Well, as I told you last week,
or in the last two weeks actually, we're talking about the last
days. Which, as I've said, we're living
in the last days. We've been living in the last
days since the coming of our Lord to put away the sins of
His sheep. When He died, was buried, arose
again the third day, ascended unto the Father. The New Testament
or the New Covenant Church was inaugurated, established in Pentecost. The preaching of the gospel went
out. Thousands were converted, Jew and Gentile. And then shortly
after, the gospel was spread out all over the world, the known
world at that time. So we're living in the last days.
We know that Christ is coming again. He came once to put away
our sins. Hebrews 9 tells us He's coming
again without sin. He's coming as the triumphant
victor to gather His church unto Himself. What a glorious gathering
that will be. Now that's what some people refer
to as the rapture. Now a lot of people have that
term all confused and you know they think well it's going to
be some kind of a secret rapture Christ comes in secret and just
people disappearing and some staying and all of that. We're
going to deal with some of those things as we get down into this
chapter and other chapters. But it's no secret rapture. When
Christ comes, listen, Christ is coming back again one time.
Not twice. One time. And He's coming with
the shout of a trumpet. It's a clarion call. It's a glorious,
visible, loud return. And there'll be no doubt who
this is, but here's the point. If we're in Christ, if we're
saved by His grace, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
it's a time that if it comes in our lifetime, Oh, what a glorious
time it'll be for us. We can look forward to it. Because
what He's going to do is gather His people unto Himself. All
the elect of God from all generations. Isn't that something to think
about? And we'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye. This
old vile body will be changed. It'll die. Go to the dust. and we'll receive a new, glorious,
spiritual, heavenly body. I don't know a lot about that,
because the scripture doesn't say a lot about it, but I know
there'll be no sin, there'll be no tears, there'll be no sorrow.
The sad thing about that day is that as Christ comes to gather
all His people unto Himself, He also comes to judge the world
in righteousness. to judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. Those who
are in the flesh, unregenerate, who do not know and believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be judged by their works at the
great judgment, and they'll be found guilty, and enter into
the condemnation of eternal death and damnation. Now, here's what
this passage and other passages, when you look at Mark 13, the
parallel passages to this is Matthew 24, I'll be referring
over there, and then Luke 21, if you want to read all three
of them. But they go together. They're not contradictory in
any way. But here's what I'm talking about. This thing of
the second coming that people get so enthralled with, What's
it all about? Well, I'll tell you exactly what
it's all about. It's all about Christ. Christ is who we should have
our focus on when we're thinking about the Second Coming. Most
people today are more concerned with Antichrist. Who is the Antichrist? John, in his day, the Apostle
John, he said there are many Antichrists. The word Antichrist
just simply means against Christ. So any spirit, any church, so-called
church, any religion, any human being who is against the true
Christ of this book is anti-Christ. Now you can continue to look
for some political figure who will rise on the way. That's
what you want to do. But I don't believe the Bible
teaches that. But I'll show you that later on, I'm not gonna
get into all that. But knowing that Christ is coming again,
knowing that he's coming to judge the world in righteousness, knowing
that he's coming to gather his people unto himself, what then
should we as believers be concerned with? What should we be doing? What should be on our minds?
Should we be trying to figure out when he's coming? Well, look
over here, this is Mark 13. Look down at the last part of
this chapter in verse 32. Now, should we be concerned about
when he's coming, trying to figure out when? Well, look at verse
32. But of that day and that hour,
no man. No, not the angels which are
in heaven, neither the sun. Now Christ is speaking of himself
in his humanity here as being subject to the Father for the
redemption of his people. He said the only one who knows
that day and that hour is the Father, who represents the sovereignty
of the Godhead. So he says in verse 33, take
ye heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man
taking a far journey, who left his house, gave authority to
his servants, and 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 as the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all, watch." What does that mean? That means prepare. It means to be ready. He could
come any time. I don't know when. Nobody does,
except the Father. But it could be any time. So
he says, be watchful, be alert, be aware. Think about this. And as I said before, should
we be concerned with who the Antichrist is? Well, the Bible
is very clear. You know that term is found only
in John's epistles, 1 John and 2 John, and it means anyone or
anything or any system that's against Christ, the true Christ
of the Bible. I want to make that clear. Antichrist
is that spirit of false religion that mainly that comes in the
name of Christ, but denies the true Christ. Denies God's way
of salvation by His grace through the blood and the righteousness
of Christ. That's anti-Christ. Here's another thing. Should
we be concerned with what's happening in the Mideast? The nation Israel. Well, I think we should be concerned
with what's happening in any place in our earth, not overly
concerned. But let me tell you something.
The true Israel of God are those whom God has brought to faith
in Christ. Did you know that? That's the
true Israel of God. And God's not waiting on something
to happen in Palestine or Israel today. I had a rabbi tell me,
he said, well, we're waiting on the temple to be rebuilt.
Well, you may be waiting on it, but God is not. The time of his
return is appointed. It's not going to be one second
sooner or one second later, no matter what happens in the Mideast.
You want my opinion on that? That's part of the strong delusion
that God sends people that they would believe a lie. That's a
judgment of God against them. to be concerned with, well, we're
going to rebuild a temple, we're going to reestablish the priesthood.
Christ is our high priest. And we're going to see that temple
was built as it was intended by God to be a type of Christ
and it's been fulfilled. So understand this, the true
Israel of God, according to the Bible, is spiritual Israel the
family of believers, sinners saved by the grace of God, Jew
and Gentile. So here in Mark 13, we have the
Lord speaking. This message, as I said, is signs
of the time, signs of the end. In these first eight verses,
he really gives what we might call three signs. And what he
speaks of in these verses and as I said over in Matthew 24
and Luke 21, has to do with the destruction of Israel, which
already has taken place in AD 70, but also prophecies of that
which would be going on up to the time of his second coming.
But these are all signs of the end. And the first one he gives
is, number one, Let me put it to you this way. God's judgment
is open judgment of all self-righteous religion. And it comes in the
form of the final destruction of the Jewish temple. Listen
to what he says in verse 1. And as he went out of the temple,
one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner
of stones and what buildings are here. Now he's talking about
the temple. This is the temple that King
Herod was commissioning to be built to satisfy the Jewish people
that he was made king over. He wasn't a Jew, he was an Idumean. But he wanted to satisfy the
people, so he commissioned the construction of this temple,
which had been destroyed, and then rebuilt, and then the building
that was rebuilt, what they call the second temple, It was not
impressive at all, but Herod was building up around it and
adding to it and remodeling it. He's like one of these guys on
HGTV, you know. And it was really impressive.
And here's what happens. In Jesus, verse 2, answering
said, See us now these great buildings. You see this impressive
edifice? He said, there shall not be left
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. This disciple was pointing out
how impressive to the eye this temple was. You know, men by
nature, men and women by nature, we're impressed with stuff like
that, aren't we? The great cathedrals. the icons,
the physical manifestations of things that we by nature think
are spiritual when they're not. But the Lord just stated emphatically.
He just said, look, this building's coming down. This building, this
temple is marked for destruction. And you know what his point is
in all of this? You know, he had just finished
talking about the Pharisees and how they were whited sepulchers,
that outwardly they appeared righteous, but inwardly full
of dead men's bones. That they did indeed appear righteous
unto men, but they were not righteous. And just look at this building. People would say, well, that's
a holy place. That's a place of God. God dwells
there. Salvation is connected with these
things. But Christ is telling, that's
going to be destroyed. There's no eternal salvation
there in that temple, in that religion, in that old covenant
law. There was no salvation in being
a Jew, physically. His point is this, there's only
salvation in Christ. And He says the physical sign
of that, a physical manifestation to show you that, is that this
building is coming down. It's not going to last forever.
Whatever God does in the salvation of His people through Christ,
it lasts forever. And you remember when Christ
told the Pharisees, He said, you'll destroy this temple and
in three days it will be brought back up again. Speaking of Himself,
as the temple of God. The Bible sometimes speaks of
Christ as being the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, because
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. Sometimes it speaks of the church
as being the temple of God. That's a spiritual temple. The
destruction of the temple at Jerusalem meant that the destruction
of the Jewish church state and of the civil government of the
Jewish nation, which consummated in A.D. 70, that's when it was
all brought down and leveled, just 40 years after our Lord
was crucified. God gave visible signs of all
of this. You remember when Christ was
on the cross, In John 19.30, he cried out, it is finished.
And God gave a visible sign when Christ gave up the ghost. And
that visible sign, you remember what it was? The veil in the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom. What did that tell
you? This was an act of God. If men
had torn it, it had been torn from the bottom to the top. but
from the top to the bottom. And what was that showing? That's
showing that in Christ, the way into the presence of God, the
holiest of all, had been accomplished through Him. How do we appear
before God and be accepted? In Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness. How are we accepted of God? In
the Beloved. But there was another visible
sign that was given. The rock split and the earth
quaked when he died. This was an earth shattering
event. We speak of that often about
things that really are not really earth shattering. But this was. This was the consummation of
redemptive history. The crucifixion of our savior. He died. He was buried. He arose again the third day.
And He did so not as a private person. He did so as the surety. He's my surety. My sins were
charged to Him. He's my substitute and my Redeemer. He went under the wrath of the
God for me and died the death that I earned and deserved. And
what happened? Righteousness was established.
The whole Old Testament was fulfilled, completed. Even the tabernacle,
the temple, that which was physical was now, which was symbolic,
was now fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. And that
was earth shattering. And God showed it. The rock split,
the earth quaked. But you know there was another
physical sign. Many were resurrected from the dead in the same way
that Lazarus was resurrected. You remember Lazarus? He died,
he was in the tomb, and Christ came along and said, Lazarus,
come forth. Well, when Christ gave up the ghost, many in Jerusalem
were resurrected, just like Lazarus, and walked around. Now they died
again, just like Lazarus. But that was a physical sign.
And this proved the end of the old covenant, and the beginning
of the new covenant, and the fulfillment of Christ for all
things. I love a passage, I'm gonna deal
with this passage in later messages in this series on the end times. But there's a passage in the
book of Daniel, Daniel 9.24, and I love this. Let me read
it to you. Daniel's prophesying of the coming
of the Messiah. And he says, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. And that 70 weeks
is 70 weeks of years, which equals around to about 400 years. The time of when Israel was brought
back out of the Babylonian captivity and the second temple was built,
that time up to the time of Christ's coming. And here's what's going
to happen when the Messiah comes. Here's what Daniel says, listen
to this. He's coming to finish the transgression. Most scholars
say, well that's referring to Adam's one sin that brought the
whole human race into sin and death. Well he's going to finish
that. And then he says, and to make
an end of sins. Think about that. He's going
to make an end of sins. That means He's going to take
care of the sin problem. Something we can't do. But He's
going to do it. How's He going to do it? He's
going to die for the sins of His sheep. He's going to satisfy
the justice of God. And then thirdly, Daniel says,
he's going to make reconciliation for iniquity. He's going to balance
the scales. Listen, this is how God has reconciled
the sinners and sinners to God. And then he says, fourthly, to
bring in everlasting righteousness. That's what Christ did when he
said it's finished. Righteousness was established.
That's the very righteousness of God revealed in the gospel
that God had imputed to all of his people. And then it says,
to seal up the vision and prophecy. That's all the word of God in
prophecy in the Old Testament. Christ sealed it up. And to anoint
the most holy. I believe that's talking about
the holy of holies in the temple where all of that Christ is going
to make a way, a new way, the scripture says, to God. And that's
what he did. Christ is the temple of God.
Christ's church is his temple. The New Testament says that Jesus
was the true son of David who would destroy this temple and
build a temple and kingdom that would last forever. What do you
think he's talking about? He's not talking about a physical
building in Jerusalem. He's talking about his church.
And even as he was on the cross, his mockers reminded him of his
own teachings. Listen to the mockers in Matthew
27.40. Thou that destroyest the temple
and buildest it in three days. Remember what he was talking
about there? He was talking about himself. They said, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Well, my friend, listen to him.
If he was and he is the Son of God, he couldn't come down from
the cross. Why? Because he came to Finish
the transgression. Make an end of sin. To make reconciliation
for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness.
You see, when He made that statement about it will be rebuilt in three
days, He's not speaking of rebuilding a physical temple. A spiritual
one. And that's what He's telling
His disciples here. This building, it's marked for
destruction. That's a sign of the end. You
see? Mark 13, it's a prophecy, both
of the destruction of the Jewish temple in AD 70 and the coming
of Christ in the end. Well, let me give you the other
sign here. Here's the second one. Let me read verse three and four.
He says, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against
the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign
when all these things shall be fulfilled. Now I want you to
take notice of this next sign because it's so important. Listen
to what he says in verses five and six. And Jesus answering
them began to say, take heed lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in my name."
And they'll say, I am, and the word Christ is added, I am Christ,
and shall deceive many. Now look over at verse 20 of
Mark 13. He says, talking about the end
time, the last days, he says, and accept that the Lord had
shortened those days." Now that doesn't mean that God changed
the length of time. But it means God has an appointed
time. And He says, "...no flesh should
be saved, but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He
hath shortened those days." He's appointed the time. And look
at verse 21, "...and then, if any man shall say to you, Lo,
here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. For false
Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and
wonders to seduce people. If it were possible, even the
elect. But take ye heed, behold, I have
foretold you all these things. The second sign that he mentions
is the deception of false religion. Especially the deception of false
religion that comes in the name of Christ, but denies the truth
of Christ. Listen to Matthew 24, 24. This
is Matthew's writing of it. For there shall arise false Christ
and false prophet and shall show great signs and wonders in so
much that if it were possible they should deceive the very
elect. How close will they come? Well, some of them will come
so close that if it were possible, and thank God it is not possible,
but if it were possible, they could deceive the very elect
of God. Now it's not possible that the
elect of God should be deceived continue in that state, and die
in unbelief. Because as we read in 2 Peter
3 and verse 9, that God's not willing that any of them should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. Talking about
His elect. But my point is this. The main
thing as He's speaking here is one of the greatest signs of
The last days, the final days, as we near the time of His second
coming, is the great deception of the world under false religion,
especially false Christianity. Now what does that tell me? What
does it tell you? The main thing that we as professing
believers, believers in Christ, should be concerned with in consideration
of this. Let me give you these two things.
Number one, is the Christ I am trusting, is He the true Christ
of the Bible? Think about that. You say you
believe in Christ, don't you? I say I believe in Christ. I
say I'm preaching Christ. How do I know it's the true Christ
and not a counterfeit? Are there any counterfeits? Look
at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Now you
have to understand that in the New Testament churches here,
They were constantly being barraged with false preachers who would
come in claiming to be Christian. Claiming to believe in Christ.
Claiming to preach Christ. But they were false. It was a
false Christ. Not the Christ of the Bible.
Not the Christ that Paul preached. The Christ that John and Peter
and James and the rest of the apostles preached. But another
Jesus. Look at verse 1. of 2 Corinthians
11. He said, would the God you could
bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. Now
what Paul's talking about is he was forced to defend himself.
And he didn't like doing that. I don't like doing that. When
somebody brings an accusation against me, I don't like defending
myself. I wish I didn't have to do it. But sometimes I'm forced
to do it. I just want to preach Christ.
That's what I want. I want to promote him. the glory
of his person and the power of his finished work. But Paul writes
in verse two, for I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy,
for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ. And he says in verse three, but
I fear less by any means as the serpent begot Eve through his
subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. That word simplicity means the
singularity. And what it's talking about is
this. It's a very simple message. That all of our salvation, with
all of its benefits, all of its blessings, is all conditioned
upon, all achieved by, accomplished by Jesus Christ, God manifest
in the flesh, and based upon His righteousness alone. And
that's it. It's all of grace. And so he
says in verse 4, For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
What do you mean another Jesus? A counterfeit. One who's not
really Jesus. How can you know that? By the
Word of God. How do I know I'm preaching the
true Jesus? And not another Jesus? Well,
what does the Word of God say about Him in His glorious person? And what does the Word of God
say about Him in His finished work? What did He accomplish
on Calvary's cross when He died on that cross? The Bible's clear. Who He is? He's God, manifest
in the flesh. The perfect, sinless, incorruptible,
impeccable God-man. That's right. The Word made flesh
dwelling among us. That's who Jesus Christ is. And
if whoever comes claiming to preach Christ doesn't preach
that, it's another Jesus. And I'll just be candid with
you. You take a denomination like the Jehovah's Witnesses,
They deny the deity of Jesus Christ. They preach another Christ,
another Jesus. You see what I'm saying? And
multitudes are deceived. And then the doctrine, the truth
of His glorious work, what did He accomplish? The Bible says
that Jesus Christ, when He died on that cross, accomplished and
secured the eternal salvation and final glory of every person
whom the Father gave Him before the foundation of the world. Those who preach that Jesus Christ
died for those, for any sinner who ends up in perishing, in
condemnation and death, that's another Jesus. Look back at verse
4, For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received,
or another gospel, the false gospels of freewillism, the false
gospels of conditional salvation, The false gospels that make salvation
in some way, to some degree, at some stage, conditioned on
sinners and not totally on Christ. The false gospels that provide
a sliding scale of righteousness and holiness and not the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. His righteousness
imputed, the very righteousness of God revealed. If they don't
preach that, it's another gospel. He says, you might well bear
with Him or bear with us. Somebody said, well preacher,
you're being awful hard on that. We're living in the last days. Christ can come back any time. I don't want to be found like
those false preachers in Matthew 7. Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied
in your name? Done many wonderful works. cast
out demons only to hear him say, depart from me ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. So I need to be concerned about
that. Is the Christ I'm trusting the true Christ of the Bible?
And how do we know that? Go to God's word. Here's the
second thing that I need to be concerned with. Am I truly trusting
Christ alone? Or do I have divided loyalties? Is my faith in Him alone? Have I repented of everything
else? Remember God said He's not willing
that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. I want to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law. but that which is through the
faithfulness of Christ. Can you truly sing that song
that I sing all the time? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. What is your hope? What is your
assurance? Some say, well, my hope is in
Christ, but my assurance is based upon my lifestyle. And you're
serving with divided loyalties, friend. We live our lives in
faith looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. He
is my salvation. He is all my salvation. There's no salvation that is
fulfilled, accomplished, or assured by anything I do or anything
done in me. It's all Christ. That's what
I want. And let me give you this third
thing just real briefly. Look back at Mark 13. Here's the third sign. Verse seven. When you shall hear
of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled for such things
must needs be, but the end shall not yet be. Nation shall rise
against nation. Kingdom against kingdom and there
shall be earthquakes in diverse places. There shall be famines
and troubles. These are the beginning of sorrows. The third sign is this. Now listen
to me. It is something that has always
been. Great sorrows. Great troubles
on earth. Now again, it's always been that
way. But it's always going to be so.
Job said, man is a few days and full of trouble. And this is like a travail, like
birth pains. But here's what I'm saying. However
bad we think these things are today or however bad they'll
get, All these things are just the beginning of sorrows, just
like a woman in childbirth. And that's a common way to look
at it. What I'm saying, I'm not saying
this just to be pessimistic or to be a downer, but it's just
not going to get any better. And I know we want to live our
lives in a way that is comfortable. We're going to be talking about
it more as you look down through Mark 13, Matthew 24, especially
for believers, because we're going to find that just about
everything on this earth, the world does not love our Savior
and does not love us. It's trouble. It said wars and
rumors of wars. When has there ever been a time
on earth that there hasn't been wars and rumors of wars? But
it's going to be the same. And I think the reason that he
puts it that way is, you know, somehow we think as we go through
life and time goes by, we become modernized. We think, well, it's
just going to be a better world. Wrong. Because the problem that was
in the beginning is the problem that is still the same, sin. This world's marked for destruction. What are we to do? Preach the
gospel. We'll be talking about that later on too. All right.