Okay, let's read verses 1 through
3 in Matthew 24. And Jesus went out and departed
from the temple. And His disciples came to Him
to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto
them, See ye not all these things? Verily or truly, I say unto you,
there shall not be left here one stone upon another, and it
shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount
of Olives, that's where they resorted to, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, They were thinking about what he just
said. Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be
the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? End of the world. I almost entitled
this, The End of the World, Part 1. But I thought, how presumptuous
is that? There may be no part two. This
may be the last day. But instead, we're going to look
at this one statement as an introductory message to this whole chapter.
There are many things, the Lord said, I have many things to say
unto you. You're not able to bear them now, nor are we able
to bear all these things in one sitting. But the title and the
subject here is, in verse 2, He said unto them, after they
were impressed by the buildings of the temple, He said, See ye
not all these things? The Lord never asked questions
for His own information. He always did that to make us
stop and think, His people stop and think about what they're
doing, what they've said. Then they asked Him about the
end of the world. And so many, even today, talk
about that, are interested in that. There are many movies,
books, seminars on the end of the world. Most
of it is speculation. If I had announced this morning,
advertised in the paper, on the radio or whatever, computer,
that this sermon, this message was going to be on the end of
the world, this building would probably be full. Well, you know, as you know,
we're on Sermon Audio, and the thing I have noticed is if you
give a catchy title to a message, you will receive quite a few
downloads, quite a few people will look at it. So anything
on the last days is very interesting to people, and everybody wants
to look at that. But not long ago, I preached
a message entitled, and this is the gospel. This is it. Three words. Christ is all. Very few people look at that. Not interested. Not interested. But most are
interested in end times prophecy, signs of Christ's coming. Most
are interested in that who don't know the Christ who is coming,
who don't know why he came the first time. But they're interested in the
signs and they're more interested in those things and prophecies
than Christ Himself. Christ and Him crucified. That's
His great glory. That's Christ's great glory is
that He came to this hell hole called planet earth. Scripture
calls it this present evil world. and laid down His life for some
unworthy, not all, but some unworthy rebels, sinners against God. That's His great glory. To raise
them out of the dung heap to sit among princes. That's His
great glory. That's why we need to come here. Christ and Him crucified is why
we meet every time we meet Him. I love my mother. I just want
to go on record right now. by saying that I love my mother. You love your mother, don't you?
We're thankful for our mothers. A godly mother is a great gift,
and I'm thankful. But on the Lord's Day, this is
the Lord's Day, we have so little time. that we meet together,
so little time and so much to say, and the time is short, and
we redeem the time, but we're not going to spend our time talking
about our mothers. When our Lord was standing preaching
in the temple one time, His mother, whom no man loved His mother
more than He did, His supposed mother, and when she wanted to
speak to Him, He said, Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? Behold, my mother and my brother,
the family. So this is the Lord's day. We
reserve this time to worship the Lord, to thank the Lord. Yes, for our mothers. But most
of all, thanking Him for that unspeakable gift. Christ and
Him crucified. That's why we meet. That's His
great glory. Christ and Him crucified. Oh,
the rude awakening the world is in for, especially the religious
world. Look at Matthew 7 with me. We've
already looked at this. Matthew 7. And the Lord pronounced
much woe in the previous chapter, 23. Eight woes upon The religious, that's who he
was speaking to, scribes, Bible scholars, Pharisees, those who
thought they kept the law, and he called them all hypocrites,
doing what they did to be seen, actors, playing a part, hypocrite.
Matthew 7, the Lord said in verse 21, Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now when
the Lord says, many, that's many, many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not, and Christ is talking here, Jesus
the Christ, many will say unto me, have we not prophesied in
thy name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, and in thy name,
in Jesus' name, have cast out devil, and in thy name done many
wonderful work. Now what were these people talking
about? Were they talking about, was
their hope of heaven, was their hope of acceptance with God,
with the Lord, that He would allow them, permit them into
His heaven? Was their hope in Christ and
Him crucified? Was their hope in what Christ
had done for them? Have not we done this? We've done that. We've won souls.
We've witnessed. We've baptized all these people. We've done this. We've done that.
Look at what he said. Verse 23, Then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you, I never loved you, for whom He
did foreknow. He did predestinate. Whom He
did predestinate, He called. And whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified. How's that? He put them in Christ
to see His glory. Once you see the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ, once you see that He and He alone is your
salvation, you won't ever mention anything you've ever been or
done or said or not done or said ever for the rest of your life. Nobody in glory is talking about
anything they had done. They're only talking about unto
Him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Unto Him be the glory and honor, strength, power, riches, everything. Unto Him. And He said, look at verse 23,
He said, "...Depart from Me ye that work iniquity." Our Lord
called them workers of iniquity that did what they did in their
own name. They came in Jesus' name, but
no, that was just a covering for doing it in their own name,
building their big buildings. What for? For their organization,
for their own glory. Counting heads. Look what we've
done. God came down hard on David one
time when he counted Israel. David wanted to impress people. Look how many we have. Nebuchadnezzar
did that one time. Look what I've done. God smote
him. Go back to our text in Matthew
24. Just before this, the Lord pronounced Eight woes upon hypocrite. He said they kept back the truth.
They didn't believe it and didn't want anyone else to hear it.
He said they proselyted, they went door to door, where nowhere
in Scriptures are we told to go door to door. We're not selling
a product. God's not a beggar. We don't
go to men's door begging them to come worship God. God brings
them to His door and they beg Him. The difference between the God
of the Bible, God who is God, and the one men are preaching
today. He pronounced woe on all these
promise keepers, all these vows and swearing that people swore
before God who had no intention or ability to keep any of those
things. when they ought to be saying, God willing, we'll do
this and that. He pronounced woe on them preaching
tithing and this and that and the other and many things and
not the weightier matters of the law such as judgment. There's
a judgment to faith. Mercy, that the one thing we
need is mercy. And faith, that the only way
we're going to receive mercy is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And he went on to say many things,
to pronounce woes. All right? And these things in Matthew 24
concerning the end of the world are not just for information.
The Lord never wrote anything in Scripture for information. The Bible is not a history book,
a history of the Jews. The Bible is His story. His story. Our Lord said, they
are they which testify of Me. He said to some Pharisees one
time, you search the Scripture. You do read the Scripture. And
in them you think you have life. You think, if I live this way,
if I do this, if I do that, you think you have eternal life.
He said, they are they which testify of Me. It's all about
Me. God wrote this book to point
people to Christ. The only way a sinner can be
saved is through Jesus Christ. And these things are not just
for information at all, not of the end time. There's no dates
given. The day and the hour knoweth no man. Isn't that what our Lord
said? The day and the hour knoweth no man. No man. So as soon as
somebody says, at such and such a day, that's when the Lord's
coming. Write him off as a false prophet. They're calling Jesus
Christ a liar. That was on a big billboard out
here, and that was produced by Family Radio out in California,
a big billboard. It said May, what was that date,
May something, a couple of years ago. Well, you can guarantee
it wasn't going to be on that day. And it wasn't. But these things are written
for the disciples came to Him. His disciples came to Him. They asked Him, and He was speaking
to them. And all of these things He is
speaking and has written are for our sakes. That's what Paul
wrote to the Corinthians. He said, Whatsoever things are
written are written for our learning, the church, that we, through
patience, we don't have to wait on the Lord. We don't know what
day He's coming. What if he did tell us he was coming at such
and such a date a couple of months from now? What if he did say
that? What would we do? You know what you'd do. It's
human nature. We'll do this and do that until
right up to that date. Professing believers would. Believers
wouldn't do anything different than they're doing now. Believers
wouldn't do anything different. Because they're all waiting on
the Lord. They're waiting on Him to come. They're looking forward to His
coming. They're looking forward to Him coming. But these things
are a safeguard. They're written to warn His people. He's warning His people. In verse
5, He said, Many shall come in My name, in the name of Jesus,
saying, He's the Christ. You mean a man can say that Jesus
is a Christ and be a false prophet? That's exactly what he said,
isn't it? Exactly what he said. Verse 24,
"...there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall
show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if possible, they
shall deceive the very elect." Many false prophets, false Christs
shall come. And you know how many have come
since our Lord left this earth, and how many there are today?
In Elijah's day, Elijah was one true prophet against 850 false
prophets. One out of 850 true prophets. There are more people today now,
so the ratio is much greater, smaller, however you say it. Verse 25, he says, I've told
you this before. I've told you. Expect it. Expect
all these false prophets. And it's a warning to his people
not to be deceived by them. But the elect cannot. He said
if it were possible. But it's not possible. He said
a stranger's voice they won't hear. And these things are written
for our comfort. Our comfort, he's telling us,
he doesn't give a day, he doesn't give an hour, he gives times
and seasons. He says you may be able to see
these things coming, discern the face of the sky clearly,
and we can clearly see that this All signs point to his imminent
and soon return, very clearly, especially as written in 2 Timothy
chapter 3, perilous time. Now, Mawaan meant to be lovers
of their own selves, self, man. But he doesn't tell us a time,
but he's comforting his people, he's comforting his disciples
by telling them that in spite of all these things, in spite
of all these many false prophets, all these things, you hear wars
and rumors of war. By the way, as we look through
this, you will notice he never mentioned a cataclysmic battle
of all people on the earth. He never brought it up. And that's the thing that all
the religious world is waiting on. Man is so ignorant. But He gave
these things to comfort His people to tell us that He reigns over
all. All these things are according
to His purpose. All are under His sovereign direction
and purpose. And these things must be, He
said, tribulation and wars and rumors of war and so forth. The
disciples, they asked about the end of the world. Verse 1, every
line is prophetic. This is God's Word. And every
line, every word, every verse, every line is amazing, is a marvel
if He reveals it to them. It says, Jesus went out, parted
from the temple, Jesus. He was often in that earthly
physical temple. Whenever he was in Jerusalem,
he went there. And by the way, you know the
first thing he did when he went to that temple? The first thing
he did when he went to that temple as a 30-year-old man was he plaited
a whip and he went in and cleaned it out and said, My house shall
be called a house of prayer. You made it a den of thieves.
You're fundraising. You're raising money. You're
selling things. You're doing all this stuff when
it's supposed to be a house of worship. One thing, God's Word,
preaching the gospel. One thing, nothing else. Everything
else is an abomination. That's the abomination of desolation
that Daniel spoke of, that Christ spoke of here in Matthew 24.
When you see everything going on in the so-called church today,
but the preaching of the gospel, know that the end is near. He went in there and cleaned
out that temple. And Jesus, He went out, He departed, never
to return after this time, after this time right here. This is
it. He never returned to that temple. And He's not going to
return to it again. People on earth saw a man named
Jesus, and they thought He was a mere
man, and they don't think much higher of Him now. That's why
everyone refers to Him merely as Jesus and not the Lord Jesus. The whole world is still talking
about the man Jesus, and they will be looking for a man named
Jesus to come. Over here on Main Street, on
both sides of the sign, it says, Jesus is coming back. No, the Lord Jesus is coming
back. The world is looking for a man
to come back. And oh, a rude awakening. John,
when he saw him on the Isle of Patmos. John, the beloved disciple,
when he saw him in Revelation 1, he said, I couldn't look at
him. It's too glorious. We'll see
Him as He is. It says, every eye shall see
Him, not as He was, veiled in a body as a mortal man for the
suffering of death, but they will see Him as He is, crowned
with glory and honor. Not coming back to build an earthly
temple for Him to sit in. No, He's coming back to destroy
all that. He's already built His temple.
And you're in. You're in. He said, the kingdom
of God of heaven cometh not with observation. Look, they're tearing
down the dome of the rock. They're building a temple. Don't
go there. He doesn't say that in this book.
He says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, there'd
be a big battle. But it's not. And the battle
that is fought was at Calvary. by Jesus Christ against the forces
of evil. And I'm here to tell you, it's
already been won. He said, tell them the warfare
is accomplished. He's the captain of our salvation.
And He by Himself put away our sin. By Himself crushed the serpent's
head. By Himself brought in a kingdom
of righteousness. and sends the Holy Spirit to
round them all up. And we're just waiting for Him
to come and bring us all back. There's not going to be a temple
where they're going to start sacrificing animals. He by Himself
offered one sacrifice forever for the remission of sin. There's
not going to be any more sacrifice. Why would there be? He made one
sacrifice. The world is deluded. And God's
the one sending those strong delusions, because they're interested
in anything and everything but Jesus Christ. The world's looking for a man
to come, they're looking for a temple, not knowing that the
one who is coming is in power and glory, his countenance
as the sun that shined in all its strength, his speed as brass
that burned in a furnace, as fuller as soap, as a refiner's
fire, and he said, I'm coming not to bring peace, but to destroy
this place. And all people will see him,
the one whom they have pierced, and it says they'll weep and
wail and gnash their teeth. There's no repentance in hell.
No one's repenting over their sin. No one's going to be sorry.
They're all going to be angry, especially religion. Look what
we've done when God says, it's all filthy rags. You're stealing
my son's glory. It took nothing less than the
blood of My Son to put away your sins. And you would dare say
that there's anything you've ever done that adds to that work
of My blessed Son. Bind them hand and foot and cast
them out of My sight. Everybody in glory is going to
be there praising the Lamb that had been slain. Well, His disciples, Like us,
they're still ignorant of many things. And you know this, they
had to forsake Him. They couldn't know everything
yet. They had to forsake Him. They
had to forsake Him to fulfill Scripture. They all had to turn
away. The shepherd had to be smitten and the sheep scattered. They had to, although He kept
telling them and telling them. Well, they were still ignorant
of so many things, and they were impressed with the temple and
its buildings. And they came to show the Lord,
look at this temple, Lord. Look at all these buildings.
Look what men have done. He who made the heavens, this
is He who laid the foundations of the earth. This is Him who
put Mount Everest up. They said, look how high this
temple is. Oh, how the Lord must laugh at
my hand. Everything He says is so foolish,
even His children. Oh, my, look at what men have
done. Look what they've done, Lord. And every one of us has
been impressed by someone or something. Heavenly. Still are. I get mad at myself
whenever I am impressed with anything that men do. The only reason anybody can do
anything is because God gave them the ability. Not to glorify men for anything,
but glorify the God who gave men this ability, whether it
be science or medicine or whatever it may be, architecture. You
know, and we're still impressed by man-made things when every
day Wonders and glories happen that we take for granted when
the sun comes up. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day after day others speak. When
that sun comes up and everybody takes it for granted. Look at
that house. Look at that car. Look at that
sun. Look at the clouds, it's a dust
of His feet. Listen to the trees, they're
clapping their hands. Listen to the birds, they're
singing of their Creator. Oh, look what man's done. Look,
isn't that great? It's nothing. And take all this
for granted. When religion is the worst, why
do they need all these big buildings? Because that's what they glory
in. The only reason for a building
is to keep the rain off our heads, not to be proud of, not to glory
in. Right? The Lord is light. Light exposes
darkness. And he said in this one line,
what he said here is a reprimand, is a rebuke, is a reproof to
not everyone but His disciples. See ye not all these things? Don't you see these things for
what they are? Don't you see that these are
mere things? What does the Scripture say about
things that are seen? Temporal. Every single thing
that is seen is temporal. People, places, and things. Temporal. But the things that
are not the same are eternal. And flesh is impressed with things. Three marks our Lord gave of
the true people of God. They worship God in the Spirit.
You don't need things to worship God. If you have anything to
worship God, you've missed it. Rejoicing Christ Jesus. It's
Philippians 3. All their hope, all their trust,
all their faith, all their hope of eternal life is in one Person,
Jesus Christ. And number three, no confidence
in the flesh. Feelings, things, sights. Oh, did you hear the beautiful
music this morning? Nobody is saved by music. They
are saved by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me smile. I'm not mad at
anybody. But can you imagine that the Lord was not smiling
when he was pronouncing woe on those Pharisees? When he cleaned
out that temple that was such an abomination, he was not smiling. And God is not smiling on this
world. He's angry with the wicked every
day. He's smiling on His people. Those
that worship Him in spirit and truth. Those that rejoice in
His Son. Those that say, get all this stuff out of the way.
We need to see Christ on it. Just lift up the Lord Jesus Christ
preacher and get the choir out of the way. Get all this stuff
out of the way. We want to see Him. We want a glory in Him.
We need to see Him and Him alone. God is smiling on those people.
So you love my Son, do you? I do too. Come, thou blessed
of the Father. Come up here and worship with
me where everybody in heaven is rejoicing in the beloved Son. That's who's going to be there. I see you smiling. You must love
the same Son. You must glory in His glory.
Thanks be unto God. He says, don't you see all these
things? Not one stone will be left standing
on another. You know why? Because in the
last day, there will be one stone. One stone, which He said to those
Pharisees and religious people, which the builders rejected.
The same has become the head, the headstone. What's that stone? That rock.
Well, their rock is not like our rock, is it? Our rock, the
rock, the stone, the foundation and the top stone of salvation
and everything in between is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.