know I love
you. Peter said, The same Peter. He said, we were not redeemed
by corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ. And he went on to say, look at
this in 1 Peter chapter 1. Take a look at this verse. 1 Peter chapter 1. He says in verse 22, after he
had just said, you're not redeemed with corruptible things, but
with the precious blood of Christ, he says in In verse 21, he says,
"...who by Him do believe in God..." By Christ, we believe
in God. Because we believe Christ, we believe God. "...by Him, we
believe in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth..." Which means in believing what
God has said in the gospel concerning Christ, seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, that's where
faith comes from, that's how we know these things, unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, unfeigned means unmixed, without hypocrisy,
see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently,
Only when our conscience is sprinkled by the blood of Christ, when
we believe Him, only then will our heart love the Lord Jesus
Christ and love His people. This faith is God's work. Peter
says, we who have believed that Christ redeemed us from our sins
should love Christ and love His people fervently. Now, these
are the seven things Jesus says to expect. What does He guard
us against in light of these things? In light of the number
and the fierceness of all these great enemies of our soul. And
since what Christ said must happen, He warns his disciples to be
on their guard and to watch with caution against these things.
The first thing he says in verse 4 of Matthew 24 was what? Take
heed that no man deceive you. Many will be deceived. Paul told
the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 11.3. He says, I fear, lest by
any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Simplicity in that verse means
the only thing The singleness of Christ. It means that Christ
only, as opposed to Christ in addition to something else. You
know that Satan is a murderer. He doesn't care if someone believes
they're saved by Christ if they believe that they're saved by
Christ in addition to something else. by Christ and your will
or by Christ in your work or your worth. As long as Satan
can mix something to Christ's work and God's grace, he has
made you worship an idol along with him. The idol that your
hands have made. In this way, Satan turns people
from Christ because they do not believe Christ only. Remember
what Jesus told the man? He said, only believe. They do not give Him all the
glory and salvation. They do not trust Him only. They
trust their works. Jesus told His disciples, take
heed that no man deceive you. We must be like soldiers on the
city wall watching against the attacking enemy. You've seen
those movies where men from far away hurl these huge stones or
buckets of tar with fire at the city wall. We've got to be men
on the city wall watching for the enemy. The enemy, the attacking
enemy, is the enemy of our soul. He is a deceiver and his weapons
are lies about Christ. Trying to convince us of something
in addition to the Lord Jesus Christ is our salvation or our
hope. He instigates fear and then he
tries to deceive us by saying you need to begin looking at
what you're doing or considering these other things because Christ
is not enough. But he is able to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by him. The second thing the
Lord tells us here is to be on guard about is really a comfort. He says in verse 6, be not troubled. Remember when Israel went to
Canaan after they had been in the wilderness for a couple of
years? They went to Canaan that first time. They were troubled
because of their unbelief when they saw the giants. When so
many enemies, the Lord Jesus Christ is described here in Matthew
24, when so many enemies oppose us, when creation itself inflicts
fear or injury, we're tempted to be troubled, aren't you? I
mean, you can't deny the fact that we would be tempted to be
troubled because Jesus said, be not troubled. See that you
be not troubled. I mean, I was in Washington,
D.C. once and there was an earthquake.
And we're troubled. People get troubled when creation
does things, or when terrorists strike. They should be troubled
when they hear false prophets, but they're not so much troubled
about that. But the Lord's disciples would naturally be troubled by
the number and the fierceness of these enemies. But he says,
be not troubled. Why? Because he who calmed the
waves and the winds and silenced the enemy by his word says to
us, be not troubled. In John chapter 14, he says,
you believe in God, to his disciples, just before he departs, right
after Jesus, right after Peter, After he told Peter, you're going
to deny me, he tells him this, you believe in God, believe also
in me. Let not your heart be troubled.
Remember? You believe in God, believe also
in me. That's how we're not troubled.
Nothing in life, nothing in death, Nothing in the past, nothing
in the present, and nothing in the future can separate one of
God's elect from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Romans 8 verse 38 and 39. Therefore the Lord says, be not
troubled, only believe. The third thing that our Almighty
Captain also tells his disciples is to be patient in faith. What he said in verse six was,
when you see all these things, the end is not yet. Now, if all these troubles are
not the sign of the end, then we must wait for the fulfillment
of his promise. We have to continue believing
in face of trouble and even in face of opposing evidence. That's
the strange thing about faith, is that faith causes us to believe
what's true when the evidence is in opposition to what God
has said. That's the amazing thing about
faith, isn't it? We believe what God has said,
even though everything in our senses seems to deny what God
has said. Faith. What a powerful thing
God has given us in this precious faith. Through all the religions,
and the political world oppose Christ and his people, though
there be widespread forsaking of Christ in the land through
apostasy, though the love of many professing believers grows
cold, and even though creation itself fails, we must wait on
the Lord, trusting his word. We must hope to the end. 2 Corinthians
4.18 says, We look not on those things that are seen, but on
the things that are. I'm sorry, we look not on those
things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen.
We live by faith. We live and we walk by faith
on Christ and his word. Though we are hated, though we
are laughed to scorn, though we lose property, suffer bodily
injury, and even death, Jesus said in Luke 21.9, the same discourse,
the same discourse, he says, in patience, possess ye your
souls. By the Spirit of God, we wait
for the reward of Christ's obedience. We are confident that if God
considers Christ only for us, then he will give us all things
with him. That's something we can't believe unless God gives
it to us. How could I, a foul, ignorant, insignificant sinner,
with no power, no spiritual worth, no spiritual abilities, even
begin to think that God would bless me? Only one reason. Because God doesn't consider
His people in themselves. He considers Christ only for
them. And this is the message of the
Gospel. We have a substitute. We have
a surety. Someone who stands in our place
for us. We, according to Galatians 5.5,
we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness
through faith, the hope of Christ's righteousness. Therefore, though
iniquities prevail, though life and body sever, we are confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in us
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians
1.6. And the Lord Jesus finally said this about what we are to
guard ourselves against. He said, He that shall endure
to the end, the same shall be saved. As I said before, we persevere
in faith because God perseveres in His grace towards us for Christ's
sake. We persevere in looking to Christ. Chapter 11 of Hebrews gives an
account of faith, and I encourage you to read that chapter over
and over again. If you read the first ten chapters
of Hebrews, God tells us how Christ has fulfilled the everlasting
covenant by His blood, That covenant which was pictured by the Old
Testament covenant. That's what Hebrews 1-10 is about. It's about Christ, who He is,
and what He did to fulfill, as our High Priest, the everlasting
covenant in fulfillment of the Old Covenant. Then when you get
to chapter 11, you might ask this question. Well then, how
should we live? That's the title of this message.
How then shall we live? And Hebrews 12 begins this way. After the Lord catalogs all the
cases of faith in His people, He summarizes it in Hebrews 12,
chapter 12, verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of faith. We not only live by faith, but
we look to Christ. That's the definition of faith.
Christ, who is our salvation, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
must give us that faith and uphold that faith. He's the author and
he's the finisher, the perfecter of it. Faith teaches us to call
upon the Lord in every trouble. Now, I don't know about you,
but for every believer, there is no greater trouble than when
we begin to doubt the love and grace of our great God and Savior. Isn't that trouble? Doesn't that
cause you trouble? When we sense, we have the sense
of the loss of His presence and we begin to doubt His love and
His grace. to us. We doubt when we see how
sinful we are and how spiritually weak we are because we think
God's grace and strength somehow depends on us rather than what
He finds in our beloved surety. If we think that God considers
us as we are and ourselves rather than what we are in Christ alone,
then God's judgments on this world will bring terror to our
hearts, won't they? When you read about what's coming
upon the world and how many are deceived and how many become
apostate, what do you think naturally? Lord, is it I? But the Lord,
this is the greatest cause for trouble in the hearts of believers.
All other things can shake and fail. But if I lose a sense of my security
in Christ, I've lost everything, haven't I? Even Paul says, if
in this life only we're of all men most miserable. If what Christ
has said isn't true, I'm of all men most miserable. So when God's
judgments on this world are spoken of here, if we doubt the Lord's
grace and His love to us, it will bring terror on our hearts.
The Lord says to us to look to our great captain, our heavenly
Joshua, looking unto Jesus. That's the remedy for doubts. That's the remedy for fear. Looking
unto Jesus. All the armies are attacking.
Men are falling on the battlefield, looking unto Jesus, the captain
of our salvation. Look! There he stands! Unmovable,
unshakable, always victorious. None of his people ever perish. It turns out that mature faith
believes God's love in Christ alone. Look at 1 John. 1 John
chapter 4. I want you to see this. I know
you've seen it before, but look again. 1 John chapter 4 and verse
16, he says, And we have known and believed the love that God
hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. We are in Christ,
and He is in us. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because
as He is, so are we in this world. We have boldness when we believe
that God's love to us is in Christ alone. It's in what He has done,
in what God thinks of what He's done, the fact that God has received
from Christ for His people all that He requires of them. Therefore,
when we doubt, we must take God's word in our heart to His throne
of grace, the people turn to Jeremiah chapter 17. I want you
to see this. The people in Jeremiah's day,
he told them that God's judgment was going to bring the Babylonians
against them and they were going to be carried away captive. Many
of them would be killed and the city would be ransacked by the
Babylonians. And this is what Jeremiah said
in chapter 17, verse 17. He said, I love this verse, because this
is the heart of an honest believer who is fearing because of what
he sees coming, and because he sees the terror. It says that
when he told the people that God would bring the Babylonians
against them in their affliction, Jeremiah prayed this in verse
17. Be not a terror unto me, for thou art my hope in the day
of evil. Can't you identify with Jeremiah?
Lord, considering all these things, don't be a terror to me, because
you are my hope. The Spirit of God teaches every
believer to pray this. We take our greatest doubts and
troubles to our compassionate High Priest. When God's chastening
hand troubles our heart, we turn and seek the Lord who smites
us. I remember one time I had to
spank one of my children and I felt really bad about it because
I love my children. I remember when I was done spanking
them, they turned around and buried their face right in my
chest. I said, Lord, I deserve the spanking. It just melted my heart. We must
turn to Him who smites us. Isaiah 9.13 says, the people
don't turn to Him who smites them. Job said, though He slay
me, Yet will I trust Him. Lord, be not a terror to me. You are my hope in the day of
evil. Listen to what the Spirit of
God wrote for His faltering children in Psalm 119 verse 117. This is the Spirit of God writing
to His children. Take this to God in your trouble.
He says, Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Jeremiah declared
where our safety lies. It is in our victorious, risen,
reigning Lord. Look at Jeremiah 17, while you're
there, in verse 12. Because there, Jeremiah tells
us where our safety lies. He says, A glorious, high throne
from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ on His throne. He's victorious, He's accomplished,
He's finished our salvation. We persevere in faith because
God perseveres in His grace towards us in Christ. We call upon Him
because He calls upon us. Look at Joel chapter 2. I want
you to see this as well. Joel chapter 2. We call on the
Lord. Why? because he calls upon us. Joel chapter 2 verse 32 it says
it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered, shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord has said. Joel, the
book of Joel if you're still looking for it is just before
Amos which you can never find either. Right after Hosea, which
is right after, I think, Ezekiel. Anyway, it's right there. You
can look it up later. It shall come to pass, I'll read
it again, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be delivered, shall be saved, for in Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. Why? Why would there be deliverance
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem? Because the deliverer is there.
Because that's where the Deliverer came. And it was outside the
walls of Jerusalem where He was slain, bearing our sins. As the Lord has said, continuing
in Joel 2.32, as the Lord has said, listen to these words. And in the remnant whom the Lord
shall call, whosoever shall call shall be saved the remnant whom
the Lord shall call we call because he calls us we must not be bashful
about our sins and our weaknesses and our fears and our doubts
when we come into the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ we must
go to Christ pour out our hearts to him and when we do we must
go to his word and take it and as our reply to him the Spirit
of God gives us this prayer by the mouth of Paul. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. Always think this way when you
read God's word. This is the words of God himself
to his people. Take it to him in prayer. Put
it in your heart as your only trust. He says in 1 Thessalonians
5, in verse 23, Now the very God of peace, the very God of
peace, sanctify you wholly or completely. And I pray God, your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless, unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice how the emphasis
is on what God would do. And then the next verse underscores
it. He says, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do
it. Doesn't that lift your eyes up
from all of the destruction coming on this world to the Lord Jesus
Christ? Faithful is He that called you
who also will do. Don't be bashful. Come to Him.
Call upon Him. By His blood, Christ fulfilled
the conditions of the everlasting covenant. The blessings are now
given. He perfects us to do His will
by working in us. Hebrews 13 says this, It's His blood. His blood fulfilled
that covenant. "...make you perfect in every
good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever." This is God's work. God preserves us. Our Lord will
not be ashamed of His sheep. He will not be disappointed with
them in any way, even in the presence of His glory. The glory
of His Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, will present His people
to Himself in the presence of His glory. And how? Will there be some remorse on
his part? Will he be ashamed? No. Jude
1.24 says, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless, before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory
and majesty, dominion and power both now and evermore." You see,
God's people are like those who wait for their Savior and they're
also looking to their Savior waiting for his salvation. That's
the way we abide in this world. We don't fall away because we're
given by God's Spirit this faith as sinners to look to Christ
only. We must not let our doubts, because
of our sin and troubles, that we suffer in this world, keep
us from Christ. Our eyes must ever be on Him.
He saved us by His omnipotent grace. If when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. That's amazing,
isn't it? Amazing. Let's pray.