Well, the Lord is pleased to
bring his children on a very mysterious journey, one which
they cannot quite understand. It is not in man to know his
way. Scripture tells us. Man, who
can understand his way? Certainly we cannot. For on the one hand, as Brother
Tim had shared with us, the apostles' words, where he said, I count
not myself to have apprehended. I hadn't arrived yet. I hadn't gotten what it is that
I'm desiring to have. And yet, as Brother Thomas set
forth before us, The people of God are chosen in Christ from
the fourth foundation of the world. And as we read in the
scriptures, they can never perish. And so this is a mysterious thing.
How it is that on the one hand we are, we rest in Christ knowing
that he is our savior. He is that one whose blood washes
away our sin. And yet knowing those things
that the Lord has taught us about ourself, we know that we would
depart from him, were it not that in his mercy and kindness
he did keep us. And so we come today to look
into his word and rejoice that he is that one that is the savior
of sinners. And I believe this is a true
thing, that sinners will be saved. Righteous men will not. Righteous
men will perish. Those that think themselves to
have something that would give them an entrance into the presence
of God, they shall be turned away. But those who know they
have nothing, but see in Christ everything they desire, they
shall indeed have life. In fact, they have life. See,
the only way that a man can ever understand that is to be given
life by the Spirit of God. As the Lord said to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Now, we've been looking at Mark
chapter 13. And to say that this is not a
difficult passage of scripture to look at or to say that we
have all the answers to every question that can be brought
up here would be wrong. We do not claim to have a complete
understanding of these things. I think by the grace of God and
that he has given us some insight and understanding of these things.
I think most assuredly what we need to do is look at the scriptures
and not at the babblings of men who have no
shortage of theories and have written tremendous volumes of
books on stupendous ideas about what these scriptures set forth.
I believe the Lord set this forth very plainly. And I don't think
that it is difficult to understand if we look at the scripture,
what makes it difficult for us is if we have been taught things
in the past, or we listen to many that try to teach things
in the present day, many of whom claim they are great prophets
sent from God. Now a prophet that's sent from
God has one test, and that is if he speaks according to the
Law and the Prophets, then we hear Him. If He does not, then
it doesn't matter what He says, you know, these things are not
of God. And so it is that we had looked at down through about
verse 13, and the Lord speaking to His disciples concerning things
that would come to pass. He had said that that the temple in which they
were in would be destroyed. Now keep that in mind. That's
what he's talking to them about. Because they said, look at this
grandeur that's around us. The greatness of the Jewish nation
and religion. Oh, it's wonderful. Lord, don't
you see this? They kind of thought, well, maybe
he's the one that's gonna come. They weren't sure, but they believed,
in a measure at least, that he was the one that had come to
deliver the Jewish nation from Roman oppression. That's what
they thought that the scripture pointed to. This was in their
mind, this was in their thought. The Lord destroyed that thought. And he told them that there wouldn't
be one stone of that temple left standing. And history bears that
that is a true thing. You can't find it today because
it was destroyed. And it was destroyed because
the Lord purposed for it to be destroyed. He didn't purpose
for it to stand because had the temple stood, they would have
still gathered around it. the Jews would still have considered
that they were the people of God, as the scripture indicated
that they were, and as he chose them in Abraham. But you see,
the truth of the matter is that the people of God, those who
were chosen before the foundation of the world, as the scripture
says, were not chosen in Abraham. They were not chosen out of this
world. The scripture says they were chosen in Christ. And there's a big difference.
And that's the thing that the Lord would come to teach. And
I believe that's what he's setting forth here in this passage of
scripture as he sets forth the fact that the temple would be
destroyed and great trouble was coming upon the Jewish nation,
wherein they would be destroyed basically as a nation. And so
he says, but when you shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not,
let him that readeth understand. Then let them that be in Judea
flee to the mountains. And let him that is on the housetop
not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything
out of his house. And let him that is in the field
not turn back again for to take up his garment. but woe to them
that are with child and to them that give suck in those days.
And pray that your flight be not in winter, for in those days
shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of
the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall
be. 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 the days. And
then if any man shall say to you, lo, here's Christ, or lo,
he is there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. But take heed. Behold, I have
foretold you all things. But in those days after that
tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not
give her light. And the stars of heaven shall
fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the son
of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels
and shall gather together his elect from the four winds. from
the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree when her branch is yet tender
and put it forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So
ye in like manner when ye shall see these things come to pass,
know that it is nigh even at the doors. Verily I say unto
you that this generation shall not pass till all these things
be fulfilled. Now that's pretty clear. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels
which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take
ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is.
For the Son of Man is as a man taking a journey, a far journey,
who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every
man his work. and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for you know
not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight,
or at cock crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all, watch." Now, I believe that the Lord is telling these
disciples about some events that are about to occur in their lifetime. He said this generation would
not pass until these things be fulfilled. And you know for us
to look at this passage of scripture and say that there is not some
questions that can be raised concerning some of the things
that he says here is he says that they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Now many
have taken that to be speaking about the return of the Lord
in the very end of time. And that is a true thing, that
he shall come again. And the scripture does say that
he shall come in the clouds. But he shall come in fire, taking
vengeance on them that know not God. and the earth shall be destroyed
or be cleansed at least with a fervent heat. All those things
shall be burned up that we see around us. That is going to occur. We're not in any wise denying
that the Lord is coming again. But what he is describing here
is not specifically concerning that end-time event, but he's
concerning something that took place around the year 70 AD,
which was when the the Romans came upon Jerusalem
because of the rebellion and things that had arisen. And all
of these things that he said came to pass, there were many
that came saying they were Christ in those days because the oppression
of the Romans got greater and greater and the rebellion of
the Jews against them increased as well. And brother would betray
brother to curry favor with the government at that time and all
of these things took place just like it said. And of course you
can read accounts of historians, specifically one Josephus, who
was there during these times, who saw things come to pass. Now I hadn't discovered that
I believe Josephus was a believer, but he was at least a historian
who recorded the things that took place. And he recorded events
that took place that were terrible. in such times as these, as he
says, for in those days shall be affliction, such as was not
from the beginning of creation, which God created under this
time, neither shall be. And so he is warning the disciples. And as he closes this thing,
he said, watch. Now there's a lesson for us in
this. While we believe that these things
have taken place, that all of those things that he has set
forth here are in the past. But as he admonished them to
watch because they did not know the day and the hour when these
things would occur. There was a set time with God,
but he hadn't given it unto men to know that. And in the same
fashion, when he comes again, we don't know that day or that
hour. For in such time, such an hour
as you think not, the Lord shall come. Now, Paul writes to the
Thessalonians, he said that the day of the Lord so comes as a
thief in the night. But he said, ye are not in the
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. See,
the Lord has given his people a hope. and an expectation that
he shall indeed come again. And the admonition is the same
to the children of God to watch, to be ready. How often did he
tell his disciples, watch and pray? He told them that when
he was in the garden, did he not? He said, watch and pray. Did they watch and pray? No,
unfortunately they didn't. They fell asleep. And so, what
we learn from that is the nature that we have. See, a man's a
fool that says, well, not me. Buddy, I'll stand, you know,
in the day. I'll be faithful to the end.
I'm gonna be faithful. You remember who said that very
boldly. And he meant it. I mean, he wasn't
whistling Dixie. Peter meant what he said. He
felt like he was going to stand. He was a bull. He could do it.
But the Lord showed him that he couldn't do it. And what the
Lord would teach us today is that we can't do it. We must
do it. You see, we must watch. We must pray. But dear brethren,
apart from the grace of God to enable us to do so, we will fail
miserably. And so thus, we cry out, O Lord,
deliver us, help us. Show us thy way, teach us thy
truth, bind it upon our hearts. O Lord, let us not depart from
you. Because that's the tendency of
every man, is to depart from the Lord. I mean, we will depart
from the Lord, apart from his grace and mercy. The stars of heaven shall fall,
the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken, and they shall
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and
glory. That is the hope of God's people. That was the hope of those disciples that the Lord
was giving them. He said, your deliverance will
come. He said, except those days should
be shortened, no flesh should be saved. But he said, for the
elect's sake. And so it is that they looked for the Lord, and
so should we. They looked for the Lord for
his deliverance. Now perhaps they expected that
he would come back the second time in their lifetimes. Such
is the great hope of the children of God. May we have such a hope as that,
because only way we will is if the Lord gives it to us. For
the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house
and gave authority to his servants, to every man his work, and commanded
the porter to watch. And so what do we learn from
this? Well, we learn from this that the Lord did exactly as
he said, and he destroyed Jerusalem, he destroyed the temple, and
he brought great tribulation upon the earth such as had never
been seen until that time. And we read in the scriptures
that he shall come again in flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God. Let us watch. Let us be ready. May he help us to do so.