Alright, let's look at Mark chapter
13. Mark chapter 13. Now, my text
actually is just verses 24 through 31. Last week I dealt with verses
14 through 23, but I had Brother Bill read that whole passage
because I want you to keep this in its context. And I'll show
you some things about this. The title of the message this
morning is Christ Our King is Coming. Christ Our King is Coming. I don't know exactly when He's
coming, maybe 2011, I don't know. But He's coming. And I believe
He's coming soon. I don't know how soon, but He's
coming soon. And in this passage, beginning
at verses 24 and going through verse 31, there are three absolute
certainties that are set forth here by the Lord as He teaches
His disciples on this awesome subject of His second coming.
The first absolute certainty is just that, the absolute certainty
of His return. Now, if you don't believe that,
if you don't believe he's coming again, then you know what the
Bible calls you? Obviously an unbeliever, but
even worse than that, you're a scoffer. You're a scoffer. And a scoffer is one who disobeys
and dishonors the word of the king. So it's a little, you know,
to me it just sounds a little more serious, doesn't it? Not
only do you just ignore it, I mean, you may think, well, I just don't
care. No, you're a scoffer. That's what the scripture says.
But He is coming again. That's an absolute certainty. You can't change it. No one can. And if you belong to Him and
you know His glory, you don't want to change it. In fact, you
expect it and you anticipate it. The second absolute certainty
is this, and this is comforting, not that the other one wasn't,
but this is really comforting to those who believe, and that
is the absolute certainty of the ultimate salvation of His
people, who are identified in this passage in several verses
as the elect. The elect are going to be saved.
That's why the gospel must be preached throughout the world
before He comes again. He redeemed us by His blood and
He will have us. He'll have that which He, those
whom He redeemed. And then the third absolute certainty
in this passage is the certainty of God's faithfulness in His
Word of promise. You can take God for His Word. You can bank on it. We may try to be men and women
of our word, but there are a lot of times we'll make promises
and things get in the way. Either we didn't foresee some
obstacle, or we didn't foresee the need of some means that we
can't provide, or we just didn't anticipate the fact that we don't
have the power to keep that promise. We may have had every good intention,
but that's not the way God is. He is going to keep His promise. So let's take each one of those.
First of all, the absolute certainty of His return. He says in verse
24 of Mark 13, He says, But in those days, after that tribulation,
the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.
He says, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that
are in heaven shall be shaken. This is a tumultuous, very public
Very noticeable event. This is not a secret coming.
This is not sneaking up on you. I know what the Bible says about
him coming as a thief in the night, but that doesn't mean
that he's going to come secretly. What that means is that those
who don't believe will not be expecting him. That's what that
means. You who believe, we who believe,
we expect him to come. And we're looking for him to
come. And we're seeking to be prepared for that coming by the
Word of God, by the power of His Spirit. And so he says, it's
going to be shaken, verse 26, he says, and then shall they
see the Son of Man. Now that's a Messianic term,
Son of Man there. Sometimes men are referred to
that way, Ezekiel for example. But this Son of Man here is a
Messianic term. It means the Messiah. And it's
emphasizing His humanity for several reasons. First of all,
He is God in human flesh. Now understand this, when Christ
became incarnate, we use that term incarnate. You know the
word incarnate comes from the word carnal. We usually think
of carnal as something being sinful, but not Him. It just
means flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, John 1, 14. Christ was born of the seed of
David according to the flesh, Romans 1, and I believe verse
3 or 4. But He is God in human flesh. And once He united Himself
as the eternal Son of God, as the great I Am, which had no
beginning and no end, the Alpha and the Omega, once He united
Himself in time, He intervened in time, and was made flesh,
He never stopped being God in human flesh. You see, when they
crucified Him, when we crucified Him, I'd rather put it that way,
when we crucified Him, He didn't stop becoming God and He didn't
stop becoming... He didn't stop being God and
He didn't stop being man. He was still God in human flesh
having our sins charged to Him and He died. Now, there's a lot
of things that just flat boggle the mind in that issue, isn't
it? I mean, think about it. He died. Now, God cannot die,
and I'll be the first one to agree with you on that. But this
person who is God did die, and that's to be attributed to His
humanity. He died a real death. It wasn't
a fake death. It wasn't a hoax. He died for
the sins of His people. He was made sin, and He died
for those sins. He paid our debt in full. But
on the same token, listen to this. Man cannot give and sustain
life. No man can give and sustain life.
I don't care what they do in a test tube. Man cannot give
and sustain life. But this person who is man without
sin does give and sustain life. And that's to be attributed to
his deity. So now you can chew on that in your mind for the
rest of eternity. But that's the case, you see.
Now he's the son of man. Now when he ascended into glory,
He ascended as God-man. I want you to look at the book
of Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. And this is when our Lord, when
He ascended up into glory after He had spoken to His disciples,
it's after His resurrection, after He accomplished the redemption
of His people. And it says in verse 9 of Acts
chapter 1, now listen to this, it says, And when He had spoken
these things while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud
received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, You men of Galilee, why
stand you gazing up unto heaven?" This, now listen to this, this
same Jesus, God our Savior, Jehovah our Savior, which is taken up
from you into heaven shall so come in like manner." Literally,
in the same way. As God-man he ascended, as God-man
he'll come again. And it says, "...in like manner
as you have seen him go into heaven." He's coming again. And
that's why he emphasizes over here in Mark 13, the Son of Man
coming in the clouds. He's God-man. Right now, Somebody
asked me, where's Christ right now? And people say, well, he's
in you. Well, he is. He's in his people. But he's
in his people. He dwells within his people by
his spirit and by his word. That's why he told the disciples,
he said, if I go away, he said, I'm going to send unto you a
comforter, another comforter, he said. And that word another
in the original language means another of the same kind. There's
two words in the New Testament that mean other or another. One
means another of a different kind. Paul used that when he
talked about those who preach another gospel. That's another
of a different kind. That's a false gospel. But Christ
said, I'm going to send you a comforter, an advocate, literally, of the
same kind. In other words, of the same nature
as Him, who is God. And that's the Holy Spirit. And
He said, if I go away, I'm going to send you a comforter. And
He'll dwell in you. That's the Holy Spirit. So He
dwells within us by His Spirit and His Word. But where is He
right now? He's seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living to make intercession for us. He's our advocate. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1,
when we sin we have what? An advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ the righteous. Now let me tell you something,
His intercessory work as our advocate is the fruit of His
work on the cross. And if he stopped being our advocate,
we'd be doomed forever. We would have no hope. Now that
same Jesus is coming again. You can bank on it. It's a certain. And that's what he's talking
about here. The Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power
and glory. Over here in Mark 13. You see,
two things. Now let me tell you something.
Two things that we as believers need to constantly encourage
one another is this. Number one, the truth of the
resurrection of Christ. He is risen. Now, you don't look
at the resurrection as just a single separate event. You look at the
resurrection as the completion of a work, as the fulfillment
of a work. His resurrection means that His
death on the cross worked. It worked. He's risen. That means He redeemed His...
He put away my sins. We read about it last week in
Daniel chapter 9. He finished the transgression. He made an end of sin. He brought
in everlasting righteousness. by His blood, by His death on
the cross. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ. How do I know that I can glory
in the cross, the death of Christ? How do I know that I can stand
before a holy God, me, a sinner, how do I know that I can stand
before Him and be pronounced justified, righteous, holy, sanctified,
forgiven, clean? How can man born of woman be
clean? How do I know I can do that? How do I know? How do I
know his cross worked? Because he's risen. He's risen. If he'd stayed in the grave,
that means... You see, if death could hold him, that means sin
has not been put away. But death couldn't hold him.
He would not suffer his Holy One to see corruption, David
wrote. Not of himself, but of the coming Messiah. And that
was quoted in Acts chapter 2. as Peter was preaching concerning
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. So how do I know?
How can I glory in the cross because of his resurrection?
The cross worked. His death worked. His blood is
sufficient for my salvation and forgiveness. His righteousness
is enough for me to stand before God eternally, unchangeably,
and perfectly justified forever. That's an amazing thing. Well,
that same one who ascended, who rose again, ascended into heaven.
Here's the second thing we need to comfort each other with. He's
coming again. He's going to return and we're
going to be resurrected in glory with him. Christ told his disciples
in John 14, he said in verse 1, let not your heart be troubled.
In other words, here's a comforting word from him. You believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you... Incidentally, you did notice
who's doing the preparation here, didn't you? It's not you. It's
not me. It's him. I go to prepare a place
for you. And he said, and if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself that where I am there you may be also. We read in 1
Thessalonians 4 in the opening of our service, comfort each
other with these words. He's coming again. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 9 with me. Turn there with me. Hebrews chapter
9. Now you see, that same Jesus,
the Son of Man, He is God. See, when it identifies Him as
the Son of Man, the Bible is not denying His deity, as some
say. It's emphasizing His person. That's what it's doing. It's
identifying Him as the Messiah. He is God-man. Now, when the
Bible calls Him the Son of God, it's not denying His humanity.
It's emphasizing His deity, His power, who He is, so that we
can rightly worship Him. You know those who claim to believe
in Jesus and to worship Jesus, but who deny His deity, you know
what the Bible would call them, does call them? Idolaters. Because
you're not to worship anyone who's not God. Did you know that? You're not to worship any creature,
any creature whatsoever. So we worship Christ. Look at
Hebrews 9, look at verse 26, last few verses of this. It says,
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
that's the purpose of God, always in the mind of God, his suffering
unto death. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. That's his first coming. His
first coming was a humble coming. Read about it in Isaiah 53, that
man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, grew up as a tender plant. I like what brother Bill said,
he was an infant in a manger. And that's a humble beginning,
isn't it? But he was not helpless. Listen, if he'd been helpless,
Herod would have gotten him. But Herod didn't get him. And
you know why? Because he's Almighty God. It
was already mapped out and determined from the beginning by Almighty
God, not by fate, not by the will of man. If Herod had his
free will, he'd have got him. You see what I'm saying? This is all of the Lord, and
thank God it is. If you ever come to see your
sinfulness, you'll thank God it is all of the Lord. But see,
that's His first coming, humble beginnings. But why did He come? He came to die. He came to die
for the sins of His sheep laid upon Him, imputed to Him, so
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, that His righteousness
is imputed to us. And so he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. In verse 27 of Hebrews 9, it
says, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear
the second time without sin. You see, when he comes a second
time, it's not to die. It's not to bear the sins. He'll
come without sin. He'll come as the risen, glorious
Lord of glory, the King. Christ our King is coming. He's not coming as a baby in
a manger. He's not coming as one who is a tender plant or
a man of sorrows. He's coming as the Son of Man
in glory. And He says, without sin unto
salvation, meaning eternal glory with Him. You see that? That's
an absolute certainty. Now go back to Mark 13. Now,
he says in verse 24 here, he says that this will happen after
that tribulation. Verse 24, but in those days after
that tribulation. And that's why I had Brother
Bill read what we studied last week. The tribulation that he's
talking about here is the trouble that is given not only to certain
people, but to the whole church throughout this generation. He mentions that later on. He
talks about this generation will not pass away. The generation
that he's talking about is the new covenant. It's that time
period, the last days. He's not talking about those
guys that were standing right before him, even though they
did see something. of what the Bible calls in verse
14 here, the abomination of desolation. That abomination of desolation,
remember we studied that last week in Daniel 9, that's talking
about number one, it had a physical fulfillment in the destruction
of the Jewish temple and of Jerusalem. But it has a general application
to the corruption of the whole church. that will take place
in stages and degrees throughout this generation, throughout the
age. And you know what it's called?
Now I want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 with me. Now, when
you read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it's going to raise a lot
of questions and I don't have time to answer them this morning.
I'm not avoiding. You know me, I don't do that.
But, and if I don't know, I'll tell you I don't know. But, I
want you to, I'll give you a brief, I'm gonna preach through 2 Thessalonians.
We're studying in our Sunday school, we're studying 1 and
2 Thessalonians, but I'm gonna preach through this chapter because
it applies to what we're talking about in Mark 13. So we'll talk
about some of these things later on. But here's what I want you
to see today. After these things, he said,
Christ is coming again. Well, look at verse 1 of 2 Thessalonians
2. He says, Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's his
subject, the second coming. And by our gathering together
unto him. He's coming to gather his people
unto him. That's what some people refer
to as the rapture. You've heard that. That's what
that means. It means a gathering. And he says, verse 2, that you
be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit
nor by word nor by letter as from us as the day of the Christ
is at hand. Now what he's dealing with here
in the church at Thessalonica is you had a group of people
apparently who were getting false letters and false words from
different false preachers as if the day of the Lord is coming
today, tomorrow, he's gonna come in our lifetime. Now listen,
and really what was happening there, you can read about this
in 1 Thessalonians 4, they were quitting their jobs, you know,
kind of like going off and living in a cave and just waiting for
his coming, you know, and what happened, he didn't come and
they got hungry, and so they went to the church and said,
feed us, and Paul said, no, don't feed them, if they don't work,
they don't eat. That's what happened. We've probably seen similar things
today. It's like a lady come to me one
time. She said, I'm living totally by faith. And I said, well, what
do you mean? She said, well, I'm not working
a job. I'm just letting the Lord take care of me. And I said,
well, you're not living by faith, honey. I said, you're living
in opposition to faith. You're living in unbelief. She
said, what do you mean? I said, well, the Bible says
if you don't work, if you're capable now. If you don't work, you don't
eat. So I'm not feeding you. So she didn't ask me for any
money. I wasn't going to feed her. She's capable. But that's what happened here
in Thessalonica. They said, the Lord's coming
next week or the Lord's coming next year. Let's quit our jobs. Let's go off here and wait. And
that happened. So he says, don't be troubled
like that. Don't be upset by that, you know. And somebody
might write a letter and they might put Paul's name on it,
they might put Peter's name on it, or James or somebody like
that. So don't listen to them. And
here's what he says, look at verse 3. He says, "...let no
man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. Now everybody's wondering, who's
that man of sin? Well, that man of sin, that's
a spirit. And it's called the spirit of Antichrist. Some people
think it refers to one particular individual. Some people think
it refers to a succession of individuals. Some people think
it refers just mainly to a spirit of Antichrist. Either way. My
suggestion to you on that one is don't get bogged down trying
to look for one, two, or whatever. Just recognize the spirit of
it so that you won't be deceived. And I'll show you that in just
a moment. But here's what Christ is talking about in Mark 13.
There's going to be a great falling away. Now, what is that falling
away? All right. Turn to 1 John chapter
2. And I know I'm having you turn
to a lot of Scripture. But I don't want you to be deceived. I want you to look at these things.
Now, the spirit of Antichrist, and in 1 John chapter 2, John
describes it beginning in verse 18. 1 John 2 verse 18, he says, little
children, it is the last time. That's what Christ is talking
about in Mark 13, the last time. That's the last generation. This
is the last generation, whether he comes back in my lifetime
or not, or this is still the last generation. And he says,
and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are
many Antichrists, not just one fellow, but many, whereby we
know that it is the last time. Look at verse 19. They went out
from us, but they were not of us. In other words, these were
people, this is a spirit, that claimed to be with believers,
that claimed to believe in Christ. But they left. They left His
truth. They left the doctrine. And he
says, they were not of us. Somebody says, well, they lost
their salvation. No, they never were of us, he says. You see
that? They were not of us. For, now listen to this, if they
had been of us, true believers, members of the true family of
God, Christians born again by the Spirit, He says, they would
no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they
might be made manifest that they were not all of us. They just
exposed themselves, you see. They exposed the reality that
they had a claim of faith, but not true faith. And later on
over there, he says, look at verse 26 there, 1 John 2. He
says, these things have I written unto you concerning them that
seduce you. You see, now go back to Mark
13. Now when they went out from us, they tried to seduce other
believers. Come with us. And it's a religious seduction.
Let me tell you something. It's a seduction of self-righteousness,
pride, and religious works that deny the work of Christ. That's
what it is. It comes in the name of Christ,
but it denies the truth of God's grace in Christ. And you see,
this is what Christ is talking about here in this issue. He talked about those who would
seduce people. Look at verse 22 of Mark 13.
He says, "...for false messiahs and false prophets, those who
preach of false messiahs, shall rise and shall sow signs and
wonders to seduce, if it were possible..." Thank God it's not. But if it were possible, even
the elect." Now that's what Christ is speaking of here. This great
falling away. And what it is, what it is, is
before His coming, what is going to generally be known as Christian,
quote Christian, unquote, will just be Christian in name only. Now you remember he said back
in the first part of Mark 13 that the two things that would
be the beginning of the last days would be number one, the
destruction of the temple, and that's the abolishment of the
old covenant, and two, the deception of false Christianity. And that's
continuing. And it's getting worse and worse. And that's what he's talking
about here. Look at it again, Mark 13. It's not a secret thing. The Lord will come. He's coming
in the clouds. He'll appear in glory. He'll
come as a thief in the night in the sense that unbelievers
will not expect Him. But He'll come. And then here's
the second thing. Now look at verse 27. Here's
the absolute certainty of the ultimate salvation of God's elect.
He says in verse 27, "...and then shall He send His angels..."
That's His messengers. and shall gather together his
elect from the four winds." That's like saying the four corners
of the earth. That's saying God has a people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation all over this world. And he says,
from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of
heaven. He's going to save those whom
he redeems. He said over there in verse 10, he said, the gospel
must be published among all nations. Why? Here's the answer, verse
27. He's going to send his messengers who will gather his elect from
the uttermost parts of the world, four corners of the earth. You
know the primary purpose of His second coming is to do this,
to gather together all whom God chose before the foundation of
the world, all whom Christ redeemed, and all whom the Spirit of God
gives life in the new birth and calls to faith in Christ. It's
all for the elect's sake. Look at verse 20 again. And except
that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved,
but For the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened
those days." Now, that's not revealed to discourage anybody
from seeking the Lord. That's not revealed to make sinners
reason in their minds, well, now, am I one of those? And if
I'm not, it doesn't matter what I do. No, sir. It's revealed
for this purpose. Number one, to show us there
is a people in this world called the elect who must and shall
be saved. Secondly, everything God does
in this world, He does for the elect's sake. For His glory,
for the elect's sake. Number three, every sinner...
Now listen to me very carefully here. Every sinner who trusts
the Lord Jesus Christ is numbered among the elect. Did you know
that? You say, well, what am I to do then? I'll tell you exactly
what to do. Trust Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Repent or else perish. And number four, God's elect
shall never be deceived by false prophets and false Christ ultimately
in this world. Now we start out deceived, but
at some point in time, He's going to gather us by the preaching
of the gospel and then He's going to come and gather us at the
second coming. And I'll tell you, here's the point. He's coming
again, He's going to gather His people, whom He redeemed by His
precious blood, whom God justifies in Him, and He's going to judge
this world in righteousness. He's going to destroy this world,
He's going to damn this world. And like I said, as we're preaching
through the book of Amos, do you want to perish with this
world? I don't. Well, let me tell you something,
just like Noah, you know, later on He says, just as in the days
of Noah, Noah preached, and nobody listened. And Noah built an ark. And here's the fact about Noah.
Here's the thing we need to remember. Just as all who were on the ark
were safe from the floodwaters, all who are in Christ, the ark
of God, are safe from the wrath of God. That's why Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2 and verse 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming
of our Lord Jesus and by our gathering together unto him. It's a gathering of only those
who are in Christ. 2 Peter 3 and verse 11 talks
about how this world's going to be destroyed. And there's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And then that new
heaven, you know what's going to dwell in that new heaven and
new earth? 2 Peter 3 says righteousness. Righteousness is going to dwell
in that new heaven and new earth. Now what does that mean? That
means only those who are in Christ are going to dwell there. Because
He's the only righteousness that we have. He's the only righteousness
that you can find. And if you're looking for it
somewhere else or in someone else or in yourself, you're not
going to find it. You may think you find it, you may deceive
yourself for a time thinking you found it, but when He comes
again, you'll be deceived no longer because He's going to
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained,
in that He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath
raised Him from the dead, Acts 1731. And right before He says
that in Acts 1731, you know what He says to do? He says, Stop
thinking and acting as if you can find righteousness anywhere
else but in Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. And it's a gathering of only
those who are in Christ. Here's the third thing. Here's
the absolute certainty of God's faithfulness in His word of promise. Now, He speaks a parable here
in Mark 13. Look at verse 28. He says, now learn a parable
of the fig tree. When her branch is yet tender
and putteth forth leaves, what do you know? What do you discern
when you see that? You know that summer is near.
You can see it. You can look at a fig tree and
you can see those tender branches bearing forth leaves and fruit,
the greenery. What does that tell you? Summer
is coming. It's near. And he says in verse 29, so ye
in like manner when you shall see these things come to pass.
Now what things? Well, everything he said there
at the beginning. Here's the beginning of sorrows,
the destruction of the temple, the destruction of that nation,
the abolishment of the old covenant, the abomination of desolation,
that corruption, that falling away. When you see these things
come to pass, know that it is nigh. It's near and at the doors. So he says, Verily I say unto
you that this generation shall not pass till all these things
be done. What generation? The generation
of believers that lived during the New Testament times. That's
what he's talking about. In other words, you know, there's
not going to be any other segments of time after this. Christ came
the first time, he's coming again, it's over. This generation. And
what generation is he talking about? He's talking about the
generation of His people. The people He generated, you
might say that way. That's what that word when it
says, we are made the righteousness of God in Him, that's the word
for generation. In other words, on the cross,
Christ created a nation. He created a people. Who are
they? That's His church. Who are His
church? Those who are redeemed by His
blood, chosen of God, redeemed by His blood, justified in His
righteousness and called by the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ.
and true repentance. And this generation during this
segment of time will not pass away till all these things be
fulfilled. And then he says in verse 31,
heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
You can bank on God's word. Christ has promised to come again.
He's given us signs and warnings. We don't know the exact day and
hour. But we can discern the signs of the times. Let me show
you that. Turn to Matthew 16. I want to
show you something about that. Now, we can discern the signs
of the times. But here's where you have to
be careful. When you look for signs, and the Bible doesn't
tell us to look for signs. It doesn't tell us to do that. I'll show you this right here.
The Bible gives me no authority or mandate to go out looking
for signs. All right? Now, the Bible does
say we can discern the signs and the time. We can be observers. The problem with people today
when they talk about the second coming of Christ is they're going
out looking for things that really aren't there. They're just figments
of their imagination or they're things that the Bible doesn't
talk about as far as being signs. We can be observers. But be careful. Don't get your signs from the
newspaper or the local news broadcast or from, what is that, the National
Enquirer. Enquiring minds want to know.
Don't get your signs from that. And it has nothing to do with
space aliens, believe me. All right? But look here, he
says in verse 1 of Matthew 16, he says, "...the Pharisees also
with the Sadducees came and tempting desired that he would show them
a sign from heaven." Now they're going looking for signs. And
it says, "...he answered and said to them, when it is evening,
you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the
morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and
lowering. You know, we say that red sky
at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors
take warning. That's part of that kind of reasoning. He says,
O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but you
cannot discern the signs of the times. You're better weathermen
than you are theologians, he says. Well, look at verse 4. He says, a wicked and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. Don't go seeking for signs. Who
does that? A wicked and adulterous generation. Not believers. And there shall
no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed.
What was the sign of the prophet Jonah? You know, that's talking
about how Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the
fish, and then he was regurgitated up on the shore. That was a picture,
that sign of Jonah was a picture of the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of Christ. What's the Lord talking about
here? He's talking about you're not listening to what God's already
revealed. You're not listening. God's already
told you what's coming about here. And he says, I'm here. The Messiah's here. They could
not and would not see that the Messiah had come and that the
scepter was passing away from Judah and that Daniel's 70 weeks
that we studied on last week has been fulfilled. The Messiah's
here. He's going to die on the cross. He's going to be buried.
He's going to be raised again the third day. God's already
revealed that and you're going out here looking for signs. A
wicked and adulterous generation does that. This is what Christ
is saying in Matthew 13 here. When you see that abomination
of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, his glorious second
coming is at hand. And remember that abomination
of desolation began with that destruction of that temple in
Jerusalem along with the beginning of the deception of false Christianity
that's growing and growing and growing. but continues throughout
to what Paul described as that great falling away. And so he
says here in Mark 13, it's just like that fig tree. That's something
God set in motion. God's the one who created that
fig tree. And He's given you certain signs in nature that
you can discern that summer's coming. That fig tree starts
growing. That's God's Word. That's God's power. Well, it's
the same thing here. Don't go, don't, listen, I'm
going to say it. Don't go out here and get that
left behind stuff. That's just, that's science fiction
now. That's looking for signs that
God, read God's Word. That's what you need. You need
God's Word. He's already given it. He's shown
what it is. Christ is coming again. You're
going to meet God in judgment. You're going to spend eternity
somewhere and your only hope is Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. My brothers and sisters, the
Lord is coming. Rejoice. Rejoice and watch and
be sober and keep our garments white and unspotted from the
world. What does that mean? That means look to Christ alone
and don't corrupt. Don't corrupt that faith. By
introducing all these other things that men get enthralled with
and the works of men. Look to Christ. Trust Him. Rest in Him alone. You'll be
safe.